Hi all, I hate to display my ignorance so openly here but I can't seem to find any fuel draw selection options on the default 738. Once the left wing runs out of fuel that's all she wrote. I've spent the last two hours trying to find a fuel selector, but no luck. A little help here would be much appreciated.

You are not going mad, what you are looking for is not accurately depicted on the default 737-800.Real NG 737s have six fuel switches located on the left side of the overhead, plus a crossfeed rotating valve switch. On the 737-800, that's all you get unless it is a customer special variant with more than the standard three fuel tanks (unless we get into talking about the real thing in ,much more detail, in which case there are some other switches too, but not really of relevance to cockpit operation). Special versions with auxiliary tanks have four additional feed valve switches located above the electrical bus panel for the auxiliary tanks, but that is of course not there on an 800 since it only has three tanks as standard.The 737 should use fuel from the centre tank first and then the wing tanks, since the centre tank maintains a pressure level approximately twice that of the wing tanks. If it has auxiliary tanks fitted, these feed into the centre tank, fuel is forced in there by pressure bled off from the cabin pressurisation system and the engine bleed air, since the auxiliary tanks do not have dedicated pumps, unlike the three main tanks, which have two pumps each (hence six switches).The default 737-800 does not have an accurate depiction of the fuel pump switches on its overhead though. It has only two switches instead of the six the real thing has; on the default 737-800 all you get is the left and right pumps and a crossfeed switch. What it should really have is two switches for the left (FWD and AFT), and the same for the right, plus a pair of switches just below the crossfeed switch that are the centre fuel pump switches (i.e the layout of the switches on the real thing mimics the layout of the pumps in the tanks on the real aircraft. That's why you can't find the switches you are looking for, because they aren't properly modeled on the default 800. There should also be six low pressure warning lights too (one for each of what the six switches relate to), and those aren't there either.FSX has some fuel tank commands which don't have keys assigned by default: Fuel Transfer (auto) is one of those commands for example. Depending on what you want to do, you may need to assign a key to some of those commands, especially on aircraft which don't have switches in the cockpit to do those things.Al

You are not going mad, what you are looking for is not accurately depicted on the default 737-800.Real NG 737s have six fuel switches located on the left side of the overhead, plus a crossfeed rotating valve switch. On the 737-800, that's all you get unless it is a customer special variant with more than the standard three fuel tanks (unless we get into talking about the real thing in ,much more detail, in which case there are some other switches too, but not really of relevance to cockpit operation). Special versions with auxiliary tanks have four additional feed valve switches located above the electrical bus panel for the auxiliary tanks, but that is of course not there on an 800 since it only has three tanks as standard.The 737 should use fuel from the centre tank first and then the wing tanks, since the centre tank maintains a pressure level approximately twice that of the wing tanks. If it has auxiliary tanks fitted, these feed into the centre tank, fuel is forced in there by pressure bled off from the cabin pressurisation system and the engine bleed air, since the auxiliary tanks do not have dedicated pumps, unlike the three main tanks, which have two pumps each (hence six switches).The default 737-800 does not have an accurate depiction of the fuel pump switches on its overhead though. It has only two switches instead of the six the real thing has; on the default 737-800 all you get is the left and right pumps and a crossfeed switch. What it should really have is two switches for the left (FWD and AFT), and the same for the right, plus a pair of switches just below the crossfeed switch that are the centre fuel pump switches (i.e the layout of the switches on the real thing mimics the layout of the pumps in the tanks on the real aircraft. That's why you can't find the switches you are looking for, because they aren't properly modeled on the default 800. There should also be six low pressure warning lights too (one for each of what the six switches relate to), and those aren't there either.FSX has some fuel tank commands which don't have keys assigned by default: Fuel Transfer (auto) is one of those commands for example. Depending on what you want to do, you may need to assign a key to some of those commands, especially on aircraft which don't have switches in the cockpit to do those things.Al

I thought the 737 master might show up for this one. I'm curious if this could have happened because I saved my default flight in the C206 with just the left fuel tank selected to draw from. Maybe if I were to save the flight drawing from all tanks and then load the 737 all would be fine. Or better yet, perhaps it's time to step up to somethin a little more suited to my needs. You make the Arianne model sound desireable.

Well, as much as I like it, Ariane is not the only option. For FSX there is also the Feel There/Wilco Publishing PIC 737. Not an NG, but still a 737 (three in fact) with an FMC, and a proper realistic overhead panel that is actually more sophisticated than the Ariane's, because it has cabin pressurisation modeled, which the Ariane 737 does not. At half the price of the Ariane 737 and with lots of extra things available for it, it's not to be sniffed at. Alternatively, there are a few freeware NGs about which you can add 2D panels to, or you can even do that with the default 737, adding an FMC with something like Integrated Simavionics FMC and better cockpit displays. The Integrated Simavionics FMC is a simulation of the Smiths Industries FMC which all Boeing 737 have fitted, so it is well suited to souping up 737s.Don't get me wrong, the Ariane 737 for FSX is indeed a lovely thing, but it aint cheap, and you have to be able to paint it yourself or cough up extra cash for the official repaints, so that may add to the cost. On top of that, it's no secret that not everyone is in love with Ariane's marketing policies of course. Personally I'm glad I bought it and I fly it a lot, not least because it gets great FPS and is fun, but there's no denying 70 quid is a lot for one plane; you'd better be sure you want it if you're contemplating handing over that kind of dosh.Al

Well, as much as I like it, Ariane is not the only option. For FSX there is also the Feel There/Wilco Publishing PIC 737. Not an NG, but still a 737 (three in fact) with an FMC, and a proper realistic overhead panel that is actually more sophisticated than the Ariane's, because it has cabin pressurisation modeled, which the Ariane 737 does not. At half the price of the Ariane 737 and with lots of extra things available for it, it's not to be sniffed at. Alternatively, there are a few freeware NGs about which you can add 2D panels to, or you can even do that with the default 737, adding an FMC with something like Integrated Simavionics FMC and better cockpit displays. The Integrated Simavionics FMC is a simulation of the Smiths Industries FMC which all Boeing 737 have fitted, so it is well suited to souping up 737s.Don't get me wrong, the Ariane 737 for FSX is indeed a lovely thing, but it aint cheap, and you have to be able to paint it yourself or cough up extra cash for the official repaints, so that may add to the cost. On top of that, it's no secret that not everyone is in love with Ariane's marketing policies of course. Personally I'm glad I bought it and I fly it a lot, not least because it gets great FPS and is fun, but there's no denying 70 quid is a lot for one plane; you'd better be sure you want it if you're contemplating handing over that kind of dosh.Al

It sounds like it might be time for another purchase. I just checked out Wilco and think it might be the best all-around value in the 737 department right now. Until someone finally does the P-3 right for FSX I think the 737 is my next best bet. I'll give it a go right now. Just make sure you keep checking these forums. You're the 737 go-to guy around here.