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PMDG 737NGX
TUTORIAL #1
 

 
 

PMDG 737NGX 
Tutorial #1 
Written by Ryan Maziarz – PMDG Simulations 
 
Copyright © 2011 
PMDG Simulations 
All Rights Reserved 
   

For Simulator Use Only  DO NOT DUPLICATE  01JUL11 

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TUTORIAL #1
 
 
 
This manual was compiled for use only with the PMDG 737NGX simulation for 
Microsoft Flight Simulator ™ X. The information contained within this manual is derived 
from multiple sources and is not subject to revision or checking for accuracy. This 
manual is not to be used for training or familiarity with any aircraft. This manual is not 
assumed to provide operating procedures for use on any aircraft and is written for 
entertainment purposes. 
 
It is a violation of the owner’s copyright to distribute this document or any portion 
thereof without permission of the author. 
 
 
 
 
 
The PMDG Simulations Web Site can be found at: 
http://www.precisionmanuals.com 
 
Copyright© 2011 PMDG Simulations 
 
This manual and all of its contents, pages, text and graphics are protected under 
copyright law of the United States of America and international treaties. Duplication of 
this manual is prohibited. Permission to conduct duplication of this manual will not be 
sub‐contracted, leased or given. 
 
Microsoft, the Microsoft Logo and Microsoft Flight Simulator are registered trademarks 
of the Microsoft Corporation. Boeing, the Boeing name and certain brand marks are 
the property of The Boeing Company. Some graphics contained in this manual were 
taken directly from the simulator and altered in order to suite duplication on a printed 
page. All images contained in this manual were used with permission. 
 
Produced under license from Boeing Management Company. Boeing 737, 737‐600, 
737‐700, 737‐800, 737‐900 & Boeing are among the trademarks owned by Boeing. 
   

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COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
The original purchaser of this software is granted a limited license to use
the software in accordance with the End User License Agreement as
agreed to at the time of installation.

Please review the license agreement carefully, as it provides you with

only limited rights. Specifically, you may not sell, resell, trade or
barter this software product/license without the permission of PMDG.

You should also be aware that you may not use this simulation software
for any training, pilot familiarization, recurrent training or operational
awareness training.

This software may not be used to demonstrate the airplane, airplane

systems, operational norms, flows, procedures or other pilot knowledge
application in a classroom or training environment without being
supplemented by the appropriate commercial license.

Please note that this version of the simulation may or may not accurately
represent the actual operation of many different aircraft systems and no
warranty is made to accuracy or correctness.

In all circumstances the aircraft manuals issued by a certified training

center for use with a pilot’s training course and the manuals located on
the flight deck of an aircraft as well as the operational procedures dictated
by the aircraft manuals supersede any information taken from this product
or the documentation provided with this product.

This simulation may not be used in any public or private display for which
users are charged admission, usage fees or other revenue generating
charges. Nor may the simulation be used in any manner which reflects
poorly on PMDG, PMDG Simulations, Boeing, Boeing’s employees,
suppliers or customers.

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TUTORIAL #1
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the first tutorial flight for the PMDG 737NGX! You’ve
purchased the most advanced simulation of a commercial jetliner
currently available for the Flight Simulator X platform – now it’s time to
learn to fly it!

We’ve decided to take a slightly different course with the PMDG

737NGX’s tutorial flights compared to what we’ve done in the past.
Instead of trying to do a single all-encompassing tutorial that contains
every detailed procedure and test that a real world crew would perform
in the airplane, we’re going to start with a simpler introductory flight. The
PMDG 737NGX is an extremely deep simulation and you’ll still be
discovering new things with it years down the road, but for now we want
to get you up and flying right away.

We’re aware many simmers just want to load the airplane on the
runway, program a route and go fly – that’s what this first tutorial is all
about. We’re not going to be following the exact normal procedures and
flows from the Flight Crew Operating Manual Vol. 1 (aka FCOM 1) that
a real life crew would do. This is distilled down to the basic steps you’ll
need to take ensure correct setup of the FMC and operation of the
airplane in flight. You’ll be able to have virtually any NG route
programmed and be in the air within about 5 minutes using these
methods provided you start on the runway with the engines running.

This tutorial document seems long but much of it is supplementary

explanations and screenshots. We think it’s very important to not only
understand *what* to do when operating the airplane but also *why*
you’re doing it.

The actual procedures don’t take much time at all once you’re
comfortable with them and have them internalized. At the end of this
flight, we’ll start easing you into more detailed procedures by going
through a bonus full shutdown and securing procedure to prepare for
the second more advanced tutorial flight, which will pick up right where
this one leaves off.

The second flight (available soon after the 800/900 base pack release)
will cover all of the cold & dark startup procedures and contains a more
complicated route with a very challenging descent and approach.

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OVERVIEW
Our first flight today takes us from EGKK - London Gatwick, England
to EHAM - Amsterdam Schiphol, The Netherlands. This is a common
regional route and will take a little over an hour to fly.

We’ll be taking off from Runway 08R and joining the Clacton Five Papa
(CLN5P) departure. We’ll then follow a short series of airway waypoints
until we join the REDFA1A arrival and the ILS for Runway 18R into
Schiphol.

There are no saved flights for this tutorial because we want to show you
how to do it from scratch.

We won’t be using any wind in the simulator for this flight as doing so
requires FMC CDU entries on various pages to get accurate predictions.
We’ll tackle that in Tutorial #2.

If you have not read the FSX SETUP and INTERACTING WITH THE
PMDG 737NGX sections of the Introduction Manual, please make sure
you do so before proceeding. The sim needs to be properly configured
for the airplane to function correctly and it is assumed that you
understand the PMDG clickspot and mouse button methodology in
general before proceeding. This tutorial also assumes the use of the
default PMDG 737NGX aircraft configuration as far as options go – if
you have changed them, please reset them to defaults on the PMDG
SETUP/AIRCRAFT page.

FSX SETUP
Let’s get right into it!

• Start FSX and click “Free Flight”

There is no need to first load the ultralight, Cessna 172, or use any sort
of custom saved flight when loading the PMDG 737NGX. Our
programming sets up the sim environment properly as the aircraft is
loading. You can safely load the airplane straight from Free Flight and it
will load up with the engines running and ready to fly after a brief self-
configuration period. 
 
SELECTING THE AIRCRAFT: 

• Click Change under CURRENT AIRCRAFT.

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• If it’s not already set, check the “Show all variations” box. This
will allow you to see all the liveries you have installed. If it’s not 
checked you will only see the PMDG House livery for each
PMDG 737NGX variant.

• Select PMDG from the Publisher drop down menu and select
the “Boeing 737-800NGX PMDG House Winglets” aircraft.

• Press OK.

SELECTING THE AIRPORT:

• Click Change under CURRENT LOCATION.

• Type EGKK into the By Airport ID field. Verify Gatwick is

highlighted in the list.

• Select 8R from the Choose runway/starting position drop down.

• Press OK.

SETTING THE TIME OF DAY:

• Click Change under CURRENT TIME AND SEASON.

• Set the Local time field to 09:00:00, which is 9AM.

• Press OK.

SETTING THE WEATHER:

• Click Change under CURRENT WEATHER.

• Select the “Clear Skies” preset.

• Press OK.

Note, if you would like clouds present, you can select “User Defined
Weather” at the bottom – this will allow you to add clouds while also
setting the wind to none/calm. Making sure there’s no wind is the
really important thing for the purposes of this tutorial.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING FUEL AND PAYLOAD

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Unlike the default Microsoft aircraft or other addons you may be used to,
the PMDG 737NGX does not load fuel or payload via the Fuel and
Payload dialog in the FSX interface, either at the Free Flight screen or
while in the sim via the menu. We have created our own custom fuel
and payload systems inside the FMC that intelligently load and unload
fuel and payload according to actual weight and balance practices used
by 737NG operators. You’ll always load fuel and payload via this
system, never by the default FSX methods. We’ll see this system in use
in a minute!

ENTERING THE COCKPIT:

• Press FLY NOW!

When FSX loads, you’ll be placed into the PMDG 737NGX cockpit on
Runway 08R at London Gatwick. This tutorial assumes the use of the
virtual cockpit primarily. You may use the 2D panels if you prefer them,
but the narrative is written from the VC perspective and the screenshots
will be from the VC as well.

