AVSIM Commercial Aircraft Add-On Review 767 Pilot In Command

The 767 is a great aircraft. It looks beautiful, has a smooth ride, is easy to maintain, and a joy to fly. It's my personal favorite out of the "modern" airliners. Now into the fourth series (-400ER), the 767 has quite some life left in it before it also heads for the sunset. I know I'll be working on them for many years to come.

We all know Eric Ernst. Anyone who doesn't is most likely someone who just started flight simming yesterday. Back when FS98 was the mainstream sim, Eric was flying for American Eagle, on the ATR-72s. After releasing the fabulous B767 panel for FS98, Eric landed a job at American Airlines, flying the B767, and sort of diminished from the limelight—until recently, when Eric and his team joined forces with Wilco Publishing and decided to go commercial. Considering that Eric and his team made quite a name for themselves when they released the FS98 version of the B767 panel, and the fact that Eric is an active B767 pilot, 767 Pilot In Command was destined for success. And you better believe it. Which is why we have awarded it the AVSIM Online Award of Excellence in Flight Sim Design. If you thought the PSS packages were ground breaking (as I did), you're in for quite a treat. Graham Waterfield and the boys at PSS have their work cut out for them in their next package because, I believe, 767 PIC will be the one all future commercial aircraft/panel packages will be compared to.

In an exchange of email, Eric commented as follows:

"Unless you have been trained on a 757 or 767, most simmers will never truly appreciate the accuracy and complexity of the panel. I received an email from a 757 pilot from another airline who said the following: 'I can't say enough good things about your team's work. I hope the flight simulation community has enough sophistication at this to point to really appreciate what your team has achieved.'"

Reader Survey This survey is intended for those that have used this product or add-on. If you have used it, please let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if you have not used this product, do not take this poll (you can view the poll from the "Results" link below). - Review Poll - How would you rate 767 Pilot In Command? Excellent Good Average I can live with it Taking it off my system Results

Installation and Documentation

Usually in this section, we say something like "Installation was a snap. Pop the CD in the drive, and follow the prompts." And "Documentation is in the form of a printed manual or HTML files on the CD. It's good, blah blah blah." Well, installation is a snap. Pop the CD in the drive and follow the prompts. Documentation though is something completely different. When PSS released their 747 package, it came with three downloadable PDF files, consisting of a 14-page panel briefer, a 34-page charts and tables manual, and a 46-page panel operation manual. For those of you that haven't purchased the package yet, here's the manual structure for 767 PIC:

This is my fourth year of writing reviews, and to date, this has to be the first package that has this many manuals, let alone this many pages. However, I do have one little beef. Considering Eric is an active B767 pilot, and has access to all the performance charts and tables for the aircraft and the engines, it would have been the perfect cherry on top to provide a 6th manual that had all the performance tables and charts for the aircraft and engines. In this department, kudos has to go to PSS for all the charts and tables that they provide. However, Eric, tells us that they are in the works and will be released in the future.

Using 767 PIC with Windows 2000 by Maury Pratt, Managing Editor I made a series of tests running 767 PIC under Windows 2000. I'm pleased to report that all panel and aircraft functions performed flawlessly. I've flown it successfully with FS Meteo and ProFlight 2000 (you use only the auto COM feature—not ProFlight's PIC mode). The difficulty arises in resizing the window and in switching from windowed to 3D full screen modes (and back)—in all cases these actions induce an error, causing FS2000 to abort. The 'work-around' is to first load some other plane, then either size the window as desired or switch to full screen mode, then load 767 PIC. Everything went smoothly from that point on. But don't attempt to remove the menu bar—Win 2000 sees that as a 'screen resize' too. That's unfortunate, but it's only a minor annoyance. Another point I should add is that some (including me) experienced a problem with HDG SEL when first testing 767 PIC. At first it was thought this is a problem with the stick's (or control wheel's) sensitivity, but Laurent Crenier was able to run it down and has supplied a new AFDS gauge that completely solved this problem.

