I seen it in the 737 but it only seems like an example of what it could be? SO i'm not to familiar can anyone give me a simple explanation?Thanks!

From what I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, ACARS is kind of an on-board communication device with the airline where you can send info about the plane, about the times, and recieve weather for your destination and stuff like that.I noticed that PMDG has refused to answer any ACARS questions though, maybe they're preparing a surprise :)

That's all correct Robin. With ACARS you also can request IFR clearance and much, much more.

Its actually pretty funny, while the Flight Simulation side is trying to use voice communication, the real aviation industry is goin to electronic text communication. The ACARS can be use for ATC, Airline, and weather information. I believe that the flight crew can send anything you could ask for via the ACARS. I dont know a great deal about it. The united Airlines B777 DVD shows the ACARS quite a bit :)

Also, ACARS is for some airlines a crew check or how should I call it. But basicaly, after, lets say 30min you get a warning or message that should be confirmed by one of the pilots that they are in the cockpit or that they didn't fall asleep. :)

>>I believe that the flight crew can send anything you could ask>for via the ACARS. >Can you order a pizza via ACARS?:(Armen at EGLLwww.veryquiet.com

Ofcourse you can. :( Wat do you want on your pizza?

Cool,thanks guys!!!

>>>>I believe that the flight crew can send anything you could>ask>>for via the ACARS. >>>>Can you order a pizza via ACARS?>>>:(>>Armen at EGLL>www.veryquiet.comOrdering is not a problem. The challenge is in deliving it. Even if you figure out a way of creating a module for airborne FS pizza delivery, you will still be stuck with a worthless digital pizza. Everyones knows they taste like cardboard. And don't even get me started on cold digital pizza for breakfast. Ugh! It's the absolute worst.By the way, are PMDG pretzels going to be included this time, or is that extra?Andrew

To the point, ACARS is also used as the "company private line", for things like passenger loads, coordinating maintenance and refuel service, dispatch issues, ordering pizza, etc... What I really want to know from Lefteris is when the 744 will model delivery of pizza via ACARS, that would probably be a first. Let's see how this could work on the CDU:> SMALL PEANUT PIZZA WITH 1 EXTRA PEANUT (TOTAL 3 UNSALTED)> MEDIUM CHOKE-FREE PRETZEL PIZZA (USD 13 COACH CABIN - CASH ONLY PLEASE)> LARGE FISH PIZZA (SORRY WE'RE OUT OF CHICKEN - AGAIN)> EXTRA LARGE LOW CARB CARDBOARD FIBER SPECIAL (SELECTED ROUTES ONLY - AND THIS ROUTE IS NOT SELECTED)All of this is making me hungry.

but in all honesty how will the fmc make any of those options possible? besides the pizza.

ACARS sounds like a big big call.You would certainly need a 24/7 dedicated PMDG server with an authentication system to distinguish different users logging on.Then you would need further software to translate information for the PMDG server, like weather info or AIRAC data, that would be a challenge in itself.Also if you go down the ACARS way, you might aswell use it to authenticate real 744 customers, and stop pirates. Maybe the FMC will not operate until you authenticate your aircraft, with your customer ID, to the PMDG ACARS server, for example!That would be "something else" :)Armen at EGLLwww.veryquiet.com

ACARS is an onboard system that allows airliners communicate directly with Dispatch and Maintenance. Its kind of like file sharing on the internet. The Dispatch can upload flight plans, weather and any other deviations of flight directly into the FMC or you can print it out and have a hard copy as well. The IFR clearences are from the Mode S transponder I dont think it has anything to do with ACARS

It's not very complex. However it takes some effort.Jos

Last week I was lucky enough to witness a transatlantic 777 flight from the jumpseat (and for a goo deal of time form the right seat as well ;) ). Cutting to the chase, we used quite a bit of ACARS with the Brazilian Atlantic FIR which was testing its system and kept asking us via ACARS for position reports, Mach nunmber, altitude etc. It worked beautifully. The 777's got a wonderful ACARS set where the information is displayed on the lower Center display and you use a touch pad and the FMC to input whatever the #### you want. Plus, it's got preprogrammed messages such as pos reports and etc making the pilots job much easier. Just by selecting one field such as "mach number" and clicking send you can update the ATC with precise information computed by the FMC and no voice comm is required. Much better than having to monitor an HF frequency when sel-cal isn't working and having to decipher what it is they're saying over that noisy background.I thought the same thing as someone else said here when I saw it working: funny we're trying to get voice comms working properly and real-world ATC is oging the other way!Best Regards,Victor http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg