Why go throught this again? Trolling? Blah!

@MarvSorry Marv, my post above was not directed at you but at Mr. Waters.Thanks

>>Have you actually tried this on a real aircraft? It is normal procedure not to have the packs switched on, but have you proven you can't (under ideal conditions*)?Ideal conditions being what?- a trained monkey running around inside the engine to push the fan in the absence of pneumatic pressure?Perhaps you are right.I will research my answer. ;)

I'm not sure if this is possible either, but, to Ian's point, not all duct pressure is lost by running the air conditioning units. Perhaps, under certain condition, enough pneumatic pressure would be avaible to spin the engines fast enough for ignition.I dunno...anyone else want to jump in?

Captains-Now that we have officially moved the PMDG 737-800/900 into beta testing, I thought I'd give you an overview of a few topics that are of interest!First- the normal words of caution regarding the fact that our beta team is showing you BETA IMAGES. We have many many fixes underway so please do not waste your time pulling your hair out over minor color variations etc. I'm about half way through yet another 2D panel artwork update- so what you are seeing now is not what you'll be getting anyway. ;-)Following is a non-conclusive list of items we've put into this airplane:MODELS:=======1) 3 new external models: 737-800, 737-800 with winglets, and 737-9002) 2 new models with appropriate Virtual Cabins (for those with Active Camera)3) VC streamlined: Less texture overhead and nearly 12000 fewer polygons for improved Frame rates.4) Clickable Overhead Panel in VC of 8/9005) throttles, flap handle, gear handle are now "grabbable"5) VC now shows rain on the windshield6) enhanced 3D model of airplane. many model/texture improvements7) Added a "DOME LIGHT" to VC to prevent MSFS induced gray out from poor ambient lighting (must turn it on tho!)8) Improved night lighting capability in VC to model no lights, panel backlights and dome lighting.SYSTEMS:========1) implemented 800/900 specific aircraft systems such as pneumatics differences.2) Tweaked and improved aircraft systems to improve some performance a bit.3) Dramatically improved loading of panel.cfgs to add stability/improve FPS.4) Fixed/Update various minor systems inaccuracies.MANUALS:========1) New version includes 8/900 data and differences, as well as updated FMC procedures.MENUS:======1) Significant changes to PMDG/STYLES menu to make it easier to use.2) Added many new features and options to enhance customization of airplane.3) Added Airline Style selection menu to allow users to select cockpit style of their favorite airline.DISPLAYS/GAUGES:================1) Added TCAS2 (In collaboration with Lee Hetherington: See notes below!)2) Added optional EFIS/MAP modes for gauges display.3) Added lower Display Unit capability and SYS/ENG functionality4) Optimized many routines to improve performance in 2D and VC modes.5) Replaced radio console with more airplane appropriate version.6) Added Audio Panel functionality to radio console.7) Added realistic "selection switch" to radio console8) Updated overhead panel to make it "undockable" for users of multiple monitors.9) Added pushback capability/compatibilityFMC/CDU:========1) Added Soft Constraints.2) Offset routes3) departure arrivals4) opt max alt calculations for realistic altitude predictions.5) cost index functionality based upon actual airplane.6) new cdu with annunciators (Offset/Message, etc.)7) was impossible to select a fix if a navaid with same id exists...now fixed.8) thrust mode annunciation when engaging AP9) possible to set speed constraint as low as runway speed on faf10) Enhanced Great Circle Route operation/display11) Improved display of megenta line/aircraft position.12) Removed "black border" around FMC.CDU popup.13) Enhanced route prediction/AFDS tracking to eliminate "gap" between airplane/predicted route.14) Speed/Altitude Intervention added to MCPART:====1) Replaced Main Panel artwork to enhance depth of image and add photo-based textures to 2D panels2) Updated 2D panel night lighting to reduce "orange glow" in favor of more realistic/useful lightingThis list is not conclusive by any means- as there are easily a few dozen other fixes that we have made along the way just to generally improve the simulation of the 737.A few items of interest that we want you to be aware of:INERTIAL REFERENCE SYSTEM:==========================We are aware that a core group of you are interested in seeing IRS functionality added to the airplane. We are VERY interested in adding this functionality. We have run into some hurdles with it's development that have brought into question whether or not we will complete and install an IRS for this version. I am not able to go into details on the topic other than to say the following: We're trying and we'll keep you posted. If we can: We Will. If we can't: We'll try really hard before giving in. ;-)ACARS:======I saw a post stating that ACARS is not something that can be realistically modeled in the sim world. Stay tuned. As many of you know, one of our primary goals is to help sim users learn how we operate airliners in the real world and ACARS/AFIS is a big part of that process. Expect a big announcement on this topic in the future.RADAR/GROUND MAPPING:=====================We do not currently have the programming assets to add weather radar/ground mapping modes to the present workload. These two items are certainly not near term additions to any PMDG product- although they are certainly points of interest for us.FS2002:=======A few months ago we found that our efforts to ensure FS2002 compatibility with the PMDG 747-400 were going to hinder development singificantly. For that reason, the decision was made to develope the 747 for Flight Simulator 9 ONLY.As we have begun the process of integrating the 8/900, we are finding that more and more of the high end functionality we are adding to the airplane simply will not work within FS2002 without also "watering down" the functionality of the FS9 version. As an example, some of the new features added to the Virtual Cockpit make the visual models completely incompatible with FS2002. Many of the new routines that we are using to power the logic systems in the airplane will only work within FS2002 if we diminish their capabilities in FS9 or write extremely complicated routines to eliminate functionality when running under FS2002.As we began working through solutions it became clear that we could not find solutions for these problems without seriously impacting product quality for BOTH FS9 and FS2002 users.For this reason, the PMDG 737-800/900 will be released as a Flight Simulator 9 product and compatibility with Flight Simulator 2002 is not anticipated.PRICING:========Pricing for the PMDG 737-800/900 has not been finalized.To use the PMDG 737-800/900 you will be required to have a purchased/identifiable version of the PMDG 737-600/700 installed in your Flight Simulator 9 setup.As promised back in August, we will release the product under a special pricing program for PMDG customers! Under this program, you will be able to purchase the PMDG 737-800/900 for a discounted price for a LIMITED period of 14 days from it's initial release. Upon expiration of the 14 days, we will return the pricing to it's normal level. (So don't wander off! We will make NO exceptions to the 14 day rule!)We do not anticipate discounts for bundled purchase of the 737-600/700 and the 800/900.RELEASE DATES:==============As all know by now, PMDG does not predict release dates for products currently in development. We do, however, tell you what stage of development the product is in. Currently we are preparing our beta cycle for yet another round to include some major/minor updates that we have made since putting the airplane into initial beta testing last week. This is a very mature beta test process, as we had a very long Alpha process internally so we are looking forward to a shorter beta test period than some other products we have brought to market! ;-)Thanks for your attention!

