Generic GCA uploaded to SOH Library

**mjahn** · February 5th, 2019, 08:32

Hi all,

A generic GCA module is now available at the library (see New files). It can be added to the panel folder of a large variety of planes, default, freeware or payware. Other than some knowledge of editing panel.cfg files and a willingness to study the 6-page Manual PDF nothing else is required.

From the release blurb:

This package contains a custom autopilot and two GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) gauges: Approach Pattern Control (APC) and Precision Approach Radar (PAR). You can request Pattern Control from 15 to 30 miles out, and the Approach Controller will set you up for a downwind, dogleg, or straight-in approach leading to a point eight miles from the runway at the proper altitude for a 3-degree glideslope. At the intercept point, the PAR Controller will take over and talk you down to the runway threshold. The GCA and PAR processes can be run in auto or in manual mode; that is, the panels can be visible or hidden and autopilot assistance can be turned on or off. As a consequence, serious realism challenges are possible, including hands-on approaches flown in proverbial pea- soup weather. The project is hugely indebted to Karol Chlebowski's powerful AILA (Airborne Instrument Landing Approach) gauge, adapted by permission of the author, and Doug Dawson's equally powerful sound DLL gauge. GCA gauges and manual by Manfred Jahn, historical research by Tom Harnish and compatibility testing by Ralf Scholten.

Introductory video by Tom Harnish:
https://youtu.be/MkCGDW1idm8

**DaveWG** · February 5th, 2019, 09:08

Excellent! Looking forward to trying this out on a variety of aircraft.
Thank you very much Manfred, and everyone involved in the project.

**ejoiner** · February 5th, 2019, 09:39

I looked and couldnt find it. must not be posted up yet to the Library

**tailspin45** · February 5th, 2019, 09:49

GCA add-on has been upload but not released yet by SOH. Expect it soon.

**tailspin45** · February 5th, 2019, 11:53

Now available here or search for genericGCA.zip

***pbearsailor*** · February 5th, 2019, 16:46

Thanks so much for this. Been having a blast with it in the C-47. Cannot wait to get it going with Mike’s Dc-4 and others.

Steve

***falcon409*** · February 6th, 2019, 07:30

Well, not impressed. . .here's why. I took off from the Texas Gulf Coast and headed for Armstrong New Orleans Int'l. Set up the display per the PDF, selected the desired airport and rwy and then sat back and enjoyed the scenery. When I was 15.8nm from the airport I selected APC. . ."Sorry not available at your distance from the airport. . .minimum distance is 15 miles". By the time she had finished I was now at 14.5nm. . .tried again. . ."Sorry not available. . .yada, yada, yada" so I flew about 200nm to get GCA to tell me I'd missed being able to use GCA by fractions of a mile. lol

**mjahn** · February 6th, 2019, 08:20

Originally Posted by falcon409

Well, not impressed. . .here's why. I took off from the Texas Gulf Coast and headed for Armstrong New Orleans Int'l. Set up the display per the PDF, selected the desired airport and rwy and then sat back and enjoyed the scenery. When I was 15.8nm from the airport I selected APC. . ."Sorry not available at your distance from the airport. . .minimum distance is 15 miles". By the time she had finished I was now at 14.5nm. . .tried again. . ."Sorry not available. . .yada, yada, yada" so I flew about 200nm to get GCA to tell me I'd missed being able to use GCA by fractions of a mile. lol

Yes, I have had that happen to me too, many times. Let's just say Alice can be unforgiving. Sometimes she will even tell you "Radar contact lost, service terminating", which is really embarrassing especially to the one who programmed her ...

***falcon409*** · February 6th, 2019, 08:41

Originally Posted by mjahn

Yes, I have had that happen to me too, many times. Let's just say Alice can be unforgiving. Sometimes she will even tell you "Radar contact lost, service terminating", which is really embarrassing especially to the one who programmed her ...

Good to know, but is there a cure for her temperamental outbursts? lol

**tailspin45** · February 6th, 2019, 13:12

Originally Posted by falcon409

Good to know, but is there a cure for her temperamental outbursts? lol

Strange experience, that. I've flown several dozen hops testing this thing and never had her turn me down outside of 15 miles. But she'll do it every time at anything less, or if you're flying up the departure path.

I have, as Manfred indicated, had a handful of "radar contact lost" events, but when I clicked APC again (assuming I was still outside 15 miles) she would immediately take me under her wing.

Love to try to duplicate the incident. Was your route directly from KLBX to KMSY? What were you flying...not that it matters, I suppose?

Hmmm, I have on a couple of occasions accidentally selected the airport just below the one I wanted...meaning closer. If you were just beyond 15 miles the closer one would have been less than fifteen and she'd have said she can't help you. I wonder if that's what happened? [Oops, no. You said you were at 15.8 when you called. So much for that theory.]

Try selecting New Orleans right after takeoff? You'll have to listen to Alice giving you heading calls ever 30-40 seconds all the way (the Q key turns off sound), but at least you'll know you're in good hands.

**tailspin45** · February 6th, 2019, 15:38

Just flew from KLBX to KMSY in the B-50.

Discovered I couldn't select New Orleans right after takepff because the AILA gauge won't accept more than three characters of the ICAO identifier. Gotta figure that out.

But the flight over at 11,000 put us above the haze and we estimated 300kt groundspeed.

Started letting down 25 minutes out and called Approach as soon as KMSY showed up on the AILA gauge, when it 29 miles away.

Approach gave us a dogleg vector to final and GCA talked us down in 500 and 1/2 conditions. We broke out a bit right of centerline (my fault, not theirs) and landed successfully.

***falcon409*** · February 6th, 2019, 16:04

Originally Posted by tailspin45

. . . . .Was your route directly from KLBX to KMSY? What were you flying...not that it matters, I suppose?

Actually "Texas Gulf Coast" was only meant as the general area I departed from, the Airport was KGLS (Scholes Int'l). I was flying the Falcon 20, cruise alt. was 5000.

Originally Posted by tailspin45

. . . . .Try selecting New Orleans right after takeoff? You'll have to listen to Alice giving you heading calls ever 30-40 seconds all the way (the Q key turns off sound), but at least you'll know you're in good hands.

Everything was turned on and airport selection and runway selections were also dialed in before I ever left the ramp. I flew direct GPS until I was about 100 miles out then switched to hdg mode for the remainder.

**mjahn** · February 6th, 2019, 22:39

FWIW ... and unless I am much mistaken ... there are some hidden functions to the custom small AP that you might want to explore. One is, after you have dialled in your target airport and runway it's one click on the distance number that will set a direct course there, all without any flight plan and no mention of GPS. Then, when 30 or so miles out, APC and PAR can do the rest. Alright naviagting on two clicks is not really flying, but at least it gets you sorted when lost. Should Alice refuse to give service because you are too close then simply fly a circle (click on the angled arrow for a succession of 45-degrees turns), wait until you are 20 miles off, then call APC/Alice again. As a real last resort, slew back a few miles when nobody is looking, I do that, purely for testing purposes only, of course. She will pretend nothing has happened and guide you in, hopefully without "radar contact lost".

**D5turbi** · February 7th, 2019, 01:08

Hi Mjahn,

The zzDAT37.xml file causes some errors in P3D v4.4

1 / lines 57 to 59 "Macro define" are not placed in the right place:
the macro "g" is already used line 43. "0 (& gt; @g: enteringInput)"
Thus, P3D does not recognize this line of code.
By moving these lines at the beginning of the file the error disappears.

2 / Several buttons are defined twice with different instructions:
Buttons 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 and 18.
I renamed the second definitions by adding an "A", either

Button 1 -> Button 1A
And so on.

Hoping it helps you.

Best
Jean

**mjahn** · February 7th, 2019, 02:02

Thank you Jean/D5turbi. Nice name! I have looked at the error log, too, but didn't risk di5turbing Karol's complex code without testing all of the associated functions. At the moment AILA delivers what we need for GCA, and on the strength of the saying if it's not broke don't fix it I didn't. That said, your mods look good and are certainly worth trying on the original version.

