Hi Jose,it doesn't happen very often, and complex add-on planes like PMDG, PIC, RFP, PSS etc. seem to catch this bug more easily :).There is an easy way to determine that it's not the pitot heat failing. Press 'Shift+Z' to bring up the wind, airspeed data etc. and it will show an airspeed of zero. That means that FS doesn't measure any speed. If your pitot heat was frozen over, the airspeed wouldn't be displayed on the gauge, but 'Shift+Z' would still give you the correct speed. Also, a pitot tube doesn't freeze over in an instant, so as the inlet area decreases, your airspeed readouts will increase until it's completely frozen over, when the speed readouts will drop to zero. Of course, you'd also lose the TAS and GS readouts (unless GS is somehow coupled to the GPS). Freezing pitot tubes have been the cause of a few crashes, where the pilots thought they were going much faster than the actually were, and ended up stalling the plane.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Should we avoid using the PMDG load manager as a general rule? I am seeing a lot of posts related to this issue, and no one seems to know its because of a weight imbalance at the nose caused by using the PMDG load manager. Maybe a sticky or FAQ is in order.Thanks for all of your hard work,Evan

Dear Josi :No problem at all :-) Yes I take the blame for most of the AP logic...Also for the FDE. I was just concerned about creating impressions about the quality of certain feature. Probably I have not understood well what you meant. Anyhow all is done now and yes sometimes as Gosta says FS messes up the pitot heat. Just click on that on/off again. Hope you are enjoying to the fullest the NG and remember we are all here to help.Best Regards,Vangelis=========================================================== E. M. Vaos Precision Manuals Development Group www.precisionmanuals.com===========================================================

Evan,You should *only* use the pmdg load manager. Lefteris Kalamaras (its author) spent time making sure that ALL is correct. I was refering to external applications (e.g. verious VA's load manager and other similar utilities). What happens usually is that these *external* utilities assume that the load reference position (point 0,0,0) is collocated with the visual model centre, somewhere in the middle of the aircraft. In our case we used the Boeing section drawing reference position that is located at the nose tip ! Therefore, loading a/c using such non-PMDG utilities will send the centre of gravity way forward and the plane (as its real life counterpart) will become difficult to fly. Airline companies use load distribution software (or old fashion graphs and charts) to make sure that the plane is loaded correctly. We ventured to produce several aspects of operation as accurately as possible. I repeat, please use ONLY the PMDG load manager. Why anything else ?Cheers,Vangelis============================================= E. M. Vaos Precision Manuals Development Group www.precisionmanuals.com=============================================

I wouldn't use anything else but the PMDG load manager, its just that I and apparently Jos

Yes I confirm that I've used exclusively the PMDG load manager.Jos