boeingboeing

Why do I have to find your opinion or anyone else's on this forum? This is the PMDG forum and therefore it should only contain information relevant to the PMDG products, real aviation, support, guides, etc.. You want RSR to know what you think of how does he run his bussines? Send him an email, you might even get an answer... But what do I care? Why do I have to read and filter the relevant information among dozens of posts like yours and their respective answers? The fact is you are not even talking about anything aeronautical, you just found an excuse to judge RSR and PMDG for things that we all have known forever that are beyond their control. You just think that you have something very important to say and that we need to read it. I think you should join your pals in a pub and talk to them about what you think of things more often.. Thats the right place for rants and the kind. I'm not saying you are right or wrong, it just doesn't matters. Just go somewhere else with them. I feel you guys either do not remember or don't even know who RSR and PMDG are. RSR engaged in making a dream come true for the MFS fans a long time ago: Making the most realistic airplanes possible within the limits of MFS and average household economics. And he (they) have delivered brilliantly. Many people assume PMDG and their airplanes as a given, well, you should have been here the long years when the default airplanes were among the best you could have and When you love what you do is very difficult to draw the line between the personal and the professional role and RSR is no exception. There was a time when people knew when RSR was talking as another aviation lover and when he was talking as a company manager and we all respected, accepted and enjoyed each as it was. But you guys seem to have a problem understanding that,. Just because you can talk to the boss doesn't mean he is your buddy and you all can speak your minds like you hanged out together every evening. I hope the changes bring an end to this. Watch this to the end, and draw some conclusions. Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qga0-OHigtM http://forum.avsim.net/topic/324929-who-remembers/ Joss M Garcia

If we are speaking of the same event He had a very good reason to do what he did.He gave them the low fuel warning some 30' minutes before he actually landed after being held for hours with EFC's and being commanded a go around.ATC provided the information available at the time.. I think it was a chain of unfortunate events and a lack of communication between ATC centers. Sometimes you do everything right and still it just doesn't works for you.

This post saved my day.. How comes B301 is not available for download anymore at the HiFi website? Thanks! Joss

Hey Robert! Maybe this could be of help for you : http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_engines_does_a_Boeing_777_have I'd like for you guys to settle on a model once and for all, everytime I have the money to go on holidays I go to the airport to by a ticket for PMDG airlines they say it does not exist. Then I go check back on your website and it turns out you decided to change the model for your fleet. I like you guys very much but doesn't it seems 15 years enough to make up your minds? :Thinking: I'm getting old you know.. My pension will not allow for holidays far away! ... Now.. Seriously : Is the present anywhere near the picture you had in your mind 15 years ago about what you wanted/planned/expected PMDG to become in the future? I personally think you ought to be proud, really proud, of what you have achieved. Congratulations on raising the bar yet again! Jose M Garcia

+1 to both.

A support ticket has been already submitted Ticket Number 2B5-165B9C11-68DB but maybe someone else has been through this before. HGS worked fine when installed and after SP1 but since recently it would not display any information. Control box on center pedestal works fine, CLR button is not activated, brightness control checked, DLL.XML checked as per PMDG KB, uninstalled and reinstalled again, FSX.CFG checked... I cant think of anything else.. Anyone?

My flight attendant just asked me to fix the dishwasher.. I told her to submit a ticket to maintenance after landing but she says she is going to land her brush in my head if I keep saying things like that.

Listen.. All that rant is useless. There are thousands of happy customers out there. If you really want to fix it simply ask for help or submit a support ticket. Obviously there is something you don't know and you'll have to ask to find it out. 99% chance it's your fault. Wanna bet your money? Spending money on new harware does not gives you any right at all, only more responsibilities. If you buy a dog you have to feed it and learn to take care of it. If you buy a new computer you have to learn everything about it in order to get the best performance out of it. And by all means.. Relax! Your post is full of hate but lacks any relevant information. Joss

Robin, I'm trying to simplify what you are trying to say without getting involved with formulas and math. The heavier the airplane the farther away from destination the descent should be initiated to end with the same airspeed at the same point. Do you agree? I'm amazed to see people have been using spoilers the same way they use the brake pedal in their cars.. To me using spoilers is accepting defeat to poor airmanship. It seems people is not using to plan ahead. "Never fly an airplane to a point where your mind has not been 5 minutes before you get there" Joss

