Turlad

Generally it's switched on for every walk round day and night. It's pretty dim in the wheel well, so why wouldn't you use it all the time. Minor issue really.

Remember that any photos you find could show the flight deck set for the departure. SOP is to set the SID stop altitude + 100ft during the initial brief. Once you receive clearance from ATC we amend it to the actual stop altitude. There's no debate about the ODD level plus 100 thing. It's modeled correctly. Just so happens that 80% of the time the MAA will be 3000ft anyway...coincidence. Cheers.

errr...Aer Lingus right.....? :wink:

If it's the same Irish airline I work for, the SOP is to set ODD level + 100ft. I always set 3100ft.

Unfortunately manual gear extension isn't possible with the NGX. I've always found this a bit odd since it was modeled well in the MD-11. Even a solution that drops all 3 gear at once would be better than nothing at all. Loss of System A failures don't really end well..... Adam Turley

He means the PFD showing increments of 50 fpm on the VSI - e.g 450, 550 etc. In which case, it should show these 50' changes, the real one does (as does the PMDG 777). Might be changed in the upcoming SP. Adam Turley

I understand the de-icing option that the NGX version had will come with the new ground crew thingy, but what about the other cold weather procedures? The NGX version had an option to defer setting take off flap until later in the taxi. This would be done in freezing conditions with ice or slush on the ground, in order to avoid contaminating the flap tracks. In the NGX you would speak 'Leave the Flaps up for taxi'. There was also an option for delaying flap retraction after landing. From reading the online manual, this is not modeled in the 777 version at the moment. Would be nice if it was. It's the same proecdure for the 777 - see Supplementary procedures SP16.

This is correct behaviour now. It was wrong in the RTM version. To stop the warning you need to set the GPWS FLAPS OVERRIDE switch on the front panel. The QRH will direct you to do it whenever you plan to land with flap 20. Note that flap 20 is normally a 'non-normal' landing configuration. It was also wrongly modeled in the NGX - Something SP2 for that will hopefully correct. Adam Turley

At around FL360 the speed margins are pretty small either way. It won't need a 5000 fpm rate to be dangerous. 800 - 1000 fpm will often be too much for the airplane to handle before it becomes thrust limited and speed decreases. Pilots do use good judgement and give reasonable requests, but even with 1000 fpm V/S commanded a sudden wind change or change in temperature coupled with a few moments distraction from the flight crew (it does happen) will put the aircraft into the amber band in the high 30's. At my airline VNAV is always the preferred climb mode even for 1000ft step climbs. You see what VNAV does then go to V/S if the rate of climb becomes excessive. Excessive being greater than 1500 fpm. Adam Turley

Well...there are situations where one or the other are more suitable and safer than the other. The most important thing to remember is that LVL CHG is a 'pitch for speed' mode. Speed will always be protected in this mode. Especially important at high altitude, when the wrong use of V/S will potentially put the airplane in a low speed condition, if you don't monitor speed and thrust very closely. It's not really recommended to make extensive use of V/S in the climb for this reason. Equally V/S is very useful and preferable during the later stage of an approach, where a smaller specific vertical speed is required. Usually to maintain a CDA (Constant Descent Approach), when LVL CHG may produce higher and unnecessary rate of descent resulting in early level off. A common simmer mistake on most videos I see. For newbies, a thorough understanding of the FMA is needed to appreciate what the aircraft is trying to do. Adam Turley

Hi Rob, Honestly I've been finding the 737 VNAV a little 'sporty' as well. I almost always revert to Level Change and Vertical speed below FL100 Most of the time I don't trust VNAV to slow me down correctly for the 10 mile gate, although I've been beginning to give it the benefit of the doubt recently. It works OK as long as the entered forecast winds are correct. I'll tend to leave it in VNAV for a NPA and use liberal speedbrake. I don't think the problems I've observed in the PMDG 777 are due to wind though - I don't run much weather and my typical tailwind of 10-12 knots is not going to cause the gross errors I've seen. I don't think I've got a specific STAR example, it's general behavior in all descents. There are differences between the 777 and the 737 version I fly. I've noticed for example that if high, the PMDG 777 will revert to idle thrust and VNAV SPD to regain the profile,then go back to VNAV PTH when on again. Whereas if high in the 737, the airplane will just stay in 'Arm' and VNAV PTH mode and dive for the profile and totally ignore the speed, taking you into the clacker if you don't intervene. The 777 is safer, but the PMDG will even do it on VNAV approaches - I'm not sure that 'on-approach logic' is being obeyed here. I've also noted that when flying through one leg/waypoint to another on approach, say between a typical CI27 to a FI27, the profile will jump maybe 100ft up or down. The NGX doesn't do this (neither needless to say does the real one) - VNAV is very nicely modeled in this and replicates the real one pretty good. Anyway, somethings up and I hope it gets looked at. Otherwise, PMDG products are amazing and I owe a lot to them. Adam Turley

I'm curious to know if the VNAV logic will be updated with SP1. Currently it sometimes demonstrates some odd and illogical behaviour in the descent. Firstly the descent path / profile is often out by 2000 - 3000ft or more in some situations. Today I was flying into OMDB, and the vertical profile insisted I was 4000ft high - there was only one 2000A constraint between the A/C and RW and simple track mile vs height calc, tells me I was exactly on profile. VNAV didn't agree. (Yes, the leg was updated and valid for present position.) In other situations VNAV has been indicating 2000ft high on 10 miles final, when in actual fact I'm at approx 3000ft on glideslope exactly in the groove. Not a disaster on an ILS (although in the real world alarm bells would start ringing of false G/S), but pretty terminal on a Non-Precision if not spotted. I've had a couple of these instances in the sim - alt constaints weren't the problem. Also oddly, modifying the DES speed produces results opposite to what I would expect. Lets say the ECON DES spd is 275 kts. If I modify the DES speed to 320kts, VNAV calculates a new path below the aircraft, leaving me high. I would expect the opposite i.e. I would be low for the new path. At least this is how it works in the 737. I should point out I'm a FO in the 737-800 in real life and do have a vague idea of what I'm talking about. I appreciate even different 737 FMC software versions make VNAV behaviour differ in that one aircraft. The 777 VNAV is different - in fact more basic than the latest and greatest software we have in the NGX, but how exactly? Can anyone explain the differences between the two airplanes and perhaps why we're seeing these results? Or if not, reassure me that SP1 will fix it. Adam Turley

Hilarious. Dude, all in all I think you might be right. :rolleyes: Adam Turley

Wow...pretty unbelievable how uptight and humorless some people are on here. It's just a bit of fun, nothing more to it than that. SP1 and the ER will come soon enough, and one thing is for certain - it will not have a Wx radar. Lots of things unite flight sim fans but clearly sense of humour, logic and maturity are not among them. Adam Turley

I can confirm this. It's part of the flow we do when cleared onto the runway, along with the transponder, LNAV, strobes and seating the cabin crew. It's an SOP that you do 4 times a day - you never forget - or at least shouldn't.... Adam