Possible "side effects" of increasing fuel tank capacity

[kittyatyi 3]

Hi all,

 

I just couldn't resist the temptation and committed blasmphemy. Really wanting to fly a real world PrivatAir route from Zurich to Newark, I modified the aircraft.cfg file of the 737-800 Winglet version by multiplying each fuel tank capacity by 1.5, thus resulting in a total capacity of approximately 30K kg of fuel. Now, the 738 really has an intercontinental range.

 

I loaded only 56 pax following the cabin layout of PrivatAir (C56), and added some cargo according to this:

 

- 20 kg after each passenger

- plus 1250 kg other cargo

 

Cargo evenly distributed in the two cargo compartments.

 

I then did everything as usual, loaded the flight plan, performance initialization and the rest. Everything went fine, did fuel calculation as per the second tutorial, using the FMC. According to this method I needed around 25K kg fuel in total, including reserves. No issue since my fake BBJ2 has a fuel capacity of over 30K kg. Okay, everything's cool, no overweight, everything seems to be perfect. The fuel indicators display the actual (increased) values. I took off, and at the moment I am climbing through FL290.

 

Those of you who expected some action, like crash or whatever will be disappointed now - all I want to ask, what are the side effects of what I did to the tanks. I know that it's absolutely unrealistic to have this fuel capacity, but other than this, what other factors of the simulation will be affected? By what other means am I now flying an unrealistic aircraft?

[markadeane 272]

Heathen!!!!

 

Just kidding, if it worked for you then I guess there's no harm done. Be aware, though, that things like V1, Vr, V2, and Vref speeds may not calculate correctly, optimum cruise altitudes may not be correct, and fuel predicitons might be out of line with what actually happens.

 

Note that I say "may" and "might" here. The fact is I haven't tinkered with the Aircraft's state myself, and I don't intend to, but off the top of my head those are some of the key areas where you could potentially run into inaccuracy post-mod.

[kittyatyi 3]

Heathen!!!!

 

Just kidding, if it worked for you then I guess there's no harm done. Be aware, though, that things like V1, Vr, V2, and Vref speeds may not calculate correctly, optimum cruise altitudes may not be correct, and fuel predicitons might be out of line with what actually happens.

 

Note that I say "may" and "might" here. The fact is I haven't tinkered with the Aircraft's state myself, and I don't intend to, but off the top of my head those are some of the key areas where you could potentially run into inaccuracy post-mod.

 

Thanks for your input, I believe I can live with these possible miscalculations, at least until the ERs and/or BBJs come out. I hope it will happen soon! Hint, hint, PMDG, deliver them fast:-)))