I am flying the PMDG 737 these days. When are you saupposed to select the departure runway? The FMC asks you to do it as part of the initialization process, but in reality, I never know which runway I am given until I contact Ground. Am I supposed to initialize the FMC as much as I'm able, then contact ground, get my runway, then finish with the initialization later?Thanks.Chris Catalano

I just started flying the PMDG NG, great plane by the way, and here's what I do. I'll listen to ATIS to find out what runway their using. IF there's multiple runways in effect, I'll just pick one, enter it in, finish up everything else, and then when I contact Ground and they give me a rwy to taxi to, I'll change it then. You have to go back in and change your takeoff speeds, and your departure briefing though.

I always just set the plane up, then while programming the FMC flight plan I listen to ATIS and contact ground to get the runway in use before I even enter the DEP runway into the FMC. That way there's no issues since the PMDG can be stubborn with SU1. Once SU2 comes out (check the PMDG forum for a big list of fixes and changes coming real soon) I'm sure the you'll have better luck altering the FMC. However, I'll still contact ground before I enter it just out of habit.Chris