I think you are right because we are used to deal with a slightly high N1 so the VNAV struggles a bit to fill the gap of a ignored DRAG REQUIRED.I think you are suggesting to wait for the next 737 NGX update where the corrections to the N1 will allow to increase the times you can ignore the DRAG REQUIRED without facing consequences.Thx

I'm not a pilot, but, in the sim when drag required comes on I will check speed trend to see if I need to use them or not.I think in the real one is the same, is a company rule sometimes, but the pilot will feel if the aircraft is going to accelerate due to igher winds or if it is a transient, the speed trend arrow will help, or simply just watch the speed tape to see what the aircraft does.If I see that my speed continues to increase and relatively fast, I'll use speed brakes, maybe just a bit initially to stop acceleration, and if I'm near the 15kts, I use them more, but just the required value to re-enter to the 10kts limit. and see what it does...If speed is almost 10-13kts above VNAV speed, but it is costant, I will only check it to see if it will solve by itself (wind change) or if it is going to increase next (and need spoilers).So, as the message comes on I think that pilot must see what to do, it can be either ignored or solved depending on situation.What a real pilot does then depends on pilot "driving style" and company directives (and if groung could be aware of what the aircraft is doing :) )

I haven't understand yet why a pilot should not apply DRAG when the FMC requires it. What's the reason behind not listening to the FMC ?It also depend in my opinion ( and I may be wrong of course ) when the DREAG REQUIRED is ignored. If in the initial or middle phases of descent or in later stages when approaching too fast may lead to adopt an avoidable measure to reduce speed f.i. landing the gear down slightly in advance or similar.

The key here is not the the FMC "REQUIRES" the pilot to add drag, it is simply the FMC indicating that, at this time and in the current conditions, additional drag will be required to acheive the later parts of the plan. Remeber that even when the AP is engaged, the FMC does not fly the plane, the pilot does.

It is also required to prevent VNAV disconnection, obviously the FMC alerts you that if an action is not taken the AP will give back the controls to the pilots.

This is fixed in SP1b - it affected any hardware device that sends non-standard gear up/down events to FSX. The Saitek Pro Panel thing does it as well. For now just use G to raise and lower the gear.

For me even if I use the G in keyboard the throttle dosen't go in Idle on descent phase and i haven't mapped the gear on hardware,of course in vatsim you don't use much Vnav and Lnav so it's really hard to slow down.I think there are lot of people that use joystick or yoke with FSUIPC you can't fly this addon with the keyboard, even after delate the ini file and mapped again things haven't change .Let's hope

" Flight minimum idle " in VNAV is a bit too high. ( 37-38 % )I see this with the tutorial flight just after T/D when the throttles go to retard then arm.I am using no hardware at all so I always use the G key for gear.Also with no weather set as recommended in the tutorial.If I fly a circuit using level change to descend, the flight minimum idle is perfect. ( 31-32 % )I would love to see this fixed for SP1b.Fred.