FIVE hidden features you did NOT KNOW existed in the PMDG 737 | Real 737 Pilot

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Tools and addons used in this video:
Streamlabs Studio
Nvidia Shadowplay
My system specs:
Intel i9-9900k@5,2GHz
RTX3080Ti
32GB RAM
Windows 10 Pro
My hardware:
Thrustmaster Boeing Yoke
Honeycomb Bravo Throttle
Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Thrustmaster Pendular Pedals

[@Shrike200]

With about 3000 hours on the real -800, I'm consistently amazed by the level of detail that PMDG have packed in. The gold standard. Now, I want that 777....

[@matthumphrey8774]

Yes

[@cpt_anthony]

u might want it, I however. NEED ITTTTTT

[@gotywi967]

Awesome! what airline?

[@lawrencecoleman6998]

wonder if they’ll ever bring out the Boeing 787?

[@altez_121]

i would love to, they could release also a 747​@@lawrencecoleman6998

[@jeluna]

For me it's the copy paste feature, especially because I mostly fly around very elevated airports like KDEN and I don't have time to turn the knob all the way to 5400 on both sides. Very nice video as always!

[@A330Driver]

Thanks for sharing!

[@ajfurnari2448]

The grime that gets trapped under the manual gear door is nicely modeled as well! Next thing you're going to tell us is that there is a cribbage board and deck of cards stored in one of the compartments. Love your videos

[@A330Driver]

LOL

[@aaronsuever2414]

No cribbage board I know of, but there are escape ropes on the ceiling above both the captain and fo's seats. lol

[@neiswestnij]

That speed brake click feature is a life changer. Thx

[@SCAJolly]

5 timestamps: 00:14 Manual Gear Extension Door. 1:36 Flap and Speed Break Lever Click Spots. 2:26 Delay between MCP altitude and PFD altitude. 3:55 OVHD Copy-Paste function from EFIS control panel. 6:20 Fuel qty indication gauge changes reading depending on pitch.

[@MrCudou]

Another cool hidden feature I found buried in the PMDG manual is the secondary TOGA selector. If you click the bottom left screw on the MCP it actually acts as a TOGA button for the throttles. They added this on purpose to make it easier to engage during takeoff if you're using a controller or non-HOTAS throttle, pretty neat addition imo!

[@Fcreceptor]

That has been there for many previous versions. FS9 and FSX/P3D I’m pretty sure had that. I kinda seem to remember it being on other products too, like their 747.

[@ferrari2k]

@@FcreceptorYes, that has been there for quite a while, the 737 for the FS2004 (FS9) definitely had that as well. Started flying PMDG with that simulator so that's why I am so sure about that :)

[@madsib5187]

Hahaha, the comment about politicians messing around with their PhDs got me 😂

[@stenic2]

The click on flap position was an eye opener! Thank you!! And thank you pmdg

[@ferohora139]

The SIXTH hidden feature is the sun and shadows! Just the opening scene... Awesome! Amazing! Incredible! :)

[@A330Driver]

haha, they look pretty nice indeed, don't they?

[@wavesandsky]

If you have some GPU power still available you can set the Shadow Res to 4096 in the usercfg . opt file. Really happy I discovered this because it removes the annoying flickering in the cockpit.

[@sander8928]

Been flying the PMDG for many many years now and a few I didn't know, so thanks!! It is so cool how these things are modelled.

[@DillyDewon]

Thank you for the wonderful video, it is a privilege to have a real life pilot help explain stuff to us, hopefully I will accomplish that goal and fly the 737 in real life to

[@z0rgMeister]

I knew about the click spots as for some reason it takes forever to move the Speedbrake lever on my install...but all the other ones are new to me. Thanks for sharing.

[@otto9468]

I didn't know about the TO/GA hidden click spot for so long. :)

[@deesto]

Where is that, please?

[@lgvdbroek]

@@deesto [Southwest] Below the Left course knob Don't forget to switch the A/T on. [Auto throttle] 😂

[@lgvdbroek]

@@deesto See my reaction , did you find it ?

