IFLY 737-600 How do you open cargo doors?

The command to open the cargo doors is Shift+E followed by pressing the 2 key, BUT, and this is the important bit which is probably why you could not get it to work, there is a bit of an odd glitch in P3D/FSX, and not just with the iFly 737, which prevents that command from working although fortunately, it is easy to fix. What you do is press the Alt key so the sim's menu bar appears, wait a couple of seconds, then press the Alt key again so the menu bar disappears, and then the door commands will work.

Hope that helps.

For a bit more realism with all that stuff, here's some more fun facts. You don't have to bother reading any of this if you don't want to....

Even though the cargo doors on a 737 are completely manual, there's a bit more to them than one might suppose. On the real 737-600, for both the front and rear cargo holds, you press a square button on the middle of the door latch lever handle, which makes the handle pop out a few inches from its snug in flight position. when it is popped out, this allows it to pivot, so you turn it about 40 degrees to unlock the door latches, and then you can push the door inwards and upwards. When opened, the door is held in the open position by a set of springs and bungees which are specially designed to make you smack your head on them as much as is humanly possible when inside the cargo hold doorway. 

On a 737 - although it is possible to do so - you should not open the cargo hold doors until the aircraft is chocked and the engines have spooled down. An aircraft can roll when on the stand if not chocked properly and if equipment is on the aircraft such as steps or loading belts, that could damage it. Also, prior to working on the aircraft, when it comes on stand, you do a walkaround check to see if there is any damage, and you can't see that easily on the doors if they are opened and folded inward and upwards and equipment is in the way.

The reason the aircraft can roll before being chocked, is that quite often, the brakes are hot after landing and taxying in, so it's not a good idea to immediately put the parking brake on as that impededes their ability to cool and in severe cases could make the brakes sieze in the on position. So, what pilots will sometimes do, is taxi onto the stand and then hold the aircraft on the toe brakes and then when they know the chocks are in (which they will do because the GP light will come on, and  you'd never connect the power before chocking an aeroplane), they'll take their foot off the brakes and leave the parking brake off for a few minutes to allow the brakes to cool, but stick the parking brake on a few minutes later (very occasionally they'll forget to put it on, and that's always fun lol).

But, an aircraft can also sometimes roll a bit if it is not chocked properly as well. When the aircraft comes on stand, it is typically lighter than it will be when it goes off stand, since it is yet to be refueled, and ground personnel know this, they also know that if you ram the chocks right up against the tires when it comes on stand, later when it is fueled and reloaded, it'll sit with a bit more weight and that can sometimes pin the chocks in place owing to the extra weight, making them difficult to remove. So, knowing this, some ramp personnel leave the chocks an inch or two off the tire to prevent that happening, but it can mean the aircraft might roll a bit if the crew are going to release the brakes to allow them to cool, and it's silly anyway because you can usually knock a jammed chock free by smacking it with another chock, or failing that, by moving the aeroplane an inch or two forward or back with the tug to allow someone to pull the offending chock out.

Incidentally, this post is in the wrong forum.

Edited October 10, 20187 yr by Chock

There is an add on gauge for the iFly 737NG, All-in-one.gau, or something similar from Flight1's file library site. It will open the main doors and cargo doors. A four button gauge if I recall correctly. Installation is pretty straightforward.

Hope this helps.

Edited to add - it works in FSX, P3Dv3.4 & P3Dv4.3

Edited October 10, 20187 yr by beechcaptain

12 minutes ago, Chock said:

The command to open the cargo doors is Shift+E followed by pressing the 2 key, BUT, and this is the important bit which is probably why you could not get it to work, there is a bit of an odd glitch in P3D/FSX, and not just with the iFly 737, which prevents that command from working although fortunately, it is easy to fix. What you do is press the Alt key so the sim's menu bar appears, wait a couple of seconds, then press the Alt key again so the menu bar disappears, and then the door commands will work.

Hope that helps.

