Litjan

Been there, done that

We model the Sundstrand APS 2000 APU. It is FADEC controlled - and in our V1.0 it always starts up (below a certain altitude, iirc) and will not "break" if you don´t adhere to the various limits. I feel that this is realistic enough, because in 10 years of flying this plane I only had to refer to the starting limits only a few times (you can start it 3 times without any waiting, but then have to wait 30mins before the 4th and subsequent attempts). Usually the APU starts up just fine. the procedure is: Toggle APU switch to ON. Release. Ta-da! We plan to have a "wear and tear" model in future updates and versions - but I will vote strongly to not make it a "gamey" model. If you bust a limit, it usually does not mean that the affected component will fall apart into a 1000 pieces. The limits on operations are usually designed to keep the component running without damaging it in the long run. So if you have a limit of 2 minutes between start attempts, and you only wait 1:55, the starter most likely will not fail right away... I don´t think we will make this totally "realistic", because then you would have to fly the plane for thousands of hours before you see any "wear", but it will not be a "bust the limit by one degree and the plane will instantaneously combust" model, either. Some middle ground. Jan

Well, you know how that goes... "Ladies and Gentlemen, both the Captain and the First Officer had the fish last night. Now unless anyone can fly a 737-300, I am afraid that we have to cancel today´s flight to..." Jan

Ah, now I understand the question, it´s about the plastic speed-bugs, not about the orange speed cursor. No, you must set them manually - just like in the real plane. We don´t want to teach you wrong habits. If you ever have to fly a real 737, I want you to be ready for it, and not sit there and wait for the plastic bugs to move to the correct speeds . Jan

Now... what do you think?

Hmm, interesting. I didn´t think about that variometers are calibrated to a certain altitude. But that would mean that regular variometers (like on high performance piston acf) are also only accurate at a specific altitude? However they are designed to be used at a big range - from sea level to 20.000+ feet. There has to be some sort of compensation - pressure gradient per 1000´ of altitude is much smaller at 20.000 than at MSL. I imagine there is some sort of transmission that is affected by static pressure, thereby compensating different pressure gradients. Here is an interesting post that also describes how the orifice corrects for pressure and temperature changes: http://www.theairlinepilots.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=898&sid=1c06fdf9e75cfb858b57227f8e136307 Of course it is unknown to me wether such a (more expensive) instrument is also built into the cabin VSI. It really only needs to be accurate from 10.000 to 0 feet, if you want to plan the cabin descent rate to match the aircrafts descent path. This might be needed when using the Standby mode or even manual AC or DC mode. Above 10.000 feet cabin altitude you really only care about the absolute pressure change per minute, as this directly affects what you and the passengers "feel" as you try to get the cabin under control again. Cheers, Jan

I love the idea! Jan

Drop someone from the pilots window and time how long until impact!

My first guess was that the descent rate would be lower, since all the air has to rush in through the little outflow valve opening, but there are fairly big negative-pressure relief panels on the fuselage that make sure that the pressure differential can never be negative. So my guess would be: Also 1500fpm. Cheers, Jan

So... what are the correct answers? Great idea, by the way!

So... you are not a Belieber?

I second Cameron, definitely not for V1.0 - not ruling it out for later, although it would mean a lot of work just for another "look". And I am not sure if there are still any pictures of brandnew Classics available anywhere . Jan

I agree - if I had a real 737 for a day, all I´d do is fly patterns with it. If I want to sightsee, I would take a C-172 to better see the scenery. Pattern work is where it´s at, taking off, landing, accelerating, decelerating, configuration changes... Jan

Anytime - there is no way for us to determine if the plane is "on a centerline" or even "over a light". Not possible in X-Plane. But many taxiways and runways are very bumpy in real life, and the bumping and rattling is something you can hear and feel very well in a 737 - especially when sitting over the nosewheel. Jan

And you know I wouldn´t ruin two perfectly fine and very expensive CFM-56´s on takeoff and climbout like that, don´t you? But - you can hear the "sawtooth" effect of the very high RPM a lot better that way. Jan