The NGX runs a 20 second initialization routine when it first loads into
the sim. This routine first appeared in our MD-11 and what the airplane
is doing is setting up the simulator’s internal environment and restarting
Flight Simulator’s engine code in order to better initialize the way we
control the engine behavior from outside of the normal FSX framework.
Our advice is to not touch anything during this 20 second period to
ensure everything is set up correctly. You may hear a quick burst of
sound when loading the airplane as the countdown starts, this is a
normal quirk of the FSX sound engine when restarting the sim’s engine
code suddenly.

• Once the initialization is complete, press Ctrl+. (period key) to

set the parking brake – we don’t want the airplane slipping
forward on its own while we’re head down in the FMC CDU
during the next sections.

FSX SETUP
Our first order of business is to set up the aircraft’s fuel and payload for
the flight. As was mentioned in the Introduction Manual, our philosophy
with the PMDG 737NGX is to minimize the use of the FSX menus as
much as possible – this not only keeps the cockpit experience
immersive and seamless but it also keeps certain traffic and scenery
addons that rely on the sim not being paused from constantly reloading
due to the menus being accessed.
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The Flight Management Computers (FMCs) and their Control Display

Units (CDUs) are the heart of the 737NG’s cockpit. They manage nearly
every aspect of the flight - the lateral route, the aircraft’s performance
data and vertical path, its approach settings and so on. We’ve expanded
its functionality for the FSX environment to allow you to handle many
other functions such as fuel and payload, cockpit equipment and display
options, pushback, ground crew connections such as air and power
carts and a few other items.

Without further ado, let’s get started with the FMC:

FUEL AND PAYLOAD SETUP

• To make it easier to see the CDU, click on the top of the yoke and it
will animate down into a lowered position. This feature does not
exist in the real aircraft but we added it to the simulation to assist in
viewing the FMC CDU since you can’t easily move your “head”
position without hardware like Track IR.

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• Pan and zoom your view down to the captain’s FMC CDU. (use
your joystick hat and the + key or press and hold spacebar and use
the mouse and mouse wheel to do this)

CDU notation convention:

The six keys along each side of the CDU screen are called “Line
select keys” and it’s common to see them referred to using this type
of notation - “LSK 4L.” This stands for the 4th line select key from
the top on the left side of the CDU. We will use this convention
throughout the tutorials.

The space at the bottom of the CDU screen is called the

scratchpad. This is where data entered on the keypad appears. The
act of entering information from the scratchpad to a data field on the
screen is called “line selecting” and is accomplished by pushing the
LSK next to the field you want the scratchpad data to go into.

Keyboard direct entry mode:

You can click each individual key with your mouse pointer or you
can enter data with the keyboard in what we call Direct Entry Mode.
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To use Direct Entry Mode, hold down the Tab key on your keyboard
while typing, similar to holding Shift while typing capital letters.
You’ll see the scratchpad flash in green when this mode is active.

You can also click the scratchpad area on the CDU screen as well
to activate it.

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• The CDU will currently be on the MENU page. We’ve added two
prompts at the lower left – PMDG SETUP at LSK 4R and FS
ACTIONS at LSK 5R. FS ACTIONS is the one that currently
concerns us, so let’s press LSK 5R to select it.

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• Press LSK 1L to select the FUEL page.

The fuel page is our custom way of loading and unloading fuel from
the PMDG 737NGX. The prompts on the right side allow you to load
preset fuel levels, and the prompts on the left allow you to type the
total fuel level, a percentage, or the individual tank weights and then
line select them into place.

• For this flight, we’re going to press the SET 1/3 prompt at LSK 5R.

This is a short flight and we don’t need much fuel for it. Flying with
too much fuel for your trip will just weigh the airplane down and hurt
both your climb and descent performance.

As an aside for the future, if you want a good idea of how much fuel
to load, enter your route and then check the PROG page’s fuel
prediction for the destination airport – subtract your current load
from the amount it predicts at the destination and add 5000lbs for
alternate/hold etc and that’ll be a decent estimate. Use more if you
have a longer distance alternate or other circumstances.
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You’ll see the fuel weight total at LSK 1L change to approximately

15,200lbs. Also notice that the fuel load has been automatically
distributed properly into the two wing tanks at LSKs 3L and 4L, with
the center at LSK 5L empty. The rule on the 737 (and most other
airliners) is that the wing tanks get filled first and then the center.

The FUEL page also automatically sets the two center fuel pump
switches on the overhead panel to OFF when a preset, the total, or
the percentage entries result in the center tank being empty. The
switches will not be set automatically if you manually empty the
center tank with a weight entry, be aware of this!

• Press RETURN at LSK 6L to get back to the root FS ACTIONS

page.

• Press LSK 2L to select the PAYLOAD page.

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The PAYLOAD page is like the FUEL page but for passengers and
cargo. The prompts on the right side are quick-load presets and on
the right side you can type and line select in the exact number of
first and coach class passengers and the weight of the cargo in the
forward and aft compartments under the passenger cabin.

• For this flight, let’s press the SET FULL > prompt at LSK 4R, and
then enter 1500lbs into each of the two cargo compartments by
typing 1500 into the scratchpad and then line selecting it into the
LSK across from each cargo compartment. Change the rear
compartment first in a case like this where you’re reducing the load
to avoid an out of balance situation.

You may have noticed that there are real-time weight and balance
readouts at the upper right of the screen on both the FUEL and
PAYLOAD pages – the fields are the gross weight (GW), the
maximum taxi weight (MTW – note, this field says MTOW in the
screenshots here because they were made using an earlier
development version of the product) the zero fuel weight (ZFW),
and the center of gravity (CG). Using these you can see at a glance
if your weight and balance are within allowable limits. The fields will
turn yellow to warn you if they get out of their limits.

FMC ROUTE SETUP

We now need to talk about the flightplan’s lateral route and explain it:

The route we’ll be using from EGKK to EHAM is:

CLN5P.CLN.UL620.REDFA.REDFA1A

This may look confusing if you’re not familiar with how to read and
decode flightplans, but it’s actually pretty simple.

This route consists of a Standard Instrument Departure (SID), an airway

segment, and a Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR). A good
analogy here for understanding how this works is highways – you can
think of SIDs, STARs and airways as the highways themselves and the
waypoint names in the coded flightplan as the onramps, exits and
interchanges you’ll use along the way.

In this case, we’re going to follow the Clacton Five Papa (CLN5P) SID
to the Clacton VOR (CLN) – CLN acts as the interchange onto the
UL620 airway. We follow UL620 until the fix REDFA. REDFA is also the
first waypoint of the REDFA1A STAR into Amsterdam. You can see the
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actual Eurocontrol charts for the SID and STAR attached at the end
of this document.

The key concept to understand here is that there are additional

waypoints along SIDs, airways, and STARs that are not explicitly written
out in the coded flightplan you saw above.

Keeping with the highway analogy, these are equivalent to the exits and
interchanges in towns or cities that you pass by along your drive but
don’t actually use. The neat thing about the way the FMC works is that
those extra waypoints get automatically entered in when you use the
DEP ARR and ROUTE pages to enter SIDs, airways, and STARs.

Note that you may see routes written in slightly different formats such
as:

CLN5P CLN UL620 REDFA REDFA1A

or

CLN5P.CLN UL620 REDFA.REDFA1A

I personally prefer the nomenclature that uses single dots to signify

“connected” procedures and airways and double dots to signify direct
legs. There isn’t a direct leg in this route, but it would look like this if
there was – CLN..REDFA. The equivalents in the other formats are
CLN REDFA or CLN DCT REDFA with DCT standing for direct.

Let’s move on now to initializing the FMC lateral route on the CDU.

The basic sequence we’ll be following to accomplish this is:

1. Position Initialization
2. Airport entry
3. Departure entry
4. Enroute entry
5. STAR and Approach entry
6. Route activation

Let’s get started:

POSITION INITIALIZATION:

• Press MENU, which will back us out to the root menu.

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• Press LSK 1L, the <FMC prompt.

We’re now on the IDENT page.

The IDENT page doesn’t contain any fields for entry, but it does
provide you with some valuable information such as your
engine thrust rating (in this case 26,000lbs of thrust per engine),
the currently installed navigation database and its valid dates,
and the FMC software version, known as the Op Program.
(currently the latest one flying on NGs, U10.8A)

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• Press LSK 6R to move on to the POS INIT page.

The POS INIT page is used during a cold and dark start for
aligning the inertial reference system (IRS) gyros. When loading
from Free Flight as we’ve done in this tutorial, the IRS is already
aligned, so this page doesn’t actually have any real function.

• Go ahead though and enter EGKK into LSK 2L, the REF
AIRPORT prompt just to get you in the habit of doing it.

