EuroHarmony Community Forums
Archive => EuroHarmony VA => Old Forum => EuroHarmony Main Forum => Topic started by: EHM-1507 Manuel on March 24, 2005, 06:41:31 pm
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Here is a question to all PMDG 737-800 - Pilots:
How long did it take you, to get familiar with it.
I´ve bought it on monday and till today i spent about two hours just on ground to look around in this extensive (but absolutely great) cockpit. So I think maybe tomorrw I´ll do my first EHM - flight on it.
I´m wondering, what experiences others of you made.
Greets!
Manu
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Still learning after 3 months!!! I suggest you download the tutorial from the avsim file library - really helps alot. Jim
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Had it mostly down, then got FS2Crew and had to learn it all again with a virtual First Officer... then went and forgot it all :)
Had my first flight in it for at least three months this morning, only got lots of thing wrong ;D
I'm with Jim on this, grab all the tutorials you can, and any checklists that you can find (there's a great one, in the form of an Excel spreadsheet, that is designed for FS2Crew, but it goes through just about everything...) And learn the CDU/FMS inside out - it's still the one part of the PMDG that lets me down
Having said that, I'm saving for the Project Magenta Boeing-style stuff and the Flightdeck Solution USB MCDU (http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/prod_info.php?id=255) to make things a little more realistic...
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I'm pretty good in it. The only thing I somehow can not get dome is to delete a waypoint in the FMC in the middle of flight. Driving me crazy it always tell me "invalid delete". SO I always end up navigating without the FMC. FOr the rest it is great.
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Thank you all!
I will look at the tutorials, you told me, and its great to know, I´m not the only one, who gotta learn a lot to fly that bird.
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If it can make you feel better, I'm familiar with the 747 (744 PS1 from aerowinx), read the entire manual of the real aircraft etc... To make it short I'm an airliner freak.
After reading the complete documentation from PMDG it took me several days to operate it correctly, and several weeks to go be real fine with the FMC.
So don't worry, it takes some time because it's a real realistic stuff.
Their 747 will make some people get mad at first I think ^^
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Digging up an old topic here, but I just wanted to say I've bought PM (http://www.projectmagenta.com/products/boeing.html) (Boeing version o'course), ordered an FDS USB CDU (http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/prod_info.php?id=255) and Bill Bulfer's 737NG FMC book (http://www.fmcguide.com/books.html#fug) is on the way from Shoreham Airport ;D ;D ;D
/me engages "Cartman gloat mode"...
Soon as I get it (the FMC/CDU, that is) I'll grab some photos fer yall...
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Haha, congrats :)
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Got the invoice from FDS this morning - delivery in 4-6 weeks, just when I'm on holiday :(
EDIT: No I'm not! Totally forgot that there is July between June and August... Doh! :%
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I started using the PMDG 737-700 some days ago.
I got it learn fast, but when I downloaded the SID/STAR's new package from navadata.at, sometimes when I choose an airport is says "Error at line Y" or "Invalid entry on line Z" ...
How can I correct it ? I think it is a problem from the file, but didn't it is supposed to be tested first by them ?
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Bruno, can you be a little more specific?
I've never seen errors like this out of the navdata AIRACs...
A specific ICAO that you are seeing this with might help us locate/report this.
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Ok.
I have the PMDG 737-600/700 and I downloaded from the navdata.at the latest SID/STAR package to LPPT only.
So, I installed it on the directory SIDSTARS inside the "fs9"/PMDG directory as it tells on the manual.
So, I started FS2004, and when I choose DEP/ARR and write LPPT on the FMC, i got that error. ... They say that I must report it, but I think that they already know about. I don't believe that I am the first person to see that error in "thousands" of people that use the PMDG :) ... well maybe not.
Regards,
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Originally posted by bfalcao
Ok.
I have the PMDG 737-600/700 and I downloaded from the navdata.at the latest SID/STAR package to LPPT only.
The Navdata updates are worldwide (I thought). Is it the current cycle you're talking about (0505 if mem serves... Can't get to navdata.at at the minute)?
So, I installed it on the directory SIDSTARS inside the "fs9"/PMDG directory as it tells on the manual.
Good - just clicking next through the insatller is usually the best idea...
So, I started FS2004, and when I choose DEP/ARR and write LPPT on the FMC, i got that error. ... They say that I must report it, but I think that they already know about. I don't believe that I am the first person to see that error in "thousands" of people that use the PMDG :) ... well maybe not.
Regards,
Ah, OK. The PMDG FMC works just like the real Smiths Industries unit, so are you remembering to do all the boring "initialisation" first, like setting the origin and so forth before you even try setting up the flight plan (let alone the DEP/APP)?
There is a definite process that needs to be followed if your going to use the FMC, and unfortunately you can't skip over any of the steps.