Vx and Vy and any other V-speeds are definitions of SAFE speeds for a given set of conditions. Sometimes they are calculated and sometimes they are obtained by practical testing, sometimes even both are required and sometimes they are just approximated because no testing beyond a given point has been made either for safety reasons or practicality.Those definitions can and will change from airplane to airplane and the only way to be sure what they mean for the particular airplane you are flying is to read flying handbook. The reason is not only the actual performance is taken into account, but the safety too. For instance: Some light turbocharged twins have an actual Vx much lower than the indicated on their airspeed indicators but the manufacturer limits you as pilot to a higher speed forcing a smaller angle for safety, you might think the manufacturer is crazy, why would you want the airplane you are selling to look worst than it really is? Right?Well.. There is a very good reason for that. If you fly that airplane at the actual Vx for maximum perfomance you will be very close to stall speed and below Vmc. In the event of an engine failure that wing will inmediately stall due to the lack of induced airflow and you wont have enough aerodinamic control to keep the working engine from turning the airplane upside-down and into a wild spin. That was what happened to the Concorde that crashed and the reason why it crashed inverted.So you see.. V-speeds are more than maximum performance indicators. In general the terms Vx and Vy are used in slow airplanes because their simple definitions are enough, but the faster you go the more complex the situations become and therefore other terms more specific are used although to the observer they might look like pretty much the same.Anyway, no matter how they are named there will be a best angle and a best rate speed for every airplane and situation, the main difference being what worries you as the pilot. On takeoff what worries you are the obstacles around the airport so what you want is to gain altitude in the shortest distance so you'll go for Vx. Once cleared what worries you is fuel economy so you'll go for Vy to get higher as fast as possible into thinner air.I'll leave it here for simplicity.

Pacman was a computer game.. I don't want to play Pacman anymore, I don't even want MSFS anymore, I'm tired of addons, textures, sceneries, gadgets, etc.. all of which just give you limited satisfaction for a short time at best until you hit a new switch and nothing happens or what it does has nothing to do with what it should and that brings you back to that "mock-up" feeling were everything looks nice but you just know its unreal. I want to forget I'm in FSX, I want the best simulation of an airplane that can possibly be done in a PC, I've wanted it since 1982 when Flight Simulator 1.0 was released and the thirst for more realism began. I've been waiting 30 years (or almost) for this product and after all this time I can tell you this much: If you think of this as a "computer game" then this is the wrong product for you.You should buy another product, something simpler, because most likely you probably don't have the patience and the passion for the detail to fully enjoy a product like this. You just dont need it, dont wait for it, just get some other product that really suits you. Something that is made to be "just a computer game".I dont want that. To me NGX has to be like finding a living and breathing T-Rex sleeping by your door.. were every switch will awake a small part of the beast and you'll feel it coming to life, its heart pumping, the air coming out of its nostrils warm and humid, its eyes slowly opening.. NGX has to be be more than anything else an experience to be enjoyed and the feeling of "being there" be manifest.What the heck.. You know what? Please RSR and crew, DONT RELEASE IT YET!! DONT RELEASE IT UNTIL 2012!!Don't work 18 hours a day, what are you guys doing? Are you crazy?Take it easy, take your time, rest, share some time with your families, go take them out for dinner to some nice place, go take a nap, do whatever it takes to make you happy. And when you are completly rested and 100% ready to get back to work do it and create the most perfect creation of a 737 in a computer ever made. Don't rush it! Rushed things don't come out as perfect as things done with time and patience. And I want nothing but the absolutely best that you guys can do. I want it to be just perfect. It can't be perfect if you rush it, dont rush, go on vacations now and come back in a month. I'm sure free time will provide perspective to your work and some great ideas will improve the product even further. Do whatever it takes. Put all your computers in a locker and throw the key away, cut your internet connection, take the battery off your cellphones, go find unabomber's lost treasure, I dont care!Get your humanity back, you are not machines! One of these days you'll find yourselves writing on the forums "all resistance is futile, you'll be assimilated!"I need you guys in full capacity of your senses, I want the best NGX simulation that can be made and this get-there-itis is not a good symptom.This is not a race, its a challenge.Take your time, it'll be for the best, believe me!Joss M Garcia

