Tharmagon

I am not a real pilot ... did do some GA flying and did get my glider license many, many years ago, but I can't judge like a real pilot can. But what I can say is I raced motorcycles for real. And I have tried several motorcycle racing sims computer and professional. Now you say what the hell has that got to do with FSX and the NGX. Well none of the motorcycle computer sims were like racing a real motorcycle. Some felt closer than others but none felt real. And if you think about it they never can. On a real bike you feel movement, g-forces, weight shifts, balance, wind, bumps, vibration etc etc. You also have peripheral vision and smell as well as all the movement aspects. A computer sim can't simulate that. So no matter how close the model dynamics, controls and visual aspects are, it will never feel real. I am sure professional training simulators get as close as possible. But I doubt even they feel totally real. I think the ngx is as close to real as a home computer based sim can get right now. I'm sure in the future sims will get even more real. I can't judge how different the ngx is to a real 737, never flown one. But I can say I enjoy flying the ngx immensely and I do not expect it to be real. It is a challenge and landing the most challenging part. For me I am still practicing landings. I float some, I hit hard on some, some I get about right and some I screw up completely. I replay almost every landing with inside and outside cameras and try to work out what I did well and what I did badly. But I find the challenge is the fun. As they say it's the journey and not the destination. I think if i got to the point where I greased every landing 100% I would get bored. Then Of course I would add crazy weather and faults to get back the challenge. So here's to those like me who don't get it right all the time but who enjoy the challenge trying. And who understand it can't be 100% real.

Well I guess real pilots do actually have to know how to fly and not just press buttons like some people think. I bet there are many runways that require a manual, visual landing ... probably most?

Simon, That link answers the problem with MKJP. That is what I have been doing. I actually set a fix at 119 degrees so I could see the extended runway center line. Then just lined up manually. I see on the plate it says the DA(H) is 278'. So it seems full ILS is not going to work as you say. I guess the only way to know if the problems are FSX problems or real world problems is to bring up the plate and read it carefully. As I said I am trying to learn to do it by the book. I guess in bad weather landing at MKJP is not an option.

Rendi, That's good information. Where do I get updated files for the default FSX navdata and mag var? I know you have to buy the latest AIRAC data but not sure if that will help with this problem ... that is does AIRAC data contain updated ILS information? Also can I change the ILS heading with ADE? That is could I just change the ILS heading for MKJP to 119 degrees to match the visual model using ADE? And maybe move it a little to the left so it hits the visual runway center line? I am trying to learn a little here so please fore give me if my questions seem stupid. On the Jeppesen plate for ILS 12 at Manely it says the localizer is offset by 3 degrees to 120. And actual runway center line is 117. So I see what Joe was saying. But how do real pilots then do an ILS approach with an offset ILS like that ... especially in low visibility? I mean they will know the runway center line is offset by 3 degrees but if they can't see it until the last minute, how do they hit the mark, aligned correctly?

Ok then is there a way to tell FSX that the ILS should be 119 degrees so that what is on the screen matches the ILS ... even if 119 degrees isn't really correct? I am not sure if someone has created a global bgl file to correct most of the alignment problems. I've searched and can only find files for individual airports. I did download and apply a bgl file for MKJP. But it didn't really help. Although it corrected the ILS to 120 degrees as it is on the plate, the visual runway is still at 119 degrees and a little to the left. So the aircraft tried to land on the grass to the right of the runway. If there were individual files available on an airport by airport basis that fixed the ILS and visual runway that would help. But I am not sure which files if any do that? N60JBravo so are you saying that the ILS in real life is not aligned anyway? Then how do real pilots land using ILS if it takes them off the runway? Aircraft nowadays have autoland. That can't work if everything isn't aligned. Do real pilots know which are aligned and which aren't? An don non -aligned ILS runways, switch off AP and land manually? I am not a real pilot but would like to use correct procedures. How do real pilots do this? Can they somehow set an off-set in the FMS or something to make it all work? These may be silly questions but I really don't understand how it should work. Just seesm logical that the ILS should take you right down to teh runway center line.

I have seen many discussions about the poor ILS alignment on some runways in FSX. From what I understand the magnetic headings change over time. And that MS just got some runway alignments just plain wrong ... or maybe they used data from elsewhere that was wrong. But what I don't understand is how to fix these problems so that ILS alignment is correct on most if not all runways. One example I've been trying to fix is MKJP Norman Manley at Kingston Jamaica. In FSX runway 12 sits phyically at 119 degrees ... confirmed by sitting the aircraft aligned on the runway and looking at the heading. Yet the FSX ILS data seems to say that it is at 122 degrees and a few feet further to the right than the runway on screen. The Jeppesen plate says it is at 120 degrees. So I can only guess FSX has the visual runway on the screen wrong and the ILS data wrong. Would not be so bad if they were both wrong but the same - but they aren't. I've seen many discussions about using AFCAD files to correct problems on an airport by airport basis. And using mag variation files. And using the latest data set from Navigraph. But what I do not understand is which of these I need, to correct these problems. Seems to me that if you corrected the alignment data it would still be wrong unless the visual runway was also corrected to match. All I'd like is everything to be in sync - runway on screen, ILS data and FMS data for my PMDG 737. Even if they are all wrong at least get them so they are all incorrect but in sync. Can anyone tell me the easiest way to update everything ... if that is possible. What files do I need to get it all in sync?

Yeh I read all that in the manual. It also says it recommends to load the FSX default flight and then load the NGX flight. For me that doesn't work ... I have to quite right out of FSX and load the NGX flight after relaunch. It would be quicker to load the default flight and then the NGX flight, and I guess that must work for others. I just wondered why it doesn't work for me.

Can no one help me with this? It's a pain having to keep quitting right out of FSX just to reload a flight. Also if I have a saved flight I can't load it and then change to a different livery. I have to start a new flight with that livery. And then set it all up again from scratch, even though I have a flight already set up.

Apologies if this already been covered. I did several searches and didn't find anything that helped. I would like to keep reloading PMDG 737 NGX saved flights to practice procedures etc. But if I quite a flight and then reload that flight or any other saved flight the NGX opens with a blank panel. No animations are working either. But it seems the sim is active but no switches work etc. I thought that maybe it was just that the panel state was not loaded. So tried to boot the pdu by clicking and holding the menu button. But the pdu is dead so can't go that route. I have read in the manual that the ngx does like having flights loaded on top of previous flights. It says to load the default FSX flight and then the saved ngx flight. However for me that doesn't work either ... panel still blank. The only way I can reload a flight is to quit FSX completely, relaunch and then load the ngx flight. That takes forever so makes practise very slow and cumbersome. Anyone know a way around that?