Welcome to week 8 of our PMDG 737 rebuild series for Talking flight monitor (TFM). Last week, we introduced the main area of the center overhead panel and preview releases of TFM. This week, we will cover anti ice and hydraulics panels. We will also describe when preview releases are provided for download.
Anti ice panel
The anti ice panel isn’t complicated to use. On the other hand, it has many controls to go through. Since keyboard shortcuts are assigned for groups of controls, we will provide the groups with keyboard shortcuts here, then cover all of the controls in the provided demo video.
ALT+W – Group that contains all window heat controls.
ALT+P – Left/right probe heat switches.
ALT+G – Wing anti ice switch.
ALT+E – Group containing engine anti ice switches.
ALT+ 1- 5 – Indicator groups containing all panel indicators.
Hydraulics
The hydraulics panel isn’t complicated and has few controls on it. The 4 switches have no keyboard shortcut at this time. We want user feedback on whether to include keyboard shortcuts for these switches. The indicator groups do have keyboard shortcuts though. Here are the controls and groups of indicators.
Electrical ½ switches
Engine ½ switches
ALT+1 – Electrical indicator group.
ALT+2 – Engine indicator group.
ALT+3 – Electrical pump overheat indicators.
Next week, week 9, we will finish the center overhead panel and provide a new preview build for everyone to take a look at.
When are preview builds released?
Recently, we have been getting questions about the timing of preview releases. Preview releases are built when a major portion of the 737 is finished. Examples are the forward overhead, aft overhead, center overhead, glare shield, and others. This gives us time to finish a significant portion of work while fixing bugs identified in the previous preview build. If significant work means multiple areas of work, then the preview build may be delayed for a while.
Bug reporting and feature requests
When reporting bugs or new features, follow the following guidelines.
- When reporting on 737 bugs or features, report them against the preview releases of TFM.
- Any other aircraft, report bugs and features against the current release.
The above guidelines will change for the 777 and the 747. We are no longer taking bug reports and feature requests for the PMDG 737 series. Again, any new bug reports and feature requests should be reported on the preview releases.
Navigraph support in TFM
This past week, we discovered that Navigraph owns a public API for downloading the current and past Navigraph cycles. TFM is in the process of applying for access to their APIs. When approved, TFM will have the ability to directly download the Navigraph databases. Implementing the ability to download the databases will take time. When support is finished, TFM will have the following workflow.
- TFM will offer the ability to download a new cycle.
- The user is directed to a secure Navigraph login page.
- The user signs in with their Navigraph username/password.
- Navigraph will request permission to grant TFM access to the Navigraph account.
- When granted access, TFM will download the current cycle.
- Once approved, TFM will download the current cycle without intervention.
We hope you are enjoying the PMDG 737 rebuild series, and hope to see you next week for some new features and content. To report a bug or new feature request, press right bracket (]), then CTRL+SHIFT+I while TFM is running. To contact us, feel free to fill out the contact us form. One of us will get back to you soon.