I think this has to be said, some people seems to have problems understanding how long does it takes to create a product like NGX.So for future reference, if you are in doubt whether is it taking too long use this rule of thumb: As long as you don't see any PMDG customer waiting for the next release like this:you can relax, everything is ok, no need to worry, it just takes a little longer than one might imagine. Ow.. BTW, may I recommend a book to all the PMDG crew? I think you'll see why I think is right for you.Da linkJoss M Garcia

Thing is this stiill adds nothing new: We already knew the airplane hit the water in a pretty much level attitude and at very high rate of descent from what is safe to deduce the airplane went into stall at some point.What we dont know yet is WHY the airplane stalled, why the automation was unable to avoid it, why the crew was unable to pull the airplane from the stall for the several minutes the fall lasted, etc...The only reason I can think anyone would make the assumption Airbus is not going to be blamed for the crash at this point is money, the money lawyers were expecting to get from them.Just as a curiosity.. This is the third crash of a modern airliner in the ocean I can remember where the pilot not being on his seat in the flight deck at the time the events unfolded is part of the chain of events leading to the crash: SA111, EA990 and AF447.What about the FDR? Any news?

Thank you but I rather have PMDG's way.. I hope you are not a firefighter.I wonder how would you have handled the same situation without a ban button.I'm sure with the same time opportunity you graciously offer Hiram you'll see other ways around this.But of course.. We all can have a bad day, can't we?Joss M Garcia

May I add some more controversy to this subject? :( VORTITRAILS TRIVIA------------------I challenge you guys to explain: a : Vortices are visible only for a short period of time while contrails last quite longer. b : Why contrails are not visible a low altitude.c : What is known as "distrail" d : Why vortices appear in turbofan engine inlets even at zero airspeed. e) Fuel being dumped from an airliner at high altitude will create: vortices, contrails, none, 3d pictures of my father riding a bicycle all over the sky, other?

I can see PMDG going back to the 747 policy of keeping us in the dark about a new model being worked on until release to the same minute they put it for sale in their website. And if they do I will understand completely and nobody will be entitled to question their decision. We have earned it many times over..

If you think about it there is no need to make a real time full dump of the information contained in the black box, maybe with regular position reporting at short intervals would be enough. Once you are aware an airplane has been lost the first question that arises is WHERE? In this case (for instance) mandatory GPS position reporting over the sat link every few seconds while in uncontrolled airspace, specially over large bodies of water, would have narrowed the search right from the beginning to a very limited area. Once you have a precise location of the wreckage retrieving the black boxes becomes a lot easier because the pingers are working with full batteries, I'm sure you remember how important it became to locate them within the first 30 days. After that finding them became a lot more difficult. It was very fortunate this particular airplane was equipped with an automated maintenance reporting system that was configured to include GPS position on each message initiated by a new event. That system was not mandatory and just a few airplanes of the AF fleet were equipped as a test to study the economic feasibility to install the system for the whole fleet. That's why AF was capable of pointing an approximate search area and even so it was still hundreds of square miles wide because between the last position report and the assumed crash time several minutes had past.The thing is existing networks have been able to handle such messages for a long time, even before AF447's crash.Had this been a standard airplane we might still be looking for wreckage remains, let alone the black boxes.

While weather was a factor in the flight there is no evidence that it was the main factor. Other flights followed the same route within minutes both ahead and behind and while they reported significant weather they never confronted anything out of the ordinary. Not that I'm saying it could not be the case, but the signs are not there to blame the weather on its own. I think we were all biased into thinking weather was the blame when news of the icing in one of the pitot tubes was reported to have been detected by the computers and then messaged to base for further maintenance. Also shortly after the accident an american meteorologist published on the net pictures of the weather returns on top of which the assumed trajectory of the flight was outlined, his conclusions being that the trajectory was coincident with the most active cell at that particular time. What he fails to point out is that when you watch several hours of traffic on the same area you see that the trajectories of the flights and the weather returns do not make sense together most of the times, so either all the pilots are crazy and want to kill themselves or the resolution those images provide and the actual picture the pilots see in their scopes are quite different and they follow paths that to us are invisible. Ironically the worst weather was not reported by those flights closer to the path of AF447 but by others that deviated to avoid the same weather they flew. I spoke to a jumbo captain who used to fly that route often and his best guess to match what was known at the time was that an ascending current brought the airplane above its service ceiling and as the plane flew out of the current stalled, but the same captain pointed out that a deep stall would not be possible in that situation since not enough lift would be available from the tail plus Airbus computers would have detected the situation and pushed the nose forward. On the other hand if we rely on the automated reporting system (and nothing points that we should not) we have a general but good idea about what happened before impact and probably why it happened, problem is no scenario known so far to bring down an airplane fits 100%.. As an investigator said: Based on previous experience it looks like even if we knew all the details we might fail to understand why it came down.. I might add that therefore we can imply several factors concurring in a fatal chain of events.. Yes, I know, same old story once again! How is that saying Churchill made so famous? Its a mystery inside another mistery..

