MLeavy737 - one more for you

[NAX228]

trying to get a realistic behavior or the SYS and ENG buttons on MIP.
Can you tell witch pictures being cycled through when pressing these buttons? Upper & lower EICAS.
I guess this can be different from company to company, but your answer can be much helpful.

[jackpilot]

SYS: displays the Hydraulics brakes and surface control page that you cycle with TAB on the sim.


ENG :Push: sec engine indic on lower DU (or upper or inboard DU if lower unavail ) Push again blanks lower DU

To be confirmed by ML.

[MLeavy737]

Hey guys, sorry been busy last week or so.. have some catching up to do...

You know i had to actually look at one of my cockpit pictures from a CAL plane and see if we even had them! lol... Turns out we do but i have never used them. Not sure exactly what they do and if they even do anything in CAL airplanes. We have no lower display so that may have something to do with it.

Next time i fly i'll mess with em and see what happens

Mike Leavy

[warvet]

Hey Mike, 
How are you my friend, Im honestly so happy for ya Mike that your realizing all your dreams of flying the 37s. Quick question Mike, as you know alot of our friends here have absolutely mind blowing setups but what as a 737 pilot do you think is most commonly missing in all the sims you've seen. just wonderin.
All the best   
Your friend
Tim

[dnoize]

the long legged flight attendant ?

;-)

[jackpilot]

just one? 

[MLeavy737]

Tim, Nice to hear from ya again! Seems like its been a while.. Hope your ventures are working out!!

And good question.. besides the flight attendants and single pilot ops ill have a stab at it..

First off, I think builders and part makers have done an amazing job at what they (we) all do. When i started this hobby ages ago i never though it would get to this level.  Im not sure you can really say that something is missing from sims these days as anything that you need you can get or build.  Also when you think about it even different airlines have different options in their airplanes so if you were to put a pilot from one airline into another airlines airplane, he/she could then say something is missing. Besides not actually buying the part yet I think thats about the only way you could call something actually missing.

Two of the biggest things i can think of that i deal with when i fly that not many sims have, including the millions of dollar ones in school, is a printer and ACARS.  Getting WX, takeoff data, requesting new takeoff data for a different runway, communicating with dispatch, in range reports, PDC's printing out, getting sent SIGMETS and plotting them on the FMC enroute and dealing with diversions etc. brings things to a different level. Those two little things play such an important role in flight ops that its feels like a whole different airplane when you dont have em..

  I have mentioned what  i think alot of builders should concentrate more on to complete their overall sim is to actually fly the airplane more procedure oriented.  I know its a bit tough flying the airplane by yourself but pick an operating manual of your airline choice and learn callouts, flows, checklists, procedures etc. and actually fly and practice them.  For example.. how many here if a said.... Airplane on the runway Go-AROUND would know the exact steps and callouts to get that airplane back up to a safe altitude? Sitting at your computer right now you should be able to say out loud those steps while say throwing and catching a ball for some distraction..  When i watch videos i would say thats one of the biggest things missing.. callouts and procedures..  Come on everyone.. your in a big boy airplane!! Fly it like its supposed to be flow!! lol.. just kidding.. kinda

Once you start looking at things from a pilot perspective instead of a builder perspective you will begin to look at your sim in a whole new way and i think enjoy it more. Suddenly little details like 1 missing screw that you dont see anyway or a color that doesnt match perfectly really just does not matter.

Hope that made some sense and answered your question somewhat.  Also btw, one of the biggest things missing from these sims is pressure.. I dont mean hydraulic pressure or fuel pressure.. i mean good old fashion your job or career is on the line pressure   If anyone wants to simulate that just sign an official doc that says you'll give up your sim if you fail a checkride! lol

Of course there is always the the real big one that no sim can simulate..  They usually wind up on the news..

Mike Leavy

[choffmann]

Thanks a lot for your important thoughts and issues, Micheal. Not being a pilot myself, I find that our common hobby is so exceptional because it gives us so many different aspects we can concentrate on. One of them is the exercise of procedures. Even as a layman, I was immensely impressed with what you can find on the net about abnormal procedures and how they are trained. You can come from the pure building process to psychological aspects of crew resource management in a second AND you can practice them in your sim right away! I remember my first flight on IVAO getting into a hell of stress concentrating answering ATC and setting up the flight controls, even with the A/T and A/P engaged, simultaneously. I can very well understand pilot calls for better working conditions and payments. In my view, this job is highly sophisticated, demanding and at times even inhumane considering the multitasking periods. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for your hint about the ACARS printer. Is here somebody who knows a company (e.g. FDS) selling some affordable ones (simulating and functional)? Is there a software program that could feed the information (METARS, SIGMETS, etc.) from a PC outside the sim into the printer? Do IVAO or other networks have such programs?

Cheers
Chris

[saabpilot]

Hello all,

Simulate the ACARS printer would not be expensive nor too difficult.
There are many cheap 80 mm wide printers out there even second hand that would do the job.
We just got our hands on a Citizen CBM1000 which will fit in one of the "radiobox" slots.  Then it is just a matter of sending formatted text to that printer from e.g. TopCat.
TopCat is an excellent "dispatch" program for FS yet with a real professional style that will give you weather as well as a loadsheet. 
The author of TopCat is on top a very friendly guy so I believe he will make provisions for a 80 mm printer output  after a little persuayal :-)
I will start investigating this later on in September when I am back in Sweden.

I can also only agree to the above - when using correct procedures in your sim it will enhance the experience a lot.
In addition if you can - try out the IRL two pilot concept.
Very rewarding when/if you fly online in VATSIM.

But that said, there are all kinds of breeds among us.  Some only likes to "build" where others like maybe myself as an old pilot likes building but with emphasis on the flying.

Best from Sweden,
Bjorn

www.boeing737sim.se

[ETomlin]

Excellent question and answer! I like it so much that Im goint to post your answer Mike over at the Hangar (Hangar 45, our dedicated LJ45 site). I  think that folks get sooo caught up in color and screws and details like that to where they never learn to fly the sim like a real plane. Yes, they should fly it to their own satisfaction, but it's taken up several notches when flown properly. For example, I flew two legs this past weekend. Telluride to Aspen and then back to Telluride from Aspen, using charts and the whole 9 yards for both flights. I can say that it is really rewarding to be flying over a mountain range tracking a radial and then look to the left and see the runway in sight as depicted on the approach chart. Very satisfying.