European Aircraft Developer Team EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane

- x737 Project -

Manual
by Benedikt Stratmann, Rob Rickards and Mario Pozzetti

CONTENTS
The x737 project in General! Installation! Using the plugin enhancements! NEW in version 4.1 Choosing your panel type! Overhead panel overview! Electrical Systems and Engine Startup Procedure! What you need to know to start the Engines!
General Notes! 737 Electrics Notes.! APU Notes! APU Start and on busses! Engine startup ! Expanded Notes!

5 5 6 6 7 8 8
8 8 9 10 10 10

Shutdown procedures!
Expanded Notes!

11
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Using the Boeing 737-800 autopilot ! Autothrottle!

1 - Autothrottle Arm (A/T ARM) switch! 2 - N1 mode switch! NEW in version 4.1: A typical takeoff ATHR procedure using TO/GA! 3 - MCP SPD mode switch! 4 - LVL CHG mode switch! 5 - FMCSPD mode! 6 - SPD INTV, speed intervention!

13 14
14 14 15 16 16 16 16

Vertical navigation!
7 - V/S mode! 8 - ALT HLD mode! 9 - LVL CHG mode! 10 - VNAV mode! 11 - ALT INTV - altitude intervention! 12 - A/P CMD and Disengage! 13- FLARE (autoland)!

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17 17 18 18 19 19 19

Lateral navigation!
14 - HDG SEL mode!

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19

15- LNAV mode! 16 - VOR LOC mode! 17 - APP mode! N1 thrust limit computation!

19 20 20 21

Typical Auto-Flight Proles! Auto-Flight takeoff prole! Auto-Flight landing prole! Anti-ice!
WINDOW HEAT 14 switches! PROBE HEAT 1/2 switches! WING ANTI-ICE switch! ENGINE ANTI-ICE 1/2 switches!

23 23 24 25
25 25 25 26

Customizing the x737 aircraft !

How to edit the x737 conguration le! How to interact with the x737 plugin!

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

x737 Basics

The x737 project in General

The story of the EADT x737 aircraft is a fascinating one in the X-Plane community. Over the last three years this aircraft was continuously developed and improved with the help of hundreds of X-Plane users. Thousands of emails, constructive or funny, helped me to transform this project into a success. The big thrill however came when Stphane Maurel invited me to join the EADT team. This was the time when I started the development of the x737 plugin, giving the aircrafts cockpit the nal touch. All the members of the EADT team helped me with thousands of hints and, nally, we made all EADT products work perfectly together. Build ight plans with the EADT ight planner, simulate pushback with Alexis Maizels incredible XPB plugin, or feel like diving into reality with Stphanes incredible XPCoPilot plugin. The next step into realism was marked by Rob Rickards from Australia. Rob, one of the real-world 737-800 pilots involved, never got tired to send me remarks for all systems which were not perfectly simulated, and nally,he gave me a thorough assistance during the development of the autopilot and anti-ice systems which are included in the latest x737 release - and unless Im totally wrong, he will continue to do so until this bird is number 1 under the 737-800 simulations. Hundreds of subsystems are waiting! My thanks go to all patient testers and all users who gave me feedback. What you see is what weve done together and will continue to do so. Nothing would work if Ben Supnik and Sandy Barbour wouldnt have brought their xpsdk to the X-Plane community. Their support is so incredibly perfect that they saved us dozends of debugging. Thanks Ben, thanks Sandy! One of the most fascinating aspects of developing this aircraft for the X-Plane community is the growing number of very, very friendly people Im cooperating with. Besides the EADT team, Javier Cortes from Spain helped me a lot with PID-controls which built the major part of the autopilot; he nally made the sketch for the autoland component (are) that works incredibly well. Pierre Stone from Sweden gave me hundreds of hints for improvements and built the 737-700 family member from my project. A really very, very friendly guy from Italy did a good job for the growing number of Linux users on X-Plane: Pierluigi Vittori made the Linux plugin, starting Linux support with version 2.4. Beginning with version 2.7 Silvio Schmidt built the Linux plugins. Finally, with the release of version 3 in November 2008, Dennis Pruefer from Germany joined the team to make ne liveries for the 737NG aircraft. I cant say how much I appreciate being a team with these guys, and with all the other users who gave me ideas, bug reports and hints. Thanks! Many thanks to Michael Weaver for proofreading this manual. And, of course, thanks Austin for X-Plane, its wonderful! Whenever you are ying the EADT 737NG (NG means next generation), keep two things in mind: This software is free, made for the X-Plane community, in more than thousand of hours of work, and it will be developed to match reality better with every release. If, however, something does not work as expected, dont despair over it; just drop me an email. We are anxious to get all bugs xed for this software. Enjoy!

Installation
To get the EADT 737NG version 3 aircraft running, you have to download any of the liveries we offer on our website. Drop the folder that includes all the aircraft les at any place inside the X-Plane installation and go - no further input is required. Please make sure that your system meets the requirements and that there is no more x737 plugin installed in the general /resources/plugins/ folder, as we needed to install the plugin in the pre-v3 versions. To get additional liveries of the 737NG aircraft, simply proceed in the same manner - they will all run independently. To take advantage of the UFMC support - that is a fantastic FMC add-on written by Javier Cortes from Spain - install the latest UFMC version as described in the UFMC manual. Please care of the version - UFMC releases before November 2008 did not work together with the EADT 737NG aircraft.

EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

x737 Basics

Using the plugin enhancements

During the operation of your EADT 737NG aircraft, you will probably not notice that there are plugin-controlled enhancements which are part of X-Plane. However, you should be aware of some differences from other aircraft. When you move the mouse over buttons, knobs or switches controlled by the x737 plugin, the mouse pointer will show a small x737 hint to remind you that using this element causes the plugin to react - this is meant as a hint for who is guilty if some operations do not work properly. You might very soon get the impression that the visible part of the overheadpanel cant be the whole truth of what the EADT 737 aircraft allows you to do. So if you move the mouse over some special overhead reginos, the pointer will show a ladder meant as a menu hint. Clicking into these regions will cause a popup menu to open. You will have to use the popup menus to take advantage of the really interesting x737 extensions. For a quick start, open the popup menu item Complete Overhead. You should see the complete popup panel as shown on the next page (overhead panel overview), but without explanations, of course. Please keep in mind that the image shows the panel as implemented in the current version. You will nd a lot more subpanels in future releases. Finally, if you want to see where the x737plugin adds hotspots, select Special->Show Mouse Click regions. x737 hotspots are outlined by a ashing x737 icon.

Klick here...

NEW in version 4.1 Choosing your panel type

Some users like the x737 widescreen panel displaying the captain- and f/o-side of the cokpit, others like the narrowscreen panel which is focused on the pilot view. Starting in version 4.1 we give you the choice which one you prefer. In the le structure of the x73 aircraft folder you nd a directory ,cockpit with a subdirectory ,-PANELS-. Open this folder as depicted on the left. The folder ,narrowscreen contains a bitmap called ,panel.png, so does the folder ,widescreen. Depending on which one you want to use copy the prefreed picture into the directory ,-PANELS- and enjoy your view on the next x737 ight. Caution: We recommend not to delete any of the panels but to duplicate the bitmap les at rst!

EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

x737 Basics

Overhead panel overview

AC/DC meter panel

Ice & Rain panel

APU/Elec panel

Cabin utilities panel

Please refer to this picture for reference. The picture was taken in a cold and dark aircraft. Please note that the layout of the overhead panel depends on the conguration of the aircraft - BBJs have additional subpanels. For more details, open the document x737overhead_ref.pdf

EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Startup Procedure

Electrical Systems and Engine Startup Procedure What you need to know to start the Engines
Hint: There is an additional 1-page document x737overhead_ref that should be used as reference for aircraft startup. Print a hard copy if you need it as a reference.

General Notes
To make sure that you have installed the latest version of the 737NG aircraft, have a look at our x737 website http:// www.eadt.eu. The electrical system of the 737NG aircraft for X-Plane is simulated by the x737 plugin, so many things are a bit different from X-Planes default behaviour. The use of overheadpanels is especially different because XPlane has no such panels. In order to get a perfect feeling during your preight and ight, we strongly recommend that you install the following third-party add-ons which are perfectly designed to work together with the x737 aircraft: Javier Cortes UFMC - denitely matching the 737 FMC perfectly. Website: http://fjcc.ufmc.googlepages.com/ Snailpups checklister - together with the prepared checklists that are installed with any x737 aircraft you have perfect preight and inight checklists (link is found on our website http://www.eadt.eu) Snailpups SimplePushback - a must-have for getting off the terminal (link is found on our website http://www.eadt.eu) The Preight procedure for your 737-800 in X-Plane is very similar to the one of the real aircraft due to the work of the plugin, which enhances the functionality of X-Plane; some differences, however, have to be indulged due to the limitations within your simulator and due to space-saving constraints. In order to appreciate the simulation of the electrical components of the 737-800 in X-Plane, make sure you have deselected Start with engines running in the Operations & Warnings panel in X-Plane. If you want to understand the real Boeing 737-800 systems better than before, visit the Smartcockpit website (http:// www.smartcockpit.com) for detailed information. The Smartcockpit website has been one of the most important sources of information during the development of my 737-800. To understand the electrical systems, you should also refer to the Boeing 737 technical site (http://www.b737.org.uk/). A dscription of the startup-procedure for the real 737NG aircraft can be found on http://www.ydamnit.com/2006/06/30/how-to-start-a-737. Most operations concerning electrical systems are made on the overheadpanel. Please be sure you have read the chapter Using the plugin enhancements above.

737 Electrics Notes.

Battery and Standby System: To activate the most essential systems, you must connect the battery to the Hot Battery Bus on the AC/DC meter panel by rst setting the battery switch to ON. You will see certain annunciators illuminate now. For an annunciator test, press the small button to the right of the FMC annunciators (above the EFIS display). All annunciators should light up. The battery switch is a so-called guarded switch. Is has a cap that keeps the switch in the recommended default position when closed. Close the guarding cap and forget the switch for the rest of the day. Next, set the standby power switch to AUTO to provide a safe power source to the most important systems. Some display units (DU) will power up now. There is no avionics switch to activate the systems. Please keep in mind that the standby system provides reliable power to very essential systems. High-power devices like landing lights, logo lights or passenger entertainment system are not part of these systems. For those systems you need at least<something missing here?>

EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Startup Procedure

Ground Power 115 volts 400 cycles is supplied in the real world by either a mains cable from the terminal building aerobridge or from a cable fed by a mobile Ground Power Unit (GPU, sometimes called external power unit, EPU) which usually has a small APU-like engine. Make sure the overheadpanel is open now. The x737-plugin simulates the presence of ground power (GND PWR) It works alongside the XPPushBack plugin (if installed) The XPPushBack plugin allows you to enjoy a visual model of the ground power unit (GPU) in exterior views. No matter which simulation you prefer, click on the blue GND PWR AVAILABLE blue light to request or remove it. This X-Plane 737 version has a two-position spring-loaded switch for the the ground power. ! OFF

GRD PWR ON Press the switch to GRD PWR ON and release it to turn on the ground power, if connected. The essential electrical systems are now powered by the GPU. Check the ground power quality by turning the AC source selector on the AC/DC meter panel to GPU. Read out the voltage and the cycles (frequency) supplied from the GPU. Note: In 737NG aircraft putting power to the buses is straightforward: Connecting a source to the buses disconnects other sources, no preferred switching. The source that was selected last powers the bus. Generators The 737 has three generators. One driven by each engine and one driven by the APU The APU GEN can feed the left or right or both busses and has two generator switches. The electrical power of all three generators is about the same (75 to 90 kVA, depending on the barometric altitude). Generator Switches The x737project 737NG aircraft has 4 spring loaded Engine Generator and APU Generator Switches (two for the APU) that activate the relays that connect the generators to the busses. You choose which generator (APU or Engine) will supply a bus. Note that sources cannot be used in parallel to power one bus. Connecting a source to a bus disconnects the currently used source. An automatic transfer system transfers the power between the two buses if possible. This is possible if and only if the guarded BUS TRANS switch is set to AUTO (guarded position). GEN OFF BUS blue light indicates there is power available from the generator source but which is not connected to the bus. There are three of these, one for each engine-driven generator and one for the APU. The left or right SOURCE OFF amber warning light indicates that there is no supply at all connected on that side. However, if automatic transfer is active, the related bus is powered from the other side vis xfr.<What is xfr?> The Transfer bus normally transfers any connected power to both the left and and right buses. If this is not the case there is an amber warning light, left or right, (TRANSFER BUS OFF). They will both be on if no generators or Ground Power are connected or if there is a fault. The latest plugin version behaves like the real aircraft. Follow the procedures in sequence below and you will be operating the 737 as real pilots do.

APU Notes
The engines are normally started up using the bleed air supplied by the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit), which is located in the tail of the aircraft. The APU is a turbofan engine, just like the engines that produce the thrust, but is much smaller and used for power and bleed air generation. On the ground, when the engines are not running, the APU supplies bleed air to the air conditioning system and electrical power. (For ground use and as back up to the two engine generators. In case one engine generator is unserviceable or if an engine generator, or an engine itself fails in ight.) Press the APU switch to the START position to perform an automated startup procedure for the APU engine just like the real aircraft. While the APU is starting, the amber "LOW OIL PRESSURE light is illuminated, nally, if the APU works ne, this annunciator extinguishes. You should see the EGT (exhaust gas temperature) needle rise if the fuel injection is initiated. This procedure takes up to 80 seconds, like in reality. It is performed automatically, so all you have to do is watch the EGT needle until it has stabilized.

EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Startup Procedure

If the APU has been started successfully and is providing electrical power, you should see the blue light come on. Pilots with a high responsibility for their aircraft let the APU run a minute before connecting it to the electrical power to extend lifetime. Select both the APU switches to power the buses from the APU. You can turn the APU switch ON (center position) now. Please keep in mind that if you put the APU START switch to the center position during startup, the startup procedure is not interrupted, like in reality. Note that turning off the APU switch also disconnects the APU from the transfer buses. Please let the APU run free for a minute after disconnecting it to extend its lifetime. Although the APU will be providing bleed air, this Xplane 737 version has no bleed or pack switches at the moment. There will be an Air Conditioning System subpanel for this in future updates.

APU Start and on busses

Select both the APU switches to power the buses from the APU. This trips off Ground Power from the busses and connects the APU to the busses. Ground Power! Disconnect Click on the blue Ground Power light to have the ground crew disconnect the ground power cable and request pushback and start from ATC. Advise the ground crew, release the brakes and obtain clearance from the ground crew to start engines. Engine start is often made during pushback. If you intend to taxi your aircraft from the parking position the above actions will have the aircraft ready for engine start with or without pushback. You can be pushed back if you have the incredible XPPushBack plugin. During pushback, you start the engines.

Engine startup
Anti Collision Light! Engine Start Switch! ON Ground Idle Auto

Engine Start Lever (at 25% N2)! Engine Start Switch (at 56% N2)! After Engines have stabilized Engine Generators! Window Heat! Probe Heat ! ON ON ON

Engine Anti Ice ! ON (if required) Wing Anti Ice ! APU! OFF ON (if required)

Expanded Notes
Now the startup of your engine can begin. Turn on the Anti Collision Light before moving the aircraft or starting engines. Start the right engine rst: Turn the spring loaded ENG2

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Startup Procedure

Start Switch to the GRD position (which means ground start and an amber Start Valve Open indication appears on the engine display) and watch the N2 instrument on the center display unit of the main panel (EICAS). If N2 has reached 25%, push up the No2 Engine Start Lever on the throttle quadrant to the Idle position , watching the EGT displays on the EICAS (Exhaust Gas Temperature). If the EGT exceeds the white arc range, there is no oil pressure or any other exceedence, pull back the Start Levers immediately! In this case, call for the ground service to check for engine damage. If everything works ne, N1 (EICAS display) should rise smoothly until it reaches idle N1 at about 20% (low idle N1). Engine Start Switch to Auto at 56% N2. This is called Starter Cutout . Check for the oil pressure and hydraulic pressure of the engine running, they should both be in the white range. N2 will be about 58% N2 at low idle. When everything is ne with the rst engine started, repeat the procedure for the second engine. Congratulations, you have successfully started up the engines! You should nd both the blue engine generator lights in the electric panel illuminated, indicating that you are may power the electrical systems with the main generators. Push the spring-loaded Engine Generator switches to the front most ON position; both lights should extinguish. Now you have engine generators powering the busses instead of the APU generator. However, leave the APU running until you have reached 10000ft at least for safety reasons. Once the engines are running, they continue to suck fuel even if the pumps are turned off (gravity ow). However, pilots leave the pumps on during the entire ight to ensure proper fuel feed and avoid unexpected problems with the engines. Select the Anti Ice sub-system popup-panel (see below) and turn on the Window Heat and the Probe Heat, Turn on the Engine Anti Ice and Wing Anti Ice (if required)

Shutdown procedures
Exterior Lights! APU! Off Start and on Busses

Engine Start Lever (at 25% N2)! Cutoff Anti Collision Light! Fuel Pumps! Window Heat! Probe Heat ! Ground Power! APU! Battery! Off (after 30 seconds) Off Off Off ON Off Off

Expanded Notes
As you approach the parking position of your destination airport, turn off all the exterior lights, start the APU (if not yet running) and pull down on the two APU Generator Switches. Pull down the engine cutoff levers and watch the engine display readouts (N2, EGT, FF) After 30 seconds turn off the Anti Collision light and contact ground crew and request Ground Power. (GPU) Clicking on the Ground Power light simulates GPU availability by illuminating blue. Turn off all the fuel pump, window heat and probe heat switches (and Anti Ice switches if on.) Connect the Ground Power by selecting the second position on the GRD PWR switch. Wait for the Passengers to disembark. If fully shutting down the Aircraft (no other ights)

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Turn off the APU. Turn off the Standy System. Turn off the Battery. Have a nice day!

Startup Procedure

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

Using the Boeing 737-800 autopilot

This aircraft, provided by the EADT Team, is equipped with a real 2-channel ight director and autopilot that is very specic for the Boeing 737ng series. Although X-Plane has a generic inbuilt autopilot, it can hardly simulate the 737ng because X-Plane has been conceived to suit all possible types of aircraft, from a GA Cessna up to a Boeing or Airbus class airliners, thus requiring gross simplications. The Boeing 737-800 by the EADT team comes with a plugin that overrides the internal, generic a/p, giving you the illusion to y the real thing. You should always keep in mind that the behavior of the x737 a/p is completely different from the behavior of X-Planes a/p because it is made to match the real 737ng autopilot, based on Boeings manuals. WARNING 1: The 737ng a/p differs so much from the generic a/p that you absolutely MUST read this manual otherwise you might get red by your airline! Some X-Plane specic functions no longer work, others have been modied, and nally many functions have been added to allow a maximum simulation experience, overriding, enhancing or modifying X-Planes own a/p. WARNING 2: Do not use joystick buttons to engage or disengage a/p modes except if you are capable of using enhanced conguration techniques! This might not work as intended because X-Plane has fewer or different a/p modes than the x737plugin controlled a/p. Use the switches, knobs and handles on the MCP (Mode Control Panel). However, the x737 plugin gives you access to custom datarefs that allow total control from external devices - even hardware cockpits are supported. See the chapter Customizing the x737 aircraft for more details. OK, lets begin, I will try and keep the explanations as short as possible and at the same time as complete as necessary!

Autopilot modes
If you want to understand the real Boeing 737-800 systems better than before, visit the Smartcockpit website for detailed information. To make sure you have installed the latest version of the 737-800 aircraft, have a look at my XPlane website. To create almost state-of-the-art ight plans, we recommend downloading the latest version of GoodWay ight planner. Finally, as aircraft do not have reverse, youll need a pushback from the ramp, and of course you can do it with XPushBack or SimplePushback, provided by friendly developers and linked from the EADT website (http://www.eadt.eu). Please understand that in a 737NG aircraft, you have a logical separation into the captain side and the f/o side. Each side has a ight director (engaged by the F/D switch) and a/p control (CMD A and CMD B respectively). Except that in VOR and APP modes, they should follow the same ight path but the radio-based modes depend on NAV1 and NAV2, left and right side of the a/p. Tuning a localizer in NAV1 and engaging CMD A causes the a/p to track this localizer, and vice versa. Simple, isnt it? All important a/p controls are located on the glareshield panel of the 737-800 aircraft. Please keep in mind that you must not use joystick buttons to control the a/p to avoid problems with the X-Plane internal a/p and the 737 overrides unless you are familiar with custom datarefs. Basically, you have three kinds of modes that the autopilot controls:

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autothrottle Pitch - Roll For our rst approach lets consider the modes to be independent. The autothrottle (A/T) controls the thrust of your engines during the ight. The A/T has two modes: N1 and MCP SPD.

