Aircraft Configuration File

For the newest online version of this document, go to www.projectmagenta.com/docs.html

Mar 2005 - included more detailed flap definition section
Jan 2004 - updated EFIS/EADI and RAGauge

Basics

The Aircraft Configuration Files are used by the CDU/FMS and the Glass Cockpit. They have the extension .TXT for your convenience, and they can be edited with any text editor.

Glass Cockpit Only

If you do not have the CDU/FMS software, the Aircraft Configuration file is referenced within PFD.INI. I.e. you would have an entry Type=B737400.TXT to reference the file for the B737-400. This file is loaded only once, when the Glass Cockpit is started.

Glass Cockpit with CDU/FMS

If you use the CDU/FMS software, things are different.

First of all, edit PFD.INI and enter Type=CDU, instead of Type=B737400.TXT. This will load the aircraft type file that is provided by the CDU. The file will be retreived from the NetDir Folder. For more information about that, please check the Glass Cockpit instructions.

The Aircraft Configuration Files go into a Folder ("Types") within the main CDU folder, you should find several .TXT files there. If you want to create your own TXT file, just copy one of the existing ones and use it as a template.

The Aircraft Type used by the CDU (and subsequently by the Glass Cockpit) can be selected on startup, pressing LSK 1L, or later on by going to the INIT/REF, IDENT page.

Every time you select a new aircraft type, the data is re-loaded, put into the NetDir folder and the Glass Cockpit is instructed to load it as well. The name of the selected aircraft should show up in the Engine Page.

To see a sample TXT file please go here: www.projectmagenta.com/downloads/aircraft.html

Aircraft Configuration File

Each aircraft type has its own set of data which can be currently set via entries in a file which is referenced in the PFD.INI (see above) entry Type=FILENAME.EXT (e.g. Type=B737400.TXT). In the default Setup of the Glass Cockpit software you will find B737400.TXT and B747400.TX

In this particular example are some annotations for the B737400.TXT file if you want to change the settings, but you will surely soon find more aircraft types made by us or others online.

These files will be transferred from the CDU/FMS to all other client PCs at a later stage, allowing you to change the type you are using "on the fly". To use the aircraft type selected in the CDU, edit your PFD.INI and set Type=CDU.

General Data

AircraftType=737-700

This is simply the name of the aircraft. This value can be empty if you don't want it to appear on the Engine page.

TOGAPitch=15

The TOGAPitch entry defines the fixed pitch the Flight Director goes to when the throttles are in TOGA mode (either via the MCP/Autopilot or the defualt FS98 TOGA mode)

N1ref = 93

When you are not using the CDU and the MCP/Autopilot, the reference N1 value is fixed and is more of an optical thing than a real feature. The N1 limit can be set via the CDU and is then sent to the MCP/Autopilot program limiting the trhottles according to the particular phase of flight as wet in the CDU or in the MCP.INI file.

Flare = 20

AGL in feet where you want the flare to be initiated for this particular aircraft

RadioAlt = 18

When you have a non-zero indication for the radio altimeter in the PFD and enter this value for the radio altimeter on the ground, it will display 00.

EFIS=On

Will switch to EFIS mode if a 737 / 757 or 767 is in theAircraftType= entry, but not for the 767-400 as it has a PFD/ND layout

EADI=On

With the 75/767 it will switch to the more modern horizon with the speed tape instead of the fast slow indication

RAGauge=On

With the 75/767 it will display the radio altimeter gauge to the right of the horizon and move the altimeter further to the right if EFIS=On

HideN2=On

With the 747-400 inhibits the display of N2 on the upper EICAS

RunwayLength=6000

Will force the Glass Cockpit (ND) and FMC (Alternates) to load only airports with runways longer than that value.

EGT = On

Indicates whether you want EGT to be displayed in the Eingine page of this aircraft (vertical instruments only)

NetWeight=88000
Payload = 20000
Fuelmax = 40000

These weights are in pounds, where the payload is a fixed value which should be taken into account within the AIR file of the type flown (please check the flight model's documentation) as well as the weight. The setting Fuelmax is only used when FS is not connected.

