Hi everyone!I've got a question about performing a good take of and about fuel preparation:- First the take of. When for example lining up the -800 on the runway and accelerating with normal n1 settings (so no reduced or whatsoever) I experience my first problem when the airspeed hits the precalculated v1 speedbug (calculated by the fmc), followed by rotate when the plane should get her nose up in the air and fly away. I usually rotate with a delay of two or tree seconds, when my virtual co-pilot already calls out v2. But with v2 u already need to fly several feet up in the air?! After that you should maintain +- 9 degrees nose up until a certain altitude (to avoid a tail strike). Then pitch further to maintain v2+15 knots (I also see v2+10 and v2+20 knots in some manuals....?)After take-off my speed is in a matter of facts far to high to maintain this v2+15 speed. I need to pitch the nose up to at about 22 degrees, the plane starts to decellerate and that't the way i get my v2+15 speed eventually. This can't be the riht way!!!!...??? So: are the so called v1 vr and v2 speeds not misscalculated by the fmc, or should i adjust my trim settings somehow to get of the ground earlier(I can find the knobs of the trims on my joystick, but don't know what the proper settings are for the take-off)-Second the fuelplanning. I use fsbuild to plan my flight together with en-route charts. The program contains a utility to calculate the fuelburn aloft the route to give you a certain amount of fuel at the end of the route. The problem is,.. it doesn't work??!! (maybe someone can help me with this to help me along). This might be a bit of topic, but i previously used the pmdg fuel utility to plan the flight. The problem was that I experienced a low fuelquantity at the end of the route, restulting in a crash....am i doing something wrong, or is this fuelplanner useless? Even when i use a co-index of 10, i havn't got enough fuel at the end of the route. Maybe i don't fill in the right values, so maybe someone can tell me some typical fuel quantities to fill in in the planner (i mean the standars, and not the variables). So taxifuel, fuel left after landing holding fuel, etc. I understand there is no same fuel quantity for a flight from newyork to london and a flightfrom new york to washinton. Hope you guys understand my life story...heheheRegards Ruben

Just wanted to note that the fuel planner is not from PMDG. It's a third-party contributed freeware application.Not sure what you might be doing differently with the fuel planner. It is used by a fair portion of the NG community here, and the only complaints are that it doesn't offer enough options for flight level. I do remember one complaint that the fuel calculation was off, but I think the person in question ended up with too much fuel, not too little, and he was able to fix it by using a different CI.How long are your flights? What cruise altitude are you using? Are you entering estimated winds aloft correctly? Are you letting the autopilot handle your climbs and descents?As for takeoff, I believe the proper trim setting is indicated in the FMC during preflight. I always set mine to 5 degrees, since that seems to be what it always comes out as.I wouldn't worry too much about maintaining V2+15. As far as I know, that speed is just a minimum, not a set speed that you must maintain for your climbout. Bear in mind, I am not a real world commercial pilot, so I might very well be dead-wrong here! Hopefully some real NG pilots will answer.

a normal departure has several phases...After takeoff, there is an initial climb phase, where several goals are:Get away from the ground, (it stings when you hit it).Try not to annoy the idiots who built their houses right next to an airport (noise abatement).This climb ends anywhere from 400 feet to 1000 feet depending on operator and noise concerns, and is usually flown at V2+20. While you may get flight director guidance and change modes, this is usually flown by hand and not the autopilot. Remember the idea is to meet the two goals above so a steep pitch and keeping that speed at V2+20 is good technique.Then the next segment is an acceleration phase where the aircraft is cleaned up (flaps are raised) and sped up (to 220+ knots) and typically lasts until 3000 feet or so. Then the climb continues at normal (250 knots in the US) speeds.Of course every operator does it a little differently, but that's the general idea.

Hi Ruben,Regarding your fuelplanning issue.. try this:Estimate your flight time which can be done by either an airline timetable or a very complete setting of your FMC, it should also contain data like winds and temperature at cruising altitude. Of course the airplane should be loaded correctly so watch weight and balance in the Loadmanager. Hold baggage should be loaded as follows: 20% in the FWD CGO compartment and 80% in the AFT CGO compartment. Say each passenger takes along 20 kgs.For fuelplanning: Flighttime x 2.250 kgs/hr = Tripfuel Tripfuel + 3.750 kg (reserves) = T/O fuelDepending on the taxitime you could add fuel when taxiing longer than 10 minutes as to RW36L at EHAM..FMC settings: CI 54, use CRZ ALT nearest to optimum ALT which can be found in the CRZ menu. You should land with +/- 3.000 kgs.Of course this is not the way it goes in real life commercial aviation but us simmers don't have expensive systems like LIDO (Flight Planning SYS) to our disposal have we?? This usually works for me and it's very close to the real thing.cheers,Bj

I believe that the FMC trim settings is not working...you have to get those from the manual?

The PMDG 737 airplanes rotation and initial climb perform exactly like the real airplane.Reference: 737-700 FOMFirst of all, don't delay rotation 2 seconds, rotatate at Vr. Takeoff and initial climb performance depend on rotating at the correct airspeed and proper rate to the rotation target attitude. As you know, early or rapid rotation may cause a tail strike. Late, slow, or under-rotation increases takeoff ground roll. Any improper rotation decreases initial climb flight path.An improper rotation can have an effect on the command speed after liftoff. If the rotation is delayed beyond V2+20, the speed commanded by the flight director is rotation speed up to a maximum of V2+25. An earlier liftoff does not affect the command initial climb spedd, however, either case degrades overall takeoff performance.Initial Climb - All EnginesAfter liftoff use the flight director as the primary pitch reference cross checking indicated airspeed and other flight instruments. After liftoff, the flight director commands pitch to maintain a target airspeed of V2+20 knots until another pitch mode is engaged.V2+20 is the optimum climb speed with takeoff flaps. It results in the maximum altitude gain in the shortest distance from takeoff. Acceleration to higher speeds reduces the altitude gain. If airspeed exceeds V2+20 during the initial climb, stop the acceleration but do not attempt to reduce airspeed to V2+20. Any speed between V2+15 and V2+25 knots results in approximately the same takeoff profile. Crosscheck indicated airspeed for proper initial climb speed.Floyd

>Hi Ruben,>>Regarding your fuelplanning issue.. try this:>>Estimate your flight time which can be done by either an>airline timetable or a very complete setting of your FMC, it>should also contain data like winds and temperature at>cruising altitude. Of course the airplane should be loaded>correctly so watch weight and balance in the Loadmanager. Hold>baggage should be loaded as follows: 20% in the FWD CGO>compartment and 80% in the AFT CGO compartment. Say each>passenger takes along 20 kgs.>>For fuelplanning: >Flighttime x 2.250 kgs/hr = Tripfuel >Tripfuel + 3.750 kg (reserves) = T/O fuel>>Depending on the taxitime you could add fuel when taxiing>longer than 10 minutes as to RW36L at EHAM..>>FMC settings: CI 54, use CRZ ALT nearest to optimum ALT which>can be found in the CRZ menu. You should land with +/- 3.000>kgs.>>Of course this is not the way it goes in real life commercial>aviation but us simmers don't have expensive systems like LIDO>(Flight Planning SYS) to our disposal have we?? This usually>works for me and it's very close to the real thing.>>cheers,>>Bj

>The PMDG 737 airplanes rotation and initial climb perform>exactly like the real airplane.>>>Reference: 737-700 FOM>>First of all, don't delay rotation 2 seconds, rotatate at Vr.>Takeoff and initial climb performance depend on rotating at>the correct airspeed and proper rate to the rotation target>attitude. As you know, early or rapid rotation may cause a>tail strike. Late, slow, or under-rotation increases takeoff>ground roll. Any improper rotation decreases initial climb>flight path.>>An improper rotation can have an effect on the command speed>after liftoff. If the rotation is delayed beyond V2+20, the>speed commanded by the flight director is rotation speed up to>a maximum of V2+25. An earlier liftoff does not affect the>command initial climb spedd, however, either case degrades>overall takeoff performance.>>>>Initial Climb - All Engines>>After liftoff use the flight director as the primary pitch>reference cross checking indicated airspeed and other flight>instruments. >>After liftoff, the flight director commands pitch to maintain>a target airspeed of V2+20 knots until another pitch mode is>engaged.>>V2+20 is the optimum climb speed with takeoff flaps. >>It results in the maximum altitude gain in the shortest>distance from takeoff. >>Acceleration to higher speeds reduces the altitude gain. >>If airspeed exceeds V2+20 during the initial climb, stop the>acceleration but do not attempt to reduce airspeed to V2+20. >>Any speed between V2+15 and V2+25 knots results in>approximately the same takeoff profile. >>Crosscheck indicated airspeed for proper initial climb speed.>>>Floyd