Autoight manual

In pitch mode the autopilot (a/p) controls the pitch (attitude) of your aircraft, adjusting the pitch so that the aircraft navigates vertically as required. This can be very useful if you need to hold a constant vertical speed, independent of changes in the airspeed etc. to maintain a smooth climb path. Or after a glide slope capture in an ILS approach the a/p pitches the aircraft so that it follows the glide slope (path) perfectly, the pitch is always modied so that the aircraft follows the glide slope, again independent of airspeed etc. In roll mode, the a/p controls the roll of your aircraft, this can be handy if you need to hold the heading of the aircraft at a constant magnetic heading, or follow a certain course to a VOR localizer or follow the FMC ght plan in the LNAV mode. To get a more precise overview of the a/p structure, imagine that the a/p consists of three components: the autothrottle the ight director and the autopilot. The rst one is responsible for the thrust of the engines, the two other components work hand in hand to navigate the aircraft. More details are found below. Please note that some knobs or thumbwheels (SPD, ALT SEL, V/S) have multiple mouse-click areas with different sensitivities. Clicking near the center of the control element allows ne adjustment, while in outer egions, the sensitivity is ve times higher. If you activate Special->Show Mouse Click Areas in X-Planes menus, you can see the areas; the mouse pointer changes from one arrow up or down to a double-arrow pointer when moving over fast regions (see screenshot).

Autothrottle
1 - Autothrottle Arm (A/T ARM) switch
To engage the autothrottle mode, you must rst arm it. As long as the A/T is not armed, you cannot select any of the A/T speed modes; this is mainly for security reasons. If armed, the green LED above the A/T ARM switch is lit up. To arm the A/T, shift the A/T ARM switch up. This switch is then magnetically held in the upper position. If the aircraft is not powered, A/T cannot be armed. Please note that you can arm the A/T even if the autopilot is disengaged. To disarm the A/T shift the switch down and it will be disarmed. If any of the A/T modes are engaged, they are disengaged in this case. On loss of electrical power the A/T switch trips off. The A/T arm is annunciated on the pfd as ARM (white), highlighted for ten seconds.

2 - N1 mode switch
Pressing the N1 switch engages or disengages the N1 thrust mode. N1 mode cannot be engaged if A/T is disarmed. If engaged, the switch is lit up green. Other speed modes are disengaged on N1 engagement. N1 mode: In the N1 mode the A/T holds the engine thrust at the limit thrust computed by the FMC (Flight Management Computer). The limit thrust depends on the outside temperature (TAT) and the barometric altitude (ALT) of the aircraft. Due to the lack of a fully simulated FMC, the N1 limit thrust is computed constantly by the x737 plugin. In future releases, you may nd a more complex N1 limit thrust control system, however, the current implementation allows usage of N1 thrust mode in almost all ight situations. The N1 limit thrust depends on the ight phase (takeoff, climb, cruise etc.) which is displayed on the top of the engine display (center DU). Please refer to the Flight phases section for details. The N1 limit thrust is displayed on the engine display screen as numerical output and the N1 bug (green arrow). You can cycle through the ight phases by clicking left or right of the ight phase annunciator on the engine display.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

N1 mode engages automatically on LVLCHG engagement in climb, i.e., if the barometric target altitude is higher than the current altitude (at least 100 ft higher). The A/T arm is annunciated on the pfd as N1 (green), highlighted by a frame during ten seconds after engagement.

NEW in version 4.1: A typical takeoff ATHR procedure using TO/GA

Typically, you engage the N1 mode in TO for takeoff. Using the autothrottle system, the autothrottle controller will perform a procedure during takeoff, securing failsafe throttle control. Select the ight phase TO, click left or right of the ight phase symbol in the upper part of the engine display to cycle through the available phases.Under certain temperature conditions or for the sake of noise reduction on long runways you can also be advised to select R-TO, the rated takeoff which sets a lower thrust limit. Note: If you have the UFMC by Javier Cortes extension installed you will have a complete FMC simulation on board. In this case the FMC controls the thrust limit settings completely. New in version 4.1: Make sure that both ight directors are armed (F/D switches up) and ATHR is armed. There are two ways to engage the TO procedure (takeoff procedure) performed by the ight directors: The most comfortable and realistic way is to set up a command for a joystick button. Open ,Settings->Joystick, Keys & Equipment in X-Plane and set up a button od your choice AdvButtons as shown on the left. The second way is to click one of the MA-annunciators (small lights above the F/D switches), for example if you dont have plenty of joystick buttons. After engaging TO the ight directior bars will command nose down and the N1 mode (maximum allowed thrust) is engaged in the ATHR. The throttle levers will now move upwards until the engines are running at maximum N1 thrust. Watch the engine N1 readouts during the low speed phase to make sure that the thrust is set to the target value! Once the aircraft has reached a speed of 84 knots, the A/T reverts to THR HLD, which means throttle hold. Servo movement is inhibited from now so that no dangerous situation occurs on system failure. Even if you accidentially change the ight phase, resulting in a lower N1 thrust limit, the thrust remains unchanged. In this phase the F/D bars will command nose up, but its on you to wait until the aircraft has reached the rotation velocity vR. Rotate the aircraft carefully but consequently to lift off and stablize the climb by trimming out the aircraft with the trim wheels so that it keeps on vlimbing without elevator input. Above 200 ft radar altitude you press CMD A or CMD B to engage a lateral mode. When doing this the autothrottle and a/p are engaged in LVLCHG at the current speed. Note: In reality, the procedure is exactly the same - however, you can easily disengage the throttle levers if you need to. To avoid unexpected thrust reduction on minimal joystick throttle jitter, the x737 plugin readjusts the thrust if a joystick input is detected. This is neccessary because different from reality the joystick does not move if the A/T controller changes thrust, so we have to be aware of the fact that the throttle lever position on the stick can be very different from the one on the screen. In A/T modes, the x737 plugin gives prority to the screen position (computed position) of the levers. After takeoff, THR HLD remains engaged until the aircraft exceeds 800ft RA. A/T changes the mode to ARM now. This is the right time to select a target speed in the SPD mode. Remember that usually you have speed constraints below 10000ft baro alt!

