737NG not NGX

Why not the NGX?

There's no such plane as the NGX, thats just the product name that PMDG is using for the Boeing 737NG, X implying FSX

There's no such plane as the NGX, thats just the product name that PMDG is using for the Boeing 737NG, X implying FSX

You can tell i am strictly a simmer. Have been folowing this aircraft for so long, i've started adding the X. My apologies.Regards,

As far as doing manuvers, like landings, turns while maintaining an altitude, etc. Do real world pilots find them more difficult than what is in FSX, or less difficult?

Good question! For me, it all comes down to FEELING. Feeling is what allows me to interpret what is going on, and make split-second decisions without thinking too much about it. I find them harder in FSX. In FSX my eyes are glued to the turn coordinator and the attitude indicator, and its really hard to keep them where I want. IRL, when I'm making a turn, I'm looking outside, watching the turn and looking for traffic. I VERY rarely look at the turn coordinator because I can FEEL if I start to slip or whatever. IRL there is a butt in seat feeling where you say, "whoops, I'm slipping, I need to correct with a little rudder". Another RL example is on final, let's say you get hit by a pretty strong gust that catches the wings and pushes you higher, and off center. (first of all, this wouldn't even happen in FSX) If this event was even possible in FSX, you would have just SEEN the movement on the screen, and not FELT what happened. <Therefore, it would be harder to know what to do, in order to correct what just happened, where as IRL, it is just instinctual. I have been in different full motion sims, and even those don't give you the butt in seat feeling that allows you to make split-second decisions without thinking too much about it.

Good question! For me, it all comes down to FEELING. Feeling is what allows me to interpret what is going on, and make split-second decisions without thinking too much about it. I find them harder in FSX. In FSX my eyes are glued to the turn coordinator and the attitude indicator, and its really hard to keep them where I want. IRL, when I'm making a turn, I'm looking outside, watching the turn and looking for traffic. I VERY rarely look at the turn coordinator because I can FEEL if I start to slip or whatever. IRL there is a butt in seat feeling where you say, "whoops, I'm slipping, I need to correct with a little rudder". Another RL example is on final, let's say you get hit by a pretty strong gust that catches the wings and pushes you higher, and off center. (first of all, this wouldn't even happen in FSX) If this event was even possible in FSX, you would have just SEEN the movement on the screen, and not FELT what happened. <Therefore, it would be harder to know what to do, in order to correct what just happened, where as IRL, it is just instinctual. I have been in different full motion sims, and even those don't give you the butt in seat feeling that allows you to make split-second decisions without thinking too much about it.

That's interesting Ethan. Thank you for your response.So if I were to jump in a real aircraft after being used to FSX, I would probably be pretty disoriented with all of the "feelings" added into the experience.

Well I must say after doing some flying lessons on the C152 it feels different and a bit lame. The scenery is amazing while in fsx its just not great. I like add on scenery`s but to me there is not a super good on that can totally satisfy me

That's interesting Ethan. Thank you for your response.So if I were to jump in a real aircraft after being used to FSX, I would probably be pretty disoriented with all of the "feelings" added into the experience.

Probably not disoriented. If anything, the feelings ADD to your orientation because they help you know what the airplane is doing. However it would be different in that each action that you make would result in the airplane giving you tactile feedback. Also, in real life, the space around you, in other words the air itself, is moving. Thus, as you fly, you don't just cut through the air, or pierce it so to speak, you actually ride it. To a certain degree, you are at the mercy of the air. In a light plane, this results in being pushed around somewhat, especially on a windy day. All these dynamics...the FEELING of flight...are things that FSX simply can't replicate.

