737-800/900 FMC question

[Guest Ra]

I have the 737-800/900, I bought it from game as a boxed cd.from what I can tell this is a fullu uptodate version.I am new to all this and am not a pilot so forgive me if this is a bit noob.I am starting to mess about with the FMC now it seams to me that all the time data has got somthing like this on the pos int page I see GMT followed by a number and then a zI also see this in the manual see pdf man "fmc users manual" page 8-15there is a screen shout of the FMC with the data 1849.2Z is that right an if so what does it mean as it does not look like GMT to me ?

[Mats_J 2]

Steven,Your guess is correct. What you see is the ZULU, UTC or GMT time. 1849.2Z is basically 18:49:12 GMT (or 6:49:12PM GMT for you still living in the world of 12 hours ;-)).Before you get dug in too deep into the FMC and get all frustrated I would suggest you to carefully read all the manuals that came with the ship. This little gem needs you to know what you are doing if you want it to behave correctly. ;-)Hope it helps,

[Guest Ra]

Thanks for the information, that clears that up , I managed to to put in a flight plan and get the plane to the target airfield but as you say this is one that needs a lot of work, I have read the manuals cover to cover but I am bound to miss things, I have no problem understanding the aircraft systems except the FMC.at this time I am finding it hard to get a correct rout into the FMC , the errors I tend to get are time 30 secs to RTE which I guess is a route timing error caused by the way I route plan I guess, I do not know how to fix this when it happens.I planed a route from egll to egph but when I put in a departure I get a error tellin me the route is fragmented, I am going to try puting in the departuer first then the route data see if thats better,.one thing I really would like to know, is there a quick way to clear out all the data in the fmc and start programing it again ?

[Mats_J 2]

Steven,I've found that clearing the FMC terminal procedures cache is accomplished with DELeting and entering a new REference airport on the POS INIT page. Also DELeting the departure airport on the RTE page should clear the route.There are some good tutorials for the NG out there. Fred Clausen has one in the AVSIM library and Tim Metzinger had one out there. There is a thread about the latter somewhere on the first pages.Hope it helps,

[Guest Ra]

Thanks for the information, yes I have the documentation you refer to, got loads of it, printed it all off and put it in an folder for referance, still find i am cross referancing stuff in that, but thats what I love about this product, I must learn to be less hasty.I got through 747 RFP and concord pro no problems, as I say no problems with systems but the FMC is going to take a while to master, I Love this product, It's the challange of learning to master somthing complex, The whole FMC system simulation puts this way ahead of any thing else I have seen.Do not mention the new product, I know it going to be better but I could not sleep on xmass eve when I was young and I have work in the morning.