Estimated time to complete:
- 60 minutes

Aircraft:
- Boeing 737-800

Objectives:
- Boeing 737-800 Checkout flight

 

It's your last airplane checkout, and it's a big one. Literally. For your training flights in the Boeing 737, you're going to fly from Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX), one of the busiest airliner airports in the world.

This flight puts your Boeing 737-800 on the south side of the airport at our "training center". En route flight in a jet is boring and is usually done with the autopilot anyway. No need to practice that; instead, you want to practice the maneuvers you'll do when departing and arriving at airports. You'll also want to fill out this profile matrix. It's a bit trickier to get profiles with large planes because weight is such an important factor in performance.

After you fill out the rest of the profiles matrix, slow to about 220 knots, and practice the maneuvers you usually practice with a new airplane: steep turns (45° bank is all you need to do), recovery from unusual attitudes, and approaches to stall. We don't do full stalls in jet airplanes, Instead, you should recover the airplane at the first warning of a stall. You should do three types of stalls: one in the takeoff configuration (gear up, fl aps 5°), one clean, and one in landing configuration (gear down, flaps 30°).

Ref.: West, Jeff Van. Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training, Wiley. Bonus Chapter 2 - Air Transport Pilot, Boeing 737 (Page 760).

MISSION'S SCENARIOS

737 Training Flight

  1. For your training flight you are going to fly from Los Angeles International (KLAX).
  2. You are on the south side of the airport.
  3. Setup, Start-Up, and Taxi:
    1. Feel free to use the FSX checklist.
    2. Start by checking the Fuel and Payload screen.
    3. You need only about 3000 gallons of fuel for this one hour flight.
    4. Adjust the fuel to 3000 gallons.
    5. Leave the payload as is.
    6. Your gross weight should be about 130000 pounds.
    7. We abbreviated the start-up procedure.
    8. Set the parking brake on.
    9. Press "Ctrl + E" (initiate the engine autostart sequence).
    10. Listen to the KLAX ATIS for a weather check.
    11. Call KLAX ground to taxi for a VFR north departure.
    12. You want to taxi at 15 to 20 knots (about 40% N1).
    13. You might need a little more power to get started then bring it back to 40% N1.
    14. Use differential braking, while giving a little boost of throttle to help in the turn.
    15. You can also use differential thrust (if you have two throttles), to help in turning.
  4. Takeoff and Climbout
    1. Hold short of the departure runway.
    2. Check your V-speeds on the kneeboard:
      1. V1 (takeoff decision speed) is about 121 knots (for the current weight).
      2. VR (rotation speed) is about 124 knots.
      3. V2 (minimum climb speed) is about 133 knots.
    3. Set the flaps to 5º for takeoff.
    4. Set the autobrakes for RTO.
    5. Set the autopilot so that the flight director on the PFD can guide you:
      1. Set the heading bug to 270º (your first heading after takeoff).
      2. Set the altitude to 15000 feet.
      3. Set the vertical speed to 3500 fpm.
      4. Set the airspeed to 250 knots.
    6. Review the takeoff checklist.
    7. Call the tower for takeoff clearance.
    8. Push the throttle slowly up until you get 95% N1 (takeoff power setting).
    9. Rotate, start climbing, and gear up.
    10. About 1,000 feet AGL, turn to heading 270º.
    11. Continue to climb, adjusting power and pitch as needed to maintain less than 250 knots.
    12. Retract the flaps.
  5. Profiles and Maneuvers:
    1. Fill out the configuration table (available on the kneeboard or in the Mission Browser window:
      1. You will find that the your pitch attitude is positive for the approach descent.
      2. You will have to press "W" on the keyboard to see just the landing panel.
      3. Aircraft Reference errors:
        1. Approach speed at 90000 pounds (flaps 40%) should be 109 knots.
        2. VREF speed at 180000 pounds (flaps 30%) should be 165 knots.
      4. VREF is 138 knots, for your training flight weight of about 120000 lbs.
    2. Slow to about 220 knots.
    3. Practice the maneuvers normally used with a new airplane:
      1. Steep turns (45º bank).
      2. Recovery from unusual attitude.
      3. Approaches to stall (recover the airplane at the first warning of a stall):
        1. Takeoff configuration stall (gear up, and flaps at 5º).
        2. A clean stall.
        3. Landing configuration stall (gear down, and flaps at 30º).
      4. Practice flying the plane with one engine shut down.
      5. Practice using the autopilot.
  6. Approach and Landing:
    1. Call Los Angeles center or SOCAL Approach (depending how far you are from KLAX) to get flight following to KLAX.
    2. Use your GPS map to help you fly your own vectors for an ILS approach to Runway 7R.
    3. As an option you can request vectors from Los Angeles Center and file an IFR flight plan.
    4. You are probably over the Pacific Ocean, somewhere west of KLAX.
    5. Point your way toward OLAFF intersection (22 miles out on the ILS for Runway 7R).
    6. Descend to 3000 feet by the time you get to OLAFF.
    7. Arm the spoilers to automatically deploy on landing.
    8. Set the autobrakes for level 3.
    9. To follow the glideslope, use your profile to set the N1 speed.
    10. Wait for the plane to settle into the VREF.
    11. Start rolling into and out of turns sooner than in smaller plane.
    12. After landing, pull off to the right and return to the training center ramp area.
  7. Fly some more takeoffs and landings.
  8. Try them at different weights.
  9. Add some wind for a bit of challenge.

MAPS & CHARTS

BC2-24:


BC2-25:


KLAX Airport Diagram:


KLAX HOLTZ5 DP:


B737 Configuration Table:


KLAX ILS 7R:


KLAX ILS 25L:


KLAX ILS 25R: