VNAV Explained | Real 737 Pilot

I still get many questions as to how exactly VNAV works in the 737. In this video I'll give you a detailled explanation on how VNAV works and what the different modes do and when it's appropriate to use them.
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These tutorials are not designed as absolute beginner tutorials. It is expected that the viewer already has basic experience with airliners and knows the basics how to operate an aircraft.
Tools and addons used in this video:
Munich: www.aerosoft.com/de/microsoft...
Nürnberg: www.aerosoft.com/de/microsoft...
OBS Studio
My system specs:
Intel i9-9900k@5,2GHz
RTX3080Ti
32GB RAM
Windows 10 Pro
My hardware:
Thrustmaster Boeing Yoke and Throttle
Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
Thrustmaster Pendular Pedals

[@kosys5338]

Your videos are a great asset to the flightsim community and I would highly recommend that anybody interested in flying the PMDG 737 go watch your videos. It's almost like having your own flight instructor. Your videos have given me a MUCH MUCH better understanding of the 737 -700 and it's systems and have made it an absolute joy to fly. Thank You for the help, cheers! P.S. I don't subscribe to any KZbin channels, it's just not something I do or care to do but I have subscribed to your channel and that says something as to the quality of your videos. Great job.

[@sylvainguenette9828]

Great video as always! In my opinion you are the ultimate flightsim reference for the 737!! Always straight to the point, no bla bla bla… but your microphone quality is a striking contrast to the overall high quality of your videos!! Thanks for the videos they are very helpful!

[@boardingtime9587]

Yes.. agree to everyting. The sound is really bad and that’s a shame for all the good things you say

[@Not_Lewis]

A year later and it's not gotten any better for his new videos.

[@tonymcflattie2450]

As an airbus pilot, this is what I needed

[@iamprobablyalive567]

Thanks for such great content about VNAV. I've learned a lot from your videos and it's more fun to fly the PMDG 737 with your videos. I've always wondered why the 737 has such a large flap ratio, and in other planes smaller (for instance 747 has ratio 1,5,10,20,25,30; a320 has only 4 levels).

[@roberthatcher2773]

Another excellent Tutorial, you are the Master, thank you! Coffee will be served :)

[@patches8291]

Thank you for the lessons! Love your insight and learning more about the 737 😀

[@agenttex]

Thank You - I’ll watch this several times to get it all and put to practice…

[@larsberglund4608]

Very helpfull as always. You and Mentour Pilot are good pedagogs! Lars

[@Stucun84]

Thank you! Great information as always :)

[@PhilippeBorfiga]

Hi ! Really really great movie ! Lurn a lot of things, thank you Emanuel, it's perfect !

[@iaexo]

Thanks Emi for the excellent tutorial

[@noway9880]

These videos are amazing. Seriously dude, you've taught me so much about aviation & flying airliners. Kinda made me wish I'd done my life (career) differently now.

[@A330Driver]

Thank you so much for your kind words! It's not quite the same as flying an airliner, but you're never too old to start flying in General Aviation! Get a PPL of if that's too expensive go for a glider pilot license!

[@yams900]

Always appreciate your knowledge (need your brain) and how you explain things, makes it easy to understand

[@r0xbeat]

excellent 👌 Thank you!!

[@specialneedsmolester1957]

2 questions. What are the engagement parameters for the second autopilot and 2 what are the climb modes in the n1 page

[@HK-yh6gj]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@JoaoCarlosAbreuRibeiro]

Thank you!!!

[@BartBochenski]

Thank you!!

[@syednaveed5521]

5 Star videos Emanuel

[@alanw.4511]

But as the FMC changes altitude levels to what is programmed, you do have the get ATC approval to change your FL, correct? I suppose you do this just before you reach the way point?

[@GCSon-du9pq]

Many thanks!! I have a question. At around 38:14, you hit SPD INTV, but the Pitch mode in FMA is still VNAV PTH instead of changing it to VNAV SPD, so we could know that the FMC is now in Approach mode instead of DES mode. I'm doubtful that the plane is in CRZ mode and even not started the initial descent. How come FMC thinks that it is in Approach mode?? Isn't this a bug in PMDG VNAV software?

[@A330Driver]

It's actually a feature and not a bug. It should stay in VNAV PTH if speed intervent is used.

[@Cuni80]

How can you get the vibrations on the cocpit at takeoff?

[@Groveish]

If you're flying in North America, do you put inHG to QNH part in DES page?

[@ollieevans1557]

can you go through how to get VNAV and LNAV to turn on as I they dont turn on for me.

[@georgechadwick471]

When I miss my T/D because of vatsim the aircraft decreases speed. What is happening and how do I start a vnav descent after my T/D?

[@simoxmino]

Hi :) vnav speed and vnav path.. when the plane chose one or the other modes? :)

[@guylacroix9218]

Hi, thanks for your wonderful video. I have a question that is a bit off topic but can you tell me how to open main cargo doors on the 737-BDSF ? I tried so many different things but it never opens... Thanks a lot.

