kerke

I too have noticed the ackward location of the APU switch next to the Taxi and Rwy/TO light switches. It is too easy to mistakenly flip the APU switch when you mean to turn ON the Taxi lights.They should send this picture to the Boeing panel design engineers.Best regards from KMIA :-waveKerke

>I used to do the same thing, until I realized how incredibly>fast and easy it was to just start up the engines the correct>way. They start up as soon as I hit 20%N1 every time. Like>clockwork.You meany 20%N2 :-)Kerke

Ross, if I needed to fly direct to a VOR, but I need to fly a specific radial to that VOR, such as 322 radial to PHK, how would I enter that on the PMDG FMC/CDU?How about at the very end of a route to, say, KLAS, how would I put an entry on the FMC/CDU to fly a 13 nm final approach to KLAS using a 250 degree heading to KLAS using LNAV? That would great for but an ILS and a Visual approach to KLAS RWY 25R or 25L, because you know the runway will be at your 12 o'clock.Thank you all for the good FMC/CDU tips,Kerke

The 727-200 is one of my all-time jetliner favorites, and thanks to Daniel Halpern, Erick Cantu, Steve Drabek, et al, we now have the most beatifull 727s ever made for FS9.But I have a problem guys, I've been spoiled by the great PMDG 737NG panel, they raised the bar way high. So now I'm on a mission to find the "best and greatest" B727-200 panel for FS9. Can anybody point me in the right direction? Remember, I want nothing but the best 727-200ADV panel out there to go with these babies :-jumpyBest regards from KMIA and thanks again to the 727-200 authors and painter, great job!Kerke :-wave

Since the different "sounds" that ship with the default PMDG 737NG have dissimilar volume levels (including some ear-bleeders), I have edited those sound files to reduce the volume on some sounds and increase it on others in an effort to reach a better and more balanced "sound" experience. For instannce, my approach calls (2500, 1000, 500, 400, etc) are now much lower [volume] than before, at a similar volume level than the takeoff "80 knots" voice callout.Does it go against the PMDG end-user license to alter those files and offer them to other legitimate PMDG users?Kerke :-waveKMIA

Please show us the PICS :-jumpy...and yes, the PMDG 737NG is absolutly incredible, I have not been fortunate as to be able to test my skills on a real-life simulator, but after mastering the PMDG 737NG, I think I'd be ready for the real thing with PAX, cargo and all :-lolIt doesn't get any better than this folks,KerkeKMIA

>Kerke>>Can you import flight plan direct into PMDG 737 Flight>computer?If you're referring to importing flight plans from the http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ site into the PMDG FMC, the answer is no.What I do is, I use http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ to get my route, then I manually enter it on the PMDG FMC/CDU and "save" it from the RTE page. Since I find myself flying a handfull of routes over again, I just load it from the FMC/CDU (CO ROUTE) and re-use it.I just wonder if there is any flight flanner or utility out there where I can just paste a flight plan like "MIA..WINCO.J73.LAL..CTY.J91.ATL.J89.KURTZ..VHP..OKK.OKK1.ORD"and have it convert it to a PMDG FMC file? That would be most excellent!KerkeKMIA

Try this free flight planner, it's great:http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/Enjoy,Kerke

>About KMIA, the fmc gives me an error about a rwy at Miami>intl I forget which runway, what is causing this error? I do>have the latest Airac cycle and Sid/Star dated (0411)KMIA has recently added a 4th runway (in real life), the change is reflected in the latest Airac cycles but not on the default FS9 KMIA airport.The default FS9 KMIA airport has the old runways: 9R-27L, 9L-27R and 12-30.After the new runway was added, the initial layout was:9R-27L, 9L-27R, 12-30, and the new runway 8-26 just north of (and parallel to) runway 9L-27R. However, this caused multiple problems and pilot confusion + landings on the wrong runway.The KMIA layout was then changed again to the current format:9-27 (what used to be 9R-27L)8R-26L (what used to be 9L-27R)8L-27R (the new runway)12-30 (no change on this one)For FS9, what you should do, is use 8R-26L on the FMC/MCU when FS9 assigns you rwy 9L-27R.The above info is all "unofficial" talk I've heard from real-world pilots and on my ATC radio scanner.Kerke :-waveKMIA

Hi ??????????According to my real-life UNITED F/O 737 pilot friend, it is not unusual for the jetliner A/P to command a climb of 3000-4000 fpm sometimes.Kerke :-waveKMIA

I am starting to use the free "ROUTEFINDER flight planning services" located at http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ more than any other flight planner.Here's a sample flight plan for one of my frequent PMDG 738NG flights:---------------------------------------------------------------------88648 fixes and 67166 airway segments in databaseSolution found after 74 iterations, elapsed time: 0 seconds.Computed route from MIAMI INTL (KMIA, K7) to HARTSFIELD JACKSON ATLANTA INTK7 (KATL, K7): 7 fixes, 521.7 nautical milesCruise altitude between FL290 and FL330KMIA (0.0nm) -MIA9-> HEDLY (50.2nm) -J53-> PHK (63.2nm) -J81-> OHENU (131.7nm) -J53-> ORL (174.3nm) -J81-> VQQ (278.7nm) -SINCA3-> KATL (521.7nm) Details:---------------------------------------------------------------------ID FREQ HDG DIST Coords Name/RemarksKMIA 0 0 N25

Also, make sure to first clear the previous route (Delete Key + RTE 1 LSK).I like to fly short 200-500 nm flights and I frequently fly the return flight, never had any problems with the PMDG FMC/CDU.Best regards,Kerke :-waveKMIA

