A New Take on the CJ2 GTN 750 Integration

What started as a project to only improve my own experience in the Carenado Cj2, ultimately blew up into something far bigger than me.  More than anything it was the love I received from you all for creating it that really struck me.  So, I just wanted to start by saying thank you for all the support.  I still plan on doing a regular CJ2 update with the GTN too.  However, with a little help from @rcbarend, @Bert Pieke and @roland_lfor I got a little side tracked………….. I’d like to finally introduce you to it…….

When Carenado first released plans to do the Phenom 100 it was received with a lot of excitement…..and also some cautious skepticism.  On one hand, back then there simply weren’t many business jets available to the flightsim community, especially ones with Carenado levels of modeling.  On the other hand, this also meant Carenados not so popular G1000 flight deck would be finding it’s new home in another aircraft that could prove to be popular……at least at release.

As we know that’s exactly what happened.  The Phenom was very popular initially.  That is until the G1000 gremlins seen in other Carenado G1000 equipped aircraft, started finding their way into the Phenom too.  It’s younger big brother the Phenom 300 would ultimately prove to be a better Phenom especially with its faster speed, increased range and even a Navigraph extension which kind of helped the G1000 woes but not really.  Ok not at all.

In a way, it paralleled the rise and “fall” of the real aircraft.  The Phenom 100 was first introduced to great acclaim back in 2005.  With its large spacious cabin, ease of operation and sexy looks, the Phenom was an instant hit especially with owner operators.  However, even after introducing the E (Enhanced) and EV (Evolution) variants of the Phenom 100 which offered increased speed and range along with a host of other upgrades, it’s initial popularity simply could not compare to the economic and performance advantage offered by the Phenom 300.  Like Carenado’s version, sales of the real 100 started to decline. To add insult to injury, then there was the newcomer on the block from of all places, a Japanese car company....

I won't go into all the awesome features of the HondaJet.  They are easy to find if you don't already know.  What I will call attention to is the fact that Honda went directly for Embraer and its Phenom 100’s jugulars.  Like Killmonger standing over a defeated Tchala shouting, “Is this your king?”, Honda designed an aircraft that took the best of the Phenom (i.e. cabin dimensions, ease of operation, and luggage capacity) and made it exponentially better.  It then added even more.  For example, the Phenom and Hondajet have virtually the same size cabin except in one very important dimension, length.  With its six additional feet, this meant passengers sitting in the Hondajet’s club seating would not be touching knees like in the Phenom. One could argue that it may be time to put both Carenado’s and Embraer’s real Phenom 100s out to pasture (at least production wise for Embraer.)

But what if it isn’t……………………………?

Look closer at this picture and the other Phenom picture at the top of this post.  Other than the really cool livery by Pascal Kuffer, it's just another Phenom 100 right?  What if things aren't always the way they seem?  What if (like art) all you need is a different perspective. One in which your attention is directed not at the larger picture, but down to the smaller more minute details?  What if that is the only way you could truly see what's really in front of you? 

Let’s close our eyes and use our imaginations for a bit…..(Ok keep them open so you can keep reading this but you know what I mean).... Imagine a Phenom 100 like no other before.  Imagine it could fly further, faster and higher then both the E and EV.  In fact what if it could cruise fast enough to make the Hondas speed advantage only an advantage on 1000+ mile legs? What if it could cruise at the same Maximum altitude as the Hondajet (43000ft vs 41000 for the legacy aircraft.) What if it even had a higher MTOW than the Hondajet? All this while still maintaining its short field performance advantage over the Civic maker?  What if it not only regained its crown back from the Honda, it snatched it back for the utter disrespect?  What if it dethroned the Honda by doing exactly what Honda did to it, use its own strengths against it…………………………...

(In this case) its engines.

What I give you is a rabid wolf in sheep's clothing.   It's called the Black Phoenix Phenom 100E mod (aka Phoenix 100E aka Phenom 100E Black).  This is a fictional upgrade of the Carenado Phenom 100 to a Phenom 100E with Honda/GE HF-120 engines installed. Don’t believe me? Look at the engine fan cone in the picture below…………….

