SP3 release

[ontheair]

Hello,

 

A lot of major improvements with SP3 ! Good job...

 

Except EFB SP3 is rather far from my expectations regarding the new ATS route description allowing coordinates waypoints and/or NAT type (ICAO-format) to be entered. Yes that is true you can now enter such waypoints with Lat/lon coordinates but only in degrees ! Just forget minutes and 10th of minute !!

 

Let's take an example : Concorde NAT Sierra Mike (WESTBOUND)

 

* SM1 ......50° 41'N 15°W

* SM2 ......50° 50'N 20°W

* SM3 ......50° 30'N 30°W

* SM4 ......49° 16'N 40°W

* SM5 ......47° 03'N 50°W

* SM6 ......46° 10'N 53°W

* SM7 ......44° 14'N 60°W

* SM8 ......42° 46'N 65°W

* SM9 ......42° 00'N 67°W

 

As you know each of all these waypoints are to be set in the triple mix INS navigation system in order to follow the correct route planned. With EFB SP3 I can only set the last one SM9 42N067W. Of course I can make some approximations to get rounded figures for the rest of the waypoints but this would be not realistic.

 

I think this improvement is a good one but not flexible enough. It would be much much better to be able to enter any waypoint with its full coordinates Lat N/S and Lon E/W in degrees minutes and 10th of minute just like the others waypoints. For example the waypoint KENDA is given by N39°21.2' and W070°30.0'. BTW why do you start with Lon instead of Lat ? Is that the ICAO-format ? Looks strange to me.

 

And please don't tell me there is no need of such a degree of precision just because Concorde no longer flies or the NAT coordinates are given with rounded Lat/Lon figures. I'm sure my request will be approved by many pilots flying different aircrafts. As you remember it was no problem to enter any waypoint with its full coordinates with the basic FSNav addon for FS9

 

With the high sophistication of EFB it won't be a major problem to implement such a complete function. I'm sure you can do it

 

Thanks for your attention.

[GG_Flyer]

Hello ontheair - long-time listener, first-time caller.

 

I've only slight experience with transoceanic routes - and I've never flown a Concorde - but from my AIM and ICAO history, lat/long pairs are only used in flightplans in terms of degrees/minutes and not in tenths.

 

The EFB route table does display in long/lat format, but I believe that you could enter your fixes into the route setup like so, in lat/long coordinate pairs - using 4 digits then 5 digits:

 

N5041 W01500 N5050 W02000 N5030 W03000 N4916 W04000 N4703 W05000 N4610 W06000 N4246 W06500 N4200 W06700

 

This should provide the accuracy of the NAT-PCO "11-character" degrees-minutes format of "5041A01500W 5050N02000W...", etc.

 

Being a named waypoint, KENDA should be in the FSX waypoint database, so if you were flying it you should enter it into your route by name. That ought to give you the accurate positioning you're looking for.

 

Regards,

[ontheair]

Thanks for your help, but I'm afraid it doesn't work this way to enter waypoints coordinates.

 

Let me tell you what I think based on what I'm used to with the good old FSNav. I think it should work the same way with EFB despite EFB does not allow yet (I hope) non-rounded coordinates just because such wayoints are fictitious since they are not in the official database ! Those fictitious waypoints were used anyway by Concorde at least, Westbound and Eastbound over the pond and to the Barbados.

 

Acoording to the simmers motto "As real as it gets" it would be fine to plot any of them on an ATS route description

 

All the possibilities given by any rounded coordinates waypoint 4908 for example are 2x2x2 = 8 :

 

North Lat :

 

4908E = 49°N 008°E

4908N = 49°N 008°W

49E08 = 49°N 108°E

49N08 = 49°N 108°W

 

South Lat :

 

4908S = 49°S 008°E

4908W = 49°S 008°W

49S08 = 49°S 108°E

49W08 = 49°S 108°W

 

AFAIK there is no way to enter the wypt 49°N 008°E in the route description the way you told me : N4900 E00800. The only and right way is 4908E.

 

Thanks for your attention

 

[aivlasoft]

ontheair,

 

I'm not sure whether I really understand what you want to insert, but have you read the new operations manual, section 5, page 8 of 13 where it's stated:

 

Coordinate waypoint pairs like ' N6500 W08000', where the latitude always must be the first item within a pair.

 

This means that you may enter coordinate waypoints such as:

49°50' North / 145°20' East => N4950 E14520

37°15' South / 027°48' West => S3715 W02748

[GG_Flyer]

ontheair,

 

I never used FsNav, so perhaps I am not understanding your intent, but I just entered this string and it was accepted as a route:

 

KJFK DCT FEDAR N4900 E00800 DCT LSZH

 

A silly route perhaps, but a route that can be flown.

 

 

The only and right way is 4908E.

 

Are you asking for EFB to accept "4908E" as a designator for 49°N 08°E? (Apologies if I am not understanding.)

 

HTH..

[ontheair]

Hello,

 

Would you please all of you guys accept my apologize, I must admit I was totally wrong regarding the way to create, with EFB-SP3, a route from an ATC route description with coordinate waypoint pairs like N5041 W01500 and/or with NAT ICAO-Format coordinates like 4267N

 

I should have read the manual new version before posting, instead of only reading the summarize version of the Change Log ServiceUpdate 1.0.3. This is my mistake, no doubt about it.

 

Among all the new features provided with SP3, this special one is very important at least for me. Thank you very much again for your brilliant work.

 

PS in the Route Setup window the coordinate waypoints are given with Lon before Lat. Any reason for that ?

 

Best regards

 

[aivlasoft]

ontheair,

 

no worry about mistakes, we all have our little failings

 

waypoints are given with Lon before Lat. Any reason for that

There is no specific reason for that. Do you know about any standards? If there is a standard I will change this for future versions.

[ontheair]

I don't really know if an official standard exists regarding coordinates-format but for sure there is one "de facto" : have a look on aeronautical charts, most of the time, not to say all the times, the coords are given with Latitude-Longitude format. May I also remind you that in EFB ATS route description "the waypoint name can be the coordinate waypoint pairs like 'N6500 W08000' where the Latitude must be the first item within a pair".

 

To avoid any confusion I suggest EFB to adopt the Lat/Lon format instead of the Lon/Lat one that appears in each of the current EFB windows (Route Setup, Departure, Enroute, Arrival, etc..)

 

Thanks for considering this suggestion

 

[aivlasoft]

Thanks for the suggestion. It's fixed with next program version.