FSX-SE What's the buzz...? It's Ryanair (buzz)...

[P_7878 6,528]

Sometimes, I feel a (SIM) induced tug, if, for more than a period of ~6 months, I haven't had a chance to (virtually) fly an aircraft, that has been a favorite of mine, and, especially, if I was also familiar with that RW aircraft (speaking purely from an enthusiast perspective) long before I got involved in my (imaginary) adventures of (SIM) aviation. This week, I came across two such (SIM) planes, and, here is the first one, the PMDG 737NG. I don't recall flying this one for about a year, and, the decade-old (nostalgic) flashbacks came back to me, today, about the "excitement" of the times when the "NGX" was first released. Surely, same as many folks here, I recall, quite well, the release of both the 737NGX SIM versions, myself, been in the middle of that tremendous "excitement" in both the Forums...(e.g. as one among those multitude, posting, more than once, "...downloading and now at X %...")...🙂...and, I, also, recall my first trials and errors of flight with these complex (at least to me) 737 SIMs...etc., personally, though, my few teething issues with both SIMs, were resolved (quickly) by the respective (incredibly active) Forums/members...

Anyway, this week, on-line, I also came across bits of content about Ryanair, and, in the process, came to know of (Ryanair) Buzz, didn't know of it before. This Buzz is a Polish airline headquartered in Warsaw. Formerly called Ryanair Sun, it is a subsidiary of Ryanair Holdings. It has a somewhat convoluted history...Buzz was the name of a budget (UK) airline that Ryanair bought from KLM in April 2003. Buzz (styled as "buzz", i.e. all lower-case letters) was a British low-cost airline that operated from 2000 until 2004 as a subsidiary of KLM (= KLM buzz) and then Ryanair. The (original) buzz airline was launched, in 1999, by KLM as a sub-brand of KLM uk to compete with other low-cost carriers such as EasyJet, Go Fly, and (yes, ironically) Ryanair itself...

So, Ryanair, more recently, in late 2019, has rebranded their (Polish subsidiary) Ryanair Sun as the (New) Ryanair Buzz (actually "BUZZ", i.e. all upper-case letters, see my images below). It's now also known that some of the (latest) Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (of Ryanair) will be heading to Buzz. BTW, I'm a bit behind in 737 MAX news. e.g. I read, just now, that, only about a week ago (on March 31, 2021), FAA approved the design for the Boeing "737-8200" variant, (i.e. specifically the "8200" sub-variant of the 737 MAX 8 series), I clearly need to familiarize, myself, more, with the 737 MAX variants. This "8200" certification is a necessary step before Boeing can plan on delivery of these MAX airplanes to Ryanair. And, if you examine the Wiki, today, for the fleet of (Ryanair) Buzz, it shows up as consisting of only two types of aircraft (1) 737-800 (2) 737 MAX 8-200. Ryanair has ordered 210 of the 8200s (for curiosity, I note, this is the largest "8200" order, as of now, by any airline, followed by Southwest (150), SpiceJet (136), flydubai (131), American Airlines (100) etc.).

Back to my post: While looking, today, to mix "(Ryanair) Buzz" with "B737-800", I discovered a repaint of (PMDG) 737-800 in the color of (Ryanair) Buzz, and, as typical, the Painters are again ahead of my own curiosity. B737-800 has been the most common 737NG variant, placed in the same niche with A320, on both of which planes, I've had chance to travel numerous times. In our SIM, too, B737-800 is quite popular,...so, please find below, a set of images, of the PMDG 738NG, in the color of (Ryanair) Buzz, flying, on a short (twilight) flight from (EPKK) Krakow-Balice to (EPWA) Warshaw-Chopin, so chosen, at my discretion, due to the aforesaid connections of this airline to Poland. As I've said, I'm flying this PMDG 737NG, here, after nearly a year, but, it's always a great pleasure to revisit this SIM, a SIM that can be either flown by the book per the strictest regimen, or, on a simplified (Point A to Point B) flight (as I've done for the illustration, in this post), with just the basics understood. I've created a FSC flightplan, that automatically, placed the route-file in the correct (PMDG) directory, and, then easily uploaded to its FMS. I am aware that (hobby) preferences, of our members, here, are, somewhat, divided between "automated" vs. "hands-on" type flights of our (virtual) aircraft...🙂...so, just after I had recently flown the Douglas DC-3 and the Piper Crop-Duster, this 737NG, here, felt like Poles apart...both kinds, of course, were fun, in their own ways...!

The Tutorial says, "...Passing 400 feet...press CMD A on the right side of the MCP to engage the autopilot...Take your hands off the controls, the autopilot is now flying..." Indeed, that's what, it is, pretty much...! From ~400' all the way to the destination runway (and optional "autoland"), the navigation is almost all taken care of by the automation. And, for me, speaking as a virtual simmer, everything, here, worked, perfectly, including e.g. the VNAV operation that was flawless (the start of the automatic (and magical...🙂...) descent, at the T/D point, in such (automated) A/C, never stops to amaze this non-pilot mind, in lieu of the "3:1 rule of descent" rule, usable in other aircraft...). I've included a few [VC] screenshots of my progress towards the bottom of descent (3,000 feet) and the (subsequent) smooth ILS capture...(plus, it is always nice to see e.g. RETARD, LAND3, and other "realistic" annunciation signs on the PFD, at the expected points of flight...)

Hope you enjoy this set of images of this wonderful (SIM) aircraft, colored in this curious Buzz livery...!!

[A small side note: Here, I've flown the Winglet version of the Ryanair (Buzz) 738. In the wing-view shots, below, you can see the prominent "bumblebee" on the inside of the winglets. The newest 737 MAX 8200s of Ryanair (Buzz) will feature Split winglets (also called split-scimitar winglets), that would also contain the bumblebee, but the lower/extra winglet will be painted yellow, similar to the non-Buzz 737 MAXs of Ryanair. If interested, please look up these images, on-line.]

Thanks for your interest...!!

[PMDG(B737-800NGX-WL), DRZEWIECKI(EPWA), REX]

[John F 2,396]

Informative, as always! 🙂

John

[Alaska738 8,369]

Splendid shots!!

[pmplayer 9,354]

Great shots and thanks for your Information !

cheers 😉

[P_7878 6,528]

John, Alaska738, pmplayer:

Many thanks for the comments and kind words....!!

 

[rightseat 277]

Great post. I just assumed that the "buzz" was the ringing you get in your ears that happens right after Ryanair lands and you're onboard! 🙂