The Blue Max

My point is your commitments may suffer once you have the NGX. It's the most ridiculously addictive add-on I own.

For the RNAV approaches alone it's worth it (now mostly supported by Navigraph). Once you fly into Queenstown in low visibility with fierce winds you will never look back. IAN approach I believe its called? Plus the 600 you can take off practically anywhere, the -800 Short Field Package likewise equals hours of fun. If you're not married, buy it.

Radar Contact 4. There is nothing like descending into Tokyo Narita whilst being guided by a broad Mancunian ATC. As surreal experiences go, its hard to beat, and cheaper than drugs.

Whoa...what? You mean you trim for stability? That can't be! Pilots never do that. Kyle just told me so. But you're a real 777 pilot right? I am now sooooo confused! No such thing as trim speed either, in addition to trim stability in maritime circles: https://www.google.co.uk/#q=trim+for+speed Lordy mamma, whats next? Does he pull all his knowledge out of his &@($*? Richard Wells

6 pages of discussion on trimming should tell you that something is wrong. When I fly the Cessna, NGX, 747 or even the MD-11 with LSAS I do so intuitively. When the stick gets too heavy I trim out the difference to maintain stability. I don't even think about it. I don't even really think about speed. Just stability. With the 777 am I trimming purely for speed or for stability? It should be both of course, but I am plummeting up and down with no clear idea of what that action means in this plane. It seems to be all about speed. When I turn on the FBW Ref indicator I am often far away from where I thought I was in the envelope. I've just watched a few cockpit videos of pilots manually flying the 777. It looks effortless, almost thoughtless. We've gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. Before we couldn't trim, now I'm trimming to ridiculous lengths to maintain what, speed? stability? It's a doddle to fly with the fbw trim ref activated I must admit but I shouldn't need that. SP1 is an embarrassment of riches. Richard Wells

If you want to get in and out of Paro comfortably with a 737 you'll want to use the 700 variant. Boeing demonstrated the 737 to Druk Air before they settled on the A319. http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_23/737-700Bhutan_story.html

Hi all, Just to pitch in (no pun intended, really) but I've just filed a ticket regarding this exact issue. Interesting info in this thread from well informed sources, admittedly most of it has flown (no really, I'm not doing this on purpose) right over my head. Be interesting to see how PMDG react to this. Otherwise, beautiful aircraft, just a PITA to hand fly. Richard

Flying it now. Oh my Gaawwddd! Hopefully the first and last time I find myself grateful that I don't have a girlfriend.