Captain Sim Releases 737 Classic for P3D

[Tim_Capps 474]

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

I rarely go beyond 6000 feet anyway, so there is always something to admire on the ground below

Yes bit the view is wider from 35,000 feet 😄 If you can see through all the clouds, that is.

[WestEnd 33]

16 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Yes, the question is why it's not working for you. I don't know how many hours you have in it, or what your route was, or where you started your descent, or really, much of anything. Throttle position shouldn't matter. This also makes trying to give any help hard to do without running the risk of insulting you without meaning to. If you have any questions, you can PM me. I have Mike Ray's 737 Classic book that I have used as a manual for a long time. (CS may or may not have come out with a manual, but the Ray book was a good investment for me.) If you're sure you have plenty of room for your descent, and know the correct procedures, it shouldn't run away on you. When it initially starts descending, I have noticed it sometimes has a higher VS than I would expect (or is realistic) but settles to 2000-3000 fpm, but airspeed is fine. You might try some spoiler, especially at the beginning of the descent if it doesn't look right.

Not quite sure what you mean here. The speed window doesn't figure into VNAV. You just dial down the altitude setting and if you have the VNAV button lit up, it should start to descend without any action on your part as soon as it crosses the TOD mark. Heck, that's even more automated than an Airbus! Of course, if your TOD is too close to your destination, or a particular leg requires (for some reason) too much altitude loss in too short a distance, the airplane isn't going to know any better. They did include a pop-up throttle deal if your hardware is significantly mismatched with the airplane's throttle setting, so you can match them up, but that's more so there's not some drastic change with shifting modes.

If you want to provide your route, wx, weight and procedures, I'd be happy to fly it and see if how it goes for me. I would like for you to be able to enjoy your airplane if possible, that's all.

I believe in Boeings, at times on the PFD, hold is displayed, where the physical throttle can be moved by the pilot even though the autothrottle is on.

In my PMDG planes that is not replicated as my autothrottle overide is set to off. When I was mulling over what may have been happening with the 737-300, I had wondered if it was something to do with this, as I generally put my physical throttles fully forward when AT is on as I am then less likely to hit them if I get up and walk past.

Edited January 12, 2022 by WestEnd

[Tim_Capps 474]

3 hours ago, WestEnd said:

I believe in Boeings, at times on the PFD, hold is displayed, where the physical throttle can be moved by the pilot even though the autothrottle is on.

Ah, that makes sense now. I have seen that, too, but changes in physical throttle are simply compensated for--you can watch it in the VC. In fact, on that last flight, I think I forgot all about my throttles during VNAV until I noticed they were much farther forward than the ones in the VC. That would eliminate one factor. Good luck!

[Tim_Capps 474]

I've been doing some thinking about this and would like to add a couple of observations that might be helpful. First is that the VNAV (and LNAV, for that matter) aren't perfect, or to the standards of some other developers. Captain Sim is a survey company, and used to service classic jet enthusiasts. Now they seem to be trying to cash in on MSFS. Business decisions are what they are, but I don't think they have the interest to continue much development in their original niche. For all I know, they don't have the people they used to have anymore. I think the real "problem" is that no developer is going to see much return on classic jets. I won't go into that, because I think most people reading this can connect the dots. If Captain Sim thought they could make money on a new 727 (assuming they retain the know-how) then I think they'd follow the cash like any other business. They never quite "got" glass as they did gauges. And I think they've always left it to the community to work out kinks in their releases.

I don't think it's a secret that I like Captain Sim's stuff. That doesn't mean I agree with all their practices or priorities or blind to issues with their airplanes. And it doesn't mean I think they're the same Captain Sim that gave us the 727 or 707 or L1011 back in the day. But as a practical matter, I think it's more helpful to discuss ways to enjoy airplanes that aren't perfect, but fill a gap. And there are still people working in the community on things like giving the 767 cargo version a door, and a cargo version of the 737-300, as well as engine variants for that.

I still don't think LNAV is broken. But I will say the vertical speeds it uses can be a bit scary. What I mean is that it might start a climb or descent at 4000 to 6000. (That may be what the complaint is, not the IAS, as I thought.) I've noticed the same thing in the Coolsky / Flight1 MD-80. But then it will settle back to a more reasonable 2000 to 3000 fpm. If you see a 6000 FPM descent and don't know that it will dial it back to something reasonable, I can see why you might think it's broken. And, honestly, if your expectations are calibrated to PMDG, yeah, you could say there's a problem there. For me, as long as it settles down and hits all the marks, I'm not bothered by that. But everyone is entitled to their own expectations.

I used to drive a MINI Cooper S convertible. Now I have a Kia. Life is full of compromises. The Kia is good for what Kias are good for. It's definitely not a MINI Cooper S convertible. (Sniffle.)

For that matter, LNAV sometimes acts up. It might just lose the thread entirely and miss a waypoint. Not often, and when it does, I notice it and rein it in back on course. Does that mean LNAV is broken, too? For some people, yes. For me, it's something that happens on some flights, but most of the time I get good results as I did on the Lisbon-Rome flight.

I suppose the moral of this little story is that Captain Sim never quite got glass perfect. I don't want anyone to think I'm saying they did. Most of the time it all works fine for me. I very much like the looks of their Classic and don't get flustered if I have a flight where I've got to correct course, or LNAV starts out at 6000 FPM before dialing back to something reasonable. Everyone is entitled to their expectations and compromises or lack of compromises. If you fly online, you have other considerations.

I hope this puts things in perspective. Captain Sim either ticks your boxes or not, just like any other thing. If you want a 737 NG, you've got a couple of choices .If you want a Classic, good luck without Captain Sim. Happy P3D New Year.

[C2615 319]

5 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

If you want a Classic, good luck without Captain Sim.

That's why I got IXEG anyway, even after it's not been updated for some years, it's still better....

[WestEnd 33]

At $29.99 in total for the 737, 757 and 767 it is what it is, and I will give them some use. I would be raging if I'd paid full price though.

[Tim_Capps 474]

18 hours ago, C2615 said:

That's why I got IXEG anyway, even after it's not been updated for some years, it's still better..

Is that available for P3D?

[SWVA4420 8]

@Tim_Capps - no, it's XP only....highly recommended (both XP and the IXEG!)
Jim