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane! 3 - MCP SPD mode switch

Autoight manual

Pressing the SPD switch engages or disengages the A/T MCP SPD mode. A/T MCP SPD mode cannot be engaged if A/T is disarmed. If engaged, the switch is lit up in green, indicating that the MCP SPD mode can be disengaged at any time. Other speed modes are disengaged on A/T MCP SPD engagement. Please note that the a/p has two different MCP SPD modes: The one we have here is called the autothrottle MCP SPD mode because the speed is held by the A/T; further on you will read the description of the pitch MCP SPD mode where the speed is held constant by the pitch of the aircraft, leaving the thrust untouched. This however is restricted to FMC controlled ights or level-offs in LVL CHG mode. A/T MCP SPD mode: If engaged, the A/T system holds or targets the speed selected on the MCP (Mode Control Panel) speed display by adding or reducing thrust. If the selected speed exceeds any speed limits (structural, gear deployment, ap limit speeds), the overspeed symbol ashes in the MCP SPD display (ashing a leading 8). MCPSPD mode engages automatically at LVLCHG target altitude in climb and descent. The A/T arm is annunciated on the pfd as MCPSPD (green), highlighted by a frame for the rst ten seconds after engagement. Typically, the MCP SPD mode - or in future versions, the FMC SPD mode - is used to keep the target speed during cruising. Dont forget to changeover to MACH (press the C/O button) above 26000ft barometric altitude to avoid overspeed situations, and back to KIAS when descending below 26000ft barometric altitude. Furthermore you should keep in mind that at 18000ft barometric altitude (transition altitude) at least in the U.S. while in Europe the transition altitude is normally given by the ATC, the barometric reference pressure is reset to standard (29,92In or 1013hPa).

4 - LVL CHG mode switch

The LVL CHG mode is described below under Vertical Navigation, although it is a combination of autothrottle and autopilot modes.

5 - FMCSPD mode
When using Javier Cortes UFMC extension, the autothrottle can be operated in the FMCSPD mode. This means that the FMC takes total control over the speed of the aircraft. In this case the MCPSPD display on the MCP is blanked unless you press SPD INTV (speed intervention) and modify the predicted speed. See the UFMC manual for more details. By the way: Flying x737 with a real FMC is an unparalleled experience. Try it!

6 - SPD INTV, speed intervention

Speed intervention is available with Javier Cortes UFMC installed. If the autothrottle operates in VNAV/FMCSPD mode, the FMC normally controls the speed. Assuming that you want to modify this setting or ATC gives you the instruction to do so, press SPD INTV. The MCPSPD display is unblanked and you can override the FMC commands by dialing in another speed. To return to normal operation press SPD INTV again.

Vertical navigation
The vertical navigation is controlled by 2 components: the ight director (f/d) and the autopilot (a/p). The f/d (or FD) suggests the pitch the aircraft should have in order to y with a certain vertical speed, follow a glide slope or hold a certain barometric altitude. The pilot can follow the suggestions made by the f/d - the recommended pitch is displayed on both the primary ight displays (pfd) HSI (horizontal situation indicator) and the backup HSI. The magenta colored inverted V is the f/d bar. In the command mode (CMD), the autopilot tracks the f/ds recommendations and controls the aircrafts pitch as recommended. So keep in mind that the f/d does not interfere with your aircraft, while the a/p tries to steer the plane as recommended if in CMD mode, following the f/ds suggestions. The currently set mode is annunciated as FD or CMD (green) above the pfds HSI, again highlighted by a frame for ten seconds after a change.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

Please keep in mind that mode switches on the MCP (Mode Control Panel) are illuminated if and only if the mode in question can be disengaged, the lights are not intended to announce the state. Please refer to the annunciators on the pfd (Primary Flight Display) to get reliable information about the current a/p status Important: Beginning with version 3,(November 2008) the x737 autopilot is a real 2-channel autopilot. If you want the a/p to control the ight path you have to press CMD A (captain side a/p) or CMD B (f/o side a/p). Both a/ps can be engaged simultaneously if and only if you are in APP mode with localizer and G/s are locked. Both NAV receivers have to be tuned to the same ILS (should be clear) because NAV1 feeds the captain side ight management computer while NAV2 feeds the F/O side ight management computer.

7 - V/S mode
Pressing the V/S button arms or engages the a/p to hold constant vertical velocity. The present vertical velocity index (vvi) is displayed in the vvi display. If armed (switch illuminated amber), the FD commands the pitch, but the a/p does not follow the f/ds commands. If engaged, the a/p controls the pitch of the aircraft according to the f/ds suggestions. If engaged, the V/S switch is lit up in green. When armed, the V/S mode is engaged by rotating the vvi thumbwheel, or by pressing the V/S switch again. V/S mode is automatically disengaged if another vertical navigation mode is engaged. V/S mode is automatically armed with a vvi of zero if another altitude is selected in ALT HLD. Rotating the thumbwheel will cause the aircraft to climb (positive) or descend(negative) to the selected altitude. Please note that ALT HLD remains engaged during level-off and V/S is disengaged automatically when the selected altitude is reached. The V/S arm or engagement status is annunciated on the pfd as V/S ARM (white) or VERTSPD (green), highlighted by a frame during ten seconds after engagement. Typical situations for V/S modes are non-FMC controlled ights (climb and descent phase) or level-off on ATC intervention.

8 - ALT HLD mode

Pressing the ALT HLD switch engages the ALT HLD mode if compatible with other modes selected. On engagement, the switch is lit up in green. In general, in the ALT HLD mode the a/p pitches the aircraft to hold the uncorrected barometric altitude selected in the ALTITUDE display (so-called MCP ALT); if pressed, the display is furthermore set to the altitude the button was pressed at, rounded to the next 100ft, depending on the sign of the current vvi. IMPORTANT: If the selected altitude is changed while ALT HLD is engaged, nothing happens to the current ight level, but V/S is armed at vvi zero. You will have to rotate the V/S thumbwheel to initiate a level off to the target altitude. This gives you the chance to change the selected altitude without immediately causing the aircraft to leave its ight level. The ALT HLD arm is annunciated on the pfd as ALT HLD (green), highlighted by a frame for the rst ten seconds after engagement. Please note that the green switch light extinguishes if the altitude is captured because you cannot disengage ALT HLD except by disconnecting the autopilot.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

To level-off at the current altitude, held by ALT HLD, without V/S mode engagement you should use the LVL CHG mode: Dial in a new altitude (dont mind the V/S mode arming) and press LVL CHG to start climb or descent. In general, you should keep in mind that the state of the a/p is displayed above the pfd only. The green light in the switches are illuminated if and only if a mode can be disengaged and do not indicate an engaged mode! During a level change with ALT HLD, there is green Altitude Range Arc (see picture above) showing where the aircraft will reach the commanded altitude at the currently selected vertical speed. This is a very good help if ATC commands a new altitude, or if you want to descent or climb and want to make sure that you have reached the desired altitude at a certain waypoint. This is a very good help if you are not ying FMS plans!

