Is this a right cold & dark cockpit view?

[Rakham 0]

Good afternoon. Thanks for all the tutorials online.In other words,L-R UtilityBus TieGen ContEngine,AutostartEngine Bleed all these selectors always show to be on. Even if the plane is parked for a day or more for any good reason of course!:-)Thanks and regardsRakhamToshiba Satellite P4 3.4 Ghz1536 DDR RAM nVidia GeForce FXWinXP Home on the road andPIV 3.4Ghz, 1536 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 WinXP PROYoke & Pedals CH Products at home

[Rakham 0]

112 viewers already and no answer yet!:-(Perhaps hollyday season?I will try to answer this question myself.No this is not a full cold and dark cockpit. All the switches I mentionned above according to me and other sources, should be OFF.This new screenshot shows a real cold and dark cockpit.I had to make intensive search to make sure.I suggest to refer also to THE probably best tutorial on line about 747-400 at http://www.aerowinx.de/html/brian_tutorial.htmlEnjoy and best regardsRakhamToshiba Satellite P4 3.4 Ghz1536 DDR RAM nVidia GeForce FXWinXP Home on the road andPIV 3.4Ghz, 1536 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 WinXP PROYoke & Pedals CH Products at home

[cowpatz 243]

Gidday Rakham,Actually the first screen shot is the most likely way you would find a 747 that had been parked for a long period. There is no reason to turn off any of the items you listed above. If the aircraft had been in for a hangar maintenance visit then you might find some of those switches in the OFF position. The term cold and dark just implies that there is no power source on any buses.CheersSteve

[Rakham 0]

Hi Steve!Thank you so much for your answer.I think we are almost having the final answer about this.If the first shot is the most real to find as you say, from what energy source are those buttons feeding from? No battery on, no ground power? Or are those switches and buttons only engraved and not lights?RegardsRakhamToshiba Satellite P4 3.4 Ghz1536 DDR RAM nVidia GeForce FXWinXP Home on the road andPIV 3.4Ghz, 1536 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 WinXP PROYoke & Pedals CH Products at home

[Mats_J 2]

Rakham,You are assuming correctly. The texts and symbols you see on the switches are not lit up. It's sort of a white backplate that is visible when the button is depressed i.e. active. Cheers,

[victorlima01 2]

But as seen in his first picture, the engine hydraulic pumps are left in the On position, even though this does not mean that the systems are pressurized since the plane is unpowered. But I thought that these swithces were always put in the off position once shutting down the plane and were only supposed to go back to the ON position once ground crew says it's okay to pressurize the hydraulics prior to pushback. Wait, hold on a sec... just thought about this: I might be saying something stupid, since the engine hyd pumps will only pressurize the systems once the engines are up an running; hence no difference between leaving them in eithr on or off position when engines not running? Sorry if my post seems confusingBest Regards,Victor LimaSBGLhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[cowpatz 243]

The last few posts are all correct. In addition the APU bleed valve is usually left in the ON position too at least in my airline it is. No need to turn it off as there is a check valve in the system that stops main engine supplied pneumatic pressure from back presurising the APU. I am not sure why this is not modelled this way by PMDG...maybe other operators turn it off, I don't know.CheersSteve

[Qavion 19]

"In addition the APU bleed valve is usually left in the ON position too at least in my airline it is."I don't suppose it hurts to switch it off... as an added level of safety during ground ops. The engineers in our airline do it when dead-shipping an aircraft, but I don't recall it being written down anywhere to do it. It's like some operators pulling specific circuit breakers when the aircraft is on the ground for more than, say, 4 hours.With the APU running, but with packs and hydraulics off, it may seem like the bleed air flowing through the ducts is doing nothing, but it is keeping potable water tanks pressurized, providing venturi air for the TAT probes, keeping hydraulic reservoirs pressurized, etc.... and burning the hands of careless engineers working around the APU bleed duct in the wheel wells :(Switching off the APU bleed is a way of ensuring you don't get any nasty surprises when you power up the aircraft with the APU.Cheers.Q>

[cannonplug 126]

Victor:There's yet another reason why you would want to keep the engine hydraulic pump switches in the "On" position. If I remember correctly, these pumps are actually powered to the "Off" position, meaning that, when you switch them off, you're applying power to the solenoid that controls the pump. This is done so that you don't lose hydraulic power in case of an electrical failure.So, by keeping the pumps on, you're taking electrical power off those solenoids, thus helping in prolonging their lifespans.Cheers,Walter MeierKPDX

[Rakham 0]

Good morning. Thank you all so much for these answers. I hope it will benefit others too specially the ones who do not speak enough english to write on this forum.I really wish one could one day, with special permission perhaps, place on this forum, very detailed real pictures about this overhead panel. Or is there a link somewhere already showing close ups of panels.With best regardsRakhamToshiba Satellite P4 3.4 Ghz1536 DDR RAM nVidia GeForce FXWinXP Home on the road andPIV 3.4Ghz, 1536 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9700 WinXP PROYoke & Pedals CH Products at home

[cowpatz 243]

Well I stare at these panels all too often and I can tell you that the PMDG reproduction is as good as it gets. CheersSteve