Iain

Your right in that being single pilot can make the cockpit quite busy, there are a few things you can do to make sure you have enough time for everything. I am guessing you are flying offline so you don't need to worry about ATC. Make sure you use the checklists, or like me, I made my own checklist as simming has some differences to the real world. For the descent, check the WX for your destination before you reach the TOD, have all the RW and ILS info setup in the MCP and FMC before you reach your TOD, have pressurisation and air con sorted before TOD Use VNAV for the initial descent, it will descend you and follow the altitude and speed restrictions as you descend, you only need to make sure you have the MCP height updated, in real life you would follow descent instruction, but in the sim you can dial in 2000ft to the MCP before TOD, and then just monitor it. Be ready for the 250kts speed restriction, at 12'000ft, have the MCP mode ready for the speed reduction to 250kts, be ready with landing lights. For waypoint heights, a good tip is to not try to reach that waypoint at that height, the restriction doesn't mean reach the height jsut as you get to it, it only means be at the height when you finally get to it, so if you are at 16'000ft and the next restriction is 12'000ft and it's 20nm away, you can press LVL CHG, let the aircraft descent at idle thrust, you will reach 12'000ft a few minutes before you get to the waypoint but that's ok, it gives you time to monitor your approach, check weather, get ready for the next descent, manage your speed etc. The 737 doesn't go down and slow down very easily so it's a good idea to only do one at a time, ie. descent at a certain speed, or slow down when level, it's not easy to descent and slow down.

Looking at the chart on Navigraph, if you using the MISEN transition, then you can see some hard speed and altitude restrictions. MISEN FL240, CLARR 13'000ft & 250kts, (now called feet as your change from FL to ft at 18'000ft in the USA), KPEC 13'000ft etc etc. There are a few ways to fly it, if (and you should) have your FMC setup before takeoff, and have the expected STAR and RW already planned (better using 26L for this approach), then your FMC will show all these altitude and speed restrictions already. While cruising along at whatever height, just before TOD, set your MCP height down to 3800ft (the ILS height of 26L), then your VNAV will descend you all the way to the ILS and follow all the restrictions for you. You just need to check it's behaving, put your landing light on, have a cup of tea! Where you see the small black writing for heights next to the lines, those are the minimum height, don't try and fly at those heights! If ATC gave you no instructions, then you can let VNAV do it all for you, probably more realistic is to set your MCP atl to 24000, and when you get to it, change to 13000, then it's up to you to press V/S and set a V/S so the green arc is over CLARR showing you will reach CLARR at 13000ft, or you can just set 13000 and press LVL CHG, and it will descent you at idle thrust, in this case, you may reach 13000 before you get to CLARR but that's ok. That's one of the main things with sim flying, you can VNAV the whole descent as you have no ATC to give instructions, or you can do it a bit more manually, and pretend that ATC are telling you to descend, and then you do it with V/S or LVL CHG. Watch some youtube videos, loads of cockpit video's out there, plenty of 737-800 etc, a few with the -400, you can see how it works in real life. My favourites here, cargo 737. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z49i6vpM5Is&t=2640s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lztqIM0aTTs

IAS in the aircraft (your big analogue speedometer) is measured by a pitot tube sticking out the side of the aircraft, the tube simply measures the pressure of the air against a sensor as you move through the air and changes this to an indicated air speed (very basic terms). Imagine you are in a car, doing 100mph, you don't know what speed your going, your blindfolded and ear muffs on, stick you hand out the window and guess the speed, about 100mph you would say. Now drive your car at 100mph across a bridge at 36'000ft, do the same test, you would probably guess your speed as 50mph, your doing 100mph, but the air is thin so it feels much less. This is why your IAS is showing 250kts only, because the air is less dense. So if you are doing 300kts IAS at 200ft above ground, and there is no wind, your ground speed is also 300, and your TAS is 300. If you go the exact same speed at 30'000ft, you ground speed is 300kt, but your IAS will only show 200kts as the air is thin and not pushing so hard against the sensor, so you have this "false" reading so to speak. On the 737, have a look at the top corner of the ND and you can see the ground speed reading, you will see while cruising at Mach 0.71 and 254kts, that your ground speed is over 400kts, so all is fine. Thats why its important not to chase after IAS as you climb and descent as you might overspeed the aircraft. You will climb at 280kts, then as you get closer to your cruise height, you will see the FMC changes from targeting IAS to target a Mach number. This is because at at 200ft, 280kts is maybe Mach 0.5, but at 26'000ft, 280kts is Mach 0.71 so it switches to Mach 0.71 at 26'000ft as you continue to climb. Your Mach then stays 0.71 as you climb, you are not speeding up or slowing down, but your IAS gets lower and lower as the air thins out, but your not slowing down If you could just keep climbing, you would get an IAS that goes all the way down to ZERO, as there is no more air, but you might be going MACH 36 like a rocket. It's hard to explain clearly, everyone is totally confused by it at some point in the virtual or real flying, but once it clicks, you will understand.