Dang, this is serious stuff. Here is my guess, without looking at the AMM and being corrupted by flying Airbuses for 4 years : Sitting in the cockpit with everything set up, how would you know if the spoilers extend when rotating the control wheel? Remember, the EFIS 737 doesn't have flight control displays. And no peaking outside the window!Hydraulic Quantity indication decreasing (as fluid gets caught in the extended cylinders) Assuming you have all static ports blocked (no altimeter). You took off, flew the numbers according to QRH and at some point levelled off. What ways can you think of to get an estimate of your altitude (MSL or AGL)? (Aircraft was just painted and someone did a really bad job during the preflight :-) )Either get into the ACMS and do an Alpha lookup of geometric GPS altitude (MSL). This would also work with a handheld GPS like your mobile phone, if you have an APP for that. You could use your weather radar with a tilt of 0. The beginning of the "ground return" in NM divided by 3.3 is approximately your altitude AGL in thousands of feet. Another way is to get a radar station with altitude readout (military) to scan you, or to have a friendly plane come up and fly alongside ;-) The last possibility is to depressurize the airplane and use cabin altitude indication. The F/O's course selector is not responding to changes. What could this indicate?Some mechanical malfunction of the transducer, or the MCP locked up (usually goes along with altitude going to 50.000 and the altitude alert blaring...). It could also be an electrical failure of a certain bus (no idea off the top of my head which one) If the airplane symbol appears in the lower right corner of the EHSI - what does this indicate?Never seen that conciously or heard of it. The CRT wears out and suddenly there is a color loss in the EADI. What implications could this have on landing in bad weather?The colour is required for autoland, because the FMA is written in "green" and if that colour fails, you could not verify the autopilot status during a low-vis approach. You are having a very bad day (obviously!) and now all 4 CRT's are black/white (complete loss of color). Any implications?This is mostly due to lack of airflow (equipment cooling). The CRT´s might shut down at a later stage, depending on how the internal temperature develops. Try to re-instate airflow by going to an alternate ventilation system. Let's start with that :-) Regards YD

Read what has been posted before.

Right, we are absolutely not opposed to any third party making an app or add-on program to do this stuff - in fact I have been in contact with someone who is set out to do just that! I understand the desire to have something like that, and I am very confident that you will see some offerings in that regard very soon after we release. If having this capability is condition sine qua non for you, then I suggest holding off on the purchase until you are satisfied that your minimum in feature completeness is achieved (so I don´t have to deal with the whining about it in customer support ). Cheers, Jan

You obviously did. Didn´t watch the videos closely enough! Bad Dr. Nerdrage! Start at 02:00 mins, if you are the impatient type Here is my stance on setting the CG and Weight: When we initially conceived this aircraft, we had the serious simulation user in mind. The guy who wants to experience what the real pilot experiences. This explains why we handle the CG and weight stuff the way we do. Let me tell you what part the pilot has in determining and setting weight and CG. The pilot gets an estimated zero-fuel-weight on his electronic flight plan. Together with his First Officer he reviews all flight parameters, and if he works for a decent airline that care for the life of their passengers, and not only their money, he gets to determine how much fuel (in excess of the legally required minimum) he takes. Obviously he can´t overload the aircraft, and sometimes you have to make a call between taking more fuel and leaving payload behind. Once the loading is completed (and no, the Captain doesn´t tell every passenger where he needs to sit), he gets a printout of the electronic load-sheet. A bunch of numbers, along with the actual Zero Fuel weight, and the CG. He punches those into the FMS and thats it. No clicking on seats. No sliding bars to fill cargo holds. No neat little represenation of load and trim envelope, moving CG´s or stuff like that. Now we know that you guys dig that stuff, though, and we might get to it later, for now this first release is favouring virtual pilots, not the virtual loadmasters. Jan

Yes, CG will change as fuel burns. For passenger seating, we assume an average spread throughout the cabin, at least when you load the aircraft. But if you want to pretend that only half the seats are occupied, and everyone sits in the rear, you can. Just calculate the CG (taking a third-party-tool, for example), and then enter this CG with our "ground services menu". The airplane´s CG will be adjusted accordingly. In other words - you supply the weight and the CG, the airplane flies accordingly (including fuel burn). Jan

This is correct as far as the screens go - I think that the sound of the breakers working is pretty much "instantaneous" as soon as the switch reaches the "end" position (they are toggle switches). Our level-D simulators have this wrong. There is a slight delay for the activation of the breakers, and it always threw me off when using the switches. For a second you go "oh, something is not working"... We haven´t modeled the screen blanking so far, but we might do so for release, if not then will do it later. I think it is a neat effect that shows the significance of transferring the powersource... Jan

If you mean the "chevron" type FD - then no. I hate it, can´t fly it and don´t want it in my airplane . If you mean that you can only use one flight director (on-side), then yes. Jan

Absolutely correct. And this override is simulated with our 737. No effect on AP until you pass the control-deflection threshhold, then the AP reverts to CWS mode (in the axis that was moved), together with the flashing yellow AP P/RST warning light. Thereafter yoke deflection will affect the CWS target value (i.e. fly the plane with an attitude-hold mode). Jan

We will try to also make Navigraph data compatible with the IXEG 737, just like Cameron said. If we can´t get this into version 1.0 you have two options: a.) Fly the 737 with the enclosed database and get an extra paper route to get Aerosoft nav-data when you feel the original database is too outdated for you. b.) Don´t fly the 737 at all. No one likes to spend money again for something they feel they have already bought. But I - for example - have one and the same movie on VHS, DVD and now blue-ray. Same exact show on every single one. Hmm. Why? Because I can´t watch the VHS tape on my current hardware, which I think is superior to my old tape player. See the analogy? Have a fantastic day, Jan

Almost there - we want to make sure "we have it" before announcing a firm release date. Once the plane is feature complete (for V1.0) we will announce the date, then its another few weeks to finish everything up - during these weeks we will release the tutorial videos one by one. Jan