It's kind of hard to see it.........but then there is also this......

(Look on the front of the engine nacelle right below the horizontal lines of screws…………😉)

Unlike the Hondajet, these are not derrated to 1997lbs of thrust.  No, in this bird you get their full 2050lbs of static thrust (each)…..That's before the MCT Enhance mode engages (more on that later). 

Just like the CJ2+ mod, this mod isn’t just a New Engine Option tweak to an air file and aircraft config file with the GTN slapped in the VC.  No, there’s so much more (even more than what I included in the CJ2+)!  For instance, look closer at the landing light.

lets get in a little closer......

Better view of the engine fan cone...........

Be honest would you have ever noticed the all new LED assembly inside it had I not pointed it out?  This after all is a very important feature as now the “landing” light toggle switch position is the “Pulse/recognition” landing light setting (The taxi position is used for both Landing and Taxi lighting now)……

So why is it called Black Phoenix anyways?  Well from this point on all my mods will be Black Phoenix Mods (see the Phoenix on the side of the plane behind the “Phenom 100E” titling? 😉).  We all know the significance of the mythical bird.  Well just like the Phoenix, I plan to use various mods like this to bring some of these Carenado aircraft that are probably dead in most of your hangars back to life,only better than they were before.  As far as the Black part of it, well that is my Homage to one of the coolest names in the Automotive industry…the Mercedes AMG Black Series.

But I digress how about we have a look inside………………….

The first thing that you will probably notice is that the Black Phoenix has been embroidered on all of the head rests in the aircraft including the one in the flight deck…..

about that flight deck????

Something looks different.......

Obviously, there is no longer a GCU (I couldn’t remove the two knobs as they are part of the VC model)…….But did you also notice the MFD looks different too?  If not, let’s just say maintenance can’t swap it with the PFDs for trouble shooting purposes any longer.  Plus who needs all those extra buttons when the MFD is now a touchscreen anyway 😉

So do I have your attention?   Because now it gets good......Lets power her up!

A picture worth a thousand words……………What caught your attention first?  The PFD boot screens or the MFD’s?  (oh it gets better)………

What good is one GTN 750 when you can have two…………..but where did the engine gauges go??? (keep reading)…………

Cabin lighting looks good on those Phoenix headrests………  It just sucks that it’s such a rainy day though.

…….or does it………….

Wait a minute???.............Is that a......!?!      (Let me turn the Gain setting down then you tell me……………. 😉)

One of the things I hate about modifying Carenado’s G1000s to the GTNs is that you lose the weather radar.  Well Thanks to Roland this mod will include a weather radar that works EXPONENTIALLY better than the one Carenado included.  It includes sweep, gain control, tilt, icing, and 10-80 nm range selections…All this for the low price of FREE. 99 (with an additional .99 discount!)   BUT there’s a catch…..First, this weather gauge only works with ASN.  There is another version Roland has made that will also work with AS16.  I have not tested it but I feel it should work fine…….  Rex or other weather engine users sorry……The other catch which isn’t really one honestly, is if this mod is released the gauge will not be included.  You will need to download it from Roland’s AVSIM link (his only stipulation in granting permission to use it.)  That will be in the install instructions and is honestly a small price to pay for a gauge that easily rivals the weather radar gauges included in PMDG and other higher end payware aircraft!

Wait what…………..did the GPU just die????  That’s ok that gives me an excuse to jump over to Teterboro and Telluride so I can show off some of the other features included……………….(yup there’s more)……….and just how much her performance has improved!

End Part 1……………………………(But what about those engine gauges……..?)  😊

So what do you guys think???  Should I make this mod available to the community???  Well before you decide stay tuned for Part II......

References:

This mod incorporates elements from @Jiri Kocman awesome original Phenom 100 GTN mod

Hondajet engine pic from  Here

They rotate but the fuel valve will not supply fuel. I tried starting a different aircraft and then switched back to the Phenom 300, No GO.

