BorisTheSpider

2 spanned (TH2Go) screen - 1 is 5760x1080 the other is 3840x1080Paul Yes. No liveries in use here - PMDG default only.

Thanks.Paul

Bump. Any news from PMDG on this? Are there any logs I can provide or further testing I can do to help get a fix for this?

Bump. Any news from PMDG on this? Are there any logs I can provide or further testing I can do to help get a fix for this?

Yes, you're probably right - I guess it might also be to do with level rather than oceanic, since above a given level everyone's operating on Mach number, so it makes sense to do it that way, and Mach number is directly related to TAS anyway (it's TAS divided by the local speed of sound).

Hi,No, there wasn't, at least not in the current form.If you google "disclaimer site:www.flyaoamedia.com" on page 2 of the search results you can see a snippet under the link where someone else who got a refund says;"The disclaimer that is there now wasn´t when i bought their product, that is what i don´t like. And thats why i am asking for a refund"If you go to the linked page on google (the AoA members wall page), which is dated 9th July 2011 in the Google search results, and load more comments to go back 7+ months to ensure you cover back as far as 9th July you will also notice that you can't find the word disclaimer or the rest of this comment anywhere there, so it must have been cached by google and subsequently deleted from the site. However, July 9th is before the 737NGX release date and presumably that means when I brought it there was some form of disclaimer, if I recall correctly much more carefully worded to suggest there was a sizeable amount of content inside. It changed while I was a member, that I do remember.It may also interest others to know that if you google "boristhespider site:flyaoamedia.com" none of my own complaints on the wall or other pages on their site show up, suggesting they too may have been deleted from the site. If you look at the wall, pick some random usernames of other people on there, and google their username restricting site: to flyaoamedia.com you'll see results, so their site is regularly indexed and it seems other posts are searchable in this way.Also, their sales page at http://www.flyaoamedia.com/products-2/ says;"The PMDG 737 NGX from PMDG is the latest and greatest in virtual airliners. Our training for this aircraft is the most in depth and comprehensive training we’ve done to date. If you want to immerse yourself in 737 proficiency, look no further." What is "in depth" or "comprehensive" about one hour of videos? In what sense have they "done" the training?The sales page at http://www.flyaoamed...7-ngx-training/ calls the product "Complete video training" - it isn't complete, it doesn't exist.It also, at the bottom, states that groundwork is "45 hours of video training" and flightwork an additional "33 hours of video training". Again, this doesn't exist.Paul

They aren't "restrictions", they are your filed planned speeds and levels. The reason they are in TAS (or Mach) rather than IAS is because your groundspeed is what ATC want to calculate for planning purposes (to maintain separation). I'm not entirely sure when Mach is filed for - I suspect it's when procedural separation is being used for example in oceanic ops when radar is not available for a long period, although it seems to me TAS would serve just as well in that context, so I'd like to hear from someone more knowledgable who knows when it's used.When you file, your stated cruising level and speed are the _first_ enroute speed and level, so after that you need to put it in the flightplan if you're changing speeds or levels. Like this:You'd initially planned for N0200 at FL250 (you've put this in the "speed" and "cruising level" boxes on the flightplan), you're doing that direct to FOO then following airway Z99 to BAR (at the same speed and level), then at BAR you want to accelerate to 300 KTAS and climb to FL380 to continue to QIK:DCT FOO Z99 BAR/N0300F380 DCT QIKSo the level and speed change starts after BAR. The speeds are N for knots, K for km/h, M for mach (eg. M080 is 0.80 mach), the levels are A for altitude and F for flight level

As far as I know the AoA course doesn't exist. It is an apparition. A mirage, phantom, specter - a figment one might say. At least now the AoA site has had a disclaimer added to that effect (note, a disclaimer, not an admission, warning, helpful snippet of information or advice, but a disclaimer, disclaiming responsibility for the incompleteness of the product). Be careful to ascertain if anyone promoting or recommending it here or elsewhere is associated with AoA or has a financial interest in doing so. I suspect PMDG are concerned, perhaps quietly so, to have associated themselves with this, since the product is being sold but to a substantial degree does not exist. PMDG themselves seem to me to have an excellent customer service ethic and produce products that are well worth the money in my experience, so it was a surprise to me to be so disappointed by something they recommend (I believe at the end of the introduction to the NGX pdf if I remember rightly).Others may wish to correct me, if there's any correcting to be done, since I cancelled my purchase about 2 months or so back, so perhaps in that time AoA has miraculously increased their output of videos to the extent that there is something there that might be called a course, but as far as I'm aware there is still less than 2 hours of 737NGX training material on the site, covering only the lighting and the fire systems, and new content is being created at a rate of a few, or perhaps a few tens of minutes per month. It seems it will take years for there to be a complete training course that someone new to the 737 could follow to learn from scratch how to operate the 737NGX in a reasonably competent and realistic manner.I got my money back because they wouldn't even tell people who had paid for it when the videos would be released, or indeed give even a vague indication of that. I believe that pressure from numerous customers eventually convinced them to do so since they kept releasing long, self serving chats where they would tell each other how great they were and how fantastic their training would be when (if?) it's produced, presumably in an attempt to be seen to be "updating" customers. There was a lot of that sort of material if that's what you're looking for, some might say however that time might have been better spent producing the product that people had paid for. Hopefully for the sake of other customers things have changed, the quality of videos was good, but there were about 2 of them, so provided the quality stays that good it'll probably be worth buying in 2 years or more once it's fleshed out to a reasonable extent.I'd advise anyone considering it to be very careful. I do feel it's only fair to state that they did refund my money without quibble, however under the circumstances that was really the least that could be expected.

The suggestion to use the FMC and then follow the FD on either the HUD or the PFD is a good one - just disconnect the autopilot but leave LNAV and VNAV engaged so you're manually flying the FMCs commanded profile - just leave the A/T in at first so you get FMC SPEED annunciated. The TOD will appear on the ND in MAP mode. Be aware though that you will never be able to fly as efficient a descent as VNAV, doing this will give you an idea of the profile but in practise you need to fly a different kind of profile to do it manually given that you're not an FMC!!!For a more manual descent that requires a bit more thinking, use the PROG page in the CDU to get your remaining distance to the runway, then start a LVL change descent with 300kts set on the MCP at a distance in NM to go that is 3 times your altitude to lose in thousands of feet, and add on 20 miles for deceleration, maybe 30 at first so you don't make it too hard on yourself - losing energy in the 737 is not easy. For example, if you're at 36,000 feet and the airport is at sea level, you have 36000 feet to lose, 36 x 3 = 108 miles, add 30 for deceleration and for fudge factor so start your descent about 140 miles out. Initially set MCP ALT to 11,000.Notice that when you set speed on the MCP in LVL CHANGE you have speed protection, so the aircraft will accelerate as it descends since the margin to the high speed buffet will widen, you might start of at 240 kts IAS at 36000 feet and hit 300kts IAS at 25000 feet, but you can set 300 straight away at TOD and the autopilot will manage the speed. Of course, you can also hand fly this if you want, letting the speed hover around the bottom of the red blocks on the speed tape showing the high speed buffet boundary and pitching for speed as necessary, then pitch and trim for 300kts once you're there. In LVL CHG with the A/T in, the throttles will idle all the way down if the autopilot is flying, and if you're hand flying they will idle unless you pitch up to slow below the MCP speed set, then they'll kick in to hold that speed, resulting in more energy, resulting in starting over again probably! Set your MCP ALT to 11000 so you can decelerate at 11000 feet to 250kts before further descent to comply with the 250kts speed restriction below 10000 feet. A good slot to be in will be about 40NM out at 10,000 ft and 250kt IAS, or at least that's a workable starting point, and it's better to drag it in under power the first few times than blow it and end up hot and high. At least PMDG aren't going to sack you for wasting fuel, either way....Once you hit 250kts continue your descent to about 3000 ft above field elevation (LVL change again, or V/S if you want to keep the rate of descent lower, but that will use more track miles) at 250kts, then at 3000 AFE you want to slow to around 180kts as already mentioned. Fly level to decelerate - reckon on about 1 nautical mile per 10kts of speed to lose, so to go from 250kts to 180 will take maybe 7 miles. Get the flaps out on schedule, so you'll probably end up with flaps 5, 180 kts and at 3000 FT AFE you should be about 15 miles to run probably (3000 feet - 3 x 3 = 9nm, plus you need a bit more to get configured and sorted out at Vref +x). Once you've got some flap out things start getting more manageable.Establish on the localiser or inbound track, descend to the platform at 180kts and try and wind up at the FAF at about 160kts or maybe even a bit slower if you're light and Vref is low. Get the gear out, flaps 15 going to landing flap as you continue to decelerate. On the glidepath, for a normal 3 degreee path, you start with 55% N1 and work it out from there with small adjustments as necessary. Ideally, a stable approach is fully configured (landing flap, gear out, localiser and glideslope within 1/2 scale deflection, Vref+5 if using A/T or a little more if using manual throttle at this point, engines spooled up to "over the fence" thrust (about 55% N1), stable rate of descent, speedbrakes down and armed for landing) by 1000ft AFE. Then, bleed off the extra margin of speed to be at Vref as you come over the numbers, idle the throttles and flare. The correct Vref additive is 5kts with autothrottle since it is better than you! ;-) and when flying manual throttle it is half the steady headwind component plus the entire gust factor, unless that comes to more than Vref+20 in which case you use Vref+20 as a maximum. If still air, use Vref+5 as a minimum.Of course there are other ways to do it, but LVL change and perhaps using V/S lower down is pretty manageable and gives you plenty to do without becoming too much to handle at first in terms of hand flying combined with simultaneous mental gymnastics.If you want to comply with STAR speed restrictions and levels in a realistic way, using the VSD (vertical situation display, available by pressing the CTR button when in MAP mode) will give you good situational awareness vertically, the restrictions (programmed in the FMC) are shown and the current descent profile is shown projected from the aircraft symbol. If you're decelerating (with a new speed set in the MCP) the green dot on the projected vertical profile shows you where you'll hit your new speed if you keep things going they way they are at the moment, like the green arc on the lateral ND display does for altitudes.Don't be afraid to get the speedbrakes out and indeed the gear out early if necessary - you'd always rather be a little low on energy than a little high.

