chrishayes001

Thanks Olly4740. I already had Ailerons, Elevator and Rudder Null Zones as high as they go before I even started with this plane. I found that the Force3D stick is too lively with anything - although you get a nice wobble and a grumble when it goes over the gravel. I have just discovered, though, that I can taxi and take off with the stick as it is and then immediately before engaging the a/p I pull out its power supply and it behaves like a baby. The rest of the controls on the stick work fine and I even found that if I gave the stick a great tug the a/p disengages just as it is meant to do! Mind you I haven't landed yet! I can't help thinking there is a better stick for this plane out there though?

Thanks, everyone, for your help. Eventually I got to the bottom of what was happening. And I am much relieved. I can't believe I was being so stupid. I could see that VNAV or LNAV and sometimes CMD A or all three were disengaging for some reason. But I couldn't understand why... then it suddenly hit me. Literally! I knew not to move the joystick while in a/p but I hadn't appreciated that the lightest touch to steady a wildly flapping stick was so catastrophic. I use a Logitech Force3DPro and it whacks back and forth with a vengeance.Trying to gently calm it was the culprit of all my troubles! It faithfully follows all the twists and turns of the screen yoke. Which is realistic. But do real plane's have a kind of docking or dampering device? It must be lethal in the cockpit otherwise! I always found this stick satisfactory before moving up to PMDG 737 and I maybe be able to alter the settings to make it less wild. But perhaps I need to get something different. I'd be very grateful for any suggestions. Thanks again. Chris

Hi, SierraHotel Thanks for your reply. I downloaded the programme a week ago. It has AIRAC-1108 ACTIVE: JUL28AUG24/11. The 1st Tutorial I am following that came with the download uses a different AIRAC-1100 but, confusingly, it has the same ACTIVE: JUL28AUG24/11. I presume this accounts for the different distances NMs I experienced from the same inputs as above - although I don't understand how different AIRAC numbers can cover the same time period in the real world. Is the AIRAC info hardwired in the PMDG programme or can it be updated? I will start again and re-programme the FMC etc. as per the Tutorial once more - good practice - and I'll see what happens to the flight this time. As you say it seems odd to lose that it would cause losing speed/altitude. Glad for your advice. Thanks again. Chris

Hi all I got PMDG 737 a week or so ago. I'm very excited. It's magnificent. But (always a but, isn't there!) I have gone through the entire 1st Tutorial Flight set up five times, I've copied every setting into the FMC and every instruction meticulously just as the Tutorial states on the page. But something is wrong Everything is fine to start with climbing upwards with MCP SPD LNAV an ALT ACO showing. Until the plane suddenly starts to lose height and the alarms start ringing! I have been puzzling over this searching for something I might have entered incorrectly until I noticed that final LEGS page on the 1st Tutorial instructions (dated 20FEB12) are different from my final LEGS page although I am inputting the same data. The final LEGS page in the Tutorial looks like this: 0.79 ° TRK 2.5NM (702) 163/ 702 0.79 ° TRK 0.5NM (INTC) 219/ 2711 0.92° 13.5NM TUNBY 250/5000 0.92° 8.0NM etc The LEGS page I get is:(differences in italics) 0.79 ° TRK 2.4NM (702) 163/ 702 0.79 ° TRK 3.7NM (INTC) 219/ 2711 0.92° 13.6NM TUNBY 250/5000 0.92° 8.0NM I don't understand how the distances can be different but could this be why the plane falls out of the sky! And if so how can I remedy it? Any help very gratefully accepted. Thanks Chris

Hi everyone I'm relatively new to Flightsim - well a comeback after several years - and the world of addons is much more complicated these days! I have FSX and I'd be grateful if anyone could advise me the best order to enter these three programmes. I'm also running REX Essential. Thanks very much Chris