[@coriscotupi]

Feature #3 has been killing me, LOL. I built an Arduino-based external hardware device with throttle levers, pushbuttons and rotary switches for various functions. One cool thing about this is that I could quickly change the selected speed, heading, altitude or vertical speed on the MCP without actually needing to move the point of view to the MCP itself (no eye or head tracking here), but rather just looking at their values on the PFD as I changed them on the hardware switches. This has worked well since all the way back from FSX and P3D, but the recent feature means I can no longer change the altitude without actually looking at the altitude window itself on the MCP (or do the changing rather slowly to allow for the PFD delay). There's one feature that I really wish was user-selectable in the options page, something like *"PFD altitude change: fast/real".* Great video as usual.

[@A330Driver]

I'm afraid your kind of setup is really a exeption to the exeptions in a niche market. Probably not something they will invest the development time on as there's still so much other stuff to do. Sorry :/

[@coriscotupi]

@@A330Driver Yep, I'm well aware of that. Can't have 'em all. :-)

[@wavesandsky]

@@A330Driver Disagree here, it's similar for everyone owning a Honeycomb Bravo :)

[@yeagerconsulting9217]

I didnt know about any of these, but they're all great! I did not know there were click spots for the detents, but that is awesome! Cant wait to use it

[@A330Driver]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Mr.Martini549]

@@A330Driver The click spot to arm the speedbrake on final approach will be very helpful!

[@jrod_pilot_miami]

Mind blown with the copy and paste feature! I've been manually setting the captain and FO side altimeter and minimums. I'm definitely going to use that!

[@yassine8695]

Thought u were going to lower the landing gear at cruise for a second there XD

[@gamingjose2960]

You can also click the screw on the bottom left of the CA MCP Course knob to enable to/ga i believe

[@A330Driver]

Indeed you can! That didn't really count as "hidden" feature for me since I use it on every single flight and covered it in earlier tutorials haha

[@gamingjose2960]

@@A330Driver oh cool, great video

[@jamesmurawski44]

Never knew about the clickable detents on the speedbrakes, game-changer! Thank you! Your videos are superb, keep it up!

[@A330Driver]

Happy to help!

[@MillionFoul]

As a fueler something that surprised me on the 737s is how little pilots tend to know about the fuel panel on the wing. For example, most pilots I've encountered are unaware that using the manual defueling valves, fuel can be transferred between any tanks on the aircraft by opening the crossfeed and using the fuel boost pumps to remove fuel from a desired tank into whatever tanks are selected as open on the wing fuel panel. Very useful if, say, the fueler has an INOP gauge and a pilot volunteers to monitor the fuel quantity and tell him when to close the tank and misses by 2500 lbs because he was receiving their clearance.

[@BartS52]

Big thumbs up for using the airberlin livery!

[@bobwright8789]

Wow, that's super helpful. I always wondered about mcp/pfd altitude looking different and the fuel moving around. Makes perfect sense, that pitch changes would cause fuel to move around. Very small details like this sure come in handy when you're trying to anticipate and stay ahead of a situation!

[@denisy6]

wow. didnt know any of these, ty!

[@ryleymclean313]

Im a mechanic irl and work on the 737! I was quite surprised to see a part number appear on the emergency gear stow door. You can even see the chart reference number on it and a AIPC manual reference with all that fun dinitrol and grease! You dont usually get that kind of detail on other 737's. Just shows the love PDMG put into their planes. Although I will say, they made the cockpits far too clean imo (but it might just be because we have registrations decades old). Threre should be much more grime on those switches and panels. Im sure you know how dusty that glareshield gets XD

[@pcpilot8383]

Only did not know about the copy and paste. always learning. I love it. thank you

[@SteenPedersen]

Very interesting. I only knew about the manual gear extension door. I was once on the jumpseat and the crew showed me, and they was worried about if they gear would come down later, because of the microswitch 🙂Everything worked perfectly though.

[@alexandernev24]

...lol this was great, I had no idea that manual gear panel opened, thanks again

[@DistasterArea]

Great stuff !! So, where is now the switch for the inflatible copilot (like in the 1980s Airplane! movie) ?? 😁

[@A330Driver]

LOL

[@ScoobyMoony]

My nav lights only work when i press my right mouse click...

[@tuhkathri9126]

I've been watching all of the coverage of the final 747 built. I was there at the factory when the 747-8 was revealed. Beautiful plane and a giant factory building as well. The only time I've been able to touch one. Impressively large engines. I look forward to pmdg releasing it. I wonder if pmdg will make a 747 SP.

[@A330Driver]

I'm really looking forward to the PMDG 747 as well! I doubt they'll do an SP, it's be a whole different systems simulation.

[@ElitistMagi]

Emi, dropping another banger educational video.... amazing!

[@A330Driver]

More to come!

[@AmechiAmanugi]

I only knew about the manual landing gear door. I did not know about any of the others. Great info, thanks!!!!

[@crew-rest]

I didn’t any of those, but of course, after your explanation, they all make total sense! Thanks for sharing!

[@A330Driver]

Excellent!

[@crew-rest]

@737NG Driver I just forwarded this to a buddy of mine whom flies the 737. I told him - use at own discretion, but life hack for approach preparation coming your way!

[@Pizzamonster001]

Clicking spots!!! Brilliant❤

[@madhavmenon2545]

Thanks ! I understood and sometimes by mistake I was going around the 737 flightdeck and accidentally pressed those manual gear which you showed in the beginning of the video

[@A330Driver]

Glad it helped!

[@daveorr5858]

I did not know any of those but will definitely base them,thanks

[@weakbruteforce]

Wow, I was just trying to set spoiler control to the thrust master the other night. Never knew about the click spots.... Thank you!

[@Part_121]

That microswitch on the manual gear release door makes me wonder if the first step in the checklist for unexpected unsafe gear indications is to stomp on the door in the cockpit. :-)

[@A330Driver]

LOL

[@Taylor314T5]

Loved the copy paste tip, didn’t know about that switch.

[@chrisschaller4137]

Speed brake setting. So handy. Glad to learn it.

[@goblin2bis707]

Nice ! i use the clickpots on the flaps and speed break

[@aaronsuever2414]

Knew about the gear extension door and the escape ropes because I'm using a real Ryanair checklist for my flights and those explicitly state to check those doors to make sure they're closed before flight. I didn't know about the microswitch preventing use of the gear lever though, which explains why the checklist requires that door be checked thoroughly.

[@KevinStoffel]

This is awesome! Love your content.

[@A330Driver]

Thanks so much!

[@lvwpy]

You've definitely made my life easier by showing the speedbrake lever clickpoints!

[@folcaljet00]

I didn’t know about the minimums copy and paste feature. Very cool indeed. I just wish setting high minimum altitudes such as KRNO at 4500ft could be done a little faster.

[@sidplays77]

Yea on other aircraft the longer you hold the knob the quicker the dial goes….

[@Fcreceptor]

Their 747 allowed you to enter those numbers in the FMC. I’m surprised they don’t add it to the 737 for convenience.

[@walterp7097]

thanks for all your helpful videos. 👍

[@martinstofko]

Thank you! Always top-notch content Emi. It’s always great to see how to plan a realistic flight. I would love to see how this is different for Lufthansa. My guess is maybe in the loadout and CI?

[@A330Driver]

Thank you so much! LH is an entirely different operations. Maybe I'll do a dedicated video one day. We'll see. CI and especially cargo are two things that will be different for sure.

[@TheBearScaleModels]

I would add the Sistine chapel painting by Michelangelo painted on the rear cargo roof area of the 737-800 ... dont know if its on the other versions! but seriously these are great tips.

[@countryflyboy8255]

I had encountered the center fuel tank reading a small amount of fuel after I had thought I burned it all in the ascent. I had no idea why that was. Now I know ! Thanks .

[@Midcon77]

I knew about the gear extension piece from reading about the real plane, and had to use it in the sim rather unexpectedly once (still don't know why the gear didn't extend as normal unless it was some sort of mid-flight failure). But otherwise didn't know about the others. Thank you!

[@larsw8776]

Very interesting insights. The fuel gauge issue is similar in my BMW and its reserve light indication, haha.