I think climb speeds are about 300kts then at 26k it switches to Mach, typical cruise is Mach 0.76 or there abouts, she is an aged lady so can’t go as fast as modern chicks. I would recommend learning the fmc as much as possible as it will set the correct Mach for you, it will tell you your most optimal cruise height for your weight etc. it can be daunting but it’s worth watching some tutorials on it.

Hi Steve There is no black and white answer to your question. I use a few general rules, and I use various methods for descent. VNAV descent works fine for me, the initial descent from cruise can be quite steep, the throttles will slow the aircraft down slightly to descent mach number, then the aircraft pitches down to maintain speed, what I see is on the pitch down, the speed is often slightly low, so the initial descent can go up to -6000 ft per min for about 10 seconds, then it corrects itslef to a more normal level. I don't know if this is what the real aircraft does, and thats what Jan is referring to. As far as I know, a common way to descent (in real life) and the way I do it is to select V/S mode about 10nm before TOD, select -500ft, then -1000ft, then as you start to intercept the descent path, you can select VNAV and it should result in a more gradual descent. If you ever descent in V/S all the way down, be aware to change the MCP from mach to KTS at the typical cross over altitude, 26'000ft . You don't want to have a high mach number in the MCP at low altitudes. It's handy to understand how VNAV switches from targeting a speed in kts, to targeting a speed in mach. You can search mach cross over speed to learn more. For descent speed, the FMC will tell you the target descent mach, typically slightly under the cruise mach. This is a good speed to use for your initial descent. For heights, there are a few things you need to check. First is check the STAR you are flying, there might be height restrictions in that. If you have selected the STAR in the FMC, the restrictions should already be there, and can be seen in the LEGS page of the FMC. It's a good idea to check these before you even takeoff, put the FMC in LEGS page, put the ND in PLAN mode and then you can see right side lower select key in now a STEP function, you can step through your whole flight plan and see all waypoints, with speed and height restrictions if any showing on the right hand side of the FMC. Getting this plan correct is key to a smooth flight. However, you can also fly all the speed and height restrictions with no help from the FMC. You should always be aware of where your TOD should be, this is also important for the IXEG 737 as the FMC can sometimes throw a wobbly and give you TOD 500nm from your destination so it's good to be aware of that. A general rule is to mutiple your cruise alt by x3, then use that as the number of NM for your descent, so if you are at 36'000ft, and you want to descent to 0ft, multiply 36 x 3, start your descent 108nm away. For height restrictions, check the STAR, there may be restrictions like cross TLA at FL070, so if you are at 32'000ft, and you want to cross TLA FL070, then thats a descent of 25'000ft, multiple 25x3 and you should start your descent 75nm from TLA. A good feature of the aircrtaft is the green arc, when you descend, the green arc shows you at what point you will reach your altitude you have selected in your MCP. A very powerful tool, so if you get a cross TLA at 070 restriction (from the STAR or from ATC instruction, just put 7000ft into the MCP, then set the V/S until you see the green arc over TLA, then you know you will reach TLA at 7000ft, if the arc is a bit beyond TLA, just increase your V/S slightly. For speed restrictions, 250kts below 10'000ft generally, this speed restriction is often broken in area's where there are not so many aircraft, although in most area's it's a hard restriction. I use FR24 to see what typical speeds are below 10'000ft. Taking the 737 back from the USA with Norwegian, above 250kts on climb out is often ok, same in Scotland where pilots will often ask for any speed restrictions and will be told negative, so I descend at 280kts below 10'00ft. Just one notes, try NOT to play around with speed restrictions in the FMC once you are in the air, this for me seems to be the most common cause of the VNAV function to go crazy and give you incorrect TOD's. Set up any speed restriction before takeoff. Use the CLB page, I typically set the 280/ the CLB page here. Lastly, remember you also have LVL CHG button, this is very handy to use if you want to descent with idle thrust (and th VNAV has gone a bit crazy), you can use LVL CHG, you just need to be aware the this mode is ignoring any height restrictions and speed restrictions from the FMC, so you need to monitor that yourself. Cheers

Is it fixed in the current download version or should I wait for the next version?

Very promising! I should have watched it all first time, I also heard HiFi are put all resources into XP version of AS, not found much info on that though. Future is looking bright.

Could be interesting, but they need to fix the unrealistic rain cloud while on the ground with engines running, adding light to it will just make it look worse.

Hi I just gave it a quick try and have a few small problems and question. When entering the plane, I here the copilot voice mumbling, a pen moving around and clip board noises, is that deliberate? I get a sync Baro (the word Baro is not easy to understand, but then I see the local pressure displayed by your script at the bottom left, the only problem is, the pressure displayed is nowhere near the real pressure? When I start the engine (I start No. 2 first), it reaches about 40N1, then increases dramatically and the plane shoots off into space and XP crashes, I tested it 3 times and the same result each time. I hadn't pressed the Oxygen mask before engine start, I mention that in case that must be done. Thanks for your feedback. I have the shooting into space recorded if you need to see whats going on.

I am really looking forward to trying this out, sounds like a a lot of hard work, well done. I guess you want bugs and suggestions reported as more people use it? My next flight: 10.06.18 Dep 10pm local - ENBR Bergen - EGPH Edinburgh - TNT Cargo flight

Hi Jan i just read over the whole thread again and your right, looks like the same bug. Cheers iain

Can I add my problem to this thread? I use a small mini joystick on a CH pro throttle for rudder, always worked fine, for taxying too. Now I find when I want to turn with the nose wheel at more than 45 degrees, I need a lot of thrust to do it. I check the control output and can see when I have this assigned as "yaw", then it activates the left and right brake when on the ground, this seems to be a new thing? If I quickly reassign the yaw as nose wheel tiller, then it turns perfectly with idle thrust. What has changed? My setup or they way controls work? It's actually not much hassle to reassign the yaw to nose wheel after landing, but would also be nice not to have to do that.

The effect works with default and Skymaxx Pro, they do not work with xEnviro. I have never used FSGRW in XP so I can't comment. I currently use "the ultimate mod" with XP11 default weather injection and the effect works with that.

Read this and thought WTH, I use flap 15 a lot, Jan should really start expanding your flying experience to the level of your simming customers, like flying at MTOW from Innsbruck with a tailwind or taking off from Lugano...its all legal, honest

Hi Jan Thanks for bringing this topic back up and the additional feedback. I moved away from SMP and tried various other things before settling on the "ultimate mod" weather. I also see this effect only on SMP so your findings are dead on. I don't know if I will push for coding changes from the WX developers, maybe when/if Active sky comes along. Thanks for your support with these open topics though

Support has suggested you explain your problem more, post screenshots or post a Youtube video. Either one takes 5 mins to do, but you choose not to? I'm really interested in your LVL change problem, but also frustrated that I don't have much to go on apart from your original explanation. The support team are very passionate and proud of their software, they are always looking for ways to improve and are frustrated that they haven't managed to improve or produce patches as much as planned, private situations and unexpected events in life take priority. I am sure they don't have such a large team, a large budget or a nice office in downtime DC like PMDG have. I am sure they are wanting to hear from people like you that have lots of experience in simming and/or real world, so maybe a bit of give and take and a bit of patience is needed to get the most of their sim, your suggestions are very welcome. Morten has been very tolerant, ending a thread with "thanks for nothing" is way below the belt in my opinion, nobody deserves that kind of talk in this short existence of ours. IXEG are one of the only developers I have seen where a list of "things that are not going to be in V1.0".

Simbrief works well, you could copy paste your route from PFPX into it and then save it as IXEG format. About 20% of Simbrief routes give an error on loading, but it's a very simple fix, before you even try and load it, open the route with wordpad (or actually, I think you can edit it in simbrief), check that the route has not put the word "SID" after the ICAO code of the dep airport, if it has, just delete it. ie. EGPH SID TLA6A UN864 DCS will post an error in the FMC so it should read EGPH TLA6A UN864 DC

you could skip the ref airport part or as I do, use simbrief to make your route, plan your fuel etc, save the fmc file to your co-routes folder then load it into the fmc.

Just press LSK1L after clicking RTE, you don’t have to select 6L.

Completely out of order, and here is why... Cost is completely irrelevant to the argument. Value for money is different for everybody, comparing it to other products doesn't mean anything, it's up to you (and your two friends) to decide if it's worth it. If you felt it did not warrant the price, then you shouldn't have bought it, which leads to the point below. Expectations, IXEG were completely open about the limitations of the aircraft before release, including the FMC, there is still a detailed list at the top of the stickys. As far getting back to making the patches, the speed of the patches is completely up to IXEG, they are a bunch of devs doing this in their free time when they are not doing their real jobs or spending time with their family etc, they also need some downtime during the "festive" period I'm sure. On the contrary, I find IXEG very open about patches and development, they put a lot of time into solving peoples issues, even during the holidays, something they should be very proud of when you compare to any other developer. And lastly, LR keep moving the goal posts with new revisions, 11.11 is current and I am sure they are always playing catchup.

Hardly any problems here with Vnav and restrictions. Only problems I have is when modifying the route while flying, so I either avoid doing so or switch to another mode, no big deal, it helps you learn the systems!

This is a known problem, please add your XP11 folder to the list of exclusions in windows security suite. It takes 1 min to do, check you tube for a guide.

Yes, go for it! Happy new year.

Ursula Liu Wang

schon wieder Freitag! 3 days left Or does Jan have some Chinese blood in him and we need to wait till mid Feb!