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AIRPORT ENTRY:

• Press LSK 6R to select the RTE page.

The RTE page is the primary location for entering the enroute
portion of your flight plan. You’ll notice that EGKK was already
placed into the scratchpad for you. This is a result of having
entered it on the POS INIT page above.

• Line select the preloaded EGKK text into LSK 1L, the ORIGIN
field.

You’ll see the location of the center of the airport appear on the
navigation display (ND).

• Type EHAM into the scratchpad and line select it up with LSK
1R, the DEST field.

• Type PMDG738 into the scratch pad and line select it with LSK
2R, the FLT NO. field
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We could enter the runway now on the RTE page, but we’re
going to do that on the DEP ARR page instead to demonstrate
another feature.

The completed RTE page should look like this:

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DEPARTURE ENTRY:

• Press the DEP ARR button to get to the DEP ARR INDEX page

The DEP ARR INDEX page contains a series of prompts that

take you to the departure and arrival procedure selection pages
for the two airports you entered into the RTE page ORIGIN and
DEST fields on the RTE page earlier. The reason you have both
departure and arrival prompts for the origin airport is to account
for a return to the airport after takeoff due to an emergency.
Having easy access to the arrival page for the origin airport
allows you to select an arrival and/or an approach quickly and
easily.

At LSK 6L and 6R, you have two prompts that allow you access
to any airport’s departure or arrival page. You can type the
ICAO identifier of the airport in question into the scratchpad and
then line select it to the DEP or ARR prompt. This can be useful
in the event of an enroute diversion.

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• Press LSK 1L to get to the EGKK DEPARTURES page

The EGKK DEPARTURES page contains all of the runways

and Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) for Gatwick that
exist in the FMC’s navigation database.

• Press LSK 2R to select Runway 08R. Notice that several things

happen when you do this:

• The runway is drawn on the ND.

• The list of SIDs on the left side of the CDU screen is

filtered so that only the SIDs valid for Runway 08R are
displayed. This is the reason for not entering the
runway on the RTE page 1 earlier – when you enter it
there, it doesn’t filter the SIDs unless you reselect the
runway on the EGKK DEPARTURES page, which is
redundant.

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• Press LSK 2L to select the CLN5P SID. You will see a series of
waypoints representing the path of the SID appear on the ND
with dashed blue lines connecting them. The blue color of the
line means that the route has not yet been activated.

The EGKK DEPARTURES page should now look like this:

ENROUTE ENTRY:

• Press LSK 6R to get back to the RTE page. We’re going back
to it because the RTE page is where enroute airways are
entered.

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• Press the NEXT PAGE button to get to RTE page 2

RTE page 2 and further are where you actually enter route
information. The VIA and TO columns on the left and right sides
of the screen are what I was referring to earlier with the highway
analogy. The right side TO column is where you’re going and
the left side VIA column is how you’re getting there. You can
see right now that we have one line that was already filled in
automatically by our SID selection – we’re going to CLN VIA the
CLN5P SID procedure.

Note that if you were to just enter a single waypoint into the TO
column, you’d see DIRECT automatically appear in the VIA
column, letting you know that there’s no specified VIA routing,
it’s just a direct line from the previous TO column waypoint.

Though we won’t use the more advanced features in this

tutorial, it is worth nothing that the PMDG 737 NGX RTE page
functionality almost exactly mirrors the real life one. You can
actually enter just about anything into the VIA column including
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directly typing the names of SIDs, STARs and approaches as
well as airways and it will take them. The TO column will take
uncommon entries such as airport ICAO codes, ILS identifiers,
and runways too. See the FCOM Vol. 2 for more info on what
you can do here. To our knowledge the Boeing FMC’s RTE
page has never been modeled this completely before in Flight
Simulator.

• Enter UL620 into the scratchpad and line select it into LSK 2L,
the VIA column’s next empty line down.

The fact that it “takes” the airway designation lets you know that
UL620 is a valid airway that you can get onto at CLN. If it
wasn’t you’d see INVALID ENTRY in the scratchpad after trying
to line select it in.

• Complete the airway segment by entering REDFA into the

scratchpad and line selecting it into LSK 2R, directly across
from the UL620 entry.

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We’re now finished with the enroute entries and your RTE page
2 should look like this:

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STAR AND APPROACH ENTRY:

• Press DEP ARR, then press LSK 2R to get to the EHAM

ARRIVALS page.

The EHAM ARRIVALS page is similar to what the EGKK

DEPARTURES page looked like with a few differences. On the
left side of the page are the STARs and on the right are both
the approaches and runways.

• Press NEXT PAGE three times and you’ll see that the runways
are there on page 4 after you get through the three pages of
approaches above them. You would normally only select a
runway alone if you were doing a visual approach or otherwise
not using one of the instrument approaches listed.

• Press PREV PAGE once to return to page 3 and then select the
REDFA1A STAR located at LSK 1L.

The page now gets updated to show the approaches at the top
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with the other STARs no longer showing.

You may also be wondering what the text at position 2L that

says TRANS -NONE- means. Many SIDs and STARs have
“transitions” in addition to the common portion of the procedure.
The transitions are different branches that lead out of (SIDs) or
into (STARs) the main part of the procedure. In this route
though, both the SID and STAR have only a common portion
and no transitions and that’s why you see the text at 2L.

• Press NEXT PAGE once and then select the ILS 18R at LSK
3R.

A list of transitions can appear below approaches as well as

SIDs and STARs. In this case, we do want to select a transition
that leads us from the end of the STAR onto the approach.

• Press NEXT PAGE once and then select the SUG3B transition
at LSK 4R.

The SUG3B is an approach transition normally used at night at

Schiphol. We’re going to use it during the day though for the
purposes of this tutorial because it will set you up for the ILS
18R without the need for any self-vectoring to get onto the
approach. The Eurocontrol chart for it is in the addendum at
the end of the document.

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• The completed EHAM ARRIVALS page should now look like
this:

We now need to make a few slight modifications to the route before

we activate it to correct for navdata inaccuracies and to make sure
the plane actually flies from the final waypoint of the STAR, called
SUGOL, onto the approach.

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• Press the LEGS button.

The LEGS page is a list of every waypoint in the entire flightplan

- this is where you can actually see all the other waypoints that
are part of the SID, STAR, and airways that weren’t explicitly
written out in the coded flightplan we learned about earlier. The
LEGS page is also the primary location in the FMC for
modifying the route. We’re going to perform a series of small
modifications right now.

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• Press NEXT PAGE once to display LEGS page 2.

The waypoint REDFA at the bottom of the page has a

280/FL230B speed and altitude restriction defined in the
navdata that isn’t there on the actual chart. Errors like this are
unfortunately a part of life in flight simming and this is why it’s
always a good idea to compare against the actual chart. (pilots
do this in real life too)

• Press the DEL (delete) key at the bottom of the CDU and then
press LSK 6R to remove the speed and altitude restriction at
REDFA. Make sure you enter the delete on the right side of the
CDU and not the left. Doing it on the left side will remove the
entire waypoint!

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• You should see dashes where the altitude was:

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• Press NEXT PAGE again to display LEGS page 3.

There are two issues that need to be corrected on this page.

Notice this sequence of waypoints on the page:

SUGOL
(VECTOR)
SUGOL

This exists because SUGOL is a waypoint both near the end of

the STAR and at the start of the approach transition. The
(VECTOR) waypoint is a “pseudo waypoint” that represents the
airplane flying on a 113 degree track indefinitely while awaiting
vectors from air traffic control, which is how the STAR ends. For
the purposes of this tutorial we don’t want the airplane to do
that, we want it to proceed directly from SUGOL to the next
waypoint in the approach transition, EH606. Here’s how to
accomplish this modification:

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• Press LSK 4L next to the 2nd instance of the SUGOL waypoint.

This copies the waypoint on that line into the scratch pad – this
copy contains everything associated with that waypoint
including the altitude and speed restrictions that appear on the
right side of the CDU display.

• Line select the copied SUGOL from the scratchpad to LSK 2L,
overwriting the other SUGOL that’s there at that position.

This operation results in the entire flightplan from the point of

the copied SUGOL on being pulled up to replace everything
between it and the location it was line selected to. This means
that the first SUGOL and the (VECTOR) waypoints no longer
exist in the flight plan and we’ve now fixed the issue.

• In addition, the chart specifies that the speed restriction at

SUGOL is actually “MAX 250 KTS” – this is an “at or below”
restriction, but the navdata has coded it as a “hard” or
mandatory 250 knot restriction. This needs to be corrected or
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the FMC will give an error in flight because it will refuse to
violate the 240/10000 global restriction present on the DES
page.

