> " got to fly a -700 sim last month, thanks to a buddy at>SWA - hope that counts. ">> Sure it does, as long as that SWA sim had VNAV ;-)>> Good to see you back Tim...>It was an SWA pilot who hooked me up, but it wasn't an SWA sim... It belonged to another training center (Alteon in Atlanta), and it did in fact have VNAV.I met some good folks there, and I expect that's where I'll go for my type rating and ATP once I hit 1500 hours.

Kris and Brad,Excellently explained! I would be surprised to see any questions about this from now on! :-)Your replies should be bundeled together into a FAQ. Actually it would be a great idea to take the best of the beat questions and answers from this forum and put in a FAQ post.Cheers,

Mats I'm up for it if Brad is, perhaps it would be easier if you guys at PMDG gace me and Brad the Frequently asked questions then we can provide the frequently given replies.Kris

Hi Guys -Great information coming in this thread, thank you! Anyway, I'm still feeling a little stupid, and haven't seen my question completely answered outright. So, let me try and word it one more time.1. F/D on2. Auto-thrust switched on3. Spool engines to 40%, stabilize4. Engage TO/GA5. V1, Rotate6. Follow commanded flight director bars V2 + 20kts7. 400ft AGL, select Roll mode, (LNAV in our case today)8. Clean up flaps on schedule9. Noise abatement altitude, around 1500ft, set CLB thrust, (in our case, select VNAV)10. Fly F/D bars to maintain commanded pitch, which should keep us at 250kts under 10,000??Now, if I fly lower than the commanded pitch, will the auto-thrust system try to adhere to the 250kts restriction, or will it not?What I am also saying here is that even when I do adhere to the F/D bars, I still exceed the 250kts/10,000 restriction in VNAV.Keep in mind, CMD was never selected during this example.Please feel free to try this flight example and post your results.Thanks to all!Kevin

Hey Guys-Well, I tried another flight, and it seemed to work! :-)The auto-thrust did keep the 250kts until 10,000.. I think my problem stemmed from a changing barometer setting (having dynamic barometric changes).. The frequent and quick barometer changes seemed to have caused the auto-thrust system to become a little sloppy.. So, I will conclude that the VNAV SPD will in fact keep the 250kts restriction until 10,000 (if this restriction is in the ECON CLB page of course) even with the CMD A/P not engaged.Thanks again to all responses. They helped clear a lot of things up for me, and made me a smarter pilot! :-hah

Kevin>1. F/D on>2. Auto-thrust switched on>3. Spool engines to 40%, stabilize>4. Engage TO/GA>5. V1, Rotate>6. Follow commanded flight director bars V2 + 20kts>7. 400ft AGL, select Roll mode, (LNAV in our case today)>8. Clean up flaps on scheduleFor this step to clean up you need to accelerate. To get the F/D to understand that you want the aircraft to accelerate, you have to feed it some information via the MCP. Either push VNAV and the speed will be derived from the FMC under 10.000 it will most likely be 250 or any flap speed limit, whichever is lower. Or you can change the speed setting in the MCP to, for example, 250 and push the LVL CHG. Either way the plane will pitch for speed and A/T will keep N1>9. Noise abatement altitude, around 1500ft, set CLB thrust, >(in our case, select VNAV)Step 9 is done automatically and the altitude where the A/T N1 mode changes from TO to CLB power is selectable via the FMC. I think it's in PERF INIT page 2.>10. Fly F/D bars to maintain commanded pitch, which should>keep us at 250kts under 10,000??>>Now, if I fly lower than the commanded pitch, will the>auto-thrust system try to adhere to the 250kts restriction, or>will it not?This is where some opinions differ. But I would say NO the A/T will keep the commandeed N1. YOU as PF will have to pitch up and down according to the F/D to keep the speed!>What I am also saying here is that even when I do adhere to>the F/D bars, I still exceed the 250kts/10,000 restriction in>VNAV.That should not be the case. Can you provide a screenshot of the main panel with the FMA in the PFD and the FMC CLB page when this happens?

Kris,Well done. Excellent post mate. I would be happy for any and all replies to posts here to be combined into a FAQ. FAQs are a valuable part of these types of forums in providing an easily searchable, on topic reference base for the new and not so new questions we see.Mats,You are exactly correct. VNAV in climb will provide pitch commands to maintain either the best ECONomy, MAX RATE, or MAX ANGLE speed or a restriction such as is placed at LSKL3 on the CLB page. It will also respect limit speeds for flaps of course.Following on from my last post:A/T in climb is governed by the N1 limit PAGE alone. So if you are hand flying YOU must follow the FD to maintain the SPEED profile you have told it to lead you to. If you do not follow FD then you will not maintain the correct CLIMB SPEED profile you selected in the FMS for a VNAV climb. You can of course climb in LVL CHG and the FD will give pitch commands to maintain the MCP SPD and the A/T will just keep pumping out the N1 CLB thrust selected on the N1 LIMIT page.Again there are some small exceptions (aren't there always):If you approach max speed as shown by red blocks on the PFD ASI then then the A/T 'should' retard thrust levers (I 'think' becasue I am NEVER going to try it) and same for a low speed condition approaching minimum speed .. I 'think' the FD would command a pitch down and the A/T would apply more thrust.. Gents I am not at all sure about this last paragraph as it is so far away from what we would do IRL it just doesn't matter.Rgds,