Hi to all,On two Sundays ago I went to Milan in a fligthsim center and flight school where I had hired an hour in a fixed base training simulator of the B737 NG. Of course, I know it was not a "full motion Level-D" B737 simulator but anyway more realistic than FS9!(you can see it, pics and video at the "boeing simulator section" of the site: www.flightsimcenter.eu, unfortunately with comment only in Italian). At the beginning I was a little nervous like "first time in a drining school" but I relaxed when I saw the propietor and instructor very friendly, just another simflying and airplane lover! I said to me that the previous day the simulator had been hired all the day by two "cadets" training for their interview at the Raynair, their training pilot being a real training captain. There there was also another boy having hired the simulator an hour before me, but it was quite unexperienced by simflying, with an add-on reproducing the B737 "classic Super-Guppy", always making the same flight from five years: LIMC-LIPZ by just using the "heading mode" (by selecting heading 100 degrees just after takeoff and flying at the "naive" level of 10500 feet) not being able to program the FMC and to understand English language quite well for reading his FMC instruction manual). So our instructor, seeing I knew the bird asked me to fly "as a crew" with the other boy, being me the Pilot in Command and the other one my copilot.. :( he'd have supervised this "crew" from behind...we stated by a "cold and dark situation" and, as first flight, I planned a LIMJ-LIMC so to have pelnt of time to perform all the necessary actions in a calm manner (I was equipped with dep/app charts, being a route a simply GEN6K dep just followed by a MEBUR2H arrival with an ILS on rwy 35R, naturally I requested ISA, CAVOK and No wind for my first time!)The before start, start, after start and pre-takeoff (I decided to start directly on rwy 29 of LIMJ instead of the apron) were "a piece of cake" I applied strictly the CAL B737 checklist as I usually do with my Pmdg 737, just a little "problem": during my takeoff briefing I had to repeat three times to my "left-seat fellow" (I was on the right because when arrived to the simulator he was already seated so I was operating as training P.I.C. from the right seat)which call-out (100 kts, V1 and rotate) he'd have to call me 'cause he was not used to apply "real world procedures" and could hardly understand why those call-outs were to be performed...and after all..the hardest moment...I was there: at the beginning of rwy 29, perfectly aligned, flaps 5 de-rated takeoff, parking brake set, a touch of throttle up, N1=40% engines stable, NOW JUST A MOMENT: I'VE NEVER USED A REAL B737 YOKE IN MY LIFE, HOW WOULD IT RESPOND TO MY INPUTS?..(of course I've experienced the "feeling" with my yoke during preflight controls test: quite hard (very well) on pitch axis, but extremely sensitive on roll) but just two second...parking brake off, throttle a little more 60% N1 and then A/T ENGAGED WOW! All right!, 100 kts, V1, Rotate and then SMOOTH I follow the F/D bar, positive climb gear-up (I had also to raise the gear myself having a quite "inertial" copilot) the "thumbs-trim" is really easy to use! And the plane responds better than fs9! quite easy (without wind and turbulence) to handfly, you've to stay "light" on the yoke (but Christian told me they have to "register" the yoke being the real one a bit harder on roll axes)I delayed the A/P until 3000 ft then engaged VNAV and A/P, flaps retraction ok, by having used pmdg 737 the FMC is really easy to program! the time is passing fast, just the time to program the approach, briefing the landing and we began to descent, all set, in range and approach cheklist, I've to "work"a bit with my speedbrakes and "playing" with speed knob and vertical modes to slow it down (very difficult to slow down indeed!) but I arived on Novara VOR (NOV) perfectly, 4000 ft and 180 kts flaps 5, as with pmdg,..on LOC and GLIDE, final configuration flaps 30 Vref 141+5=146 and for safety reason I engaged also the other A/P (it's a my SOP)...we're approching minima and then the question: execute an autoland or risking a manual landing..I was there for learing, decision: 300 ft AGL A/T and A/P disengaged, I got it...50 ft a little flare, a couple of degree...30 feet I began to close the throttle wow! smooth landing (it seems not having a full motion...) reverse up! autobrake working, spoilers..but just a moment: little problem: in fs9 braking is exaggerated and stopping distance too short so by looking outside I was a sensation of "poor braking" so I pushed hard my toe-brakes..not too good for my virtual pax...I discovered that the steering had been linked to the pedals 'cause the tiller was broken (otherwise only ny fellow woul have been able to steer it being the tiller on the left) so I went to terminal2 parking..shutdown flows and checklist. Folks all realistic! Now i know we're always waiting for the new NGX but I can assure you that the "old" PMDG 737 has been and is also now a GREAT software: I managed a real b737 sim just thanks to the hundreds of hours of trining with my 737 PMDG...very good !!! (Excuse me for my long message)Best RegardsAndrea BuonoComo -I

I did the same type of thing. Haveing the wrap around screen makes it seem very real. I found myself looking foward and above like when i really fly 172s.So as a fixed based sim it was still heaps of fun.

