Setting up Default Departure

[Robau777 0]

Hi to all. I am trying to set up the following so that when FSX loads, I start all my PMDG 737 NGX flights this way.

I wish to have the aircraft parked at YBBN (Brisbane Intl, Australia) Gate 40, with the APU running. In real life you would call it a transit stop.

I position the aircraft at gate 40 and go through the shut down procedure by the tutorial until the aircraft is being powered with the APU, all goes fine with that, so now my aircraft is in transit at the gate.

I bring up FSX to save the situation, enter a name, tick default flight and save and shut down my flight sim.

The next time I go into flight sim my 737 is at YBBN, Gate 40 as I had planned, but instead of the aircraft just sitting there and powered by the APU as I had planned, the park brake is off, I had left it on, and both engines start to spool up, I had shut them down as per procedure, including fuel pumps with just the one fuel pump running for the APU,  and an annoying beep....beep....beep.

So, what am I doing wrong or what am I not doing.

Thanks for any help.

Kindest regards

Rob 

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

All you need to do is Save the Flight as your default flight (in FSX), create a Panel State for the NGX (on the CDU), and set that Panel State as the default load for the NGX (also performed on the CDU).

 

FYI, I do the same thing for the NGX so I can get my flights off the ground as quickly as possible.  The aircraft is completely setup on the APU and all I have to do is enter the flight plan, push back, switch off the Air Conditioning and start the engines.  When I'm in the mood for Cold and Dark I simply load that panel state from the CDU.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[Robau777 0]

I tried as suggested then shut down my FSX, came back later in the day to do a flight and the sim once again did what my original problem is.

I just about give up.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

Can you please provide exactly (as specific as possible) all the actions you are doing and where you are doing them?  Screen shots would help as well.  If you'll provide those, I'm confident that we can resolve this.  But you'll need to be painstakingly specific (step by step) on what you're doing so we can find what's going wrong.

 

 

By the way, you need to post your full name in your signature here on the PMDG forum. Not my rule, it's the rule of our host (PMDG).

[Robau777 0]

Okay, please be patient with me. Aircraft I know, my career spanned from the Constellation thru to the 747, computers, I know how to turn them on and off.

Firstly, where do I go to post my full name and then I will do my best to give you as much information as I can about my problem.

Thank you

[KevinMM 22]

Do not use a high level add-on plane as default. That's even in the docs. Just save the flight, and pick from the menu. But leave the Cessna or the Trike as default.

[pcubine 143]

 

 

I bring up FSX to save the situation, enter a name, tick default flight and save and shut down my flight sim.

You can't use the NGX which is a complex aircraft as a default flight. You will have all kinds of problems. The NGX will never work right. See page 22 of the NGX Introduction Manual, As KevinMM mentioned use either the Trike or the Cessna as the default flight.

[Robau777 0]

Thank guys for your help so far but I think I should change my user name to Capt Dummy.

Okay, I am flying in the Trike over Friday Harbour, engine purring away and enjoying the scenery and have put the big tick in the default flight box as suggested, but I would like to be sitting in the 737 at gate 40 YBBN with the aircraft powered by the APU.

So in FSX I moved the Trike from flying over Friday Harbour to gate 40 and shut down the engine, went to the change aircraft panel in FSX to load the 737 and it loads at gate 40, that's fine but while waiting for the 737 initialization to finish, the 737s engines have spooled up from displaying zero to enough power to send me rocketing through the terminal building, across the car park and ending up in some field, so while this " journey of a life time" is going on, I am madly on the breaks and shutting down the engines to stop.

Help please.

Rob

[pcubine 143]

 

 

So in FSX I moved the Trike from flying over Friday Harbour to gate 40

Don't move the Trike to gate 40 at YBBN. When you start FSX the Free Flight Screen appears. Select the NGX as the aircraft, YBBN as the airport and gate 40 at YBBN. If the weather and time are correct load the flight. When the aircraft has initialized go to the FMC PMDG SETUP and select whatever panel state you want. Once that has initialized, set the parking brake and save the flight as whatever you want to call it.

