Captains!I have spent the better part of my day/evening conducting a thorough, page by page review of the mechanical systems on our 737, and it occurred to me that many of you many never really see some of the complexity that has been added to the airplane unless you REALLY read the manual in depth....So, just for fun- here are a few things that our airplane will do:-> Differentiated flight/ground spoiler behavior.-> Spoilers can be disconnected or lost altogether with a hydraulic failure.-> Flaps can be operated normally or by the standby flap actuator.-> If you lose hydraulics (or fail to turn them on!) the gear will drop. But you won't be able to raise them!-> Loss of the B-system hydraulics will kick your yaw damper offline.-> Pulling the B-System-Flight-Control-Disconnect switch will cause the yaw damper switch to snap to the OFF position.-> Draw fuel from the tanks according to the actual logic. If you dry the wing tanks, you can expect to experience in flight stress.....-> Check the disposition of the Transformer Rectifiers. They will exhibit real world load sharing behavior that can be used to diagnose the state of your electrical system. Knowing what all those reading mean will most likely give you a good heads-up to an electrical failure or problem that is impending!-> If you pull the Generator Disconnect switches, you are going to have to explain yourself to a mechanic on the ground before you get access to that generator again!-> You can use ground power if you wish....or use the APU. It's up to you!-> You can see the APU EGT vary with the electrical/pneumatic loads placed on it.-> You can see the window heaters cycle on/off as they modulate your window heat temperatures according to Boeing's specs. Or you can catch a window heat failure before it causes other, more serious problems!-> You can test/set probe anti-ice settings as needed.-> If you attempt to take off with the wing anti-ice activated, you will see and hear the switches snap to the off position.-> The Wing Antic Ice and the Engine Anti-Ice switches will have an effect on your engine performance.-> You can set the pressurization to operate in auto mode, but if you don't reach your pre-set cruising altitude, you are going to get an OFF-SCHED-DESCENT warning to resolve.-> You can set the pressurization to operate in ALTN mode if the auto mode fails. (which might happen! ;-) )-> You can operate the pressurization in manual mode if you wish....but why would you...yuck....-> You can see the various loads on the pneumatic system have an effect on the pressure needles. You can even over-load the pneumatics and watch various systems start shutting down on you.Then of course we have a whole host of failures planned for you too.... You might even have some things happen that will tax your system knowledge of the airplane!For example: In cruise flight you suddenly hear a rumbling sound and the auto-throttle starts adding power, but the airplane can't maintain speed or altitude.... Hmmmm.....what page of the manual was that..... Quickly! (Answer: The spoilers deployed uncommanded.... Check that the handle is down. It is? Hmmm... This isn't good.... Do you want to cycle that handle? What problems might you create by doing that? Do you know? Is there a checklist item for this? You'd better flip those Spoiler disconnect switches on the overhead panel if you want to retract those spoilers!)Or...you might find that you didn't get "three green" when you put the gear handle into the down position. Now what are you going to do, "captain?"So anyway- these are just a few of the goodies we have in store for you. I have listed a bunch of them from memory- and there are many many more....If you want to study ahead- I'd recommend getting Bill Bulfer's books on the 737NG.... Especially that one on the FMC...oh...yeah....that is a whole story in-and-of-itself!Hope you all have a good weekend!

Hi Robert,That list sounds very promising!But I do have one question:You say: "If you lose hydraulics (or fail to turn them on!) the gear will drop. But you won't be able to raise them!"So what if the gear was in the up & locked position with the gear handle in the off position? Would it still drop if you lose hydraulics? Doesn't the OFF position exist exactly for this reason?One more thing: Are you going to model the "bug" of the Autopilot that it may disconnect on an automatic G/A if the MCP Alt was too low? ;-)RegardsMark

ooh i love attention to detail....sounds great PMDG....can't wait for this bird...PMDG are the best...

-----------------------[bR]Matthew Murray[bR]Jet-Precision[bR]

http://www.jet-precision.com/MyTravel.jpg

wow thats exactly the kind of system complexity I wanted to see....after such a long time(767 PIC) have I seen a product which will give us such a complex and accurate systems simulation. Great stuff! This is 737 Pilot in Command, lol.Alex Baker

>Hi Robert,>>That list sounds very promising!>But I do have one question:>You say: "If you lose hydraulics (or fail to turn them on!)>the gear will drop. But you won't be able to raise them!">>So what if the gear was in the up & locked position with the>gear handle in the off position? Would it still drop if you>lose hydraulics? Doesn't the OFF position exist exactly for>this reason?>>One more thing: Are you going to model the "bug" of the>Autopilot that it may disconnect on an automatic G/A if the>MCP Alt was too low? ;-)>Regards>>MarkYeah, it looks very promising but i wonder the same thing.. will the gear in a real 737NG drop if its in Off possition and the hydraulics fail?

Amazing! Can't wait. :)Max.

I think what Robert meant was in the event of a total hyd failure you would still be able to drop the gear(manual gear extension handle on the floor)but obviously you wont be able to raise them without Hydraulics. Gear will not fall if hyd's fail with the handle in the off position.

Great post, music to my ears. Pedro

I cant wait! I have over 1000 virtual hours in the 737 (approx 500 in classics [-400,-300] and 500 in NG's)So I am really looking forward to your 737! I hope the next 1000 are as fun as the last! Hopefully most will be in your NGs!Btw were can one get Bill Bluffers manuals?Cheers.Dino'Virgin Blue - Keeping the Air FAIR'

Ok I've REALLY got my fingers crossed for this now! I'm gonna be so happy if we get another PIC quality aircraft, and it sounds like we are!Ryan

Wow Robert, your list has certainly got my attention! Sound like this aircraft is going to be more than "just another pretty face", so to speak.

And for those who had doubts that this would not be the new standard in realism, WELCOME![h5]Best Wishes,Randy J. SmithSan Jose Ca[/h5][h3]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"[/h3] [h5]AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF3 64 MEG @ 215/545|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h5]

Man am I glad I actually own the Boeing NG manual 1 and 2 with the QRH! I'd be lost without it!Question: As per the real a/c will you be including a take-off config warning? (ie. when throttles are advanced for t/o and flaps, trim etc are not set?)Cheers.Dino

>Btw were can one get Bill Bluffers manuals?You can get them direct from the author (Bill Bulfer): Leading Edge Libraries, www.fmcguide.com.-michael

That is just awesome! That letter made me decide...It's a good thing I have the Bill Bulfer books...Really looking forward to the 737TNG release!Regards