A brief look at manipulating TFM
This section covers an overview of the basics that you will encounter as you learn your way around Talking Flight Monitor.
The TFM Control Key
Talking Flight Monitor has a Layered keyboard command system. In the majority of cases, you will primarily interact with TFM using the TFM control key, followed by a subsequent command to read instrumentation or manipulate Talking Flight Monitor’s options on the fly. For English keyboards, the TFM control Key is set to right bracket. For instance, if a user wanted to check the aircraft’s current speed or heading, a user would press and release right bracket, followed by either the letter s or h on their keyboard. If the user then wanted to check their heading, the tfm control key would be pressed again, followed by the letter h. Talking Flight Monitor will beep to signify when you have invoked the TFM Control command. The TFM control key can be customized within keyboard manager.
Note: Please see The TFM Control Key Layer
section in the quick reference command book for all of the possible commands that can be used within the TFM key layer.
The Alt key, quick access shortcuts, and The TFM Menu Bar
To access Talking Flight Monitor’s Menu bar, while in TFM’s main window, press the Alt key. The menu bar allows you to access the various screens and windows of the application, pop out windows, and access the application’s preferences. After pressing Alt, you can press any of the quick access keys listed with any of the menu items to quickly access that specific option. Holding down Alt while pressing a specific quick access menu key will not yield the result that you may expect, as alt keyboard shortcuts have been assigned to numerous other functions that can change based on the currently focussed window. This can primarily be seen in all windows within the Aircraft menu excluding the CDU. A prime example of this behaviour is within the MCP section. As you tab around the various controls, you will notice that TFM will speak quick access keys after the currently focussed control is read. In most cases, you can either press that quick access key with or without alt. This can be very handy in cases where you are inputting data into a field and wish to invoke a quick access key without moving your focus away from the entry field.
The basics of the FMC
The FMC can be found within the TFM Aircraft menu. Once open, press tab and shift tab to explore the various buttons and fields. Each button can also be activated with it's accompanying quick key; this information can be found once focus is on a specific control. To jump to the FMC display read only box, press alt+home. Alt up and down arrows act as next and previous page, respectively. CDU messages that pop up will be shown at the bottom of the CDU display. To clear these messages, press alt+C.
To access the scratchpad, press alt+s to jump to the field. Type any information desired, and press enter to send the information to the aircraft. This buffer was created to prevent user error. You will receive an announcement once the information has completely transfered. Press the corresponding line select key to transfer the information from the scratchpad to the appropriate line. The scratchpad field in TFM will clear once the enter key is pressed.
Note: Please see the CDU Commands section
in the Quick Reference Command book for a complete list of keyboard shortcuts.
Important Note on Line Select Keys
Depending on how you have the line select mode set, press either ctrl and the numbers 1 through 6to activate the left line select keys, and Alt+1 through 6 for the right. The alternative mode uses function keys F1 through F12, with F1 through F6 as the left side, and F7 through F12 as the right side. To switch between modes, use the keyboard command Ctrl+l.
The basics of the MCP
To access the MCP, while in the main TFM window, press alt followed by R. Use first letter navigation or down arrow to find the MCP. Left or right arrow while focussed on the tab bar or ctrl and the numbers 1 through 5 will navigate you across each of the various panels. To change an MCP value such as altitude, heading, or speed, place focus on the field, input your value, and press enter. The keyboard shortcuts found over each control can aid you in manipulating the MCP further.
Note: For a complete list of available keyboard shortcuts that can be used in the MCP, please see the MCP Commands section
in the Quick Reference Command book.
The gates and Runways screens
These screens can be accessed through the navigation menu in TFM, accessed by pressing alt followed by N. An airport database build
is required for these screens to produce the expected results. The gates screen allows you to filter and reposition your aircraft to a gate or parking position. Type your airport icao in the edit box and press enter. You will be presented with a grid. Up and down arrow between the items and press enter to reposition the aircraft to the chosen position. Filters can be accessed and applied by accessing the context menu.
The runways screen works in a similar manner, however you can also access and set information for ILS readings on approach. When focused on a runway, press Ctrl+D to set this runway as your destination runway. The tab key allows you to view ILS information on the currently focused runway.
Note: The runways and gates screens are presented in a grid format. Please see the Table Sorting Commands section
in the Quick Reference Command Book for a complete list of commands for sorting and reordering grid elements
aircraft panels
TFM gives access to various panels in the PMDG 777, which can be accessed through the aircraft menu, specifically the “aircraft panels” menu item. The panels are made up of an expandable treeview, followed by controls you can tab and shift+tab through. First letter navigation can be used within the treeview. Prompts are given for most of the quick keys in pannels, and there is also a search function you can jump to with the F2 key.