Oh, another thing that FS doesn't do it the stress of real world flying, The pressure to come in on time, the pressure of whether or not to remove the bags of someone who's managed to get lost in the terminal or wait another 10 mins in the hope they show up [even worse nowadays with online check-in, you don't even know if they're in the airport] , the pressure to save fuel, the pressure of knowing if you screw up bad you and your PAX are in for it.... But I wouldn't change it for the world

I would completely agree with ,and relate to Ronan's comments

So to answer the question in this topic, why not go back to that all time favourate scenario in every armchair pilots imagiation. If you were on a modern airliner,such as the 737NGX or maybe the MD-11 and the flight crew were incapacitated by a bug or food poisoning,If you were a good Sim pilot, is the realism good enough to get it on the ground and to a stop in one piece? (and i don't meen in a thunderstorm)

Possibly you'd stand a better chance than the average passenger, and provided you kept the automatics in at all times.It would depend on your personality type and how you handle stress, but be under no illusion you'd cr*p yourself, its not like sitting on a computer Jon Bunting

Possibly you'd stand a better chance than the average passenger, and provided you kept the automatics in at all times.It would depend on your personality type and how you handle stress, but be under no illusion you'd cr*p yourself, its not like sitting on a computer Jon Bunting

Then the automated flight features on say the PMDG MD-11 are pretty darn close to the real aircraft?

I agree with xxilim - great as a procedural trainer but useless for anything else.Best regards,Robin.

Then the automated flight features on say the PMDG MD-11 are pretty darn close to the real aircraft?

Can't comment on the MD-11, but the PMDG 744 does a good job. Jon Bunting

Hi Guys, Here's my two cents worth (and that may be all it's worth). I have spent the past 20 years flying for a regional airline. I have more than 12,000 hours in the ATR-42/72 and just started flying the Embraer 145. In fact, I am doing my first "official" flight tonight following completion of training this week! I dreamed of having something like MSFS for as long as PCs have been around (I started sim flying with Microprose Strike Eagle in 1982 and still have, in the original box, MSFS 1 that came on a 5.25" floppy!). PC sim flying is amazingly advanced. Companies like PMDG have done a tremendous job of showing people what flying an airliner is like. I have actually used MSFS for years to get ready for proficiency checks. It's great for practicing procedures if used with a high fidelity add-on. As far as learning to fly, MSFS certainly provides a 'leg up" to those who use pursue flight training for real. The bottom line is that someone who learns to fly on MSFS will not jump into a real airplane and fly it with confidience as they might in the virtual world. They will certainly be more familiar with what's going on than the uninitiated. To give you an idea of how impressed I am with what I've seen in the PMDG 737NGX, I have sat in the jumpseat on a 737NG many times. Having looked over the captain's shoulder through the HUD, I can tell you that the PMDG 737NGX HUD is simply stunning! I, for one, WILL be purchasing it! Sim hard! Terry Swindle

FSXman , disoriented with all of the "feelings" was what i experience on my first time up for training and after a few lessons my intructor told me "please get off the sim your putting too much attention on the instruments"and that was back in FS98 after that lesson he told me that he has notice how some students that were into simulators at home focus on the intruments alot ......

Can only agree with what most others are saying. Same same but oh so different. For me, being a GA guy, the sim is rather good to use when flying to a new field since I´m strictly a pilotage guy (no fancy nav instruments here). With the proper addons you have a good enough set of coastlines, roads, railroads and other terrain features to practise on as preparation. The actual handling, well, it´s just not close from a GA perspective. In real life airmass is truly alive, most of the time, which means that you are constantly doing small or large inputs to your controls. The other major difference is that of visual perspective. As long as we are looking at a screen with finite resolution and a field of view that is smaller than 360 degrees you´ll be missing a vital part of flying (again, seen from the GA perspective).The visual systems will eventually be good enough to equal(ish) the real world, but that seat of the pants feeling... Well, perhaps when we start jacking in the computer directly to the brain or sensory systems.

FSXman , disoriented with all of the "feelings" was what i experience on my first time up for training and after a few lessons my intructor told me "please get off the sim your putting too much attention on the instruments"and that was back in FS98 after that lesson he told me that he has notice how some students that were into simulators at home focus on the intruments alot ......

Hello Tony,I would think that now days with the popularity of TrackIR and the wonderful virtual cockpits, that shouldn't be as much of a problem anymore, as it was when everyone that flew in MSFS used the 2D cockpit that locked your view on the instruments.With TrackIR, I'm always looking out the windows like Nick did in his last Takeoff video. Bob