A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

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lmhariano
Posts: 14
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24

A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by lmhariano »

Yesterday I flew for the first time the PA A380. I liked this model a lot. If not for the throttle not going lower than 55%, the flight would have gone flawlessly :)

However, the second time has been a bug show:
- First, I've been getting problems when entering the fuel block. Yesterday it worked flawlessly, today, only 2 of 6-8 attempts worked. The others ended in CTD or infinite loops with no response from vasFMC. :( Is it there a failsafe way of entering the fuel block? I'm aware of the bug with the fuel calculatins in a 64-bit system, however, I entered manually the fuel block (and my OS is 32-bit).
- Then, when I clicked in the ECAM, I got a 2D popup. When I returned to 3D, I didn't only lose the ECAM, but also the PFD. ND and MCDU went unresponsive. ;(
- Later, when I started the engines, I couldn't get any indication of the engines running. Yesterday it worked, but because I got fed up and hit Ctrl+E :x . Is it there any kosher way of starting engines?

In summary, is it there a tutorial/guide/checklist for the preflight of the A380 using the vasFMC panel? My OS is Windows 7 32 bit. In the meantime, my pax have been transfered to an A340-600 for tonight's flight :P

Best regards from Colombia,
Luis Miguel

Alexis
Posts: 444
Joined: 02 Jul 2009, 02:03

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by Alexis »

Download the cockpit manual from our downloads section. It has basic instructions regarding VAS gauges.

esg
Posts: 1591
Joined: 01 Jul 2009, 22:03

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by esg »

Re. the fuel block: it's a known issue. Workaround is to punch in the fuel before starting the engines, iirc.

lmhariano
Posts: 14
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by lmhariano »

Alexis wrote:Download the cockpit manual from our downloads section. It has basic instructions regarding VAS gauges.
Sorry if I sound n00b, but I can't find it in the Downloadssection.
esg wrote:Re. the fuel block: it's a known issue. Workaround is to punch in the fuel before starting the engines, iirc.
Since I usually do this during preflight, my question is more about entering weights (ZFW and fuel block) before or after entering the flight plan (manually, as suggested somewhere in this forum).

Best regards from Colombia,
Luis Miguel

Alexis
Posts: 444
Joined: 02 Jul 2009, 02:03

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by Alexis »

You're right, it was missing: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6zr89g3zuaa71 ... Manual.rar
Weights and fuel are managed from the Aircraft->Fuel and Payload menu

lmhariano
Posts: 14
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by lmhariano »

Alexis wrote:Weights and fuel are managed from the Aircraft->Fuel and Payload menu
What do you mean with this? That I should set up fuel and payload using the FS9 default load manager? Done, but still I get the CTD when pressing BLOCK. How can I prevent this, and still get the MCDU recommended V-speeds and cruise altitudes? The manuals say nothing about this issue :x ;(

Best regards from Colombia,
Luis Miguel

Alexis
Posts: 444
Joined: 02 Jul 2009, 02:03

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by Alexis »

It seems to be either an installation or a VAS problem, which didn't occur to me. I would recommend reinstalling the aircraft and see if the problem persists.

777beats340
Posts: 95
Joined: 29 Jul 2010, 14:29

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by 777beats340 »

to the OP.

VasFMC has a fuel issue. the fuel page calculations will automatically crash all the gauges. The state of you using it before or after engine start does not really matter. The only way around it, is either you can calculate the fuel manually. good old paper calculation, then enter it into the fuel page of the FS9 (default fuel planner). If you want to skip that use a website called aerotexas fuel planner (search google) and they have a online web app, that you simply select type of a/c, dep airport and arrival airport. And they will calculate based on the data sets they have for the particular model. Yes they do sometimes use other models performance data (a320 is from wilco) however in my experience its spot on. The result if accurate fuel data loadsheet similar to the ones real pilots use.

Hope that helps!

lmhariano
Posts: 14
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by lmhariano »

777beats340, thank you very much. Actually, I was aware of this issue and thus I calculated my fuel load outside of vasFMC (fuel.aerotexas.com was my friend until they updated and removed calulations in kg). What I didn't expect is to get a CTD when entering the results of these calculations to the MCDU. Anyway, I expect tonight/tomorrow to redownload and reinstall the A380 so that I can hopefully fly the aircraft again.

777beats340
Posts: 95
Joined: 29 Jul 2010, 14:29

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by 777beats340 »

You shouldnt have a problem if you leave it as is be. I would skip entering the fuel into the fuel page. Another thing is to delete the log file in the vasFMC folder, it somehow resets the situation so you wont have the Rapid CTD in sucession.

lmhariano
Posts: 14
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24

Re: A380 vasFMC loss of PFD and ECAM and other questions

Post by lmhariano »

Well, I reinstalled and deleted log files. I'm not getting CTDs anymore, but I still get all my instruments frozen. How could I calculate V1/Vr/V2/Vref?

EDIT: As soon as I started replying, I reloaded FS9. I didn´t reload the route, I just loaded the correct aircraft and fuel weights. All worked correctly :o

There is still another question: how do I start the engines so that the ECAM shows engines are running (without Ctrl+E)?

Best regards from Colombia,
Luis Miguel

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