18NOV22] PMDG 737 for MSFS Updates & Other News Tidbits

[Farlis]

1 hour ago, jbdbow1970 said:

How is wanting an EFB from PMDG bashing?

That is not the issue. It's constant whining about Randazzos writing style.

[Ricardo41]

Yet another round of nothing. 

Extremely embarrassing at this point. 

But...they fixed a missing pixel. That's something. 

EFB:

Inibuilds A 310: Here is a wonderfully functional EFB. Enjoy!

PMDG: We are in the initial phase of the beginning stages of the first round of testing. Hoping to move this project forward to the starting line soon. We are also hard at work on solving the differential reverse geometry problems introduced by the mathematical compulational fluidity of the reverse thrust engagment parameters. 

[kdfw__]

32 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

 

like clockwork.

[Swe_Richard]

46 minutes ago, kdfw__ said:

like clockwork.

With almost metronomic precision. 

[G550flyer]

10 hours ago, Swe_Richard said:

With almost metronomic precision. 

🤣

[Nuno Pinto]

This whole "it doesn't have an EFB, i'm not touching it" thing just makes me laugh. Instead of worrying about flying a plane, people are worried they cannot get to Facebook on their EFB and oh the sheer indignation if it doesn't have a CABIN!

Straaaaange times these.

[DavidP]

Some people take it way too seriously ... 

[micstatic]

54 minutes ago, Nuno Pinto said:

This whole "it doesn't have an EFB, i'm not touching it" thing just makes me laugh. Instead of worrying about flying a plane, people are worried they cannot get to Facebook on their EFB and oh the sheer indignation if it doesn't have a CABIN!

Straaaaange times these.

The EFB actually is a big deal.  Performance calculations to include flex temps.  Ability to show charts/moving maps.  Ability to more intuitively  handle things like ground connections and pushback.  May not be a big deal to you, but it is to most people.  I'm not saying I don't love the PMDG 737.  I do.  

[regis9]

The EFB doesn’t make or break the 737s for me, I certainly enjoy flying them.  But the lack of a performance calculator is annoying and not aligned with the current state of the art for sure.  That’s really the only thing for me that’s missing and is bothersome.

[petz_e]

I don‘t think we will get a performance calculator in the EFB, at least not in the initial launch. My guess is that the EFB will be released in the first months of next year with limited functionalities (simbrief import, navigraph charts, ground handling etc.). But the performance calculator will be added much much later (like autumn 23 later). 

[ThomseN_inc]

The FBW 320 has a great EFB. I rarely use it. Will be the same with the PMDGs one. All i need is my "EFB" tablet running Navigraph and having my flight documentation as PDF on it.

There is also a great freeware performance calculator on the playstore.

Works like a charm and is way more intuitive than fiddling around with the views in MSFS.

So long story short for me the EFB is nothing to worry about.

I started flying the 737 some days ago and i am enjoying it big time.

[mspencer]

28 minutes ago, micstatic said:

The EFB actually is a big deal.  Performance calculations to include flex temps.  Ability to show charts/moving maps.  Ability to more intuitively  handle things like ground connections and pushback.  May not be a big deal to you, but it is to most people.  I'm not saying I don't love the PMDG 737.  I do.  

1000% agree.

It's certainly not mandatory, in some cases I kind of don't like it. The PMDG tablet in P3D, for example, is a glorified takeoff performance calculator and useless for anything else.

The Maddog tablet is clunky and not easy to use.

But, it's a bit of a stark comparison to the beautiful FBW and Fenix tablets that allow interacting with the aircraft in an intuitive and easy way. To me, the remarkable thing is that they were taken completely aback by needing to innovate.

The last line about the 777/MAX/747 is 🙄

First time mentioning the MAX in... I dunno... 3 years? How convenient that iFly is nipping at their heels.

[Ricardo41]

2 hours ago, Nuno Pinto said:

This whole "it doesn't have an EFB, i'm not touching it" thing just makes me laugh. Instead of worrying about flying a plane, people are worried they cannot get to Facebook on their EFB

Would be great if you could access your social media accounts through the EFB - you  could even get some work done this way. 

Or, stream your favorite games. Netflix, etc. Endless possibilities. Even video calls. 

[G550flyer]

Well, obviously it's a make or break situation for some based on the inputs and of course, for each their own. I just find the frustration in regard to it interesting. But, I do realize that I grew up in an aviation world where technology evolved quickly. Thanks to my uncle Sam, I stayed in the old way of business where technology advances were few and in between🤣. In the trusty C-141B, I did have the nifty FSAS FMS head that could do some great calculations, but old blue Air Force still required you to do it manually🤣. Basically you compared the FSAS numbers against the FEs manual numbers and used them. Every now and then they would pull that old school INS head out and put them in both pilot positions🤣. You would fly around the world with those things. Hand jamming waypoints into that thing was time consuming, luckily you could only load 9 at a time. Don't fall asleep because once it got to 9, 1 was the next point😬. I heard a few stories of C-141Bs and C-5s turning around on the NATs. Lets not even talk about updating the INSs position using a navaid on coast in. It did keep you awake on those long oceanic flights because you load those points, work the oceanic plotting charts and make those reports at reporting points. That darn crackle of the HF radios because we had no SELCAL. I could call mom on the MARS radio though out of sheer boredom of watching airliners pass us up and ships below. 

