First Cut At My Second Tutorial

[Guest tmetzinger]

Captains,I've put a DRAFT excerpt from my new tutorial up on the web.It will be at http://www.metzair.com/737NGTUTV2.zip until 2300 Zulu (6PM EST) on Sunday. Then it comes down for continued work. Please do NOT repost it on any boards, but you're free to mail it around if you wish. I'm looking for comments about whether I'm on the right track and it reads well and is useful. I'll clean up the grammar and spelling laterA word of warning - this excerpt does NOT address the FMC at all. It's the first "review" flight of the tutorial and focuses on flying the airplane using the autopilot without the FMC. The goal is that once someone is proficient on this lesson they can preflight, start, taxi, takeoff, fly an ILS, land, and shutdown and secure the airplane. That way the remaining four flights can focus on the FMC and other systems with the pilot only needing the standard two page checklist to remind him to configure the fuel/electrics/hydraulics/pneumatics.I expect that if nobody tells me to start over, I'll have the gratware(it's free but there will be a way for you to contribute if you wish)tutorial with five flights done by the 2nd of February. The payware adventures will come out in early March.Also, this draft is for FS9 - the FS2002 startup file isn't ready yet. FS2002 users CAN fly it however, they'll just need to manually position the aircraft at KTNT airport before beginning the lesson.

[Guest pagotan]

Hi Tim,Just downloaded your tutorial project. I had a first quick look at it and already I can tell you it looks great and easy to follow. One thing I noticed and which you may want to amend or document is that the picture of your radio panel shows two additional gauges which are not PMDG "original gauges". One is the pushback and the other is the 737 radio gauge. These two gauges may trigger quite a few questions if they remain on your tutorial undocumented. Given the sensitivity of PMDG when it comes to altering the panel.cfg. I would suggest you coordinate with them on that issue.Will come back with more later. DISCLAIMER:The above reflects only a personal opinion and was written without any intend to offend, harm or criticize in any way or manner any individual, institution, association or company including PMDG.Michael

[744pilot 0]

Hey thanks TIM!!Looks realy great.Ramon

[744pilot 0]

Hey Tim,I do have one suggestion.As you sad by your self, its a DRAFT....If you gona make another tutorial it would be nice to add a Missed approach procedure. Because we are on school, Isn't it?? And you are the training captain. (wich you do lovely) And real pilots if they make a round trip above an airfield to practice the handling of the aircraft, they mostly fly two or three round above the airfield and when they gona land, they make a missed approach procedure to start the next round.Thanks in advance,Ramon.

[Guest tmetzinger]

Thsnks for the comments.In the other four flights that we'll have in this tutorial, all sorts of things will be included (here's a sample):Autoland ILSNon-precision approach (the NDB/GPS 09)A missed approachA SID and a STARA Rejected TakeOffAn In-Flight DiversionAn Enroute HoldControl Wheel SteeringAlso, the products I've added to the PMDG (FSMeteo, Pushback Gauge, Sound Effects Panel, and the Audio Panel) will also be discussed, including the code snippets from panel.cfg.

[Guest sj3]

Capt. Metzinger: I plan on trying your excerpt tonight, but I'm a little nervous though:). Please, please thank your better half for me for 'donating' your time.

[demarr55 3]

Tim: First of all, I'll second the motion to thank your wife for giving up your time for this tutorial, of course I'm sure you'll make it up to her once you start charging for them. She's probably already planning that big shopping trip while you work on the next installment of instructions.Secondly....someone stole my classroom and dorm buildings!!!, so holding this tutorial session sitting on the tarmac and feeling kinda grouchy due to fact my class had to pitch our tents out in the woods. Sleeping on hard ground for us old farts is not easy. We'll take up this problem with the property owners in short order.Anyway, going through the tutorial now, and it's such a help to have this structured layout to help master this excellent aircraft. Can't wait for the remaining tutorials. Keep it upBob DemarestBirmingham, Al

[Guest sj3]

