FMS-CDU Preflight

This Training Tips presentation is a detailed description of the FMS-CDU Preflight Procedure starting from the IDENT page and continuing to the TAKEOFF REFERENCE page.
CDU Familiarization is covered as well discussing the Alpha Numeric Keypad, Scratchpad, Function Keys, Line Select Keys, Data Lines, Symbology, and Annunciator Lights.
For more video briefings, go to subsonicflightt...

[@danieljack1373]

I will ask You Tube to give you best compensation sir, as we know all of your content Video are useful for those are still studying for their pilot studies. Keep on doing the right thing sir. Regards Daniel

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thanks Daniel, good thing I do not do this for the money because $28/month will not get me far : )

[@KevinMullenger]

Bravo, Capt. Al. I am a current B747-400 Captain and I found your video to be most educational and informative! I will be using this video for all my recurrent training and I want to thank you for your great work!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Well Kevin, I’m not sure how good these would be for recurrent, I’d have to make some more advanced videos for you to cover that. These are mainly geared for the flight simmers and the community that fly the PMDG models on their PC. However, I have had pilots use these to prepare after they got hired with UPS to transition from military flying to civilian airline. I thank you again for your comments and happy travels in the 747-400...

[@ltcterry2006]

I'm attending ATP-CTP right now. I used this video to get a head start on the first sim lesson.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Glad to hear that, good luck with training…

[@larissasousa5052]

Dear Captain. Your FMS-CDU tutorial is excellent. I am new to this and after spending an entire day watching your lesson and reproducing it in my computer, I can say that I learned a lot. Thank you very much. Larissa.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Hi Larissa, your welcome, glad you are getting value from my video tutorials. I promise I will be putting out some more soon, it has been a while since I have released a new one...

[@larissasousa5052]

@@subsonicflighttraining Hello, Captain. I would like to ask you a technical question. I am flying a B757 and it ejects a lot of smoke from the engines. What do you.think is the problem here. Thank you very much. Larissa.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Not sure what phase of flight you are in. If it is during engine start, it is normal to get some smoking as the engines start, especially if the jet has been sitting for a while. If it is in cruise flight at a high altitude, with the cold temperatures and hot jet exhaust, it is quite normal for the gases to vaporize into streams of cloud and those are the contrails you see from the ground looking up at a jet at a high altitude, which look like smoke, but is really condensation from the hot exhaust gas mixing with very cold air aloft...

[@larissasousa5052]

Hi, Captain. Thank you very much for your explanation and for your.time. Now I will be waiting for the next tutorial you will be publishing. Kind regards. Larissa.

[@tonforr]

Great flight training video.Thanks.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thank you Tonforr, glad you are enjoying them...

[@argydimitrelis611]

You are gold. Thank you so much

[@subsonicflighttraining]

You are very welcome Argy...

[@AbhinavYadav-zm7ut]

Best explanation. Thank you.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thank you, Abhinav

[@user-bk5je8pj1o]

Thank you very much for the detailed instruction! I have been struggling for a long time trying to study the FMC operation and understand the knowledge behind it, and I just learned what I expected in your video. Simple as that!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Glad it helped!

[@proudbirther1998]

Awesome Video Capt Al!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thank you ProudBirther, glad you found value in it...

[@mhamilto54]

Fantastic is the only way to describe this!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thank you so much Mike, glad you are enjoying them and hopefully pick some new information up...

[@mhamilto54]

Absolutely. Enjoying them lots. Very thorough and the way you present things makes everything easily understandable and logical. I viewed both of today's videos already and can't wait for more. Thanks!

[@mhamilto54]

Yes, am learning lots about the 747 thanks to your videos. Up to now I am usually flying smaller GA in P3D, but might soon step up to PMDG based, on your material. I was dreading the learning curve of all the panels but you are making them easy to understand!

[@nzder2018]

I always enjoy watching how all of this is done, what it really takes to operate this kind of equipment, and your videos explain everything clearly, but just have a question: what is a transition? (NOTE: I'm not a pilot, probably never will be, but just highly interested), thanks :)

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thanks MainDamo1, a transition level or altitude is an altitude passing where the altimeter is either set to standard (29.92 inches USA, 1013 mb INTNL) when climbing to cruise altitude or to the destination field altimeter setting while descending for landing. It ensures everyone is at the same pressure altitude setting when at Flight Levels for separation. In the USA, the transition is 18,000 feet, it can be different in other countries, like 6000 feet in England.