9 - LVL CHG mode

Pressing the LVL CHG button engages the LVL CHG mode if compatible with other modes engaged. If engaged, the LVL CHG switch is lit up in green. The LVL CHG (level change) mode is the most powerful a/p mode to change from one ight level (altitude) to another. If engaged, the a/p sets the thrust to a constant value - either maximum climb thrust or idle thrust - and controls the pitch of the aircraft so that it holds the airspeed selected in the MCP SPD display. LVL CHG in climb: If the LVL CHG mode is engaged at an altitude lower than the selected target altitude (at least 100ft difference is required), the A/T sets the thrust to the maximum N1 thrust for climb, changing the ight phase if necessary to CLB, or R-CLB (reduced climb thrust) if engaged from R-TO (reduced takeoff). The ight director tells the a/p how to set the pitch so that constant airspeed is maintained (as selected in the MCP SPD display). LVL CHG in descent: If the LVL CHG mode is engaged at an altitude higher than the selected target altitude (at least 100ft difference is required), the A/T sets the thrust to mode to RETARD (annunciated in the A/T annunciators above the pfd), retarding the thrust to idle N1 thrust for descent, followed by A/T ARM if idle thrust is stabilized. The ight director tells the a/p how to set the pitch so that constant airspeed is maintained (as selected in the MCP SPD display). Please keep in mind that the LVL CHG mode is only perfect if the conditions are perfect (ne MCP SPD selection). If you engage LVL CHG with 150kt MCP SPD at 10000ft barometric altitude, you get really impressive climb rates! The best choice is to set the MCP SPD to the current speed if you are in a good ight situation, subsequently modifying the selected speed carefully if necessary, the ap/ will vary the pitch accordingly then. The LVL CHG arm is annunciated on the pfd as LVL CHG (green), highlighted by a frame for the rst ten seconds after engagement. The a/p reverts automatically to ALT SEL and A/T MCP SPD modes if the target altitude is reached.

10 - VNAV mode
The VNAV (vertical navigation) mode is an FMC-only mode. If VNAV - or, to be more precise, the VNAV PATH mode is engaged, the autopilot pitches the aircraft to follow vertical path described by the altitudes entered in the FMC. In the current FMC implementation of the X-Plane simulator, you enter waypoints and associated altitudes. The x737 plugin computes the target vertical speed to reach the next waypoint with the right altitude. VNAV can be engaged on the ground if an FMC ight plan is entered. The a/p engages VNAV as soon as the ight situation is ne for engagement, usually at 400ft RA after takeoff. You can also engage VNAV when V/S or ALT HLD is engaged after takeoff. You are recommended to use the EADT ight planner to generate state-of-the-art ight plans. Please note that the VNAV mode can be used as a reliable from-takeoff-to-nal-mode if a good ight plan is loaded. You can even capture localizer or ILS on approach with VNAV engaged. Using the UFMC extension, the VNAV mode has two more operation modes: VNAV SPD and VNAV ALT, both fully controlled by the UFMC. Please refer to the UFMC manual for details.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane! 11 - ALT INTV - altitude intervention

Autoight manual

If, and only if Javier Cortes UFMC is installed, you have altitude intervention available in VNAV modes. Pressing altitude intervention allows you to override the altitude constraints set by the FMC, e.g. if ATC instructs you to choose another ight level. While active, the next altitude restriction is identical to the MCP ALT setting.

12 - A/P CMD and Disengage

Each autopilot (left/right) has a CMD switch on the right side of the MCP. If, and only if this is pressed and illuminated (not below 50ft RA), the autopilot controls the ight control surfaces of the aircraft; otherwise, the ight director shows you commands to follow manually. CWS (control wheel steering) still has to be done. The DISENGAGE handle has two positions. In the upper position the a/p can be engaged in any mode. The yellow background is concealed. In the lower position - yellow background is revealed -, the a/p is prevented from engagement. Pressing the handle down while a/p modes are engaged disengages all a/p modes, but leaves the A/T untouched. If necessary, disarm the A/T to disengage related modes.

13- FLARE (autoland)

FLARE and autoland are explained under APP (see below).

Lateral navigation
Lateral navigation and vertical navigation are controlled by 2 components: the ight director (f/d) and the autopilot (a/ p). The f/d (or FD) suggests the pitch the aircraft should have in order to y a specied heading, follow an FMC (Flight Management Computer) path or y on a radial of a VOR or localizer. The pilot can follow the suggestions made by the f/d - the recommended pitch is displayed on both the primary ight displays (pfd) HSI (horizontal situation indicator) and the backup HSI. The magenta colored inverted V is the f/d bar. In the command mode (CMD), the autopilot tracks the f/ds recommendations and controls the aircrafts roll as recommended. So keep in mind that the f/d does not interfere with your aircraft, while the a/p tries to steer the plane as recommended if in CMD mode, following the f/ds suggestions. The currently set mode is annunciated as FD or CMD (green) above the pfds HSI, again highlighted by a frame for ten seconds after a change.

14 - HDG SEL mode

The Heading Mode (HDG SEL) is designed to keep the magnetic heading of the EADT 737-800 aircraft at the selected value. Once you press the HDG SEL button, the autopilot steers the aircraft to hold this heading, no matter which direction the wind blows from. Dont forget that in this mode, there is no compensation for wind speed etc., i.e., if you have crosswinds, you will have to compute the desired heading angle with respect to the wind direction and speed to compensate! Pressing the HDG SEL button causes the aircraft to bank into the shortest direction towards the selected heading. If however you are in the HDG SEL mode and rotate the HEADING knob to alter the bank angle, the a/p will steer the aircraft into the direction of knob movement, even if you exceed 180 - exactly like the real 737ng a/p. This makes it possible to turn more than 180 after takeoff. Example: You takeoff with heading 270, engage HDG SEL mode at 270. At 800ft RA you rotate the knob to 110, turning it to the right (increasing up to 359, then from 0 to 110); although the difference is 200, the aircraft turns right as intended.

15- LNAV mode

The LNAV roll mode guides the aircraft along the legs of a ight plan loaded. Again you are recommended to use the EADT ight planner to generate state-of-the-art ight plans. It is possible to engage LNAV on the ground (provided a valid plan is loaded), and the a/p will take control at 400ft RA after takeoff.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

The LNAV mode is by far the most complex thing that the a/p can control: In this mode, the a/p computes the required heading at any time, depending on airspeed, ground speed, distance to the next and the last waypoint etc. Right before you reach a waypoint, the autopilot and ight director system AFDS (Automatic Flight Direction System) advances the FMC to next waypoint so that the next leg is intercepted without overshoot. Please watch the behavior of the LNAV mode on an FMC-controlled trip. You can leave LNAV engaged until ILS localizer intercept on approach - the FMC will guide you to the approach, and the localizer leads you precisely to the runway. Please note that contrary to X-Planes a/p this LNAV mode does NOT control VOR or localizer approaches - like in the real 737ng, the LNAV mode is FMC leg guidance only (and thats really enough, to be honest).

