Xbox FS2020: More Advanced Autopilot Tips - OBS Mode (Newbie friendly!)

Continuing my series on Autopilot Hints & Tips: OBS mode is great for runways that don't have ILS frequencies!
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⌚Timestamps⌚
Introduction: (0:00)
Flight Planning: (1:21)
Setting up the Aircraft: (3:06)
Take-off and Explanation of OBS Mode: (7:54)
Engaging OBS Mode & Landing: (12:25)
#MSFSXbox #MSFSOBSMode #MSFSOBSTutorial

[@user-hm7nt8kg3y]

very good presentation I watch all your videos. I would like you to help me with a problem I have with the mouse on the aircraft instruments. It has no response to any switchs, only some of them. if i put the cersor on the heading for example,become blou colar but can not change the valieu of the nampers(does not become yelow).hοw can i fix it?Thanks in advance.

[@Huddison]

I'm not sure from the top of my head - but I will pin this so that others may see and help.

[@eastofthegoodones.1391]

@@Huddison I literally just came here to ask the exact same question. I too am using the Xbox series x, hotas, controller and mouse...the only issue is I can’t use the mouse to click on buttons or switches in cockpit mode. I can use the mouse to navigate menus, and to plan my flight...but in the cockpit mode...can’t click on anything with the mouse.

[@Huddison]

@@eastofthegoodones.1391 lots of people seem to be having issues with the series X and mouse functionality. Come join the discussion about it in Discord.

[@daneav8]

Great video again Sir. May I offer a perhaps smoother way of doing this, that does not involve disconnecting the autopilot at all? We use this in the the real world all the time (not necessarily OBS) when getting vectors from ATC onto and ILS for example. It goes like this: You are flying along with autopilot On and in NAV mode. Before selecting OBS, first center your heading bug and switch too HDG mode on the autopilot. Now, select OBS and dial in your desired course. Then, simply turn the heading bug toward to new OBS course so that the aircraft will eventually intersect it. You can now "arm" the NAV by selecting the NAV mode (this can be done even if you are far away from the new OBS course). You should now see "NAV" displayed under the "HDG" on the top of the Garmin screen (PFD). This means HDG is still active and the NAV is standing by to lock onto a course when you intercept it. The autopilot will stay remain in HDG mode until it intercepts the new OBS course, then will automatically switch to NAV and track the OBS course inbound. This provides several benefits to include not having to disconnect autopilot, and will prevent potentially confusing the autopilot and getting unexpected results. In the video, by leaving the autopilot in NAV mode while simultaneously adjusting the OBS could prove uncomfortable in the clouds and for passengers in real life and would definitely be avoided. Oh, also another note that may be helpful to others: When using the OBS with an airport, the selected OBS course is based on the center of that airport...not a particular runway. Which is why when you are are short final you can see the course was a little offset to the left. Regardless, the OBS can be used for assistance just as you described to help lineup and even find an airport. Also, OBS can be used with any point selectable in the Garmin GPS if people are curious. I hope that may be helpful...thanks for the video!

[@ENergyJimP]

Most pilots would go into heading mode while setting up the OBS. Then, as you near the OBS line, switch back to NAV mode (with source set to GPS) and the autopilot will intercept the OBS line.

[@Huddison]

Good to know - thanks 👍

[@turnerstechtalk7737]

Thanks for another great video. I never knew what OBS mode was. Pretty cool how it uses triangulation to get the right heading (roughly) to the runway that you want to land on.

[@rackum44]

Just before you hit the OBS button click over to heading hold then after you set your course then use heading hold to go to the course You don't have to turn off your autopilot, then with nav mode still on along with heading hold, when you get close to your course heading mode will automatically turn off and nav mode will follow your course line.

[@Huddison]

Yes I'm well aware thanks, I covered this in another video in this series.

