WestWind Virtual Airlines

Attempted to take off from LAX for PHNL in the SSG 747-8F with route programmed into FMC. Taxiing to runway the Navigation Display compass rose rotates as it should to indicate the direction of travel. On takeoff it is showing runway heading, but upon lift off the compass rose goes to around 356 degrees and never moves. The aircraft will not track the navigation path. I tried this several times, reloading the aircraft and rebooting the computer. Then I went to KSFO to try from there. Same thing. However, I can fly from KLAX to KSEA or any other destination in the Continental US without an issue. Made the flight from KLAX to PHNL in the 757 with no issues. I am also flying the 747-8 from PHNL to NTAA, and everything is fine.
I thought about reinstalling the aircraft but since this only occurs trying to fly to Hawaii I hate to go to the trouble. Any thoughts?

I am having issues completing a flight with the SSG 748 from KCVG to KTPA Cleveland to Tampa with the "A Pilots Life" addon from Simbit World. X-Plane 11 just dumps to desktop near the half way point

I finally got a complete flight from KCVG to KTPA with the SSG 747-8, I had to uninstall Traffic Global and not use Pilot2ATC. Going to try to use Pilot2ATC on the return trip to KCVG and see what happens.

I don't have Traffic Global, and I haven't made any big iron flights with Pilot2ATC. So far I have used that only with light twin turboprops. Still learning it. I have made many flights to KMIA with the 747-8F, but not Tampa. The attempt to fly out of KLAX to PHNL was the only time I had that strange issue with the gyro compass.

A few thought of things that have bit me on a few occasions!

Could it have been failing to link with the FMC because of the LNAV/VNAV and HDG/ALT mode switch?

I'm not familiar with the SSG or X-Plane, but in FSX the default aircraft modes for the GPS stuff need to be
switched, "manually" in the aircraft. This may be true dependent on how SSG programmed for the default navigation
system in X-Plane. Unfortunately, not all developer implementations are created equal. They have a tendency to be good,
PMDG, or really bad. The other problem, developers don't tend to "document" these got-ya's either!

Are you sure you set the modes on the autopilot by the book. 747-8i LNAV/VNAV engages at 1,500 feet MSL/AGL
with LNAV/VNAV armed on takeoff roll. At 1,500 ft. command autopilot master set and LNAV/VNAV engages. You may
need to be on a heading +/- 30* of the on-course heading for the intercept, or the FMC/FMS will not get or track it.
You need to use HDG mode to turn with the bug to get within the window then enable LNAV/VNAV to have it sync
up.

When I learned to fly with FMC/FMS, the timing proved more then finicky at times. I built proficiency by doing it
almost to the point where it has become second nature. I still have hiccups every now and then where something
in the timing causes the autopilot to miss the coupling. I notice when proficiency is down because I'm returning after
a long layoff from flying the aircraft. I miss something in the initial setup or miss the timing on engaging the master
command. High task saturation on takeoff, easy to miss something?


Research the SSG aircraft to see if others are having the same problem before you uninstall and reload it.

Mark,

The problem was actually with the gyro compass. On the ground it swung around while taxiing, but as soon as I got airborne, it locked at the runway heading, no matter which way I turned. I was taking off the east. I hadn't even engaged the autopilot yet. That was back in December when I was heading to Tahiti. Never had any problems anywhere else, and I have over 100 hours in that aircraft. I'll have to go back back and try it again. If I had been heading east out of Miami I would have blamed it on the Bermuda Triangle

My problem was that X-Plane 11 was crashing to Desktop with no warning or indication of what caused it, and only so far on that one flight, the last failed attempt I noticed Traffic global was trying to do something and had errors related to Traffic Global in the log. And of course, windows update did not help matters AT ALL! I do think X-Plane updating to version 11.51 help show where the problem was, I did update Pilot2ATC so I will try to see if it works on the return trip to KCVG. I may need to wait for Traffic Global to update as well.