Hi all,Apologies if someone else has posted this tip but I've found a very useful way of setting up the Perf Init settings on the PMDG737.Once you've loaded a flight plan and set your position move to the Perf Init page. Now, if like me, you can never remember what the zero fuel weight of your aircraft is, fear not as the FMC will set it up for you. Instead of calculating and entering the ZFW just press LSK1 - where it say's GW/CRZ CG. The Gross Weight, current fuel and ZFW will all be calculated for you! Brilliant :-) Enter the remaining values and continue.PMDG? Was this published anywhere?Cheers,

Hi Ray,thanks! I did not know that :). Very useful...Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

hi,Awesome thanks A lot!! :-)Andrew

The LSK1 key can more :-)If you are on the POS-Page, klick LSK1 and after that on the Top Right Side there will be the updated current position data. Klick RSK1 to put it on the scratchline and klick RSK3 to fill in the fields, voila.read you... Migh

Migh,I had heard of that one but thanks all the same :-)Cheers,

RayI don't think this works. I've been entering a ZFW of 80.2, which I obtained my examining the aircraft.cfg file (I'm not carrying any passengers or cargo at the moment). My aircraft is the -600. When I tried out your tip it entered a ZFW of 97.9. I haven't checked but this could be the max. TO weight minus the current fuel load.

Hi there,80.2 is the empty weight, not the ZFW. You'd have to add the station load, so a ZFW of 97.9 is most likely correct.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

GostaThanks for that. I must admit, I don't actually know what the station load is. Could you enlighten me, please?

Hi Craig,I've double-checked this and it does work properly. To prove it I loaded the Load Manager and moved the sliders to "populate" the aircraft with passengers and baggage. The ZFW as shown at the bottom of the screen was 111,036. I saved that configuration (which updates the relevant section in the aircraft.cfg) and loaded FS2002 and the PMDG737-700.I loaded 9,000lbs of fuel and after loading a flight plan pressed LSK1 on the Perf Init page. ZFW = 111.1, Fuel = 9.2 and GW = 120.3 so I'm happy that it does work as I described.Cheers,

Hi Craig,the station load is the weight of your passengers, cargo etc. It is generated by the load editor, but I believe even in the default install the plane wasn't empty.Here is an example from my aircraft.cfg:[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]reference_datum_position= 43.613, 0.000, 2.097empty_weight_CG_position=-44.320, 0.000, 0.000max_number_of_stations=50empty_weight=80200.000empty_weight_roll_MOI= 1363921.783empty_weight_pitch_MOI=1306085.000empty_weight_yaw_MOI= 1338659.000empty_weight_coupled_MOI=0.000//station_load.0=26320.000, -45.450, 0.000, 1.050//max_gross_weight=144000.000CG_forward_limit=0.1330CG_aft_limit=0.330Here you have an empty weight of 80.2 plus a station load of 26.3, giving a ZFW of 106.5.Hope this helps.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

GostaOkay, this is a lot clearer now. Boy, ignorance is a humbling thing. I've been conducting all of my flights with the wrong ZFW entered. Anyway, thanks for your help with this.

RayYou are right - I stand corrected. I should have done some more research into this before jumping to the wrong conclusion. I had been using the empty weight because I thought my aircraft had no passengers or baggage in it. But thanks to Gosta I now understand that ZFW = Empty weight plus station load, and the station load of the default installation is not zero. Anyway, thanks for the very useful tip regarding letting the FMC calculate all of this for you.

Hi Craig,no problem, that's what the forum is there for, IMHO. I always learn new things here :).Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Hi Craig,Not to worry and I've learned something from Gosta too. I put the discovery down to being an inveterate button pusher. If I was changing data via the Load Manager then it seemed logical that it was being saved in the aircraft.cfg. So, if it's there then I thought that the FMC should be able to pick it up and lo and behold it did :-)Cheers,

I'm not in the habit of bumping but this tip is very useful and could do with being locked to page 1 (hint ;-) )