rictus

I always trust PMDG to deliver, but my goodness these shots just keep getting better. Fabulous work, it matters not how long it takes - it'll be worth it. The sweep of those wings make the triple a handsome plane, too... Really well captured in the screenshots...

+1 - the PFD and ND are already much smaller to view on screen than in real life, which is why I like the fact you can undock them on the NGX so much. Hopefully that will be carried over to the T7. That being the case, why would you want to rotate your view around to look at an EFB? What Kyle says is much more sensible... @Kyle - would love to know where you're getting all that chart data for such a neat price! Europe version available?

I was really surprised how long the triple has been in service for...1995! I was 18 that year!!

Y I recently watched the Toronto-Sydney 777. Absolutely wonderful in-depth insight into the flight. On some of the other Just Planes the flight crew are a bit dry and don't share much, but the two pairs of pilots on these were wonderful. I particularly liked how the captain touched on the less 'automated' parts of the flight, e.g. weather avoidance which was really a human decision to make, switching radio modes to deal with long-range (VERY crackly) and the change of taxi route on the return trip due to wind changes... Brilliant stuff, definitely one of the best I've seen.

First - make sure you have the charts for the SIDS for your departure airfield. Then put all the ones aside that are not for the runway you're using based on the wind direction (or that is specified by ATC) e.g. wind is 270deg at 10kts - choose rw27. Then look at your route. The first waypoint of your route will normally be the same as the last waypoint of your SID, or choose the SID that takes you in the right direction towards your first waypoint. E.G. if you're flying from London to Paris, you wouldn't choose a SID to the north i.e. the decision as to the SID to use is normally a quite easy logical discovery based on the departure runway in use (which will normally be based on wind direction) then choosing the SID that ends in your first waypoint or heads that way. LNAV and VNAV can activate, but remember they are not intelligent. You need to choose what is safest, logical and best for the flight, Captain

A point to bear in mind is that while the majority of major airfields do have STARs, there are a number that don't, or that end prior to the final approach vector. One of my regular routes, EGKK-LOWS finishes at the SBG VOR where you can hold. the chart states that you are not to leave the hold at SBG until ATC give you vectors. As to charts, I don't know about the USA but in the UK we have NATS and their website has free PDFs of all major UK airfields... Here is an excellent example of a situation where good airmanship kicks in, including planning the route properly before you even 'set foot' in the aircraft: If you don't use VATSim/IVAO or there is no controller online when you arrive at an airfield with no STAR, you can easily do what you'd do in real life and fly vectors using HDG and ALT HOLD (as directed by ATC or under your own care) to lead you to final approach at a logical distance and altitude. If there is an ILS, APP mode does not care about waypoints, it will engage and fly autoland purely using this function. The whole point of not using VNAV and LNAV once APP has initiated is to allow the pilot to set altitude and heading in case the need to perform a missed approach arises. So either way it's gotta come off full auto at some point! In the real world (and flying online) a controller will often take a pilot off the STAR and vector them in quicker where possible - so you should always be prepared to fly 'by hand' on HDG mode

Long Haul, Long FCOM... a perfect match :lol: Time to get reading!

Definitely Gatwick, my British Airways virtual home... ^_^

Have been running Win 8 Pro for the past few weeks (early access through work). It seems a lot lighter and faster than Win 7 and I have got at least the same performance as Win7, if not slightly better. But that could simply be improvements in Graphics Drivers, etc. I've run Win8 on some older PCs at work to really test for performance improvements. On a tablet PC with 1.6GHz Pentium M, 1.25GB RAM, onboard graphics, it was surprisingly smooth and responsive. No harm in using it that I've come across so far (Running FSX Gold, FSUIPC, REX Essentials (overdrive was not happy), EzDok, UK2000 scenery, TopCat...) Hope that helps

Agreed. If you like, we could recommend that PMDG set up a nice marketing department to schmooze us all with eye candy and false promises, as long as you don't mind that your product will cost twice as much to cover their wages and still take as long to produce, if you still want it to be good quality of course. Why do I suspect anyone who is that desperate to get the T7 just wants to be the first to autoland it on Youtube. These are simulation aircraft, not toys. I have made a diligent effort to get to grips with the 737NGX over the past year and I have only scratched the surface. I feel sorry for you if you want the T7 that quickly - you're missing out if you haven't got a good handle on the 737 - and it'll set you up well for the T7 when it does arrive...

