[No bug] INS Full Alignment - Green light only blinks, never steady.

[Rudel_chw]

Hello,

 

I'm learning the WSO procedures, so I have disabled Jester and am performing the WSO cold start myself.

 

However, I'm having trouble following the Full alignment procedure as written on the manual, once I have the INS heated, as denoted by the HEAT light going off, I then turn the Mode to ALIGN as instructed on the manual:

 

 

"After transitioning to ALIGN, the light will illuminate steadily after 75 seconds, signaling the completion of the initial BATH alignment, initiating the gyro-compassing process."

 

however, the green light never illuminates steadily ... if I wait long enough it starts to blink, denoting the end of the alignment:

"Once Gyrocompass alignment concludes, the ALIGN indicator will flash, indicating the system has achieved full alignment."

 

The green light never being steady is a Bug, or the procedure is not correct? 

(I do have the NAV computer at Standby, the STBY Reference System is selected (on the front cockpit), the position update switch is at NORMAL. Local magnetic variation and initial position are correct (being set by DCS by default).

 

Thanks for reading, and I'd appreciate any help with this, as I intend to build a training mission for the WSO cold start. Cheers!

 

 

Eduardo

[Rudel_chw]

@Zabuzard sorry to bother you with this but I'd love to have clarity regarding the correct procedure for a Full alignment. Here is a short video where I'm attempting to guide a new WSO through the alignment, and it can be seen that the green ALIGN light never goes to steady, but only to flashing:

 

 

[Dominik96]

Hi @Rudel_chw,
It seems you are doing a Heading Memory alignment, not Gyrocompassing, that's why there is no steady light but the blinking one indicating HDG MEM has finished. To perform a GYRO COMP or BATH alignment, make sure the INS Alignment mode switch is in the GYRO COMP position (not HDG MEM as in the video) BEFORE turning the INS knob from OFF to STBY.
null

[BJ55]

I was able to reproduce with quick mission Caucasus C&D, with both automatic startup and manual startup no steady alignment light.

Edit: pilot error, forgot to set Nav Comp to stby.

Edited September 25, 2024 by BJ55

[Rudel_chw]

25 minutes ago, Dominik96 said:

Hi @Rudel_chw,
It seems you are doing a Heading Memory alignment, not Gyrocompassing, that's why there is no steady light but the blinking one indicating HDG MEM has finished. To perform a GYRO COMP or BATH alignment, make sure the INS Alignment mode switch is in the GYRO COMP position (not HDG MEM as in the video) BEFORE turning the INS knob from OFF to STBY.
null

hi, you are totally right … I started my ins study with the full alignment, havent yet reached the bath or hdg memory alignment, so I didn’t realize that on DCS that switch is already pre-set for hdg memory alignment, and it is not mentioned on the manual procedure. Thanks a lot for clarifying, I will update my mission accordingly 

[Rudel_chw]

14 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:

Thanks a lot for clarifying, I will update my mission accordingly 

 

Thank you so much @Dominik96 .. I adjusted my mission and now the Full GC Alignment works as expected, here is a short video of the INS GC alignment segment (for speed during testing, the mission allows you to interrupt a voiceover by pressing the spacebar):

 

 

In my opinion, the Procedure shown in the manual should mention this INS Mode switch, to avoid confusion since on DCS the switch defaults to Hdg Mem when there is Alignment data, but defaults to Gyro Comp if there is no such data.

 

https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/procedures/pre_start.html#ins-full-gyrocompass-alignment-wso

 

Edited September 25, 2024 by Rudel_chw