[@ErrorUsingFunction]

The shot at politicians.. love it LOL

[@Nemura12]

The fuel central tank was something new for me.

[@ferrabras]

The SYNC trick was the best for me. I didn´t know any of them.

[@GG_Booboo]

Amazing tips! Thank you, captain!

[@A330Driver]

You are welcome!

[@jb894]

Never knew about these. Amazing!

[@risingsun9595]

The spoiler/flap click zones are huge

[@SteonCZ]

Great stuff. Thank you

[@A330Driver]

My pleasure!

[@theyakusabenja]

Good afternoon, Small remark, or misunderstanding about the manual gear extension door microswitch. reading operating manual, the following is mention (copied from the manual 737-800NG): With the manual extension access door open: • manual landing gear extension is possible with the LANDING GEAR lever in any position • normal landing gear extension is possible if hydraulic system A pressure is available • landing gear retraction is disabled. As you may see, the second point mention than extension is possible even when the door is open if hydraulic A available. Is someone wrong, do I misunderstand the manual or is it option dependant ? Have a nice day, Benjamin

[@imellor711]

Nice and thanks for sharing.

[@despacito111]

damn the Flap & Speed Brake lever .... I wish i knew earlier.

[@weswheel4834]

The click spots are very cool, thanks.

[@A330Driver]

They are!

[@weswheel4834]

@@A330Driver Particularly for the speed brake :)

[@claudemiropacheco]

The copy and paste feature was a great trick.

[@TheMarcellification]

The manual gear extension door should inhibit the retraction only but not the extension…it might be a limitation by the sim?

[@VincenzoCavarretta]

Right. With the manual extension access door open: • manual landing gear extension is possible with the LANDING GEAR lever in any position • normal landing gear extension is possible if hydraulic system A pressure is available • landing gear retraction is disabled.

[@dotbmp]

Is this also on the 737-600 as well?! this is cool stuff!

[@gman345ish]

I love PMDG and all the work they do, but where’s the -900?!😭

[@A330Driver]

On my computer, testflying right now ;-)

[@sebastianmarcu4368]

Thank GOD for the tip with the Speed Brake, I always found myself landing and having to keep the mouse clicked on the Speed Brake lots of seconds so it will go back to the Down Position and while doing that I was not able to start the taxi, which is not realistic at all…

[@CaptainKevin]

I knew about the manual gear extension because back in the old days, I actually tricked another streamer into using it. I told him to pop open the floor panel and pull the lever, he proceeded to pull all three. Afterwards, he had a closer look and realized what he had just done. I wasn't aware of the clickspots because given the hardware I use, they would be largely irrelevant anyway. If I wanted to pull the speed brakes, I'd just reach over and pull the lever with my hand. I didn't know about the MCP delay because I don't think this was ever modeled in P3D. Wasn't aware of the overhead switch, although I have it set to synchronize the EFIS anyway, so I personally wouldn't find much use to it, although I could understand others might. As for the fuel, I wasn't aware of it, as I've never really checked, but I'm not surprised that PMDG models this.

[@FedorBuyakov]

During cleanup after landing if you deactivates a flight director which is currently the master first and then quickly pushes level change button several times it will reset speed selection to 100. This trick was mentioned by @737NGDriver in some old video but it was stated sometime it works and sometime doesn't. In my experience it works every time if you switch exactly the master FD first but leaving second FD on before pushing level change button.

[@A330Driver]

That's actually a feature I suggested myself which got implemented!

[@deesto]

@@A330Driver Is it like so in the real aircraft?

[@CaptainKevin]

@@deesto I assumed it was or he wouldn't have suggested it.

[@ellonysman]

Nice payware. Im still trying to learn about navigation, garmin has so many buttons, etc. Then Ill move up to the pmdg 737😅😅😅

[@boahneelassmal]

that air berlin livery was unexpected but much appreciated ^-^ TXL&BER4EVR

[@A330Driver]

Glad you liked it!

[@boahneelassmal]

@@A330Driver immer und gerne immer wieder ^-^

[@CristiNeagu]

I'm not sure if they did it for this version, but their FSX/P3D version used to simulate flight computer start up time based on outside temperature.

[@A330Driver]

That's still in

[@b747man3]

Thank you for the making the video. If I can ask though. How were you able to get the solar shade to the front of the cockpit? I can do it on the first officers side, however when I move it on the captains side I cant move it past the point where it curves around the front.

[@adrianubiaga5695]

Thank you for your video! Quick question! How is the autotune work excatly in the 737, mino is not working, it always stuck in a specific VOR frequency all the time, even when the VOR signal is lost... In the new PMDG 777 is working fine, the frequencies are changing automatically to the closest VOR, but in the PMDG 737 is not working in the same way... Any idea? Thank you!

[@virtualaviator21156]

PMDG never simulated single engine taxi in the NGX. but, they did it finally in the NG3 due to sim being unlimited

[@guit320]

Nice vidéo ! i did not all these truck ( only the gear one and fuel gauge).

[@Coastingonlife]

Great video, hey man I just uploaded the pmdg 738 msfs and it won't follow Nav route ,it keeps missing the turns, Any ideas on how to fix it?

[@iamch18]

Hello, a good videos always. Thanks, can you make a video explaining the B737 option in the FMC that says Random failures and how can i active the random failures to make my flights more exiting. And I will like to know if PMDG will put any time an option that let me start the plane exactly as I left it the last time I used it. This question is made to you because you are part of the PMDG Tech Team

[@mykweb]

Brilliant video

[@SyTrades]

Im having some trouble getting the WXR to work on my PMDG 737-600 is there any pre checks I should do to ensure it works properly?

[@MsFLYBOY05]

Hello 737NG Driver, Not sure if this is a hidden feature or not. But did you know you can enter the departure runway as a fix info in the FMC. simply do the following below. 1- go to the dep/arr page and select arrival on the departure airport. 2- select the departure runway as an arrival. 3- go to legs page and scroll to find the the arrival runway. Which should also be your departing runway. 4- copy and paste it in the fix page. 5- go back to the legs page and erase the modified route. Do not execute. And vaw la.

[@A330Driver]

It's a feature indeed. I'm just not sure what to use it for haha

[@MsFLYBOY05]

@@A330Driver i normally just set a 5 nm ring just for reference especially if the airport doesn't have any SID. Now if i can only figure out how to enter a FlyOver waypoint on the legs page. 🤔

[@chris08712]

Hello, My PMDG 737-800 (MSFS), when takeoff almost at rotate speed, the aircraft shifts, (Autorudder is off), is this normal? This does not happen when autorudder is on. Wind is like 13 knots

[@CCitis]

Only knew one of those... cool.

[@slicker55]

Thanks, another 'Like' for a very informative video

[@A330Driver]

Thanks again!

[@johnleach2484]

Hello! Can I get an honest answer I purchased the pmdg 737 today but it did not install i have contacted customer support and have not heard back is this typical of PMDG?

[@LH475]

pretty cool stuff

[@mitchellloder1032]

Thanks good information

[@A330Driver]

Welcome!

[@ahmtmhmtbyglu]

Copy paste the baro is something new for me. But how on earth do you dial a something like a ~7000 ft baro before you get lost in time?

[@jayrermars8493]

Nice video but the one thing I was waiting for wasnt covered. How did you get the green sun blind on the front window?

[@A330Driver]

Thanks, I thought that'd be somewhat basic knowledge after all the persons asked for it during the 800 release 😅 They're in the pockets aft and to the side of the pilot seats.

[@jayrermars8493]

@@A330Driver Ok cool I will check that out. Only just acquired the pmdg 737 800 and still learning all these qwerky bits. Many thanks.

[@jayrermars8493]

Hi I have another question. So I've made my way into the cockpit using the drone camera but can't interact with any of the cockpit buttons? Any idea how to do this? Thanks.

[@fivemilesup]

PMDG has made a mistage then. Reference FCOM 14.20.2: When manual gear extension door is open, normal extension of the landing gear is possible if hydraulic system A pressure is available. They should correct this.

