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Eikthrynir

Which PMDG aircraft to choose as beginner

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No aircraft from PMDG is beginner. It requires knowledge, Only way, watch videos on youtube. To start, I recommend you the 737 NGX, easy to fly.

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To **** with Cessna's and other beginner stuff. 

Get the MD11, 737NGX, J41, 777. Read the manuals, follow a ton of tutorials and watch a million how-to-do videos on Youtube + print and use checklist. 

I started out with the MD11 back in 2008 and learned by doing.
 

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1.  A2A Simulations C-172

2.  RealAir B60 v2

3.  Majestic Q-400

4.  PMDG 737 NGX

5.  PMDG 777 300ER

 

+1

 

If you're a complete beginner, then start to learn how to navigate, become familiar with phraseology and the move up. Just when you have the basics, you'll enjoy flying the automated and bigger birds. Literally speaking: you'll enjoy flying these birds. Otherwise probably you'll get frustration more than once (and two, and three times and...) trying to making jets do what you want they do.


Ivan Lewis

PMDG B737NGX, B777 and B747v3 QOTS II

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My recommendation would be the NGX, then expand from there into whatever else you want to fly. The NGX tutorials will give you a good foundation for understanding how the FMC and routes work.


Ryan Maziarz
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I would suggest the NGX to start with as well.

 

But first and foremost, make sure your system can handle her, or it wont be no fun. Then rather go for the Dash 8.

 

As for training:

NGX 737 - www.flyaoaomedia.com / 737 Captains Package (worth every penny).

Bash 8 - www.airline2sim.com

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A very interesting thread here!

As pointed out above:

If You are new to flightsimming i'd also definitely start with smaller GA types of planes and then continuously handle "my way up" to more advanced planes.

Now please do not get me wrong, but please bare in mind:

It is not just about getting familiar with various systems and flight dynamics or some basic knowledge about aviation in general at least - it is also about FSX and its file-structure and it is also about how various 3rd party add ons (such as weather engines for instance or add ons such as FS2Crew, various sceneries and so on) may work and intereact with each other and so on.

It is also about getting and installing 3rd party navdata properly or configuring hardware correctly and all that.

Not to mention very important factors such as proper fuel and flight planning in advance and so on ...

Now please:

No need to be afraid at all - but - getting familiar with flightsimming (no matter if the platform of choice now is FSX, P3D or X-Plane or DCS ... or all of them) simply takes some time and patience.

I also therefore think, as pointed out above, that it is better to begin with a smaller but dedicated 3rd party GA airplane, then maybe add some scenery add-ons from those regions which You may want to fly into, a reliable weather engine and then get used to it all at first.

Once this is done i'd begin to widen my "FS-horizon", make myself familiar with more demanding and advancing planes and their systems and once i am sure that "the time has come", i'd go for something as complex and fantastic as a PMDG plane.

And then i'd at first go for the 737NGX as it is a very versatile "tubeliner", offering a real lot! And - by the way - once You are familiar with its systems, becomming familiar with other Boeing tubeliners (or even various tubliners) is a rather continuous process.

 

And one final note:

I am totally aware of the fact that - as pointed out here in this thread also - real life is keeping us all busy and a flightsimming "pilot career" does not really need to follow a real world's pilot career at all!

So if You want to jump into a dedcated and demanding aircraft such as PMDG's great 737 or 777 right aways - then make it so - absolutely nothing wrong with that!

But from my personal experience (and all these are only my two cents here) i'd also say that at least taking some time to get Yourself familiar with the "FS-environment", its diversity, but also its flaws and limitations and walking "Your way up" the ladder of a dedicated "FS-virtual pilot" may be a good way to go, because it is very revarding, lots of fun and a great experience - and sure:

You will gain lots of knowledge through it which may most likely later on be most help- and useful for You when flying a plane as unique as a PMDG one for instance.

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I'm still not getting the assertion that one should start out in GA first.  I mean, I kinda get it, in that learning the GA stuff gives you an understanding of how the larger planes' navigation systems are all predicated on some of those older types, all mixed together.  Beyond that, flying an instrument approach at 100 knots is easier than flying it at 150+ with a lot more mass, sure...

 

The problem is that those smaller planes are often more complex to fly than the big stuff (when actually in the air at least).   As I've mentioned in other posts, the industry isn't aligned in a "start with the easy stuff and work your way to the tough stuff."  In many ways, it's just the opposite now.  I have my hands full when I'm flying instrument work in a Cessna.  On the other hand, there are so many tools at my disposal in the 777 (to include autotuning for navaids, and a moving map display) that I'm rarely stressed about flying it anywhere.

 

Usual experience in the real world before flying a Cessna 172:  0 hours.

Usual experience in the real world before flying a Boeing 777:  1500+ hours (US).

 

GA isn't easier because it's smaller, either.  If any of you have been in gusty weather in a DA40, you'll know what I mean.  More mass makes the plane more stable in many cases, so landing a 737 and a 172 in similarly gusty conditions will be easier in the 73'.

 

 

 

I guess if you're looking for simpler systems, and less layers of obscurity on top of the navigation systems, then sure, GA is the place to learn the absolute lowest levels of systems and IFR work.  Outside of that, the concepts of "trees get smaller, trees get bigger; plane turns left, plane turns right" holds true no matter what the plane is.  The only reason we train in small, occasionally more complex, aircraft is that a 172 is usually the cheapest option per hour...


Kyle Rodgers

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I am 100 %  agree with you Kyle Rodgers,that is that ,what i always have seen but could not express so exactly as you.