16 - VOR LOC mode

The VOR LOC mode guides the aircraft laterally along a selected radial towards or away from a VOR navigation aid (navaid) or from an ILS localizer. ILS localizers work similarly to VORs, except that they are more precise (double angular resolution), have a glide slope beacon and provide more information like the desired course towards the runway. ILS localizers are of course restricted to runways because they serve to navigate the approach towards an airport runway. For VORs, you have to dial in the course you want to y in COURSE 1 or COURSE 2, while for ILS localizers, the appropriate course is set automatically, although it does not appear on the COURSE displays. Assuming you have a VOR or ILS localizer tuned in your VHF radio, pressing the VOR LOC button arms the VOR LOC mode. Usually, you would do this while approaching the selected radial at an angle of about 30 when arming. The a/p changes to VOR LOC engaged automatically if the distance and closure rate are perfect to turn the aircraft to follow the VOR radial or ILS localizer beacon; this is called the intercept. Please keep in mind that a good intercept without overshooting requires good intercept conditions, that means that you have to choose a good intercept angle and speed suitable to the distance from the localizer. If the VHF radio is retuned or the a/p disengaged or a go-around is initiated, the VOR LOC mode is disengaged automatically. While ILS localizers can guide you until you reach the runway threshold - the VOR LOC mode is disengaged automatically at 50ft RA - you should be careful using the VOR LOC mode when overying a VOR transmitter. Due to the fast change rate of the angle between the aircrafts path and the VORs beacon - remember that the transmitter is below you when passing the VOR, but never exactly below you due to deviations - the aircraft will y an S-shaped path over the VOR. In this event, disengage the VOR LOC mode immediately and y in HDL SEL mode until you have reached a secure distance to follow the back course. Usually, the VOR LOC mode is used as a navaid during cruise, for guidance on non-precision approaches, or in case of ILS localizers, to autoland.

17 - APP mode
The APP mode (approach mode) manages a complete ILS approach, including localizer intercept and glide slope (g/ s) capture. Pressing the APP button causes the a/p to arm localizer intercept and g/s capture (as far as an ILS localizer is tuned in AND the signal is established); the APP button is illuminated green and the annunciators above the pfd show the state of the a/p. Usually - and this is strongly recommended - you arm the APP mode while ying about 30 towards the approach course (localizer beacon) BELOW the glide slope, established at a stable altitude and heading; you can have any pitch or roll mode engaged, they remain engaged until localizer intercept or g/s capture, respectively. While approaching the localizer beacon and g/s, the a/p continuously computes the best deviation to intercept, and when deviation and closure rate are perfect - but not later than 0.5 dots deviation - , the a/p steers your aircraft to approach the runway perfectly. After the turn, the a/p applies ne tuning to hold the path perfectly and there is no need for manual intervention except under unexpected conditions. Shortly thereafter, the a/p captures the g/s normally after localizer intercept - at 0.4 dots vertical deviation, applying ne tuning shortly afterwards. Please note that when aps are extended or the airspeed is reduced, the descent rate will temporarily change, leading to a deviation from the perfect glide slope. However, there is no need for an intervention because the a/p will compensate for this as soon as possible, but gently enough not to worry the passengers. If the deviation becomes

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

insane, you should check for possible reasons (airspeed too low for the current weight, aps not extended to schedule) and, if necessary, prepare for a GA. At 50ft RA both lateral and vertical navigation are disengaged; FLARE or autoland is engaged if automatically armed before. The FLARE mode is part of the autoland procedure. If FLARE is engaged, the a/p controls the pitch of the aircraft (nose up), reduces the thrust at 25ft RA to high idle (33%) and disengages the a/p 2 seconds after touchdown.

N1 thrust limit computation

Because X-Plane does not simulate thrust limits, most users are not aware of the fact that jet engines cannot provide their maximum thrust under all conditions. While in X-Plane you can push the throttle to 100%N1 at any time, this exceeds the thrust limit signicantly in almost any environment. The plugin-enhanced 737-800 aircraft by the EADT team has a thrust limit computation system. This system computes the currently allowed thrust limit depending on: - the true outside temperature (TAT) - the barometric altitude - the ight phase Real-life pilots are provided with N1-limit charts to be aware of the current limits at any time. In the 737 simulation, the system computes the limits on a mathematical model that ts reality very accurately. If you power the 737-800 aircraft, you will nd a notication of the type TO on the top of the engine display and you will nd the computed N1 thrust as numerical output per-engine above the N1 instruments. Furthermore, a green, vshaped bug indicates the maximum thrust on the N1 instrument. The TO notication indicates that the aircraft is preset for the takeoff ight phase. You will nd a thrust limit which is signicantly below 100% - maybe between 91% and 96% - as takeoff thrust. This is absolutely correct, because jet engines are designed so that the aircraft has always enough thrust reserve for unpredicted situations like emergencies (one-engine failure etc.). You can takeoff now, leave the ight phase TO selected - arm the autothrottle, press N1 and the A/T will automatically set the throttles to the maximum allowed thrust. Once you have managed the rst climb phase - usually when passing the 100ft mark - you will lean back for the rst time and wonder why the climb rate is so high. The reason is that the time has come to reduce the thrust. In reality, the FMC (Flight Management Computer) will set the ight phase change at a glance. As long as we dont have a complete FMC, the x737 plugin gives you the chance to select the ight phase manually. Click on the right side of the ight phase annunciator (as a hint, select the menu item Special->Show mouse click regions to see where you can click), and you will see the ight phase change. Now its time to set the phase to CLB, which means climb. Note: The ight phase is set to CLB automatically if LVL CHG is engaged in climb. Your 737 aircraft has the following ight phases: ---! No thrust limit provided TO!! R-TO! CLB! R-CLB ! CRZ! GA! ! Takeoff limit thrust Reduced takeoff thrust Climb thrust Reduced climb thrust Cruise thrust around thrust (activate on nal approach!!!!)

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

MAX ! CON! Maximum thrust 100% N1 Maximum continuous thrust

Autoight manual

Usually, you will use TO, CLB and CRZ, and GA on nal approach. Under ideal takeoff conditions, you can select R-TO to reduce noise, and R-CLB for the same reason. If you have Javier Cortes UFMC installed, the FMC controls the thrust settings completely. Enjoy the rest of the day, and Many Happy Landings!

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

Typical Auto-Flight Proles

For pilots not yet familiar with 737NG SOPs (Standard operation procedures) we have added the folowing examples for an automativ takeoff and landing.

Auto-Flight takeoff prole

Although the situations may vary, the following example shows how to use the a/p during takeoff. Condition: Aircraft is congured for takeoff, a valid ght plan is loaded. The ight phase indicator on the engine display shows TO or R-TO.

Condition Before takeoff

Procedure Preset MCP SPD for second segment climb speed (typically 250kt) Arm autothrotle

PFA/MCP

Begin Takeoff

Release ParkBrake Engage TO/GA

(TO/GA button via joystick or ,MA annuciator click))

84 knots

athr engages THR HLD mode

vR

Liftoff Retract gear Retract aps to schedule Wing Anti-Ice trips automatically Press CMD A or CMD B to engage LVLCHG at current speed

Above 200 ft RA

Above 400ft RA

select roll mode (LNAV or HDG...)

At 800ft RA

A/T ARM engages if no ATHR mode was selected earlier Flight phase turns to CLB Select A/T mode (N1 or MCP SPD) Select pitch mode (VNAV, may vary)

Engage Wing Anti-Ice if neccessary

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Autoight manual

Auto-Flight landing prole

Although the situations may vary, the following example shows how to use the a/p during ILS landing. Condition: The aircraft is approaching the localizer beacon from below the glideslope (typical situation)

Condition Before localizer intercept

Procedure MCP SPD engaged, pitch mode is ALT HLD (or V/S if you are still in descent) Roll mode as required
Press APP to arm ILS approach Set aps as required Reduce speed Check anti-ice etc.