These manuals are very well done. The 108-page FMC manual and 116-page Panel Systems and Operating manuals should give you an idea of how complex the panel really is. Having worked on the machine for almost two years, and seeing countless run-ups, I felt right at home when I saw the package. Users who have used the PSS panels should have something of an idea what to do, in terms of getting the panel and aircraft to life, but it's still recommended you read Eric's manuals because here, you'll be doing stuff like IRU alignments. Without getting the IRUs aligned, you're not going anywhere. And if you don't read the manuals, you'll miss out on a host of new features on the FMC never before seen.

While reading the manuals I was reminded of the four weeks I spent on the B737 endorsement course. The manuals are written from a technical perspective—and it really shows. The casual simmer may need to read and re-read some of the sentences and paragraphs to grasp what is being said. Needless to say, they are very well written and provide enough information to quash the thirst of anyone wanting to fly with as much realism as possible.

The Aircraft

Back when the 767 was introduced, it was considered a large twin-jet aircraft. Boeing had built a good reputation for building large jets, after the success of the 747. Today, the 777 is the largest twin-jet, and the latest and greatest -300 model is actually longer than the 747-400. Boeing continues to hold onto the reputation of building large jets. Whether they can retain it remains to be seen once the Airbus A380 comes into service.

Test System Intel PII 450 MHz Windows 98 256 Megs RAM Diamond Viper V550 Video Toshiba 48X CD ROM TB Santa Cruz Sound MS Sidewinder FF Pro Panasonic 19" Monitor Flying Time: 40 hours over 15 days This shot shows us somewhere over Northern Canada, on our way to Athens, Greece. Notice on the EHSI that our next waypoint is N58W010. You can enter coordinates right into the LEGS page of the FMC. Cool hey? Beautiful isn't she? Notice the landing lights on the inboard leading edge of the wing? In this shot, we're using the FL CH mode to climb to FL330. Notice the climb rate is only about 500 feet per minute. That's the rate that the computers have determined will maintain the selected airspeed of Mach 0.80 Even though visually this British Airways 767 has Rolls Royce engines, performance, sounds, and the panel still reflect the CF6 As we climb out of Vancouver for a long-haul flight to Athens, some of the passengers have already packed it in for the mostly night flight over the Atlantic. The night lighting effects for all the aircraft are simply beautiful. The package comes with a pile of situations that have you in different scenarios. One of them is you've been cleared for the approach into Boston. Here, we are set up with LNAV doing the navigation, and VNAV doing the descent. The pointer in the EHSI indicates that we are descending on schedule to be at WOONS at the altitude programmed in the FMC. Here's the perfect picture to illustrate the use of arcs. Instead of flying right over the final waypoint before joining the localizer, the FMC paints an arc for LNAV to follow, thus flying right by the final waypoint, and lining up perfectly for the localizer. Here, we're about to make the turn to Boston's Runway 15R. Also notice the white speedbugs that have aligned themselves at the critical speeds based on the current weight of the aircraft. Our approach speed is 160 knots. United Airlines is one of those carriers that flies everything in the Boeing family, from 727s to the latest and greatest 777s. They are one of the few carriers that has operated everything that Boeing has produced, and at present has everything except the Boeing 707 in its fleet. Only recently have they veered away from Boeing a little bit to start flying the A320 family from Airbus. Air France operates a fleet of 5 Boeing 767-300s, mainly on their long-haul routes Rotating out of Amsterdam for a short hop back to Paris. Notice the slight tilt in the main landing gear wheels, and the lighting effects from the landing lights. Rotation out of Los Angeles International And the subsequent climbout over Long Beach harbor Here, we see our top of descent point as being approximately 30 miles from our present position. Also notice that the RTE DATA button has been pressed to show our altitude and expected time of arrival at the waypoint. Also notice that the altitude in the MCP has been set to 3000, which is the intercept altitude for our approach. VNAV is engaged, and I have programmed the descent according to a STAR. Absolutely perfect, although it does seem to have a bit of a bank to the left. Again, notice the nice lighting textures. After shutdown. Notice the magenta bars on the N2 gauge. This is the point at which fuel flow must be turned on. Also, the fact that the EGT doesn't drop down to zero right after a long flight is modeled here, as can be seen from the EGT gauges. Also, the IRUs have been switched off, and this is what you will see on the EADI and EHSI. JAL is an interesting customer for Boeing because of their location. Boeing has produced special derivatives of the 747 just for JAL so the airline can operate them on high density short haul routes. As for their 767s, JAL uses those primarily on their regional domestic routes. Need we say more? I don't think so. The 767 Overhead panel. Looks simple, and it actually is. Everything you need is right here. Up in left corner are working IRU switches. The control knob just to the left of the keyboard can be used to display a host of things, from present position to wind speed and direction to heading information. And here we have the 767 throttle quadrant. About the only time this will come up is during engine start and setting of the squawk code. After that, it's pretty much hidden. And the brains of the aircraft; the FMC. It's amazing that when an FMC models the real thing as accurately as this one does – you get into the habit of calling it up often during the flight to check position and distance, just as if you were looking down at it if you were sitting in the flight deck. Here, we have set up our departure and destination. Here, we have entered the zero fuel weight of the aircraft. You'll notice that the manual says to enter 245 for the zero fuel weight, but here, we've entered 111. The reason being that I used Metric Feet as my unit of measure, so 111 is the metric equivalent of 245. The FMC calculated the total fuel on board, and came up with the total gross weight of the aircraft. About the only entry on this page is the flaps and the runway. After entering the flap setting, the FMC calculates V1, rotation, and V2 speeds. You can also enter a value into the THRUST tab (LSK 2L) to set up the EEC's for a reduced thrust takeoff, used when the OAT is really cold. This is another page that you may want to look up frequently. Here, we see that the FMC has calculated a Step To altitude of FL390 and the suggested time and distance from the final destination at which this should occur. The LEGS page will reflect this, but if you decide you don't want to do this, enter a "0" in place of ICAO and your cruising altitude will remain at FL350.

