Hi there guys, I am having a problem with the PMDG 747-400. When I want to do a longhaul flight say VHHH to EGLL, I load the 747 and from the PMDG menu in FS2004, I select Full fuel. I have noticed that when I do this, the aircraft finds it very hard to takeoff and barely leaves the ground.Does anyone have any suggestions to loadings and amount of fuel for a long flight like this?Look forward to repliesKind RegardsGavin Moss

Did you plan your flight properly? What kind of pasenger/cargo load are you carrying? A 747 with a full load of passengers and cargo cannot possibly takeoff with a full load of fuel as well. On long trips, such as the one you mentioned, the aricraft must limit the nubmer of passegers and cargo in order to carry more fuel. If you use the load manager program that PMDG included with the aircraft (outside of FS2004), it will tell you if the plane is over loaded. There are also charts available in the manual that will tell you how to calculate the amount of fuel required for your journey, based on you load and the distance of the trip. Afterall, airliners don't just fill up the tank the way you do with your car. They only load the fuel they need for a specific trip to allow more room for passengers and freight.Andrew

Gavin,What's your payload weight? I mean if you have full load of fuel you'd better kick some of those pax and their luggage off. ;-)I also assume you have set your trim right and also aren't derating your T/O thrust?Give us some more information about weights and your intended runway for take off plus your speeds and I can check it out.Hope it helps,

Gavin,(a) Make sure you are not overweight (Max take off weight 396 tons or 877 klbs). (:( Make sure you are not overweight for the specific runway you use© Make sure you set correctly take off trim (there is a tooltip with current trim value on the throttle console). The correct take off trim value is obtained from the TAKE OFF page of the FMC once CG value is confirmed (press the 4th from top, right select key)(d) Make sure your joystick is calibrated correctly. You can use the Lower EICAS STAT page. Even better the joystick calibration menu....finally..(e) Make sure that T/O thrust is properly set (press the TOGA button in VC or left click on the "screw" in the 2D panel)Cheers,Vangelis===================================== E. M. Vaos Precision Manuals Development Group www.precisionmanuals.com=====================================

I'm actually trying to fly EGLL to WSSS at the mo. I had a huge problem planing the flight. What sort of ZFW would BA use on this trip?I used FSBuild as my fuel planner, and it was giving me fuel loads of 193291 which is ridiculous.Do we have a decent load manager/fuel planner for the PMDG 744? FSBuild isn't really good enough, and the PMDG load manager is naff, and not quite the 'despatch centre' that was originally mentioned.

Mr/Mrs BWBriscoe et al,Please sign your posts with your real name as per the forum rules.I have just tried to replicate a flight from EGLL to WSSS using FSBuild. Using different payloads trying to avoid being overweight I ended up with a payload of 92500 lbs (41900 kg) and a fuel load of 380800 lbs (172500 kg) with 45 mins of fuel for reserve, WSAP as alternate, 15 mins for hold and 20 minutes for extra. This by using FSBuild 2.2 and current winds aloft from ASV (2005-12-08 23:00 EST).The weights above will keep you just below the MTOW of 875000 lbs (396465 kg). My trim setting was 6.0 and my Vr was 188 knots. I took off at EGLL 27L full thrust with runway to spare. Do not expect any rocket climb though. 2500 ft/min approx and first level off at 290. Initially OPT FL was 296 and MAX FL 340.It is doable.Hope it helps,

I BWBriscoe,try to use my free Fuel Planner. You can download it at this URL:http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=73345Follow this steps:1. set the payload (passengers + cargo) into the PMDG Load Manager (don't close the manager)2. copy the payload value (passengers + cargo) into my planner3. set the other parameters in my planner4. calculate the fuel5. copy the calculated value into the PMDG Load Manager6. SaveOpen FS2004 and in the "Menu -> PMDG options -> fuel" verify that there is the correct value. If not, then set it manually.Good flight!Felice