Demo Flight: LNAV & VNAV

Welcome to Bergamo, Italy! This is my birthplace and you should absolutely visit it if you ever get a chance because it is gorgeous and most people on their way to Milano miss this absolute gem. It looks like this:

 

Don’t have the Europe Scenery installed?

Unfortunately in X-Plane 12, runways are only displayed at airports where you have your scenery installed. If you have no scenery, the runways are still there, however they are not visible, because they are under the 3D water.

We recommend that you install the Europe Region scenery, however if you can’t, you’ll still be able to complete most of the demo flight. You’ll just have to take off from the water and the landing and ILS might not be possible, due to the airport suddenly being at sea level and in fact under the water (So a bit Sully-like), but you will learn everything just the same.

Initial information

Although learning how to fly a new airliner can be daunting, the E-Jets are very intuitive and straightforward planes. Many systems are automated, and the autopilot will take care of a lot of the things you’d normally have to deal with manually.

Disclaimer: This demo flight assumes that you have a basic knowledge of FMS programming. As a minimum, you should know what SIDs, STARs, and airways are.

What you'll learn in this demo flight

This Demo was designed to give you a quick flight around an hour long, in which you will learn:

  • How to do a full cold & dark power up and engine start

  • How to calculate the performance data using the EFB

  • How to program the flight plan using the Authentic FMS:

    • How to load a SID and a SID TRANSITION
    • How to load an airway
    • How to load a waypoint when there are multiple waypoints around the world with the same id
    • How to delete a waypoint
    • How to load a STAR and a STAR TRANSITION
    • How to load an APPROACH and an APPROACH TRANSITION
    • How to clear a discontinuity
    • How to enter the performance data into the FMS
  • How to take off using the correct takeoff autopilot modes

  • How to fly the plane using LNAV and VNAV

  • How to manage your descent speeds

  • How to do a DIRECT to another waypoint

  • How to do an ILS landing

Quick Tips & Notes (Please read this!)

  • The cockpit uses the Dark & Quiet philosophy, which means that if all systems are in the normal state in flight, all the buttons will be dark and there will be no aural warnings.

    Generally:

    • Dark switch = ON
    • Illuminated switch = OFF or broken.

      There are a few exceptions to this, please refer to the manuals for more info.

  • You can zoom in or out on the map by rotating the knob on the pedestal under the FMS or by clicking on the range indicator on the MFD screen. We added an extra manipulator there for convenience.
  • The annunciators on top of PFD have two color schemes:

    • GREEN modes (e.g. HDG, VS, FPA) indicate manual input or operation.
    • MAGENTA modes (e.g. LNAV, FLCH, PTH) indicate that they are controlled by the FMS/VNAV.

If the autopilot starts taking you in an unexpected direction, GO GREEN!

Using your keyboard with the FMS and EFB

FMS

  • DKE (Direct Keyboard Entry) is only used for the FMS, not for the EFB or Avitab.
  • Pressing TAB (you can change this to CAPS LOCK in the settings) of clicking on the FMS scratchpad activates DKE, which allows you to type directly into the FMS scratchpad.
  • If DKE is active, you will see a small circle in the top left corner of the FMS and you will also hear beeping sounds for every keystroke. This is to make you aware you are in DKE.
  • If you want to exit the DKE mode, press TAB or click on the scratchpad section of the FMS screen until the indicator on the FMS screens disappears.

EFB

  • When using the EFB, you simply click on the screen and the edges will turn blue. That means you have focus on the screen and you can now type.
  • If you click outside of the EFB screen, the blue edge will turn off, which means the focus is no longer on the EFB screen and you can use your keyboard as usual.
  • If you are clicking on the EFB, and the screens are blue, but the EFB is not responding, try to click on the "Home button" of the EFB, or through the dropdown menu on top of the X-Plane bar, which brings up the EFB in a 2D pop-up window, and see if the input works there.

AVITAB

  • This works the same as with the EFB, except you won’t get the blue edges.
  • You can also bring Avitab up in the 2D Popup window, by clicking on the "Tablet Home button"
  • Any issues related to Avitab are out of our hands, we are simply providing Avitab as it is, but if it doesn't work, that would need to be reported to the developers of it.

Navigation Data are files in X-Plane which the FMS uses to read the available procedures and waypoints around the world to construct flight plans. Nav Data is updated every month, to reflect the changes that happened to the real-world navigation database.

If you are not subscribed to any Navigation Data (with Navigraph or Aerosoft), you are using the default navigation data that comes with X-Plane. This data is out of date, and you may not be able to find the exact procedures of this demo flight in the FMS. You can still select the ones with similar names (usually the name of each procedure will have a different number at the end of the name), however, your demo flight might be a bit different.

1. Cockpit Introduction

Let’s start with an overview of the cockpit. Below is a video in which we will introduce how to interact with most of the cockpit features.

 
 

2. Engine Startup

Airplane Power Up & Engine Startup

To learn how to power up the airplane and start the engines, we made two videos that you can watch.

 
 

The Quick GPU & APU start goes over the basics without following all the checklists.

In this video we’ll cover all the standard operating procedures using the checklists.

 

3. Demo Flight Video

Below is a video of the entire demo flight, beginning after you’ve started the engines. Follow along and watch us fly the full flight with detailed explanations.

 
 

Demo Flight Start

Flight Plan

In X-Plane, load the jet at LIME, RWY 28. Our flight today is going to take us from Bergamo, Italy across the Alps to Vienna, Austria.

Our flight plan is:

LIME/28 LEGL1V.OSK1F OSKOR M985 MALUG DCT VP011 DCT EVAXI DCT ABTAN ABTA2W LOWW/BAL4N.I34
 

The preview of the flight plan was generated in Navigraph Charts.

This flight was generated using Navigation Data from April 2023 (AIRAC 2304). It is possible that some sections of the demo flight might not be up to date in the future and will not available in the FMS. In such case, please let us know and we will update the flight.

 

 

FMS General Information

Please read the FMS manual, for a comprehensive explanation of the FMS operation. This Demo flight will only cover the exact steps to get you through the flight without going too deep into detail.

Direct Keyboard Entry

  • DKE (Direct Keyboard Entry) is only used for the FMS, not for the EFB or Avitab.

  • Pressing TAB (you can change this to CAPS LOCK in the settings) of clicking on the FMS scratchpad activates DKE, which allows you to type directly into the FMS scratchpad.

  • If DKE is active, you will see a small circle in the top left corner of the FMS and you will also hear beeping sounds for every keystroke. This is to make you aware you are in DKE.

  • If you want to exit the DKE mode, press TAB or ESC or click on the scratchpad section of the FMS screen until the indicator on the FMS screens disappears.

MOD Mode

Every time you will want to modify the flight plan, by making any additions or changes to the flight plan, the FMS will go into the MOD mode. You then need to ACTIVATE the flight plan for the changes to take effect. This is the equivalent of EXEC on other FMS’.

Map PLAN mode

Click on PLAN on top of the MFD (second screen from the left). Here’s where we will watch the route being built. The PLAN mode view is always centered on waypoints and it allows you to cycle through the flight plan.

Note: The MAP mode is centered on the aircraft and doesn’t allow you to cycle through the flight plan.

Side Soft Keys

There are left and right soft keys (LSK and RSK) on the side of the FMS. These are used to select options on the screen.

 
 

1. Selecting Departure

 
 

NAV Identification

  1. Click in the middle of the left FMS screen, to open the FMS in the pop-up view.

  2. When the initial Radio page is loaded, pressing any of the buttons right underneath the screen will take you to the NAV IDENT page. This is where you will verify that your Nav Data is up to date.

  3. Next, we’ll go to the RTE (ROUTE) page by pressing RSK6 (right soft key next to the screen, 6th from the top).

Departure

  1. Hit TAB on your keyboard. This will toggle the DKE (Direct Keyboard Entry, indicated by a blue circle on the top left corner of the FMS screen) which allows you to type into the scratchpad using your keyboard.

  2. The ORIGIN airport will already be populated as LIME.

  3. Type “LOWW” into the scratchpad and then press RSK1 to enter it as your DESTINATION

  4. CO ROUTE should be left empty, it will be populated automatically by LIME-LOWW.

  5. (Optional) You can enter the Flight ID as well. This will then be displayed on the RADIO page as well as the STATUS page on the MFD.

  6. Press TAB or ESC again to disable DKE, or just click on the scratchpad section of the screen with your mouse, which also toggles DKE on/off.

  7. Press RKS6 to ACTIVATE and then RSK6 again for DEPARTURE

    Quick Tip:
    The FMS was designed to naturally flow through the entire FMS setup. Most of the time, we will always be pressing RSK6 to progress to the next step.

  8. On the DEPARTURE page, press RSK1 to select the RUNWAY

  9. Select runway 28. You’ll then be taken to the SIDs page (Standard Instrument Departure)

  10. Press the NEXT button, to get to the next screen and select the LEGL1V SID, and the OSK1F SID transition.

    Tip: If you have DKE active, you can also press the left/right arrows to navigate between pages. You can also use SHIFT + LEFT or RIGHT arrows for LSK6 / RSK6 to take you to the next (different) page.

  11. Once back on the DEPARTURE page, press RSK6 to APPLY the departure.

2. Entering Route (RTE page)

 
 
  1. You should now be on the second RTE (route) page. This is where you’ll build your route.

    Waypoints will be inserted into the right column labeled TO on top, by pressing the RIGHT soft keys below the previous waypoint.

    Airways will be inserted into the left column labeled VIA by pressing the LEFT soft keys below the previous waypoint and then adding the exit Waypoint to the RIGHT side on the same row.

    Note: Please note that the real FMS also gives you the ability to add airways in a shorter format by typing the airway designation followed by a dot, followed by the exit waypoint, for example, “M985.MALUG”. This functionality is not currently implemented but we are working on adding it because it will definitely make things easier!

  2. Type in M985 (airway) into the scratchpad and press LSK2

  3. Type in MALUG (airway exit waypoint) and press RSK2.

  4. Type in VP011 (waypoint) and press RSK3. Because there are many waypoints around the world with the identifier “VP011”, you will be taken to a new page where you need to pick the one you want.

    The list is sorted based on the distance from the preceding waypoint. We know that our waypoint is in Austria, so select the first one that says “AUSTR”

    Please note that the VP011 is not an IFR waypoint, meaning it wouldn’t be used for a real-world route, however, we are only loading it so that we can demonstrate how to select a waypoint with multiple occurrences of the same ID, and we will also use it to demonstrate how to delete a waypoint later.

  5. Now we’ve entered the full route.  Press RSK6 to ACTIVATE and in the next step, we will enter the arrival. 

Tip: If you ever reach the end of your RTE page when building your route and you want to add more waypoints, simply press the NEXT button to go to the next RTE page.

3. Selecting Arrival

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

  1. Now press LSK6 to go to the ARRIVAL page.

  2. To select a STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival), press LSK3 and select the STAR called ABTA2W

  3. Back on the ARRIVAL page, select:

    1. Runway: 34

    2. Approach: ILS 34

    3. Approach Transition: BAL4N

  4. Back on the ARRIVAL page, press RSK6 to APPLY the arrival and RSK6 again to ACTIVATE.

4. Reviewing your flight plan

The FMS is just a tool that tries its best to piece together the flight plan you want to fly. However, sometimes when entering airways or SIDs and STARs, it can pick some wrong waypoints due to discrepancies in the nav data or a bug in the FMS.

Always review the flight plan on the map in the PLAN mode before you take off in order to prevent any unwanted surprises while you're high up in the sky. If you see that some waypoints are not in the right place, simply remove them and add them manually until you get the route you want.

Congrats! You have now entered the whole flight plan. Next, you’ll want to check the flight plan on the map to make sure you have a nice continuous route and that all waypoints were loaded correctly. 

 

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

  1. If you haven’t done it yet, switch to the PLAN mode of the map by clicking on the PLAN on top of the MFD screen. 

  2. Change the map range and Cycle through the flight plan

    There are several ways to do this, but the most user-friendly way is by clicking on the hidden click spots on the bottom of the MFD when in PLAN mode.

    Click (left or right, or scroll with your mouse wheel) to zoom in and out of the map (1) or cycle through the flight plan (2)

Note: Please refer to the “MAP ZOOM and CYCLING THROUGH THE PLAN“ section in the manual to learn about the alternative ways of scrolling through the flight plan.

 

5. Clearing a Discontinuity

While cycling through the plan, you’ll notice that after VP011, the route disappears, and reappears only after ABTAN. You’ll also notice that on page 3 of the RTE, there is a >> DISCONTINUITY <<.

All you need to do is delete the Discontinuity:

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

  1. Press the DEL key, you’ll see *DELETE* on the scratchpad.

  2. Then press LSK1 next to the discontinuity to delete it

    Tip: This is also how you would delete any unwanted waypoints.

  3. The discontinuity will disappear and we will see that the two waypoints are now connected on the map.

  4. Press RSK6 to ACTIVATE the route.

Discontinuities explained

Discontinuities happen when the ROUTE section ends with a different waypoint than the first waypoint of the arrival procedure. A discontinuity is also visible on the map as a gap between two waypoints.


In our case, the route ends with VP011, and the ARRIVAL (STAR) begins with ABTAN, so the FMS doesn’t know how to connect these two waypoints.

If you entered ABTAN as another route waypoint after VP011, there would be no discontinuity, because the route would end with with the same waypoint (ABTAN) as the arrival first waypoint of the arrival so the FMS could connect these two together and there wouldn’t be any discontinuity.

6. Flight plan (FPL) page

Ok, now we’ve got our whole flight plan entered and checked. 

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

  1. Press the FPL button. This will bring you to the FPL (Flight Plan) page which shows a detailed view of the flight plan with additional information, like speeds or altitudes for each waypoint.

    Procedures will also be displayed as individual waypoints, as opposed to the RTE page where procedures are displayed with the procedure designation.

    Notice that we won’t see any data on the right side yet. This is because we didn’t enter the Performance data.

    Let’s jump to the EFB for a moment to get the right data for our flight.

 

EFB:

1. Weight & Balance

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

Go to the EFB and click on the Weight & Balance tab. Here you’ll have to enter some initial data so that the EFB can calculate the performance for you.

Option 1: Fetch this data directly from your last generated Simbiref flight plan. (Make sure you have generated a flight in Simbrief before the flight!)

Check out our EFB tutorial to learn how to do that.

Option 2: If you don’t use Simbrief, you can also enter it manually. From the first dropdown, select if you’d like to enter Payload or Zero Fuel Weight and enter the corresponding value.

For the purpose of this demo flight, we will enter it manually.

  1. Select Payload from the dropdown menu and enter Payload 18800lb and Block Fuel 8000lb

  2. After that enter the Fuel Weight and then press REQUEST LOADSHEET.

  3. You'll be presented with the Loadsheet which you can accept by pressing LOAD PLANE. This will actually change the X-Plane weights in the plane.

2. Takeoff Performance calculations

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

Go to the Takeoff perf tab. This page is used to calculate Takeoff & Landing Performance data and even allows you to send the data directly to the FMS.

  1. Fill out the input fields like this:

    • Airport: LIME

    • T/O Weight: 74 880lb

      (This is with the E175. If you are flying any other plane, find your TO weight on the Weight & Balance Loadsheet)

    • Runway: 28

    • Thrust: TO-2

    • Condition: DRY

    • Flaps: F2

    Enter the weather parameters based on your weather conditions.

    You can open the X-Plane Weather Configurator and review the wind on the ground, temperature, and Altimeter Setting (QNH). In my case it was my case, the wind was 7 knots at 357°, so we’ll enter it in the degrees/speed format as 357/7

    • Wind: 357/7

    • Temp: 18°C

    • QNH: 29.90inHg

  2. Press COMPUTE

    Note: 
    The same process is used to calculate your landing speeds from the Landing perf page on the EFB.

  3. You will now be presented with the Takeoff data.

    You can then enter the Vspeeds manually into the FMS, or you can send the VSpeeds to the FMS by pressing Send to FMS in the top right corner.

  • In the next step, you’ll learn how to load the VSpeeds in the FMS.

    Tip:
    You can enter HPA or IN values for QNH, and the tablet will use the correct units based on your format

 

FMS:

1. Performance INIT

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

  1. Back on the FMS we’ll still be on the FPL page. Now press RSK6 for PERF INIT.

  2. On the first page of PERF INIT (Performance Initialization), you can change any of the parameters, or add fuel for an Alternate Airport. We will leave it all at the default values.

  3. Press NEXT to go to PERF INIT 2/3. This is the most important page. The values entered here will calculate the vertical profile of the flight.

    1. Type in “310” or “FL31000” or “31000” (all entries are possible) into the scratchpad and insert it into CRZ ALT.

    2. Enter cruize winds based on your current values. We’ll enter CRZ WINDS: 253/68.

      This setting will not have a major effect on the flight plan calculations even if left at zero.

    3. Enter ZFW: 66880lb (This is with the E175. If you are flying any other plane, find your ZFW on the Weight & Balance Loadsheet)


    4. TO CG: 18.9% (This is with the E175. If you are flying any other plane, find your ZFW on the Weight & Balance Loadsheet)


      You can use the same process for landing speeds from the Landing perf page on the EFB, and PERF 3 on the TFMS.

  4. Press NEXT to go to PERF INIT 3/3. Here is where you can change the speeds for each phase of the flight. The speeds need to follow the correct format.

    • Changing the knots and mach values should be done like this: 265/0.73

    • Changing the knots only should be done like this: 265

    • Changing the mach values only should be done like this: /0.73

      In our case, we will leave them at the default values.

2. TAKEOFF PERFORMANCE

  1. Press RSK6 to go to TO DATASET which is where you can configure some extra takeoff settings. Usually, each operator has their defaults and preferences.

    We will leave them all at the default value.

  2. Press RSK6 to do to FMS TAKEOFF. This will take you to TAKEOFF INIT 2/2 which is where you can review the previous TO settings or change the flaps setting.

    We will leave everything as it is.

  3. Press RSK6 to go to TAKEOFF. Here’s where we will enter the VSpeeds which we have previously calculated using the EFB.

    You can either insert the speeds manually or you can load them through the FMS datalink. We will load them directly:

    1. Make sure that you have previously clicked on “Send to FMS” on the EFB Takeoff perf page.

    2. Press the DLK (datalink) button.

    3. If you have previously clicked on “Send to FMS” on the EFB Takeoff perf page, you will now see the landing speeds option highlighted green.

    4. Press RSK1 next to the highlighted text, which will load the vspeeds

    5. To go back, press the PERF button, and then RSK1 for TAKEOFF. You’ll now see the vspeeds populated.


  4. Set the correct flap setting based on the TAKEOFF page: FLAPS 2

  5. Adjust the airplane pitch to the PITCH TRIM setting. In my case with the E175, the PITCH TRIM was 3.5 UP. Look at the EICAS trim section, and make sure the trim also says 3.5 UP.

    Note: The TO PITCH shows what the Flight Director will show as a Takeoff Pitch. This is not what your trim setting should be.

3. DEPARTURE LIMITS

  1. Press RSK6 for DEP LIM. These settings can be left on the default values. Refer to the manual for a detailed explanation.

  2. Press RSK6 for FLT PLAN. This will bring us back to the FPL page, and we will see that all the data on the right is now populated and we can also see that the VSD (Vertical Situation Display) on the MFD shows the flight profile.

    We’re ready to take off!

Autopilot Takeoff Settings

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight tutorial video

Before you takeoff, you must set the correct speed and altitude.

Since we are using the Manual speeds in this demo flight, you’ll need to set the speed using the dial knob located below the A/T button on the Guidance panel.

  1. Using the SPEED knob, set the speed to 180 kts

  2. Using the ALT SEL knob, set the altitude on the PFD to 10000ft

    Technically, you could just set it to our cruise altitude, but we will pretend that ATC told us to level off at 10000ft before reaching the LEGLO waypoint for the sake of demonstration.

 Speed Management

It is crucial that you manage your speeds correctly. Overspeeding can cause the AP to go into Overspeed mode, which will pitch the plane up in order to slow down. This will cause oscillating (flying up and down). Similarly, if you fly too slow, you will be close to your stall speeds which will disconnect the Autopilot.

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Speed Management Guidelines

We have created a chart that will provide some general guidelines that you should follow on your flights. You can download this image for your reference.

E-Jets Family speed management guidelines. Please note that each operator has slightly different rules for speed management, so these are just general rules which are a good rule of thumb.

Can the FMS Speed mode be used?

The FMS Speed is a setting on the speed knob in which the FMS controls the speed knob and automatically sets the correct speed based on the current phase of the flight.

This feature is not currently available, but we are definitely planning to include this feature.

We have already developed most of the logic however this feature wasn't reliable enough so we decided to not include it in the release version because any incorrect speed input can cause erratic VNAV behavior.

This feature will be added as soon as it is developed fully.

In the meantime, you should manage the speeds manually. Learning how to do it without any automation will greatly benefit your knowledge of the correct operation of these aircraft.

 

VNAV: Vertical Navigation

Before we take off, I would like to talk a little bit about VNAV. When used properly, it can control your vertical guidance throughout the entire flight. This is an overview of different VNAV modes and when they shoud be used.

The vertical autopilot modes associated with VNAV are:

  •   FLCH   for VNAV climb or flight level change
  •    ALT     for VNAV Altitude hold
  •    PTH    for VNAV descent

You will never see "VNAV" on the FMA (Top of the PFD) for any active VNAV mode. The only time you would see   VNAV   would be when you have VNAV armed on the ground.

🡕 Click here for the explanation of the annunciators in our demo flight video

VNAV CLIMB   FLCH  

Automatic VNAV engagement after takeoff

Before the takeoff, you should press the TOGA button on the throttles. This will engage the correct takeoff modes, and it will also arm VNAV. This is indicated by   VNAV   on the FMA.

  1. Make sure your altitude setting on the PFD is set correctly
  2. Then take off
  3. At 1200ft, VNAV will automatically switch to   FLCH   Note: You can also change this altitude on the DEPARTURE LIMIT page on the FMS under VNAV CAP AFE

Manual VNAV climb engagement

Some operators take off with VNAV disarmed, and then engage VNAV manually later.

To disarm VNAV while you are on the ground, simply press the VNAV button.

If you then want to engage VNAV climb while you are in the air, you need to make sure that:

  1. The altitude setting on the PFD is higher than you are

  2. Then press the VNAV button. You will go into the VNAV CLIMB mode:   FLCH  

VNAV LEVEL OFF & RESUMING VNAV CLIMB   FLCH  

During the climb, VNAV will either level off at the altitude you selected on the PFD, or at the waypoint altitude, whichever one is lower .

There are two scenarios where VNAV will level off during a climb:

  1. Due to altitude restrictions in the departure procedure (automatic level off)

    VNAV will change to    ALT    and it will automatically level off for the altitude restrictions. After it passes the last waypoint with the altitude restrictions, it will then automatically switch to    FLCH    and it will resume the climb.

    Since this was a planned interruption of the climb, VNAV anticipated it and therefore it will do it all automatically without the user’s input.

  1. Sometimes, ATC may tell you to stop at a certain altitude for whatever reason (manual level off)

    🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

    Leveling off

    You can manually force VNAV to level off during your initial climb by setting your altitude setting lower than the cruise altitude. Once you reach that altitude, VNAV will change to    ALT    .

    Resuming the climb

    Since this was an unplanned interruption of the climb, VNAV expects you to confirm that you want to resume the climb.

    To resume VNAV climb, you need to make sure that:

    1. The altitude setting on the PFD is higher than you are
    2. Then press the FLCH button in order to confirm the change from    ALT    to    FLCH   

VNAV IN CRUISE   ALT  

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

During the cruise, VNAV will stay in    ALT    and it will maintain the cruise altitude.

CHANGING CRUISE ALTITUDE   FLCH  

If you want to climb to a higher cruise altitude (e.g. from FL330 to FL370), you can do that by using   FLCH   (Flight Level Change):

  1. Increase the altitude setting on the PFD to your new desired flight level

  2. Then press the FLCH button. VNAV will climb to a new flight level in the FLCH mode


If you want to descent to a lower cruise altitude (e.g. FL370 to FL330), you can do that by using   FLCH   as well:

  1. Decrease the altitude setting on the PFD

  2. Then press the FLCH button. VNAV will descend to a new flight level in the FLCH mode

VNAV IN DESCENT   PTH  

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Assuming that you are cruising in    ALT    and about to reach Top of Descent (TOD).

To start the descent, all you need to do is lower the altitude setting. Upon reaching TOD,    ALT    will automatically switch to    PTH    and VNAV will start descending.

Once you are in PTH, just make sure your altitude setting was lowered correctly and then let it do it’s thing.    PTH    is reliable, so don't interrupt it unless you have to. This will result in the smoothest descent.

WHAT IF YOU MISSED TOD?

If you forgot to decrease the altitude setting, and PTH did not start at TOD, you can still start PTH by simply lowering the altitude setting even after you've passed TOD and the plane will start descending in    PTH   .

Do not be surprised if the initial descent rate is steeper than usual, as the plane will need to catch up with the descent path.

LEVEL OFF DURING THE DESCENT & RESUMING VNAV DESCENT   PTH  

During the descent, VNAV will either level off at the altitude you selected on the PFD, or at the waypoint altitude, whichever one is higher .

There are two scenarios where VNAV will level off during a descent:

  1. Due to altitude restrictions in the arrival procedure (automatic level off)

    VNAV will automatically level off for the altitude restrictions but it will stay in the    PTH    mode . After it passes the last waypoint with the altitude restrictions, it will then automatically resume the descent.

    Since this was a planned interruption of the descent, VNAV anticipated it and therefore it will do it all automatically without the user’s input.

  1. Sometimes, ATC may tell you to stop at a certain altitude for whatever reason (manual level off)

    Leveling off

    You can manually force VNAV to level off during your final descent by setting your altitude setting higher than the next waypoint altitude. Once you reach that altitude, VNAV will change to    ALT    and stay there until you command it to resume the descent.

    Resuming the descent

    Since this was an unplanned interruption of the descent, VNAV expects you to confirm that you want to resume the descent.

    To resume VNAV descent, you need to make sure that:

    1. The altitude setting on the PFD is lower than you are

    2. Then press the VNAV button to go from    ALT    to    ALT    , and then press the VNAV button again to go from    ALT    to    PTH   

    Please note that this operation is currently incorrect, as you should not normally be exiting VNAV in order to resume the VNAV descent, but we will correct this feature in a future update.

MANUAL VERTICAL GUIDANCE   FLCH     FPA     VS  

If VNAV is not behaving as it should or you want to control the vertical situation yourself, simply switch to the manual modes:

  • For manual climbs or flight level change:    FLCH    or    VS   
  • For manual descents use:    FPA    or    VS   
 

AP vertical modes during the flight

Below is an overview of the vertical AP modes you should be using during your flight.

 

 

Departure

Taxi

Depending on the load, sometimes the engines generate enough idle thrust to get the plane moving. This is normal and in real life, the pilots have to apply brakes just to keep the speed within limits.

Takeoff

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

  1. Press TOGA on the throttles (very important). This will activate the Takeoff/Go Around autopilot modes and it will arm the lateral (LNAV) and vertical (VNAV) autopilot modes which will get engaged automatically after takeoff.

  2. Arm the Autothrottle by pressing AT on the guidance panel.

  3. We have already set the correct flaps (Flaps 2) and trim pitch settings. Press the TO CONFIG button (on top of the pedestal in front of the throttles).

    If your flap and trim settings were correct, you should hear: “DING DING DING, NO TAKOFF - BRAKES”. Indicating that the brakes are the only thing that is not configured for takeoff correctly.

  4. Release the brakes, and press the button again to check that you can hear: “TAKEOFF OK”

  5. Push the throttles forward. Once they are near the TOGA position, the autothrottle will get engaged and you can let go of the throttles.

  6. Take off!

  7. At 1000ft, engage the autopilot

    Note:

    You can engage the AP any time between 400ft AGL, up to 10,000ft. But the general SOP says autopilot should be turned on at Acceleration Altitude, which is 1000ft AGL.

    The AP must always be engaged, above 10,000ft.

Climb

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

  1. Take off, gear up, and engage AP

  2. At 400ft, LNAV will engage automatically. You will now see a magenta LNAV on top of the PFD

  3. At 1200ft, VNAV will engage automatically. You will now see a magenta FLCH on top of the PFD.

    Note: VNAV will never display as “VNAV” on the PFD. VNAV will always be associated with magenta FLCH (climb), magenta ALT (leveled off ), or magenta PTH (descent). Please refer to the airplane manuals for a detailed description of the autopilot mode indications.

  4. At 6000ft, press the STD button in the middle of the BARO SET knob on the guidance panel.


    Pressing STD will change to the standard pressure setting of 29.92inHg and it will switch the altitude indications on the PFD to the FL format.

    In the US, the transition altitude is always 18000ft, however in Europe, the transition altitude varies and can be as low as 3,000 ft (910 m).

  5. Although the cruise altitude was set as 31000ft, we have set our altitude setting on the PFD to 10000ft (now shown as FL100), let’s say because the ATC told us to.

    When VNAV is engaged, the ALT setting acts as a ceiling above which the plane will not climb even if the flight plan says it should. Instead, the autopilot will go into the ALT mode and it will level off at that altitude.

    To continue the climb above 12000ft, just adjust the altitude setting to 31000ft and then press FLCH to resume the VNAV climb again.

    🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Cruise

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

You will notice that as the airplane reaches the cruise altitude, the TRS mode will automatically change from CLB (climb) to CRZ (cruise). At this point, increase the speed to 0.78M.

Editing your flight plan

Delete a waypoint

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

You might want to delete a waypoint from your flight plan. We recommend that you do this on the FPL page, since that is where we see all individual waypoints.

  1. Press the DEL button, you will see *DELETE* on the scratchpad.

  2. Let’s delete the waypoint called VP011. Simply press the left soft key next to that waypoint on the FPL page.

  3. Next, press RSK6 to ACTIVATE the modified flight plan.

Adding a waypoint

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Adding a waypoint is done in the same way as when we were first entering a route by typing it in and inserting it after the preceding waypoint.

  1. Go to the FPL page

  2. Type EVAXI into the scratchpad

  3. Insert it after MALUG

Direct to

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

To skip the next waypoint and fly to any of the following waypoints, you can do a DIRECT to:

  1. Press the LSK next to the waypoint that you want to fly to, in our case ABTAN.

    The name of that waypoint will now appear in the scratchpad.

  2. Then insert that waypoint into LSK1 which will be the first and amber field.

When doing a direct to, the pilots are taught to Always feed amber!” (Or Amber like the girl? Just make sure to feed Aber so that she doesn't get hungry!)

Arrival

Descent

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

  1. One minute before TOD (Top of Descent - which is the start of descent), a vertical deviation scale will show on the PFD followed by an aural chime.

  2. At this point, you must lower the ALT setting. In our case, we will lower it to 3000ft, so that the plane levels off at 3000ft and captures the glideslope form below. However, you could lower the altitude to whatever ATC tells you.

    If you do not lower your altitude bug, VNAV will not start the descent!

  3. When you reach TOD  (also visible on the map), VNAV will go into PTH mode and the plane will start descending automatically.

  4. When you start to descend, reduce your speed to 0.78/280kts and keep that speed until you reach 10 000ft.

Landing performance calculations:

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Go to the Landing perf tab on the EFB. You will calculate the Landing Performance data the same way you did for Takeoff.

