In week 16 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series, we covered the main premise behind the MCP/auto pilot system and its TFM components, “the MCP boxes”. Most of it was finished at the time. However, a portion of it still had not been developed. In this blog post, we will review the MCP components from last week’s blog post, then cover the remainder of the MCP. At the end of the post, we will briefly let you in on what’s up for next week.
The MCP
As mentioned, last week’s blog post covers everything in the MCP except two major parts: The altitude box and the navigation box. We will cover those here.
Altitude box
The altitude box is self-explanatory. So, we will cover the keyboard shortcuts here. To open the altitude box while TFM is open: Press left bracket ([), then SHIFT+A.
ALT+E – Altitude entry. Enter altitude and press enter.
ALT+I – Altitude intervene. Turns altitude intervene on. Turns off when desired altitude is achieved.
ALT+V – V-nav. Turns V-nav on/off.
ALT+L – Level change. Turns level change on/off.
ALT+H – Altitude hold. Turns altitude hold on/off.
ALT+1 – V-nav indicator. Indicates if V-nav is on/off.
ALT+2 – Level change indicator. Indicates if level change is on/off.
ALT+3 – Altitude hold indicator. Indicates if altitude hold is on/off.
Navigation box
The navigation box is the portion of the MCP that helps the 737 navigate. This includes flight directors, autopilots, autopilot interrupts, and other useful commands. You can open the navigation box while TFM is running by pressing left bracket ([), then SHIFT+F. The keyboard shortcuts are below.
ALT+F – Left flight director. Turns FD/L on/off.
ALT+D – Right flight director. Turns FD/R on/off.
ALT+P – Approach mode. Turns approach mode on/off.
ALT+V – Localizer hold. Turns localizer hold on/off.
ALT+A – CMDA. Turns CMDA on/off.
ALT+C – CWSA. Turns CWSA on/off.
ALT+B – CMDB. Turns CMDB on/off..
ALT+W – CWSB. Turns CWSB on/off.
ALT+K – Bank limit selector. Selects maximum bank in degrees.
ALT+I – Disengage bar. Turns the disengage bar on/off.
ALT+1 – ALT+8 – Indicators. Indicates various states of controls in this window.
The entire MCP and its components can also be found in the cockpit panels. While TFM is running, do the following.
- Press left bracket ([), then CTRL+P.
- Navigate the tree until you find Glare Shield, then expand it.
- Navigate to MCP, then expand it.
- Choose one of the following tree nodes.
- Altitude
- Heading
- Navigation
- Speed
- Vertical speed
Either press TAB to navigate the windows, or press each window’s relevant keyboard shortcuts.
Return to tree in Panels and settings
A new keyboard shortcut in the cockpit panels and TFM settings windows is the F6 key. Pressing this from anywhere in these dialogs will return you to the main tree. This way, users don’t have to TAB all the way around a large set of controls to return to the tree.
Preview 22.10
It is time for another preview build. This one is 22.10 preview because it will be at least October before we can get another official release. The 22.10 preview cycle proves to be exciting because we will cover the forward panel, comms/transponder panels, and we will introduce a new feature called “Vatsim mode”. So, stay tuned for more exciting features. Until week 18!
