Captain,On a leg from N73 00.0/W150 00.0 to N89 58.0/W150 00.0,Under 85

Hi,As far as I've heard from a 744 2nd Officer, a 744 cannot fly above a certain latitude on the Pole in real life. Systems/Autopilot will collapse above it. So, it could be a realism update here on the MD11 with it's way more sophisticated systems than the 744. In FS at least.Regards,Leon Brouwer

Systems/Autopilot will collapse above it.

Sorry, this is a bunch of nonsense. No engineering standard, no certification would allow such a thing. 747-400 manual mentions no such restriction and there is no engineering/mathematical or other reason for such a limitation. Actually 747-400 did fly directly above both the North and the South Pole on couple special occasions (with paying passengers) but the fact is that at least currently there is no need to fly directly above the Poles - no city pair requires it. I think the closest they get to the North Pole these days on those so called "polar" flights is around 300 nm.Once in a while Ken-ichiro gets bored and treats us to the same North Pole images. :(

Qantas does annual Antarctic scenic flights during the southern hemisphere summer months - only a few of them. I've been on one and it was a fantastic flight. Qantas uses one of their Boeing 747-438ER aircraft on these flights. I have no idea if they may use an A380-800 next summer, though.

Have a look at this (MD-11 is at the bottom):http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagaz...v_by_model.htmlThere certainly are some consdierations for polar routes where systems are concerned and airlines do indeed have restrictions.

There certainly are "considerations" and crew must be aware of special procedures but nothing "collapses or blows up", software doesn't crash because it attempts to divide by zero :(, no smoke is coming from behind the MCP panel. The aircraft itself certainly doesn't limit anyone who desperately wants to fly there ...

My friend I honestly have no idea what the problem could be. I do remember that we are using Flight Simulator, so if you wanted to trek across the poles then do it. Also, I think when he said "collapse" he meant it fails.

Isn't FS generally a bit iffy over the poles?Andrew

Isn't FS generally a bit iffy over the poles?Andrew

Not FSX, with its new world (instead of cylinder) model, it was specifically designed to allow polar navigation. With the slight curvatures of the new world model, it is what messed up the migration of the existing FS9 AFCADS to FSX (elevation issues at the ends of the runway and slightly different coordinates). Last time I checked the PMDG 744X didn't have a problem over the poles (within 0.5 degress), so maybe it is MD-11 specific.

I have flown LEVEL-D 767-300ER FSX successfully (Auto LNAV and VNAV) passing over the North and South Poles without problem.Route examples:PANC - FAI - N73 00.0/W150 00.0 - N89 50.0/W150 00.0 - (North Pole) - N89 50.0/E030 00.0 - N73 00.0/E030 00.0 - ORM - PODOM - EFHKYPPH - TAMOD - S60 00.0/E120 00.0 - S89 50.0/E120 00.0 - (South Pole) - S89 50.0/W060 00.0 - S60 00.0/W060 00.0 - PWL - SOM - SCCII hope only to implement the Polar Navigation (FMS.100.32) functionality into PMDG MD-11 as Captain Frantzeskakis said before:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oct 19 2008, 08:19 AMOther than the change to TRU mode the polar navigation functionality is not implemented in the current version of the MD-11. It was on our list but didn't make it for the release version. We add it in the next update. I am not sure if FSX has overcome the pole crossing problems that FS9 exhibited, but we will check that as well. Michael FrantzeskakisPMDG MD-11 Developer-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sincerely,Kan-ichiro Fushihara

I was in Sep 03 on a trip from FRA to FAI with my son who was at that time captain on a MD11 - most northern point was N85. But we came to a discussion about navigation direct over the North Pole.Here is what I can recall ( 6 years ago )Shortly before the NP the navigation system will cease its normal work and will only provide through the AP the basic function - hold wings level and keeps its original heading. After about 1,5 minutes or 12 nm the nav system has itself reestablished to provide normal navigation.I don't know if this modelled in the PMDG MD11

Below is the Qantas flight plan (QF2902) for the flight that I was onboard from Sydney (YSSY) to Antarctica and back to Sydney on February 17, 2006. We departed around 8:30am and returned some time between 9pm and 10pm (flight time was about 13 hours), if my memory serves me correctly. For obvious reasons, I can't give out some details of the flight plan such as Cost Index, but I can give you the route and some weight information.Route:SYD 35S 40S 45S 50S 55S59 60S61 65S GULAN ADARE HALET KALVA 159E HUDSN 147E DDURE MPOLE 60S42 55S44 50S46 45S47 HB FLI CB CULIN SY SYDOn the way to Antarctica, we climbed to a cruising altitude of FL310, before descending fo 11,000ft for the sightseeing segment. On the return segment to Sydney, we eventually climbed to FL380. The aircraft used for this flight was VH-OEH. Total fuel was 180.000, flight fuel was 143.100 and the ZFW was 226.000 with a TOW of 405.000kg.

Dear Karl-Heinz,How very envious your son has been a captain on the MD-11!Although I'm a retired textile engineer, I was born in 1927, the year of C. A. Lindbergh's single transatrantic flight, and have been very interested in the airplane since my boyhood. I have enjoyed Flight Simulator from 1986 of MICROSOFT Flight Simulator For Apple Macintosh to now.Your recollection is in conformity with 'Polar Navigation' in the PMDG MD-11 FMS Operating Manual page FMS.100.32. I'm long waiting for implementation of this functionalitySincerely,Kan-ichiro Fushihara

Hello Kan-ichiro,I searched a little bit in my library and found a relatively new book called "Northbound Lady - with the last big Trijet to Alaska" by a colleague of my son, now also no longer on the MD11.Suggest to visit his website at http://www.ritterimages.com/index.htmThis book is impressive not only the professional description of a flight via Polar Route, but also the beautiful pictures of the flight and of Alaska.

Hi,in the above mentionned book I found a flight plan from ESGG to PAFA and I want to try this flight - but now I have a problem.How do I insert a coord like 80N010E - this question sounds silly, since I fly for long time NAT tracks and insert something like 50N20W as5020N and it will be accepted. Now I want to insert 80N 010E / 85N 010E / 90N 000E / 85N 148W / 80N 148W and 75N 148WThe manual says :Waypoints may also be entered by typing the latitude and longitude in the SP and entering the desired position with a left LSK.Waypoints entered in this manner will be defined in the ACT F-PLN as NXXWXXX.So far so good - the MD11 FMC will not accept either N80E010 ( not in database ) nor 80N010E ( not in database ) !!Entering 8010N will be accepted, but how does the FMC recognize 10 as E and not W - see above how does the FMC know that 5020N shouldbe 50N20W ??I searched the forum but no success . . .