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Post by parkave231 on Mar 12, 2022 22:45:19 GMT
Hello, everyone -- I was hoping someone might be able to tell me about the physical design of the DC-10's flight mode annunciator, those four lights above the ADI. In later years, readouts could use seven-segment LED displays (I'm thinking of the MD-80s) -- but based on the DC-10's design date and the very limited up-close pictures I can find, they certainly aren't segmented displays. Since the messages in each of the four indicators can change, it doesn't seem like it could be just a normal one bulb, on-off, display. And it certainly looks much too small to be anything CRT-based. www.airliners.net/photo/Northwest-Airlines/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-10-30/842677/Lwww.airliners.net/photo/Varig-Log/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-10-30-F/615599/LTo my completely amateur eye, they look more like IEE one-plane displays (or something similar -- that's just the only one I know), with some tiny lightbulbs and screen masks in the tiny display -- a smaller version of this: www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=695This would allow for multiple messages to be displayed based on different screen masks for each bulb, and you can also mix in plain colors with no masks, giving you yellow and green messages. Put four small ones side-by-side, and... But that's just a guess. Does anyone know about the guts of the FMA and the technology inside that created the displays? Thanks for any input! Matt
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Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Mar 13, 2022 17:22:39 GMT
We refer to it as the Flight Mode Annunciator (for convenience of most peoples understanding) but its referred to as the "Flight Guidance System" .... in the R/W. Those 4 lamps are part of the Flight Guidance System and work in relation to multiple AP and AT functions. Myself and George compiled our DC-10 manual .... and what we represent within our panels, and the way it all functions, came straight a from a R/W DC-10 manual (supported by endless discussions with retired DC-10 FE's). I no longer have the manual as it was returned to the airline which provided it to us after we completed our DC-10 project and were satisfied everything was working authentically .... "as authentically as FS will enable such functionalities to be represented at least". You can probably now acquire DC-10 manuals online (in PDF form) an quite inexpensively .... if you want to pursue your query more thoroughly "THIS"/the following information (from our panel manual) might not be of any help to you "at all" in relation to your actual query and we've no information now in regard to the equipment or its foundation/s .... BUT .... what's presented below might be sufficient to allow you to draw your own conclusions at least .... assuming you may have adequate knowledge of the basics og it all Mark C AKL/NZ
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Post by parkave231 on Mar 13, 2022 21:52:39 GMT
Cheers, Mark -- I do always enjoy your insights. Looking back through the manual, I'm not sure that even my idea of the one-plane display would work, as there would probably need to be more bulbs than are probably possible for the number of different messages and available space. You're right that the technical specs are probably buried deep in a DC-10 manual somewhere.
One of the YouTube channels I follow often posts videos of different types of displays from the 1950s through the 1980s, well before things like LED and LCD displays made all sorts of new thing possible. One day while flying the DC-10 the question just popped into my head!
Matt
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Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Mar 14, 2022 0:57:56 GMT
YEP .... that's a fair comment I think it's also probably fair to say that because the DC-10 remained in production over some 20 years, the "type of systems" (meaning system/s vintage and/or version .... and not not just in regard to the FGS) likely changed/evolved within this period and to the extent that later production aircraft, and models, likely featured progressively more modern variations of the original FGS equipment .... or were possibly upgraded accordingly. Probably the most major DC-10 FD and systems upgrade was when some DC-10-10CF/F's and DC-10-30CF/F's (FED EX operated aircraft primarily) were upgraded with MD-11 type EFIS systems (these upgraded DC-10's were then rebranded as MD-10-10F and MD-10-30F aircraft) .... and which also dispensed with the FE as a 2-crew FD then became standard. In the case of the DC-10 panels were offer here the AP and AT related systems represented within each are identical and function identically too .... whilst each of these aircraft type specific panels also feature different instrument standards (in regard to engine related gauges) and FE sub panel layouts too. In regard to these latter features we wanted to try'n represent the panels of each aircraft type/version as authentically as possible .... rather than taking "the lazy route" and just slopping together a re-hash of precisely the same panel for use with everything. The differences among the DC-10 panels we offer are all presented, and well explained, within our following-linked forum based DC-10 manual .... DC-10 PANEL MANUALtonymadgehjg.proboards.com/thread/9147/dc10-panel-installation-handling-notesWhat we offer does tend make for "a slightly more complex" project, but, it does also ultimately make for "a far better and more authentic project too". If some people find the panels we offer are too complex for their liking .... then .... they can easily replace the standard/active FDE suit (bot AIR and CFG data) which accompanies each of our DC-10 base packs with our "NO-HJG PANEL" version FDE (contained within a base pack sub-folder by that same name) and use this data with another simpler panel .... but in doing so people also then need to appreciate we can't provide support for them/for someone else's panel Mark C AKL/NZ
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