 

In the future when you start FSX the Trike will be at Friday Harbor. At the bottom of that page select load. On the next page highlight your NGX YBBN flight and select fly now. Once it has initialized the NGX will be at YBBN gate 40 with the panel state you selected and the parking brake on.

[Robau777 0]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

I found that the problem was with my throttle quadrant, some how it had got out of sink and would not bring the engines back to idle even though the levers were right back.

Re calibrated and now all is good.

Regards

Rob

[kevinh 409]

Don't move the Trike to gate 40 at YBBN. When you start FSX the Free Flight Screen appears. Select the NGX as the aircraft, YBBN as the airport and gate 40 at YBBN. If the weather and time are correct load the flight. When the aircraft has initialized go to the FMC PMDG SETUP and select whatever panel state you want. Once that has initialized, set the parking brake and save the flight as whatever you want to call it.

 

In the future when you start FSX the Trike will be at Friday Harbor. At the bottom of that page select load. On the next page highlight your NGX YBBN flight and select fly now. Once it has initialized the NGX will be at YBBN gate 40 with the panel state you selected and the parking brake on.

Why on earth not change the default flight to YBBN gate 40? It saves an extra step. The problem with using the trike for it is the NGX will be too close in when the NGX is loaded over it. Better to make the default flight the default 737-800 at Brisbane. That way the initial position will be better relative to the terminal.

[pcubine 143]

Why on earth not change the default flight to YBBN gate 40? It saves an extra step. The problem with using the trike for it is the NGX will be too close in when the NGX is loaded over it. Better to make the default flight the default 737-800 at Brisbane. That way the initial position will be better relative to the terminal.

Page 21 of the Introduction Manual:

 

There is a common misconception that when loading a complex

simulation like the PMDG 737NGX that you should first load the

default Cessna into the simulator, then load the PMDG 737NGX.

This is not a factual conception and in fact we do not recommend

the practice at all. What is required however is for the default

Ultralight at Friday Harbor to be your default startup state in FSX.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

You two are speaking on two different levels here, and this is where the confusion/misconception comes from. In terms of "correctness" Kevin's is more accurate.

 

The default flight does not matter at all except for the fact that it should be a default MS Aircraft.

 

That way, the sim opens to the Create a Flight screen with everything but the aircraft selected. Select the NGX. Enjoy.

 

 

 

The confusion comes from people not understanding that "loading the sim" can have two possible meanings:

1. Loading the sim itself (when the sim loads to the Create a Flight screen)
2. Loading all of your selections into the sim environment (what happens after you click on Fly Now)

 

 

Boiling it all down, the message is rather simple:

After you click on the Flight Simulator icon in the Start Menu, Toolbar, or Desktop, the sim will load to the Create a Flight screen. A default aircraft should be spinning there. What happens after that point doesn't matter.

[kevinh 409]

Page 21 of the Introduction Manual:

 

There is a common misconception that when loading a complex

simulation like the PMDG 737NGX that you should first load the

default Cessna into the simulator, then load the PMDG 737NGX.

This is not a factual conception and in fact we do not recommend

the practice at all. What is required however is for the default

Ultralight at Friday Harbor to be your default startup state in FSX.

As Kyle said, the default flight does not have to be Friday Harbor and it does not have to be a trike. If I was to use that as my default flight, my FSX (here in the UK) would assume local time was Pacific Time, and therefore UTC is eight hours after that. Changing my default flight to my time zone gets over that. I also changed the Trike because that reminds me of the gamey side of FSX.

 

That manual was written some while ago. It was clearer for PMDG to state "ensure the default flight as default" to avoid any confusion. Since then PMDGs view, specifically Ryan's, on this has relaxed. Partly because he read a post of mine on this very subject and liked the effect of the tip I was relating. The location of the defualt flight is irrelevant to how the NGX starts up, and as long as the default flight is an MS default aircraft it will load correctly too.

[pcubine 143]

 

 

as long as the default flight is an MS default aircraft it will load correctly too.

That's good to know. I thought it had to be the trike or Cessna. I have changed the location of the default flight to a runway at KPIE which is in the EST zone where I live.