Wrong Heading

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

I just start to handle SweatBox. It looks great for the trainning purpose.

When a set a heading for the aircraft it is flying a +15º Magnetic Heading than the hdg I did set - i.e. I set 165º and it is flying 180º Mag Hdg

I´m testing it in Sao Paulo, Brazil area - S22.0 W47.3

I´m using a Sector File with a 19.1 Mag Declination. That was my first concern - the difference was due to the Mag Dec, but... the diference is 15º, not 19º

Thaks for any help

Jose Olyntho

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Out of curiosity...are you using VRC or ASRC?

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

I use ASRC

[Ian Bowden 817090]

Using ASRC here..

 

EGNT its the opposite (N Hemisphere). They fly about -15 degrees from what they're asked.

 

They have problems tracking the Localiser too, maybe it's related?

 

Ian

[Norman Blackburn]

I havent tried with the release version but do recall in the beta that in OCEANIA we had to invert the heading and add (or was it subtract!) the magvar.

 

I've been too busy the past week or so to check things out to know if its still the same.

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Can one of you email me your sector file and one aircraft file? cjserio at gmail.com

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Dear Christopher

I e-mailed you the SFile and one test ACS file

Thanks for your time and your attention helping us

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Dear Chistopher

Sorry about the delay.

I got twice a non deliver message (reason: Illegal Attachment) from your Host sending the files you asked

I just sent the files again.

 

So I renamed both files - SFile and Aircraft file - to simple TXT files.

Please change back their extensions when testing them, ok?

 

Thanks for your time and your atention

TCare

Jose Olyntho

[Ian Bowden 817090]

Any word on the possible cause of this?

 

Ian.

INS+, Vatsim UK

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Sorry guys...I haven't had time to look at it but i will within the next 24 hours most likely. I'll be sure to let you know what i find.

[Tomas Hansson]

We had this issue when the sector file had the wrong Magnetic Variation information in the header. Could that be it? Check the second-last line in the INFO section of your sector file and make sure the variation is correctly set...

 

--

Tomas Hansson

TA, ZSE

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Dear Thomas

Below the Header I´m using at the SFile. Where we can see how the 19.3 Mag Var is defined

 

 

; --- Region: ACADEMIA E TMA-SP - V2.3 (SBYS_APP) Sector File

; --- Version: 12:05:01 04-Jan-05

; --- Built By: José Olyntho Machado Jr. ([email protected])

; --- Generated with GNDMAKER.EXE by Corey M. Wirun ([email protected])

; ---

; --- Do not manually edit the comment lines in this file!

 

#define white 16777215

#define navy 8388608

#define fuchsia 16711935

#define lime 65280

#define maroon 128

#define yellow 65535

#define gray 8421504

#define red 255

#define blue 16711680

#define silver 12632256

#define olive 32896

#define green 32768

#define aqua 16776960

#define teal 8421376

#define purple 8388736

 

 

[iNFO]

ACADEMIA E TMA-SP - V2.3

SBYS_APP

SBYS_APP

S021.59.04.000

W047.20.39.000

60

56

19.3

1.000000

 

[Airport]

......

 

Any help will be apreciated

TCare

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Guys,

 

I think i've found the problem. Expect a new build in the next couple of days to test out.

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Dear Christopher

Great news!!!

Thanks for your help.

I´ll be looking forward for the solution

Take Care

[John Gayford 814699]

Hi Chris

It would be appreciated if you could post here when the new build is released to the regional directors.

It is a great program you have put together here.

Rgds

John Gayford

[John Gayford 814699]

I have tried writing scenario's with the BOS sector file and everything works fine.

Writing scenario's for New Zealand sectors the aircraft fly a track sixty degree's less than the heading inserted in ACSIM.

I've tried altering the Mag Var values in the INFO section of the sector file but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

BOS has a Var of 16W while NZ is 21E a difference of 37 degrees so i dont think the answer lies here.

BOS is about the same distance north of the equator as NZ is south, thought there might be some corelation here but havent found it.

 

Oh well if we can't find the answer we will have to do all our NZ training in Boston. This training tool is just so good we have to find a solution to make it work downunder.

 

Rgds

John Gayford

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Hi John

 

Chistopher Serio wrote "I think i've found the problem. Expect a new build in the next couple of days to test out."

Lets wait for the new release

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Sorry guys, I've been real busy with XTower and real life and haven't gotten a chance to make the fix. I'll get to it soon, i promise. I give you both permission to continue nagging me here so i don't push it aside again.

[Jose Olyntho Machado Jr 81]

Hi Chris

Never mind.

I´ve been using SweatBox and it´s been very usefull trainning new TWR Controlers here in Brazil

I´m sure you are doing your best - Take your time

Best Regards

[John Gayford 814699]

Hi Chris and Jose

You're right Jose we just have to be patient. We are all very appreciative of the time and effort people like Chris put into their software so that we can have so much fun.

A question while we are waiting. I made a light hearted remark in a previous post about the software working in the Boston area and that we could move our training to that area.

I have put together a scenario for the Boston area hoping to use it while we wait but i now suspect it would intefer with anyone else wanting to run a Boston exercise on the sweatbox server. Is this the case?

If so, would it be acceptable to use the Boston sector on the server outside your normal training hours ( say after 1am your time) taking advantage of our 8hr time difference.

Rgds

John Gayford

[Ross Carlson]

John, did you try setting the magvar in the sector file to match the ones we use at Boston? (16W) Sounds like you did, but I want to make sure.

 

The only causes I could think of for the error are magnetic variation and the convergence of lines of longitude nearer to the poles. You say your sector file is in an area the same distance south of the equator as Boston is north, (42 degrees) so that shouln't be it.

 

Can you post the info section from your sector file?

[John Gayford 814699]

Hi Ross

 

[iNFO]

New Zealand Ubersector v1.1

NZWN_CTR

NZWN

S041.19.40.854

E174.48.30.285

60

46

-21.7

1

 

Thanks for your help. Changing the -21.7 to 16 has the effect of rotating the Geo Map by 37degrees clockwise.

Makes NZ look very strange .

The A/C tracks are then in error by some 22 degrees.

Sounds from Chris's post that he has identified a possible cause and that given time a solution will be found.

Thanks again for your interest.

Rgds

John Gayford

[Ross Carlson]

Hi John ... just saw you on the sweatbox when I came online. You didn't have to bail out ... I was just there to test some ground-to-ground comms stuff.

[Tomas Hansson]

OK, we have had this same problem since the Beta version. It definitely is not related to the MAG Variation since flying heading 160 doesn't work while heading 161 works just fine. We have been trying to solve this for over a year now. Finally, last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I figured it out:

 

We are trying to be "smart" and as part of our sector file, we use the NDB fixes to show the MVA. It so happens that the MVA around Mt Rainer is 16000 feet. Hence we put an "NDB" in the sector file called "160". Now when we try to fly an aircraft using AcSim on a heading of 160, it thinks we mean the navaid called "160" and flies toward the "NDB".

 

For anyone who has this problem, I would suggest looking through your sector file to see if you have a navaid with a three-digit name. (Use the Home command in ASRC or .center command in VRC).

 

To solve this problem which really isn't a problem in AcSim, I would recommend one of the following things, in order of preference:

1) Have AcSim ignore navaids consisting of three-digit identifiers

2) Change your sector file to use "navaids" that are in the format XX1 or XX9 rather than XX0.

3) Try to fly heading XX9 or XX1 instead of XX0

 

Hopefully this is the solution for most of the wrong heading problems that are not related to incorrect magnetic variation. Please let me know if this solves it for you!

 

--

Tomas Hansson

TA, ZSE

[Christopher Serio 823884]

Tomas,

 

Very good catch but unfortunately, that's a different problem than the one the others seem to be having. I was looking at the code and my calculations for magnetic variation are incorrect which is why the headings are off for them. I need to read the variation from the sector file instead of trying to calculate it myself to solve the problem.