I had some fun the other day with a polar route. You have to give up your real world job for a bit though, and become a Virtual Pilot. MSFS has a Polar Wall at N89.30. If your route goes above 89.30, you'll have to do some fancy driving, but it can be done. Here

Wow Sam what an awesome adventure. Great shots and brilliant choice of A/C livery!!!! Is it possible to put a fix on the North Pole and apply a 30ml range circle to give a view on the ND of the "wall"?CheersSteve

Asides from being one of the best writers on the board, Sam also takes the Roald Amundsen memorial award for most dedicated efforts to get to the pole in FS. :-)I wonder what's in there... my bet is candy.A nice wee expose on the intricacies of polar flight too, thanks Sam!

There's been a lot on polar flying up here lately - thanks for the interesting piece Sam! I'm sure all your passengers didn't notice a thing...CheersRudy

Armstrong, Magellan, and Drake would all be proud!!!CongratsREminds me of a sci fi novelMike

hi guys, just a side question. How many GPS receiver does a 744 has? someone told me 6, is that true?thanksben

It has 2 GPS receivers. Left and Right. However, I have a question too. Do the FMCs use separate GPS systems or do they both use only one GPS receiver, while the second GPS remains as a backup . . . or is there some averaging going on? The AOMs just don't provide this LOD.Our model is "wired" so that the left GPS receiver is always providing updating to both left AND right FMCs . . .under all circumstances. Here's another interesting detail: Note that when the "Split IRS" mode occurred, both FMCs were using the left IRU. In real life, there's a logic that occurs here that will select a different IRU for the left and right FMCs to use. In the model, we have both FMCs using the Left IRU. It's a small detail, but we should see the FMCs using 2 different IRUs. Finally, the GPS update is disabled. This leaves the IRUs all alone. In the model we are left with only a single IRU providing data to both FMCs. Actually the AOM says this is right. Again a small detail. So good job there (even if it was accidental!) And also, once again, this is not PMDG bashing. It is a significant credit to the group that we can observe a navigation system's method of operation at this Level of Detail at all. Actually, the bloopers provide more of a learning opportunity than the things that never get discussed. Good question.