Litjan

Hi Ian, yes, some stuff has changed in the way that planemaker saves the aircraft (lights) - we will have to adapt the 737 to make it compatible with the new planemaker. Cheers, Jan

Thanks, Ian! You guys know that I am always quick to answer any questions in this regard, but here some things in the OP´s post just don´t add up for me to warrant a response - besides this one . Cheers, Jan

We developers typically don´t get involved into these sort of problems. If the machine ID is locked, that means that the person with access to the customer credentials locked it by typing FREEZE after getting asked to pick one of three already authorized (=with IXEG 737 installed on them) machines - typically when trying to install the 737 onto a new computer. The process is fairly straightforward and only comes into play when trying to install the 737 more than 4 times. There is a chance to misunderstand the process, especially if english isn´t your first language. In those cases (accidental locking of intended target machine) only the customer support of X-Aviation can help, which requires to file the problem with them and waiting until the problem can be reviewed and a descicion to the legitimation of the request can be made. This is up to X-Aviation, and given how ingenious some people are when coming up with stories why they need more activations...can result in a denial of the request. Cheers, Jan

Yes, it can perform GNSS approaches to the LNAV minimum - in other words, you have to fly the approach in LNAV but control the vertical path with V/S mode of the autopilot. You can not use the VNAV PTH mode (you can technically, but it is not certified to do so). Cheers, Jan

The alternate nosewheel stering switch was something not all of our 737´s had. I think it was omitted for the newer variants, I have to check my old manuals at home. Since we are modeling a newer variant, we omitted it (saved work, too! :-)) Cheers, Jan

Hi, you are totally right, of course. The real plane wouldn´t do that - I accept the blame on our "less than perfect" VNAV implication. We have repeatedly acknowledged that our VNAV is - especially in the descent - fairly buggy, especially as soon as you go off the "beaten path" and expect it to handle unusual situations. Nevertheless - even the real plane´s automation can fail and it actually is the reason why there are pilots in the cockpit (besides looking good ;-)) - to save the day when the automation fails. I recommend mapping the "autopilot disconnect" buttons to a joystick button and taking control of the aircraft when something obviously goes wrong. Plummeting to earth from 20.000 feet is a good indication that something isn´t right, even if there are no warning bells (I do believe there must have been a stick-shaker, though?). In reality we watch VNAV like a hawk when it flies the aircraft. I know that many simmers think that LNAV and VNAV are the magic buttons that they can use to fly from A to B without worry, and if everything works well, they are. In reality I saw less than 5% of all pilots use VNAV during descent, in both the 737-300/400/500s and 747-430s I flew. Just to show you how much we trust the real VNAV to do what we want ;-) Cheers, Jan

Hmm, but looking at your picture I can see that you are in the descent mode of the FMS, that is only triggered by passing the calculated T/D. Also the path indicator shows you a few thousand feet high on the descent path, so something doesn´t quite match your description. If you are flying to Brussels and are close to Olno like you are in your picture, you are maybe 50NM from your destination and should definitely be in the descent portion of your flight. The distance from Luxembourg to Brussels is just over 100NM, and FL200 is way too high for that distance, chances are that you can´t even reach it before you need to descend again. Try a longer distance flight, or fly at maybe 160 or so. Cheers, Jan

Hmm, it is hard to say because your pictures only show part of the cockpit, but it looks like you are cruising in ALT HLD mode past your calculated top of descent. In that case the plane can NOT leave the cruising altitude, but it will reduce the commanded speed to "trade energy" - it should not get too slow, though. As one can see in your second to last picture, the commanded speed is 210 kts, and the yellow FMC light is on (probably due to the RESET MCP ALT warning that you got when approaching your top of descent). The thing that is really weird is the commanded speed of 45246 kts - this is clearly a bug and probably due to the speed reversion protection cutting in (you can see the engines going to full power), but not the reason of your problem. Try to pay attention to where the calculated T/D point is on your routing - and start the descent accordingly. It is IMPERATIVE to dial down the MCP ALT to enable the descent, otherwise the plane will never leave the altitude. I also recommend to NOT fly the descent in VNAV. It is not always behaving right during the descent (especially with multiple restrictions on the descent path). Use FL CHG or V/S mode to descend. Let me know how that goes, Jan