Nice writeup Andrea. I often wonder how I would spend that precious time if I ever got to sit at the controls in a full-motion simulator. I'd probably first ask to be placed at 500 AGL altitude and 170 knots with gear down and flaps 15, with the Kai Tak Rwy 13 checkerboard looming in the windscreen, just before that gnarly sharp right turn into short finals. After each landing and rollout, I'd ask for more and more repetitions till they start to think I'm nuts about Kai Tak, which I in fact am.Next I'd want to be set up abeam the ILS feather at 2,500 AGL, for a bouncy approach into Heathrow Runway 27R, with the weather set for epic thunderstorms and killer crosswinds, so that I could slip and crab with opposed aileron all the way down to the piano keys on the runway threshold, before rudder-kicking the nose straight at the last minute for a nail-biter of a landing. Then I'd ask for more of the same, but with more severe turbulence and faster shifting crosswinds.Finally, if there are a few precious minutes still left, I'd try and program touch-and-go circuits off EGLL 27R, referencing my FMS place/bearing/distance waypoints to the LON VOR, to create nice ten-mile radius teardrop-shaped HSI flight paths where I would spend the closing moments of my sim time. Damn, I'm drooling. Oh well, back to the here and now.Tony

Hi Tony,Might I give you an advice?According to me if you'd go at the controls of a real full motion simulator (I suppose you're a "normal" fs9/fsx user by computer keyboard, joystick etc. and not an home-cockpit owner) you'd need a litle time to "be accostumed to the real cockpit feeling, yoke sensitivity, real FMC keyboards, buttons knobs etc.)i.e. also simpler actions you're performed hundreds of time in your sim are slightly different in the real cockpit i.e., a stupid thing: for placing fuel pump "ON" from an "OFF" position has not to be made by moving the lever from off to on because if you do that nothing happems (on the sim I've hired): you have to "pull slightly" the lever than moving it to "ON": the most part of commands being protected against inadvertently touches so if you're hired an hour and start from a "cold and dark" situation you will have few time to plan a complex flights or a multitude of training it'd be better to plan a complete, normal, with good weather short flight, maybe at the beginning delaying the A/P engagement to "feel" the yoke and so gradually getting used to a real cockpit sensations. On next time you could plan a more complex training program.Best RegardsAndrea

Nice writeup Andrea. I often wonder how I would spend that precious time if I ever got to sit at the controls in a full-motion simulator. I'd probably first ask to be placed at 500 AGL altitude and 170 knots with gear down and flaps 15, with the Kai Tak Rwy 13 checkerboard looming in the windscreen, just before that gnarly sharp right turn into short finals. After each landing and rollout, I'd ask for more and more repetitions till they start to think I'm nuts about Kai Tak, which I in fact am.Next I'd want to be set up abeam the ILS feather at 2,500 AGL, for a bouncy approach into Heathrow Runway 27R, with the weather set for epic thunderstorms and killer crosswinds, so that I could slip and crab with opposed aileron all the way down to the piano keys on the runway threshold, before rudder-kicking the nose straight at the last minute for a nail-biter of a landing. Then I'd ask for more of the same, but with more severe turbulence and faster shifting crosswinds.Finally, if there are a few precious minutes still left, I'd try and program touch-and-go circuits off EGLL 27R, referencing my FMS place/bearing/distance waypoints to the LON VOR, to create nice ten-mile radius teardrop-shaped HSI flight paths where I would spend the closing moments of my sim time. Damn, I'm drooling. Oh well, back to the here and now.Tony

Good points Andrea. I imagine that quite a few of the switches and controls in a "fully furnished" sim-pit will probably have a very different feel from what we desk-top simmers a used to.If I ever do buy an hour in one of those full-motion simulators now open to the public near Heathrow and Gatwick, most of my use of that precious time will likely be dedicated short hand-flown approaches in varying weather conditions, just to experience how a "real" yoke, throttle and and rudder respond and feel in turbulence and crosswinds. I would imagine that FMS key entries and pre-flight steps in a Level D sim won't be dramatically different from what I do at home mouse-clicking on spots in the 2D cockpit on my computer screen, so I probably wouldn't devote much time to those static procedures if I had a limited time to check out the real deal. For my home sim I use a CH yoke, Saitek rudder pedals and a GoFlight throttle quadrant, so I am accustomed to reaching for the controls in approximately the same locations they would be in a real flight deck, which of course makes me all the more curious to find out how well my desk-top controls model those in a full motion sim pit, given that my chances of ever flying a real jet are about as slim as my chances of getting an audience with the Pope.RegardsTony