MGL iEFIS Electronic Flight Instrument System Simulator

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MGL iEFIS Discovery, Explorer and Challenger

Learn how to set up MGL iEFIS Electronic Flight Instrument System (Glass cockpit) simulator on your home computer for the aircraft you fly. Use the panel simulator to familiarize yourself with the cockpit panel and navigation techniques with structured lessons. It should be noted this simulator is made mainly to modify the panel designs, however it works pretty good as a simulator which we will cover here.

First we have the installation steps with a video overview and four lessons each with a video below for you to utilize features of an EFIS.

INSTALLATION

Install MGL iEFIS Simulator

Please note that this is quite an involved task. However, we’ve provided all the necessary steps to make it as easy as possible. Simply follow the detailed steps provided here with the text. You must follow every step exactly as provided. This is tricky and it took a long time to detail out all the necessary steps.

I’ve provided a video overview, but for installation and lessons, you must refer to the written instructions provided on this page.

NOTE: Download and install iEFIS flight simulator system on your computer via:

https://www.mglavionics.co.za/iefisg3updates.html

Note this is the updated link from the video link that is outdated. Scroll down the page to “Download the matching iEFIS Simulator (Approximately 4MByte size). Windows installation program (requires administrator privileges to install).” Click on active link to download .exe file to install.

The application starts with the mid-sized Explorer screen. This mid-sized default is probably the best to use.  If you have, or want to select, the smaller Discovery or larger Challenger panels, go to upper menu Project and select either the smaller Discovery panel or larger Challenger panel.

The Challenger can be quite large on your screen and sometimes you cannot get to the buttons below. You should select the screen for the specific screen files you have. If you do not have specific screen files that would represent your aircraft, stick with the default mid-sized Explorer screen. If you changed screens, you must exit application and restart program, so you are in the alternate panel simulator.

In Project, Create new Project, create a new project and name it what you want. You will see your project name in the upper center of your panel.

Install Aircraft Screens

Download: AllScreensData.zip (Size: 191KB)

First to get started, get the screens for the aircraft you want. These should be for the smaller Discovery panel, the medium Explorer panel or the largest Challenger panel. The screens must match the project you set up in the last step. Generally we will use the Explorer panel here.

We have our standard custom screens for the Sling 2 Challenger panel, the mid-sized Explorer panel for the Evolution REVO trike and the most compact Discovery panel for the REVO trike. (details of these must be provided later).

In the top menu File Manager, move the screens to the MMC sub-directory on the right-hand side. This is like the real panels removable SD card. You will be moving a number of other files here later.

Go to top menu and click on Sensor simulation. Next show pressure Sensors. Then move the Dynamic pressure (airspeed) all the way down to zero. This is necessary for the next step. If you do not do this, it thinks you are in flight and you cannot proceed.

In the lower right-hand part of the panel, click panel Menu button and with the new list click Install Tasks, then click Install screen files to screens folder. This will move the files from the SD/MMC to the panel system. Now the screens specific to your aircraft have been installed in the panel.

One more step to be able to see the new screens on the simulator.

Go to Menu, System Setup, then page down 4 pages to Standard System Selections.

Go into/click each Flight, Engine, Fuel and Info and change ALL the screens to  Custom screens as shown in the example below.

Now you can see your custom the screens on the panel.

Install Navigation Data, Sectional and Vector Maps

Download the updated data for your area and put it into the MMC file. This simulates the SD card on a real panel. You find this in the top menu under File Manager, as Explorer then MMC.

Listed here are the US data downloads:

Instructions: https://www.michiganavionics.com/database-updates/

Database Update: https://support.michiganavionics.com/portal/en/kb/articles/database-updates

Navigation data – Navidata.ewd

This is the Navigation Data for the airports. Again, In the lower right-hand part of the panel, click panel Menu button and with the new list click Install Tasks, then click Install NaviData databases. This will move the files from the SD/MMC to the panel system.

Sectionals – Raster Maps – WxxxNxx.MAP

Save Zip File, Unzip, Copy Extracted WxxxNxx.MAP Files to MMC sub-directory as above, then as above MENU > Install tasks > Install or Remove Raster maps > Install MapMaker2 maps type *.MAP (select yes to proceed, takes a while to load so be patient).

Note that both the NaviData and the Sectionals can be updated as the FAA updates the data bases so these can be kept up to date using this procedure above.

Vector Maps of Roads/Rivers/Towns/Borders – Vmap.evd

Save File. Copy Vmap.evd files to MMC sub-directory as above, then as above, go to MENU and install tasks. Next, install vector maps and you’re done. This data does not change much so it doesn’t have to be updated often.

