PMDG 737 - unable to engage VNAV

[woodstock327]

Hi,

I just purchased FSI Panel and ran into an issue right away when playing around a bit... I tried two different RNAV approaches, and in both cases I was not able to engage VNAV - pressing the button on the MCP didn't do anything. I think maybe something isn't completely setup right but I can't figure out what it is...

Here's one of the approaches I tried:

PHNL
RNAV RWY 4L

I added GIDME as starting fix (custom WP) in FSIPanel, ALT 2000 ft. After FSIPanel told me I can take over (didn't touch anything until then) I pressed the brake for 3 seconds and was in control. Altitude was 2000 feet, and I was in HDG / ALT HOLD mode. MCU seemed to be set up correctly, and I made MAKAI the next waypoint (FAF fix, with AT 2000ft restriction showing in MCU). Pressed LNAV, and this engaged fine. Dialed in 500 ft on the MCP, and then pressed VNAV - nothing. Tried a few other things (disengaging ALT HOLD, first switching to V/S etc) but no matter what, VNAV would simply not engage. The same happened on the other RNAV approach I tried.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'd really love to train RNAV approaches, so any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Dirk

[jpgarraio]

Hi Dirk,

I just made a quick video for your approach, FMC needs to have some references for RNAV descent.
I will make a better quality video for the community later on RNAV procedure.

https://youtu.be/alY99Bq3bUg

Let me know if all ok now.

Cheers,

J-P

[woodstock327]

Hello Jean-Pierre,

I'm speechless, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question in such detail by creating a video, that's a level of customer support one doesn't see very often! So my feeling was right, I was indeed missing one piece of the setup - the cruise altitude! Can't wait to try it out later. The video really helped to understand everything, and also provided other useful info about RNAV approaches, awesome (especially when coming from a real-world pilot)!!

Granted I just tried those two (unsuccessful) approaches last night, but I feel that FSIPanel might be the best FlightSim addon that I came across in a long time. It's exactly what I was always looking for - being able to practice approaches with minimal setup time, and it looks like FSIPanel does this perfectly. Didn't even know about FSIPanel before, I only saw it being mentioned in the monthly newsletter from Navigraph, and I'm glad I looked further into it! I have only purchased the standard edition, but seeing that you stand behind your product and offer exceptional support I will definitely get the upgrade to the advanced edition as well.

Thanks again J-P!!

Dirk

[pike002]

Indeed a very valuable tool to have.
Thanks for creating it!

[jpgarraio]

Thank you guys for the kind words, highly appreciated.
If you want to try a nice RNP approach, you can position your 737 in KDCA Runway 19 and then on FSiPanel, select scenario KDCA RNP approach (go to select FIX, select scenario and pick the right one).

You will have your aircraft fully setup for the whole approach, make sure to read the lesson plan as the difficult part is the final visual turn to the Runway.

I will post a more detailed RNAV procedure video later today on my YouTube channel.

Cheers,

J-P

[DaveM]

Great video JP, excellent work as usual.

Regards,

Dave

[woodstock327]

Just watched it too - great video indeed, lots of valuable tips!

Dirk