There are basically 3 kinds of approach.On the most basic kind, which would normally be an NDB approach, but might also be a VOR approach where the DME is U/S or your receiver has failed, you are simply going to establish outbound from a beacon, fly the outbound track (the QDR) for a given time, then turn inbound towards the runway, descend to the MDA (minimum descent altitude), then fly along level until you hit the MAP (missed approach point), since you have no idea how far you are from the beacon/runway/MAP you fly level until the needle swings round as you cross the fix, then if you have not acquired the necessary visual references to land, you will go around from the MAP. For this to work the beacon has to be on the airfield otherwise it wouldn't be a sensible MAP. Most beacons are on airfields anyway, but it's possible you'd find some that aren't, but they wouldn't be useful for this kind of approach.It used to be the case that a regular non-precision approach WITH a means of measuring distance (NDB/DME, VOR/DME, RNAV) would be flown the same way - dive and drive. You'd descend to the MDA, level off, fly along and if you didn't see the lights/runway/other reference, you'd go around from the MAP. Now, these are flown as CDFA (Constant Descent Final Approach), meaning the plate shows a "glidepath" (it's not really a glidepath, because there is no vertical guidance on a nonprecision approach, but it's a bit like one in that there is a specified vertical path). The plate gives distances and altitudes, so as you cross the FAF at the specified platform altitude and start your descent at a rate that matches your groundspeed, you then adjust your rate of descent as necessary to try and keep to the specified profile vertically, while tracking laterally using whatever type of approach aid it is. Non-precision plates will also often have step down fixes which are shown as grey shaded blocks under the profile on the plate, these are mandatory "not below" points. The profile itself is advisory, but the point is that whether you fly exactly the same profile as the plate or not, you fly a stable, fairly constant descent. Then, when you hit the MDA you go around (actually you start going around at MDA+50', since the MDA is a mandatory "not below", and as you add power and pitch up to go around you will go slightly below the altitude at which you begin going around, so you add 50 feet to the MDA so you don't bust it). Reaching the MDA has become the MAP.There is no level flight segment at the MDA in a CDFA approach which essentially means for all practical purposes, since purely NDB approaches without DME are a relic and rarely seen, that you go around as soon as you finish descending. Therefore, so you have the best chance of seeing the runway and landing off the approach, you try and ensure you end up at minumum altitude at the right point in terms of distance to go - otherwise, if you hit MDA an extra mile further out, you may well not see the runway environment in bad visibility so you'd have to go around, when you might have been able to see the runway environment and land if you'd been at the same altitude another mile further along.Provided you are not below a stepdown fix the profile you fly on a nonprecision approach is not mandated legally, but in airline operations company SOPs will specify that the approach must be stable, that high rates of descent near the ground are forbidden, that adjustments to ROD once established may not be more than eg +/- 300fpm etc. In private flying you could for example be 500 feet high with a mile left to go and just dive in at 2000fpm ROD if you so wished as long as you didn't bust a stepdown fix or the MDA, but your days of performing non-precision approaches might well end sooner than you'd like...Both of the approach types above are flown with the barometric altimeter down to an MDA. The MDH (height above ground) is provided on the plate, but you never operate with QFE set, always QNH, so if the runway elevation is 5000 feet above sea level, and the MDH is for example 400 feet, you would see 5450 feet on the altimeter when you started going around. Your altimeter is showing you altitude above sea level, not height above ground, and your minimum is an altitude not a height.CAT I ILS is also flown on the baro altimeter (QNH), but is a precision approach - there is a glidepath which you follow, so there is no checking altitudes against distance to go (although there is sometimes a glidepath check stated on the plate, which gives you a single pair of distance + altitude, so you can ensure you've intercepted the correct glidepath, and no the "phantom" glidepath which appears above the real one at a much steeper angle, which is why the glidepath is always intercepted from below - so you intercept the correct one). When LPV RNAV approaches get regulatory approval in the EU there will also be precision GPS approaches with the GPS providing both lateral and vertical guidance, I believe in the USA they already have these, but in Europe all RNAV approaches are nonprecision at the moment.Precision approaches are flown to a DA (decision altitude) which is the altitude at which you make the decision whether to go around or land - given that you will descend below the DA during the process of looking up, deciding that you don't have visual reference, adding power and pitching up to go around, the DA is _not_ a minimum altitude in the way that an MDA is - an MDA you absolutely do not descend below, a DA you may descend slightly below as you go around, but that is expected and allowed for in the design of the procedure. You never bust it intentionally, you make you decision _at_ the DA, but the process of going around may result in dipping slightly below it.Again, all flown QNH, so if field elevation above sea level is 5000 feet, and DH is 200 feet, then DA is 5200 feet on the altimeter.On an ILS you must not, once established, go outside of half scale deflection of the localiser or glidescope otherwise you've missed the approach and must go around. Contrast this with a nonprecision approach where all you _must_ do vertically is not bust the stepdown fixes or MDA.CAT II and CAT II ILS are the only approaches I'm aware of which have radio minima - the radio altimeter, which bounces radar off the terrain below the aircraft to measure the actual _height_ above ground, is used and minima are 100 feet or more for CAT II and 0 (the ground) for CAT III. Maybe there are others - I'm not sure if anywhere actually uses MLS, if so maybe there is a CAT II or III MLS approach somewhere with radio minima, but I don't know of any. Note that as mentioned above for this to work you must have flat terrain in the undershoot, so the indications you get from the radio altimeter can be relied upon. There are other regulatory requirements for CAT II and III to do with lighting, sensitive altimeters, multi crew ops etc.CAT II or III ILS approaches will still be flown with the barometric altimeters set to QNH, so what you'll see on the PFDs and ISFD will be altitude above sea level, but the "minimums" callout will be determined not by barometric altitude but by radio height.As far as I'm aware QFE is mainly used by the military. Why? I have no idea, probably historical reasons. As stated above, with QFE set your altimeter shows you _height_, not altitude. Of course it can only show height from one datum, the field elevation, so is useless elsewhere.

Thanks Peter. Excellent work.

Same problem here - the 2D panels are regularly corrupt in exactly the same way as the screenshots others have posted above.

Thanks for pointing that out - never noticed that before.

I'll add my voice to this. I'd love a 2D throttle quadrant. I fly with the VC or an outside view undocked on a large screen and use 3 smaller monitors for instruments and overhead/pedestal etc. I use a CH throttle quadrant and it's a real pain having to switch views in the VC during final approach to check you've set the right flap setting.

Hi,I've never tried doing this before, so I don't know if it's usual behaviour. When I undock a 3d view (a vc view with a specific camera, particularly, I tried the overhead in the 737NGX) and save the flight, then load it back up the view just reverts to being the normal default virtual cockpit "pilot eyes" view. Is this normal? I can save flights with 2d panels undocked in the normal way, but it would be good to be able to do it with 3d views in the VC particularly for the NGX which for some reason has all the other necessary 2d panels other than a throttle quadrant so you can't tell what flaps you've got set...