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maukro_1990

777 "Ground Maintenance" options - When do i need this feature?

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Hello everybody! 

 

I really love my PMDG T7. Some time ago, i saw the the "Ground Maintenance" options in the FMC. It´s possible to change the tires, brakes etc. with these options, but my question is: When do i need this features? Normally, i making a flight and end the simulator after i arrived at the destination. While there is a maintenance option in the FMC, it seems to me that it´s necessary to change the tires etc (making the whole maintenance) after a couple of flight hours with this aircraft. Does it mean that the "deterioration" of this aircraft for each livery, for example, will be saved a kind of an .ini file? Or is this maintenance feature just necessary if i do some really long flights to different destinations without ending (and reload) the simulator? I thought that the airplane is "totally maintenanced" when i reload the aircraft into the simulator?! 

 

I hope you understand what i mean. I´m a little bit confused about this feature! 

 

 

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When do i need this features?

 

If/when you need it, you'll know  :P


Kyle Rodgers

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You obviously have never cooked your brakes before :rolleyes:

 

Yes, there are times where use takes its toll. With excessive application, brakes overheat and fail, tyres lose pressure. Engine oil needs top up or when it runs too low in flight, you will experience overheating of the engine leading to engine failure.

 

I like to save flights as this keeps the hours of operation logged.

 

 

Chinedu.


Regards,

 

C Orags, DNMM

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You obviously have never cooked your brakes before :rolleyes:

 

Yes, there are times where use takes its toll. With excessive application, brakes overheat and fail, tyres lose pressure. Engine oil needs top up or when it runs too low in flight, you will experience overheating of the engine leading to engine failure.

 

I like to save flights as this keeps the hours of operation logged.

 

 

Chinedu.

Thanks for your reply. So, if i´m doing a normal flight and ending the simulator after standing at the destination gate, the aircraft ist "nearly new" when i´m loading this aircraft again, after restarting the simulator? You save the flight? i don´t really understand what you mean? Please correct me if i´m wrong: 

 

I do a longhaul flight from germany to new york, for example. At the destination airport, when i´m standing at the gate, engine oil quantity decreases. Now i´m ending the simulator and the next time i restart the simulator and reloade the PMDG T7, the oil quantity is full/normal again. Is this right? Or is there an ini file which saves my flight ours with a specific aircraft/livery, so i have to refill the oil first? 

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I save the flight at the end of a session (before exiting the simulator or changing aircraft) so when next i start the simulator, I load the particular flight I saved (includes the panel state). Alternatively, you can load a panel state from the FMC.

 

If you load a default panel state like 'cold and dark', the parameters like oil quantities and 'run' hours remain at that default.

 

Chinedu.


Regards,

 

C Orags, DNMM

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpgBanner_MJC11.png

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If you load a default panel state like 'cold and dark', the parameters like oil quantities and 'run' hours remain at that default.

 

 

I was unaware of this. So if you always load a default, clddrk, long turn etc, you will never hit a service based failure?

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I was unaware of this. So if you always load a default, clddrk, long turn etc, you will never hit a service based failure?

This is a very interesting question....!!!  :huh:

I save the flight at the end of a session (before exiting the simulator or changing aircraft) so when next i start the simulator, I load the particular flight I saved (includes the panel state). Alternatively, you can load a panel state from the FMC.

 

If you load a default panel state like 'cold and dark', the parameters like oil quantities and 'run' hours remain at that default.

 

Chinedu.

Ah, ok... i see. Thank you! But i think that most of the PMDG T7 pilots don´t saving the flights. I´m sure that they exiting the fsx until they want to start a new flight with this aicraft. If the parameters (oil, tires, brakes...) are on default conditions, everytime i reload my prefered panel state, the maintenance options/ features are useless, right? Hmm.... strange.

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I was unaware of this. So if you always load a default, clddrk, long turn etc, you will never hit a service based failure?

 

Not necessarily, it means it only takes longer as you don't have the wear and tear from previous flights.

 

For example, if i log cumulative flights totalling say 100 hrs, reloading clddrk would not have these hours of wear saved. If the saved clddrk state had 100%, you will always have that 100% oil each time you load it. If however I save at 65% oil qty, loading that saved file will continue from that quantity until I top up or ruin my engines in flight, which ever comes first :lol:

 

Chinedu.


Regards,

 

C Orags, DNMM

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpgBanner_MJC11.png

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Thank you, I really had no idea. I will start saving my panel states from now on. Funnily, I was watching a live stream the other day and the streamer had tens of pages of saved panel states and wondered why he had so many. Now I know :)

 

Thanks

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Ah, ok... i see. Thank you! But i think that most of the PMDG T7 pilots don´t saving the flights. I´m sure that they exiting the fsx until they want to start a new flight with this aicraft. If the parameters (oil, tires, brakes...) are on default conditions, everytime i reload my prefered panel state, the maintenance options/ features are useless, right? Hmm.... strange.

 

Maybe, but I like to save my flights at the end of the flight after unloading pax at the gate. The next flight then starts by loading that saved flight and you are empty at the gate with fuel remaining from last flight and a hundred or more time accrued settings still there in a PMDG aircraft file.  I like to use FlightAware's track previous flight feature; for example, find the AA B77W that flies KDFW-VHHH then start backtracking where it came from and you can collect six or more previous flights on the same aircraft. Now you can work through those as if it is the same tail number.

 

For example, today I found KLAX-EGLL-KMIA-SBGR-KDFW-VHHH as a potential sequence of flights, each one saved at the gate and time carried forward.

 

Almost all my non-test flights get saved and reloaded from the gate in this manner.


Dan Downs KCRP

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If you load a default panel state like 'cold and dark', the parameters like oil quantities and 'run' hours remain at that default.

I don't think loading a preset panel state affects the hours if you select service based failures. Hours appear to build up correctly. It may well affect things like fluid levels and other service items but I can't find anything definitive about this. However it would be odd if PMDG had included service based failures and then stopped it working properly by the use of preset panel states.

 

It would be good to get a definitive statement from PMDG about this.


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However it would be odd if PMDG had included service based failures and then stopped it working properly by the use of preset panel states.

 

True, changing panel states does not affect accrued hours.  However, these are accrued by registration number.  You can see the hours files in the PMDG\PMDG 777\Aircraft folder for example. Saving a flight is a convenient way to restart with the same aircraft.


Dan Downs KCRP

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Thanks for clarifying, do you know what section hours flown is in the .ini files? I couldn't see anything obvious when I can a scan.

 

Also it does beg the question why that streamer had all those save panel states!

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Thanks for clarifying, do you know what section hours flown is in the .ini files? I couldn't see anything obvious when I can a scan.

 

Also it does beg the question why that streamer had all those save panel states!

The 777 has two files per registration. Hours are stored in files with the suffix .hours, everything else in the .ini file.

 

If you use autosave PMDG software creates a panel state file each time it does a flight save. At least the autosave utility I use does. You can collect an awful lot of those unless you delete them occasionally. I wrote a batch file to delete them all automatically.


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