PFA/MCP

While nearing the localizer beacon

Flight phase is G/A

Localizer intercept

A/P VOR LOC engages

G/S capture

A/P G/S engages APP switch light extinguishes (no disengagement possible) DC bus1 / bus2 are isolated (no transfer) A/T FLARE engages

At 1500ft RA

Ab 50ft RA

FLARE engages to nish the autoland procedure A/T announces RETARD A/T and A/P are disengaged. You control the aircraft.

2 seconds after touchdown

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Anti-ice

Anti-ice
With the rst sub-system popup-panel in the X-Plane world, the x737 plugin allows you perfect control over the anti-ice systems of your EADT 737 aircraft. To pop up the panel, move the mouse pointer over the background of the overhead panel; the mouse pointer changes to a menu symbol and a click opens a menu that allows you to open sub-system panels; currently you will nd the Ant-Ice subsystem as the only one, but the menu will ll in soon! The picture on the right shows the sub-panel for the antiice systems. They are described below.

WINDOW HEAT 14 switches

The switches allow you to control the electrical heaters for all four front-windows; the side windows are passively heated by the cabin a/c fan. Turning on the switch for a window probably causes the green ON light to illuminate. However, these lights indicate that power is supplied to the electrical heater of the screen, not that the switch is turned on. If the outside temperature is high, the overheat protection will turn the power off and on from time to time, causing the lights to cycle. The x737 plugin simulates the windows temperature individually by sophisticated differential equations; you will see the lights cycle independently as all windows are simulated separately. As the outside temperature decreases, the cycle periods will change so that nally at high altitudes, the power will remain on. If you have turned on a window switch and the ON light does not illuminate, you can press the PWR TEST switch (spring loaded). If the green light illuminates, everything is ne and it was just the temperature control the had the window heater shed off the bus. Pressing OVHT (spring loaded) initiates an overheat circuitry test. All four amber WDW OVHT light should illuminate and remain illuminated even if the switch return to the neutral position. You will have to turn off the window heat for a few seconds and turn it on again for normal operation.

PROBE HEAT 1/2 switches

The probe heat switch engages four different subsystems, both for the pilot side and the rst ofcer side of the aircraft. This systems are pitot heat, elevator pitot heat, alpha vane heat and a backup system heat or temperature probe heat. Amber lights indicate malfunction on not activated systems. Both heater systems must be activated at all time to ensure correct airspeed computation! If you observe a stalled speed indicator, check for the state of the pitot heater subsystems immediately to avoid overspeed situations with engaged a/ps!

WING ANTI-ICE switch

The wing anti-ice switch controls a valve in each wing that leads hot bleed air through ducts in the wings. The bleed air is taken from the 5th or 9th stage of the compressor, depending on the thrust, leading to a bleed trip of 1% to 3%. If the thrust levers are pushed above 60%, a micro switch is operated to indicate that high thrust is required; in this case, the wing anti-ice valves are closed to avoid a drop of thrust.

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Anti-ice

IMPORTANT: If the ight phase (indicated on the center DU) is TO or R-TO, the switch trips off at high thrust on liftoff to avoid thrust reduction, and you will have to re-engage wing anti ice again during climb when the ight phase has been changed to CLB or higher! In other ight phases the valves are closed and opened if and only if the temperature control commands them to do so. The blue indicator lights are tri-state lights: Off means the valves are closed and should be, dim blue means the valves are open and should be, and bright blue means disagreement, e.g. if you have wing anti-ice engaged but high thrust commanded in a ight phase of type CLB or CRZ, leading to automatic reactivation after thrust reduction. Again, the x737 plugin simulates the temperature by sophisticated differential equations, so you will watch the disagreement lights go on and off periodically, depending on OAT, airspeed and EGT. WOW! Use anti-ice on the ground for de-ice and anti-ice if icing conditions are anticipated, but be aware of the automatic trip-off on liftoff. Wing anti-ice should be disengaged above FL350 to avoid a dual bleed air trip, except under very unusual conditions, such as mountain wave effects. Wing anti-ice should be active during ground operations before takeoff whenever icing conditions are assumed or anticipated, or if the OAT is below 10C.

ENGINE ANTI-ICE 1/2 switches

The engine anti-ice switches control a valve in the left or right wing that leads hot bleed air through the engine cowlings to prevent icing. The bleed air is taken from the 5th or 9th stage of the compressor, depending on the thrust, leading to a bleed trip of 1% to 3%. Engine anti-ice works similarly to wing anti-ice, except that there is no thrust- or temperature-depending on and off switching. Easy. Engine anti-ice must be disengaged above FL350 to avoid a dual bleed air trip. It should be active during ground operations before takeoff whenever icing conditions are assumed or anticipated, or if the OAT is below 10C. Many happy landings!

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EADT Boeing 737-800 for X-Plane!

Tips and tricks

Customizing the x737 aircraft

How to edit the x737 conguration le
With the release of version 2.4 (December 2006) we start to make some properties of the aircraft customizeable. The only thing you have to do is edit the le conf/x737.cnf within the directory of the aircraft you wish to modify with a text editor. Changing the options is simple. Here is a simple example of a n x737.cnf le: Eurocypria tailnum = "5B-DBV" mcp_disp_color = "white_color" just for fun.. The effect of the entries is simple: The rst line is ignored, you can write what you throughout the le as long as you dont use keywords. The second line tells the x737 plugin to use the tailnumber 5B-DBV for the aircraft. This makes it easy to use multiple copies of the aircraft with the same 737.acf le but different callsigns. The third line tells the plugin to use the modern white displays on the MCP display (mostly found in aircraft built after 2004); if you edit this line to be mcp_disp_color = "amber_color" the display occurs in classic amber LED color. Try it out! After editing the le, all you have to do is reload the aircraft in X-Plane. More customzation concerns the pilots names and the setup of additional fuel tanks, as in a BBJ or ER type 737.

How to interact with the x737 plugin

As the x737 plugin overrides many of X-Planes commands there is the need to use special x737 datarefs to command an x737 aircraft from external devices like hardware cockpits, etc. Using the specic x737 datarefs requires deep insight into X-Planes interaction with plugins, but if you are familiar to datarefs you can tell your x737 aircraft what to do. In order to have the most recent list of datarefs, we have implemented a just-in-time generation of dataref listings: On aircraft launch, two les are generated, both containing a complete list of x737 datarefs. Look into the directory of the aircraft you have launched: The le dataref.txt contains machine-readable descriptions and dataref.html humanreadable information about all the datarefs you can use. This list will be extended with every new release of the x737 plugin. In X-Planes ,Settings->Joystick, Keys & Equipmen screen you can set up joystick or keyboard commands to control the x737 aircraft. This list is growing, the commands are sorted in groups and are commented for your covenience. A just-in-eime list of commands will be generated in future versions of x737, just like the x737datarefs.html and x737datarefs.txt les. Good ight and many happy landings!

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