The first time I was in a level d sim I was barking commands for power adjustments because I couldn't take my hands off the yoke. I was overwhelmed with how much upper body strength it took to hold it back as it started to slow and move out of trim. Flight Sim hand flying at home was never quite the same for me after that. Until they make a force feeback yoke that can pull me out of my chair when the plane is out of trim, it won't feel real for me. This spring loaded CH Yoke just isnt the same.

Same for me, only did 1 autoland, which was the tutorial flight. I don't understand it either, because why do you play flightsim when you're only doing autolands? Anyone can do that, just press a few button a rotate a few knobs, sit back and enjoy the ride, and done! I've already done about 100 manual landings in this airplane, and she handles lovely. Cuz what feels better then accomplishing such a challenge of performing good landings in the most difficult weather conditions? I just get such a feel of accomplishment after that, awesome.Arjen Vandervelde

The first time I was in a level d sim I was barking commands for power adjustments because I couldn't take my hands off the yoke. I was overwhelmed with how much upper body strength it took to hold it back as it started to slow and move out of trim. Flight Sim hand flying at home was never quite the same for me after that. I've probably never been a more Vulcan shade of green than I was that first time. Fake motion doesnt agree with my multiple concussions. Until they make a force feeback yoke that can pull me out of my chair when the plane is out of trim, it won't feel real for me. This spring loaded CH Yoke just isnt the same.

Flight simulators will be complete when 2 things happen:-1.They separate the rudder from the nose wheel.-2.Trim works like in a real airplane as in, the yoke will not be centered when in trim, but will stay at whatever position you trim it for. (I think the 777 behaves like flight simulator does now. As you trim, you slowly return the yoke to it's physical center position)

Same for me, only did 1 autoland, which was the tutorial flight. I don't understand it either, because why do you play flightsim when you're only doing autolands? Anyone can do that, just press a few button a rotate a few knobs, sit back and enjoy the ride, and done! I've already done about 100 manual landings in this airplane, and she handles lovely. Cuz what feels better then accomplishing such a challenge of performing good landings in the most difficult weather conditions? I just get such a feel of accomplishment after that, awesome. Arjen Vandervelde

It's quite obvious that lot of guys here cannot perform proper autoland. I doubt anyone doing ONLY autolands.

I suppose if you want to do it real, you can wake up at the crack of dawn and start flying whether you're ready or not, fly a route that is handed to you and enter loads that are handed to you, you can work under the pressure of a strict schedule, and between each flight should come a mountain of paperwork to complete....and then of course you need to stay in the air as long as is legally allowed before shutting down and sleeping in an unfamiliar location, getting the minimum rest legally allowed and then start the process over again.

Don't forget to make sure you are simming during holidays, your children's birthdays and other significant events you would rather be attending. When your flight is done be sure to simulate the the time spent sitting around in a hotel in some city when you would rather be home with your family. MIght as well get the complete experience.

Flight simulators will be complete when 2 things happen:-1.They separate the rudder from the nose wheel.-2.Trim works like in a real airplane as in, the yoke will not be centered when in trim, but will stay at whatever position you trim it for. (I think the 777 behaves like flight simulator does now. As you trim, you slowly return the yoke to it's physical center position)

Agreed, 777 is fly by wire, pitch up, to say 15 degrees on takeoff, trims the airplane and you can let go and it the yoke will go back to center position and will hold your 15 nose up attitude.. Flies very similar to the Airbus..

Advanced transport category aircraft such as the B737NG, are built for ILS category III approaches for bad weather landings. This is performed in autoland. Operators flying in such weather conditions need to use this capability. The hardware hobbyists use for flight controls, do not accurately replicate real flight control system mechanical characterisitcs, such as breakout, friction, slope and hysteresis. Even when you choose those costing around $5000. As hard as it is to accept, this is reality, which means that even a perfect software model cannot accurately replicate proper manual control, only something somewhat similar to it.

Huh. Must've been using less lbs/min than I thought. Did a tail wind come along by any chance?

