Hello,Excuse my english which is very poor..Could somebody tell me if a fuel heater system exists in the real MD 11 and, if yes, why PMDG had not modelized it.Thanks.Guy

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and suggest that PMDG have not modelled it because it doesn't exist. :(

Hi, not in the MD-11...a fuel heater system doesn't exist in this beatiful bird, so, if you have a very low fuel temp (<-40°C, the temp at which Jet A fuel freezes) you will have to descent to a lower FL and to warmer skies...If i remember correctly, MD-11 have a fuel recirculations system that allows to move the fuel around to mantain it at a warmer temp. than the average static fuel. So, i think that is the reason why McDonnell Douglas hadn't eqipped the plane with this system. Obviously, a fuel heaters system is much more good in terms of heating the fuel, but MD-11 unfortunatly haven't it.Cheers,

Hello,I thank you for your answers sam and Paolo. I wish you a happy New Year and many good flies.Guy

Most modern aircraft dont have dedicated fuel heaters anymore. They use a fuel/oil heat exchanger to cool the oil and heat the fuel. This is normally sufficient.

I read either on this forum or in McDonnell Douglas publication that on the MD11 that hot hydralic fluid was circulated thru the fuel by pipes to cool the fluid and at the same time heat the fuel.Michael Cubine

I have yet to get cold fuel. My last flight was from Barbados to London and the outside air temp stopes to -58c just after flying over the Azores. The fuel slowly started to drop in tempteture and was at about -30 when I commenced decent into Gatwick.

Hello Guy,I have just been flying Stansted UK to Anchorage Alaska, after 7hrs flying i went through cold air at 36 000ft and the fuel froze too. Looking through PMDG's manuals the MD11 isn't fitted with fuel heaters. At -35C I believe there is an automatic system to circulate fuel through the tanks, from cold tanks to warmer ones, but no heaters. I think if the fuel gets as low as -37C the the systems informs you to descend to lower air, before the fuel actually freezes, at -40C and stops your engines in flight. This will happen even with failures disabled!! So be careful flying in very cold climates.Hope this help anyDavid Phillips

Hello,Excuse my english which is very poor..Could somebody tell me if a fuel heater system exists in the real MD 11 and, if yes, why PMDG had not modelized it.Thanks.Guy

Hello Guy,I have just been flying Stansted UK to Anchorage Alaska, after 7hrs flying i went through cold air at 36 000ft and the fuel froze too. Looking through PMDG's manuals the MD11 isn't fitted with fuel heaters. At -35C I believe there is an automatic system to circulate fuel through the tanks, from cold tanks to warmer ones, but no heaters. I think if the fuel gets as low as -37C the the systems informs you to descend to lower air, before the fuel actually freezes, at -40C and stops your engines in flight. This will happen even with failures disabled!! So be careful flying in very cold climates.Hope this help anyDavid Phillips

+1Exactly as you said. There are not fuel heaters, so the fuel recirculation system can help to speed down the freezing of the fuel, but with very cold TAT you need to prevent engines stop starting descent to warmer altitudes.Better if you do it before -40°C...Cheers,

I have to say though this is the first time I've heard people mentioning very cold fuel. In fact, it's the first time I've experienced it myself in the MD11. The weather people weren't kidding about this being a colder than normal winter!Anyway, if you check flight aware, you'll notice several real world flights are filing for lower than normal altitudes. I know a Hawaiian 76 flight from Honolulu to Seattle I was on never hit FL300. This was due to high winds though but still, the air down lower was cold enough to keep performance acceptable. The flight used only about 2000 lbs more than usual according to the crew.

I have to say though this is the first time I've heard people mentioning very cold fuel. In fact, it's the first time I've experienced it myself in the MD11. The weather people weren't kidding about this being a colder than normal winter!Anyway, if you check flight aware, you'll notice several real world flights are filing for lower than normal altitudes. I know a Hawaiian 76 flight from Honolulu to Seattle I was on never hit FL300. This was due to high winds though but still, the air down lower was cold enough to keep performance acceptable. The flight used only about 2000 lbs more than usual according to the crew.

To all,For what it's worth:During the Northern summer Jet A will do as fuel.During wintertime you better upload fuel of the A1 type.It's in the documentation.And, if you know an airplane that's heating the in tanks fuel, please let me know.Regards,Harry

During wintertime you better upload fuel of the A1 type.

Btw. the change to JETA1 also works during flight in the PMDG MD-11. Maybe interesting for those who forget to change fuel type before take off. The "fuel temp low" warning disappears instantly;-)

Btw. the change to JETA1 also works during flight in the PMDG MD-11. Maybe interesting for those who forget to change fuel type before take off. The "fuel temp low" warning disappears instantly;-)

I know I should know this but how do you change fuel type?

Btw. the change to JETA1 also works during flight in the PMDG MD-11. Maybe interesting for those who forget to change fuel type before take off. The "fuel temp low" warning disappears instantly;-)

Paul G.,About this remark.The reference was to the MD11 already.Regards,Hary

I know I should know this but how do you change fuel type?

INIT [Page 3] => FUEL INITtype: "A1" into scratchpad and push LSK3R