Qavion2

Sim designers option, I would say. However, without formal Boeing documentation on the subject, I would lean towards the FCOM descriptions. Other sims may not follow this rule. Note that DDGs/MELs applied to the reverser system usually involve both electronic (power) and mechanical lockout to prevent inadvertent operation. Note that not all 744 pneumatic valves operate by direct control from the aircraft computers. Some of these engine valves may be activated by "controllers". i.e. a device which ports servo air pressure to the valve actuators. These controllers are located on the engine but are not always a part of the valve actuator assembly itself. These controllers have a number of devices (e.g. aneroids and solenoids) with multiple inputs (not just electric) which determine valve operation. Irrespective, Boeing documentation seems to use the title "SOV" to apply to both solenoid operated valves and controller-operated valves. Cheers John

P.S. Also, I have a vague recollection that, on the real aircraft, the RR green NAI annunciation appears on the Upper EICAS when manual NAI is selected ON irrespective of bleed air availability. i.e. it's purely a switch position indicator. However, you will probably get a NAI valve message on the Upper EICAS and, on the Lower EICAS bleed synoptic, there will be no flow bar to the NAI branch. (EDIT) I just looked at the 744 wiring schematics and this appears to agree with my real world recollections

A bleed overheat should shut To be technically correct, the RR doesn't have PRV, but a FWSOV (Firewall Shutoff Valve). On the RR, an overheat automatically closes the HPSOV (High Pressure Shutoff Valve) and the FWSOV. The PRSOV (engine bleed valve) is not commanded closed by system logic, but closes anyway due to these other valves closing... i.e. there is no upstream pressure to keep the valve open. Having said this, I've always been warned not to touch the reverse levers on the ground even with no air available because there may be air trapped in the engine plumbing to activate the reversers. Whilst I'm not saying it's a certainty, I definitely wouldn't be climbing into the back of an engine to do maintenance without mechanically locking the reversers in position. However, for simulator purposes, I think it would be ok to ignore this possibility. Cheers

My training manuals do say if both screens fail, it is possible to get the primary EICAS on the Captain's Inboard IDU and the secondary EICAS on the F/O's inboard IDU if the Captain's and F/O's inboard IDUs are switched to EICAS. Also, in Aerowinx's PSX, I failed only the Upper IDU and put the Inboard IDU to EICAS and put the Lower IDU to ND and this put the main EICAS on the inboard IDU. Without access to the real aircraft, I can't confirm this as being correct. It would be a pointless configuration anyway (If lower EICAS was operating normally you would want it to display the Upper EICAS or a compressed EICAS).

I have a video of a 744 altimeter being scrolled downwards. The tape blanked at -2000', which corresponded roughly to 28.00 (but the green digital display of the baro setting continued to scroll downwards). I stopped turning the knob at 27.68. It may have gone lower.

Well, it would be more dramatic less than 10 meters away. In this position, the microphone is also picking up intake and exit noise. The APU is deafening in the real world. Perhaps PMDG had to worry about being sued?

Real pilots don't follow the FD so close to the ground, they know where V2+10 is on the airspeed tape and try to keep the aircraft close to that speed with pitch. It's not good to chase the pitch bar. However, in (FD) theory.... Shortly after takeoff, FD guidance is a complex combination of airspeed and vertical speed: The pitch command is an attitude reference until vertical speed is 600fpm. With vertical speed between 600 and 1200fpm, the command is a mix of attitude and speed command. For greater than 1200fpm, it is a speed command as per Kevin's post with some fine tuning. i.e. The takeoff reference speed is the greater of the airspeed at rotation + 10 kts or V2 + 10kts. I can't remember what the autopilot definition of rotation is (It could be 5 degrees pitch, or I could be confusing it with something else). Cheers JHW

For the record... only 3 engines were trashed. However, Thai doesn't start all 4 engines simultaneously. They start (or used to start) them in pairs, but I can't recall how they trashed 3 engines (but, as I recall, they did seem to start the engines fairly fast in succession). As a pushback engineer, we are supposed to monitor the engines during the push for tailpipe fires, but it gets harder if two engines are started at once (especially if engines on opposite wings are started at the same time... e.g. like Atlas). Somehow one engine survived. I was working at the airport that day, but fortunately, Thai wasn't my responsibility that day. The ignition switch affects how many igniters (spark plugs) are used for engine start (there are two igniters per engine). Normally (in single), the EEC (engine electronic control unit) selects a single igniter for start on the ground, but next time it starts that same engine on the ground, it will use the other igniter. In BOTH, both igniters are used for ground start. The Autostart switch is not momentary. It's alternate action. Cheers JHW

Why indeed :D My notes didn't say.

According to my training notes, on earlier 744's, the stabiliser must be between 5 and 7 units. On later aircraft the stabiliser position sensing switches were removed and fuelling could be carried out with the horizontal stabiliser at any angle.

Some manuals say that it can take up to 3 minutes for the messages to appear, but this is absolutely not the average. It's only a few seconds on average on pax aircraft. From memory, less than 5 seconds. If it took more than 10 seconds, I would start to think something was wrong. Sorry, I couldn't find any videos. Cheers JHW

It depends on the 744 type, battery configuration and electrical load how soon the messages appear, but it is modelled. I mostly used to work on passenger aircraft (with dual batteries). On these aircraft, normally the loads are sufficient to trigger the messages after only a few seconds. On some aircraft it may be necessary to make a passenger address announcement to add extra load. Current trigger values may be given in some manuals, but the real world messages seem to be based on current and the time that current draw is in effect. e.g. short term high current draws may not trigger the messages, but lower currents over a longer time period will (Anyway, that was how it seemed to be to me). Cheers JHW

It was a passenger and Combi 744 option, too. Lufthansa used to have it on some of their pax aircraft.

