Hi Rob,PMDG team and Pilots Greetings From Melbourne, Australia. I am a loyal PMDG customer for nearly 5 yrs now. I fly PMDG 747-400. I think it is the best Boeing made for flight sim. I I want to ask a question regarding hand flying Boeing jets . I have seen lots of cockpit videos of various boeing aircraft like 747,767 and 777. Some pilots are resting their elbow on the armrest while handflying with the yoke. Others are keeping the armrest in the up position. In all Airbus From A318 to A380. The pilots are required to use the special ouboard armrest while handflying with sidestick. The sidestick is very sensitive so the pilots are required to use the armrest.I is SOP on all fly by wire Airbus aircraft.What is the SOP with Boeing. I have bought a Saitek yoke and i wnat to fly according to Boeing SOP. I hope yoo will be able to shed some light. kind regards Ravi

It's a minefield, I have realised lately over the past few days that sim and Real world airline SOP are really getting blurred, it's good that we are getting to a level that questions like this can be asked. Some companys can be very, very Anal. Safety is always paramount but the heavy emphasis on automation that I see sometimes makes me think they treat real pilots like they are using MS flightsim, first officers are scared to handly in case they screw up the 5 knot tolerance.... Anyway I would love to here what people think. In general if you speak to most pilots they want A/P off = A/T off on approach, I have always prefered that but for some reason unless the winds are heavy in the MD11 I prefer to keep A/T on right through to touchdown.

i only hanfly on T/O up to 400 ft RA and if the aircraft is acting wierd or if the weather is bad. This one flight i was doing DAL241 EGLL-KJFK on NAT E. Well i was in Gander CTR @ FL350 & got a major wind gust & my MD-11 was acting funky and was going into the yellow on the speed tape so i axed the A/P & handflew my A/C down to FL300 then i engaged it & went on my way.

This one flight i was doing DAL241 EGLL-KJFK on NAT E. Well i was in Gander CTR @ FL350 & got a major wind gust & my MD-11 was acting funky and was going into the yellow on the speed tape so i axed the A/P & handflew my A/C down to FL300 then i engaged it & went on my way.

Thats a issue with weather update and MS flight sims, if you register a full version of fsuipc you can turn on and adjust wind smoothing to stop those unrealistic weather changes. I did this after too many times flying in cruise the aircraft suddenly went into stall speed the overspeed then stall again.

In all Airbus From A318 to A380. The pilots are required to use the special ouboard armrest while handflying with sidestick. The sidestick is very sensitive so the pilots are required to use the armrest.I is SOP on all fly by wire Airbus aircraft.

That is a common misconception. The Airbus sidestick do require fair amount of force to move them, a great deal more than any "consumer" joystick I have used.

I wouldn't do it every day but a full handflown ILS can be fun. The visual approach for Kai Tak 13 is good fun too, especially with the right scenery!

That is a common misconception. The Airbus sidestick do require fair amount of force to move them, a great deal more than any "consumer" joystick I have used.

I've actually moved a real A330 sidestick on the ground and I agree, it takes quite a bit of force, it's not like an F-16 stick or something where it's touch sensitive.

I remember reading awhile ago that the early F16 sticks would allow the pilot to induce g-forces beyond 9g so quickly that there was no warning of an onset blackout and they lost a few. The software was modified to prevent the sudden onset blackouts. I also think the stick is pressure sensitive, it doesn't actually move when you apply pressure to it. I think that is pretty cool. I've never had a ride in one, but a Colonel I worked for once got a ride along in the two seat version and when he came back I asked him how the flight went and he just grinned and apologized but he didn't want to talk to ground pounders. Ha!

Well, Not sure about the old software, but the F-16's FBW is Nine G limited,at 400 knots, the pilot can get there within just a couple seconds (So you would't feel an onset, You would simply black out if you weren't prepared for it. Pilots still die from G-lock, but precautions are always taken to make sure that pilots can handle the maneuvors they're required to preform, so that they never actually achieve G-lock. The F-16 stick does move. The original F-16 prototypes used a stick that was purely pressure sensitive. But the pilots disliked it - It didn't feel right. General Dynamics then gave it a few inches of movement, so part of the control is pressure sensitive, and a part of it is movement. (It's a happy medium, in favor of the pilots). The A320 sidestick is also not all that sensitive, the FBW is very sensitive to commands (You make a control input and it interprets and flies that input almost Immediately, and skillfully) But the sidestick is very heavy, and it gets heavier as you push it further (Pushing it at full deflection requires a lot of strength, your arm will get tired within a few seconds - in otherwords, Full deflection requires a fair bit of adrenaline, which is proper design for a side stick in an airliner, I do believe).There isn't a "Popular" Consumer joystick that's nearly as heavy as the Airbus sidestick, if there were, it would have to be clamped down to the desk (Or bolted, take your pick).Regards,Ryan Briggs

I remember reading awhile ago that the early F16 sticks would allow the pilot to induce g-forces beyond 9g so quickly that there was no warning of an onset blackout and they lost a few. The software was modified to prevent the sudden onset blackouts. I also think the stick is pressure sensitive, it doesn't actually move when you apply pressure to it. I think that is pretty cool. I've never had a ride in one, but a Colonel I worked for once got a ride along in the two seat version and when he came back I asked him how the flight went and he just grinned and apologized but he didn't want to talk to ground pounders. Ha!

Well, Not sure about the old software, but the F-16's FBW is Nine G limited,at 400 knots, the pilot can get there within just a couple seconds (So you would't feel an onset, You would simply black out if you weren't prepared for it. Pilots still die from G-lock, but precautions are always taken to make sure that pilots can handle the maneuvors they're required to preform, so that they never actually achieve G-lock. The F-16 stick does move. The original F-16 prototypes used a stick that was purely pressure sensitive. But the pilots disliked it - It didn't feel right. General Dynamics then gave it a few inches of movement, so part of the control is pressure sensitive, and a part of it is movement. (It's a happy medium, in favor of the pilots). The A320 sidestick is also not all that sensitive, the FBW is very sensitive to commands (You make a control input and it interprets and flies that input almost Immediately, and skillfully) But the sidestick is very heavy, and it gets heavier as you push it further (Pushing it at full deflection requires a lot of strength, your arm will get tired within a few seconds - in otherwords, Full deflection requires a fair bit of adrenaline, which is proper design for a side stick in an airliner, I do believe).There isn't a "Popular" Consumer joystick that's nearly as heavy as the Airbus sidestick, if there were, it would have to be clamped down to the desk (Or bolted, take your pick).Regards,Ryan Briggs

That sounds right, I have heard similar from my father-in-law who flew the F-16. I believe the new Saitek joystick is pressure sensitive.