Engines=CFM56-7B20

The name of the engine type used, this is for display in the IDENT page.

EnginesRate=20K

The rating of the engines... which is used on some pages of the CDU.

FFFactor=1.1

You can change the actual fuel flow display by entering a factor for each type of aircraft. The fuel flow displayed in this case will be 10% higher than the one calculated by FS.

FFMax=15

The maximum expected fuel flow in 1000s of pounds (per engine).

N1StartupDelay=25

Delay in seconds for N1 to reach full spool time upon starting up. In FS, this N1 value jumps far too drastically far too soon, this will make it "climb" slowly.

N2StartupDelay=27

Same as N1startupdelay, just for N2.

N1Init=3.2
N1Stable=23.4
N2Stable=55.5

The three values above *have* to be set for the Startup Delay sequence... N1Init is the N1 value at which the Startup delaying sequence is started, i.e. when on startup N1 passes 3.2 it will switch into the startup sequence. N1 Stable and N2 Stable are the target values after completion of the spooling up and both values are stabilized. This will get rid of the discontinuity of the values, as both N1 and N2 "jump" quite a lot in FS.

MaxMach=0.84
or
MaxMach=84

The cruise mach limit for barber pole.

Ceiling=45000
or
Ceiling=450

Maximum cruise altitude, defaults to 45000 ft/FL450

TrimMin=6
TrimMax=16
TrimScaleMin=40
TrimScaleMax=40

Min/Max values for trim value (for takeoff) and maximum/minimum value of trim scale.

Flap Definitions

The next blocks of entries (in this particular case) represent the nine flap positions of the default B737-400. These are 0 (translated to UP), 1, 3, 5, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 in this particular case. The values are to be understood as follows

flppos=0
flpset=0
vmax=340
vret=0
vext=210
vmin=190

flppos=5
flpset =1
vmax = 230
vret = 190
vext = vref40+60
vmin= 170

flppos=10
flpset = 3
vmax = 227
vret = 180
vext = 180
vmin = 165

flppos=15
flpset = 5
vmax = 225
vret = 170
vext = 170
vmin = 160

flppos=20
flpset=15
vmax = 195
vret = 160
vext = 150
vmin = 140

flppos=25
flpset=20
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=135

flppos=30
flpset=25
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=130

flppos=35
flpset=30
vmax=185
vret=140
vext=125
vmin=120

flppos=40
flpset=40
vmax=158
vret=120
vext=0
vmin=120

Note: Any flap speeds can also be defined in reference to a vref speed of a given flap setting plus a value, e.g. vext=vref30+20 (i.e. vref of flaps 30 for a particular weight plus 20 knots.

The following two entries add the respective speed (in the first case 10 knots) to the speeds for the flap settings above, when the gross weight of the aircraft passed the value specified in flpadd1. I.e. the vmin of 120 IAS for flpset=40 is increased to 130 when the gross weight is above 116700 lbs.

flpadd1=116700
flpkts1=+10

flpadd2=138200
flpkts2=+20

V-Speeds

The table for the V1, V2 and VR speeds that follows is interpreted for a take-off at flaps 10 (vr=10). If no other flap values are specified, then they are applied to the present flap setting. Each line starts with a weight in pounds, the V1 speed, VR and finally V2. You can have as many entries as you wish, the values are calculated linearly from one weight to the next. The table must be concluded with the line "vrend". The values have to go from the smalles weight to the highest.

;v1,vr,v2 for flaps 10
vr=10
88200 113 114 130
93700 117 119 133
99200 121 123 136
104700 125 127 139
110200 129 131 142
115800 133 135 146
121300 137 139 149
126800 141 144 152
132300 144 148 155
137800 148 152 158
143300 151 155 161
148800 155 159 165
154300 158 163 168
vrend

The table for the Vref is similar to the table above. In this case the flap setting is 40 (vref=40). If no other flap values are specified, then they are applied to the present flap setting. Each line starts with a weight in pounds, followed by the Vref. You can have as many entries as you wish, the values are calculated linearly from one weight to the next. The table must be concluded with the line "vrefend".

