Little NavMap Approaches

[goofey]

Little NavMap Approaches don't seem to show up in the Sim. Does anyone know why? Seems kind of unusual that you would fly the whole route and not get the approach too. I must be doing something wrong.

Thanks.

Michael

[yorran]

Did you have LittleNavMap scan your FS scenery to feed its own database ?
Although I'll admit, at times it happens to me too. Rarely though.
I didn't keep track of what airport and what aircraft I was flying either. There might be something related there.

[Baldnold]

I found out zooming out and in on map in game showed it up for me but even if you do not see the approaches it still works, plus i love navmap and never use in game flight planning

[goofey]

I don't think i scanned FS Scenery. But I don't have any add-on scenery. So would I even have to? My error showed on the Portland, Maine airport.

[goofey]

Well I loaded all the FS scenery. And same problem. If I fly from Wiscasset Maine, to Portland Maine, here is what happens. The LNM plan shows the plane going to a point east of Portland and then turning to Runway 29. So basically there is a turn which is east of the Runway. But, when I load the flight into MSFS there is no turn. It shows a line straight from Wiscasset to Portland. No turn. It is as though MSFS is writing its own flight plan. What am I doing wrong?

[yorran]

You definitely need to scan your FS scenery when you start using LNM. Becauste it's gonna be using FS database to build its own. Including rad nav, updated nav data so on so forth.

After that, did you click on Calculate a flightplan between departure and destination ?
That gives me KIWI BRNNS KPWM. That is, not counting sid and star.
IIRC, FS won't let you import LNM sid and star, so you have to set them in FS.
And quite frankly, you can also set your whole flightplan into your garmin sytem within the sim, it's only a 3 points route ^^ Following LNM info, of course.

TL&DR: you're doing pretty well, it's just FS won't import sid and star, just like simbrief won't do it either. You gotta set it in FS, cause weather changes fast.

[goofey]

I did the scan thing. It took a few minutes but it seemed to work.

I did also click "calculate" but I got an error saying that LNM said it couldn't do it. Besides, when I have done "calculate" in other flights, I get completely different waypoints than those that I later see in MSFS.

By the way, if I do ever get this to work, do you click on "Approach" in the autopilot? Or do you just skip that altogether?

Thanks again.

Michael

[yorran]

Yes, FS and LNM don't necessarily calculate flightplans using the same algorithms. That's not too big a deal as long as you can still follow your flight.
If this is an issue for you, you still can manually enter LNM flightplan from the method I earlier described.

However as you make/import/modify your flightplan into FS, yes you need to switch to APP if you want to benefit from ILS/RNAV approaches.

For an RNAV approach, that would be at 3000ft from the ground, at a certain distance from destination.
For an ILS approach, that would be just before your Loc and GS diamond both come close to the center. Ideally, Loc before GS.

If you are using ILS, be sure to check that Rad nav ILS frequency is populated. Turns out that at times it isnt, so the good secure move is to double-check with LNM frequency whenever you need to fix your approach.

[goofey]

Let me make sure I understand.

The LNM and MSFS flight plans are not necessarily going to be identical, right? So, if I set the autopilot to NAV i may not get exactly the course line that LNM gave me? Right?

If I want the two flight plans to BE identical, I have to do that manually in MSFS.

Regardless, I need to select APP at the right moment. Not exactly sure when that happens, but I can research it further.

If this is correct, then isn't LNM quite limited in its practical use? After all, why go through all the trouble of selecting the correct approach if ultimately MSFS likely won't recognize it.

Thanks for your help,.

Michael

[Razamanaz]

Originally posted by goofey:

Let me make sure I understand.

The LNM and MSFS flight plans are not necessarily going to be identical, right? So, if I set the autopilot to NAV i may not get exactly the course line that LNM gave me? Right?

If I want the two flight plans to BE identical, I have to do that manually in MSFS.

Regardless, I need to select APP at the right moment. Not exactly sure when that happens, but I can research it further.

If this is correct, then isn't LNM quite limited in its practical use? After all, why go through all the trouble of selecting the correct approach if ultimately MSFS likely won't recognize it.

Thanks for your help,.

Michael

The biggest practical use of LNM for me is the ability to acquire radio frequencies while on the fly.

[yorran]

FS and LNM flightplans probably won't be the same wether you build them automatically in the sim or in LNM, yes.
You can also save LNM's .pln file and load it in FS, but it seems there are issues with real weather as you do that.

Also, departures and arrivals are visually shown in LNM, so you can choose with ease wich one is more practical to you. Those sid and star generally mach with FS.
And as it follows your plane, the map function is off the charts compared to FS VFR map.

I'll be honnest, for GA scenic flights at low altitude, I generally don't make a flightplan at all. I use heading mode if the need be. But I still refer to LNM to find an ILS, a VOR or an ADF.
Last example was when I flew up the Nile in search for its source, starting from Alexandria. It took me 3 days, and LNM was still a lot of help when I felt tired and needed to find somewhere to land. No flightplan used, and a lot of fun!

[goofey]

Thanks.