I'm at work so can't "play" with this, but once I get home (an hour from now...) I'll replicate and test as best I can.
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Ah, alles ist klare...
The PMDG FMC updates are in two parts
- the NAVDATA cycles (from navdata.at, down until after this coming weekend at the earliest...), and
- the SID/STAR cycles (from Terry Yingling's website. The PMDG site tends to lag behind Terry...)
You need to have both, for the same cycle, for the FMC to be "current" and correct... (then you can worry about programming the beast... :) )
EDIT: Does anyone have the PMDG AIRAC 0505? With navdata.at down, I can't download it directly (as I would normally do...) PM me if you have it (I have an FTP site where it can be uploaded...)
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Yes, i downloaded the two files.
Also on the FMC is says that I have the latest version (0505 ?) but when I try the SID it gives me that error. Try yourself Murray.
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Bruno, had same problem myself - what you have to do is first of all write down which airports you are having problems with. Then go to the navdata site and select the SID/STAR option - then find the individual airport you are looking for and download the latest SID/STAR package for that airport for the PMKDG737 - then, copy this file to the SID/STAR folder within your PMDG folder within FS2004 and overwrite the old one....promise it works perfect then!! Jim
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Jim,
Would this be an example of Terry's infamous "If it's not in the DAFIF, I ain't putting it in my SID/STAR database"?
I haven't seen anything specific to Bruno's problem on either the navdata forum or Terry's forum (they're both on AVSIM, which makes getting between them easy), but there have been posts to both recently saying "Not my problem, I only do airways" in the case of navdata, and "if it ain't in DAFIF, I won't include it" in the case of Terry...
Bruno,
If what Jim says is correct, you just need to wait for navdata.at to come back up (after the weekend hopefully...) my 0504 cycle data doesn't show any errors on any of the LPPT SIDs, but I don't have the 0504 Navdata installer any more :|
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Ok, I am going to make a printscreen of the error this night for all of you to show.
Thank you for your help.
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According to PMDG support forum, it might be because the SID/STAR file is invalid, ie : contains errors. I might check it tonight.
Maybe there is a mistake somewhere, and those sids are not made for PMDG but another addon, that would explain why you get this error on multiple airports.
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I just checked the LPPT file from navdata, and compared it with another (LFPG) that i know is working.
The LPPT one seems not as good formatted, and there is a ignore marker in the SID section, that shouldn't be here, unless the author had a special purpose.
NAVAID LAR NAVAID MONUR AT OR ABOVE 4000 NAVAID EKMAR NAVAID BUSEN
//SID BUSE8D.RNAV RNW 03 RNW 35 KEEP TRK UNTIL 2000 HDG 270 INTERCEPT RADIAL 227 FROM
Will check in FS tonight.
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Pierre,
What file are you looking in for that? Terry Yingling's PMDG procedures pack for cycle 0505 LPPT.txt file hasn't got any "//"s in it...
I think it needs to be re-iterated for all newer PMDG 737 owners (and probably some of us that have had it for a while):
The PMDG FMC AIRAC cycle updates come in two parts;
- the Airway updates (courtesy of Navdata.at (http://www.navdata.at/php/airac/airac.php)), and
- the Procedures updates (courtesy of Terry Yingling (http://home.sw.rr.com/filesherenow/html/pmdg.html))
(NOTE: urls point to the pages hosting the correct downloads, not the downloads themselves)
To apply a complete AIRAC cycle update to the PMDG FMC, download the update zip files (for the same AIRAC cycle! 0505 is current at the time of writing...), then install the Airway update first (using the navdata installer, so click "Next" lots), then apply the Procedures update over the top of the Airway update (manual install, unfortunately).
While the Airway updates contain some procedures, it's not very many. The Procedures updates do all the hard work in that respect.
Finally, Terry has a habit of applying "fixes" to his Procedure updates mid-cycle, so if your are having problems with procedures on your FMC, download a new copy of the Procedures update (and apply it, o' course) and test with the new data before panicking...
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I know that, but our lovely CEO did take his SID/STAR on navdata.at for the first post, and to reproduce the same error I need the same file ;D
Gonna try both in FS now.
Furthermore, Bruno, I don't get why you need to type LPPT in the DEP/ARR page, normally if your flight is set up correctly, LPPT is already memorized.
(if you did that to gain time for the test because it did it when your FMC was properly set up anyway, forget it).
And also, could you confirm you have the 1.3 version of 737NG ?
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Did put the MPDG 738 on LPPT runway, INIT REF, then ROUTE, entered LPPT departure, LFPG arrival, went to DEP / ARR, LPPT is working fine, either SID or STAR, with the navdata version and the terry yingling too...
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Well, here it is :
When i turn it on, show this :
(http://img223.echo.cx/img223/2562/img13qa.th.jpg) (http://img223.echo.cx/my.php?image=img13qa.jpg)
The error appears when i choose RTE -> and place the dep airport...
