Hi Guys:  Just a few comments about the FS9 version of the 757. I did a flight from KORD to KJAC yesterday and the flight went great including the ILS CATII approach to KJAC. I did not notice the famous CTD after changes in the FMS however, I did notice a few issues with other areas.

               1.  The aircraft would not start even following directions from the manual. Had to use Cntrl E to get it done. The temp at Chicago was at the freezing point. I have seen this with other aircraft.

               2.  The lights will not work without using the L key first and then turning off what is not needed. Only had to do that once, go figure.

               3.  The valves for the engine anti-ice were lit up even though the system was working.

               4.  The aircraft (757-200) is much lighter than specs from Boeing have. Namely, the basic operating weight is about 20K Lbs lighter than it should be. Also the max Mtow is lighter than it should be as well. This would affect the CoG and Vspeeds greatly. Take a look at Boeings data.
 
               5.  This is the one that everyone is talking about, the lack of a good FMS database.  Terry does a good job with the info he can get for free. That is not worldwide coverage. Navigraph is the only one who has got it to that point. If CaptSim wants to keep that one in house, then they will have to pull out the checkbook and sell it the same way Navigraph does.

Overall, this is a great aircraft and could be a lot better with some tweaking. The FMS database is the major hurdle.

Don Brashears

Howdy Don...

Note, I have the FSX version which is different, but could you explain what behavior you found trying to start the engines?  Making sure of course the following:

1) All ENG/ELEC hydraulic pumps commanded ON
2) Both pack selectors comannded OFF (not auto/n/c/w)
3) APU bleed ON, Iso valve ON, ensure APU running and APU "RUN" light solid
4) Wing/Engine de-ice OFF
5) FWD/AFT Left/Right fuel pumps commanded ON
6) Fuel control levers OFF
7) Throttles Flight Idle
8) Select Igniter switch to AUTO
9) Turn start switch to GND and observe that VALVE light comes on, and then extinguishes.  At this point, you should here the "knock, whirr" of the start valve open and the engine spooling up, and should be able to notice oil pressure and N2% increases on lower EICAS.

As for lights, never had the issue, maybe FSX version doesn't have such a problem.

Any time a "VALVE" light is lit, it means the valve position disagrees with the commanded position.  If you've commanded "ON" and the valve light is lit, it means in fact the valve is closed or vice versa on both parts.  Engine De-ice should be off until after engines are running, and Wing De-ice should be off until takeoff checklist (i believe) or maybe it's taxi checklist, can't recall off hand.

There are different variants even of the -200.  Your spec and the spec that CS built the plane from may be different.  I don't know :)

I fly my CS757 all over the world, and have only found two airports that it didn't know about, but of course it also doesn't know about approach information for most of those outside north america.  It does know the runways though, and I always copy runway data from the map as part of my planning, including interesting waypoints for approaches.  I apparently don't treat my FMC the same way as others, and have yet to experience any CTD issues that I can repeatably attribute to FMC.  I have tried, but failed so far. :)

Hi Bob:  I appreciate your comments on the start up procedures. In the past few days only happened once and the outside temp was below freezing.  Others have worked like a charm.
 
I have experienced the CTD during a flight however, I can not say it is the FMC. There is a possible scenery conflict that would cause the same thing. It just happened to be when I was making changes to the FMC for arrival into Chicago. Winds changed during flight so the STAR and arrival runway needed to be changed. Just happened to push the LSK and immediate CTD. But like I said I am not convinced the reason is the FMS because it happened twice on the same route in almost the same spot.

 As far as the initial weight goes, you are right there are different versions however, the base operating weight may vary due to different seating and setup, engines etc. I did test my changes an no problems. Takes a bit to climb to cruise as you might imagine. The FMC has recognized the extra and the numbers come out really close to FSBuilds estimate. There is a way to have the weights different with the versions and that requires splitting the initial folder one for RR and PW the other. Haven't tried that yet so we'll see.

Don Brashears