I tried holding down Ctrl + Shift + F4 and the engines spool up to 100% but drop to below 6% when I let Ctrl + Sh + F4 go.

So my new aircraft is making flying difficult. 

1. After loading the default Phenom 300 - The inside aircraft has no skin. - everything is there but skin is invisible.

2. I loaded the Navigraph Phenom 300 Extension Pack - no difference.

3. Now the Engines. ( I have never gotten the Engines to start.

4. I downloaded and installed - The P3Dv5 update - NO Difference.

Aircraft looks nice.

PHENOM 100 GTN INTEGRATION MOD v2.0

Optional textures modifications for the lower panel are provided for installation of a Wx radar or secondary GTN 650 in the single GTN option, in place of the GCU keypad. For the dual GTN option, only the radar texture is offered, as there is a limitation of two GTN units per panel. These textures also modify the bottom and right bezels softkeys of the MFD to add functionality for the EIS and shortcuts to the GTN(s) unit(s).

GTN MFD ENHANCEMENTS

• Automatic Thrust Reserve (ATR) functionality is enabled. The default mode for the ATR is off, and can be enabled via the ENG SET softkey button in the EIS Engine page to engage the Takeoff Reserve power setting or thru the 2D stock MFD.  It will provide 4 percent power increase when engaged. The ATR is automatically enabled under one engine operation. Under normal conditions, the ATR will disengage after 20 minutes operation.
• The engine igniter switches are functional.  An engine will not start if its igniter switch is set to OFF.

• The transponder settings are automatically controlled by the GTN MFD. The PFD’s XPDR mode (STBY, ON, ALT) will be switched to STBY on the ground, to ON below 500’ AGL and to ALT mode over 500’ AGL.

• Oxygen tank’s initial quantity is set to full at startup when fuel capacity is greater that 70%, otherwise it is set as percentage of fuel capacity. Consumption is calculated based on 5 hrs duration with 1850 lbs. with the Oxygen valve open and altitude above 10000 MSL. No Dispatch CAS warnings will appear on the EIS gauge if pressure is below 730 psi.

• Landing field elevation warning in all EIS will remain until field elevation is updated, as in the real aircraft. Cabin altitude is set to density altitude on initialization.

• Barometric minimums will initially be set to 200 above LFE and are adjusted with the FMS knob in the lower right of the bezel in the MFD or PFD.
• Cockpit animations for side sunshades and instrument reflections are enabled on a cold cockpit, and are disabled when either battery switch is on.

• Pushback can be activated by the Cabin ALT switch on the lower panel. Left click toggles the pushback on, right click disables the Push back. Parking brake is automatically released before starting the pushback. The original Cabin Alt switch functionality is not affected by this change, and will continue to work inflight.

• Ground Power mode has been added to power up the Shed Bus while on ground with ENG2 running.

• Spoiler are now available for the Phenom 100 (the aircraft.cfg file needs to be modified). Ground spoilers are automatically enabled by the full flaps setting and automatically retracted on speed below 30 knots, or flap retraction from FULL position. Speed brakes can manually activated via the keyboard shortcut or thru a joystick or the throttle quadrant lever or button. There is no provision for a spoiler lever or switch in the VC cockpit.

• Front recognition strobe lights have been added, activated via the Effects switch in the overhead cabin light panel. Two options are provided, normal and fast strobe effects. Strobes are disabled when landing or taxi light is turned on.

• Flap activation turns recognition strobes off and activates the landing lights when airspeed greater than 30 knots.

• Pressure gauges are modeled to be more realistic. Oxygen level will fall, hydraulic pump will activate as needed. The brake accumulator pressure will be purged after six brake cycles, and will not engage the parking brake until hydraulic pressure is restored.

• Electric hydraulic pressure switch pressurizes the hydraulic system when engines are off, and will turn off when engine hydraulic pressure is sensed.

