SimCheck Airbus

A300B4-200

Carousel IV INS

For use with Microsoft Flight

Simulator X
Copyright BCM bvba – Belgium
 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

SIMCHECK A300B4-200: CAROUSEL IV – PILOTS GUIDE

INTRODUCTION
The Carousel IV Inertial Navigation System (Carousel IV INS) was developed by
AC Electronics. It incorporates an (in 1969) advanced concept in navigation
design as an integral part of a commercial airplane's avionics system.
The “carouseling” technique is a process of rotating the inertial platform at
a uniform rate. This technique suppresses certain errors and provides highly
accurate, long range navigation.
Combining this feature with the rapid problem solving capabilities of a
digital computer provides the pilot with a reliable all-weather navigation
system independent of conventional navigational aids.
This guide has been prepared to acquaint the pilot with SimCheck A300B4
implementation of the Carousel IV INS. It highlights the capabilities and
operational characteristics of the Carousel IV INS and then presents an
illustrated discussion of in-flight operations.

LIMITATIONS
The SimCheck simulation of the Carousel IV does not match the real unit 100%.
We have not simulated some of the pre-flight preparations and VOR updating,
on the other hand we have added the capability to load and fly a complete FSX
flight plan.

DESCRIPTION
The Carousel IV INS is composed of four units:
 The Mode Selector Unit (MSU)
 Control/Display Unit (CDU)
 Navigation Unit
 Battery Unit
A typical inertial navigation complex will include two (SimCheck A300B4-200)
or three Carousel IV systems.
The MSU's are installed on the overhead panel.
The CDU's are located in the center console for easy access. The Navigation
Units are located in the airplane's electronics bay.
The advanced navigation concept of the Carousel IV INS provides the pilot
with maximum automatic navigation capabilities and instantaneous response
with minimum effort on his part. The SimCheck A300B4-200 Carousel IV INS even
allows to load and fly a complete FSX flight plan !
This system not only will assist in great circle navigation, but it will also
provide steering commands to the autopilot to steer the airplane through
predetermined waypoints, to the destination. On the other hand, if so chosen,
the pilot has the option of changing the course manually. In addition to
providing steering commands for automatic control, the Carousel IV INS also
provides the attitude signals for the autopilot, flight instruments, and
weather radar (not simulated).

As the flight progresses from waypoint to waypoint, the Carousel IV INS will
inform the crew of the flight leg presently being flown and alert an
impending course change as each waypoint is approached. The pilot can insert
the latitude and longitude of any waypoint during flight as conditions
require (when NOT in flightplan mode). This loading capability permits the

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

pilot to utilize any number of waypoints when it becomes necessary to alter

the original flight plan.
In addition, one may bypass up to 8 waypoints which have been preloaded into
the Carousel IV INS.
Throughout the entire flight, whether the Carousel IV INS is steering the
airplane or whether the airplane is under direct control, the Carousel IV INS
provides navigation data, such as present position, ground speed, heading,
distance and time to waypoint or destination, wind speed and direction, as
well as other pertinent data illustrated later in this guide.
This data is instantly available in numerical form on the CDU, and it is
constantly being updated to provide the crew with current information in
easily readable form.
The Carousel IV INS has been designed to minimize the cockpit work load. For
example, to load data into multiple navigation system installations requires
only the loading of data into one Control/Display Unit. Latitude and
longitude of the point of origin (not required in the SimCheck simulation)
and one or more waypoints, including the destination, are all the information
the navigation system needs.
The Carousel IV INS automatically loads the current position at start-up. It
will also load the position at time of loading into the waypoint “0” slot.
The Carousel IV INS continuously performs self-tests to monitor its own
performance and to maintain a knowledge of its operating condition. Should
the system detect an out-of-tolerance condition, the crew informed by a
warning light of possible degradation in performance. Furthermore, a backup
Carousel IV INS is available as a source of primary navigation and attitude
information and control.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200 SP2
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2009: SimCheck Software

INS ALIGNMENT (SP2)

Before the INS system can be used an
alignment procedure has to be performed.
This alignment normally takes approximately
10 minutes. During these 10 minutes the
aircraft should NOT move at all or the
alignment will fail. Each INS has to be
aligned separately.
In the Setting pages we have added an
option to speed up the alignment process to
a few seconds.

COLD AND DARK

When you enter the cold-and-dark aircraft
the INS’s will be off and the MSU rotary
switches are in the OFF position.