The paint schemes you get in the package are from Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, Japan Airlines, LTU, United and more, including Wilco's special B767 Private Jet. The paint jobs and textures are beautiful. To show how much attention to detail there is, all the aircraft have the landing lights on the inboard edge of the wing present – something that a lot of other aircraft leave out. Full motion of the flight controls, landing gear and gear doors is included. And if you're wondering where the textures are on the inside of the gear doors, there are not supposed to be any. The doors are usually left white or off-white. The United Kingdom paint scheme on the BA model is very well done. The screenshots speak for themselves.

Coming from an active 767 pilot who flies the aircraft day in and day out, you'd expect a bang-on flight model. And we're happy to report that that is the case here. Ground handling is excellent, even though the aircraft is a little sensitive on the ground taxi, but then again, this may be perceived as a characteristic of the real aircraft. Take a tight turn too fast and you'll notice the horizon out the window tilt. This most likely is an actual characteristic of the aircraft.

Though rotation speeds will vary with weather conditions, the FMC seemed to calculate 160 knots for a fully-laiden aircraft. If you use the Vertical Speed mode of the autopilot, climbs with a full aircraft will be of the step type, usually up to about FL330, and then higher once the aircraft gets lighter. If you continue using Vertical Speed mode beyond FL330, the aircraft will lose speed very quickly, and you'll have to switch modes anyway. If you use the FL CH mode, make sure you engage it after 10,000 feet, or whatever the airspeed restriction altitude is for your particular airspace. The reason is the FL CH mode is airspeed dependent. Set the climb speed, and the aircraft will first reduce the climb rate to get to the set airspeed, then maintain a vertical climb rate to maintain the airspeed. It's not something that you want to engage right away after rotation, so if you are flying using the glareshield, use Vertical Speed mode up to 10,000 feet, and then switch over to FL CH.