[@A330Driver]

I did a little research into this as you're the second one to bring this point up already. The PMDG in this aspect is modelled after a certified real life simulator since obviously they couldn't test it on the real plane. What you saw in this vid was how the real sim would behave as well. Now, this would not be the first time a certified sim would be wrong, indeed it would be the second time (to my knowledge) something is spotted in the PMDG which worked exactly as the real sim, which is wrong. I'll do some testing myself next time I'm in my airlines full flight sims as they are from a different manufacturer than the one PMDG had access to.

[@fivemilesup]

@@A330Driver Thanks for the reply.

[@kaydenkwon5345]

my question, you have an emergency during flight and atc asks you for SOB and fuel in minutes, do you tell em souls including flight deck crew? to obtain fuel in minutes do you use the current burn rate or would you rather use optimal speed using hold page on fmc?

[@A330Driver]

Hi, Souls on Board is always the entire people on board. You want the rescue workers to know how many people there will be that will need help, right? Don't take the fuel question too seriously. 200kg is 5 minutes, make an estimate and that's it.

[@boeing_RBLX]

How you got window shades i can't find em, ive found the little green visors but not the window shades and i really like to be protected from the sun's brightness because it hurts my eyes

[@A330Driver]

They're in the equipment options in your FMC options.

[@boeing_RBLX]

@@A330Driver I'm very confused, please explain

[@iitqrxz]

idk if this has happened to anyone else but i had just taken off (PMDG TUi 738) and as as i was putting the gear up, the fire warning light and alarm was triggered

[@A330Driver]

Wheel Well fire maybe? Hot brakes?

[@alton4357]

Sorry but I have a doubt on the first one , the LDG won't extend if the speed is higher than 260 knots right? And that was actually the case when u did this experiment, I mean regardless if the door was open or not the ldg wasn't supposed to go down

[@A330Driver]

The gear will extend whenever you put the lever down. Why would it not when you're faster than 260kt? That would even be below the placard speed for gear operation. The 737 is not an Airbus. You might break it, but it will still do what you tell it to do.

[@sebastianmarcu4368]

HOW did you managed to have the new yoke checklists on the yoke? Mine only has 2 items on the Before Take-Off Checklist (Flaps and Trim) and I have to remember lots of things (like Transponder TA/RA, Landing Lights On, Flight Attendands Seats for Take-Off, Elapsed Time…).

[@A330Driver]

I changed the texture files

[@sebastianmarcu4368]

@@A330Driver ohh, do you have a video on how to do that?

[@GCSon-du9pq]

Nice video. However, the manual landing gear extension work DIFERENTLY from FCOM. The FCOM reads that "With the manual extension access door open : (2) normal landing gear extension is possible if hydraulic system A pressure is available.". I'm not a real pilot, so I cannot say how the real 737 works. But PMDG 737 is clearly different from Boeing's FCOM.

[@A330Driver]

I'll give it a shot next time I'm in the full flight sim to verify.

[@jordancollins7714]

Emi, do you have a tip for setting the mins faster? When I fly into Denver my mins are somewhere around 5000’ MSL and it takes forever to set them.

[@A330Driver]

Hold the mousebutton and scroll at the same time. That's as fast as it gets. ...and annoy the PMDG support so that they finally add the correct realistic option.

[@deesto]

@@A330Driver Which is what? Can you tell us, please, what's the realistic option?

[@OpinionatedHuman]

Mind blown

[@shadoemr5356]

how to close doors in pmdg 737 msfs after takeoff?

[@felipeturbayr]

wow! very impressive how the details are simulated at PMDG! Thanks Emanuel for this information! one question from my side. Reaching an Alt below 10.000 feet i have noticed that the speed bug starts dropping to 250 knots is small changes until it reaches 250 knots. In other aircraft such as A320 from Fenix the speed bug will jump directly from the cruise speed to the 250 knots immediately. Is this speed adjustment in the PMDG737 below 10.000 feet the same as in the real aircraft?

[@A330Driver]

Thanks! Yes, the speedbug moves in "real time" in the 737. This shows you at any time at what energy state the plane should be, aka how the decelleration is progressing.