Install Terrain Data

Both Terrain data files are zip files and must be unzipped and moved to the terrain sub directory in your project with the File manager top menu function. It is NOT necessary to update since it does not change much.

TerrainL File:

http://www.mglavionics.co.za/g3terrain.html http://www.mglavionics.co.za/Terrain/TERRAINL.ZIP

And world.bmp File:

http://www.mglavionics.co.za/World.zip

Set Units

Select lower right MENU > System Setup > System units setup and set up your units to what you have on your aircraft.

Desired Location, Altitude and Airspeed

Adjust the GPS location, speed and direction

Go to top menu Sensor simulation > Show GPS > and set your Latitude and Longitude to desired location (for example my area is N 40 and W 119). Select the GPS position valid box below and click Save current position. This will put you in this position when you open the simulator. Enter the GPS heading and ground speed from the boxes or move the black dot.

Go to top menu Sensor simulation > Show pressure Sensors > and adjust your Static pressure (altimeter) and Dynamic pressure (airspeed) to desired values typical for your aircraft.

Setup your engine

<p.Go to top menu Sensor simulation > Select Show RDAC XF as RDAC 1 and select RDAC on/off should eliminate all the red X for the engine instruments. Now go through and adjust the engine parameters to correlate with your typical cruise conditions. As you move the sliders you can see the engine parameters adjust on the engine instruments on the simulator panel.

Typically 6 EGT probes are in the engine instruments so go to the lower MENU > System setup > Engine monitoring setup > Setup RDAC 1 probes and senders > TC channel scan setup > Click both TC5 and TC6 mode to get Not Used (TCuni1) so that only 4 EGT’s show on the engine panel.</p

Add Transponder And Radio

Go to lower MENU > System setup menu go 3 pages down and setup (may have to go back and put the airspeed to 0 to setup)

  • Transponder setup – setup (mode s on CAN)
  • Com radio setup – setup (com 1 channel spacing 25 MH)
Go one more page down, or 4 pages down from top of System setup menu, to Equipment Enables.
  • turn on VHF Com 1 used in system
  • turn on Transponder used in system

LESSONS

Lesson 1 – Set Up Basic Flight Parameters On Attitude Screen Page One

In top menu Sensor simulation in both Show Pressure Sensors and Show GPS, set a direction and ground speed with the GPS and in pressure senders set the True airspeed to equal groundspeed.

In Sensor simulation > Show AHRS/compass simulator, in top center of the panel, set compass heading (white Mag xxx) equal to GPS heading (larger magenta XXX). In this Sensor simulation > Show AHRS/compass simulator, move the GForce on the right up slightly to get rid of the GForce dial in the middle of the attitude screen.

[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/NlBINiKYXbY”][/vc_column

Lesson 2 – Familiarize With The Multiple Pages And Work With Map Views

Page through all the screens (lower button on the RH side of the screen). For the map screens, go back and forth between the Raster/Sectional and Vector maps by clicking on the lower MAP button and paging through the top entry (plates will be empty if you do not install plates). Experiment with the map functions map mode North Up and GPS track up. You can activate the zoom feature by clicking on the map and the zoom option will be available for about 3 to 4 seconds. Set up the maps how you like them. You can declutter the screens, at each of the zoom levels separately by deselecting the Helibases, Waterbases, Navigation, Waypoints and intersections. Again, this must be done for each zoom level.

[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/dDriDj238xE”]

Lesson 3 – Set A Waypoint And Fly To It

On screen One, select the lower right GPS button and select an airport near your location. Top menu Sensor simulation select Autopilot simulator. Auto pilot type select MGL internal, Horizontal NAV source valid and Engage autopilot and exit. View the different screens as you fly to the waypoint. When you arrive at the waypoint the aircraft will circle. Same as this lesson started, select another waypoint and fly to it.

Again, select the GPS GOTO button, but select the lower search button and search for an airport further away and select it to fly to. As in lesson 1 above, set the magnetic compass to equal the GPS track and adjust altitudes and airspeeds appropriately.

[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/EeSUDgvBEGA”]

Lesson 4 – Perform a cross country flight from your local airport

Establish your aircraft at your local airport (this can be done by setting it as a waypoint and flying to it. Make this your current location by going into the top menu Show GPS and saving the current location. This will make this the default position whenever you start up this simulator. Plan a cross-country flight to a number of locations and fly it. Monitor and adjust your altitude, airspeed and direction for each leg. Use the different screens along the way to familiarize yourself with the system.

[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/P8RBsyQMm8g”]

Continuing Lessons

Continue to fly to airports and expand by exploring the different systems and options with this simulator. You are on your way to understanding the basics of modern flight instruments and navigation.