One thing I was hoping for, after using it with the PSS package, was a visual way of modifying the gross weight of the aircraft. In the real world, the chances the same pilot will fly the exact same configuration are pretty low. So why should it be any different here? The technology to do it is available as PSS demonstrated with their LoadEdit utility. Let's hope the team releases an update program of some sort that allows this. Yes, I realize that you can go into the aircraft.cfg file and edit the zero fuel weight, but it was so much easier modifying using a separate, visual program.

In any case, once in the air and on the climb, I noticed that after setting the climb speed, that worked up until FL310. Beyond that, the FL CH mode worked well because, as I said above, this mode is speed dependent, so it will maintain the airspeed by adjusting the climb rate. On descent, you'll notice that the spoilers and speed brakes are not as effective as what you're used to. According to Eric, the speed brakes on the real aircraft only provide an extra 1000 feet per minute, at the most. Most of us are used to flight models that provide spoilers that bring the aircraft down like a brick. But not here, so plan your descent accordingly.

Likewise with braking. Most of us are used to brakes and reverse thrust that bring the aircraft to a stop like sliding a book across a table. In reality, reverse thrust accounts for, at the most, 40% to 50% of the braking force; and in reality, pilots never use that much unless they're flying into an airport with a short runway. The rest of the braking force is provided by – you guessed it – the brakes. The braking force found on this flight model is what you'd expect from an aircraft the size and weight of a 767. During taxiing and speeds below 20 knots, the brakes are effective and bring the aircraft to a stop in a relatively short distance. Because FS2000 gives you all or none of the brakes, they're pretty much the same during a roll out of an aborted takeoff.

The Sounds

If you thought the Rolls Royce engine sounds in the PSS package by Mike Hambley were awesome, your ears are in for a treat. These are the most authentic CF6 engine sounds I have heard, short of strapping one on your car, or strapping yourself onto one. The sound of them roaring to life is just like what I hear day in and day out at work. They have a distinguishable groan at full power, which you will hear during your takeoff run and climb. The author: Ryuji Ozawa.

The Panel

Considering that Eric looks at the flight deck of a real 767 every day, it would have been a total shocker if the panel didn't look like the real thing, and if gauge placement wasn't like the real thing. Well, we're happy to report that this panel is as real as it gets to the real 767 flight deck. Every gauge, its look and placement on the panel is just like the real thing. All the CRT screens have a cathode ray look to them. The ND has the ability to display everything the real one can, right down to the blank display with the word "MAP" on it when the panel is powered up and the IRUs haven't been aligned. Every switch and knob does something on the panel. There are no dummy switches or knobs, and because of this, your flights will be all the more engrossing when you use it. The overhead panel looks simple, and you know what, that's it. All these modern airliners have fewer buttons and gauges because everything is computerized. Every switch up here has a function and works. Wade Chafe, Laurent Crenier and Pedro Sousa earn high marks for their gauge design and vector programming.

The startup procedure for the engines has you first turn the batteries on, followed by the APU. Before continuing any further, it's recommended you start the engines. Turn the three hydraulic systems on, turn the packs off for maximum air for the start, and open the bleed valves to the engines. Then, follow with the startup. Some users, including myself, experienced a problem when turning the hydraulics on. The three switches would be turned on, but there would be no hydraulics available. The team are aware of this problem, and are working on a fix (as soon as they figure out what's causing it because it happens only on certain machines). In the mean time, the only fix is to load up another panel, perform a start, and then switch to the 767 panel. Although it takes away the realism involved in powering up the aircraft, at least you get hydraulics so you can actually fly the aircraft.

When you put the engine start switch to GND, you'll notice a magenta bar show up on the N2 display. This is the point at which fuel flow should be turned on. Once the engines have been started, set up the electrical system (if it hasn't done so automatically), and align the IRUs. On the real aircraft, these would be aligned prior to engine start, but because of FS2000 limitations, they should be done after engine start. Also, on the real aircraft, IRU alignment takes 10 minutes. Don't worry. The time to align them here has been compressed down to 2 minutes. While the IRUs are aligning, set up the FMC with your weight and planned route.