**D5turbi** · February 7th, 2019, 03:55

Originally Posted by mjahn

Thank you Jean/D5turbi. Nice name! I have looked at the error log, too, but didn't risk di5turbing Karol's complex code without testing all of the associated functions. At the moment AILA delivers what we need for GCA, and on the strength of the saying if it's not broke don't fix it I didn't. That said, your mods look good and are certainly worth trying on the original version.

Hi mjahn,

I have not tested all of the associated functions either, apart from creating an ILS on a takeoff runway that does not have one.
(Result not perfect anyway)

However, when a line of code, a macro redefinition, or anything else is detected by P3D, it is not processed and can lead to malfunctions in the gauge.
But it is true that my changes did not bring any visible change in the operation of the GCA.

P.S. my name does not mean "disturbing", but it's the type of plane I helped build and piloted: the Druine Turbulent two-seater D5 Turbi

Jean

**mjahn** · February 7th, 2019, 05:52

Good to know ... and with that implication the name's even better!

**Essex** · February 8th, 2019, 09:27

Only tried PAR so far, but impressed enough to add this to my default minipanel.

Just needed to replace all the =\panel\ with =.\gauges\ in gcacalls.ini

**kdl** · February 9th, 2019, 07:26

Well, installed this gauge successfully but I wondered why I didn't hear any GCA calls.
I opened \calls to ckeck - I played some of the sounds but there is nothing but silence.

I basically don't have any sound problems sounds on my system.
So what might be the problem?

Dieter

**tailspin45** · February 9th, 2019, 12:21

Had the same no-sound problem myself several times, as we tested updates before release. Turned out each time I had the wrong sound .dll installed

There are two folders in the download, one called "Install to FSX panel folder" and one called "Install to P3D V4 panel folder."

Make sure you copy GCA folder and especially the sound .dll in the folder that matches your sim (not the whole folder, just the files in it). If you're running P3D and copied the GCA folder and the GCA_dsd_fsx_xml_sound.gau in to your aircraft's panel folder, like I did, you won't hear the controllers voices.

Another possibility, I suppose, is that the changes you made to your panel.cfg file aren't quite right. Double check the window and gauge numbering, for example.
.

**kdl** · February 10th, 2019, 02:51

Thanks for answering but I'm adfraid no success.
I'm using P3Dv4.4 - so I copied the whole \Gca folder of "Install to P3D V4 panel folder" in my Douglas_C-47 \panel folder.
Additionally I copied "GCA_dsd_P3Dv4_xml_x64_sound.dll" into the Douglas_C-47 panel folder.
I changed the panel.cfg as described in "Add to P3D V4 panel.cfg.txt" - gauge numbering is correct.
GCA gauge is coming up . But I already fail to hear Alice's voice after battery ON and clicking APC in the custon AP panel.
I don't experience hearing those sounds that are based on "C47_dsd_P3Dv4_xml_x64_sound.dll" which is in panel.cfg, too.

I still wonder why I cannot hear any of these GCA wav-sounds when playing them with a sound software.

Dieter

P.S:
Just tried in FSX - same problem

**kdl** · February 10th, 2019, 04:25

Additional observation:
- When clicking APC in the custon AP panel the first wav sound that seems to be played is:
- APP_skytrain.wav
which I don't hear.

I took another wave file which I renamed APP_skytrain.wav and copied it over the original wav file.
Now when clicking APC I hear this sound. Very strange ...

**mjahn** · February 10th, 2019, 05:48

Originally Posted by kdl

Additional observation:
- When clicking APC in the custon AP panel the first wav sound that seems to be played is:
- APP_skytrain.wav
which I don't hear.

I took another wave file which I renamed APP_skytrain.wav and copied it over the original wav file.
Now when clicking APC I hear this sound. Very strange ...

That seems to suggest that your audio system cannot play 22050 Hz Mono wav files, which all of the GCA files are. Can that be checked or enabled in your audio setup?