The 'Official' Screenshot & Tips thread 4 FSX enthusiasts & flight simmers.

Well I managed a decent flight from EGK to LEPA this evening in the PMDG 737 NGX. All logged with Thomson Virtual and VATSIM :D

Pleased to say it was all rather uneventful and pretty much by the book :D

Only thing is its seems like its taking too long to reach cruising levels af FL320 so need to look into that. Not convinced it should take an hour.

Other wise really enjoying it :D
 
Ringo I'm not using DX10, I pretty much have never given it a chance. I might give it a go tomorrow, why not.

Dashik, what Cost Index are you using in the FMC?
 
I was wondering about that, Currently it's 9. Might try a stupid high number tomorrow and see if that's the reason. If it is then that will be fine as that's the VA guideline.
 
Dashik said:
Only thing is its seems like its taking too long to reach cruising levels af FL320 so need to look into that. Not convinced it should take an hour.
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There's a bug-ette with FSINN, VATSIM and the iFly whereby it won't go over a certain FL. Apparently this is due to inaccurate temps being reported somewhere.

If you're using FSINN, the simple solution is to hit 'CAVOK'.

Real world weather data can be brought in through FSINN, FSX and REX. I've turned two off and just let REX take care of it.

Maybe something similar for PMDG?? Or your plane is either a) too heavy or b) there's the wrong type of clouds in the sky.
 
Vuvuzela and flew from EGAA (Aldergrove) to EGPE (Inverness) to practice a holding pattern in the 737.

It went okay and my join into the hold was poor, but I picked it up and was circling nicely. V left the hold first for the teardrop entry onto the ILS for rw23. I joined and took autopilot off at 1200 ft and flew manually. I touched down just before the runway, but was on the centreline and didn't float which is an improvement for me.
 
Dashik said:
Well I managed a decent flight from EGK to LEPA this evening in the PMDG 737 NGX. All logged with Thomson Virtual and VATSIM :D

Pleased to say it was all rather uneventful and pretty much by the book :D

Only thing is its seems like its taking too long to reach cruising levels af FL320 so need to look into that. Not convinced it should take an hour.

Other wise really enjoying it :D
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Very strange issue that - were you really heavy and the wind really not favourable? I fly with a Cost Index of 0 so that it gives me 737-400 like performance figures for my VA and it never takes that long.
 
The problem with the climb performance is due to FSinn not lowering the temperature properly as you climb. A jet (infact any engine) makes more power with cold dense air going in. As you climb the air gets less dense but the Temperature also drops keeping engine performance at a reasonable level. FSinns weather engine doesn't do this so your engine is running out of power due to an unrealistic air temperature. Blue is spot on suggesting you hit CAVOK in FSinn and either use REX or FSX's own weather engine to supply your MET.
 
ringo747 said:
Very strange issue that - were you really heavy and the wind really not favourable? I fly with a Cost Index of 0 so that it gives me 737-400 like performance figures for my VA and it never takes that long.
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And infact a lower cost indx should infact get you to cruise level faster.
 
ringo747 said:
I'd have thought the opposite... lower CI would equal slower speed and slower climb rate therefore taking longer? Or is it less fuel so it climbs quicker?
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Bang on with your second sentence. The most efficient way to fly a jet (in terms of fuel) is to climb as quickly as possible to cruise altitude and stay there up until the point where you can perform an idle descent all the way to final. Remember that reduced thrust take off and climbs has nothing to do with fuel usage. We perform reduced thrust take offs to preserve engine life.
 
!bluetonic! said:
Vuvuzela and flew from EGAA (Aldergrove) to EGPE (Inverness) to practice a holding pattern in the 737.

It went okay and my join into the hold was poor, but I picked it up and was circling nicely. V left the hold first for the teardrop entry onto the ILS for rw23. I joined and took autopilot off at 1200 ft and flew manually. I touched down just before the runway, but was on the centreline and didn't float which is an improvement for me.
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Good flight last night. I had a few issues leaving Aldergrove my Lnav disengaged :mad: and the plane went into a loop(done this before and I think it’s me doing something to my joystick)sorted it out and made my way up to Inverness. As Blue mentioned we practised going into a hold(INS) and mine worked out perfectly. Did a full circle and then came out the hold and descended down to 3000ft to catch the LOC and G/S. Landed at Inverness with no issues. :D

We going to do a Vatsim flight from London City to Manchester(if ATC are not online) on Thursday and add a hold (Dayne)to the FMC. We going to do this on the ATR’s but please come join us on any plane.

