refuelling with pmdg 737

[ecca]

 Hi, What is the sequence for refuelling the pmdg 737,I ask for the fuel truck which duly arrives,but then without doing anything leaves and I get the message refuelling complete,If the 737 loads up with a full fuel load how can the plane be refuelled,do,s  it need to be empty  in the first place,it seems a little bit confusing at the moment
         Thanks for any replies. ecca

[virtuali]

If the 737 loads up with a full fuel load how can the plane be refuelled,do,s  it need to be empty  in the first place,

Well, of course you have. If you start the flight already full, what would be the point of asking for refueling in the first place ? When the truck arrives, it will see there's nothing to do, and will go back.

- If you are landing after a flight, you probably will need refueling

- If you are starting a new flight, maybe it would be better if you saved your startup situation with very little fuel.

Note that, in the time passing between the moment you call the GSX refueling and the truck arrives, you can do any changes to the fuel quantity, and GSX will ignore them (so, this might be a good time to empty the plane, if you don't start empty by default), but from the moment it tells you "Please use the refueling system of your aircraft", THAT counts to decide if there's fuel to load.

This means, for example, if you started with 15 tons, called the GSX refueling, and while it arrives, you set the fuel at 5t, then, *after* it tells you to use the refueling system of your aircraft, you set it again at 12t, the truck will load 7t.

If the plane have a progressive refueling simulation, like the PMDG 777 or the Aerosoft Airbus, the refueling speed will be controlled by the plane (GSX will just wait there and display the counter accordingly).

If the plane doesn't have a progressive refueling simulation, like the 737 ( I think ) or the Aerosoft Airbus when using the "Load Instant" option, GSX will display the fuel counter at a very fast speed, just to confirm you that something happened, but at a faster speed, since the plane did an "Instant" load.

Basically, the only time when GSX controls the refueling and the refueling speed, is with planes that don't have a custom fuel system.

[Gerwil]

Haha, thats what I found out too, Mr. Umberto  


ecca,

The best way to refuel the PMDG 737 (realistic refueling time), is to
simulate it.

For this you have to configure the 737 to have the FS fuel & payload dialog.

First empty the payload via the FMC and take note of ZFW.

Call fueltruck, and when its connected set fuelload via the FS fuel & payload option.

When refueling has finished, open the FS fuel & payload menu again and clear out (0)
all the fields under payload. (GSX tankers pax and baggage through the fuel hose )

Check FMC shows correct ZFW.

Now imagine that you receive the load sheet and fill in the FMC as you would normally do.

Thats it.

Kind regards

[pilot3033]

Yes, the PMDG737 doesn't have a progressive fuel system, and GSX treats it (rightly) as passive. I've decided to just call the truck and leave it attached for a small length of time before changing the fuel quantity.

Umberto, a workaround on the GSX side might be, since the truck already detects the difference, taking the difference in fuel load and running off the gallons/min timer so the truck remains in place for the length it would normally take to fuel. It would be cosmetic only, in this instance.

It would also be nice if there was an option to attach the boarding stairs without having to deboard first. For now I just set the payload to 0 so the animations complete quickly and then adjust before boarding again.

[virtuali]

Umberto, a workaround on the GSX side might be, since the truck already detects the difference, taking the difference in fuel load and running off the gallons/min timer so the truck remains in place for the length it would normally take to fuel. It would be cosmetic only, in this instance.

In that situation, we speed it up intentionally because, this kind of behavior is associated (for planes that DO have a progressive fuel simulation) with in the Aerosoft Airbus, for example, is called "Load Instant", but there's a similar option in the PMDG 777 too, if you don't use the Turn Around page of the FMC, and just load the fuel.

We assumed that, if an user with a plane that offers both the options chose the instant one, he would have been annoyed if GSX would insist simulating the progressive refueling anyway, so we tried to mirror the plane operation as close as possible. But didn't wanted to make it really "instant", so in order to give SOME feedback the whole operation was completed correctly, we just made it way faster in this case.

Of course, this means the PMDG 737 is in a bit of "limbo", since it doesn't have its own progressive refueling simulation, but it DOES have a custom fuel system that PMDG strongly recommends not to tamper with from external utilities, so it cannot be "gifted" by the Active GSX progressive refueling, like any other (even a default) plane would.

I'm just a bit worried that adding ANOTHER option such as "Simulate progressive refueling with planes with custom fuel systems", might just confuse users, since it's seems it's already not very easy to explain the difference between the current 2 options: Passive and Active. But of course, the PMDG 737 being so popular, we might just have to add it, and hoping for the best...

[pilot3033]

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. Someone not on the forum, who skips the manual, might not ever know and they would be left confused.

I do not envy your situation! Hopefully the potential for collaboration with PMDG will yield positive results for the 737, too.

[Gerwil]

I'm just a bit worried that adding ANOTHER option such as "Simulate progressive refueling with planes with custom fuel systems", might just confuse users, since it's seems it's already not very easy to explain the difference between the current 2 options: Passive and Active. But of course, the PMDG 737 being so popular, we might just have to add it, and hoping for the best...

This would get my vote as well, would be the less confusing imho. Something like a checkbox on the GSX aircraft customization page to simulate refueling, thus without anything actually getting loaded (thinking about future 3rd party releases here as well).