When will PM provide a CDU that works as it should be?

[sas550]

Can do CAT zillion all manual...it is a sim!!
Cheers and happy flying.
Jack

I know! But I'm impressed since it takes skills.

[Matt Olieman]

It's loads of fun when you turn off your outside view and see where you end up. See what side of the runway you're on when you've landed. I have to admit I've had a few grass landings.... LOL

I used to have a 72 year old IFR instructor (he was fantastic), since the first day of IFR instruction he kept me under the hood as soon as I lined up on the runway for take off, then removed the hood at 200 ft AGL on approach.

Matt Olieman

[rhysb]

Just to add something here, Obviously I have contact with real world CDU's and they are way short of perfect as well. A real aircraft autoland system will NOT land on the numbers everytime you have to remember there are many manufacturers of CDU units and many manufacturers of the software facilities for them! If an aircraft uses a honeywell unit but the software is not from honeywell then you will get bugs!!

Look at airline maintenence bills that shows how many glitches etc are in the real plane! My sim is built to look like a real life deck ie not perfect and certainly well used! I love looking at my sim in maintenence mode!

[Matt Olieman]

rhysb, very well put and thank you for your comment.

We thrive for perfection, which is not bad, it's good but let's keep it in perspective. It's like the scenario I used with the panels in a real cockpit, it's amazing how scratch-up, banged-up and different colors they are. That's the real thing.

I know there are some equipment (planes) that requires functional autopilots if they are to be flown. But I remember my Brother used to fly for Eastern (B727 and DC9) and talked about how many times the Auto Pilot was not functional and the FAA sat in the jump seat. It's a real work out, keeping the plane +/- 100 ft. for 2 to 3 hours, particularly someone watching over your shoulder.

I recall when I lived in Montgomery, Alabama and flied in and out of there in a DC9 (as a passenger). I used to talk to the pilots quite a bit and got to know them (I was a regular). They loved going in to smaller airports like Montgomery and do the visual approach (hands on, no autopilot). I've know B747 pilots going back to fly the smaller aircrafts so they can do that.

I love the challenge of me flying by the seat of my pants, that's real flying, I've got control of the airplane, not some damn computer.

I've had some tough instructors when I learned to fly, one kept hammering me in the head, "always believe you can land an airplane anywhere in any condition. Top of a tree if need be." I've seen several planes that have done that, and where the pilot and passengers walked away uninjured. Another one, "Fly, practice until you become one with the aircraft, you are the aircraft, you control the aircraft, not the aircraft controls you, then and only then you are the pilot."

Airline pilots get to prove they can do that, every six months.

Matt Olieman

[RobertVdb]

Hello all,

I was a short time busy and didn't look at this thread for a couple of days. Wow, it seemed I started a lot of talks here.

Well, to answer Trevor first : I use build 400. Did you ever did succesive flights?

Secondly, Jackpot: I fly a "naked" PMDG (without gauges). Further, I use GF modules, either programmed by their own program or by FUIPC commands. I use 3 PC (FS-PC with PM-MCP / PC2 2 monitors PFD/EICAS and PC3 CDU and second EICAS). All PMchecks give OK.
My set-up is shown in http://www.robflightsim.net/RFSmycp.html

By the way, I never land on auto. I always shut down MCP and A/T at about 1000ft and land manually like the "state of the art".


Regards

[Matt Olieman]

There you go Robert, land by the seat of your pants LOL Sounds like you like a good challenge too.

Matt Olieman

[RobertVdb]

Well Matt, as I said, it's the state of the art. I have been many times in the cockpit (before 9/11 of course), even during approach and landing (my wife always complained that she was a "landing widow"). The pilots always shut down the MCP and A/T at or above 1000ft and told me that you have to do that in time in order not to have a sudden "configuration change" close to the ground.
Regards

[rhysb]

Yes thats very true, the window of change gets smaller from that point in and in the event of a ground cushion, windshear or crosswind the autopilot can not recover in time

[eudoniga]

... what will be considered (by the PM development team) worth the time it takes to fix some bugs, which I will intentionally NOT label as "SEVERE", nor "MINOR", etc. etc.

So, regardless to any judgement, I simply wish:
- I could see more CDU messages, since we know there are many missing;
- I could see the screen page showing the phase of flight could switch from TAKE OFF, to ACT CLIMB, ACT CRZ and ACT DES on its own, when it becomes ACT ive;
- I could see the "PRE FLIGHT COMPLETE" label showing up (as it ought to) with no LSK links to any other CDU pages.

Happy and safe flying in the meanwhile to y'all.

[oal331]

After 10 years of development, i think that PM's s/w could be better for all of us. PM was the path-finder and they deserve a better profile.

All these issues are known for many years and people either used "to live with them", either flying with no autopilot, either found other solutions....

Keep flying and hoping......

regards