Missing CDU MSGs (of some importance)

[eudoniga]

Among the very long list provided with the true 737 CDU documentation/manual/guides, here's a selection of messages that do not appear on the PM CDU for the time being, at least not during my flying activity of the last two/three years; some should occur in quite common situations, simply to face some possible pilot's forgiveness/distraction.

- APPRCH VREF NOT SELECTED
- ARR N/A FOR RUNWAY
- CHECK ALT TARGET
- DES PATH UNACHIEVABLE
- ENTER IRS POSITION
- LOC CAP ACTIVE
- NOT ON INTERCEPT HEADING
- OVERSPEED DISCONNECT
- PATH DES NOT AVAILABLE
- RESET MCP ALT
- RW/APP CRS ERROR
- RW/APP TUNE DISAGREE
- TAI ON ABOVE 10° C
- THRUST REQUIRED
- UNABLE NEXT ALTITUDE
- VNAV DISCONNECT

Any simmer who, under the pertaining circumstances, noticed the appearance of one of these is kindly asked to state it, so that the list can hopefully be reduced.

A description of the conditions giving birth to these messages can be found in Bill Bulfer's 737 Cockpit Companion Guide.

Happy landings,

[Michael Carter]

It might be that if you are flying the aircraft correctly you will never see these messages.

[eudoniga]

... but after learning about these MSGs, I realized that they could have helped me a lot, if only they were there !!!

Flying liners cannot be a one-man-show, that's for sure; even when it's only a simulation ...

I guess we've all experienced, to some extent, the difference, and what it feels like to share the home cockpit with a fellow simmer, going together through the checklists, the briefings, etc. !

[NicD]

Thanks for these. There's also "Drag required".

Anyone who can fly a 737 and never see that message while on descent is a freak of nature

[Michael Carter]

Wouldn't that mean (for a normal descent) that airspeed wasn't managed properly or descent was started too late? Or possibly a controller request or direction?

I don't really know how all of the computerized aircraft fly, but I can tell if I need a little drag by checking the airspeed indicator.

[NicD]

Yes thats' right, all those things are factors. It's just that the 737 is one of the slippery-est passenger jets around. So where something like a 767 would be more forgiving of a late descent, the 737 will not and airspeed control is a challenge on descent unless everything is managed just right and goes to plan. VNAV mode often struggles to fly a fully managed descent to the FAF in the 737... and that's the case in real-life too.

[eudoniga]

Sorry, not this one !

"DRAG REQUIRED" is already in the box, I've seen it a few times when my descent - according to FS ATC orders - had begun somewhat late, and the FMC couldn't get the programmed desc path simply by pitch/power, but needed some additional drag by the speedbrakes.

Here we are talking about apparently MISSING messages, that are those NOT being emitted by the Project Magenta CDU when the conditions are met.

E.g. "RESET MCP ALT", which I have never seen on my PM CDU, should appear when cruising in VNAV and getting close to the T/D, but the ALT selector has not been set to a lower altitude yet, therefore preventing the FMC from beginning the descent at the computed T/D; that could be acceptable and also desired, without a proper ATC clearance, or a good warning/reminder if you're already cleared for descent on discretion.

[flightdeck]

Hi there,
I also realized the missing messages in the scratchpad in an earlier stage.

I asked Engravity if it was a possible hardware failure (in the CDU) and PM, and got the answer, that the appearance of operational messages in the CDU is NOT supplied by their software.

[dnoize]

Hi there,
I also realized the missing messages in the scratchpad in an earlier stage.

I asked Engravity if it was a possible hardware failure (in the CDU) and PM, and got the answer, that the appearance of operational messages in the CDU is NOT supplied by their software.

That is NOT correct !

Our CDU will display everything what the add-on software TELLS it to display !

Including scratchpad messages.

Its simply the PM software not sending these messages to the cdu. Nothing to do with the cdu hardware

operational messages in the CDU is NOT supplied by their software.

just to make things clear, the cdu does not contain any fms logics itself. It just acts as a display terminal (just like a real cdu with the fms under the floor). Hence it is fully depending of the add-on software for the messages.
there is no such thing as "their software" (unless by "their"you mean pm )

If you look at other 3rd party software like Level-D and PMDG, you will see that they fully utilize the scratchpad.

Its just one of the things on the to-do list for PM.

But i dont think thats the issue with Eudoniga's list. His lists consist of messages that are not displayed AT ALL in PM, not even in the software version.

Stef

[flightdeck]

Hi Stef!

Please read my post carefully: I already mentioned, that the PM SOFTWARE does not provide these messages, I never said, that this is hardware related.

Once more, to be clear: I asked Engravity AND PM and got the answer by PM, that their software does not provide any "Scratchpad Messages"