With the route programmed, and the FMC set, set your thrust limits by pressing the TO/GA button in the stack of six buttons located next to the upper EICAS screen. All six buttons work, and they limit the maximum N1. Once you take off, it will automatically change to climb power, and you can press the CRZ button once you get to cruise altitude. You can also press the 1 or 2 buttons for derated climb or cruise settings. The settings are taken care of automatically. When ready for takeoff, just advance the throttles all the way up. On the real aircraft, the CF6 engine has what are called EEC boxes (Electronic Engine Control). As the name suggests, the EEC boxes are what control the various engine parameters such as maximum RPM, maximum EGT, and fuel flow. How it does this takes about six weeks to learn (that's how long the mechanics portion of the 767 Endorsement course is). Suffice to say here is the EEC boxes are modeled. Try it for yourself. Bring up the throttle quadrant, and turn the EEC switches off, and watch the N1 and EGT go off the clock and cook two perfectly good engines.

The panel also has provisions to bring the flaps up and down alternately in case of a hydraulic failure, along with standby brakes and steering. Finally, the panel has a GA switch. This isn't your standard TO/GA switch. The 767 doesn't have a TO/GA system because the EECs control the maximum engine output during normal throttle movement. However, during the approach phase, if you have to do a go-around, pressing the GA button below the lower EICAS screen will advance the throttles to full power. Prior to takeoff, a hidden switch on the bottom left side of the airspeed indicator can be pressed and the white airspeed bugs will move around the gauge and align themselves at the critical speeds, such as V1, VR, V2, and the flap schedule speeds (when the flaps should go up).

So with the panel set up, you're almost set to go. If you set up the FMC with airspeed and altitude restrictions, you can use the VNAV mode of the autopilot. If you didn't, you can use the vertical speed mode or the FL CH mode of the autopilot. When using VNAV, it's imperative you set the altitude in the MCP (the fancy name for the glareshield) to your final cruise altitude. After takeoff, engage VNAV, and let the FMC manage the climb rate and speeds as per your programmed settings. Likewise on your descent, when you're nearing your top of descent, dial in your intercept altitude and the FMC takes care of the rest. But what if you're flying online, or using an adventure utility like Radar Contact or ProFlight and ATC gives you an instruction to maintain a certain altitude due to traffic? Now what? No problem. Just dial in the altitude into the MCP and you've got that covered. It behaves like a restrictor for VNAV. Whatever altitude you dial into the MCP, the autopilot will stop the climb at that altitude, so it works quite well when you're flying online and ATC asks you to maintain a different altitude that what you have programmed in VNAV. Likewise with the airspeed. By pressing the airspeed selector knob on the MCP, the airspeed indicator comes up and you can take control of the airspeed from the FMC. We tested this procedure using an adventure with ProFlight 2000, and it worked like a charm.

The most basic way to control the aircraft is to use the HDG SEL/HDG HOLD feature of the autopilot. HDG HOLD, when pressed during a turn, will cause the aircraft to straighten out at the heading at which it was pushed. Again, it's ideal for using during the initial climb out from an airport, where traffic is heavy. HDG select is like the heading bug found on older aircraft. The aircraft will fly to the heading that is selected in the heading window. When would you use HDG SEL? Again, during departure and landing, when you're being vectored either to your initial departure waypoint, or when you're being vectored to the runway on approach. On departure, you would engage HDG SEL after rotation (or fly manually following the FD bars); and once ATC has cleared you to "resume own navigation," LNAV can be engaged. However, if you are off the course that the FMC has drawn on the EHSI, the FMC will come back with a message "NOT ON INTERCEPT HEADING" and LNAV will be white on the EADI. This is where you have to use HDG SEL to get the aircraft lined up with the required heading until the aircraft comes close enough to being back on course, at which point LNAV will intercept the track and handle the navigation.

One thing to keep in mind about HDG SEL is that it also overrides the LNAV mode. And if you joystick or flight yoke isn't centered, HDG SEL will disconnect the autopilot because the aircraft thinks that you are performing an override maneuver. If the joystick or flight yoke is slightly out of center, the autopilot will disconnect, without you even realizing it, and can have dramatic results. So prior to engaging HDG SEL, make sure your joystick or flight yoke is centered.

