AoA Cockpit Impressions in flight

[bussgarfield 0]

Just finished watching it and I am totally spellbound by the smoothness of the controls in auto pilot.Cant wait to get the email telling me the training lessons are being released. So much to learn.Gary

[andysim 0]

i had my jaw put back in place after the last video, now I have to do it all over again. My doctor is getting fed up with me going to see him everytime a new video comes out!!!.Awsome!

[badderjet 181]

Thanks for the link! Not yet watching, downloading it right away haha...

Are those climb rates (like 4500 or even 7100) normal? I understand it can be like that when you have to climb to avoid crashing into a mountain, but when he put 14000ft on the mcp the airplane climbed at a rate of about 4500ft. It would be uncomfortble for passengers?

Climb rates of several thousand feet per minute are perfectly normal and commonly achieved right after lift off. Unless you're piloting an A340 of course. :(

[Tigh 6]

I was expecting to have download a huge terrain database or (whisper it) pay for it as an extra addon.The terrain is read from the FSX mesh :( :( That's very clever.

[Tabs 2,790]

I was expecting to have download a huge terrain database or (whisper it) pay for it as an extra addon.The terrain is read from the FSX mesh :( :( That's very clever.

This is actually inaccurate, I think Nick must have misunderstood an earlier post of mine. The VSD profile view is read from the mesh but doing that for the entire ND proved to be too hard on performance. The ND EGPWS uses a terrain database we custom made - the resolution is as close as we could make it to the real life NG's database (lower than you probably think). It should match any mesh product just fine - EGPWS is not designed to be some kind of exact topo map of terrain, it's a situational awareness tool. The resolution is greater around airports, which is how it is in the real unit's database. The terrain database is not a huge download and it is not an extra addon you need to pay more for. It's already included in the installer.

[JoeyL 0]

Its just so awesome! Really really nice! Only on thing i noticed was that the trim wheel movements are not really smooth (6:34 in the video)..

[Cirrus22 9]

This is actually inaccurate, I think Nick must have misunderstood an earlier post of mine.

I did, sorry for the confusion folks. I was about to start writing a post to correct myself but I saw Ryan's detailed reply above so called that off! We've put a quick disclaimer on our site there highlighting the error.

[Themis 0]

Fluid motion at its best, all the cockpit seems to be running at 200fps!... I only noticed that the trim wheel is a bit jerky. Is that because of an early beta?Themis Katakalos

[Tabs 2,790]

Are those climb rates (like 4500 or even 7100) normal? I understand it can be like that when you have to climb to avoid crashing into a mountain, but when he put 14000ft on the mcp the airplane climbed at a rate of about 4500ft. It would be uncomfortble for passengers?

Couple things on this:1. Nick was obviously very light - almost any jet airliner is a rocket at light weight. LVL CHG is a really simple mode - it increases thrust to the current N1 limit and pitches to maintain the MCP airspeed. 250 knots at relatively low altitude is going to produce high climb rates at max thrust.2. The FTCM actually specifically warns against using LVL CHG for short climbs and descents like this - Nick was just messing around (as he has been in all these videos, which is clearly stated there) but yeah you wouldn't use LVL CHG for that. There is a modulated mode on the bigger Boeings that will result in lower rates of climb/descent when using FLCH for short altitude changes, but we've seen no evidence in any of our documentation or tech team experience that this mode actually exists on the NG. The NG is not a 777, 767 or 747-400, there are significant differences in the AFDS and FMC - this is likely one of them.

[Cirrus22 9]

2. The FTCM actually specifically warns against using LVL CHG for short climbs and descents like this - Nick was just messing around (as he has been in all these videos, which is clearly stated there) but yeah you wouldn't use LVL CHG for that.

Yeah, I used LVL CHG initially to get (almost) full travel of the thrust levers to show how smoothly they move, and then again on climbout from the terrain conflict to expedite the process!

[JoeyL 0]

Its nice to see the specs from Nick too, as seen in the video it is very smooth while it still is a beta. Still, is the trimwheel not very smooth because of the early beta or is it programed this way?

[windshearDK 52]

Nick I think your videos are amazing and I could not think of a better way to promote both your and PMDG's product!Are you recording on the rig which is described in your signature?

[Andydigital 93]

I wish Nick would do the narration of the AOA 737 training videos, his voice is perfect for this kind of work ;) Thanks for the video Nick.

[MMartinov 48]

@Nickanother excellent point of view indeed. Thanks for the video!Just curious how do you control the HDR? Is it a 3rd party program? Cheers!

[Tabs 2,790]

Guys,We'll take a look at the trim wheel again but there's other concerns involved with that - we modeled the real life variable trim rates of the real airplane that change depending on the flight phase, flap settings and so on and this causes some issues with the animation, which still has to be linked to the actual FSX trim internally. No guarantees, but we'll try.