pilot3033

I tend to do medium-haul flights with the 777, simulating the "holiday rush" flights you sometimes see. For example, Delta will sometimes fly a 744 from ATL to DTW over Thanksgiving. American flies a 777 from DFW to LAX (and sometimes a 787, too) to train their new international crews. Moreover, it wouldn't be THAT strange to see a 77L from ATL to, say, JFK. Also, the file provided by the SODE developer works great. All of the E gates docked, so did all of the A and B and F gates that I tired (even where a 777 would be unlikely to park, anyway). Matt Kramer

Thus far, the issue is resolved, and I agree that the issue in the first place was that the gates had bad geometric limits. Just wanted to add quickly that the only remaining issue, which is minor, is that the jetways might be a bit too small or otherwise dock too far aft. The open door on the PMDG 777 collides with the jetway hood and bleeds through. I'll mess around with exits data to see if I can move it forward, though I also use GSX which might have something to do with it. Matt Kramer

I've been messing around with flaps 25 takeoffs at SNA and did one with the HUD down to try and see what you saw. Perhaps the dashed line you're referring to on the HUD is the same pitch limit line I described. On the HUD, it appears as a dashed line that runs horizontal across the entire display. Remember, on the HUD you're nose is represented by a -v- symbol, and the pitch degrees flow quite rapidly during rotation, especially if you're uncoordinated. Matt Kramer

My SOP, which I think is consistent with airlines, is to have the Autothrottle switch in the ON position before takeoff. Engage the flight director switch, then the A/T switch, then VNAV and LNAV all on the ground. VNAV goes off when you engage TOGA but you get the flight director as it's armed. Same with LNAV (or HDG SEL if you need that). When you get above 400 AGL you can engage CMD A or CMD B and those modes will become active. I don't think anyone uses the HUD for take-off, though I'm sure you can. You might be interested in FCOM 2 section 4.20.14 which describes the EFIS/FMA readouts for using the Flight Director and Autopilot during takeoff. The various lines and dashes on the HUD are meant for approaches mostly. Section 10.10.14 describes what said various lines mean on the attitude indicator. Which dashed lines are you referring to? There are lines that indicate the pitch limit (two horizontal bars with "flags" that jut out) and there's the Flight Director "+" which can sometimes be more like a V or an arrow. On the HUD, this is represented as two circles, one large and one small. You are going where the large one is pointed, and you should be going where the small one is. When you center the two, you are going the right way. I believe this is call a "flight path vector." There is a button next to the MINS knob labeled "FPV" which will active one on the Primary Flight Display. Regardless, I think your main focus should be on trimming to relieve back pressure on the controls. You can hop into a 172 or other GA aircraft to see more clearly how trim affects flying. Matt Kramer

I downloaded and installed the file. Got gate E10 to work, and as I suspected, the issue was as he described: gates couldn't go high enough. I'll try out some other parking spots.

SOCAL! VNY as it happens, and formerly out of SMO. I enjoy the heck out of simulated airline ops, but for sure equally enjoy scenario-based challenges. Fail an engine on V1, fly an LDA down to minimums with a crosswind in the jet, pull off a few touch and goes... Next time you find yourself in that PHOG situation, though, see if you can still make it down by entering a hold. Usually a STAR has a few charted ones. You can also continue the approach and go missed at the final approach fix and sort of "vector" yourself to get setup again. Think of it as "unusual attitude training" but for the sim. Matt Kramer

It's a side track, but I think it just goes along with how Nick is overloaded with a flaps 15 take-off in the first place. He is simply unfamiliar and unpracticed, nothing more time in the sim won't fix. I'm glad he's asking questions. A lot of my non-aviation friends (if they even know ATC is not the guys with orange wands and high-vis vests on the ramp) think of it as an authority rather than a service. Because I fly out of a Class D that underlies a Class C shelf and adjacent to a rather funky Class B, I often take the opportunity to explain how Air Traffic Control works for us in the VFR world, and how pilots and controllers essentially become a team both trying to accomplish the pilot's goal. Nick, I suggest just doing the take-off portion over and over again until you get a flow down. Use key commands where you can (G for gear!) and remember to trim! Properly trimmed you should be able to maintain a pitch and vertical speed without touching the yoke. Don't worry about bringing the flaps up right away if you can't reach over, just stay below max flap speed until you have a second to reach over (I use the key commands for this). Dep frequency should be in the STBY of your active COM or in the TX/RX of your COM2, swapping takes seconds. I sometimes use the 2D radio stack by hitting SHIFT+4 if I need to. No shame in that, in the real plane you'd be able to reach down with your right (or left) hand and do the swap. There's a reason the PMDG 777 has a click spot so you don't have to look down. Lastly, look into FS2Crew. It's rather scripted, but you'll get a sense of how a PNF relieves the workload and how you can still do it all single-pilot if you balance out your tasks. Matt Kramer

Honestly, I've just been using the World of AI models using vPilot's model matching for multiplayer traffic. I keep a smattering of GA traffic on low, for realism, but keep other AI traffic on while flying online.

I remember have some success in the past actually editing the jetway parameters, but I was not entirely sure what I was doing, so though every jetway would connect to a 777, the textures would stretch awkwardly or the wheels would straight up leave the ground. There is a way, following the SODE SDK, to edit it how it does the math. I will try playing around a little more. Otherwise I guess all of my Delta flights now leave out of Concourse F

I'm not sure there's something unique to the jetway model at F9 so much as it's just the placement seems to work. I think the ATL jetways just don't go high enough, but for whatever reason the angle of that parking spot allows SODE to come up with a solution. The answer, I think, is tweaking the jetway models to allow them to go further and higher, but that's something Imaginesim has to do. Has anyone had success at other parking spots?

That's the thing, I don't recall doing anything differently. I don't quite recall if these were the first flights after the PMDG update or not, but I plan to do a reinstall of FS2Crew just in case.

I've had this happen on my last two flights, actually. Electronic checklists starting from the 777 cold and dark FMC state. No saved flights, no saved states. I do, however, use GSX for pushback and I have the latest version of the 777 installed in P3D 2.5. I haven't changed how I fly the 777 at all, and this is a new problem.

You're overcomplicating things. The problem is just an error in the default Sacramento airport. As mentioned in previous posts, there is a fix for this in the library. The problem is the simulator has misplaced the ILS Radio. The NG doesn't think anything is wrong because it's going off that radio. Install the fix from the library, or any other KSMF AFCAD file you think looks good, and this problem will go away. Matt Kramer

Thanks! I'll start experimenting to see what works. Any idea why they might pop through low visibility and then disappear when getting close? It's like I can see the airport through low clouds, then they go away when I get "inside" of a cloud. Perhaps it's how ASN deals with fog and low visibility, creating a "cloud" or reducing draw distance.

I've been practicing CATII and CATIII ILS approaches in the NGX over the last few days. I've noticed that at both default and 3rd party airports, the runway lights tend to be high intensity visible from about 10nm out until just about 2 or 3nm, where they disappear, behaving like they should where VV is 100ft in 1/4sm visibility and fog. I'm using ActiveSky Next if it makes a difference to anyone who has run into this before. I'm wondering if it's a level of detail bug. For now I've just kept my head on the instruments, but it can be a little distracting the way the lights behave. That said, flying a CATII approach down to minimums using the NGX HUD and by hand at night is an amazing amount of fun.