Radio Stack

Use the Open Radios Panel Icon to display the radios and autopilot flight director system control.

 

COM Panel
NAV 1 Radio
NAV 2 Radio
Autopilot and Flight Director
Transponder Radio
ADF Radio

 

 

COM Panel

The Audio Panel at the top of the radio stack allows the pilot to select which source is monitored through the aircraft audio system. 

Simply select the radio and/or audio channel/navigation beacon signal you want to hear. 

Selecting COM Both will enable reception of both COM 1 and COM 2 radios

NAV 1 Radio

The NAV 1 Radio features:
  • COM 1 Radio
  • NAV 1 Radio
  • Visual display showing compass-arc, NAV 1 bearing, active waypoint bearing, waypoint data, magnetic heading, DME information, and CDI needle
The CDI needle and waypoint information displays may be toggled on/off.
The NAV/GPS switches control the autopilot mode of operation, when the autopilot is in NAV mode.  When GPS is selected, the autopilot will automatically follow the GPS heading. A flight plan must be active for this mode to operate.  The status indicator will illuminate when the system is in GPS mode.

The HSI Annunciator above the attitude indicator should change from NAV to GPS

 

NAV 2 Radio

The NAV 2 Radio features:
  • COM 2 Radio
  • NAV 2 Radio
  • NAV 2 bearing
  • DME
In each Nav/Com unit, only the standby frequency is tuned. The frequency being tuned should be highlighted light blue. 

Tune in the desired frequency, then make this the active frequency by pressing either the C<-> or V<-> frequency switcher to the left of the respective display. 

 

 

Autopilot and Flight Director

The autopilot is a faithful reproduction of the one that is currently being delivered with the Commander 115. The Master Switch is located on the lower left-hand side of the autopilot. You should see RDY in the Autopilot Annunciator and on the autopilot display when the Autopilot/ Flight Director System has been engaged

 

The Flight Director switch is directly to the right of it. When the Flight Director is active, the flight director display will be visible on the attitude indicator. The Flight Director becomes active automatically when the autopilot main power is activated.

 

When the Flight Director is active, the command bars will be visible on the attitude indicator.

When the system is active, the command bars will point to the direction and/or altitude selected on the autopilot.  The autopilot does not have to be engaged in order for the flight director bars to operate.  Simply press the desired button on the autopilot control panel:

HDG Button

The flight director bars will guide you in the direction of the selected heading, as displayed on the HSI Heading Bug.

NAV Button

The flight director bars will guide you to the bearing of the VOR 1 navaid (if it is tuned in).  If you have an active flight plan loaded, and you select the GPS Button on the NAV 1 Radio, the bars will guide you in the direction of the next active waypoint.

APR Button

If you select the approach (APR) button, and the NAV 1 radio is receiving the ILS beam, the flight director bars will guide you to the localizer

ALT Button

The flight director bars will guide you to the altitude selected on the autopilot.  Also, if you are following a localizer beam, the bars will guide you along the glideslope.

 

The knob on the right-hand side of the autopilot control is used to select the desired altitude hold level

 

Press the button labeled "VS" Data to change the digital display from altitude level to vertical speed display.

 

The buttons labeled "UP" and "DN" control the Vertical Speed level.

 

The remote Autopilot Annunciator Display on the lower right-hand side of the main instrument panel will display the current operation mode of the Autopilot Flight Director System.

 

When the GPS switch on the NAV 1 radio has been selected, the autopilot heading will be slaved to the GPS.  If you have an FS flight plan loaded, the autopilot heading will lock to the next waypoint bearing.  "GPS" will be displayed on both the remote annunciator, and on the autopilot control panel.

 

Transponder Radio

 

On the transponder, you will see a self-test screen for several seconds when first powered up. Squawk codes are simply dialed in on the numeric keypad pressing the  numbers 0 through 7 in sequence. Numbers 8 and 9 are not used. 

The unit is in broadcast mode by default.  This means that ATC will be able to interrogate the transponder for altitude and identity. The modes may be toggled off if desired.

When the FUNC button is pressed, the unit will display flight level from pressure altitude when the aircraft is above 10,000 feet (i.e. 12,300 feet = FL 123)

 

ADF Radio

 

The ADF receiver tunes similarly to the Nav/com radios. The unit will tune in a 500 Hz increment only once in each direction.