[@lucascardinfranco2011]

Hi there, I really like your videos, you are teaching me a lot of stuff. You probably know it by now, but when you hit the INIT REF button, it works properly when we are flying the PMDG, it doesn’t work properly when we are in the ground, taking us to the index ref. Thanks for the videos, i appreciate it a lot!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Your welcome Lucas, glad you are finding some value from the tutorials...

[@simonijspeert7526]

Hi, nice videos you have produced, I have seen several of them so far! In this "FMS-CDU Preflight" video, however, I think I disagree with what you said at ± 42:00 into the video: CI-0 is Maximum Range Cruise [MRC] and not Long Range Cruise [LRC]. According to Boeing - in Aeromagazine Q0407 - LRC is approximately equivalent to CI-230 for the 747-400.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

I do believe you are correct, I got the 2 mixed up, good catch...

[@markcardwell]

Hi Capt, straighten me out again plz. On the thrust limit page- as the oat increases the thrust derate increases. Seems like when it’s hotter more thrust is needed, not reduced?

[@subsonicflighttraining]

You are correct, as the OAT increases, the amount you can reduce would be decreased. Did I say something different than that? On any given day, based on the current OAT and your current weight, the charts allow you to fool the engine into believing it is a much warmer day than it actually is. The thrust output from the engine would be less on that hotter day than on a much cooler day. Because you are at a weight that allows reduced thrust, you can take advantage of less stress on the engine during takeoff by using that reduced thrust...

[@richardgraham65]

Very thorough video, thanks for taking the time to put it together in such a concise manner! I do have a question for you (I am new to FMS) How did you know from your route plan which items are which type? How were you able to tell which is an airway or which is a transition etc. I cannot understand this part of the programming and am never sure which is a "VIA" and which is "DIRECT", many thanks.

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Thanks Richard, normally when you look at your flight plan route, check if you have a SID or STAR as part of your flight plan. If so, then look at the first waypoint after your SID or before your STAR. This may or may not be a Transition for the SID or STAR. For example, let’s say this is your flight plan route from Minneapolis to Milwaukee: KMSP...ZMBRO9.ODI.J34.BAE...KMKE Looking at the route, I have a SID, but no STAR so far, I may very well get one assigned later, but it is not part of my flight plan to enter right now. I then look at the waypoint after the SID, which is ODI, and remember it. When I go to the Departures page and select the SID, ZMBRO9, I get the transitions under the SID, and sure enough, there is an ODI TRANS, so I select it, along with the RW30L. When I go back to the Route page I now have this... VIA. TO ZMBRO9.ODI. ODI J34. BAE All waypoints on the Legs Page up to ODI are the SID plus the transition, everything beyond that is the flight plan waypoints, either Direct or waypoints along an airway. Under VIA can only be an Airway or Direct, under TO can only be waypoints, VOR’s, Navaids, etc.

[@richardgraham65]

@@subsonicflighttrainingThanks for that, it is starting to make some sense to me now! Look forward to more video education.

[@dawkinsm]

Hello. I've been studying your video and am trying to program a flight from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle flying the PMDG version of the 747. I've used SimBrief.com to generate the route but am having trouble entering it into the FMC. The route I have been given is "EGLL/27R MAY3F MAY Y47 SFD UM605 BIBAX BIBA7D LFPG/26R". I'm OK (I think) until I get to BIBAX but no-matter what I try I get INVALID ENTRY. Could this be due to out of date 'data'? If this is possible do you know what I need to do to remedy this? If you don't think this is the issue can you give me a pointer to what I may be doing wrong? I think I've followed the steps in the tutorial to the letter but am stuck. Thanks once again for your excellent content!

[@subsonicflighttraining]

Without putting it in myself, it could be a problem with the sim brief routing. You can try an alternate routing or after SFD, just go direct to BIBAX. If you really want to be accurate, you could get charts and check the routing, but not really worth getting hung up on, I would just go direct after SFD...

[@dawkinsm]

Subsonic Flight Training thank you for your reply. I’ll give this a go this evening. If I wanted to upgrade the data do I need to pay for this? I’ve had a google and can see some sites offer this service. Can you recommend a source?

[@subsonicflighttraining]

I just use simbrief for flight plans and I do use Navigraph for a subscription to have a current Nav Data Base at 4 times a year. It is a pretty minimal cost to keep the database somewhat current. I really don't need it current month to month, but that is available to. Charts are available too with Navigraph, but I have a Jepp provided iPad subscription through my work with Boeing for approach plates and charts... this would help prevent your problem with routings if the nav data is out of date...