I’m sure you’ve all seen it. The little percentage symbol above the throttle sliders that goes orange above 100% (How’s that even possible?!). Some of you might even know what it is! It’s N1. Not a very useful name i know
So what is N1?
N1 is a percentage figure. The better question is, what does it represent?. N1 represents the speed of the LPC (Low pressure compressor, the first set of spools after the big intake fan), with 100% being the maximum recommend/maximum setting used for long periods of time operational setting. Note N1 can go above 100% - up to 103% on most airbus’ and almost 120% on the 787!! This is for use during emergencies, go arounds, very heavy/short runway/hot take offs or other situations requiring the completely maxed throttle. However, going over 100% N1 is bad for the engine, and can then require increased maintenance and long period of >100% could damage the engine or shorten its life span.
Now we’ve sorted what N1 is, on to the feature request:
As you use the Autothrottle in IF to increase your speed, it will automatically go to 100 throttle, which is above 100% N1, unrealistic and bad for the engine. This request is for that N1 percentage to be limited to:
a) 95% N1
b) A customisable percentage decided by the pilot
This way you could have 80% max N1 for short, light flights and the full 100% for heavier, longer flights. It would also help prevent accidental overspeeding (as setting the AP to 250 IAS it will actually hit 255-260 while throttling back the engines) and help conserve fuel, and most importantly, increase realism by alot!
MaxSez: @Insertusernamehere… Your becoming my favorite IF Techee! You’ve found more esoteric flaws on this platform than any of those duty experts who past before you. Here’s a “We’ll Done” “BZ Flag set” you may use it as your logo if you choose. (I note your regular cheering section is represented here as always. Hope they get some useful professional knowledge gained as they tag along. When they understand and apply the data provided they will be better for it. Warm Regards.
I’m not actually sure, its quite tough to find sources and documentation for this, but I remember something saying it existed… Personally, if I can set it to autothrottle could
A) be unrestricted
B) go to 100%
C) go to 95%
D) go to 85%
I’ll do some more research to find how it works IRL.
What I am doing now (recommended by fellow IFATCs) is, that I´m trying to maintain 80–85% N1 and just adjust my vertical Speed, so it stays at arround this range :)
And I´m just using the Speed Autopilot once I´ve reached the Speed i aspire to have. So it doesnt turn orange at least.
After a bit of research, I’ve found that seemingly autothrottle has an N1 button to climb at a set N1 (though that’s for another request!) and that autothrottles don’t exceed 100%, but it’s tough to find what figure they follow.
Same, I use 90-95 for takeoff and IAS climb to 5000 but then reduce to 80% and climb. Problem is, it’s a bit weary to go all the way to FL400 at 1500fpm!