[@TheXennner]

All doors are controlled from the FMC Doors page. You can also go to ground services and call the pallet loader to load / unload and it will automatically do the same thing

[@ReefAndReptileAutomation]

So, to confirm, if VNAV is armed while cruising. If you reduce the altitude on the AP panel before hitting the T/D it will automatically start descending? I always thought I had to hit "Alt intervent" when I get to T/D?

[@oad51]

Exactly. As long as the altitude is set lower than your cruise altitude the plane will automatically start to descend at TD.

[@stevencherry8727]

Thanks!

[@A330Driver]

Thank you so much for your support Steven, I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@manuelberzen671]

Very good explanations. Where do the camera effects come from?

[@A330Driver]

They're from FSRealistic

[@timlennon4571]

I have a dumb question. Does the plane automatically engage vnav at a certain alt or do you have to select if prior to engaging autopilot. Watching the video, it was all of a sudden on and didn't see if you clicked on vnav or what.

[@A330Driver]

You have to select it. Either on the ground - then it will come on at 400ft - or in the air manually when above 400ft.

[@ReefAndReptileAutomation]

Hey there! Where is the FMC getting the des winds request from? is it that .wx file you must put into the folder or does it get it from weather data?

[@A330Driver]

Yes it is

[@ReefAndReptileAutomation]

@@A330Driver which one :)

[@rjack1282]

@@ReefAndReptileAutomation from the weather file...not the weather in the sim.

[@jeffdeutsch]

Thanks

[@A330Driver]

Thank you so much!

[@brandyhandy4157]

It,s so so good 👍🍉🤣

[@Stringbean421]

Is there any drop in quality when it comes to its study level features? In other words, apart from its obvious size, is the -600 identical to its bigger brother by PMDG? Just asking because it's so much cheaper.

[@A330Driver]

Yes, it's identical. No sacrifice in quality.

[@duanethomas2843]

Only difference I see is it’s size, but it’s identical in functionality

[@DutchThackers]

Yeah which makes me wonder why they didn't just give us all 3 variants instead of having to pay for them all individually. We spend most of our time in the cockpit anyway. Thanks for the excellent video BTW. Itw very well done and easy to understand.

[@HolyOrangeJuice]

@@DutchThackers because people whine when you have to buy a $100+ module but cheap add-ons. Split it evenly as a seperate products and people don't realize.

[@TheXennner]

@@DutchThackers there’s also slight flight dynamics differences between then. This is mostly true for hand flying though

[@ws_787]

Why does vnav pth change in vnav spd when the speed window is open? (Out of the approach mode)

[@A330Driver]

Ato give you a way to control speed "manually" while still giving you the altitude protections that come with the VNAV mode.

[@laranja9921]

i got a question in av exam it stated that vnav controls pitch angle rather than AoA but isnt a pitch angle porpotional to AoA?

[@A330Driver]

AoA is influenced by more than just pitch, if VNAV wanted to control AoA (or any AP mode for that matter) it would constantly pitch around trying to maintain target AoA. It is much easier for passenger comfort to control pitch directly. What IS (more or less) an AoA target is the speed control by VNAV. If you want you could say that VNAV sets a target AoA by setting a target speed. But it controls it using pitch.

[@laranja9921]

@@A330Driver ohhhh makes sense many thanks for the explanation!!

[@tomstravels520]

So what is VNAV ALT?

[@BlueSkyPilot.]

So I thought I had a pretty good understanding of Vnav until the other day something happened unexpectedly I don't know if it's a bug or not so I have the PMDG Boeing 737 800 and while in top of cruise I selected speed intervention to accelerate to moc point 81 before top of the scent I tried to re enter Vnav And could not get it to engage am I missing something.. And yes I did set a lower altitude before trying to engage vnav Vnav was programmed into the FMS all the altitudes and constraints were there the profile was there just could not get it to engage..

[@A330Driver]

I'd need to see a video of the exact situation when you try to get back into VNAV. Basically, when you used SPD INTV you never left VNAV, so why how could you try to re-enter it? I'd need to see exactly what you did there.

[@BlueSkyPilot.]

@@A330Driver I know I don't understand either it just would not descend on profile.. When the aircraft did not start the descent I tried alt interventionAnd that didn't do anything either.. I ended up using vertical speed to go through the decent profile..

[@manic_miner]

I'm not a real life 737 pilot but whenever I fly the 736, I find the VNAV to be wholely unreliable. It always leaves me hanging either too high or too fast for a speed restriction. Everything appears to be set up correctly, having exhaustively followed yours and other real life pilot's procedures, but on every flight there is a surprise in store for me if I use VNAV. Even the official tutorial switches to LVL CHG mode below FL100. I understand that VNAV is a guidance and not an autopilot but I still wonder how many real life 737 pilots fly a descent manually..

[@jjsemperfi]

I’ve experienced the same thing. I think it has a lot to do with winds and forecasted vs actual conditions.

[@MissilemanIII]

How come I feel like it will take me a year to learn everything. 😂

[@Tradiejoe284]

My VNAV won't set

[@TONY...GTB6]

Thanks!

[@A330Driver]

Thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it 👍🏼