Greetings,First I apologize for asking a few questions to what I am certain have been answered before.I am new to PMDG products. I just recently purchased a machine worthy of PMDG. I am one of those simmers who really does not want to start up a cold aircraft, but much realism is desirable, hence the purchase of the 737NGX. I am going through the 737NGX tutorial, and I am finding programming the FMC to be laborious (not a criticism). I have noticed that an FSX flight plan cannot be uploaded like the Quality Wings 757. Am I correct? When one starts FSX, the tutorial say to select the aircraft, select the airport, and runway, select time and weather and directly go to the "Fly Now" button, that FSX interprets the flight to be a VFR flight. Is this correct? Then I program the FMC. When I am ready to push back ,it seems I cannot directly contact ATC via the "`" button. Do I have to manually, change the radio freq.'s? Or, do I need some product that mimics ATC? It is going to take some real time to master this aircraft, I am sure it will be rewarding. Thank you for your patience!Arthur@KROC

First of all, welcome.The aircraft you bought mimics the real thing. As close as possible.You can't expect a real thing to be a simple "Quality Wings 757"-like simulation. It is not a simple aircraft. It is almost a real thing.Now...

I am new to PMDG products. I just recently purchased a machine worthy of PMDG. I am one of those simmers who really does not want to start up a cold aircraft, but much realism is desirable, hence the purchase of the 737NGX.

It's not required. It's a real procedure, but if you load the flight via normal Fly Now menu, the aircraft is by default running engines and ready for the go, whatever you wanna do.

I am going through the 737NGX tutorial, and I am finding programming the FMC to be laborious (not a criticism). I have noticed that an FSX flight plan cannot be uploaded like the Quality Wings 757. Am I correct?

OK, not a criticisim is good - I almost jumped at this sentance.With a bit of experience and knowledge, I'm readying the FMC for my flights inside of 5 minutes. Unless I'm typing manually one huge route...And yes, flightplan can be loaded - I'm using Vroute for my flightplans, and it's a great tool for saving flightplans as Squawkbox, FSX and PMDG format, and I can load the same route in all programs without any fuss.

When I am ready to push back ,it seems I cannot directly contact ATC via the "`" button. Do I have to manually, change the radio freq.'s? Or, do I need some product that mimics ATC?

Apparently no, you can't do that. The aircraft simulates many systems on the level way beyond limitations of FSX engine, thus being real, but also uncompatible with most of internal FSX routines.FSX ain't real. NGX nearly is. I'm not a real pilot, I can't judge, but judging from others say about it...Tune radios manually, like you would in real world.You can stil use internal ATC from FSX, but I'd suggest Radar Contact 4 for more realism.

It is going to take some real time to master this aircraft, I am sure it will be rewarding.

Oh you can be sure about that.

Greetings from across town! The FSX ATC and flight planning system is really much too simplistic to work well with the NGX FMC. FSX doesn't recognize SID/STAR procedures, play nicely with airways, and it's nav database is well out of date. Its doable, but not very realistic. If you want to use FSX's ATC, the best way I have found is to use an external flight planning application (I use FSBuild myself) that can export to both FSX and the NGX's FMC, then load up that plan in FSX and the NGX and fly away. In any event, the NGX is going to require more work simply because its more realistic. WRT your question about the ~ key, I haven't had that issue. I can't say that I've tried it for sure, but I'd check to make sure you don't have the keyboard input (green box) still active on the CDU. Once you've mastered flying the NGX I highly recommended jumping on VATSIM and trying out the world of online flying, much nicer talking to a real person on the other end of the mic.

Word Not Allowed & Lee,Thank you for your replies. The PMDG is the most realistic aircraft I have owned. I am trying to get my arms around it. So I turned to my colleagues for assistance. I have a lap top set up with the Tutorial running and I am trying something every day. So, Lee you are here in KROC. You are the first individual close by. I am in Irondequoit and the Chair of the Dept of Recreation & Leisure Studies at the College at Brockport. I am trying to get some last R & R in before classes begin that is why I am hat home at the moment. Thanks again!!!Arthur@KROC

If like me you don't like talking to real people online FS ATC is useable. Simply (as suggested) load up a flight plan, contact ATC, get clearance and ATIS. Use ATC for taxi and take off clearance. Once you have taken off and ATC asks you to contact depature, click on change frequencies but do not contact them. You can then fly as you like, including STAR, SIDs etc... I like to contact them again when i'm clearing the last waypoint before the runway. Works rather well, you can flick between stations all you want, just don't contact them until finals.

Hi Arthur! Welcome aboard! Bear in mind that NGX is the latest and most complex product PMDG has ever built from scratch. You just can't hop in and fly straight away! There is a steep learning curve to it. Most new pilots are intimidated of the intricacies of FMC. For some people think that FMC makes flying complicated but actually its the other way around - it is a tool to make flying safer and more simple! I'm using FSBuild for my flight planning and it is a very useful tool - you can export the FP so that you can load it in PMDG via the "company route" option. So far the best ATC program is Radar Contact 4 - it follows real world procedures, SID/STAR routeing, vectoring and even declaring in-flight emergencies. Have fun and blue skies!