OnCourse Software

Hi Dave,

I have a question concerning the Triggering of the Descent Phase:

QUOTE FROM THE MANUAL:
The phase is activated when you descend below a given triggering
height. If your highest altitude was less than 12000 ft, the triggering
height is 20% lower than your highest altitude. If you went to an
altitude higher than 12000ft, the triggering height is 10% lower than
your highest altitude.

Now, On my system (WideFS, Vista, FS9, WILCO 737) the Descent Cabin
Announcement (the 5th) is ALWAYS triggered around 11000-10000 ft, regardless of
the cruising altitude that I chose.
Would it be possible to adjust this value? Let's say, I would like to play
the Cabin Announcement when passing FL20 or 30% below the cruising altitude

Thanks and best regards,
Ron

Not currently Ron, sorry

Ron,

Another Dave here, but not the intelligent one that wrote the PFE/FDC programmes

There is a work around for this. I am not in front of my FS computer but hopefully you will get the gist. It's a bit of messing around but actually not too difficult or time consuming.

OPen FDC.

The Cabin crew announcements can be selected on or off. So uncheck announcement 5 in the FDC programme. Whilst in FDC go to the User wav file section and select the most appropriate option in the list, you will see you can set an altitude for most Users wav files. E.G. I have " cabin Crew Seats for Landing" announce at 5000ft. You may need a bit of trial and error but it is easy to set up and works well. It does get a bit more complicated if you are using a number of user wav files. I have most slots in the table taken up.

Make a note of the User file slot you have chosen.

Close FDC.

Now you need to go into the folders of FDC. Don't forget, back up everything you are gpoing to mess with, better still the whole FDC folder structure

Go to the WAV folder in the FDC folder. Copy the cabin crew Announcement 5 and place it on your desktop.
Now go to the wav file folder and create a folder within it and call it BAK or Hold or whatever you choose. Copy the 'User ?' wav file where '?' is the number of the User Wav you noted from earlier, paste the copy into the newly created Hold/Bak folder. This means you don't have to create and 'empty' user wav file if you wish to change things in the future. In fact it might pay to copy all the user wavs into the hold/bak folder.

Now rename the cabin crew 5 announcement 'User ?' where '?' is the number of the User Wav you noted from earlier.

Start FDC, check your earlier assignment is in place and Go Fly!

I hope this is correct, as I say I am not in front of my FS computer at the moment. I know Dave and others will jump in if I have led you awry.

Good luck

Best

Dave
FDC/PFE Beta tester.

Ron,

Me again, I forgot an important thing

Where I say:

Now rename the cabin crew 5 announcement 'User ?' where '?' is the number of the User Wav you noted from earlier.

Please ADD

and paste into the wav folder over writing the existing User ? file (which you did back up didn't you).

Thay really is it.

Best

Dave
PFE/FDC Beta Tester

I "trigger" my Descent checks to be Called at "Cruise Altitude" minus 2000ft.... There is a setting for this...You can select 2, 3, or 4 thousand ft or what ever... So whatever my cruise altitude is I will get the call at -2000 ft..

Wow, thanks to you all!
I will give it a try and send you the results.
Best regards from Germany,
Ron

Hi Dave

Quote:

E.G. I have " cabin Crew Seats for Landing" announce at 5000ft.

How do you set this? I know there are a few options "AGL Climb, MSL Climb, AGL desc, MSL desc."
What do you enter there? The actual altitude, e.g. 5000 or 50 (as for the Flight Level)?
I tried it with 5000 but it did not work. Is it dependent on the addon aircraft that I use (Wilco 737/PMDG747)?

When chosing "5000 AGL desc" the message would somtimes play while climbing although it should be played when descending (through 5000 ft radar alt), am I right?

I remember I had posted this before:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=230

Cheers
Ron

Hi Ron,

I am still not in front of my FS machine but from memory:

As you say, you simply set the announcement to occur at the altitude you choose, so in the case of seats for landing, choose Above Ground Level (AGL) 5,000 ft.

An important factor is the nomenclature of the files. They must be named User 1, User 2, User 3 etc.

ALso, check the volume settings. The PF, PNF, Eng & Cabin Crew volumes can all be individually altered. It maybe that you need to turn the volume up of the cabin crew announcements. Also check the inherant volume of the wav file, it maybe lower than others you are using.

I hope this helps. I will check my FDC settings when I get home.

Best

Dave

Hi Dave

I really appreciate your help!
I've set the following:

In User Files Menu:
01 17000 MSL Desc (User01=Fasten your seatbelts)
02 6000 AGL Desc (User02=Cabin ready)
03 3000 AGL Desc (User03=Cabin crew be seated)

Unfortunately they will not play when passing the altitudes defined.
I use the Cabin Channel, have the volumes and file attributes right.

It's strange. The other cabin announcements will play.
Any more ideas?

EDIT: Just checked, when I do not use the altitude trigger to play the file but the time trigger (e.g. 1 min after first cabin
announcement) the file WILL play. Is there a bug in detecting the altitude that I am descending through? I use the Wilco 737, maybe FDC does not get the right altitude from the 737? Should I rather use MSL instead of AGL?
ALSO: When starting a flight in mid-air, user files 02 and 03 are being played when passing through the altitudes. BUt not User file 01.
Strange.
I am also using FDC via WideFS, but as said all the other things work. I would love to have the user files being played, too.

Thanks and best regards
Ron

Hi Ron,

Sorry for the delay replying.

The only thing I would suggest is changing the order that the files play. You have your set:

01 17000 MSL Desc (User01=Fasten your seatbelts)
02 6000 AGL Desc (User02=Cabin ready)
03 3000 AGL Desc (User03=Cabin crew be seated)

I think I had one or two problems with sequencing the files.

Mine are set as follows, they work when they are set to work

01 None
02 Doors to auto 1 min after pushback message
03 None
04 Okay for the uppers? 1 min after taxi to active
05 Release cabin crew to work? 4500 AGL climb
06 None
07 None
08 Set as for landing 5000ft AGL Desc
09 None
10 None
11 None
12 Doors to manual

I play my files using the PNF sound channel as my user wav files are all flight deck calls. My cabin crew wavs are set at a much lower volume.

Whilst typing this list it did occur to me that you probably should try to avoid User files playing when a cabin crew announcement is due to play.

I hope this helps.

Best

Dave