Another neat feature that you'll notice is the use of arcs on climb out from runway heading and the final turn from your final approach fix to the runway heading. On departure, you'll notice that it's a nice smooth curve that LNAV will follow to your initial waypoint. Likewise when you're coming in for the descent and approach, the aircraft doesn't actually fly over the final waypoint, but turns right by it so that the aircraft is aligned perfectly with the center line of your landing runway. Most other FMC packages and panels that incorporate FMCs actually fly over the final waypoint, so then you have to back track a bit to get back on the localizer.

The FMC

The setup of the computer is both similar and a lot different than the PSS one. It's similar because you still have to enter the zero fuel weight of the aircraft (the FMC calculates the gross weight based on your current fuel load), your reserve fuel, your flight level, which runway you want to use, and its length in order for it to determine your V1, rotation and V2 speeds. Once you're midway through your flight, The FMC will also calculate your approach speed for various flap settings based on your present gross weight, and update it as the flight progresses.

But where does the 767 FMC shine? First off, it shines in the amount of time it takes to prepare it for flight. Programming it is the most time consuming aspect when it comes to flying real jets, and it's no different here. Depending on the length of the flight, you can easily spent 20-25 minutes programming the route with the waypoints, entering weights, and programming altitude restrictions, step climbs or descents. Programming the waypoints is made easier by allowing you to enter the airway name right into the FMC. What does that mean? Let's say you're flying a route that has 40-45 waypoints. I highly doubt it that you will sit there and enter all 45 waypoints in, particularly when you have access to all the airways through the Worldwide Airport Finder. I had the website generate an IFR flight plan from Vancouver to Athens, Greece, a distance of just over 5500nm. It came back with about 80 waypoints. Fat chance I'm going to enter every one. After setting up the departure airport, the SID, and the departure runway, I pressed NEXT PAGE, where I was presented with a DIRECT and VIA heading. In VIA, I entered the airway name (eg. J508); and under DIRECT, I entered the final waypoint to use in the airway. I proceeded like this and when I was done, the route spread across 16 pages in the LEGS section!

I then proceeded to the VNAV page, checked to make sure the cruise altitude was correct. The FMC will also show you the optimal cruise speed and cruise altitude based on your present weight. This will change as your aircraft gets lighter. Also, on page 2 of the VNAV page, the FMC will calculate the Step To flight level and the time and distance at which it should be done. This will transfer over to your LEGS, and if you scroll down the waypoints, you'll notice the "step to" altitude is at the distance calculated by the FMC. If you don't want to have the FMC do this, you can enter a zero where ICAO appears and your cruise altitude will appear in every waypoint.

VNAV programming in the legs page is another thing worth mentioning. You can program your own altitudes. But what about crossing restrictions when flying a STAR? Not a problem. The 767 FMC has that covered as well. There are three ways to tackle crossing restrictions:

1. If the STAR says to cross a certain waypoint above a specific altitude, add an "A" at the end of the altitude. For example: 15000A

2. If the STAR says to cross a certain waypoint below a specific altitude, add a "B" at the end of the altitude. For example: 16000B

3. If the STAR says to cross a certain waypoint above a certain altitude but below a certain altitude, combine the above two together. For example: 16000B/15000A

This is the first time I have seen an FMC do this ever, let alone any package available for FS2000. VNAV programming is an area that a lot of people have expressed concern and grief on in the forums. VNAV programming is quite easy once you nail down the factors that affect it. You have to make sure that the final altitude that you want to cruise at is in the PERF INIT page, and this same cruise altitude is dialed in on the MCP, provided you don't want to use the Step To altitude that the FMC has calculated for you. Even if you want to, as you near the point where the climb will begin to the new cruise altitude, you can always go back to the VNAV page and modify it in there, and then dial it up on the MCP. But these two areas must be checked in order for VNAV to work properly. The FMC will automatically add the Step To altitude at the waypoint that it has calculated at which to begin, so there's no need to add the altitude to the waypoints. Just check to make sure it's updated in the VNAV page and the MCP.