Yes Di I got about 11 to 15 knot tail about halfway down there. I am used to that cause I have flown that route several times. Instead of it being an 8 hr 20 min flight it ended up being 59 min less. If I had the headwinds all the way down you woulda been dead on. Before the tail wind came It was saying 4700 for a reserve., I know it isn't how the real world pilots would calculate fuel but when I go to add fuel i always use the following values and 99 percent of the time it is dead on. Only ran outta fuel one time with the above calculations. Was flying KLAX to YSSY and got nailed with a 150 knot header down around Pago Pago and when I was on the Taxiway at YSSY I gave the throttles one last burst and coasted into the gate as my engines ran out of fuel and shut down. Forget the following variables. Taxi, Climb, Descent, Reserve. Calculate entire flight time with 1 hour reserve and then use the values below. 737-800NGX 6,250 lbs Light / 6,800 lbs Heavy per hour MD-11X 16,200 lbs Light / 17,400 lbs Heavy per hour 747-400X 22,000 lbs Light / 25,000 lbs Heavy per hour I was a little arrogant yesterday and I deserved the sarcastic remarks I recieved. But never said I could fly the real bird, and didn't say I did everything by the book, and yes my 6,800 hrs on VATSIM is SIM hrs. But I still say its more of a SIM than a Game, Least it is to me. If I wanted it to be a game I would fly the default Cessna and 737 and start my engines with Ctrl-E. I started with the 767-300ER as my first plane and it was a joy to fly with FS9, however when they first ported it over to FSX it wasn't really designed for FSX from the ground up so there were some issues that were fixed over time. When I hung up the Level-D I got the Queen and for the first 2 months I did autolands every time. YES you heard that right! Why? Well the Queen can turn into a flying brick on approach just like the Space Shuttle if you don't treat her with respect. But in time I learned how to land it at -50 to -80 fpm and it is still my favorite plane after the NGX. Of course the MD-11 is awesome to so you could say I am a PMDG Ho! I did get the Level-D outta the hanger when the Winglets upgrade came out and still fly it, but it seems a little old and oudated, graphics and systems modeled wise. But still a joy to fly. Finally on the original topic of the thread. There are so many variables why the NGX might not be able to do an autoland at a particular airport that are unrelated to the NGX. The primary one being is the AFCAD file for that airport, if their is a glitch in the scenery and the AFCAD is messed up for the ILS on the runway then it is not gonna work no matter what you do to the NGX. If others say it is working for them but not for you then its possible your forgetting to set something, or not executing the proper procedures at the proper heights.Also worth noting that they changed how the ILS works in SP3. Once your on the localizer you can press both auto pilots, but your only going to show Single channel until you get down to around 1500 feet where dual channel will light up. But the whole point I was trying to make is, this is the most complex aircraft ever released to the Flightsim world, so their is bound to be some glitches. They will get fixed and the NGX will be fine tuned over time and these problems will all go away. In the meantime if Autoland doesn't work who cares, land manually enjoy the rest of the sim until its fixed, or you can put it in your hangar and wait for NGX Service Pack 1.

Advanced transport category aircraft such as the B737NG, are built for ILS category III approaches for bad weather landings. This is performed in autoland. Operators flying in such weather conditions need to use this capability. The hardware hobbyists use for flight controls, do not accurately replicate real flight control system mechanical characterisitcs, such as breakout, friction, slope and hysteresis. Even when you choose those costing around $5000. As hard as it is to accept, this is reality, which means that even a perfect software model cannot accurately replicate proper manual control, only something somewhat similar to it.

I fly real world. I have also flown level-d simultors and I hand-flew a 738 once from T/D trimming for a VNAV path descent. When you know the differences that you will encounter, your brain adapts to how the yoke has to be actuated. In escence the principle is the same. The main advantage of hand flying the sim, is that, even if the feel is not completely realistic, it really trains your awarenes and mutitasking. While hand flying the plane, it is easy to forget even the easiest of things like resetting that chronometer for your procedure turn.

Well, I've been flying Boeings 757 and 767 for over thirty years.Maybe not enough to convince you.

Boeing 757 First flight February 19, 1982 Introduction January 1, 1983 with Eastern Air Lines Boeing 767 First flight September 26, 1981 Introduced September 8, 1982 with United Airlines No offense but ... are you sure?

This thread has been long enough (like a novel) - I'm learning from all your posts. Personally, I rarely do autolands - only in IFR conditions. I still love the sheer fun and horror of hand-flying my finals. Was about to do an autoland in my last leg WSSS-WIII, as ASE reports 4 miles visibility. Decided to go manual as weather was VFR on approach.

This thread has been long enough (like a novel) - I'm learning from all your posts. Personally, I rarely do autolands - only in IFR conditions. I still love the sheer fun and horror of hand-flying my finals. Was about to do an autoland in my last leg WSSS-WIII, as ASE reports 4 miles visibility. Decided to go manual as weather was VFR on approach.

IFR and VFR are not conditions, they are a set of rules.The meteorological conditions you are referring to are IMC and VMC.

ASE reports 4 miles visibility. Decided to go manual as weather was VFR on approach.

4 mile visibility IS VFR.

IFR and VFR are not conditions, they are a set of rules.The meteorological conditions you are referring to are IMC and VMC.

Thanks Omar for clearing it up! Got it mixed up for awhile there...

4 mile visibility IS VFR.

I stand corrected. Thanks Opher...

4 mile visibility IS VFR.

That is not entirely precise. Again you are saying VFR when you mean VMCFor VMC contitions, in airspaces A B C D E, above 10000ft (or FL100 depending on TL), flight visibility has to be 8Km (4,4nm). Notice I have included airspace A, because it is included in the table even when, under VMC, VFR will not be allowed in this airspace.