Ok.. Let's take this easy. There are hundreds of threads all over the net about AF447 and pretty much all to them end up in futile arguments and all of those have the same background: Careless handling of the information.Please, do not get confused between facts and opinions. We must be able to discern between proper information based on facts and intentional misguiding. There are plenty of interests behind something like this the most bothering of which is the media thirst of blood for higher ratings, better sales, etc.. I am still to find an unbiased information source and I include among those all youtube (and other) videos.I must say however that the French bureau of investigations is (to my judgement) handling this investigation with excellence. The downside of that is when like in this case the information DOES NOT OFFER ANY CONCLUSSIONS and most people can't handle that, specially when journalists wont accept that there are no news on a subject so juicy as a airliner crash. Have you ever heard any journalist say about AF447 that the news are that there are no news? Never! They use AF447 as a headline for the hook and the rest is garbage, most of which includes scenes of the grieving families with some emotional background music. They wont state the facts even when given to them if they can find another perspective that would make better headlines and therefore more profit to them.Some people are not prepared to understand the lack of information in a matter like this. They feel it as a hole which they feel powerfully compelled to fill as if theirs lives depended on it. They will gather bits and pieces from all the sources available and mentally build the explanation that would fill the gap in the hole as it is portrayed in their minds. While many of us may have our personal theories there is a difference: We are not obsessed with telling everyone that ours is the only and true!But in aviation this "not knowing" thing happens from time to time, events unfold in such a way that no amount of information will provide the answer wanted yet we must remain true and no easy and satisfying explanations can be accepted. We have to learn to live with "the hole" of knowledge until new evidence comes forward, generally in the wake of someone experiencing the same events and surviving to them. If you have difficulties understanding what I mean please research about the recent 737 rudder issue (Was it USAIR 423? Not sure in this moment) and the time the investigation took and how it was finally solved. Or for a better example research the De Havilland Comet history and how we learned about material stress in pressurized cabins.Grieving relatives feel compelled to do anything to gather attention from the media because for them "the hole" has another dimension. They will approach any journalist willing to listen to them because they fear that the incident may be forgotten. They feel helpless against the huge interests of major companies like airlines, insurance companies, aircraft builders, etc.. And more often than not they don't trust goverment agencies in their appointed tasks of investigation authorities because they feel it would be too easy for them to cover the truth if it would hurt major interests. So their hope is to make their quest for truth as widely known as possible so the pressure of the public opinion becomes unbearable to a level where somebody somewhere won't be able to hold anymore and tell the truth. For the relatives the pain they feel is good enough justification thus becoming sitting ducks (easy preys) to unethical journalism..I feel sorry for them because they need to know in order to bring closure to a bleeding wound in their souls. But at the same time we all know that the truth and only the truth will help them, however some time it takes a long time to figure what really happened. My point to all this being : Let's slowly recap what is known for fact so far, can we?While it is very good news that the FDR has been recovered I do not have high expectations as to what is it to produce in the form of new evidence. In fact based on what we have so far it may not yield anything new at all. Let's hope for the best though... I'm inclined to think that the CVR will be more representative from what the pilots knew or lack knowledge of. That's of course if there is anything recorded at all since it looks like all elec power was lost shortly after the events unfolded.Joss M Garcia