How does the RTA differ from the time given by the FMC's PROG page under the destinantion airport?Kerke

>Hello All,> I have followed the tutorial flight and sometimes the auto>throttle works and sometimes does not. also what are the>minimum entries required for A/T to work.>>Thanx in advance>Ed Ed, what do you mean the A/T doesn't work? Are your A/T and F/D switches ON? Are you using the TO/GA button for takeoff, and your FMC?Kerke

Does this bird have a functional FMC? Better yet, does the real-life 727 have an FMC?Also, will they have an American Airlines 727-200 version?Great looking aircraft, but how does it fly?Kerke :-waveKMIA

>For example, when passing through>the "UP" marker (about 200kts), set flaps to 1. When 1 is>displayed, set to 2, etc... You don't need to do each flap>setting individually, just make sure your airspeed doesn't go>into the red bricks on the tape.James, that's exactly what I do -- I set flap "1" when I pass the "UP" marker, etc. But if you stick your head outside your aircraft and take an external view screenshot while flying at, say, "200 KIAS flaps 1", you will see what I mean: you nose-up attitide will be very high -- and if you happen to be making a turn to base or final, your aircraft will look like you're on takeoff instead of approach.Kerke

I fly my PMDG 737NG-800 by the book, I use Puta's excellent fuel planning tool to calculate my required fuel and ZFW, I input all FMC "required" fields, and use LNAV/VNAV from 500-1000' AGL until my last STAR fix, by the book, I think :7However, on downwind, base and final approach, my FMC-generated flap speed bugs are very low. In other words, if I follow the FMC-recommended flap schedule (ie UP at 200 KIAS, 1 at 190, 5 @ 165), my aircraft flies with a nose-up attitude of 10 degrees and sometimes more!I realize that the FMC calculates the optimal flap schedule based on weight, fuel left, and a zillion other things, but following these setting recommendations produces an exaggerated (IMHO) nose-up attitude. Does the real NG have the same low speed nose-up attitude? or am I doing something wrong?If required, I'll be happy to produce a few side-view and panel screenshots to demonstrate the issue.Thank you all in advance,Kerke :-waveKMIA

>Once fs atc begin giving you runway and vectors, there is an>option in the atc list to approach via xxx transition. Go for>that and all will be well.Are you refering to the FS9 ATC? I've been looking for an option like this for a long time and I've been using FS9 from day 1 -- I've never been presented with this option. I'm going to try once again tonight.Best regards :-waveKerkeKMIA

>Joe,>>I for one use the FSBuild flight planner. It provides so many>good tools to plan a flight for the PMDG 737NG in addition to>does a good job on fuel planning. It is a very powerful tool,>and it exports so well to the FMC.I only have the free FSBuild version and it works well many times, but sometimes I create a short 500 nm flight, and FSBuild creates it as being a 4-6 thousand nm trip.Kerke

OK Mats, I just finished my test flight (KBFI-KLAX) using FSUIPC wind smoothing settings as per your screenshot. The results are better but still, on the LIN-AVE leg at FL330, winds now shifted 1 degree at a time around the 360 degree spectrum over and over again, and so VNAV speed decreased and increased with a noticeable engine spooling up and down back to almost idle while the winds shifted 360 degrees one degree at a time. I descended to FL290 but the results were not much better. At one point, close to AVE, winds settled back to normal (as in no constant wind direction changes).Here's the flight plan for those of you who wish to recreate this wind shifting anomaly: KBFI-SEA-J5-LKV-J67-LIN-J189-AVE.SADDE6-KLAX (FL330).It would be interesting to know weather real-world aircraft, specially the 737NG, behave the same way during sudden high-wind changes at cruise altitude.Thanks for your assistance,Kerke

Mats, I only use the FS "Download weather and update every 15 minutes" feature. I configured my FSUIPC winds as per your sugestion and I'm flying the same route again to test it.Thanks a lot,PS: My apologies for the humongous pic size.

>This is definitely a wind problem. You have an almost 180

A perfect flight KBFI-KLAX goes bad when suddenly the aircraft slows down by itself to a scary slow speed and then decides to accelerate and overspeed. Left alone, the slow down and accelerate to overspeed pattern repeasts over and over again. The aircraft was cruising perfectly for over an hour on VNAV and LNAV at FL330 when the anomaly started.http://www.kerke.us/avsim/pmdg/slow.jpghttp://www.kerke.us/avsim/pmdg/overspeed.jpgAny ideas why this may have happened?Thank you in advance,Kerke---

Has anybody seen this?http://209.42.34.250/avsim/weather_error.jpgI'm just curious because I've been getting that error message frequently lately, but it only has happened while flying the PMDG 737NG, never when I fly other aircraft. Anyway, I'm not claiming that the PMDG 737NG is causing that error, but the 6-8 times that message has popped-up, I have been flying the PMDG 737NG, and I've never seen it while I fly my other planes.My Internet connection is a DSL line and none of my server programs running on the same WinXP Pro SP2 machine (WinMX, IIS, FTP, etc) has complained about losing connectivity.BTW, the worst thing about that error is that when the message pops up, the whole sim stops working until you press the OK key. Last night I was having an excellent KFLL-KLAS flight on my favorite PMDG aircraft (the Continental 738) and when I came back to my computer 2 hours later, I saw the message on my screen. As it turned out, my flight had stopped near Sarasota FL waiting for me to press the OK key -- I should have been flying over Texas at that time :-madThank you in advance,Kerke

Thanks a lot Mats,Kerke