On 6/15/2021 at 8:32 AM, C2615 said:

Haven't tested yet, but seems on the changelog, tons of bugs I reported on their forum are not all fixed, some major one have been done though.

Quite confused it got out of beta so soon.

Just hope there would be more versions down the line.

This is Captain Sim we are talking about here. That should be enough information to clear your confusion

14 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

This is Captain Sim we are talking about here. That should be enough information to clear your confusion

Well, I didn't quite predict they dorpped it that quick in the development even after the beta...

733 became my second aircraft that is too bad so I bought again in XP, the first one been A340

On 1/10/2022 at 9:58 AM, WestEnd said:

Are other people who are using the 737 experiencing this, and is there a workaround you are using to stop it happening?

Affirmative.
I'm using VS mode as I do also with other aircraft, regardless if VNAV functions correctly or not.
I like to control the descent myself.
During descent at 1.500+ ft/min, speed protection (i.e. stall) is not really an issue.

 

 

Also agree that VS seems to be the safest workaround in my experience, unfortunately.

Same here. Despite a few annoying bugs I find the plane rather enjoyable overall.

6 hours ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Affirmative.
I'm using VS mode as I do also with other aircraft, regardless if VNAV functions correctly or not.
I like to control the descent myself.
During descent at 1.500+ ft/min, speed protection (i.e. stall) is not really an issue.

 

 

If I want to keep flying the 737-300 that's what i will do. I did another flight yesterday and watched it like a hawk in the descent.

VNAV path almost instantly started accelerating the aircraft to silly levels. I changed to V/S and everything was ok. 

Maybe it's worth $9.99, but with all the bugs, certainly not a penny more.

I don't regret buying it on sale necessarily.  However, it's still costing me 9.99 per fight right now.  So looking at it that way, not as big of a bargain as I had expected. 

5 minutes ago, micstatic said:

I don't regret buying it on sale necessarily.  However, it's still costing me 9.99 per fight right now.  So looking at it that way, not as big of a bargain as I had expected. 

Yea, especially if you're flying on Vatsim in a busy airspace or suchlike. You just want to quickly tell the plane what to do and it does it. Not have to try and remember what doesn't work, and what will make the plane try to kill us etc.

Edited January 11, 20224 yr by WestEnd

So I just finished this route from Lisbon LPPT to Rome LIRF in the 737-300: IDBI4N IDBID DCT UREDI UN870 BCN UN725 ORKUM UM603 ELSAG DCT ALG DCT TINTO DCT VALMA VALM3C landing at RW34R. The automation performed flawlessly, with VNAV hitting all its marks at the proper speeds. Now, as vertical profiles go, this is fairly gentle, but I always put a 90 nm ring around the destination airport (e.g. designate LIRF as a fix, inputting __/90) and make sure I have a reasonable distance to descend no matter what. That's 90 nm or whatever rule-of-thumb distance I need to get from cruise to final approach altitude (and speed), but it's usually 90-ish. Then I look at the legs to see if there are any that are going to be an issue, because ultimately, it's my job to manage the descent. In this case, I saw the TOD was well inside my ring, but when I added up the legs, I still had plenty of room (VALM3C really cuts back and forth to bleed off altitude and speed). So I didn't have to do anything but monitor. I did not use ATC; if I had, I would have probably requested the beginning of my descent not much beyond my 90 nm ring, and would not have been using VNAV, but some other mode.

I have seen "VNAV doesn't work" a hundred times, and at the Captain Sim forum, too. I don't know what to say, except it does for me. I'm not going to guarantee it will work with every single descent profile or method of operation, but if something looks like it's going to have the potential to be a problem, that's when you solve it. I don't think it's accurate, however, to say that VNAV doesn't work. I does work. But it would be equally inaccurate to say it always works regardless, because I don't know what variables other people are introducing. I think the 737 (both the 300 and 200-as-modded) are great airplanes with the exception of the annoying external light issues. I will say that with the 757, I would sometimes run into an approach the autopilot just wasn't nimble enough to follow (the Viru Viru fishhook comes to mind) but I've had good luck with the 737.

Captain Sim has substituted other developers' names in their forum, as far as I can remember. If I were running Captain Sim that would be low on my priority list to change, but that's the way it is.

I remember someone recently asking if the L1011's INS worked. The answer is yes, just fine. I don't mind manually programming it, but my patience does have limits, so I don't go beyond nine waypoints, leaving some space for radio navigation. But I've also fed in a long flight plan, and it will handle those, too.

