approach procedures

[Paul]

I'm new to pilotedge and x-plan and I was trying to pull up an instrument approach on the garmin 430 that comes with the basic 172 you get with x-plane.I pushed direct, dialed in my airport identifier, pushed enter ,then tried to pull up the procedures page to find an approach.I used an airport that has lots of approaches,but the procedures page was blank.Also the gps is a little small do you recommend buying a different instrument pannel.

[scottcame]

We had a thread on this topic a couple of weeks ago.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=758

After reviewing all of the various options, I've abandoned any hope of having current approaches in a realistic Garmin 430 in X-Plane. IMHO, each of the options has a significant flaw for an instrument student who wants to build proficiency with the 430. I guess I'll just practice everything else in the sim and save my GPS proficiency for my R/W aircraft.

The disappointing thing is, it puts a lot of the airports in SoCal out of reach under IMC if you can't do a GPS approach.

It is a glaring gap in the capabilities of X-Plane, in my view. Hopefully one of these days it will be corrected.

[Paul]

Thanks for the thread.

[Steven Winslow]

Here's at least one option available as an add on. I've never used FTS software because I fly on a Mac. I've heard good reviews on this stuff, though.

http://www.flythissim.com/FTS430.aspx

[scottcame]

According to my read of the (somewhat difficult-to-navigate) FTS documentation is that it will work on the Mac.

The thing I don't like about FTS is that you have to do this kludgy superimposition of their panel (which runs in an application separate from X-Plane) over the X-Plane outside view. I can think of lots of ways in which that would be really inconvenient.

I like the approach taken by RealityXP better in terms of usability. It uses the Garmin trainer applications that you download from the Garmin website (on a Mac, you could just run the trainer app using BootCamp or VMWare...). What I don't like about that approach is, it's reliant on Garmin publishing updates to the underlying nav database. While there was just an update earlier this year, it is already starting to get out of date.

There is even a free option similar to the RealityXP approach (http://ross-park.net/xgps/), but it is even more restrictive, in that it only can use a version of the Garmin trainer that the developer makes available on the website. In particular, you can't use the version of the trainer that can accommodate the nav database update from June of this year.

Like I said, no really good options, sadly.

[Steven Winslow]

FTS does NOT work on Mac. You can fly X-Plane on your Mac while using FTS installed on a PC or on a Mac running Parallels or VMWare, but FTS doesn't run Mac native.

[Keith Smith]

FWIW, I fly an RNAV-equipped airplane, but I practice in the sim with just VOR or VOR/DME. The initial reason for this was lack of choice, as you correctly pointed out, but I've realized over time that course tracking is course tracking, whether it's a GPS-based course, a localizer, or a VOR. I did use the standalone trainer to become familiar with various operations of the Garmin 420/430, but now that I'm familiar, I don't find myself missing it in the sim very much.

It would be nice to practice the loading of an approach, shooting it, go missed, load another approach, a little more frequently (since I don't do that very often in the real world), but I don't consider it to be a show stopper.

Keith

[scottcame]

Steven...thanks for the clarification about FTS on Mac.

Keith...agreed, by no means a show-stopper, and you're right that the ability to practice following a course and glideslope is a skill that transfers across approach types. The thing that bothers me more is that it really puts so many airports out of reach under IMC.

[Keith Smith]

Scott, you are bang on about limited airport choices. With ndb going away, many of the small airports are out of reach in IMC without rnav. I do feel your pain there.

[scottcame]

I was just looking through the document listing the new features of X-Plane 10, and saw a claim of 'real garmin 430' support (plus 530 and waas).

http://wiki.x-plane.com/What%27s_New_in ... t_Training

Anyone experienced it yet?

This would be just terrific...