• Emergency brake reserve tank is fed by the aircraft hydraulic system. The reserve tank provides up to six applications of the emergency brakes (Parking lever) if no system hydraulic pressure is available.

• Master brightness control for the PFDs, MFDs and EFIS is incorporated in the Audio panel’s Pilot/Passenger volume knob (above the Display Backup red button)and will adjust brightness levels in the PFD, MFD (EIS section), and the EFIS.

• Inflight fuel, time and distance statistics are provided in the corresponding EIS page in the MFD. Some of the computations such as endurance reserves, fuel required, reserve fuel at destination, rely on flight plan data variables which the GTN 750 does not provide, and must be obtained from a sim’s legacy flight plan. Creating and loading a flight plan with departure and destination waypoints will provide the sufficient data these computations.

The added functionality of ATR, spoilers, yaw damper and cruise Speed Control require activation in the aircraft.cfg file in the PHENOM 100 main folder. A sample aircraft.cfg file incorporating the required changes, but the aircraft section from your aircraft.cfg file needs to be added, as only a sample aircraft is included. Thrust has been revised to 1940 lbs to account for the auto throttle reserve (1860 lbs normal).

The mod will be posted to the Flight1 File Library System in as soon as is out of beta testing which will probable take a couple of weeks, if enough of you give me a hand with testing.

If interested in helping out, pleas PM me with an email address, and I will send you a download link.

Jorge

Last night, after updated the Navigraph, I'm not able to choose the airport at Select Departure and Select Arrival under the Proc menu.

Here is the link.

https://imgur.com/oY1lGHf

 Can anyone confirm after testing that the Phenom 100 with Navigraph Expansion Pack (Airac Cycle 2005) and SVS is "Good-To- FLY"  in the P3Dv5 sim without any problems? The Phenom 300 engines won't start 

 Thanks

 Best regards

 Hari

It is from something called: Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Debug Assertion Failed!

Program: ...icrosoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator, X\Carenavigraph.dll, File: c:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio, 12.0\vc\include\xstring, Line 1168

Expression: invalid null pointer

For information on how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual C== documentation on asserts

I hope someone can decipher all of that and give me some idea what to do next.

Thank you.

Bill

I have a few queries about this product and wonder how everybody else has managed to install it.

1. First of all, on Installation I am getting an error

"Error opening file for writing:

E\P3Dv4.5\WebSimBrowser\2.1\64\WebSimXML.dll

Click abort etc"

Please note that this is after initial installation which gave no error messages, but gave me the problems outlined below. I uninstalled SVS and then tried to reinstall getting the message above.

After the initial installation, and the problems encountered, I went to the manual and reading the manual regarding installation, it states the following

"The installer is located here for P3D v4: C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\redist\Interface\FSX-RTM\retail\lib"

Now I have spent a lot of time seeking, but nowhere in c/Program files do I have a Lockheed Martin folder. The same applies to c/program Files (x86).

I do have, however, a Lockheed Martin folder in c/Program Data but that folder does not have an SVS installer in there.

2. My next problem is locating the SVS.exe file because I do not have the Carenado C172SP G1000, which, it appears is mandatory to install the product. See cited text below.

"Installation 3.1. SVS installation By default, aircraft doesn´t have SVS installed. In order to install it you have run the “SVS.exe” file. Just double click on this file to install it. The “SVS.exe file is located at the following folder: Sim\SimObjects\Airplanes\Carenado_C172SP_G1000"

Do I understand correctly that I need to purchase this aircraft as part of the installation. 

3. I have checked all my Carenado aircraft but cannot locate an SVS.exe in any one of them.

I have proceed no further with the manual because of the above.

However to outline the problems I encountered after the first installation.

I loaded the DA-62 Fired up both engines and pressed the PFD soft key. I got an SYN Viz box which I pressed. I then pressed all the buttons to the right of that end box (syn viz) but nothing changed.

I found the same with the Phenom 100.

The Phenom 300 was a little different in that when I pressed the PFD soft key absolutely nothing happened.

I have no idea what is happening, nor, why it is happening but the product in videos looks good.