Good for you - glad you've managed to get past the initial brain-overload and start to enjoy it. Now you'll never leave ahahahaha! On a serious note, the more you try and imitate the real world when flying the NGX, e.g. starting on the parking stand in cold and dark rather than hot and on the runway, the more everything will fit in its right place and you'll enjoy it even more

You also need to be flying on an intercept course to the nearest waypoint of less than (off the top of my head - anyone else please correct) 30deg for LNAV to kick in and start following the magenta line... SIDS and STARS are not used at all airports, but are very common at busy commercial fields (there are exceptions). Again, a critical part of planning is getting hold of charts for your destination before you even turn the aircraft on. Re-flying the tutorial a few times will give you a chance to use the same SIDS and STARS, thus getting used to one route first. (especially if you fly them in clear weather mode with no wind so you can nominate the same runway). I have flown the route between London Gatwick and Jersey (Channel Islands) more times than I can remember, and particularly when I joined BA Virtual. The familiarity with the route has helped make programming second nature. Most importantly at this point, you must accept that the aircraft is trying to respond to your input - be that direct or from the FMC. When you understand what you are doing better and how the aircraft systems work, this will all start to make sense. Take courage - it's worth persevering! I've spent just over a year on the NGX and can finally do all the flight checklists without looking at the checklist about 95% correct each time (I still check it at each stage!!) and conduct a 100% successful flight each time. You'll get there

Absolutely agree. They will walk you through step by step, with images, and between two airfields that are definitely in your scenery!

PS something that might help if you can afford to get it is to purchase one of the Just Planes 737 vids (e.g. Westjet) - these will let you see how everything fits together visually in terms of planning, procedures etc. (to not make any blatant product pitches, I should point out that other 'in cockpit' videos are available. I think

OK - assuming you're sitting in the left seat, you'll see a set of dials above the two main screens (left is called PFD - Primary Flight Display, right is ND - Navigational Display). The ND will show your route, terrain, waypoints etc which are all controlled by the set of dials and buttons just under the windscreen and to the left of the autopilot. One of the dials says 'APP / VOR / MAP / PLAN'. The dial to the right of this sets the scale for the ND which can be useful for getting close in on the final bits of the route, or zooming out for the longer legs. On the LEGS page of the FMC, check that all the waypoints follow each other, and that there isn't a line on the LEGS page saying 'ROUTE DISCONTINUITY'. If there is, click on the waypoint below the ROUTE DISCONTINUITY and click on the button next to the line saying ROUTE DISCONTINUITY. this will overwrite the 'disco' (for the sake of not writing ROUTE DISCONTINUITY again - there, I did it!!) with the waypoint. The line on the ND should become a broken white line. This indicates that the change is visible but has not been applied. You must press 'EXEC' (execute) to apply the change so that the FMC will fly it

Possibly the reason it cut off at Palm Springs is because you didn't apply the STAR in the DEP/ARR page, or maybe selected the STAR but didn't assign the actual runway? The other possibility is that you need a transition waypoint between the STAR endpoint and the final approach point. The most important thing is to go through the LEGS page line by line and use the PLAN view on the ND. Once set on PLAN, press 'step' on the FMC to cycle each waypoint and visually check that they are connected by the magenta line all the way to the runway (unless of course you are going to be assigned a SID by ATC before arrival). As with all things in aviation from route to weights to fuel to contingency, proper planning before you even turn the main battery on is absolutely key Also, like operating any piece of equipment, understanding the functions and operations is important - delve into the FCOM or one of the two tutorials provided by PMDG (the latter if like me you learn better from doing!) Hope that helps!

