Community Discussion > Flight Operations

Pen 16 when starting to descend?

(1/2) > >>

EHM-1749 Hector:
"You had climb after FL180 without changing your qnh to standard 29.92"
For heaven's sake, how can you get this penalty when you are starting to descend?
I was typing in IVAO's window (no controller) my descent and arrival (BUSE2P) when I got the warning.
Can something be done to flag down this penalty and to apply it only when climbing?

EHM-2097 Andrei:
Sorry about that Hector.

One thing's for sure, the penalty message does not reflect its actual meaning: you ARE above 18000ft but have your altimeter set to QNH different from 1013 mbar.

The most dangerous place to get this penalty on descent is exactly when crossing FL180, because depending on the weather you may get an altitude above 18000 immediately after resetting the altimeter. There is a "tolerance" for this but I never knew exactly how much. The solution is to change from QNH to 1013 and back way below 18000ft / FL180 (yes, there is no penalty for 1013 setting below transition altitude / level :) )

Another possibility is related to the "B" for "BUSE2P" you were typing. If something triggered a change of focus from your IVAP window to the FS window, then the "B" you typed means exactly that in the standard FS controls set: resetting the altimeter to local QNH. I got this type of penalty N times shutting down lights while I thought I was typing "L" in FMC, an the only solution I found was remappping ALL one-letter keyboard shortcuts to their Ctrl-something counterparts.

Hope this helps

Andrei.

RCortez:
I'm a Newbie as you knows, I'm very very far away of you Hector and Andrei too to close your score, nevertheless I think penalties are penalties. Yesterday I was flying on IVAO and suddenly my airplane got over speed, I mean penalty 6, but I was in CMD and at 280 IAS too and suddenly the wind give me 294 IAS and the Logger told me you're airplane was at overs peed  >:( In my case the wind was the beginning of this problem. I know that your problem is different, but penalties are penalties ::) I'll continue to learn with practice and with your suggestions too ;)

EHM-2387 Eric-Jan:
... The "B" key resets your QNH to standard when above FL180, and to local QNH (taken from FS weather) below FL180. So that should not trigger this pen16, when you are starting your descend. Actually, with the DA F70/F100 it is the only way to avoid pen16, because the "STD" button only sets the main altimeter, and you get a penalty because the backup altimeter is still set wrongly.

I believe the tolerance for this penalty is only about 500 ft (or was that the Landing lights @ FL100 penalty?). But Andrei is right anyway: You can set your QNH to local anywhere below FL180 when descending. I always plan a continuous climb or descend through the FL100 through FL180 range (when no ATC online ;) ), and do my lights and QNH things in that range. That way you minimalise the chance of getting those penalties. Believe me, I have a PPP score of about -12.000, so I have lots of experience there  ;D

Reading Roberto's post, maybe (while descending below FL180) you got blown up to above FL180 after setting your local QNH by a sudden turn of the wind (FSX has very strict wind layers, that can have even opposite wind directions, with hardly any smoothing in between). Unlikely, I know, but it's possible...

P.S. I only know BUSE2P as a SID from LPPT; so that's not an arrival...
P.P.S. At what altitude / Flightlevel did you get the penalty? FL370, or FL190, it makes a difference in this case.

RCortez:
Thank you Eric-Jan I received the penalty at FL350 ??? Thanks again for your comments :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page