Thankful for those airliners because we didn't have GPS. In fact, during the gross nav error checks, you look at the line of airliners on the NATs to decide which INS was closest to the track you were supposed to be flying. Which ever was closest to the airliners' track would be coupled to the auto pilot🤣. O I forgot to mention that you could only use the auto throttles for low levels and air drop. Ever so often the FE would give you a calculated cruise power setting for .74 between doing their hourly fuel calculations and air nautical miles per pound of fuel checks. They would tell me when to step climb and run that fuel heat for 30 seconds every thirty minutes. Then I jumped to the mighty KC-10.

I felt big time! Hell, I even had an electric seat that would move me up/down and out of position with the press of a button! That FMS 800 mod could calculate holding patterns and AR patterns like no body's business but it could not calculate performance data. Again, the FE was a pro at all types of calculations and could squeeze every ounce of performance out of that jet. That FMS could hold 80 points I think, plus I could throw in an alternate flight plan and activate it on the fly, so 160 points really. We had dual GPSs, but they couldn't be used in the nav solution. The system did use the GPSs information to stay accurate and precise. Hell, 30 minutes of nav mode, the system could stay precise without GPS because it knew the projected drift rate of all three INSs and would stay tight! Crossing the ocean, I did the passing! I would blow past airliners doing .82 to .85 as they cruised at .80 or lower to save gas. They would be on the HF requesting to slow down for fuel, not me! A tanker should never have a fuel issue😝. I knew I had finally grasped technology because I had a glass EHSI, TVSI with TCAS, Autothrottles and GPS LNAV approach capability. When I passed up jets with 1000FT separation, my RADAR altimeter would momentarily pop to 1000 and back out of view. Finally, I was somebody in the skies🤣. Then there came the Gulfstreams.

As a haze and building block, they started you on that darn G3. I would taxi out of the block eyeing those G5s and 550s while my G3 was looking like a scared puppy🤣. Quickly I gained a lot of love and respect for that G3. The FMS was great, but even though it would show the VPATH on a GPS approach, I could not couple to it. The FMS couldn't do performance data, but we had tab data, I guess that's a plus. You still had to run those climb gradient charts for obstacles and minimum climb gradients. You could flex, but you had to run the climb gradient charts again at the flex temperature to make sure you were still good. It didn't have autothrottles either so you had to touch those throttles every 3 seconds unless you were cruising. I tacked on the 5 and fell in love. It could LNAV/VNAV, overpowered, get into very small airports and had the world in it's wingspan. No more hopping across the ocean like the 5 hour limited G3, I could go from DC to Moscow direct. I had a HUD and felt like a fighter pilot. I felt high tec because I had FLIR and EVS which allowed me to land in the fog/low vis! I made it into KFTY one morning because the FAA allows us to go 100 below mins when using EVS. Every other jet was going around, but me. When approach told me about the multiple go arounds, on approach, I smiled. I could clearly see the runway at 7 miles though my co couldn't see nothing but grey out of the windscreen. The 550 brought on enhanced FMS navigation along with LPV capability. O, yeah, synthetic vision too. I still loved that 3. I would watch people struggle in the 3 because they flew the 5 and 550 too much. I made sure I rotated through them. Some peeps would be so nervous because their sweet 550 would be backed up by the capable 3. I have swapped from a 550 to a 3 on departure due to a Mx problem. 

Ok, sorry horse, I have beat you enough, you can go now🤣. I will say that an EFB is nice if you don't want to haul around pubs and swap out a jet's library every 28 days. My American Airlines buddy showed me that he could check pay, PTO, look at a flights capacity and join the standby list from his EFB. I mean it's sweet to have those creature comforts at your finger tips no matter where you are. I do love the fact that I can plan and file from the back of the jet while having my lunch on a ground stop. It's probably my flight experience that makes me view a real EFB as a neat creature comfort tool, but a paper weight when flying. Yes, we have EFB yoke mounts and I can brief a departure, arrival or approach with it conveniently. I can also just pull it up on a NAV display and brief it there where we both can see it.

[Nuno Pinto]

2 hours ago, micstatic said:

The EFB actually is a big deal.  Performance calculations to include flex temps.  Ability to show charts/moving maps.  Ability to more intuitively  handle things like ground connections and pushback.  May not be a big deal to you, but it is to most people.  I'm not saying I don't love the PMDG 737.  I do.  

I didn't say it is not useful, it is and i do use it, what i'm saying here is that people are making a lot of noise just because addon "X" doesn't have it and "it sucks". Also, some other addons that don't even fly properly or are poor simulations, since they have an EFB, they're immediately the king of the hill.

It's this way of thinking that i find odd, pardon me if it sounded otherwise.