Capt. Metzinger: Thanks so much for a very fun flight. I got to experience many facets of the NG that I had never encountered. I've got some minor comments below that I noted as I was going through it. Thanks again.1) Under Requirements, you ask for NavData 0313. Do you maybe want to say '0313 or later'?2) When we start the APU, pre-flight, we're asked to set the APU Bleed switch to On. There are pics of every other section of the overhead that we're asked to look at, except this one.3) Under the Doors and the Airstairs section, we're told that we're ready for passenger loading. As this was our first training session at KTNT, are we really carrying passengers? A few extra words here would increase the immersion factor. A very minor point:).4) Where we're asked to turn on the flight director and enter some stuff in to the MCP, our MCP will match yours in the picture, except you've got 095 in the Course window and we're not asked to set it. This made me a bit nervous, especially when I was on approach, but everything worked fine leaving Course un-set, or set to 000 as it defaulted. Not sure why you had it at 095.5) Under the Cruise section, a pic would really help, so we can ensure we're really looking at a "centered display mode" and where to turn on the ADF pointer. Although this is in the manual, showing it here would match the style you use in other parts of the tutorial.6) In the Shutdown checklist, there is not an Off position for the Isolation Valve. Did you mean 'closed'?That's it and thanks again,

[Guest tmetzinger]

>Capt. Metzinger: Thanks so much for a very fun flight. I>got to experience many facets of the NG that I had never>encountered. I've got some minor comments below that I noted>as I was going through it. Thanks again.>>1) Under Requirements, you ask for NavData 0313. Do you maybe>want to say '0313 or later'?Nope.... When I prepare a tutorial, I only guarantee you'll get the expected results if you use the same release I used. But don't worry, I'll test fly it with the "current" version at the time of release, and modify the requirement accordingly.>>2) When we start the APU, pre-flight, we're asked to set the>APU Bleed switch to On. There are pics of every other section>of the overhead that we're asked to look at, except this one.OK, I can add that.>>3) Under the Doors and the Airstairs section, we're told that>we're ready for passenger loading. As this was our first>training session at KTNT, are we really carrying passengers? >A few extra words here would increase the immersion factor. A>very minor point:).Thanks - I'll try to make it clear that you're learning for future revenue flights.>>4) Where we're asked to turn on the flight director and enter>some stuff in to the MCP, our MCP will match yours in the>picture, except you've got 095 in the Course window and we're>not asked to set it. This made me a bit nervous, especially>when I was on approach, but everything worked fine leaving>Course un-set, or set to 000 as it defaulted. Not sure why>you had it at 095.095 is the inbound course for the ILS, and if you don't set it in the window your ND display will not look correct. I'll add that to the text.>>5) Under the Cruise section, a pic would really help, so we>can ensure we're really looking at a "centered display mode">and where to turn on the ADF pointer. Although this is in the>manual, showing it here would match the style you use in other>parts of the tutorial.Pic of the centered ND with the ADF showing is on the next page, no?>>6) In the Shutdown checklist, there is not an Off position for>the Isolation Valve. Did you mean 'closed'?Yep.. I'll correct it.>That's it and thanks again,>>Glad the flight worked!I've pulled it off my website and if we get the expected Blizzard here in DC tomorrow I'll be able to work on it some more. The tentative release date for the full unit (5 flights) is Feb 2nd.

[Guest mkennon]

I missed out on the draft tutorial. Can someone contact me about getting a copy?Mike at RDU

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Tim,I am new to using the 737NG, I only purchased it about one week ago. I just wanted to thank you soooo much for the tutorial. I have been using FS9 since about June and after I got the default aircraft figured out it became kind of boring flying the default Boeings. This is the first payware aircraft I have purchased. I was looking for a challenge and I found it with this aircraft. Although it seemed to be too much of a challenge until I used your last tutorial (St. Louis to Charlotte). I am still having some troubles, but thanks to that tutorial I am quickly getting a better understanding of the aircraft. Probably the hardest part of the aircraft is the FMC, but I probably am not the only one who thinks so. At first I was going to figure out how to add the default GPS to the aircraft, but figured I would do myself an injustice by not learning the real FMC. After the tutorial I can see that the FMC is quite a tool and after some practice will be easy to use with a lot more to offer than the stock FS9 GPS. So thanks again for the tutorial and the ones you have coming. I will be sure to use these when they are released. Regards,Sean

[Guest tmetzinger]

>I missed out on the draft tutorial. Can someone contact me>about getting a copy?>>Mike at RDUMike, send me an email at tmetzinger@aol.com and I'll send you tonights revision as soon as I finish it.