For a bit more realism with all that stuff, here's some more fun facts. You don't have to bother reading any of this if you don't want to....

Even though the cargo doors on a 737 are completely manual, there's a bit more to them than one might suppose. On the real 737-600, for both the front and rear cargo holds, you press a square button on the middle of the door latch lever handle, which makes the handle pop out a few inches from its snug in flight position. when it is popped out, this allows it to pivot, so you turn it about 40 degrees to unlock the door latches, and then you can push the door inwards and upwards. When opened, the door is held in the open position by a set of springs and bungees which are specially designed to make you smack your head on them as much as is humanly possible when inside the cargo hold doorway. 

On a 737 - although it is possible to do so - you should not open the cargo hold doors until the aircraft is chocked and the engines have spooled down. An aircraft can roll when on the stand if not chocked properly and if equipment is on the aircraft such as steps or loading belts, that could damage it. Also, prior to working on the aircraft, when it comes on stand, you do a walkaround check to see if there is any damage, and you can't see that easily on the doors if they are opened and folded inward and upwards and equipment is in the way.

The reason the aircraft can roll before being chocked, is that quite often, the brakes are hot after landing and taxying in, so it's not a good idea to immediately put the parking brake on as that impededes their ability to cool and in severe cases could make the brakes sieze in the on position. So, what pilots will sometimes do, is taxi onto the stand and then hold the aircraft on the toe brakes and then when they know the chocks are in (which they will do because the GP light will come on, and  you'd never connect the power before chocking an aeroplane), they'll take their foot off the brakes and leave the parking brake off for a few minutes to allow the brakes to cool, but stick the parking brake on a few minutes later (very occasionally they'll forget to put it on, and that's always fun lol).

But, an aircraft can also sometimes roll a bit if it is not chocked properly as well. When the aircraft comes on stand, it is typically lighter than it will be when it goes off stand, since it is yet to be refueled, and ground personnel know this, they also know that if you ram the chocks right up against the tires when it comes on stand, later when it is fueled and reloaded, it'll sit with a bit more weight and that can sometimes pin the chocks in place owing to the extra weight, making them difficult to remove. So, knowing this, some ramp personnel leave the chocks an inch or two off the tire to prevent that happening, but it can mean the aircraft might roll a bit if the crew are going to release the brakes to allow them to cool, and it's silly anyway because you can usually knock a jammed chock free by smacking it with another chock, or failing that, by moving the aeroplane an inch or two forward or back with the tug to allow someone to pull the offending chock out.

Incidentally, this post is in the wrong forum.

Chock it always amazes me how you manage to write multiple informative paragraphs when the OP's question could have been answered in as little as a single sentence.

Not that that's a bad thing, of course. Quite the contrary  Thanks for making these forums an interesting place to be. 

1 hour ago, beechcaptain said:

There is an add on gauge for the iFly 737NG, All-in-one.gau, or something similar from Flight1's file library site. It will open the main doors and cargo doors. A four button gauge if I recall correctly. Installation is pretty straightforward.

Hope this helps.

Edited to add - it works in FSX, P3Dv3.4 & P3Dv4.3

 Not working. Thanks.

There is no such a plane in MS Flight, but with other planes, you open doors using key 'o'.

The animation is done beautifully, and when opening them in flight they influence in flight dynamics and sound inside the cockpit, you should try it if you haven't done it before. 😉

-eelis-

Edited October 11, 20187 yr by eelis

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:43 PM, beechcaptain said:

There is an add on gauge for the iFly 737NG, All-in-one.gau, or something similar from Flight1's file library site. It will open the main doors and cargo doors. A four button gauge if I recall correctly. Installation is pretty straightforward.

 

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:52 PM, mike19 said:

Not working. Thanks.

You're unlucky; it works in my FSX:SE installation. In the spirit of trying to help:

1. Did you remember to make the adjustments in your panel config files?
2. Remember, the four switch panel only appears in 2D flight deck and not in virtual flight deck.

Thank you for your informative posting Chock.