ENTER CURRENT POSITION

Note: Before entering the current position, set
the parking brake to avoid that the aircraft
will move during the alignment process
 Set the MSU rotary switch to STBY
 Set the main rotary of the CDU to “POS”
 Enter the present latitude and press
“INSERT”
 Enter the present longitude and press
“INSERT”
Any discrepancy between the actual FSX
position and the position entered into the
INS will be carried throughout the flight
until a new alignment is performed!
 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

ALIGN THE INS

Now set the MSU rotary to “ALIGN” and wait
until the READY light turns green. If “SET
INS REAL ALIGN TIME” was selected this can
take up to 10 minutes.

If the aircraft moves during alignment the

red light will go on and the alignment will
have to be restarted. Set the main rotary
switch to “STDBY” and then back to ALIGN to
restart realignment.

NAVIGATION
When the “READY” light is GREEN, set the
INS rotary to “NAV”. The INS can now be
used for navigation.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

DISPLAY MODES

THE CAROUSEL IV INS HAS 8 DIFFERENT DISPLAY

MODES: TK/GS MODE (GROUND TRACK
ANGLE/GROUND SPEED)
At any point in flight it is possible to
observe ground track angle and ground speed
in the data displays after placing the data
selector to TK/GS (ground track/ground
speed). Ground track angle is displayed in
the left-hand display to the nearest tenth
of a degree with respect to True North;
ground speed is displayed in the right-hand
data display in knots to the nearest knot.

HEADING/DRIFT ANGLE
The airplane's true heading and drift angle
are displayed at any time during flight by
selecting the HDG/DA (heading/drift angle)
position. The left-hand data display
indicates airplane heading with respect to
True North to the nearest tenth of a degree.
The drift angle is displayed in the right-
hand data display in degrees right or left
of the airplane heading to the nearest
degree.

CROSS TRACK DISTANCE/TRACK ANGLE ERROR

Cross track distance and track angle error
are displayed at any point in flight when
the XTK/TKE (cross track distance/track
angle error) position is selected. Cross
track distance appears in the left-hand data
display in nautical miles either right or
left

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

POSITION
Displays the current latitude and longitude,
display can be frozen by pressing the “HOLD”
key. Pressing the “HOLD” again will un-
freeze the position display.

WAYPOINT
Displays the coordinates of the waypoint
selected with the waypoint selector keys
(“+” and “-“).
Unassigned waypoints have position
00°00.0N 000°00.0W

DISTANCE/TIME
Shows the distance in NM and time in minutes
to the next waypoint at current ground
speed.
This mode can also be used to show the
distance between any two waypoints:
 Press the “WY PT CHG” key
 Press the “FROM” waypoint number and next
the “TO” waypoint number to show the
distance and time between these two
waypoints. The time between these two
waypoints is based on the current
groundspeed

WIND
Wind direction and speed are displayed at
any time during flight by setting the data
selector to WIND. Wind direction is
indicated in the left-hand data display to
the nearest degree, and wind speed is
indicated in knots in the right-hand data
display to the nearest knot.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

DESIRED TRACK
The left display shows the current desired
track to the nearest degree with respect to
True North.
The right display shows the name of the
waypoint when a flight plan was loaded (see
below) or “-“ when the waypoint was entered
manually through the CDU.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

ENTERING WAYPOINTS INTO THE INS VIA THE CDU

Manual waypoint entry

The Carousel IV INS can hold up to 9 LATITUDE/LONGITUDE waypoints at one time.
Waypoints can either be entered one by one manually or by loading an FSX flight
plan.
First we’ll discuss how to enter waypoints manually.

CDU set-up
Set the main selector switch to “WAY PT” by
left/right clicking the switch. Left mouse
clicks will turn the switch counter
clockwise, right mouse clicks will turn it
clockwise.
To enter a waypoint into position “1”, set
the left indicator to the “1” position by
using left and right mouse clicks (small
red circle).

Latitude
Next enter the LATITUDE of the waypoint.
Start by clicking on “2”-“N” for waypoints
in the northern hemisphere or “8” – “S” to
enter a waypoint in the southern
hemisphere.
Notice how the “INSERT” light goes on once
you start entering data.
Then enter the Latitude from left to right
by clicking the appropriate number on the
CDU keyboard.
Confirm the latitude by clicking the
“INSERT” button. To cancel the entry, click
the “CLEAR” button.
In this case we entered: “263527INSERT”

Longitude
Entering the LONGITUDE is done in exactly
the same way as entering the Latitude.
Start by pressing “4”-“W” or “6”-“E” and
then the coordinates, followed by “INSERT”
to confirm or “CLEAR” to cancel the entry.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

LOADING AN FS FLIGHTPLAN

GENERAL
Contrary to the real Carousel INS, this simulation is able to load any FSX XML
based flight plan.
The flight plan has to be stored in the “Microsoft Flight Simulator X files”
folder (or the localized version of this folder e.g. “Microsoft Flight Simulator
X – datteien” in German). The name of the flight plan has to be a number between
“0” and “99999”.
In a standard FSX flight plan the first waypoint is the departure airport, as it
doesn’t make any sense to include this in the INS flight plan, we skip this
waypoint and immediately go to the second waypoint in the flight plan.
To load the flight plan follow the steps described below.