Mike.. It's people like you that will kill this forum.. I for one think your posting above is totally uncalled fore. Those of us (and there are a huge number of us) that are totally happy with the PMDG products, are not "buttkissers" but believe in giving praise where praise is due.------------------------------------------------------------------Joe F."It's not the fall that kills ya. It's the sudden stop at the end"http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

Joe:The problem is that in order for people to feed him, the troll usually takes antagonistic or extreme points of view, usually targeted at offending a group. Believe me, this is pretty predictable behavior. You can trace a line through it. He'll end up getting banned for going apes*** on somebody. :-lolDaniel P.

"Ideal conditions being what?- a trained monkey running around inside the engine to push the fan in the absence of pneumatic pressure?"And I thought they used bigger rubber bands on the NG :(Why would there be no pneumatic pressure? The APU feeds a common bleed duct to which the starters and packs are attached.BTW, the NG APU is a lot more powerful than the Classic APU. With the Classic, you would run into difficulties just running two packs at once. The NG even has an ultra high flow setting for the packs on the ground with the APU running.Cheers.Ian.

I noticed after looking through all the specs above that you still haven't fixed the 'wife call' bug in the FMC.. It never fails. I'm set up on final approach and the phone rings.. Wifey calling from work... LOL------------------------------------------------------------------Joe F."It's not the fall that kills ya. It's the sudden stop at the end"http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

OMG, tell me about it. Only difference is it's one of my friends or family. Always, I mean always, the phone rings or I get some interruption on final.Chris

IT's TRUE!!!EVERY single time i'm on final, my wife comes into the room and has something "improtant" to say!!She can't understand why I get so frustrated.House is on fire my EYE!!Gavinhttp://www.interprom.com/gavhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpgSpellink doesn't count!!

I have a question concerning Go Flight controls Robert. I currently can use most of my controls except for the MCP and tuning in NAV2. Will there be or are their already some Keymapping features released for use with FSUIPC perhaps or some other method ? If I could map the LNAV VNAV functions to another pushbutton module perhaps, then the MCP could basically become fully functional. I know that Go Flight has released SDK's so I was just wondering and hoping I haven't rehashed an old question.Thanks in advance,

One question (on the sound-side of the matter):)Have any of you heard the "whistling" kind of sound the CFM-56s make when spooled up to, say 40% N1 from Idle?I have noticed it on inflight videos, and visits to the "magic" office myself, and was wondering if it is trully so, and if so, whether it is typical or not.It would make me happy if it could be incorporated in the new 800/900, but I don't know if it is something of a standard or just dependent on certain circumstances (e.g. OAT, percentage of %N1 rise, humidity etc).

I've heard it. It reminds me in a way of the whine the RB211's make on 757's, but it's even louder. It would be sweet if the soundset had that.Daniel P.

If we're talking about value for money here, the PMDG 737 is the dog's doodaa's. No question. What else is there out there for the money that does so much, is bug-free, and simple enough to hop in and do a few circuits but sophisticated enough to please the techies?Yes 767PIC was a fantastic add-on in its day, but that was nearly what, four years ago? Let it go...And what did Wilco come up with next? A320 PIC, which was dreadful, truly dreadful. I flew it about three times and uninstalled it. It was virtually unflyable. Even my 3.1 Pentium 4 ground to a halt with that damn thing.There was the brilliant PSS A320 Professional, but they took my money and ran with the fiasco that was the A330/40 project, that still isn't right. Those are now parked in the virtual hangar of my hard drive. PSS are off my Christmas card list.What else? Ready For Pushback 747? Nice add-on, but I don't have 36 years to spare to read the manual. How about SimSoft's A310? Well as I don't have an A310 rating and my Russian's not what it might be, I can't even figure out how to turn on the cockpit lights.And the crowning glory...Perfect Flight's brand new