;vref for flaps 40
vref=40
77200 109
82700 113
88200 116
93700 120
99200 124
104700 127
110200 130
115800 134
121300 137
126800 140
132300 143
137800 146
143300 149
148800 152
154300 155
vrefend

The stick shaker speeds can be set as well... using the same system as the other speeds.

;stick shaker speeds for flaps up
vss=0
90000 137
100000 144
110000 152
120000 157
130000 165
132500 167
vssend

vss=1
vss30 1.12
vssend

N1 Takeoff Table

The following is a table for the takeoff thrust N1% limit. The table goes from the highest to the lowest temperature in the first column, then the various N1 settings are listed in columns according to the airport's pressure altitude (OAT).

n1totable
C -2000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
60 84.0 84.7 86.1 87.3 88.1 89.1 89.3 89.5 88.8 88.2 87.9
55 84.8 85.8 87.0 88.1 89.0 90.0 90.1 90.3 89.6 88.8 88.1
50 85.8 86.8 87.9 88.9 89.8 90.8 90.9 91.0 90.3 89.6 88.7
45 86.8 87.7 88.8 89.7 90.7 91.7 91.7 91.7 91.1 90.4 89.5
40 87.7 88.6 89.7 90.6 91.6 92.5 92.4 92.4 91.8 91.2 90.3
35 88.4 89.5 90.6 91.5 92.4 93.4 93.3 93.2 92.6 91.9 91.0
30 88.2 90.1 91.1 92.1 93.0 94.0 94.0 94.0 93.4 92.7 91.8
25 87.5 89.7 90.7 91.8 92.7 93.7 94.2 94.3 94.1 93.5 92.6
20 86.8 89.0 90.0 91.1 91.9 93.0 93.4 93.9 94.5 94.2 93.4
15 86.0 88.3 89.3 90.3 91.2 92.2 92.6 93.1 93.7 94.2 94.0
10 85.3 87.5 88.5 89.6 90.4 91.4 91.9 92.3 92.9 93.4 93.7
5 84.6 86.8 87.7 88.8 89.6 90.7 91.1 91.6 92.1 92.6 92.9
0 83.8 86.0 87.0 88.0 88.9 89.9 90.3 90.8 91.3 91.8 92.1
-5 83.1 85.2 86.2 87.2 88.1 89.1 89.5 90.0 90.5 91.0 91.3
-10 82.3 84.5 85.4 86.4 87.3 88.3 88.7 89.2 89.7 90.2 90.5
-15 81.6 83.7 84.6 85.6 86.5 87.5 87.9 88.3 88.9 89.3 89.7
-20 80.8 82.9 83.8 84.8 85.7 86.7 87.0 87.5 88.1 88.5 88.8
-25 80.0 82.1 83.0 84.0 84.8 85.8 86.2 86.7 87.2 87.7 88.0
-30 79.2 81.3 82.2 83.2 84.0 85.0 85.4 85.8 86.4 86.8 87.2
-35 78.4 80.5 81.4 82.4 83.2 84.1 84.5 85.0 85.6 86.0 86.3
-40 77.6 79.6 80.5 81.5 82.3 83.3 83.7 84.1 84.7 85.1 85.4
-45 76.8 78.8 79.7 80.7 81.5 82.4 82.8 83.3 83.8 84.2 84.5
-50 76.0 78.0 78.9 79.8 80.6 81.5 81.9 82.4 82.9 83.3 83.7
-55 75.2 77.1 78.0 79.0 79.8 80.7 81.1 81.5 82.1 82.5 82.8
end