STEP 1
 Loading a flight plan is always done from
the number 1 (left) CDU
 If you want to load the flight plan
simultaneous in both INS modules, press
the “REMOTE” key on both CDU’s, the
buttons will light up when pressed
 Set the main selector switch to
“DSRTK/STS”

STEP 2
 Set the waypoint selector to the position
where you want the first waypoint of the
flight plan to be stored (mostly “1”)
 Right click the number 1 key on the INS
keyboard  The light on the left top
corner will turn orange.
NOTE: A grey light means no flight plan is
being loaded – an orange light means a
flight plan is being loaded – a green light
means a flight plan is loaded

STEP 3
 Using the CDU keyboard, enter the number
of the flight plan e.g. “111”
 Press the “INSERT” key to load the flight
plan, press “CLEAR” to cancel loading a
flight plan
NOTE: as you enter a number the “WY PT CHG”
and the “INSERT” light go on.

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

STEP 4
There is no step 4, it’s that easy !
The flight plan is loaded which is indicated
by the green light. The names of the
waypoints are now displayed and can be
checked by scrolling through the different
waypoints in the flight plan.
NOTE: When the last waypoint in the flight
plan has been loaded the red “WARN” light
will go on

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

CHECKING THE FLIGHT PLAN

Whether you entered the waypoints manually into the CDU or loaded a pre-built
flight plan, you always have to check:
 The correctness of the coordinates entered into the CDU
 The distance between the consecutive waypoints

CHECKING COORDINATES
 Set the main selector switch to “WAY PT”
 Scroll through the waypoints of the
flight plan (maximum 9 at a time) and
check the LATITUDE and LONGITUDE against
the data in the flight plan

CHECKING DISTANCES
 Set the main selector switch to
“DIS/TIME”
 Press the “WY PT CHG” button on the CDU
 Enter the FROM and then the TO waypoint
number
 The distance between these two waypoints
will be displayed on the left display
 Press “CLEAR” to remove the waypoint
change
NOTE: Don’t press the “INSERT” button
because this will instruct the INS to fly
from the FROM to the TO waypoint

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

NORMAL OPERATIONS

CHECK POSITION
Before anything else, start by checking the position displayed on either CDU
against the current location of the aircraft.

LOAD FLIGHT PLAN

Using either of the two techniques described earlier on, enter the first 9
waypoints of the flight plan.

CHECK FLIGHT PLAN

Using the techniques described earlier on, check the coordinates of each of the
waypoints and the distances between each pair of consecutive waypoints against
your printed flight plan.

SET INS TO AUTO MODE

The INS works in either AUTO or MAN. In AUTO mode
the INS will automatically switch to the next
waypoint when it reaches the current waypoint, in
MAN mode it will not.
NOTE: The Carousel INS will not overfly waypoints,
depending on the track change from one leg to the
next it will start to turn before reaching a
waypoint

SELECT INS UNIT

Set the INS selector button on the main CPT panel to
INS1 or INS2 depending on which INS will provide
navigation data, in most cases INS1 is used.

HSI DATAFEED SET-UP

In order for the HSI to show data from the INS the
V/L – GPS switch has to be switched to GPS. The HSI
on the CPT or the F/O side have separate switches
for data feed and operate independent.

INS DATA ON THE HSI

When in “GPS” mode, the HSI will show a lot of
information fed from the INS:
1. The desired true track to the next waypoint
2. Distance to the next waypoint
3. The red ALERT flag will come when the time to the
next waypoint is 2 minutes or less
4. Time to the next waypoint at current ground speed
5. Ground speed
6. Data source, in this case RNAV 1  INS 1
NOTE: the HSI compass rose is oriented with Magnetic
reference, we have adjusted INS input to magnetic
north for convenience of use

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

WAYPOINT NUMBER “0” A SPECIAL WAYPOINT

Before we go on with the actual flight, we need to talk about waypoint 0.
Contrary to waypoints 1-9, waypoint 0 can not be set manually.
At start-up of FS waypoint 0 contains the current position of the aircraft.
The only way to change the coordinates of waypoint 0 is by performing a “DIRECT
TO” action. A DIRECT TO means that the FROM waypoint in set to “0” and the TO
waypoint to the waypoint you want to fly to in a straight line. The moment a
DIRECT TO action is performed waypoint 0 will updated to the current position
when the “INSERT” button was pressed.

