MJC Dash-8 Q300 FMC/MCP tutorial

MJC Dash-8 Q300
FMC/MCP tutorial
Property of
Air Canada Virtual Airlines
A crash course in programming the MCP/CDU
After watching this visual tutorial, you will have the basic knowledge of the Flight
management Computer (FMC) programming and Master Control Panel ( A/P MCP) for the
Majestic Dash 8 Q300.
This is the FMC, its purpose is to input vital information into the aircraft computer database, fuel weights, position, as well
as set the aircraft up on a route for flight.
1.
The first page you will see is Initialization page as indicated at the top of the
screen with the abbreviation (INIT).
2. By pressing the ACCEPT button this tells the FMC that the info displayed is correct and that it is time to move to the
next stage
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Now we want to tell the computer where we are coming from and where we are going, this is achieved by bringing up our
flight plan page (FPL). This is done clicking the indicated appropriate button on the input pad below the CDU screen The
indicated field is blank, and ready for input as shown by the white area in the CDU screen. A 4 letter ICAO, or 3 letter NAV
waypoint code, or a 5 letter intersection code may be put into this area, and repeated as necessary until a suitable flight
plan has been created, as each field is completed, a new line will appear below it in ascending numerical order.
As you can see a simple example of flight plan input has been entered into first 2 fields with
the third field ready for input. The second field is in purple, it is the next indicated waypoint
the aircraft will fly to. Once we have our airports inputted we must select a departure and
arrival this is done by hitting the MENU button * while in FPL mode. This will bring up the
DEP/ARR section of the CDU.
On with the show, this is Departure and Arrival phase. For our departure out of Montreal we need to first
select a runway. This is done by selecting the number corresponding to the runway. Not by inputting the
runway number, confused yet? Ok as an example I have selected runway 24 right, to select this runway
input the number 3 into the runway field on the right this will place the proper runway into that field. A list
of Standard Instrument Departures (SID) will then appear, if available. After this, hit FPL then MENU then
ARRIVE to select the inbound for Toronto. This is shown in the last pane as an arrival for runway 24R
and we are ready to select the Simco2 arrival. Remember to press ENTER to make your selections active.
As you can see, our flight plan has been created with the STAR reflected as the waypoints for our flight.
But we have a problem, there is a break in our route, we must correct this on order for the plan to be valid.
To do this press the button for the error in this case it is 2. This will the error with a list of options on the
right, we want to delete this error, so press the DEL button 2 times to get rid of it. Now you can see that
we have eliminated this error and WASIE is now the active waypoint( indicated again in purple). U sing
the NEXT and PREV page buttons will allow you to find and eliminate any errors you may find in your
flight plan. Additional waypoints can be input into the waypoints list as well. This can be done by manually
typing the desired waypoint and placing it over the heading you wish it to precede, the replaced data will
move down in the hierarchy and a NO LINK error will show, erase as instructed.
And now the best part, making our flight plan work. Below is the Master Control Panel or Autopilot systems panel. This is
how we get the aircraft to fly the flight plan we have created for our flight to CYYZ. It is a very simple part of the aircraft to
use. I will show this in steps:
1. After reaching a safe altitude engage the A/P by pressing the AP button.
2. Then hit the AUX button to engage the LNAV function
3. Hit the NAV button to set the aircraft to fly the Navigation route you have input.
4. Hit ALTSEL after setting you initial cruise altitude to set the climb rate, this achieved by then pressing VS and rolling the
wheel to the desired climb rate.
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