N1 Climb Table

Similarly, a table for N1 Climb values, again, it has to be from the highest to the lowest temperature:

n1clbtable
C 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 37000 41000
60 83.7 83.8 83.7 83.7 86.9 91.3 92.9 94.3 94.4 92.7
55 84.7 84.6 84.6 87.3 90.6 92.3 93.6 93.7 92.0 84.5
50 85.2 85.5 85.5 85.5 88.2 90.7 91.6 92.9 93.0 91.3
45 86.0 86.3 86.3 86.3 89.1 91.6 91.6 92.2 92.3 90.6
40 86.9 87.0 87.1 87.1 89.9 92.4 92.4 91.5 91.6 89.9
35 87.8 87.9 87.9 90.7 93.2 93.2 92.3 91.6 90.0 87.5
30 86.8 88.5 88.6 88.7 91.5 94.0 93.9 93.1 92.5 91.0
25 86.1 88.6 89.4 89.4 92.3 94.8 94.6 93.9 93.3 92.0
20 85.4 87.9 90.2 90.1 93.0 95.5 95.3 94.6 94.1 92.9
15 84.7 87.1 89.6 90.9 93.8 96.2 96.0 95.4 94.9 93.9
10 84.0 86.4 88.8 91.1 94.6 96.9 96.6 96.1 95.7 94.8
5 83.2 85.7 88.1 90.3 95.5 97.8 97.3 96.9 96.5 95.7
0 82.5 84.9 87.3 89.5 94.8 98.9 98.3 97.8 97.4 96.6
-5 81.8 84.1 86.5 88.7 94.0 98.8 99.3 98.5 98.2 97.7
-10 81.0 83.4 85.7 87.9 93.2 98.0 99.6 99.4 99.1 98.6
-15 80.3 82.6 85.0 87.1 92.4 97.3 98.8 100.4 100.1 99.6
-20 79.5 81.8 84.2 86.3 91.5 96.5 98.0 100.1 100.6 100.2
-25 78.7 81.0 83.3 85.5 90.7 95.7 97.2 99.2 99.8 99.4
-30 78.0 80.2 82.5 84.7 89.9 94.9 96.4 98.4 98.9 98.6
-35 77.2 79.4 81.7 83.8 89.0 94.0 95.5 97.6 98.1 97.7
-40 76.4 78.6 80.9 83.0 88.2 93.2 94.7 96.7 97.2 96.9
end

Climb 1 and 2 thrust reduction sequence E.g.: reducing by 3% N1 until 10000 ft, gradually increasing to full climb N1 until 15000 ft:

clb1-reduction
3, 10000, 15000

clb2-reduction
6, 5000, 15000


For Take-Off thrust reduction use the following:

to1-reduction
10, 10000, 15000

to2-reduction
15, 10000, 15000

Note: The reduction entries should be made after the tables.

Cost Index Data (Experimental)

costindex
0 271/.72 270/.71 330/.78 3.2
20 283/.74 282/.74 266/.73 2.7
200 335/.78 320/.78 330/.78 2.1
end

Example: 20 is cost index clbias/clbmach crzias/crzmach desias/desmach (descent angle in degrees)

(Note: Descent, IAS first, then MACH, normally it is spoken/written as mach/ias, (high cost index should have a higher descent angle for path descent)

Flight Mode Annunciators

Most Aircraft types follow the same "rules" as far as the FMA (Flight Mode Anunciators) are concerned, but the texts can differ greatly. These Texts can be changed in every single TXT file, and you only have to enter the ones you want to change. The following is a listing of the DEFAULT settings:

Speed Modes:

Boeing-Type

ASPD1=ARM
ASPD2=THR
ASPD3=SPD
ASPD4=RETARD
ASPD5=THR HLD
ASPD6=FMC SPD
ASPD7=MCP SPD
ASPD8=IDLE
ASPD9=SPD (VNAV SPD)
ASPD10=THR REF

Heading Modes:

AHDG1=HDG SEL
AHDG2=LOC ARM
AHDG3=VOR/LOC
AHDG4=APP LOC
AHDG5=LOC ARM
AHDG8=LNAV
AHDG9=ROLLOUT
AHDG10=HDG HOLD

Altitude Modes:

AALT1=GS LOCK
AALT2=ALT
AALT3=MCP SPD
AALT4=V/S
AALT5=ALT ACQ
AALT6=GS ARM
AALT7=TO/GA
AALT8=TO/GA
AALT9=VNAV SPD
AALT10=VNAV PTH
AALT11=VNAV ALT
AALT12=FLARE

