zachlog

Excellent solution for this issue, thanks ! Zachary

Is reverse thrust just for sound effect or does it actually impact braking ? Thanks, Zachlog

Ron, Yes, it was RC audio reporting the incorrect flight level in multiple traffic cautions. Yesterday I saved the flight (for reasons unrelated to this post) and restarted it today. After restarting the flight, I changed to the more optimum FL360 from FL340 (per the FMC) and the first RC audio traffic caution had the correct FL360. This might have been a temporary condition. If I come across it again I will do as you suggest. Thanks again, Zach

I have been using RC for several years and today I came across something I never encountered in the past. The ATC warnings to other aircraft near my position, did not match the aircraft's flight level. My aircraft (PMDG-737NGX) was at FL340 but it was being reported as FL350 to other aircraft. I did not receive any ATC busted altitude warnings. The BARO was set to STD. The Altitude parameter in Deviations was set to 300 ft. Is this a known issue or am I doing something wrong ? Thanks, Zach

Dan, Not the case ! The numbers in my post are current position to destination and current position to alternate with minimal difference in DTG and a significant difference in fuel QTY prediction, thus my question. Also, the two airports are very close so the path to each from current position is almost identical. Zach K. Matt, What you say makes sense. I specified winds in PERF INIT (single value). Where in the FMC would I find: 1. The winds for each leg to the destination airport ? 2. The one lower wind to the alternate ? Thanks, Zach K.

After setting-up the FMC fully for a flight KJFK à KLAX, the fuel qty. and DTG for KLAX in FMC | PROG was 4.2 and 2168 NM respectively. When I checked these same parameters for the ALTN DEST airport KLGB (Long Beach, about 20-30 NM from KLAX), fuel qty. was 14.2 and DTG 2136 NM. I would think that the fuel qty. difference between KLAX and KLGB would be minimal since the difference in DTG is small. What are possible causes for this larger than expected difference ? Thanks, Zachlog

Lasse, I understand that there will be differences between plan and actuals and did not expect otherwise. But to use the plan I needed to resolve the show stopper "Using RSV Fuel" thus my post for some help. I will give it another try as soon as I have some time. Regarding the definition of winds....I will add to the FMC as you suggest. In this flight, the plan had a head wind of 50 nm out of 270 degrees. While in flight, the observed wind on the PFD was 59 nm from 318 degrees. Regards, Zachlog

Hi Lasse, Here is some more information: Aircraft: Planned for and used the 737NGX-800 WL. I do not fly any other variant. Winds: This could be one of the issues. I entered the runway winds in both the plan and in the FMC/TAKEOFF page. I did not enter in the FMC the wind/wind direction specified in the box in the plan with the flight level data. This wind/wind direction is not highlighted in yellow...does it have to be entered in the FMC and if so where ? Altitude: Used the same altitude in the plan and the FMC/PERF INIT....FL300. One observation. The plan has optimum FL316 but even In the beginning of the flight and still heavy, after reaching FL300, the optimum level in the FMC/CRZ was FL340. Distance: The computed distance in the plan is 2146 NM, the route I used in FSBUILD to create the flight plan yielded a distance of 2170 nm (without the SID/STAR), I specified a distance of 2200 nm in the plan. Cost Index: The same in the FMC and the plan......20. GW: This is where I was the most careful to use the exact same no. of passengers, cargo and fuel load in the plan and FMC. I don't remember the exact GW but the ZFW in the plan was 131988 lbs, the FMC computed a ZFW of 131.8 x 1000....very close. The fuel load in both the plan and FMC was 42752 lbs. Regarding the fuel....the plan Landing Fuel was 9036 lbs, the FMC/PROG estimated fuel at KLAX 8.2 x 1000 after reaching FL300 and dropped to 8.0 x 1000 after climbing to FL340 (the FMC optimum). I did not complete the flight so I cannot answer your last question but I am planning on redoing this long range (for the 737 anyway), fully loaded flight multiple times. FYI, the maximum no. of passengers on the PMDG NGX800 is 162, not 172 as your documentation states (150 economy, 12 first class). You may want to fix the documentation. Also, if you would like, I can send you a PDF with the plan but I don't see an attach option in this forum; just let me know. Thanks, Zachlog

Hi Lasse, I planned my first flight (KJFK --> KLAX) using your dispatch tool and have a bit of a problem. I entered all the parameters per the instructions and was able to have clean plan (no red/flagged cells). Total fuel was calculated at 42,752 lbs., enroute fuel at 33,069 lbs, entered 33.1 PLAN FUEL in the FMC, and FMC Reserve Fuel "7.2 X 1000" (entered 7.2 for Reserves in the FMC). These parameters produced FMC message "Using RSV Fuel". I then changed the PLAN FUEL to 35.6 (47,752 - 7,200), same thing....."Using RSV Fuel" message. I then changed the PLAN FUEL to 36.6 and the FMC Reserve Fuel to 6.2. The message went away. Please point me in the right direction on how to fix this issue. Regards, Zachlog

It was the "lavender cells have drop downs" convention that did me in. Works fine, thanks ! Zachlog

Lasse, Thanks for this tool. I started working with it today. The lavender dropdowns seem to work except the one for selecting atmospheric pressure. Wen clicking in this field, no dropdown, unable to change "mb" to inches of Hg. Is this a known problem ? Am I doing something wrong ? Zachlog

SteveW, The CTD is back again but I don't think it has anything to do with UIAutomationcore.dll. This is the first time I attempted to fly in earnest and I get a CTD after flying for about 5 minutes. I fly the PMDG 737NGX. I looked at the Windows event log as you suggested and the faulting module is stated as PMDG_737NGX.DLL and in a separate event, it says "Activation context generation failed" for FSUIPC4.DLL. The CTD has occurred multiple times and these two events seem to be paired every time but occur a couple of minutes apart. I would love to give you more information but this forum does not allow me to paste anything and I don't see an option to attach something like a MS-Word document with more log information. If you can help I would appreciate it. I tried opening a ticket with PMDG but they tell me they recommend Win7 64-bit and not Win 8.1. A recommendation is far different than "we will not support it" but you can't fight with city hall ! Thanks, Zach

Thanks again. I had checked the Human Interfaces category but I forgot that in order to see the driver, the device must be attached so this solved this problem. I disabled the driver, rebooted and then reattached the device but FSX does not see it. As a matter of fact with the Saitek driver disabled, the Pro Flight icon in the system tray in the lower right of the desktop does not appear so I re-enabled the driver and I am back to where I was. If you have any other ideas, please pass them on. Thanks Again, Zachlog

Ian, I should have been clearer in my post. I did go to Device Manager but under the category "Sound, video and game controllers", I don't see anything that suggests Saitek thus my question. I also checked the other categories, nothing for Saitek. Is there a way of zeroing in on the driver ? A search, whatever. Thanks, Zachlog

Thanks Ian. I guess my next question is how do I remove the Saitek driver so that I can go back to using the native Win 8.1 driver ? Thanks Zachlog