[@AcesDwn1]

Great video again Huddison! I agree with using HDG mode while setting up OBS, and also, you can use HDG mode to intercept new course instead of hand flying as well. Good stuff man!! Thanks for showing this! 😎

[@Huddison]

Thanks for the info and much appreciated Aces ;)

[@martindescoteaux9288]

You can now use visuel approach to any airport with G1000 nxi. The auto pilot will lead you direct to the runway. Thanks

[@Huddison]

Yes, the video I'm just about to upload gives a good demonstration of this ;)

[@martindescoteaux9288]

@@Huddison Nice!! Love youre video by the way! Help me a lot.

[@hloc1]

This was very informative. Thanks!

[@Huddison]

You're welcome!

[@jakew9887]

Excellent presentation. Thanks

[@Huddison]

You are welcome

[@philipweems8609]

Thanks as usual very informative I will be using OBS going forward i try to land at small airports this will make it a lot easier.

[@Huddison]

Glad to help

[@brunogt1982]

I always wanted to know this thanks 🙏🏽

[@Huddison]

Happy to help 😉

[@normanparke1065]

Brilliant video, thanks

[@Huddison]

Very welcome

[@ABlondeGuy]

Thanks again Huddison... Now know how to use OBS. Learning step by step from your excellent and well expalined instructional videos. BTW, G1000NXi (Xbox) still buggy ie: FLC / set VS+ speed , have to use VS- button to set that! (in DA twin), Cheers.

[@Huddison]

Yes there's still a few bugs with the NXI mod; they are slowly ironing them all out.

[@Pilzhirn]

Nice , thanks 👍

[@Huddison]

Welcome 👍

[@albertlozano3437]

Thanks for this tutorial. Something to try when I have some free time this week! By the way I am still having problems with ILS in the NXi. Any suggestions?

[@Huddison]

I'll aim to cover ILS in a future video.

[@CanaryIrish]

Hudds ... Using the Hotas, Controller, Mouse combi and keyboard entry for Cranwell wasn't working. Fell upon using the inner and outer FMS keys to select it. Not sure why keyboard wasn't working. Good to share if it helps.

[@Huddison]

Thanks for sharing

[@alanvanheerden8955]

How does the OBS function know which airport you are selecting. Does this occur through the initial DIRECT mode selected earlier OR possible the closeness of that airport (7.5 miles) etc. Could you use the OBS immediately from the departure point.

[@Huddison]

You first need to to select a destination airport (which I showed at the start of this video), then the OBS line effectively leads into that; like an extended approach line/vector.

[@ForumRider158]

On my xbox when hovering over any of the buttons on the lower right of the screen (ie. "Set direct course to") it displays N/A to the right of them all. Pushing the Set Direct Course button does bring up a screen but clicking in the flashing cursor in that window doesn't allow any QWERTY pop-up to input letters and so sadly I've been totally unable to use or program any OBS settings. Are these options limited to a specific edition of the game? Thanks for the tips!

[@Huddison]

Hmm not sure what's going on there - I'm using the standard game pass version of the game on Xbox. You want to click on the keyboard symbol next to the flashing cursor/box to bring up keyboard entry mode.

[@pearlmcp]

@@Huddison what if there’s no keyboard symbol next to the flashing cursor? I have a keyboard and it does work in the world map

[@pearlmcp]

I figured out why I could not use my keyboard. There was no keyboard icon next to the flashing light because I had not downloaded the Garmin G 1000 NXI from marketplace. I actually went back to another one of your videos and you explain why we should get the Garmin NXI. Makes perfect sense now and I was able to complete this tutorial. Thanks again for all your help. Hopefully this will help forumrider 158 as well.

[@CanaryIrish]

Hudds Just another observation. FLC and 80 KT went off so I reinserted them ? Any thoughts

[@Huddison]

Did the whole Autopilot disengage? When you active the AP, ensure that your pitch isn't too high/low.

[@CanaryIrish]

@@Huddison No. Noticed the knots setting disappeared from your video as well.

