Some q's about cockpit instruments after installing 800/900.

[Guest andrekr]

I bought and installed the PMDG 800/900 version last weekend and noticed the different instrument display afterwards even in the 600/700. I know you can change the design in the PMDG menu.I'd like to know the following:1) How do they look like in a real 737 - do they look more like before installing the 800/900 (PFD/ND) with less gauges in every display or more like the "new" (EFIS/MAP) default setting? Personally I more like the "old" style but I'd like to fly "as real as possible". 2) A "new" design is also shown for EICAS. Now the new default setting makes the display almost "empty". How does it look like in the real 737? As the old (side by side) setting or the new (over/under) setting? 3) I also noticed there are two new MFD buttons at the top of the EICAS display. In side by side mode they show "INOP" (inoperable) but in over/under mode they show "ENG"(ines) and "SYS"(tem)? I tried to find out what they are for but didn't notice any change...so what are they for?4) There are also 2 new black buttons within white squares - one is between the IAS/mach display and the LVL/change button and the other is between the ALT display and the V/S button... what are they for? I found out during using AP for VNAV and LNAV that the first one switches on the display for the speed setting... but whats the real reason/logic behind those buttons?5) three questions regarding the TCAS system.... I noticed that I sometime get ATC warnings about other traffic during IFR flights where I can see the planes when I look through the window but those planes aren't displayed at all (even I can see some other planes in the PFD). I did setup TCAS in the radio panel for "normal" (so planes above and below are shown) and set the knob to TA/RA mode. This behaviour seems also to be independend of using the FS2004 or the FSUIPIC setting for TCAS in the PMDG. I'm not sure but noticely during my flights I got some, maybe wrong guess... Could it be that only other Boeing planes are shown but no Airbuses within the TCAS system? During setup in the radio panel to get the TA/RA mode from "off" I have to klick once more to not to stay at "TA" mode. But even when clicking fast some seconds after the setup the display shows "TA only" before showing "TCAS" ... is this correct? I'm wondering if this is just a normal delay or if TA/RA is not implemented?Last q: During flight I sometimes get a TRAFFIC warning (yellow) with annuciation with display "Offscreen traffic" even when my range is setup to display 80nm. If I then switch to 160nm it shows the taffic which is mostly at my own altitude but cruises in a way which won't cross my own way - for example I'm heading to 005 with a turn to 090 within a few miles and the alerting plane is heading 200 and around ~100nm far away and shown at 10 o' clock in my display...Thanks much for your help... Guys, congratulations for this job...You made a really great product ! - Andre (EDDM)

[Guest EISN_CONTROL]

Andre,1) It depends on what airline you choose. Southwest have opted for the Older looking instruments for example.The easiest way to handle this is to choose your airline,goto PMDG->Stlyes and select the airline from there. That way,you'll see what the real captain see's.2)Again this depends on the Airline,and the captain. It depends what the captain wants to see. I usually leave STA(tion) on and sometimes Airports,anything more and the ND looks too cluttered.3)If you read the manual,you'd understand this.Right click on the RIGHT hand screen in the 2D display,you'll be presented with a second screen via a popup. This is the lower screen, if you click SYS you'll see the control surfaces aswell as the hydraulics. Click ENG and you'll see more information regarding the engines4)Andre,may I suggest you RTFM and/or search the forum. These are the Speed intervention and the alt intervention. Clicking SPD INT while in VNAV mode will allow the pilot to enter a desired speed into the MCP Speed box and the aircraft will comply, the same goes for Altitude Intervention,it's a faster way of inducing a temp constraint5)Once again,I implore you to read the Manual.The tcas is defaulted to only show the threatening traffic.Make sure that you click TFC on the EICAS controls, you'll see traffic if you see TFC on the ND.I can answer the other 2 questions but will not as you'll need to read the manual to fully understand the reasoning and logic.John http://homepage.eircom.net/~eamonnmca/images/logo_ba.JPGwww.bavirtual.co.uk Senior Captain Simflight.com Staff Reviewer

[Guest andrekr]

Hmmm,first I want to thank you for your fast answers. Rearding my first 2 quesions...ok - designed as wanted by airline / captain. So both modes are used depending...Regarding your second answer (seems I misled you) I meant the third display (showing the engine parameters). You wrote about the middle one. Maybe I've overseen this regarding the popup screens because I don't use them (a real pilot also won't get a popup ;) - at least I'm not aware of a HUD in a 737 ;) )Regarding #4: I always RTFM. But I couldn't find this.Regarding #5: Sorry, I setup TCAS to show non-threadening traffic and it also shows it... I only noticed that sometimes it doesn't show near traffic where ATC is asking me if I can see it - which I can do when looking through the window or from outside. Thus I asked. To be more specific about this question, this happens (not always but somtimes) with those settings:- Show non-threadening traffic- Show max (255) planes.- normal mode (including traffic above & below me)- TCAS set to TA/RA modeWhen I was alerted by TCAS I also switched my range to the appropriate resolution (10 miles) but couldn't find the mentioned aircraft... If I switch to max range and count I then can see ~30-50 planes...so it also isn't related to the restriction of the max setting for displaying.Maybe you have also an answer for a sound question... During takeoff / landing procedure I sometimes get strange sounds ( where I didn't see a note about while rtfm). Might it be that this sound (even nothing shows at the screen) is related to the "printer" in the aircraft? At least it sounds as if the printer is printing some information....- Andre

[Guest andrekr]

Nevermind the sound question.... I checked all the sounds...its the trimming :)- Andre

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

Regarding not seeing TCAS traffic, are you sure you pressed the TFC button on the EFIS control panel? Do you see "TFC" or "TA ONLY" displayed on the left middle of the ND? If not, TCAS display is disabled.Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)

[Guest andrekr]

I see "TFC" in blue letters in the ND. I also see some traffic of all kinds - general one in white with empty squares and filled squares, in yellow (warning) and sometimes also in red when its very close. I don't have the problem that I can't see the traffic - I'm just sometimes missing traffic in ND which is as near that I can see it within the window and ATC is asking for. I did some more flights today and noticed my last guess (for example not seeing Airbus) was wrong. It just seems an issue that sometimes one aircraft isn't shown up in ND. I'll try to make a screenshot next time to show what I mean... Hopefully it's understandable what I wrote - english isn't my motherlanguage, so it's sometimes a bit difficult to express myself. - Andre

[crvm 0]

The PFD style is the most common and is what you will find on 800-900s. SWA and GOL I think has that EFIS style but SWA do not have 800s or 900s that I am aware of. But even in the PFD style there are many carrier options like the AOA on the PFD, the RA either at the botton of the PFD or where the AOA is on others. This is why we have so many options to configure your NG after any airline. I curently use West Jet's PFD style because I like the RA position. So it's all about options and we sure have many to be content with![h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/betaimg.jpgAMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | WD SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 |