PMDG

Talking flight monitor 7.0.0 Release notes

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Hi again everyone!

It has been a few weeks since we last had an update. This update is going to be a huge one! So, let’s get started shall we? This update sees a few priority boarding members move into a stable state, there are some new priority boarding members, and an update on first officer flows. I would also like to make a note that as of TFM 7.0.0 (this release), we will no longer actively participate in developing new features for MSFS2020. We now consider support for it end of life. Watch the video.

Stable priority boarding members

The following priority boarding members have been moved to a stable release.

  • GSX – Ground services
  • SimBrief – Create a SimBrief flight plan
  • SimBrief – View a SimBrief flight plan
  • MSFS 2024 – All MSFS 2024 features

New priority boarding members

The following are new priority boarding members and can be enabled or disabled by going to TFM settings, priority boarding, then checking/unchecking the features and pressing the save button. NOTE: you must restart TFM for the newly enabled features to take effect.

  • Advanced PMDG737/777 FMC – An html-based FMC with new features, tutorials, context sensitive help, and easier to read layout.
  • Enhanced on demand hotkeys – Requires the new PMDG FMC above. A new set of on demand hotkeys with new features. Most hotkeys in this set are situational hotkeys: distance to destination/TOD, next waypoint. Other hotkeys reuse the same data as before.
  • SimBrief uplink – Requires the new PMDG FMCs above. An automated workflow to configure the FMC with your current SimBrief flight plan.

New FMCs and on demand hotkeys

We took the time over the past few weeks and rewrote the entire PMDG737/777 FMCs. They are HTML content, so you can use your assistive technology’s web content reading commands to navigate and read the FMC. It is a better format to use than our now dubbed ‘classic PMDG FMCs’, which will remain the default in any new TFM install until the web versions become the default. Features for our new PMDG FMCs include the following.

  • WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
  • Read and navigate the screen with web reading commands in your assistive technology.
  • Context sensitive help screens.
  • A tutorial or walkthrough for most pages.
  • A section where all FMC settings live.
  • * Different themes, font sizes and layouts to pick from.
  • Easier to read layout of FMC and settings screens.
  • New scratchpad
  • New indicator/annunciators bar
  • New FMC message announcement system.

The new enhanced hotkeys are the on demand hotkeys found under the TFM control key (the TFM key). These situational awareness hotkeys have been modified to include information from the web version of the PMDG FMC to enhance situational awareness. For example, next waypoint hotkey will now give the waypoint name, distance to that waypoint, and ETA. Remaining fuel reports current load, fuel burn, and landing fuel (EG: 8.1). Distance to destination reports total distance, ETA, and landing fuel. Now, the distance to top of descent hotkey will report distance to top of climb if not at cruise yet, then the distance to descent when past top of climb. Most other hotkeys use the original data but have been formatted better. EG: Auto pilot altitude in the PMDG aircraft reports current AP altitude and cruising altitude. The Auto pilot status hotkey now reports (PMDG only) MCP status: auto pilots, flight directors, auto throttle. There are 14 of these revised hotkeys, so have fun taking a look at them. Be sure to let us know if there are problems or if you have any feedback.

SimBrief uplink for PMDG aircraft

To complement our first officer, we created SimBrief uplink. It is a feature that will automatically configure the FMC for your PMDG aircraft. Note: You must have a generated flight plan for your desired PMDG aircraft and have chosen that aircraft from the TFM menu before using SimBrief uplink. Navigate to TFM’s main menu, then aircraft, then FMC, then SimBrief uplink. When the view appears, TFM will notify you if the flight plan was loaded. If so, press OK to continue to the uplink view. In this view, you can either start the uplink or choose what sections of the FMC the uplink will pre-configure. Any unchecked boxes are the pilot’s responsibility. When ready, press the start uplink button and wait for the status reports to mention that uplink is complete. With this new uplink, you will never have to manually program the FMC again!

First officer checklists

It is our intent to create default checklists for first officer. They can be used as a regular set of checklists, or until you can create your own in the checklist editor. We were unable to finish the flows before this release. However, when they are done, we will put them on the website as a different download.