I dont know if this has been covered already. I think I remember Robert mentioning something about NGX keeping information of the flights we do in order to keep track of the cycles, kind of a maintenance logbook. Am I right?I've been thinking that given the detail in which the NGX is being made it could be useful to have an "ageing model". It seems to me there is so much work and detail we will never see or even imagine running behind scenes int he form of code, so many formulas being computed, such an elaborate code being put together.. It would be a shame not to use it's full potential giving it some power over the experience.So hear my idea: What if the performance of each part is made variable and affected by its operational life remaining and the operational conditions? Let's see if I can explain myself: Since you have all the parts (or most of them) converted into code, would it be possible to add some factors to the formulas that affect performance and make those values change as the airplane gets older? Or to put in other words : Interactive failure control, the better you treat your airplane the less likely it is to fail. Not only that, depending on where and how you operate your airplane you'll be more likely to have some kinds of failures.Let me put an example: Short hopes between islands (inter-Hawaii for instace) should put more stress on landing gear and pressurization than long continental flights. if the landing gear that keeps track of all the landings and subtracts some % to its total resistance for every landing plus or minus a coefficient consisting of an evaluation of the landing and a random number (Not all parts made equal last the same) and suficient hard landings are made a failure will eventually happen. Flights in the artic regions will make extensive use of anti-icing systems and therefore those should be more likely to fail than flying int he caribbean. At this point Robert and Dr. Vaos probably must be thinking "No way! This is crazy! Impossible! This means months of work!"Probably I'm just dreaming and it will never be done, but let me dream.. Ok? Many of us use FSPassengers or something alike to improve the experience of flight. - What if there were required maintenance and the cost of the scheduled maintenance inspections actually depended on how well you treat your airplane and the number of cycles it makes between inspections?- What if you had an inflight failure and made it to destination with the backup unit and the failure still be there for your next flight so you have to fix it?- What if you had an electrical failure inflight and you can't use the APU which failed several flights back which you never had fixed because didn't have the money?- What if you are due for your next inspection and you decide to keep flying?- What if you are short on money for your next inspection and you decide to not use Autobrake on landings to save some money on brake pads?- What if you abort a takeoff and you ruin your tires and have to change them?I'm sure you see the potential of this.. Basically each one of us would be same flying the same airplane but at the same time also different from others and not only that, it would constantly change so in a way it would never be the same airplane unless we overhaul it. Maybe this is too much for a simulation but I'd love to see someone asking in the forum the price of a Pack change or how long does a new set of tires lasts if you treat them real good.I don't really expect PMDG to fall for this.. I'm just sharing a brainstorming session.Joss M Garcia

Hi there:First thing to say is I'm not sure this is the right forum to address this kind of help request.. Dont get upset if this thread gets moved somewhere else. Anyway, you dont give much information about the nature of the crash. First thing to try would be removing the overclocking. Try to reproduce the same failure with factory default settings. If that doesn't help then try to reproduce the problem with other software to see whether is FSX related or not. And by all means: gather as much information about the nature of the failure. BTW.. You have all FSX updates installed right?Not be mean but you forgot to sign with your full name as required by forum's FARs.Joss M Garcia

Probably most of you are too young to know about this guy.. But I'll try anyway: Do you know who Bill Hicks was? Yeah, the comedian.Do you remember the "Are you in marketing? Kill yourselves" piece?This endless story about the release date feels like the same situation to me only changing the parts.. Where Mr Randazzo and his team play the part of Bill Hicks and keep saying "Stop putting a release date on everything I say!" and the release-date-cultist people keep interpreting their words to suit their ideas. I'm sure someone with talent as a comedian could make a funny story out of this. I have to admire your resistance. Jose M Garcia

That's nothing.. There is a very common dessert in Spain named "Gypsy's Arm" which generally very well regarded. I'm not kidding! Anyway, if you ever see an armless gypsy don't blame spaniards.. :(

Post Vacational Anger Syndrome? This NGX thing is getting too realistic!:(

I have a little ritual for the first flght: While in KBFI taxi end to end of the airport to get used to the size of the airplane and the turns radius. Then taxi into position and hold for several minutes while going through the checklist again slowly, taking time to look outside, trying to hold in my mind the horizon and the view as its seen from the cockpit as a visual reference for the landing.Then I do takeoff at MTOW again to get a feeling of the controls, the inertia and the takeoff run length and go north making basic maneuvers: Steep turns, approach to stall, climbs and descents in several configurations.. Getting familiar with the airplane. When I feel satisfied I file for KSEA, land to a full stop, refuel, file to some random destination and then keep going from one place to the other trying not to repeat destinations very often, as I do normally with any other plane.