Saturday, March 28, 2009

San Diego - Sacramento / Boeing 737-800 (SWA1976) / IFR

A quick flight to Sacramento mirroring Southwest Airlines Flight 1976. I departed somewhat late compared to the real flight, but the duration of the flight was roughly the same.

This flight was mostly uneventful, but it keeps me current on this aircraft. I noted once again that the FMC seems reluctant to descend the aircraft at times; disengaging and reengaging VNAV can cause it to “wake up” and resume the descent at a rate that will meet altitude restrictions. I'm not sure if this is the idiosyncrasy of the sim or an accurate simulation of a real-life characteristic of the FMC.

I flew the approach by hand. I'm doing better at this, although the winds were a bit gusty on the ground, which made things more difficult.