OnCourse Software

Hello,

Finally i have bought PFE deluxe and im very very happy about it! Im glad i have chosen the right product!
Two questions:

Im flying the PMDG NGX 737-800 fully loaded with passengers and about 5500 kg fuel during approach. For a Flaps 40 config the Vref is set to 142 knots + 5 knots wind correction.
My first question is: Before i even reach the ILS (runway heading), approach asks me to reduce speed to 140. I cant and i wont cause its dangerous close to stall speed in horizontal flight. Even when im on glide slope im around 150 knots. Is there an option to set the minimum approach speed? ( i have set the cruise speed to 0.78 mach and climb and descent rates at 2500 ft pm).

Question 2: As im on the glideslope and headingmarker centered, the VCP wont contact the tower (changing to the tower frequency). As i understand from the "tutorial" from the PF2000 manual at page 148 it says:

Once you have been vectored into position to make your final approach you will receive similar instructions to this:-

“Speedbird Two Six Eight Six Turn right heading One Seven Five, maintain 3000,. Cleared for the ILS runway Eight Left Contact Tower on One Two Four point Two Two when established.”

Once established on the ILS your VCP will make contact with the Tower:- “Tower Speedbird Two Six Eight Six at Seven Miles ...to the west at... Two Thousand for Landing. “

The red section does not happen. Why not?

Greetings from a hot Holland.
Boby

You can adjust the final approach speeds by editing the PF_Emulator.ini file, which is located in the Aerosoft\PFE folder. Per the manual section 7.3.4:

"Final Approach Speeds
The following options can be found in the [TWEAKS] section of PFE's INI file.
Further details for this feature can be found in section 8.59 Final Approach
Speeds

To turn this feature off completely and use the default (pre version 2.12)
values of 190 knots for jet engine aircraft and 140 for props use the following
setting:-
FinalApproachSpeed=OFF

To use the Flaps_Up_Stall_Speed for the aircraft you're currently flying (eg.
737=142, Lear=112, Cessna=53 and rounded to 140, 110 and 50
respectively) use the following setting:-
FinalApproachSpeed=0

To use a slightly higher approach speed you may add a value that will be
added to the value read from the aircraft cfg file. For instance, setting the
option to '20' (as shown below)...
FinalApproachSpeed=20
...would result in approach speeds for the FS default aircrafts mentioned
above of 737=160, Lear=130 and Cessna=70. (please note, whatever the
result PFE will round to the nearest 10 knots, so if the value read from the
aircraft cfg file, plus your adjustment, came to 164 PFE would use 160.... for
a value of 166 PFE would use 170."

Not sure about your second issue; VCP might not contact tower immediately when you are established but it should happen when you are on final. (I assume you are using CP Mode 2 or 3.)

Thanks you Dan for the Vref speed tweak! (i did not red the whole manual ).
As for the VCP not tuning in at the tower, im on VCP mode 1. So during the ILS approach, he should change the frequency and i'll make contact...

I have solved the min airspeed during approach. I have set it to 180, much better.
During my other flight from EDDL to EDDT (Duesseldorf into Berlin Tegel) i still could not contact tower.
I have no sids and stars, (double checked before i started my flight) and im on the ILS.
I changed one thing (cant recollect the proper name as im typing from my ipad), within the options screen of PF2000: i have set the inbound nm to ILS from 6 to 11 nm. SO i have more time to configure the plane properly for landing.

Greetz Boby

After you are on the ILS, check your comm frequency to be sure it is tuned to Tegel tower (I think the frequency is 118.7, but check to be sure). Maybe for some reason it is not auto-tuned to the correct frequency. After tuning to tower, press 1 to contact tower and tower should respond.

From your post it sounds like you set the FAF distance in PF2000 to 11 nm; I have mine set the same way.

Found this thread about automatic frequency changes; see bottom of thread. I think you need to be completely established on ILS before frequency will automatically change to tower. (Also note that your tower frequency might be different than mine as I'm on FS9.)

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=964&p=5350&hilit=to ... ency#p5350

Thanks for the link Dan! I'll do a comm switch myself next time. See what will happen. Talking about the lack of it: im not 100% top notch perfect on ILS as i would be with AP on. I'll go on manual as soon as i go below 1000 so i actually fly the plane rather than pushing some dials. On glideslope im always at or slightly above. For the heading im within a 2 to 3 degrees off when flying fully IFR due to clouds. I have not looked into ILS margings. Maybe there is a tweak to set it looser. Thanks for the support. Kilo Lima 218, i'll be back.

Greetz Boby

I flew EDDL-EDDT and had exactly the same problem you did. My comm frequency never changed to tower during final, and I'm not sure the reason. I then flew the same flight in CP Mode 2, and everything was perfect. VCP contacted tower almost immediately as I was on ILS, about 10 miles out, and I was cleared to land. I did not tune the comm manually. You might try the flight in CP Mode 2. (You don't have to "roger" all the time.)

This is getting annoying! I did a full reinstall of PFE deluxe but still having no tower contact. Flew from EHBK (Maastricht) to LSZH (Zurich). Got the ILS vector message from approach for RW 16.
For being an experiment to see if the ILS approach would be the cause right before intercepting the ILS i switched on VOR/LOC and APP for automatic landing procedure. Still no tower to contact. This is the 5th time(!!) it happened. I only fly from and to Aerosoft third party airports with the PMDG 600 - 900.

Im still on CP mode 1. Could that be the problem? No stars, no sids, only PFE vectors...

Greetz, Boby from a very hot day in the netherlands

Just for my sanity, try another cp mode please

Sent from my Dumbphone