• Type 250B/ into the scratchpad and press LSK 2R to enter it in.

This will allow the aircraft to cross SUGOL at any speed below
250 knots.

The issues with the route are now fixed and we can continue.

ROUTE ACTIVATION:

• Press LSK 6R, the ACTIVATE > prompt.

We’re now telling the FMC that we want to commit to the route
and activate it. You’ll notice that the light on the EXEC button is
now lit up.

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• Press the EXEC (execute) button, which is now lit.

The route turns magenta on the ND and we now have a valid

lateral route loaded in the FMC.

Notice however, that we have numerous blank entries on the

right side of the LEGS page – there should be altitude and
speed predictions here, but those won’t appear until we initialize
the aircraft’s performance in the next step. The entries that are
already filled in are restrictions that were either part of the
coded procedure in the navdata or manually entered by the
crew during the route construction.

PERFORMANCE DATA AND

VERTICAL PATH INITIALIZATION
We now need to initialize the aircraft’s performance data calculations
and through that its ability to follow a vertical path for climb, cruise and
descent along the route.

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• Press INIT REF to proceed to the PERF INIT page.

The PERF INIT page is where the crew tells the FMC what the
aircraft’s operating weights are and set up parameters that affect
the performance and vertical path such as the Cost Index. This is
also where the flight’s cruise altitude is set.

We’ve implemented a shortcut on the PERF INIT page that doesn’t

exist in the real FMC to assist you in entering the weights. Clicking
on the LSK next to the zero fuel weight (ZFW) field will place the
current correct value into the scratchpad. This saves you from
having to go look at the FS ACTIONS FUEL or PAYLOAD pages to
get the value. We’ll use this feature now.

• Click LSK 3L next to the empty ZFW field. Something close to 122.7
should appear in the scratch pad. Click LSK 3L again to enter it into
the ZFW field.

You’ll notice that the gross weight field at 1L is automatically

calculated and filled in. The FMC only needs one of these two
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entries present and the other will be automatically inserted.

• Enter 5.0 and line select it into the RESERVES field at LSK 4L

This entry is purely advisory, it doesn’t affect anything within the fuel
system. If the aircraft starts using fuel below this value, you will get
a scratchpad message that says USING RSV FUEL. If the
destination fuel is predicted to be below 2000lbs, regardless of
reserves, you will see an INSUFFICIENT FUEL message appear in
the CDU scratchpad.

• Enter 25 and line select it into the COST INDEX field at LSK 5L.

Cost Index is a measure of how much the FMC values fuel

economy vs. the overall speed of the flight. Lower values correlate
with lower operating cost at the expense of slower airspeeds and
vice versa. Cost Index is a very powerful parameter in the FMC and
it affects everything from climb, cruise and descent airspeeds to the
maximum attainable altitude for the route. The valid range is 0 to
500.

Cost Index varies in real life operations (it’s calculated by dispatch

based on the exact conditions of the flight and the airline’s policy.)
25 is a common real world value however and will work fine for the
purposes of this tutorial. Many airlines operate in the 20-40 range in
real life.

• Enter 6000 and line select it into the TRANS ALT field at LSK 5R.

Transition altitude is the altitude during the climb at which the FMC
starts using standard calibrated flight levels (altimeter set to 29.92
inHg or 1013 HPa) instead of the actual QNH pressure altitude
above sea level. The FMC defaults to 18000 feet, which is standard
in the United States, but in the UK transition altitude is 6000 feet.

• Finally, enter 250 and line select it into the CRZ ALT field at LSK
1R.

This sets the cruise altitude for the flight. FL250 is standard for this
short route in real life. You can enter it as 250, FL250, or 25000 – all
will work.

After entering the cruise altitude, you’ll often see the route on the
ND change subtly as curves appear that represent the predicted
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turn performance of the airplane. Without the performance fully
initialized, the FMC can’t calculate these and you’ll see straight line
segments between waypoints.

Here’s what the PERF INIT page should look like after you’re done:

• Press the EXEC button to execute the performance data

initialization.

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• Press the LEGS button – you should now see predicted altitudes
and speeds at any waypoint that doesn’t have preset restrictions
coded into the procedure. If you see these predictions you now
have a valid vertical path initialized and will be able to activate the
VNAV autopilot modes after takeoff.

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N1 LIMIT AND TAKEOFF REFERENCE DATA SETUP
We now need to set the engine thrust rating for our takeoff and climb
and enter our takeoff data.

• Press the N1 LIMIT button on the CDU to proceed to the N1 LIMIT

page.

The N1 LIMIT page controls the thrust rating of the engines for
takeoff and the initial climb.

We are going to do a combination of a fixed derate and an assumed

temperature takeoff to save wear and tear on the engines by limiting
them to less than maximum takeoff and climb thrust. In real life the
airline’s dispatch center would go through detailed calculations to
ensure that the use of derated/reduced thrust is safe and
permissible for the given runway length, aircraft weight and
environmental conditions. I’ve already done this calculation in our
case using an addon called TOPCAT that we highly recommend.

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To set this up:

• Press LSK 4L to select the TO-2 fixed derate mode.

What we’re doing here is effectively turning our 26K engines into
22K engines for the takeoff sequence. This fixed derate is always
the same regardless of conditions.

• Type 40 into the scratchpad and line select it into LSK 1L to enter
an additional assumed temperature of 40C on top of the fixed
derate.

Assumed temperature is a more complicated concept than the fixed

derate, but the basic idea is as follows:

The engines are designed to produce their rated thrust at an actual

outside air temperature of 30C (ISA + 15C). If the temperature is
higher than this, the air becomes less dense and the engine
produces less thrust at the same N1 setting. When we enter an
assumed temperature that is higher than the actual outside air
temperature, we’re telling the engine computers to act as if that the
air is less dense than it really is and it will reduce the N1 limit to
produce somewhere around level of thrust that it would if the
temperature was actually the higher value.

• Entering the assumed temperature should have automatically

selected the fixed CLB-1 derate too. If it didn’t, press LSK 3R to
select it.

This is doing the same thing for the initial climb that we did for the
takeoff two steps earlier.

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• The completed N1 REF PAGE should now look like this:

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• Press LSK 6R to go to the TAKEOFF REF page:

The TAKEOFF REF page contains several required entries for

calculating the aircraft’s performance during the takeoff.

• Enter 5 and line select it into the LSK 1L FLAPS field.

5 is a standard takeoff flap setting for the 737-800 and will work well
for most normal flight situations in the PMDG 737 NGX.

• Click LSK 3L – this is a similar shortcut to the ones for the GW and
ZFW earlier on the PERF INIT page. It will place the current CG
value into the scratch pad for you. Line select that value back into
the LSK 3L field and the FMC will reward you with your calculated
takeoff trim setting.

• Click LSKs 1R, 2R, and 3R – this transfers the calculated takeoff V
speeds from the FMC’s integrated QRH table onto the Primary
Flight Display (PFD) speed tape.

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You will notice the flight plan route shift slightly when you enter the
V speeds – the PMDG 737NGX FMC actually accounts for that
small difference resulting from the exact speed you lift off at.

The completed TAKEOFF REF page should look like this:

The FMC initialization is now complete.

COCKPIT CONFIGURATION
We now need to configure the rest of the physical cockpit items for
takeoff.

• Set the takeoff trim on the pedestal to the left of the throttles to the
value seen in LSK 3L from a few steps earlier. (5.04 in this case)
You can do this by using the electric trim switches on your joystick,
their equivalent keypresses or by actually physically rotating the
wheel with your mouse while the cursor is positioned over top of it.
An FSX tooltip shows you the current value of the trim.

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A note about trim speed:

The PMDG 737NGX’s trim motion is going to seem very slow if

you’re used to most other addons. We have exactly recreated the
real life trim rates by bypassing the normal FSX trim functions, and
yes, they are this slow in the real airplane. This is a huge aid though
while handflying as you now have extremely precise control over the
trim’s range of motion and should be able to trim out control forces
perfectly in almost any situation.

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• Set the FLAPS to 5. You can do this by pressing F7 three times or
by left clicking three times on the physical flap level in the VC. (right
clicking will raise them)

• Set the AUTOBRAKES knob to RTO by left clicking it once.

RTO stands for Rejected Take Off and will automatically apply
maximum braking in the event the throttles are retarded to idle while
at or above 90 knots during the takeoff roll.

MCP SETUP:

We need to configure a few more items on the autopilot mode control

panel (MCP):

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• Pan up and set the MCP SPEED knob to V2, which should
be around 143-145 knots, again depending on your exact
weight. Set it to whatever the TAKEOFF REF page shows.

• Set the MCP HEADING knob to the runway heading, which

is 079 degrees at EGKK 08R.

• Set the MCP ALTITUDE knob to 5000.

If you’re wondering how we know to set this in the absence

of an ATC initial altitude clearance – look at the chart for the
CLN5P SID again. The number 5000 with solid lines above
and below it at TUNBY and at DET means we need to cross
those fixes at exactly 5000 feet. If you look at the LEGS
page, you can see that it’s already present in the SID from
the navdata. The airplane will automatically respect this
provided you’re climbing in VNAV, but it’s always a good
idea to manually limit the airplane to restrictions by using
the MCP altitude knob.

The plane will never climb above or descend below what

you have set in the MCP altitude window while under
autopilot control. This is a great safety feature in the cockpit
to make sure you don’t inadvertently bust your altitudes.

Our climb is limited to 5000 and 6000 feet until we’re well
into the departure in order to avoid conflicting with traffic on
the departures and arrivals for the larger EGLL - London
Heathrow airport that lies to the north of our departure path.
There are a lot of airplanes in this airspace in real life and
the altitude restrictions are necessary to partition the
airspace and avoid any loss of separation incidents.

• Turn the captain’s and first officer’s FLIGHT DIRECTOR

(FD) switches to their ON/UP settings. This allows the
autopilot’s modes to arm and engage. You’ll see a green
FD annunciation on the PFD just above the artificial horizon
when the switches are on.

It is very important that BOTH flight director switches be on

– you’ll find many functions such as the takeoff/go-around
(TO/GA) mode will not work if one of the FDs is left off.

Notice the green “MA” light below the captain’s FD switch

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as well – this indicates that the captain’s side FD is
currently the master FD. Normally, the first FD switch to be
turned on is the master, but it can change depending on
which autopilot you select in CMD as well.

• Arm the AUTOTHROTTLE by clicking the switch on the

MCP up into the ARM position. You’ll see a green light
appear confirming that it’s on. The PFD flight mode
annunciator (FMA) also shows ARM. (A green box appears
around the mode for a few seconds to indicate the change)

• Arm the LNAV and VNAV modes by pressing the LNAV and
VNAV buttons. You’ll see LNAV appear in small white
letters at the bottom of the FMA roll mode column and
VNAV in the pitch mode column. LNAV will engage and turn
green at 50 feet after you lift off and VNAV will engage at
400 feet.

Note for future reference that there are conditions where

LNAV will not arm on the ground, most notably if the first
leg’s course is more than 5 degrees away from the runway
heading.

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• The MCP is now configured and should look like this:

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EFIS SETUP:

The Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS, pronounced “e-fiss” with

the stress on the first syllable) is the name of the system that comprises
the PFD and ND display units and the controls that the crew uses to
interact with them.

• Before we go to the EFIS panel, pan over and back to the

center pedestal, change to the VC pedestal camera preset,
or bring up the 2D version with Shift-4 and right click the
TRANSPONDER’S TCAS mode selector four times until it’s
fully to the right in the TA/RA position. Set the squawk code
to 2200 (a standard IFR code you might be assigned by
ATC in real life) by right clicking the large knob on the left
side of the unit once. (1200 is a VFR code)

TA/RA sets the TCAS system to provide you with both

traffic advisory and resolution advisory messages. TAs
simply alert you to the presence of traffic, RAs give you
commands to follow during a conflict to provide separation.

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• Pan back up to the EFIS control panel to the left of the MCP
and right click the outer portion of the BARO knob to set it
from inches of mercury (inHg) to hectopascals (hPa), which
is the metric system’s standard unit of pressure used in
Europe. Since we have not changed the pressure for this
flight, the standard setting of 1013 hPa should be already
set at the lower right of the PFD.

• Similarly, press the inHg/hPa button on the Integrated

Standby Flight Display (ISFD) to set it to hectopascals as
well.

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• Set the map display to 10nm by turning the EFIS control
panel RANGE knob to the left if it’s not already set. Turn the
traffic display on by clicking the TFC push button that’s on
the face of this same knob.

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• Press the ENG button above the upper engine display unit
(DU) twice to display the compact secondary engine
indications. The compact display is used at takeoff to avoid
making the pilots look down at the lower DU.

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• Press the DATA button that’s located just below the EFIS
range selector. This adds labels below each waypoint on
the ND that show you any entered crossing altitudes as well
as the predicted time you will pass over them.

OVERHEAD SETUP:

Right click on an empty area and select the Cockpit\Overhead Lower

Panel camera view. There’s only a few things that need to be set here
near the front of the panel:

• Turn the LANDING LIGHTS on by left clicking the gang-bar

located above the switches – this will turn all four switches on
with a single click.

• Turn the NAVIGATION LIGHTS to the STROBE & STEADY

(up) setting.

• Turn the red ANTI-COLLISION light switch to the ON (down)

setting.

• Set both ENGINE START SELECTORS to CONT (continuous

ignition).

This is done so that the engines have a better chance of

continuing to run in the case of an incident during the takeoff
sequence such as a compressor stall or bird strike.

• Set the cruise altitude to 25000 and the landing altitude to 0 on

the PRESSURIZATION CONTROLLER. The pressurization
controller on the 737NG does not get set automatically by the

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FMC.

Here’s what the overhead should look like when done:

We’re now ready for takeoff!

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IN THE AIR
It’s a good idea to read the takeoff section below once before you do
anything. A lot of things are going to happen very quickly once we get
the airplane rolling.

By the way, in case you were wondering why we’re so far back from the
runway numbers, Gatwick’s Runway 08R features what’s known as a
“displaced threshold” at the start of the runway. You’re allowed to start a
takeoff roll from the displaced threshold, but you may not land on it.

TAKEOFF:

• Release the parking brake with Ctrl+. (period key), by clicking

the physical parking brake lever in the VC, or by tapping the
brake button on your joystick. (defaults to the trigger on most
sticks)

• Smoothly advance the thrust levers to 40% N1. The engines will
take some time to spool – the CFM56-7B “bites” around 50%
N1 and will accelerate very quickly after that point, but it takes a
while to get from idle to 40%.

• Once stabilized at 40%, engage TO/GA mode – there are

several ways to do this:

1. Press the keyboard shortcut – CTRL+SHIFT+G by

default or your custom joystick button.

2. Left click the hidden clickspot located on the MCP just

below the course knob.

On previous PMDG products, TOGA was the upper left

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MCP screw, however we were unable to do this in the
PMDG 737NGX due to the HGS combiner blocking the
view of the screw while it’s down.

3. Click the actual TOGA button on the thrust levers.

When the TO/GA button is pressed, several things

happen:

• The autothrottle increases engine thrust to the

takeoff N1 limit – in our case, D-TO 2 +40C , which
will be around 88% N1.

• The flight director bars appear on the PFD.

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• The flight mode annunciator (FMA) at the top of the
PFD will show N1 in the thrust field and TO/GA in
the pitch field with VNAV armed below it. The roll
field remains blank with LNAV armed in white
below. Green boxes are drawn for a few seconds
around modes that have just engaged.

• Maintain a small amount of forward pressure on your yoke or

stick until reaching 80 knots and use the rudder if necessary to
keep the airplane aligned with the runway centerline.

• Upon reaching V1, we are committed to flying. While no failures

will happen in this tutorial, in the event anything did on a future
flight, you would handle it in the air now instead of attempting to
reject the takeoff. If you abort after V1 you run the risk of
overrunning the end of runway during the abort and crashing on
the ground.

• When you reach VR, smoothly rotate at around 2 to 3 degrees

per second toward a goal of 15 degrees nose up after liftoff. Be
careful not to rotate too quickly – the 737-800 is a long aircraft
and is prone to tailstrikes at high rates of rotation.

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• Raise the landing gear by pressing G, clicking the handle in the
VC or via a custom keypress/button you’ve set.

• Follow the flight director’s command bars to maintain V2+20

knots, but do not “chase” them - smoothly maneuver to follow
them. At 50 feet, LNAV will engage and turn green at the top of
the FMA roll mode field.

• Passing 400 feet (look at the radio altimeter readout at the

bottom of the PFD) press CMD A on the right side of the MCP
to engage the autopilot.