After a good few weeks of no flying and no controllling, I got back into the NGX and have found a nice little BAv 2hr route from Gatwick to Salzburg (Free LOWS scenery available, very nice too!) My confidence got knocked after I missed T/D for the first time ever while settling my daughter back to bed, used the published hold to descend instead and was feeling a bit better since it was a good opportunity to use the hold. Then failed to line up properly and had to sort it all out at the last minute. Messy and unprofessional, but got it down ok (-168FPM). Then on the return journey, flew a great route, then completely fluffed the approach AGAIN, lined up nicely this time but started descending a little too late, straightened up and lost power then tried to go around at 20ft Radio after nearly ripping off the ILS antennas and flattening the trees!!! And there was hardly any wind and it was blowing straight down the runway at me... Utterly shocking... a ) should have been professional and gone around waaay sooner, b ) can't even blame the weather... :lol:

That's impressive, especially given how hard it is to achieve a soft landing in the 737-800!

I was at Thorpe Park on Friday, just south of Heathrow. Saw more than 8 BA 777's and a good few others pass overhead turning to the Southeast... Gotta love those Trents..!

I prefer detached panels, but I will agree I found it much easier (and no nasty floating undocked windows) just to look around the beautiful VC with EZ-Dok. I do undock the PFD and ND to a second screen but that's for landings and any other time I'm flying manually. That way I can still look out the VC window without zooming the view back. This actually gives you more 'out of the window' view than a 2D cockpit does.

Although I use the VC, I undock the PFD, ND, Eng DU and FMC onto another screen, as it's easier to glance down at the main displays than move the VC view on final approach. I know it is possible to undock the MCP, but there doesn't seem to be a way of undocking the EFIS controls (i.e. BARO, map controls etc) I'm guessing the answer is that it wasn't modelled to to that as PMDG focus on VC's, but since the MCP is undockable I thought it was worth asking the question...? Thanks :) R.

Severnair 737-700, just returned home from GCRR Lanzarote to Bristol, completing a rotation after flying out last night. Broken lovely fluffy REX clouds down to 400ft, hand flew the landing from 1500ft, 131FPM landing B). Now parked on stand 22, waiting for me to get home from work. This flight earned me a promotion to Senior First Officer

Good point, I must go take a look in there. I just got my S2 so as you can imagine there's not been much time for flying recently! And my main comp died on me, so only just got a temporary replacement sorted. Amazing how much one needs to refer to the checklist again after a couple of months enforced break from flying...!

Very interesting! I'd seen a clip of a training session on Youtube where the four student pilots were asking their instructor about a particular function. This was to my view a reasonably straightforward function. Probably something they'd read in the manual but the brain hadn't quite digested yet - As I'm sure you'd agree, practical training really helps embed the academic work much better. I'm with you - it seems a shame that nowadays the approach to learning pretty much anything is just to google the answer, rather than understanding the thing. It's the whole reason I settled on flying the NGX as my first 'proper' airliner after about 20 years of using MSFS for VFR only... If you're going to do it, do it properly. Thankfully, the NGX was there for the flying... Added to that I work in IT! The manual changes on a daily basis :lol:

@Scandinavian13 As it happens I have printed and use the QRH frequently. I am digesting the main manual as we speak. I am not a professional pilot and have do not possess a 737-NG rating. As a result, alongside my busy RW life I may from time to time overlook or miss something, just like the rest of us. You will note I very rarely (if at all until now) post on this forum asking 'what's this bit what's that bit'. As far as I was aware, a forum is for asking those in the know for advice. It's a little unfair to generalise and assume that anyone asking questions on here doesn't ever try to look for advice. That kind of approach will simply cause people not to ask any more... And since I didn't know what was causing the display to look like that, diving into the reference might have taken some considerable time to work out the source. Also, RW pilots would get time with instructors to fill in the gaps and reinforce their paper-based learning. This, surely, is our equivalent? This reply is not meant with any malice, I am quite aware a lot of people post on here without looking first - as a TWR controller on VATSim I am regularly exposed to pilots who are flying big tin before they've even tried a VFR circuit and have no idea how to plan a flight, program the FMC, etc etc etc and quite often how to land the plane in one piece! - I'm just saying it's unfair to assume :) Thanks :) I haven't had time to try TUT2 out yet. I'll give it a run-through!