  1. Fill out the input fields like this:

    • Airport: LOWW

    • Landing Weight: 70 000lb

      Note: 
      (This is with the E175 landing weight and in X-Plane 12. If you are flying any other plane or in X-Plane 11, your landing weight will be different. You can see your current gross weight on the Status Page on the MFD)

    • Runway: 34

    • Flaps: F5

    • Condition: DRY

    • Reverse: ALL OP

    • Icing: NO

    • Wind: 124/6 (Again, check your weather) 

    • Temp: 14°C

    • QNH: 29.90

  2. Press COMPUTE

  3. Press Send to FMS in the top right corner

  4. Back in the FMS, press the DLK button

Approach

  1. As you descent below 10 000ft, reduce the speed to 250kts

  2. 30nm away from the airport, enter the correct ILS frequency to NAV1 on the FMS RADIO page (108.10) or load it through the X-Plane map.
    🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

  3. Press PREV on the guidance panel. This will display the ILS course preview on the HSI along with the lateral and vertical deviation cues while you’re still keeping FMS as the source for the autopilot.
    🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

    As you make the turn of the approach past the WW973 waypoint, you will be aligned with the approach, which you will also see on the PREVIEW needles.

  4. Press the APP button, which will arm the LOC (localizer) and GS (glideslope). Notice however that we are still using the FMS as the AP source, so autopilot just follows the flight plan.

  5. At 6000ft, press STD again to switch from the FL format to the digits format for our altitude indicator.

  6. Adjust the baro setting based on your weather conditions. Mine is at 29.90.

Approach speeds

Make sure to manage your speeds during the descent! It takes a while for the plane to slow down, so make sure you start slowing down early on.

You can use this rough guide to manage your approach speeds:

  • 30NM/10000ft: Change speed to 250.

  • 20NM/6000ft: Change speed to: 210knots

  • 13NM/3900ft: Set flaps 1, then reduce speed to 180tks

  • 10NM/3000ft: Set Flaps 2, then reduce speed to 160kts

  • 8NM/2400ft: Gear Down, then set flaps 3, then reduce speed to 150kts

  • 5NM/1500ft: Set Landing Flap (Flap 5 or Full) V APP (calculated)

 

How to set up an ILS Landing - General guidelines

ILS landings are pretty straightforward, all you have to do is make sure:

  1. You have the correct frequency entered
  1. You have pressed APP on the guidance panel
  1. Then press V/L to set NAV1/NAV2 as the autopilot source
  1. You are aligned with the runway properly
  1. You are below the glide slope (You should get to 3000ft at least 8 miles out of the runway threshold)
  1. You manage your speed correctly

The autopilot will take care of the rest!

 
 

ILS Landing

🡕 Click here to watch this demonstrated in our demo flight video

Let’s continue with our flight. You have now descended to 3000ft and the plane should level off, because that is what the altitude setting was set to. Up until now, the FMS was the source of the autopilot. This is indicated by a magenta FMS indication on the left side of the PFD.

To fly an ILS landing, the autopilot source must be set to VOR/LOC, in order to follow the NAV1 / NAV2 ILS frequencies.

  1. When you see that you are aligned with the ILS course, and the Glideslope deviation is within 1 dot on the scale, press the V/L button on the guidance panel.

    A few things will happen:

  • The lateral mode will change from magenta LNAV, to green LOC, but the vertical mode will stay magenta PTH. Notice how the GS deviation comes closer to the center of the scale.

  • As soon as the GS deviation is close enough, glideslope will be captured (PTH will disengage, and GS will engage as the vertical mode) and the plane will start descending towards the runway.

Note: The real plane has the capability to automatically switch from FMS to V/L, depending on several factors. We plan to add this feature in the future.

MINIMUMS

You will also see APPR1 or APPR2 on top of the PFD. These depend on the BARO minimums type that you are using:

  • APPR 1: If barometric minimums is used for ILS CAT I Approaches

  • APPR 2: If radio altimeter minimums is used for ILS CAT II Approaches

    Refer to the manual for more information

AT which point should you disengage the autopilot before landing?

On approach, you should generally disengage the AP based on the approach minimums. This is something that can be found on the charts.

On our demo flight, that is 200ft AGL, when you hear the “Minimums” aural message

If you don’t have access to the charts or if you are not familiar with reading these charts, use these guidelines:

  • For precision approaches (ILS landings)

    • You can disengage the AP at the approach minimums (200ft AGL), to get a better feeling for the aircraft before you land, but you can leave AP on all the way down to 50ft if you want.

  • For non-precision approaches (so if you are not using ILS, but you are using PTH, FPA or VS instead)

    • You should disengage the AP at the approach minimums (Which can be 500ft AGL)

Congratulations! Now Share a Screenshot!

You have now completed your first flight in the E-Jets!

Now make sure to celebrate this by taking a screenshot of your landing and posting it in our Screenshots topic!

We hope that this guide was useful and that you now have a good sense of how to fly the E-Jets. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us in our tech support forum.