Take your hands off the controls, the autopilot is now flying.
This actually is very important – deflecting the controls past a
certain amount of force while the AP is engaged will cause it to
disconnect or drop into control wheel steering (CWS) mode,
which we don’t want! The AP CMD will also fail to engage if the
controls are not centered when CMD is pushed.

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• Set the landing gear to the middle OFF position by left clicking
the handle once.

This depressurizes the landing gear hydraulics. This is

important because there are potential consequences to leaving
the system pressurized in the event that there’s a leak, an
overheat, etc.

• Right click the AUTOBRAKES knob to set it to the OFF position.

• Select the LEGS page on the captain’s CDU.

• Set the EFIS range selector to a larger range such as 20nm or

40nm for the departure and climb. Once we get near cruise, a
setting of 80nm or even 160nm can be used to see more of the
route.

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CLIMB:

• At 1500 feet above ground level, the aircraft will reduce to climb
thrust and begin accelerating to 250 knots. This is called
“acceleration height” and can be modified on the FMC
TAKEOFF REF page 2 before departure if so desired.

• Flap retraction on a normal flaps 5 takeoff and climbout is

accomplished as follows after reaching acceleration height:

o At acceleration altitude select flaps 1.

o Passing the “1” marker on the PFD speedtape, select

flaps up.

The idea here is that the aircraft is expected to be

accelerating rapidly, so there’s no need to wait until
passing the exact maneuvering speed (which is what
the numbers represent) to raise the flaps past the
currently indicated point. It’s expected that by the time
the flaps finish retracting you’re already at or above
maneuvering speed for that setting.

If you’d like more information about this procedure,

check the Flight Crew Training Manual (FTCM) pages
3.32 -3.34.

• Set the two ENGINE START SELECTORS at the front of the

overhead to OFF.

• It is good practice to keep the MCP HEADING aligned with the

aircraft’s actual direction of flight when on a leg of sufficient
length. This is done in case you have to suddenly engage HDG
SEL mode. After reaching the (INTC) interception point on the
departure, rotate the heading knob to match the magenta
course leg. (You’ll notice that I’m not the greatest at
remembering to do this in the screenshots)

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• The airplane will level off at 5000 feet due to the restrictions at
TUNBY and DET.

VNAV PTH annunciates on the FMA pitch field to indicate that

the FMC vertical path is being followed. This is than the VNAV
SPD mode we were just in, which does not follow any set path
but rather uses pitch to fly the ECON climb speed while holding
the thrust constant at the CLB-1 N1 limit. You’ll also see FMC
SPD annunciated in the FMA thrust mode field. This indicates
that the autothrottle is actively controlling the airplane’s speed
with variable thrust as opposed to a mode like N1 that
commands a constant thrust setting.

The reason for these low altitude restrictions way are the busy
arrival and departure routes into and out of the city’s main
international airport, EGLL – London Heathrow, which is about
23nm to the northwest of our current position. Gatwick
departures have to be kept below these other flights – this is
very busy airspace in real life and the restrictions exist to
partition the airspace in order to avoid conflicts and possible
loss of separation incidents.

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• After passing the Detling VOR (DET), you’re going to see VNAV
ALT annunciated in the FMA pitch mode box along with an FMC
message that says RESET MCP ALTITUDE.

VNAV ALT means that VNAV wants to climb or descend, but it’s
being limited by what’s set in the MCP ALTITUDE window. Our
next altitude is a hard 6000 foot restriction at D015E, which is
5nm after passing DET.

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• To get us out of VNAV ALT mode and continue the climb, roll
the MCP ALTITUDE knob up to 6000 and then press the button
labeled ALT INTV to the right of the knob. The click spot
extends to the right over top of the lettering to enable you to
click it from the captain’s seat position without difficulty.

The ALTITUDE INTERVENTION button has several functions

but this is one of the main ones - getting out of VNAV ALT and
resuming a climb in VNAV SPD.

Be aware in this situation where the airplane is light at low

altitude and there’s a small change in altitude that real life pilots
would likkely use V/S at 1000fpm to accomplish the altitude
change. You will see a very steep pitch up using VNAV SPD
here due to the airplane’s light weight and low altitude.

• You’ll see the same VNAV ALT annunciation again after

passing D015E. There are no more restrictions after D015E so
let’s roll the MCP ALTITUDE knob up to 25000 and press ALT
INTV to resume the climb.

• 6000 feet (FL060 at standard pressure) is also our transition

altitude where we switch to flying flight levels instead of
altitudes above sea level based on a local altimeter setting. All
aircraft flying flight levels use the standard pressure setting of
29.92 inHg or 1013HPa. Once you climb a bit above 6000,
you’ll see the altimeter setting at the bottom right of the PFD
turn yellow with a box around it. This is a notice to you that you
need to switch to standard pressure. Press the STD button
embedded into the center of the BARO knob on the EFIS
control panel to automatically set standard pressure.

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(Note, because we did not change the pressure in the FSX
weather settings for this flight, you will already have 1013 HPA
as your setting. You still do need to press STD when climbing
above 6000 though.) After pressing STD, you’ll see STD in
green where the yellow altimeter setting was.

• Passing FL100, pan up to the overhead and turn off the

LANDING LIGHTS. You can right click the gang-bar to turn
them all off, simulating a single motion of the hand backwards
on the switches.

At this point you’ll also see the airplane pitch over to accelerate
to a higher FMC commanded climb speed since we’re now
above the mandatory 250 knots below 10000 feet restriction. It
accelerates to the FMC’s ECON climb speed, which is dynamic
and will change depending on aircraft weight and environmental
conditions.

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• Passing FL150, you’ll notice the CLB 1 annunciation on the

upper engine DU change to read just CLB. This is the end of
our climb derate – the engines now have their full climb power
rating available for use as the air thins up higher. Note that this
transition actually happens gradually, you may have noticed the
N1 slowly increasing through the climb to this point.

• A few miles after passing CLN, we’ll reach our top-of-climb point
at FL250, which is indicated by a green circle with the letters
T/C next to it. The green altitude range arc that you see on the
ND is the continuously calculated point at which you will reach
the altitude currently in the MCP window. This can be very
useful in both climbs and descents for seeing if you’ll be able to
make restrictions.

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CRUISE:

We’re now crossing over the southern part of the North Sea at our
cruise altitude of FL250. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to
admire the scenery as we’re already quickly approaching our top-of-
descent point on this short flight and we need to prepare for the descent
and approach.

• We’re coming up on a green circle with T/D written next to it just

after the REDFA waypoint. T/D is our top-of-descent point. One
minute before top of descent, the airplane will slow from ECON
cruise speed to ECON descent speed. This may not always
happen with higher cruise altitudes because the two speeds are
often the same, but in this case it’s going to slow to around 267
knots.

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• 5 miles before T/D a message that says RESET MCP
ALTITUDE appears in the FMC scratchpad. This is letting you
know that VNAV wants to initiate the descent soon and you
need to lower the MCP ALTITUDE knob to give it permission.
For the purpose of this tutorial, we’re going to set it to 2000 feet,
which is the glideslope intercept altitude on the approach. In
real life you’d set it to the lowest altitude ATC has cleared you
down to, but we want to show off the VNAV system’s ability to
hit a complicated set of speed and altitude restrictions for you
here.

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DESCENT:

• The vertical path deviation indicator will appear on the right side
of the ND as you pass the T/D point. The diamond shows you
how high or below the FMC calculated VNAV path you are.
Don’t worry about the RNP and ANP numbers - we’ll address
those in a later tutorial.

• The FMA thrust mode annunciates RETARD while the throttles

are being moved back to idle, followed by ARM in white, which
indicates that the autothrottle servo is disconnected from the
physical throttles.

The first leg of any VNAV PTH descent is always an idle path –
after we reach the restriction at SUGOL however, the airplane
will enter geometric path mode and use a constant decent angle
for each subsequent leg.

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Now that we’re stable in the descent, we need to accomplish a few
tasks to prepare for the approach:

• Press INIT REF on the CDU – this button is context sensitive

and since we’re now in the descent, it takes you to the
APPROACH REF page.

The APPROACH REF page gives you essential information for

the approach and landing, including your current gross weight,
the runway and ILS information, and the available flap setting
and VREF combinations.

• We’re going to do a standard flaps 30 landing today, so let’s

select that.

Unlike other FMCs, you need to press LSK 2R *twice* to get it

to take the flap setting into the LSK 4R FLAP/SPD field on the
737NG. It’s just a quirk of the real unit, but you don’t ever line
select the setting into 4R unless you’re typing a custom
flap/VREF combo in.
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Setting the landing flaps transfers a readout of the flap and

speed combination to the PFD speed tape, much like we did
with the V speeds before takeoff.