[@flybeeson7950]

I'm on the Xbox without a separate Keyboard and am having trouble entering the airport ICAO code on the G1000 NXi screen. Ref. 4:30 Mins in the video - After pressing the "Direct To" button and then the little icon (under Ident ..) the alphanumeric pad appears on the Xbox (as you say) but when I enter the code (in upper case) and press the normal arrow key on the pad to enter, nothing happens. The code is not transferred to the Garmin screen. In fact all the controls seem to lock up until you press the icon again. I would really appreciate it if you could please check this on the Xbox as I could well be doing something wrong?

[@Huddison]

Hi Alan, I will check this later, when I'm back home.

[@Huddison]

On my testing, I've found the same thing. I would suggest a cheap keyboard for now - although I'll leave this open to others' opinions. This is maybe something for the G1000 NXI team to look at: as when you select direct entry with the gamepad, it switches automatically to keyboard mode.

[@flybeeson7950]

@@Huddison Thanks very much for confirming the problem. I will look into contacting the Garmin team about this, as you suggest. (I think I’ll skip on the keyboard as I’m not sure I’ll have much use for it overall). I would like to “Buy you a coffee” but I see you don’t have this facility with your videos. You might like to consider adding it (ala Simhanger) as I’m sure others would like to show their appreciation of your help as well.

[@flybeeson7950]

@@Huddison As a matter of interest I watched a video on the Garmin1000 NXi and discovered an alternative way of entering the airport ICAO code. It is done using the outer FMS knob to scroll through the alphabet and the inner knob to move to the next letter; after which you just press ENT. It's a bit tedious but works fine. (I have left a bug report re the Xbox alphanumeric pad issue today on the MSFS Forum anyway, but it is not so important now there is this alternative).

[@CanaryIrish]

Hudds ... A few other observations and queries. On Hotas, Controller, Mouse combi wasn't able to reset position on ground. B not working. What command is it called. Also after pressing FLC the Nose DN button increases the speed to 80 knots and the Nose UP button decreases it. Might be a fault in Xbox version ?

[@Huddison]

The FLC functionality is the same on PC - If I recall correctly, that is true to the real thing.

[@CanaryIrish]

Hudds ... Any thoughts on resetting altimeter on ground in terms of button to press on Hotas, Controller, Mouse combo

[@Huddison]

@@CanaryIrish Im away visiting family atm, but jump onto the Discord: discord.gg/3kra6JfHZT - someone is bound to give you adivse on this there.

[@CanaryIrish]

@@Huddison Will do

[@CanaryIrish]

@@Huddison On reflection will select a binding for Set Altimeter on controller and/or Hotas and take it from there.

[@littlenemo14]

I’m doing this for the first time. But my airport elevation on the ground at Leicester is showing 460. How do I reset this? I notice James that yours is showing 40.

[@Huddison]

Perhaps I didn't reset mine correctly, I'll have to check Steve.

[@littlenemo14]

@@Huddison Maybe James. But how do I reset it anyway? I’m sure that you said on one of your videos to press B on the keyboard but I’ve tried this to no avail. Thanks in advance.

[@Huddison]

@@littlenemo14 Yes 'B' is the default keyboard setup to reset it. I've not had to reset my altimeter since the last SU.

[@rogerwines6947]

How do you turn on the range circle? I can’t seem to find it

[@Huddison]

In Map Options, have North facing upwards and you should get the range circle.

[@rogerwines6947]

@@Huddison thank you I’ll try that

[@brunogt1982]

How you determine the 10 degrees?

[@Huddison]

Do you mean when adjusting the OBS heading? - If it's not too far off your current flight plan, the autopilot will still follow it just fine.

[@brunogt1982]

@@Huddison i mean how you know the airport heading is 10 degrees?

[@Pilzhirn]

@@brunogt1982 Landing Runway 01 = 10 degrees. Multiply the RWY number with 10 and you'll get the airports (approach) heading degrees, afaik 🙂 This ist common for all airports in the world.

[@Huddison]

@@brunogt1982 See the flight planning part at the beginning.

[@brunogt1982]

@@Pilzhirn thanks appreciate 👍🏼