(http://img280.echo.cx/img280/3153/img22pn.th.jpg) (http://img280.echo.cx/my.php?image=img22pn.jpg)
Hope it helps ....
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Originally posted by bfalcao
Hope it helps ....
Some. If I had to guess, I'd say that the SID/STAR package you downloaded was broken. Grab a new copy of Terry Yingling's 0505 cycle (url is in my post above...) and install that straight over the top of whatever you've currently got.
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I had a similar problem where when I input certain Airports, I would get the error message "Error in line XXX", it was not cured by installing the latest AIRAC, I had to delete the existing NAV data and install the latest, it was apparently due to a corrupt file which was not overwritten. Hope this helps.
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I'm not sure it's the sid/star that's broken, maybe the wpNavFIX.txt file in navdata directory that is screwed up.
Anyway, Bruno, do the following, if it doesn't work, we'll be sure it's the PMDG that has a problem and not the navigation data, so we can search for a cause in your PMDG files :
In your FS folder, go to FMCWP folder, NAVDATA folder, and delete everything in it.
Still in your FS folder, go to PMDG folder, SIDSTARS folder, ant delete everything in it.
Then reinstall PIC-PMDG_0505 from navdata, and PMDG_Procedures_0505 from Terry Yingling.
If it's a navigation file problem it'll be fixed.
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Will do it now ...
Wait for more news ;) ... Thank you.
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Cyriel. The legs page must be showing, so to delete a waypoint in the PMDG FMC you first press the DEL button, Delete should now appear in the scratchpad area of the FMC, then you press the key next to the waypoint you want to delete, this will delete the waypoint, but you will now have A Route Discontinuity Showing in the flight plan, again press the delete button so that Delete appears in the scratchpad, then press the key next to the Route Discontinuity, this will remove the Route Discontinuity, the Execute light should now be illuminated, press Exec to enter the changes, job done. Also if you want to fly to a waypoint in your flight plan that is not the next waypoint in the plan, press the key next to the waypoint that you want to fly direct to, this waypoint will now appear in the scratchpad, now press the LK1 key at the top of your plan, this will put the waypoint from the scratch pad into this first location, again the EXEC button will illuminate, press the EXEC button, the aircraft will now fly direct to the new waypoint. Hope this sorts out your problems.
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Hi,
I uninstalled everything back and installed everything again. It runs fine now.
Bruce, I had that doubts too. Thank you for your explanation.
Thank you all for your help !!!
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Cheers Bruce. I'd noticed this myself. I figure there must be a way to remove a waypoint without the DISCO being added, but I'll check this for myself when my FMC book arrives...
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Murray
You can download documentation on the FMC and flight tutorials from the PMDG site, under downloads then documentation, this is where I learnt how to use the FMC, they are very good.
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As did I Bruce, but as part of the library I want to build up to go along with my cockpit project (very long term...) I have bought Bill Bulfer's FMC User Guide (as used by many real pilots to learn how to work the 737NG FMC) which with any luck will arrive before my FDS Elite CDU (USB 737 FMC hardware, works beautifully with Project Magenta...)
I'll also be buying Bill's 737NG Cockpit Guide at some point in the future.
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I am having another problem now :) .. Not as bad as the last one ;) ...
When i am on CRZ mode, and when I am already near the TOD (Top of Descent) to start the DES mode, the FMC says "PTH DESCENT NOV AVAILABLE" ... something like that.
What does it mean ?
Thank you in advance.
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Bruno,
Can't be 100% sure on this (as I can't find my paper copies of the PMDG documentation ATM) but I think this means you hadn't reset the altitude hold for descent.
Prior to TOD, you need to dial in the final altitude you want to hit during descent. If you have a STAR altitude hold, that's what you need to dial in.
Can I recommend Fred Clausen's PMDG Flight Tutorial (search for "pmdg_flight_tutorial_v2.zip" on AvSim), as it's the best of the PMDG flight tutorials I have read so far. He deals with all the procedural stuff really well.
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Bruno I think what is happening is that on the DES phase of the flight the FMC will descend at the most economical descent rate, this is correct, as you approach the TOD the FMC will ask you to alter your altitude setting, if you look at the legs page it shows the speed and altitude for any particular waypoint, you alter your altitude setting to that showing in the legs page, and when the aircraft reaches TOD it will automatically descend to your new altitude keeping the descent rate within the descent profile, if your speed exceeds that in the FMC you will get an instruction that drag is required, so you deploy the speed brakes to slow slightly. You get the "Descent path not available" when you try to descend outside of the profile, this is not a problem it is telling you that it cannot descend as you require and stay within the descent profile, just press the CLR key to remove the message, this is more likely to happen when ATC tell you to descend at a fairly high rate of descent. Hope this helps