• Enter the ILS frequency into the standby windows of both

navigation radios on the pedestal – the larger outer knob
controls the whole number digits, and the smaller inner knob on
top controls the decimal digits. The frequency for EHAM’s
Runway 18R is 110.10, which you can see on the FMC
APPROACH REF page. Press the TFR (transfer) switch to
make both radios active on the ILS frequency.

• While we’re down on the pedestal, let’s set the Head-up

Guidance System (HGS) controller options so that we can use it
during the approach. (located in the center of the pedestal
below the nav radios) It needs two pieces of information, the
runway elevation and the runway length.

o Press the RWY button on the left side of the HGS

controller until it says EL>0. This we can leave because
the runway elevation actually is around -13 feet, and 0
is as close as we can get to it with the controller.

o Press the RWY button again until you see LN>10000.

We need to set this to the actual runway length, which
is 12,467 feet. Key in 12467 on the keypad on the right
side of the controller and press enter at the lower left
corner of the keypad.

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o The HGS is now configured for the approach.

• Pan up to the MCP and enter the localizer front course 184 into
both the captain and FO’s course windows.

In the event you wanted to do a normal CAT I-style ILS

approach where you don’t autoland, you would just tune one
radio to the ILS frequency. When you engage both autopilots in
this case, you’ll see SINGLE CH annunciated on the PFD in
amber, letting you know that you do not have dual autopilot
redundancy and can’t perform an autoland. In this case you’d
disconnect the AP at the decision height and land manually.

In Europe, transition level for the descent is often different than

transition altitude was during the climb. This route is no exception – our
transition altitude climbing was 6000 feet, however the chart tells us it’s
assigned by ATC at EHAM. Most commonly it will be the airport’s
(climb) transition altitude + 1000 feet. In this case, EHAM has a
transition altitude of 3000 feet so add 1000 to it and our transition level
will be FL040. (4000 feet at standard 1013 hPa pressure)

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• To enter the descent transition level, first press the DES button
on the CDU, then press the FORECAST prompt at LSK 6L.

• Enter 040 or FL040, and line select it into the TRANS LVL field
at LSK 1L.

• Press LEGS, where we’ll stay for the rest of the approach.

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• You’ll notice now going back to the PFD that we have the ILS
frequency and course visible on the left side indented above the
artificial horizon and the LNAV/VNAV navigation performance
scale (NPS) annunciation.

• Arm the autobrakes for landing by right clicking the

AUTOBRAKES knob twice to select AUTOBRAKES 2.

• Set the landing minimums by clicking the outer EFIS control

panel MINS knob to its RADIO setting and then turning the
smaller inner knob down to 100 feet radio altitude – you’ll see
the number in the lower right corner of the PFD.

We’re a category D aircraft on this approach (approach

airspeed above 141 knots) and the published minimum is 100
feet for a Category II ILS.

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Continue the descent.

• You’ll see a green circle with no text next to it on the route

somewhere around 5 miles prior to SUGOL – this marks the
start of the deceleration leg to reach 240 knots at or below
10,000 feet. A second unlabeled circle about 5 miles past the
first one marks the end of the deceleration segment.

During the deceleration segment, the FMC commands a

shallower path angle to allow the airplane to slow down.

• At FL100, pan up and turn on the LANDING LIGHTS again with

a left click on the gang-bar.

• After passing SUGOL, we receive a CDU scratchpad message

that says DRAG REQ AFTER NIRSI. This is letting us know that
the predicted speed in the absence of drag from the
speedbrakes is going to be 10 or more knots above what it
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should be to hold the vertical path. In this case, it’s because of
the 220 knot speed restriction at NIRSI – the airplane would like
to be slower than 220 there but can’t be because of the
mandatory restriction. Take note of the warning and clear it by
pressing the CDU CLR key.

Notice too that passing SUGOL, we’ve entered the geometric

path portion of the descent – the HOLD previously in the FMA
thrust field is now FMC SPD.

Look out the front window as we’re nearing EH606 – that’s Schiphol
about 10 miles off the nose and we’re about to turn onto what is
effectively our right downwind leg.

• Set the EFIS control panel range knob to 10nm at EH606.

• As we roll out of the turn passing EH606, we come to a DECEL

circle about halfway between EH606 and NIRSI – this is the
beginning of our deceleration segment for crossing NIRSI at the
mandatory 220 knots. You may see the DRAG REQ AFTER
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NIRSI message again.

DECEL circles can appear in the following conditions:

o Slowing before a hold

o Before a waypoint speed restriction

o The start of the flaps/approach deceleration phase.

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• Passing NIRSI, the commanded speed will drop to the flaps up
maneuvering speed, which should be somewhere around 206
knots. Deploy flaps 1 as the airplane reaches this speed, which
will cause the speed target to drop to flaps 1 maneuvering
speed.

Remember the DRAG REQUIRED AFTER NIRSI advisory

message we received a few minutes ago? You may need to
extend the speedbrakes to get the airplane to slow down here –
this is now a continuous decent path per the SUG3B chart. To
extend them, press the / key or click the clickspots located to
the right of the physical SPD BRK handle in the VC.

FINAL APPROACH:

• About 2.5 miles from EH608 we pass our descent transition

level of FL040, so reach up on the EFIS control panel and press
the STD button on the BARO knob to return us to flying
altitudes above sea level based on local pressure setting and
not flight levels. You should see 1013 HPA on the lower right of
the PFD.

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• Around this same time just before reaching EH608, arm
VOR/LOC mode on the MCP by pressing the VOR/LOC button,
this will set the autopilot to intercept the localizer as we turn
onto the final approach course still in LNAV. You’ll see
VOR/LOC in white below LNAV in the FMA roll field.

It’s always a good idea to intercept the localizer before the

glideslope – in fact this particular PMDG 737NGX airframe
option configuration doesn’t even allow the GS to be intercepted
before the LOC.

• As you turn onto the localizer you should be reaching flaps 1

maneuvering speed, set flaps 5.

• After the localizer is captured, press the APP button on the

MCP to arm the glideslope capture. It should capture almost
immediately since this approach transition essentially follows
the glideslope while in VNAV up to this point.

When GS engages, you will see most of the MCP mode button
lights blank out – this is letting you know that you are now
committed to the approach mode. The only way to get out of it
now is by executing a go around or by cycling the flight directors
off and back on.

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•

• Press CMD B on the MCP to arm the autoland mode – you

should see both CMD A and CMD B lit up.

• We have now left both the LNAV and VNAV modes. We’ll need
to manually move the MCP SPEED knob down to 147 knots,
which will be our final approach speed. The reason it’s 147 and
not the 142 shown in on the APPROACH REF page is because
you always add at least 5 knots extra to your VREF. In a no
wind situation like this, 5 knots is fine, but there are situations
involving crosswinds, windshear risk and so with manual throttle
control where you’d add more than 5 to it. Boeing states
however that 5 knots is always sufficient if using the
autothrottle.

• Set the engine start switches to CONT. (for the same reason
they were on this setting at takeoff)

• As you reach flaps 5 maneuvering speed, select Flaps 15 and

lower the landing gear.

Note that when you lower the landing gear, the engines will
spool up to approach idle, higher than they were prior to the
gear coming down. This is to account for the extra drag.

The PMDG 737NGX correctly predicts speeds for the approach

phase. Its target is Flaps 15 maneuvering speed (which is
technically the Flaps 40 VREF speed +20 knots) at roughly the
published normal glideslope intercept point. In this case, it should
be somewhere around 155 knots at EH621. The fact that the FMC
will essentially get you to this point automatically is a huge help in
getting stabilized correctly on the approach.

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• Select flaps 30 once you reach flaps 15 maneuvering speed.

• Arm the automatic landing speedbrakes by either pressing

Shift+/, clicking the clickspot preset located to the right of the
SPD BRK handle, or by using a custom keypress or joystick
button.

• Click the hidden clickspot on the left side window support post –
this will lower the HGS combiner into place and you should see
the HGS symbology already showing the A III approach mode.
A III mode activates once you’re properly established on an ILS.

• After passing 1500 feet on the radio altimeter, you’ll see LAND
3 annunciated on the PFD where it previously said FD after a
short self-test (indicated by the localizer and glideslope
diamonds flashing.) You’ll also see ROLLOUT and FLARE
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appear armed in white below the active roll and pitch modes.
This tells you that the fail operational autoland system is now
armed and will land the aircraft.