Illumination of the overhead panels by the dome lights is a grey area (no pun intended). The dome lights are flat, countersunk into the panels and point downwards. All the illumination you will see will be due to reflection. At night, it's best to turn OFF the dome lights and use the panel background lighting. If you're looking upwards from the pilots seats, you don't want to be blinded by the dome lights. Perhaps you should be asking "Should my cargo fire and airconditioning areas be illuminated by the dome lights?" Cheers JHW

Engine one or three out of idle. As Simon says, cancelling reverse alone doesn't make the speedbrake stow.

Don't feel bad, Nick, Some Thai Airways pilots started their 744 engines like you did and destroyed 3 engines (in real life). They thought Autostart was activated, too.

It depends on the mode. I haven't had any problems engaging autopilot modes V/S, FLCH, HDG SEL and HDG HOLD on the real aircraft on the ground ... for test purposes only, of course... Not for normal operation. Cheers JHW

Speaking of YSSY operations... Mostly, only 2 underwing nozzles are used (left hand side). For longer haul flights, both left/right wing fuelling nozzles are used for a majority of the refuelling period to speed up the refuelling process. The only other way to get fuel into the aircraft is by overwing points. The overwing refuelling method is only used if underwing refuelling is not available. After 2/3rds or so fuel uplift, the second refuelling truck usually disconnects and goes off to another aircraft, leaving one truck to finish off the process. At YSSY, prefuelling is a normal procedure. Refuellers know where the aircraft is going, so they load an amount of fuel which would be an absolute minimum to get to the destination (with a strong tailwind). Closer to departure time, they are given a more accurate fuel amount, usually before the pilots have reached the aircraft. When the pilots arrive at the aircraft and make their final calculations, they tell the refuellers if that fuel is ok, or whether they should load more. Tankering is extremely wasteful. For every extra kilo/pound of fuel you carry around with you, you have to add a large amount of extra fuel just to carry that tankered fuel. It's rarely cost effective. I've only seen it done when the refuellers have gone out on strike at a particular airport and fuel cannot be obtained there. As an engineer, I would want to be at the aircraft at at least 1.5 hours before a flight to give the fuellers the prefuel amount. If refuelling took any more than 1hr 15min, there would be lots of nervous people around the aircraft :P. Note that some airlines (including JAL) want all their fuelling to be done prior to boarding, so timing is critical, especially if there are short turnaround times.

Very strange. I would submit a ticket for that one. Even on aircraft with the Altn EFIS function, the Lower EICAS display should not show if there is no power on the main busses. I think the Captain would be very jealous if the F/O got more displays than he/she did :D Only the F/O's PFD, ND and EFIS CP are available. I'm not sure about the F/O's Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) (where this option is available). Perhaps relay R8290 is not modelled Cheers

Sorry, not sure what you mean, Dan. You get a slower retard rate? Or the throttles don't go all the way to idle before you touchdown? I believe the A/T goes dormant on touchdown (or thereabouts), so if the throttles are too slow to retard, you won't get autospeedbrake operation. The reports of the behaviour have been so contradictory, one desktop sim made it optional (to please everyone). Perhaps thrust reduction occurs simply because the aircraft is in ground-effect and less energy is required to maintain speed? Anyway, I don't think Boeing will be approving this technique for landing for the 744 anytime soon :D Cheers JHW

My 2 cents worth... A manual landing was tried in a big simulator in England with only the A/T engaged to see what would happen and there was no idle during flare. I can't say for sure, however, that the 747-8 with the NG FMC would also behave like this. The NG does have a well-documented idle mode during flare with the A/P not engaged. Cheers JHW

FPV can be found on old aircraft. It was an option. I believe it's now standard. Cheers JHW

White striped "in transit" (as shown in your screenshot) or did they change to empty white boxes ("up") later? If they were moving electrically, it would take a while for them to move to their commanded position, but I'm not sure why your inboard LE's are in transit in the first place. The Boeing Fault Isolation Manual EICAS Message List specifies: ">CARGO DET AIR Advisory Message: Insufficient vacuum for cargo smoke detection system (Requires any two engines running)" FIM Chaper 26 /Task 803 provides further information. There is no mention of a time delay for the message, but there may be one to prevent nuisance messages. Cheers JHW

How old were the photos with DH/MDA panels? I believe the change came around the time TERRain was introduced. I'm wondering how many aircraft are now flying without EGPWS/Terrain. Cheers.

Interesting. This presents a chicken and egg situation (which comes first). With pneumatics not available (on a GE/RR powered aircraft), the flaps wouldn't move and (I imagine), the expanded display should appear, possibly with amber (inboard) LE indications). The LE flaps should then turn to Primary Electric drive. In Primary Electric mode, the LE flaps are not commanded to retract during reverser ops (system logic). If the flaps are not commanded to retract, the flaps are in the correct position (extended). If the flaps are in the correct position, shouldn't the indications be green? It may be a timing thing. You'd have to try this on the real aircraft to know the answer. I'm not sure why you're getting that >CARGO DET AIR message. It shouldn't be shown if the engines are off (system logic). Cheers JHW