ON THE RUNWAY READY FOR DEPARTURE

We have loaded and checked the flight plan,
set HSI feed to GPS and made sure the INS is
set to AUTO mode. It is time to get moving!
Turn on a flight director and activate NAV
mode by pressing the NAV button on the
glareshield. The master INS will now feed
track data to the FD

AFTER TAKE-OFF
Once airborne we can proceed direct to the
first waypoint and it is time to do a DIRECT
TO.
 Press the “WY PT CHG” button
 As we are proceeding from the current
position direct to waypoint 1, press “0”
then “1” on the CDU keyboard
 To activate the change press “INSERT” on
the CDU keyboard

EN-ROUTE DIRECTS
Once the aircraft is established on track it will fly all the waypoints entered
into the INS from 1-9. The FROM-TO indicator will automatically switch from “01”
to “12” to “23” etc…
If ATC clears you direct to a waypoint further in the flight plan this can be
achieved by performing a DIRECT TO from the current position (“0”) to the target
waypoint e.g. “04” in case the waypoint you are cleared direct to is currently
entered in position 4

FLIGHT PLANS CONTAINING MORE THAN 9 WAYPOINTS

Most flight plans will contain more than 9 waypoints. As you pass one waypoint
to the next the waypoints that lie behind you serve no further purpose and can
be replaced with new waypoints.

Manual waypoint entry

It is important to understand what is happening in the INS when entering new
waypoints. If the FROM-TO indicator for instance shows “34”, the INS is
following the track between waypoint 3 and waypoint 4. Entering a different
location into waypoint 3 will mean that the INS will try to get on the track
between the newly entered waypoint 3 and waypoint 4 ! So never enter new data in
any of the waypoint locations that are currently displayed in the FROM-TO
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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

window! If you desperately want to enter new data in waypoint 3, then perform a
direct to “04” first so waypoint 3 is no longer used for the current leg
navigation.

Flying a pre-loaded FSX flight plan

When you are proceeding along an FSX flightplan you don’t have to worry about
entering new waypoints yourself, but you have to keep checking the flight plan
coordinates and distances as you go along.
Also you have to be aware how we solved the issue that the INS can at any time
only hold 9 programmed waypoints! This limitation is not removed because you are
flying a pre-loaded FSX flight plan, the INS will at any time still only hold 9
waypoints.
Here’s an example of how the INS deals with flight plans that contain more than
9 waypoints. The left column describes the action taken by the pilot and what
happens behind the scenes in the INS memory, the right column shows a table that
describes what happens with the INS memory locations (top row - INS) and which
waypoint is stored in which memory location (bottom row - FP).
 Flight plan with 20 waypoint is INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
loaded, the first waypoint is stored FP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
in position “1”  The first 9
waypoints are stored in the INS
 Pilot pressed “01” to proceed direct INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
to waypoint 1 after take-off  The FP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
INS still stores the same 9
waypoints
 The flight proceeds along the pre- INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
programmed route and we are now FP 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
flying from waypoint 2 to waypoint 3
 INS waypoint 1 is no longer
required and is replaced with
waypoint 10 in the FSX flight plan
 ATC clears direct to waypoint 5 in INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
the flight plan and you perform a FP 10 11 12 13 5 6 7 8 9
DIRECT TO “05”  INS waypoints 2, 3
and 4 are no longer required and are
replaced with waypoints 11, 12 and
13 in the FSX flight plan
 We are still en route to waypoint 5 INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
and ATC clears us direct waypoint FP 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
18. As you can see FSX waypoint 18
is not loaded into the INS at this
time so we can not proceed direct to
this waypoint, the furthest waypoint
along the route that is currently
loaded in the INS is FSX waypoint 13
which is stored in INS waypoint 4.
We start by doing DIRECT TO “04” 
INS waypoints 5 to 9 and also 1 to 3
are no longer necessary as all these
waypoints lie before FSX flight plan
waypoint 13

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 SimCheck A300B4-200
Carousel IV INS – Pilot's guide
Copyright 2010: SimCheck Software

 As you can see the INS now contains INS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

all the waypoints from 12 up to 20. FP 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Although FX flight plan waypoint 12
lies before the current direct to
waypoint (13), it is not replaced
because the flight plan only
contains 20 waypoints. To go direct
to waypoint 18 we now do a DIRECT TO
“09” as that INS memory position now
contains the location of FSX flight
plan waypoint 18
As you can see using a 9 waypoint INS to fly flight plans with more than 9
waypoints can be a bit confusing at first and you have to keep track of where
you are in the flight plan to avoid doing stupid things.
This is why we have added the waypoint name to the data displayed on the CDU so
are at all times aware exactly which waypoint you are flying to !
Once you get used to the logic behind the system however, things become very
clear and simple !

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