There isn’t much to do now until we touch down, so enjoy the view while
looking through the first fully collimated, fully conformal HGS system
ever developed for an MSFS airliner. Watch closely – at 300 feet you’ll
see guide lines appear projected onto the sides of the physical runway
that help you know where to look for the lights if you were landing in
actual IMC. At 89 feet you’ll hear a “Minimums” GPWS callout. If we
were in actual IMC, we’d need to go around if we didn’t have the runway
in sight by this altitude.

LANDING:

• As the airplane flares and touches down, quickly press and hold
F2 to engage the thrust reversers. Keep them activated until
you’re at around 80 knots or so, then press F1 to begin stowing
them.

• Disengage the autopilot by pressing Z or your joystick AP

disconnect key twice.

• Brake manually below 80 knots, which will disengage the

autobrakes.

Note that due to an issue with FSX, you will need to tap the
brakes several times or press and hold them to get the
autobrakes to disengage.

• Turn off at Taxiway V1 and hold.

• Raise the HGS by clicking on the left cockpit window support

again.

Welcome to Amsterdam and congratulations on the successful

conclusion of your first PMDG 737 NGX flight!

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You have a choice now:

You can continue taxiing to the terminal and do the bonus Shutdown
and Secure Procedures, or you can leave FSX now and move on later
to the more advanced PMDG 737NGX Tutorial #2 (may not be available
yet if you’re reading this just after release of the 800/900 base pack, it
will be released soon), which will take us from here, EHAM –
Amsterdam Schiphol, The Netherlands to LOWI – Innsbruck,
Austria high in the Alps. You’ll fly the famous (or infamous depending
on who you talk to!) LOC/DME EAST approach with the circle to land
visual approach to Runway 08. This is one of the most challenging
approaches in all of commercial aviation and we’re going to show you
how to fly it like a pro using some of the PMDG 737 NGX’s advanced
features. The EGPWS terrain display will show you exactly where you
are in relation to the huge mountains that surround the airport and the
HGS in its primary mode will allow you to easily nail it right on the
numbers, even after rolling out of the tight 180 degree turn in the
mountain valley.

BONUS:
SHUTDOWN AND SECURE NORMAL PROCEDURES
We’re now going to do the more advanced end-of-flight procedures “by
the book” like a real crew would. The book in question is the Flight
Crew Operations Manual Vol 1. (FCOM 1) and you can find it in your
Start Menu\All Programs\PMDG Simulations\PMDG 737 NGX\ menu
as a PDF file. Note that we will be skipping over items in the procedures
that aren’t applicable – these procedures have a lot of conditional steps
in them and many aren’t necessary given the current state of our
airplane.

Open the FCOM 1 and find Normal Procedures section page NP.21.81
(page 157 of the PDF version) - the After Landing Procedure.

Because the PMDG 737NGX is effectively a single pilot aircraft in the

FSX environment, we’re going to combine the pilot flying and pilot
monitoring’s actions – in real life there’s a division of labor between the
two crew members. Shared cockpit functionality is planned for a service
pack update and you’ll then be able to perform the correct division of
duties with a friend!

AFTER LANDING PROCEDURE:

The 737-800 we’re flying has manual ignition, so we’re going to use the
section at the top of the page under [Without automatic ignition].
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• Verify that the SPD BRK lever in its DOWN position, which
stows the spoilers.

• Start the APU by left clicking twice on the switch at the front of
the overhead.

• Set the overhead PROBE HEAT switches to off.

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Note that you will get a master caution for ANTI-ICE when doing
this. This is normal and you can clear it by pushing on the
master caution button.

• Turn off the LANDING LIGHTS, turn on the TAXI LIGHT, and
set the POSITION lights switch to STEADY.

• Set the engine start selectors from CONT to off.

• Set the AUTOBRAKES knob to OFF.

• Select FLAPS UP.

• Set the TRANSPONDER mode to ALT since EHAM is an airport

equipped with ground radar. (you would set it to standby at an
airport not equipped with ground radar)

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Runway 18R was built quite far away from the main airport complex for
noise abatement during night ops, so we have a bit of a trek to the
terminal now. Follow the red highlighted route on the airport diagram
below, crossing Runway 18C upon reaching it:

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Since we’re not simulating any particular airline here, you can pick any
gate you’d like on the southeast side of the airport. (also highlighted on
the chart above) We’ll be departing Runway 24 in Tutorial #2 and this
will put us very close to it for a short taxi.

Once we’re at the gate, it’s time to perform the Shutdown Procedure
which starts at FCOM 1 NP.21.82 (page 158 of the PDF version)

SHUTDOWN PROCEDURE:

• Set the parking brake either by clicking the handle on the

pedestal, or by pressing Shift+.(period key). We don’t want our
737’s nose making a surprise cameo inside the terminal…

• Set both APU generator bus switches to on.

Verify that the GEN OFF BUS lights for the engine driven
generators are lit and the APU GEN OFF BUS light is
extinguished – the plane is now receiving its electrical power
solely from the APU generators.

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• On the pedestal view, move both engine start levers below the
throttles to the cutoff position (down) by left clicking them.

This is the action that actually shuts down the engines.

• Turn the fasten seat belts switch on the overhead off.

• Turn the red anti-collision beacon switch off.

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• Turn all FUEL PUMP switches off.

• Leave the engine hydraulic pump switches ON and set the

electric demand pump switches to off.

• Set the pneumatic panel isolation valve to open and set the
APU bleed air switch to on.

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• Turn off both FLIGHT DIRECTOR switches on the MCP.

Doing this resets the AFDS and clears any modes that may still
be present on the FMA.

• Set the pedestal TRANSPONDER switch to STBY.

This stops us from showing up on ground radar at the gate.

• Press MENU, FS ACTIONS, and then GROUND

CONNECTIONS. Set the CHOCKS with LSK 1L.

• Disengage the PARKING BRAKE by clicking the lever since

we’re now held in place by the chocks.

At this point some time would pass at the end of a real flight - the
passengers are being deplaned, the catering and cleaning crews are
beginning to perform their jobs and so on. We’re going to pretend that
some amount of time for those activities has passed and proceed with

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the final Shutdown Procedure items after our passengers have left the
airplane.

• Move the APU switch to the off position.

The APU shutdown process will take approximately 60 seconds

to begin.

• Perform the SHUTDOWN checklist, which you can find on page

NC.3 of the QRH (page 27 of the PDF version)

These items are just checking (hence the name!) things we’ve
already accomplished in the Shutdown Procedure.

This completes the shutdown and we’ll now move on to the Secure
Procedure, which is performed before the crew leaves the aircraft

SECURE PROCEDURE:

The Secure Procedure’s purpose is to get the airplane into a condition

ready for servicing by the ground crews, but without completely
powering it down – we of course will be completely powering it down,
but the Secure Checklist has to be done first.

• Rotate both IRS mode selectors on the rear overhead to OFF.

This powers down the inertial reference system’s laser gyros.

They will now lose alignment and we’ll need to fully realign them
during our preflight for Tutorial Flight #2.

• Set the EMERGENCY EXIT LIGHTS SWITCH in the center of

the forward overhead to OFF. This disarms the cabin exit
lighting since there’s no longer any chance of a passenger

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evacuation.

• Set all four WINDOW HEAT switches at the top of the forward
overhead panel to OFF.

• Set both PACK switches on the pneumatic panel to OFF.

•

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• Perform the SECURE checklist, located on page NC.4 of the
QRH (page 28 of the PDF version). As with the SHUTDOWN
checklist, we’re just checking the items we’ve already
performed as part of the procedure here.

ELECTRICAL POWER DOWN:

The final step that will actually put the aircraft into a cold & dark state is
the Electrical Power Down procedure, which is located in FCOM 1’s
Supplemental Procedures section on page SP.6.4 (page 212 of the PDF
version).

• Verify that both the APU and GRD POWER switches are OFF.

Ensure that at least 2 minutes has elapsed since the APU was turned
off during the Shutdown Procedure before continuing.

• Set the overhead BATTERY switch to OFF.

The airplane is now powered down to its cold & dark state. You can now
continue without even reloading the sim with Tutorial #2 to Innsbruck, or
you can quit and come back later and load the Tutorial #2 saved flight
that will bring you right back to this position and panel state.

(If you purchased just after release of the 800/900 base pack, please
note that Tutorial #2 will be available soon from our website’s
documentation page and will be integrated into future versions of the
installer after it’s finished.)

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This concludes the PMDG 737NGX Tutorial #1, see you in Tutorial #2!

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