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I'm still not getting the assertion that one should start out in GA first.

 

Exactly, me neither. Fuel is free in FSX.

 

Why "train" on A2A's Cessna 172 if you're just interested in flying PMDG's 737NG?

 

And I have nothing against A2A. They produce very high quality models, just different segment.

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smaller planes are often more complex to fly than the big stuff

 

Amen.  My actual experience in the air for the past decade+ is twin engine pressurized Cessna (C414 Chancellor).  The workload in hard IFR in a terminal environment for single pilot in a GA piston aircraft is unbelievable unless you've been there and done that. The moving map GPS in the panel was a major improvement over LORAN but it's nothing like the FMS in big iron and forget about any kind of VNAV (Garmin will give you a TD and some guidance but it's not VNAV). Also, keeping the speed up on final until the last possible moment (e.g., the approach lights) so you can land at a busy air carrier airport is interesting. Don't take me wrong, my worst day in the air (even an engine shut down) is better than most days on the ground but getting to play with 737/777/MD11 aircraft with all the tools that the crew has available is a real treat.

 

Start with the 737NGX and fly a bunch of short routes, pretend you are a SWA pilot and you have 20 min to turn around for the next leg. It's fun.


Dan Downs KCRP

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 1.  A2A Simulations C-172


 2.  Majestic Q-400


 3.  PMDG 737 NGX


 4.  PMDG MD-11


 5.  PMDG 777 300ER

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Hmmm...I'm reading comments about systems, navigation, FSX folder structure etc. Isn't anyone coming at this from the point of view of...um...how to put this...learning to...fly?

 

The industry may not gear itself to working pilots up from the simple stuff, but surely that's because by the time pilots join the industry, they've already put their hours in on piston singles and twins, so that type of flying is no longer relevant to their training requirements.

 

A2A Cub owners will probably recall a very interesting story on page 8 of the manual about the 747 Captain who took a refresher lesson in a J-3, and what a humbling experience it turned out to be...


 

 

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GA isn't easier because it's smaller, either.  If any of you have been in gusty weather in a DA40, you'll know what I mean.  More mass makes the plane more stable in many cases, so landing a 737 and a 172 in similarly gusty conditions will be easier in the 73'.

 

Absolutely true Kyle. Unfortunately it took me years of flight simming (completely alone) to learn this. If I'd have to start now to flight sim, with no doubt I'll do it with some PMDG aircraft. Most than probably with the NGX. But keeping in mind the thread starter profile (FSX beginner) and assuming this implies he have no flight sim experience at all, I recommend that scenario where you find yourself aboard the default FSX 172 with Rod Machado (yes, I've suffered his horrible jokes...) in a default FSX runway with no winds and ready to learn the basics of flying. No FMC, no autobrakes, no pressurization panel, no pneumatics, no bleed air and APU...all that stuff that now sounds quite familiar for most of us with years (and some decade) dealing with flight simulation but for a beginner will uncover hundreds (or...) of questions. Of course, is flight simulation and is FOR FUN. Don't forget that! But I think the realism degree that flight sim has achieved is so high, that there's some steps that you can't skip. Is only my opinion based on my personal experience. 


Ivan Lewis

PMDG B737NGX, B777 and B747v3 QOTS II

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Absolutely true Kyle. Unfortunately it took me years of flight simming (completely alone) to learn this. If I'd have to start now to flight sim, with no doubt I'll do it with some PMDG aircraft. Most than probably with the NGX. But keeping in mind the thread starter profile (FSX beginner) and assuming this implies he have no flight sim experience at all, I recommend that scenario where you find yourself aboard the default FSX 172 with Rod Machado (yes, I've suffered his horrible jokes...) in a default FSX runway with no winds and ready to learn the basics of flying. No FMC, no autobrakes, no pressurization panel, no pneumatics, no bleed air and APU...all that stuff that now sounds quite familiar for most of us with years (and some decade) dealing with flight simulation but for a beginner will uncover hundreds (or...) of questions. Of course, is flight simulation and is FOR FUN. Don't forget that! But I think the realism degree that flight sim has achieved is so high, that there's some steps that you can't skip. Is only my opinion based on my personal experience. 

 

+1

Exactly

 

I would not call flying GA planes anyway easier than flying a dedicated tubeliner.

Ii think however, that we may agree on the fact that it is one thing to become familiar with flightsimming and let's say "aviation basics" (and also their replication in an simulated environment such as it is happening in FSX) via a, let's say C172 on a small, calm airfield rather than beginning right away in the VC of a dedicated tubeliner such as it is the case in the NGX on a large and busy airport.

And - isn't pointing out the fact that flying small GA planes to be quite challanging and demanding a very good reason, to exactly begin with it?

So, learning the "hard stuff" step by step yet in an environment though that still offers the chance to the novice pilot to keep a proper overview and which suits his/her personal experience/skills best then?

I mean:

Any dedicated virtual pilot (and real pilot :wink:) will sooner or later be confronted with all the stuff such as VOR, ILS, OBS, VNAV, LNAV, V/S, Glidslope, TOD, METAR, ATIS, TAF, Holding pattern, Procedure turn ... and much, much more anyways.

But as lots of it is required and/or comming together almost at once in rather complex planes such as the NGX, i think it may all become a bit overwhelming.

Sure though:

Making it "the other way round" and starting with the NGX at first for instance and then handling "Your way through it all" may also be an option, but then again - it may be a bit to overwhelming and hence potentially disappointing at first.

Only my two cents here though.

:smile:

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