Now that you have spent all this time setting up your flight plan – and entering all the waypoints into the LEGS page and all the altitude restrictions – you might ask yourself "How do I save this? Am I going to have to do this all the next time I fly this particular route?" Well, the answer to that is a firm no. By clicking on the MENU button, you're presented with a screen that allows you to save the route on your hard drive. Give it a filename and click Save To Disk, and you're done. Next time, when you want to load the flight plan, click on RTE, and first, type in the filename of the route you want to load, then click on LSK 3R (CO ROUTE). Voila. Your flight plan has been loaded; click on Activate, and then click on EXEC and you're almost set to go. As weather conditions will have no doubtfully changed, click on the DEP/ARR page, and enter your new runway and DP if applicable, and click EXEC. Now, you are all done. The same thing can be done if you are using a program like FS Meteo or FS2000's Real Weather system, and you loaded the weather after setting up the FMC.Eric reports that the FIX page has been added to the FMC in an upcoming patch. He says, "This page is useful in finding distances between current aircraft position and an entered intersection, VOR, NDB, ILS, or airport. You can create abeam points in your route as well as crossing radial reference lines. And one other feature is the ability to draw DME circle references around the fix."

System Failures

When most of us fly, we usually don't concern ourselves with the safety briefing videos or demonstrations that are shown on board. I know I don't because for one, I work on them daily, so I have an excuse. Others may fly on a regular basis, so that's their excuse. Chances are that most of us think we would know what to do in case of an emergency, but for others, a state of panic may set over us when you hear the engines go silent at cruise. I was reading an article a week ago that said the likelihood of you being involved in a major accident on any US carrier is 1 in 12 million. Pretty good I would say, and that certainly says something about the professionalism of the pilots, mechanics, and air traffic controllers who fly, maintain, and control them.

Most of us will probably never be involved in a major incident during flight. And most of us will never experience the shear terror that pilots experience when something goes wrong. With today's modern techniques and manufacturing procedures for aircraft components, and with the stringent maintenance procedures in place, the chances of a catastrophic failure in flight are certainly low. Notice I said low and not zero. Which is why pilots go through recurrent training in order to maintain their licenses and type endorsements. In these training sessions, pilots spend time sharpening their skills, but mostly it's dealing with emergencies. Engine failures on rotation (which has to be one of the most serious of flight emergency known), APU or engine fires, electrical failures, component failures, system failures. Pilots have to know the procedures for dealing with emergencies like these very intimately, even though they may never need them in their careers. And thanks to 767 PIC, you can learn the procedures used and what pilots feel when an emergency does occur.

If you thought the FS2000 failure system was comprehensive, take a walk through the 767 failure system. The team has added their own menu to the FS2000 menu bar. From here, you have access to things such as extracting customized panel settings from other panels, customizing the keyboard commands for the panel, ground requests such as hooking up external power, or external air, filling the fire bottles after deployment, resetting the RAT, or Ram Air Turbine, used to provide backup hydraulics in case of a complete hydraulic failure. It's basically a propeller that drops out from the underside of the fuselage on the right side into the slipstream. The propeller rotating drives a hydraulic motor/pump to provide basic flight control hydraulics. You can also get a pushback request, or a request to reset the integrated drive generators. Found on each engine, the IDGs, in a nutshell, convert the varying speed of the engines into constant AC power for the aircraft. In case of a failure, they can be disconnected from the engine, because they mount directly into the accessory gearbox. If the IDG fails, disconnecting it saves the gearbox.

The B767 menu also allows you to customize system failures. Along with all the standard failures FS2000 offers, this menu allows you to set varying degrees of failures. For example, do you want an engine shutdown or an engine fire to deal with? Do you want a fuel indication problem or a pump failure to drive you nuts? Do you want the APU to quit working without any indication or another fire to deal with? You can set all these and a whole pile of other failures. Like FS2000, you can have them occur randomly, or at a preset time into your flight. Before attempting any failures though, make sure you read the non-normal checklists included on the CD. Read it and know it because when you have a major failure to deal with, you don't have time to switch back and forth between Acrobat and FS2000.