Looking forward to your pics, I am sure we can figure out whats going wrong for you there. Cheers, Jan

Hello Hoyer, I myself was expecting for us to be able to update the plane faster and more frequently - so far the realities of life did not allow that for reasons beyond my control. The plan is to enable those displays on the FO´s side as well, and certainly the opening of the doors. That plan is not cancelled, but I would not like to commit to a certain date or timeframe right now. What I will be able to do is to update the aircraft to fly with the new (right now still experimental) flightmodel when it becomes the standard one. This is within my abilities and I am planning to have that ready very shortly after Laminar declares it the "standard" one. Cheers, Jan

If you want to, take some screenshots around the incident, just before, during, just after. Make sure we can see the modes engaged on the autopilot, then engine instruments, the primary flight instruments. Normally the autothrust will control the engines during a climb, with nominal power being climb thrust. This is signified by the "N1" showing on the mode annunciator in the electronic attitude indicator. The pitch of the aircraft is normally controlled by the autopilot to maintain a set airspeed (FL CHG mode) and should show "MCP SPD". It sounds like you are climbing in vertical speed mode with the thrust controlling the airspeed, which is only recommended for short (step) climbs. However there are still some protection modes active that should kick in to save the aircraft in case of gross pilot error, so I am not sure how you get it to stall... Another possibility is windshear or icing, try to fly with the weather set to no clouds and no winds and see if that changes anything. Cheers, Jan

Thats how I used the bugs when I flew the real one . Cheers, Jan

The ACMS button is not modeled. It is the Aircraft Condition Monitoring System that is normally not used by the pilots (only the technicians working on the aircraft). We have included the labeling in the FMS to make the page look directly, but the ACMS is not modeled. Cheers, Jan

Jean is right - whenever gizmo detects a major "system change", it will ask you to authorize this new machine. In case you have run out of authorizations (3) it will ask you to de-authorize an older machine. This should not be a problem, because you will never "roll back" a windows update. You de-authorize an older machine by typing FREEZE. This will forever and ever (and a bit longer!) prevent the IXEG 737 on running on that machine. So if you plan on installing the 737 on that machine again in the future, don´t do that. "Machine" in that context means a system of hardware and software combination. Changing a major part of the hardware (disk drive, CPU, motherboard, etc.) or the operating system (new windows update, going to Linux, etc.) would be considered a "new system". Freezing will lock and burn that "system" for the 737 forever. You can install the 737 on newer systems as many times as you want, but you can only have 3 systems authorized at a time. People have run into problems where they have multiple systems (more than 3), frozen one of them (so they could install on a new one) but then the new one broke and they decided to install the 737 again on an old (frozen) one. This does not work. Jan

Buonas dias, 1.) It could be icing, if in clouds. There is no warning or alarm for icing in the 737 - the pilots will turn on engine-anti-ice when in icing conditions and when they observe ice on the windshield wiper fixature or wing leading edges they will apply wing-anti-ice (the visual build-up is not modeled on the 737, but the icing systems work). So when in doubt, turn on both anti-ice systems. 2.) It is possible to get too slow at high altitude, so that the engines can´t deliver enough thrust to gain speed again. This is called "getting behind the power curve". It is solved by not flying too high for the weight and not getting too slow. It happens in real life, too - you need to descend to regain speed in this case. 3.) Make sure you are not running out of fuel - or have "random failures" on - both could make an engine quit and if you are a new pilot this is hard to recognize during cruise/on autopilot (you get some warnings about the generator cutting out, but thats it). Cheers, Jan