Air Conditioning on 737 NG

[Guest Knikolaes]

I feel like a fool having to ask this about such a trivial thing, but I just had to do a complete reinstall of my FS. I have performed a few flights in my newly reinstalled 737 NG and am having a problem that I cannot seem to trace in either the PMDG manual, checklists, nor the 3 Boeing/Airline Specific manuals and checklists I have.It has to do with when i am coming in on approach. I get a warning on the panel about "Air Conditioning". I check the AC every time and everything looks like it is set right -- switches to "Auto", Bleeds on, packs on, no warning lights up there but the annunciator on the main panel lights up with "air conditioning" and I cannot seem to resolve it.I never had this issue prior to the reinstall. Corrupt file requiring maybe yet another reinstall or something I am missing this round that just never came up before?I would not have posted, but I already conferred with the manuals and checklists and nothing in these says anything about AC configs on approach. As far as I know, packs on and everything "auto" is correct. Also, even as annoying as the sound is on it, I make sure the recirc fan is on as well.Thanks in advance for any input.

[Guest alexhn]

i think this message can come up when there has been an off schedule descent, or the cruise/landing altitude has not been set correctly.

[Guest Knikolaes]

Hmmm, true, because I have been doign a lot of hand flying and hardly using the autopilot at all for the flights I have done since reinstalling.I DID do a full flight for Spectrum International today which took a few hours, and I was paying so much attention to hand flying the approach in Texas thunderstorms and heavy surrounding traffic that I did not notice if the annunciation came up that round or not.

[CF104 0]

What Alex is trying to say is that your warning has to do with the pressurisation system. On your pressure control panel(overhead panel, not the auto pilot), you need to set your cruise altitude otherwise when you start your descent you will get an OFF SCHED warning and a AIR COND Master Warning. Just make sure to preset your cruise and landing altitudes before takeoff on the PRESS panel and all will be OK.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

[Guest Knikolaes]

OOOOOH I have no idea WHY I was MISSING that!!!!! It should have been so obvious as it is here in my checklists. My poor cargo **sniff** Those boxes must be so uncomfy because I forgot that.Seriously thanks. I am going to do that m,y next flight and make sure I emphasize that on my checklists. Call it laziness, but when I was checking pressurization, I was just checking the switches. I had totally forgotten that the pressurization was actually FUNCTIONAL in the PMDG NG **laughs**And here I was troubleshooting the wrong panel entirely. Thanks, John and Alex.

[Driver8 0]

Also - i have got this message when i have set a cruise altitude, but started my descent priot to reaching it...

[crvm 0]

I had totally forgotten that the>pressurization was actually FUNCTIONAL in the PMDG NG>**laughs**>>And here I was troubleshooting the wrong panel entirely. >Thanks, John and Alex. Hehe yeah can you imagine how much is actaully missed on this plane? I remember asking PMDG to implement the CRS selection message on the FMC on final and folks were asking what was wrong "is this a bug". I love those bug questions ;-) [h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]

[Guest Knikolaes]

Aye, Randy. The part that embarrassed me was that I once had my self trained to know that the pressurization was as such on the NG, but I had a spell lately where I have spent the last two months flying only the Flight1 ATR for a series of missions in Columbia hauling food and supplies to the needy.It's a cool op. And the VA I fly for uses payware aircraft exclusively, and thus far their fleet is so far that ATR, the PMDG NG and will be the PMDG 747 as soon as it is released. I think they also use the Citation X, but I am their bush pilot for Columbia at the moment **smiles**It was on an assignment for them to ferry an NG from one airport to another that I realized just how much I had forgotten about this aircraft LOL.In reality, though, something like this is a very fine example of why real world piltos concentrate on specific "type ratings" and stick to a certain aircraft for certain points in their careers. Pressurization may seem small, but all in all, I do realize just how big of a mistake that can be. Even a structural failure can occur in real life from this type of event. FS does not model it, but an overlooking such as this one could have cost lives.So I am glad to say I have just learned yet another lesson from realistic add-ons such as PMDG. I truely believe this will make me more aware of this function when I get to the ATP part of my training. Which is part of why I am posting this particular reply -- so others can learn from my mistake as well. One of the things I love about this forum is reading everyone's mistakes and learning from them.