PMDG 737 is not good enough....some real issues inside

[Guest abmola]

Hi all,I am flying flight simulators since last 8 years & I have tried 100's of free-wares for the FS & finally I decided to try the pay-wares for more realism.Just last week I bought the PMDG 737NG & honestly, I found this add-on good in many ways but I was very bothered about some handling issues, like:1-It is too heavy compared to it is type (the default 737 is much lighter).2-Very hard to maintain vertical speed between 0 & 150 when landing.3-The T/D point is too close to the destination which make impossible to do the landing at first attempt.4-When reaching the T/D point, the autopilot will start descend at very high V/S like -3600 (I doubt that in real life any pilot will do such thing).5-The situation is like this : I am in final approach doing my landing fully manually , the speed is 160 & the flaps set at 30 & my descend rate is 500 & every thing seems OK but once I lower the gears my speed will fall to stall limit & the only way to stop it is to apply full power..These small points I mentioned above is making me re-thinking about buying any PMDG or pay-ware aircrafts in the future. Sorry guys for the bad English since it is my third language.

[jdk2 1]

This is just a thought, but it appears that your aircraft is too heavy (160 knots and flaps 30) probably because you've accepted the default fuel loadout. You need to reduce the amount of fuel you're carrying. You could try this fuel planner written by Ross Carlson. Documentation and download available here: Jim[link:www.precisionmanuals.com]http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_pf.jpg

[Guest abmola]

>This is just a thought, but it appears that your aircraft is>too heavy (160 knots and flaps 30) probably because you've>accepted the default fuel loadout. You need to reduce the>amount of fuel you're carrying. You could try this fuel>planner written by Ross Carlson. Documentation and download>available here: >>Jim>>[link:www.precisionmanuals.com]http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_pf.jpgThank you very much for your reply & for the link.. I am using that program already ... but I find it some times heavier than the A320.. kinda strange :-hmmmany way thank you for help...

[Tabs 2,790]

>Hi all,>>I am flying flight simulators since last 8 years & I have>tried 100's of free-wares for the FS & finally I decided to>try the pay-wares for more realism.Hi, (Please sign your real name next time per PMDG rules)With all due respect, your experience in simming gives you no grounds on which to evalute how well an addon simulates a real aircraft unless you have deep knowlege of how that aircraft flies and how the systems function.>Just last week I bought the PMDG 737NG & honestly, I found>this add-on good in many ways but I was very bothered about>some handling issues, like:>>1-It is too heavy compared to it is type (the default 737 is>much lighter).The default MS 737 is NOWHERE near realistic. (also, it's a 400 classic series, not a 700, but that's beside the point) The PMDG 737 was tested by numerous real world 737 pilots flying the real aircraft every week and it was good enough for them to sign off on it. The numbers are very very close - you can use real life performance charts to fly the PMDG, not so with the MS.>2-Very hard to maintain vertical speed between 0 & 150 when>landing.I'm not sure what you mean by this. You shouldn't be in vertical speed mode when landing. You should be either coupled to the AP's APP mode or flying manually.>3-The T/D point is too close to the destination which make>impossible to do the landing at first attempt.Need much more information to diagnose this. Do you have the FMC performance data properly initialized? T/D should be placed at the right point to allow a fully idle thrust descent along a calculated economy path from cruise altitude to your end of descent point. (usually the runway)>4-When reaching the T/D point, the autopilot will start>descend at very high V/S like -3600 (I doubt that in real life>any pilot will do such thing).This is 100% realistic - real pilots rarely start the descent in VNAV precisely because of this. VNAV follows a vertical path that slopes down from T/D - there's no graduation of the line, it just goes for whatever the FMC is calculating. What many real pilots do is start the descent in V/S mode, slowly rolling the wheel forward to increase rate of descent (all passengers sense is the acelleration, not the descent rate itself) until it's what it needs to be, and THEN engage VNAV again. >5-The situation is like this : I am in final approach doing my>landing fully manually , the speed is 160 & the flaps set at>30 & my descend rate is 500 & every thing seems OK but once I>lower the gears my speed will fall to stall limit & the only>way to stop it is to apply full power..160 is very fast for landing. Normal landing speed is around 125-140 Check your wieghts in the load manager and your fuel load, if you're too heavy, you're going to have problems like this. Also make sure you've got the autothrottle engaged and controlling the speed, it'll compensate for the extra drag from gear/flaps etc.>These small points I mentioned above is making me re-thinking>about buying any PMDG or pay-ware aircrafts in the future.I really think you're just not understanding fully what it is you have here with the PMDG and other such high end payware products. You need to fly them the way a real pilot would, they're not the default MS planes with simple systems. The 737 and 747 are two of the most accurate addons out there, just put in the time to learn the systems and the FMC and you'll be flying correctly in no time. Check out Fred Clausen's tutorial flight availiable in the AVSIM file library if you want and example of how to correctly conduct a flight.

[Guest Boaz]

I agree with Ryan.If you are experienced, you might have gotten used to procedures, handling and routines that are far from realistic, thus applying freeware type aircraft procedures, handling and routines would tend to cause some confusion and stress even.Also 160 for flaps 30 IS way over the top for a 737 you think you have the spoilers down or up?? ;)I think training, reading, training, reading will do you much better, or go back to default/freeware planes, because I do not think it is the product that lacks realism, more your experience.Boaz...

[zubart 5]

Sorry to hear that.Good luck.Floyd

[djgodden 0]

While not a private, commercial, nor military pilot, I was around aircraft and pilots nearly my entire Naval career (as a Strike Controller, ASAC, AIC, etc... and finally CIC Officer on mostly aircraft carriers and amphibious flattops), so my experience is more superficial than hands on. Like the founder of this thread I've been using the MS flight simulator products since their beginnings and, while excellent products, they leave a great deal of realism out. Their appeal to many was their "hop in and fly" simplicity and their decieving realism. However, flight is much more complex and detailed. I, like the founder of this thread, looked for more and more realistic simlations and, IMHO, I finally found it in the PMDG products. I did have to keep reminding myself how basic and simple the MS aircraft were. Anyone with even a fleeting glimpse of a commercial airliner cockpit will realise that MS and many other FS aircraft are pathetically detailed in comparison. Many have really "neato" photorealistic cockpits but nothing really works and the flight dynamics suck. Attention is being placed on flyability vice realism. My only complaint about PMDG products is that there are so few. However, I would rather have a few exceptional products (both in performance and support) than loads of visually detailed whiz-bang crap, ala Abacus. PMDG aircraft WILL kick your butt if you don't read the wonderfully detailed manual that they all come with. PMDG is the best I've found. Oh, and no... I don't know any of the people at PMDG nor do work for them/he/she/it. *steps down from soap box and leaves corner*