Here is the Star with the hold details...

http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadb.../NON_AIRAC/EG_AD_2_EGCC_7-6_en_2012-06-28.pdf
 
chaders said:
Bang on with your second sentence. The most efficient way to fly a jet (in terms of fuel) is to climb as quickly as possible to cruise altitude and stay there up until the point where you can perform an idle descent all the way to final. Remember that reduced thrust take off and climbs has nothing to do with fuel usage. We perform reduced thrust take offs to preserve engine life.
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Makes sense. Do you use derates or assumed temps? I use the TOPCAT addon which does great printouts for assumed temps with available takeoff lengths etc. I'm sure you would find it interesting!
 
Another vote here for TOPCAT, great little tool, although the aircraft DB hasn't been updated since Jan-2011 so there are a few engine options missing and the B737-700 is the 22k thrust and not the 24k thrust in the NGX, so I have to remember to set all takeoffs to at least TO-1 if I'm flying the -700 for Fly2 (low-cost operations of my VA, FlyUK).
 
ringo747 said:
Makes sense. Do you use derates or assumed temps? I use the TOPCAT addon which does great printouts for assumed temps with available takeoff lengths etc. I'm sure you would find it interesting!
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ringo/squerble - I was looking at the TOPCAT website(never heard of it before)what’s the difference between TOPCAT and the fuel settings in the configuration panel which come with your plane e.g. pmdg 737?
 
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I primarily use TOPCAT with the NGX, and it provides a wealth of details. First off, for my VA I simply get a passenger and baggage number. From there, I input these numbers and it gives me an optimum payload distribution (how much to split the baggage between FWD and AFT CARGO HLDS, how many passengers in first/coach class).

I then feed it the airports and flight number, upon which it will give you an approx distance, and also a very approximate fuel load for that flight (I say approx, it's never actually been outside 1000kg variance with my 737 fuel planner app, so it isn't bad at all).

Now that the app has a close idea of your take off and zero fuel weight, you then tell it which runways at the airport you will use (as an added bonus, you can download the airports METAR, this is input and the app will 'best guess' the runways in use). This includes length of the runway etc. From this, it gives you an optimum take-off configuration, including derated and assumed temp (flex) takeoff parameters.

For example, I could be doing a short hop from Heathrow to Paris, so I'll be very light on fuel. This, combined with the long length of runways at Heathrow means I'll probably get given a F1/TO-2/60C takeoff parameter, which pads out to:

* Flaps 1
* Takeoff-2 (Derated; in the NGX-800's case, this derates max takeoff power down from 26k to 22k)
* Assumed 60C temp (reduces takeoff N1 even further)

Or if I'm heavy and with a shorter runway, it may even recommend F10/TO/35, which means Flaps-10, no de-rate, and only a slight reduction from the assumed temperature

These are worked so that you have enough runway available to stop from just before V1, and also derate your takeoff as much as possible to save engine wear.

It also goes further in that you can include Packs ON/OFF, Anti-ice ON/OFF take offs, and in the MD11's case with it's Dial-A-Flap capability, a recommended take off flap dial setting.




It's very easy to use, and adds another level of realism to your flight.
 
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chaders said:
The problem with the climb performance is due to FSinn not lowering the temperature properly as you climb. A jet (infact any engine) makes more power with cold dense air going in. As you climb the air gets less dense but the Temperature also drops keeping engine performance at a reasonable level. FSinns weather engine doesn't do this so your engine is running out of power due to an unrealistic air temperature. Blue is spot on suggesting you hit CAVOK in FSinn and either use REX or FSX's own weather engine to supply your MET.
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Indeed it was FsInn, So thanks guys sorted now :D
 
Squerble thanks for that. Great explanation on TOPCAT. Sounds really good!

I fly with FedEx virtual and the extra software we use, gives us the weight of the cargo we flying with. So it would be great to use theses number from TOPCAT.

Only thing what worries me. You said it has not been updated since Jan 2011? Are the Dev’s fully committed with this product :confused:
 
Vuvuzela said:
Squerble thanks for that. Great explanation on TOPCAT. Sounds really good!

I fly with FedEx virtual and the extra software we use, gives us the weight of the cargo we flying with. So it would be great to use theses number from TOPCAT.

Only thing what worries me. You said it has not been updated since Jan 2011? Are the Dev’s fully committed with this product :confused:
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As far as I understand, it's just one dev doing it, and he's been working on a second project which is taking up all his spare time (this is not his job, just something he does on the side). He has committed to adding to the database once this second project is complete. Don't worry, it has the main aircraft in there and I've never had any crashes/bugs with the software.
 
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