I don't fly the 757 anymore, since (as in real life) it's routes have been taken over by A320s and 737 NG for me. I sometimes fly the 767 (when I'm not in the mood for the A330) and like that one, too. All these work fine in 5.2, which is what I'm running, as does the 737-200, which is very impressive with the Total Overhaul mod from avsim.su even though it is not marketed for anything beyond v4.

 

That's good that VNAV is working for you. I'm not sure why the CS 737-300 is overspeeding the aircraft, then putting it into a dive for me if I use VNAV for teh descent. I thought at first it was perhaps the position of my physical throttle, if it puts the aircraft into hold in the speed window of the PFD, but yesterday with my physical throttles at idle it immediately started to accelerate to overspeed within a couple of minutes of starting the descent in VNAV path.

4 hours ago, WestEnd said:

I'm not sure why the CS 737-300 is overspeeding the aircraft, then putting it into a dive for me if I use VNAV for teh descent.

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.

4 hours ago, WestEnd said:

if it puts the aircraft into hold in the speed window of the PFD,

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.

17 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

but I always put a 90 nm ring around the destination airport (e.g. designate LIRF as a fix, inputting __/90) and make sure I have a reasonable distance to descend no matter what. That's 90 nm or whatever rule-of-thumb distance I need to get from cruise to final approach altitude (and speed), but it's usually 90-ish

And that's exactly what I (and I guess others do too) when using VS mode to descend.
Initially VS -2500 and below FL100 about VS -2000/1500.

Edited January 12, 20224 yr by Egbert Drenth
Typo's

27 minutes ago, Egbert Drenth said:

And that's exactly what I (and I guess others do too) when using VS mode to descend.

Yes, but you never know who might benefit from a simple trick they haven't run across. I only learned that from the Ray book. The whole VNAV issue is almost moot for me, too, because I'm used to a more hands-on style like you (way too much time in L1011, DC-8, DC-9, 737-200 etc.). When I'm in a "managed mood" there's always the Airbus :-) With weather and traffic I often use the native ATC to avoid surprises, despite it's sometimes bizarre behavior (the "SEARS1" approach to Midway that makes me worry about clearing the Sears Tower, for example). I just never got the courage to commit to VATSIM. I tried it once and got boggled over some technical issue, too. But that's no doubt the most realistic ATC available to us. I used to use Radar Contact in FSX, but can't say if it made the jump to v5.

I think many flight simmers think VS means "very seldom" as the joke goes, but I'm not sure that was the case in the 737 Classic heyday. And TOD is never more than a suggestion. I'd rather start too early than too late! Like Captain Ray says, "It ain't no sin to drag it in." :-)

Anyway, a lot of people use VNAV, VNAV works for me in the 737-300, so I'm happy to work with anyone who is having trouble with it. But somebody will have some weird technical issue that bugs any product--been there and been frustrated. So I'm not "blaming" anyone, just saying it works for me and it might work for somebody else.

18 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

That's 90 nm or whatever rule-of-thumb distance I need to get from cruise to final approach altitude (and speed), but it's usually 90-ish.

41 minutes ago, Egbert Drenth said:

And that's exactly what I (and I guess others do too) when using VS mode to descend.
Initially VS -2500 and below FL100 about VS -2000/1500.

90nm is about right.

If anyone is interested, the more accurate way to measure is to take your cruising flight level and divide it by 3. This gives you the number of nautical miles left to run to your destination airfield, by which point you should start your descent.
Add or subtract 10% of the headwind or tailwind component to allow for wind. e.g. a 60kt headwind reduces the miles needed by about 6, conversely a 60kt tailwind adds 6 miles to the total distance required.
Some real world airline pilots like to give themselves an extra 5nm to allow for spooling the engines down to idle and to slow their airspeed.
As an example, cruising at FL360 with a 60kt tailwind gives 360 / 3 = 120nm + 6nm + 5nm = 131 'miles to run' to the airfield.

Your descent rate is based on current ground speed. You can either multiply your speed in knots by 5 or add an extra '0' to the speed and divide by 2. e.g. 450kts * 5 = 2,250 feet / minute or alternatively 4500 / 2 = 2,250 ft/min.
This rate will steadily reduce as you get lower and the atmosphere lower down gets thicker, creating more drag and slowing your ground speed.

The aim (ATC and terrain restrictions notwithstanding) is to be 30nm from the airfield, at 250kts airspeed, at an altitude of 10,000 feet above airfield elevation.

Obviously, it is easier if the FMC/FMGC puts a marker on the PFD for you. A lot of my earlier freeware aircraft in FS9 didn't have one, so I memorised the formulae instead.
 

I like to use VNAV because it gives me more time to enjoy the scenery. I rarely go beyond 6000 feet anyway, so there is always something to admire on the ground below