Command (A/P) Modes:

ACMD1=CMD
ACMD2=F/D
ACMD3=LAND 2
ACMD4=LAND 3
ACMD5=NO AUTOLAND

Standby Modes:

SSPD1=ARM

SHDG1=LNAV
SHDG2=VOR/LOC
SHDG3=VOR/LOC
SHDG4=ROLLOUT

SALT1=VNAV
SALT2=GS
SALT3=FLARE
SALT4=V/S

Thus, if you wanted to change the anunciator of the Autopilot main mode to A/P from CMD, you would have to enter:

ACMD1=A/P
ACMD2=F/D
ACMD3=LAND 2
ACMD4=LAND 3

Flap Definition

We have to define proper flap position names in relation to their flap setting in side of FS. This largely depends on the flight model used and what you want the flap names to be. Here we are chaning an existing file to accomodate for our flight model's or cockpit's flap positions which we want to be UP - 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 25 - 30

In the CDU, please go to INDEX, MAINT, MONITOR, then check the flap settings in the lower right half of the screen. Please make sure you re-load the aircraft when you make changes to the aircraft configuration file.  

See the value under "CURR.FLAPS" and "FLAP REL. POS" in the right side of the MONITOR page.

You press F5 in FS (flaps up) it will say  0 under curr flaps and 0 ()  under flap rel pos. The first entry is what the NAME of the flap setting is, the second is the one retreived from the aircraft configuration table as a reference, the actual value is in brackets.

flpset (FLAP RELATIVE POSITION) =0 is Flaps UP, = 40 is Flaps Full.

If you press F7 (flaps one notch down)   It might say the following (depends on the flight model, here the default 747-400 in FS2004):

Position
The actual flap sequence		 CURR FLAPS (flppos)
the text in the Glass Cockpit		 FLAP REL POS (flpset)
the value from FS		 Comment
1st notch (UP) 0 0 () Flaps Up, would display UP in the Glass Cockpit
2nd 1 (!!!) 7 (1) (!!!) Here we want the flap text to be 1, and something is undefined in the configuration file, FS reports a flpset of 1, but 7 is defined and looked up, the intermediate (1) is missing. We need to insert a flap block to cover this!
3rd 1 7 (7) Here we would want a flap text of 5, not 1... you see the 1 is doubled, so something is wrong.
4th 5 13 (13) Here I want a flap text of 10 for instance...
5th 20 27 (27) The rest is OK...
6th 25 33 (33)  
7th notch
(FULL)		 30 40 (40) 40 is the maximum position, and this should be shown as 40
Current

(please note that the vmax, vret, vext and vmin are unchanged, refer to the description at the beginning of the document)

Important: note that there are seven flap positions, but only 6 blocks of information!

 Changed (according to the comments above)

We have to add a block for the flpset 1 and need to change the entries for the following flap positions.
flppos=0
flpset=0
vmax=340
vret=0
vext=210
vmin=190

flppos=1
flpset=7
vmax = 227
vret = 180
vext = 180
vmin = 165

flppos=5
flpset=13
vmax = 225
vret = 170
vext = 170
vmin = 160

flppos=20
flpset=27
vmax = 195
vret = 160
vext = 150
vmin = 140

flppos=25
flpset=33
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=135

flppos=30
flpset=40
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=130
 flppos=0
flpset=0
vmax=340
vret=0
vext=210
vmin=190

flppos=1
flpset=1
vmax = 227
vret = 180
vext = 180
vmin = 165

flppos=5
flpset=7
vmax = 227
vret = 180
vext = 180
vmin = 165

flppos=10
flpset=13
vmax = 225
vret = 170
vext = 170
vmin = 160

flppos=20
flpset=27
vmax = 195
vret = 160
vext = 150
vmin = 140

flppos=25
flpset=33
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=135

flppos=30
flpset=40
vmax=190
vret=150
vext=140
vmin=120