Dear Members, When simulating short flights (ENGM - ENVA) I try to compare my results against flightradar24.com. When onboard a real plane I try to observe and listen to the engine noise. I'm still trying to solve following things in my simulator. (FS9) (1) Real pilots are professionals. No doubt about that. When onboard Boeing 737-700 (with winglets), on a flight from ENGM - ENVA I think I can tell by listening to the engine noise and comparing against time spent, approximately when the plane crosses the T/D. What really amazed during a flight I had is that the pilots never deployed speed breaks during the decent. The flaps were not deployed before the last turn for final approach...basically when you expect LOC to be activated, according to the charts. It's like the most perfect glide flight from T/D. I have never been able to simulate that. Maybe with some more experience. Even during the take off from ENGM the pilot deployed flaps when taxing and started to speed up almost before the plane made final turn for the 19L RWY. Very efficient! (notice, it was a late flight with redused trafic at the airport) (2) When comparing results up against flightradar24.com I have never been able to make VNAV catch up with cruise altitude FL310 before T/D. Given cruise altitude seems to be most frequent on flights from ENGM - ENVA -ENGM. Although I have observed FL410 sometimes as well. Should I climb to cruise altitude by using level change button or should VNAV do the job? What do you think is most common during a real flight? Suggestions on reaching cruise altitude with VNAV are appreciated. Sincerelygura75

Hey Gura 1. Energy management. I was told that a quick rule of thumb for optimum cruise level is look at the height equvalent of the trip length, so 300 miles would be FL3000, 200 miles would be FL200 etc. Over 400 miles and you can get up to the climb ceiling. FL410 for a 300m trip is going some and you'll have a lot of energy to get rid of on the way down. If the guys in real life doing this are not using brakes on the way down and then only using flaps when turning final then they're good at managing their energy in the descent. Try a lower cruise level and getting yourself slowed down a bit earlier. You want to be around 10,000 AGL 40 miles from the arrival runway and then wind the speed back to be around 210 knots by the time you're within 20 miles. Many airports will want you at 160 knots from 10 miles. Your takeoff was a rolling takeoff, where the departure commences from a rolling start. You can do these in the sim but be careful you don't end up rolling for long before commencing the spool up as you're eating into your takeoff margin. 2. VNAV in the 737 is a bit agricultural at best (my old flying instructor used to fly NGs for Easyjet and calls it 'The tractor') so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Use VNAV for your climb but as I understand it descents in a radar environment are usually handled with FLCH or VS, although VS doesn't give you any stall protection remember.

Thanks for a nice reply. It is s a local flight in Norway. So my question was actually quite specific and not much general in that secnce. Maybe you have even given it a try. (ENGM - ENVA) I followed your tips. Hight management works fine. But I still have to apply speedbreaks. Real pilots still amaze me. And that is so exciting with the simulator. I try to be a "copycat" but it is really challanging.

If you always need speed brakes, then you need to start your descent earlier, especially if you have a tailwind. If using an FMC, put a realistic speed and height restriction at the IAF or just before to give yourself a better chance of being at the right speed/height at the right time. An FMC makes it a lot easier otherwise you have a lot of pre-planning to do in order to get it right. Colin B

I created a quick auto route in FSBuild with a B738 putting a requested cruise of of FL280.:ENGM OMOR1A OMORO TGA.TGA1L ENVA The total distance including the SIDs and STARs was 229 nm. The max altitude was FL230. Legal for the direction would be FL220 for a northwest course at cruise. So BenW's distance-altitude rule of thumb was just about right on. Near parabolic flight paths are about the most efficient excluding traffic and ATC restrictions. Here's the navlog from FSBuild: I entered the plan into the B738 (PMDG) and some required parameters and then paged the LEGS page until the max altltitude showed and then switched the ND to plan mode. You can see the TOD on the image below just before waypoint TGA: so that rule of thumb was not far off again.