First, I simulated an engine and APU fire on rotation and I never recovered. Bells and whistles were going off. The EICAS screen was going bonkers, the stick shaker and stall warning was going off, and the GPWS went off saying "Don't sink, pull up!!" How can I pull up when the aircraft is already in a stall? AAAAAHHH!!!!!! Guess I should have read the checklists. I managed to get the fire out because we learn that stuff when we get our runup and taxi licenses for the aircraft. I also managed to isolate the hydraulics, turn off the generator, and shut off the air supply, packs, and bleed valves, but by that time, the aircraft had entered a stall and crashed.

Not giving up, I tried again, only this time, I decided to fail just the engine, and late enough that I'd actually have some altitude. Climbing through 2700 feet, off goes the fire bell, and the EICAS screen goes bonkers again. By this time and altitude, the autopilot was on and managing the climb, so I had time to quickly fight the fire and isolate the systems from the engine. Then, I did a left hand circuit, and came back to the airport. Coming in on the approach, it was no easy task keeping it in the air and lined up with the localizer. Slight adjustments in the engine power settings would cause a tremendous yaw to the opposite side. Full rudder deflection just barely kept the aircraft straight. It was quite the challenge bringing her down, but I managed to keep it centered. If you think you're an ace virtual pilot on the heavy metal, fail an engine, set up a crosswind, and set visibility to near zero, and try it. It's completely indescribable the feeling you get. It can only be experienced!

After touchdown, I realized something. If this were to happen in the real world, the pilots would jettison the fuel to bring the aircraft into its minimum landing weight zone. I looked for the fuel jettison switches on the overhead panel, but couldn't find them. After checking with Eric on this, he said that pilots do have the option to jettison the fuel, but only on the -300 and -400 series. With the other models, the pilots would have to do a heavy landing, since there are no provisions to jettison the fuel.

Realism: The Next Frontier

Back when I wrote the PSS 747 review, I ended it something along these lines:

Can I fly the real thing? Probably not. But it's the most realistic package available for the Queen of the Skies, short of spending US$300 and buying Aerowinx' 747PS1. At least here, you get to see something outside and still be left with enough money for a computer upgrade to get the frame rates for FS2000 a bit better. On my PII 450 with an aging video card, there was no loss of frame rates, or at least I couldn't tell while flying. The PSS team have pushed the realism and innovation factor so far forward, it will definitely take quite a bit to take these guys down. True, it's no 747PS1, but then again, I certainly can't afford $500 Canadian for a sim that I may stop using because it's too damn hard to understand and learn. I'm perfectly happy with the level of realism I get from FS2000 and with add-ons like this, that level gets pushed further and further. If you decide not to purchase this package, you should really get yourself checked out, because for the price, it's the best package available, period.

The same applies here. After flying this aircraft with this panel, you won't be able to walk on board a real live 767 and take the left seat, and fly it. However, a package like this will give you an inside look at how the real aircraft really works. Next time you set foot into a real 767, and have the chance to visit the flight deck, most of the switches, buttons, and screens will be familiar. You will have some idea of how the FMC works, and how the various modes of the autopilot work, and what all the switches on the overhead panel do. As I write the end of this review, I just went out and took a look at the flight deck of one of our 767-300ERs, and after looking at it, I can hardly wait to get home and take the beautiful bird for a spin. Without a doubt, this package pushes the realism factor further (didn't I say this with the PSS package?). After test-flying this package, I'm excited at what the future has in store for us desktop pilots. Until then, I'll bask in this fabulous package. I know what I'll be flying the most.

You can make your purchase of 767 Pilot In Command from the AVSIM Store by clicking here. Click here to access the 767 Pilot In Command forum. Click here to visit Wilco Publishing, click here to visit the official 767 Pilot In Command website, and click here to visit the Frequently Asked Questions section. And finally, click here to read an exclusive interview with the four men behind the package.