Can anybody help me please?

Regards

Tony

I have the Phenom 100 and the Phenom 300 both of which I would like to install synthetic vision into.

The phenom 100

When I click on the PFD soft key the end box comes up with SYN VIS. clicking on all the other boxes however, does nothing to the display. I have no idea how to fix this and from what I have read, it takes a reinstall (why) I have, however, done a reinstall and nothing has changed.

The Phenom 300.

When I click on the PFD soft key nothing shows up in the end box (syn vis) ... essentially, nothing happens.  I have reinstalled this aircraft too but that changes nothing either.

I would really appreciate some help with this please.

Regards

Tony

Thanks 

Ignacio 

Wondered if anyone had encountered this before please?

I recently installed the Navigraph extension for the E50P. Ever since, I build my flightplan ok and then choose 'Proc' to select an Arrival Procedure at the destination, but the Arrival sequence gets randomly inserted all over my existing flightplan, screwing the sequence up.

I find I now have to 1) Enter departure SID 2) enter arrival STAR 3) highlight the 'Arrival - XXX' entry and add in each step of my flightplan in between before I hit the STAR sequence.

Just me?

Thanks all.

Nige

Thanks,

Bruce

I cannot get the cockpit/cabin lights to come on.  The switch will say "ON", but nothing happens.  All other lights work (landing, reading lights, panel lights).  I've tried turning off reflections, reinstalling...but nothing changes.  Is there a fix for this issue?  I cannot fly the plane at night without cockpit/cabin lights.

Please go TO THIS THREAD for instructions on how to receive your Phoenix Phenom mod.  Thank you for your support and patience.  I hope she proves to be worth the wait.....

J

Anyone know why I cannot control the rudder for a crosswind side-slip crosswind landing in the Phenom100? I have auto-rudder off in the sim and the YD in the plane is off too. The autopilot is off as well. I can see the rudder pedals moving but there is no yaw response in the plane. Makes it difficult to line up in a crosswind landing.

Thanks if you can help.

Can anybody suggest replacement files from somewhere?

I wish I could transfer the sounds directly from  the many presentations of real flights on U Tube.

Can anyone advise what that nuisance ERR: 11 means on the G1000 PFD screen?

I’m currently enroute to YPPH and the message suddenly appeared.

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone advise on the following:

1. Does the Yaw Damper function work?  When I press it, it still shows as being off and can't notice the difference.

2. Are there Spoilers /Speed brakes that work?  Apparently it is automatic but doesn't seem to be simulated.

3. Does the TO/GA function work? I tried by pressing the TO/GA button but nothing seem to happen. I believe this function only works if an auto throttle function is available.

4. The Cabin light switch at the top panel doesn't work. Is that evident with other owners?

Thanks in advance.

I was wondering if anyone has a repaint with Australian registration. VH-???

Thanks in advance.

I am trying to import flight plans to the E50P without success, has anyone been able to do this? I have got the extension pack and have updated with the latest AIRAC 1802.

I can find nothing in the supplied documentation.

I was wondering if the SafeTaxi database will be added to the Navigraph E50P Phenom 100 Extension Pack for FSX/P3D?

Thanks in advance.

Fred

I am appalled and dismayed that the dreaded "Building Navigraph Database" problem is back (at least for me).

I understand that these sims are complicated, and with the release of a new version problems are to be expected.  But this problem has been afflicting Carenado users for years,  and there is absolutely no support provided by Carenado for this.  Browsing this forum and the web yields numerous postings where various folks have attempted to fix the problem.  The silence from Carenado on this topic is deafening.  I don't mind spending time applying fixes, but it would be nice if Carenado would at least attempt to help.

Carenado has a reputation for aircraft that are great eye-candy, but which have very poor (i.e., buggy) systems.  I have reached a point where I'm not purchasing any more Carenado products until the support is improved and the product launches are higher quality.  That 390 Premier 1A looks great, but I'm not buying another product so that I can get more database build errors and Navigraph avionics that don't work.