Hey guys, I used to always start with systems on, engines running ready to taxi out, but as I grew more confident with the 777/737 I would switch more stuff off at the start. I've reached the point now that I have absolutley nothing turned on at all on load up. I've decided it's actually more fun this way. Or maybe I'm just mad? (probably). So I was wondering, how many of you are cold and darkers like me?

It depends when I am flying to be honest. If I am doing an early morning flight then I will use cold and dark as it is likely the first flight of the day. If I am doing a flight during the day, I tend to use a turn around state.

C&D here with the NGX and T7.

 

Absolutely.

I always start off from a cold and dark state haha.  The only exception is when I am practicing touch and go's.  But when it comes to performing actual flights for my VA or for fun, I always start off from a cold and dark state for a couple reasons.  First, I simply love and enjoy it and being able to flick all those switches and knowing the procedure by heart really is awesome to me.  Second, when you are trying to replicate real world operations, you realize how essential it is to start your engines after pre-flight.  You easily save a couple thousand pounds of fuel in a big bird like the 777.

When it's realistic I do it but its very rare

I'm the wrong guy to answer since most of my time in the sim involves debugging...  however....

 

I enjoy starting the 777 from C/D because we put so much effort into simulating the way the airplane powers up.  The various air flow system checks, speakers/annunciator tests...  I just love listening to the airplane go through all of it's test modes.

 

Tickles the airplane geek in me.  :wub:

I like doing C&D from time to time - especially when it's an airplane that does it properly - like Rob mentioned. Not fun flicking a single switch and suddenly all comes to live instantly.

 

But typically I use long turn states with PMDG, which give a good balance between line realism and fun (short turns are in general more realistic at a crew change, but I like long better - more of a time management challenge, if you "arrive" something like 15 minutes to EOBT.)

Cold and dark with the NGX/T7. I was quite slow with learning everything in the beginning with cold&dark but now I'm so quick with it, and because it's just awesome and fun!

Almost always C/D because it's way more realistic, enjoyful and marvelous to do. It feels like you are really controlling a big machine with many systems. Furthermore, you have to maintain the skills to work from the beginning: cold and dark. But make sure to learn the shut-down procedures as well.

 

Edit: PMDG did a great job to get the NGX as real as possible and simulate many aircraft systems. This created a big love and request to get knowledge of the aircraft systems. In other words, it will be a shame to yourself if you do not operature the aircraft from C/D- or turn-around state. It's like demoralizing the quality of PMDG.

Edited May 5, 201412 yr by TheContrailSky

I'm a cold n dark person myself. I have to agree with Rob too. Watching the 777 come to life is always enjoyable. Must admit I don't always complete shutdown at the end though

Engine starts can be fun with a number of airplanes, but nothing beats experiencing the PMDG T7 systems come to life, starting from scratch ...   B)

Realism adherent: Long/short turnaround states.

10-year-old Mark who like buttons and lights: C&D baby!

 

Guess which one wins. :lol:

 

RSR is right, though - The 'tripler' is just so much fun to power up from sleep that if you haven't done it, you should! The startup process isn't just a pre-recorded WAV file either, if you watch certain SD pages during the power up and test sequences, you'll see system annunciations that show you what is actually happening. When the 777 was first released we talked a lot about how the sense of occasion of a long haul flight is really captured in the simulation. Power-up is one of my favourite aspects of this effort.

I love realisme  and therefore I always have an cold and dark start. If I start with the engines running and ready for taxi I don't enjoy the flight and in 85% I usually abort the flight. Therefore I use FS2Crew, MCE and all the nice things to hunt for realism. So troyk you're not mad we all are hihihihihi

I usually start with long turn preset, feels the most realistic to me.

For actual realism it is better to start from long or short panel state, this is how you would find the aircraft 90% of the time in real life.  For simming I agree with everyone else, starting from cold & dark and watching the systems come to life adds to the immersion.

 

Regards