Bug fixes

The following are bug fixes in this release.

  • 739 – TFM can now see extra fuel tanks when they are enabled.
  • PMDG737/777 – To convert between LBS/KGS for fuel and weights, use the metric setting in TFM’s user interface settings.
  • SimBrief flight plan viewer – You can now navigate the read only edit controls with your cursor. All other text selection functions work.

This is about all we have for this release. If you have any comments, questions, or feedback, don’t forget to send them to info at talkingflightmonitor dot com or in your support portal. Until then, happy flying!

New 6.9.5 release this weekend

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Hi everyone!

This blog post is more about features we were able to put into priority boarding (preview features) since the last blog post. In the last one, we talked about priority boarding as a feature itself. Well, we can’t add priority boarding to itself, so it goes into the official release as a stable feature. Since the clipboard and checklist editor were buggy, we also put them into priority boarding. The rest of the blog post will cover some basic info about the features included in priority boarding and some website features we promised to talk about in this blog post. So, without delay, say welcome to our new priority boarding members!

New priority boarding members

GSX Ground Services Integration

This feature was largely based on an app that TFM’s founder Jason Fayre had created called access GSX. Thanks to him for allowing us to use his idea directly in TFM. Below are his originally implemented features.

• Fully accessible interface to GSX Pro ground handling services

• Dedicated GSX view under Tools menu with real-time connection status monitoring

• Press F5 to open the GSX menu, then use number keys (0-9) or letter keys (A-E) to select services

• Context-sensitive tooltips spoken aloud for each menu option

• Independent toggles for “Speak menu” and “Speak tooltips” speech output

• Auto-reconnect: if MSFS isn’t running at TFM startup, GSX retries automatically every 5 seconds

• Pop-out window support

First Officer

• Automated checklist execution system that sets switches, buttons, and systems to their correct states hands-free

• Select a flight phase (Preflight, Before Start, Before Takeoff, Approach, etc.) and run procedures with one click or F5

• Real-time voice announcements of each action as it executes (“Battery Switch, on”)

• Smart skip: detects controls already in the correct state and announces “checked” without toggling

• Pause (F6), Resume, Stop (Escape), and Skip Item controls for full user control during execution

• Supports wait conditions (e.g., “Wait for APU to be available”), timed delays, and voice-only announcements

• Data-driven: uses the same checklist JSON files as manual checklists, so community checklists work automatically

• Currently supports PMDG 777 and PMDG 737

SimBrief Integration

As users of assistive technology, we can find the SimBrief website clunky to use. So, we brought back the SimBrief feature in TFM. Only thing… It’s much better than the last one. The following should make your simbrief flight plans easier to create and navigate.

• View Flight Plan: Browse imported SimBrief plans with organized sections — Overview, Navlog, Fuel, Weights, Performance, and Weather (METAR/TAF)

• Create Flight Plan: Fill out a form in TFM (origin, destination, aircraft type, cruise level, passengers, etc.) and generate directly in SimBrief

• Search within flight plan data (F2 to search, F4 to clear)

• Full keyboard navigation and assistive technology support throughout

• Supports 17+ common aircraft types (Boeing 737/747/777/787, Airbus A319-A380)

SayIntentions.AI Integration

This is one of the highly requested features in the past year. When will we put Say intentions into TFM. Well, here it is. Below are our initial set of features. However, we need your help with this one. We need users to drop us a line on their support portal letting us know what additional features they would like in Say intentions support. When giving us your feature, try and make it directly related to something the Say intentions platform already does. Below is what we already have.

• Real-time connection status view showing flight info: callsign, route, assigned gate, taxi path

• Monitors takeoff and landing clearance status from ATC

• Automatic telemetry reporting (airspeed, altitude, position, engine data) to SayIntentions

• Works in the background — initializes automatically at TFM startup

FS2024 Support

This is probably the most requested feature of all time. We did it, and it is now here! Airports database for Flight simulator 2024, but wait… Is that all it is? No, it’s more than an airports database! The ‘Airports database’ for FS2024 is extensive compared to the old make runways used in FS2020. The scenery in FS2024 gives us the ability to extract more information about gates, runways, taxiways, terrain when available, etc. Our extraction method also extracts the currently installed Navigraph cycle and combines it with the scenery information, making a complete solution for FS2024. Below are the initial features.

• Full Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 compatibility

• Build scenery database: One-click database generation from FS2024 scenery data with real-time progress display

• Browse runways: Search any airport by ICAO, view runway length/width/surface/heading/ILS details, filter by ILS-equipped or surface type

• Browse gates/parking: View all gates and parking positions, filter by type (passenger, GA, cargo, military), size, and jetway availability

• Jump to location: Press Enter to teleport aircraft to any runway threshold or parking spot

• Ground position detection: TFM identifies your exact location — runway, gate, or taxiway — in real time

• Full ILS data: frequency, magnetic course, glideslope angle, category (CAT-I/II/III) (more on this in another section)

• Automatic simulator detection (FS2024 vs. MSFS 2020) with separate databases

Electronic Clipboard & Checklist Editor Bug Fixes

Many users have reported problems with the clipboard and checklist editor in the last update (initial release). So, we moved them into priority boarding until we can verify that everything works as expected. Given that, we fixed a lot of problems while working on first officer, and think we             have things fixed. Note that for first officer and the clipboard to work, any checklist files you already created are no longer usable. You will have to recreate them again.

New ILS detection system (FS2024 only)

Since there is more info available in the FS2024 database, and things are easier to find, we were able to completely revise TFM’s ILS detection and announcement system, which is included in the FS2024 support. Turn it off in priority boarding, and you will have to turn it on again to get the new ILS system. There aren’t many points to cover, so we will forget those for now.

The new ILS system currently works as before. Turn it on when needed, turns off automatically on touchdown. The new part is how it provides ILS indications (announcements) to you. There is a new mode called ‘dots’ that provides glide slope and localizer alignment in dots. The dots mode uses new calculations and directly makes use of the NAV1 and NAV2 ILS indicators on the aircraft to provide TFM with the required info. In the ‘dots’ mode, an announcement might sound like the following: 4.8 miles. 1.1 dots high/low. Left/right 0.4 dots. High = too high, low = too low, left = to the left of, right = to the right of, and center line = perfectly on path. The format is distance, glide slope, localizer. This new system is more accurate than the current feet/meter and heading calculations. So, we recommend using the dots method whenever possible. In fact, the dots method is used in the real world as well.

New website features

Help center

When released, the help center will be available to everyone. It will be much easier to navigate documentation ‘books’ and find content. Along with the new help center, we are rewriting all the documentation, so it matches TFM, and is more user friendly. There isn’t any word at this point when help center will release. When it does, you can go to the help center and find the help you need.

New support portal

At least a few times today, we have mentioned the support portal. It is a new tab in your store account. Activating the support tab will take you to the support portal where you can create, manage, and delete tickets, reply/add information to a ticket, add attachments when needed (up to 10MB in size). The best part is that you aren’t required to have multiple accounts on the TFM platform. Only your store account username/password is required. So, the next time you need help, send in a support ticket and one of us will get back with you ASAP.

Well, we covered a lot today. When TFM 6.9.5 is out, don’t forget to turn on the priority boarding features you want to use. Don’t forget to give us feedback on them through your new support portal, and look for the new help center soon. Until next time, happy flying!

Organizational shift, priority boarding

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Hi everyone!

Welcome back to the blog! A lot has been going on lately. Eventually, we will talk about all of our updates, but for now, let’s just focus on the most recent. In this post, we are going to cover a few logistical/policy updates and an update on the task force. We are also going to cover a new upcoming feature and provide an update on our clipboard and checklist editor. So, without delay, here we go!

Task force resigns

Everyone in the task force had to leave because they had other responsibilities outside of TFM that demanded all of their attention. So, they are no longer representing us in any official capacity. We thank them for their valuable time and effort and wish them well in the future.

Logistical/policy updates

Normally, we don’t put these types of updates on a blog post, but this is an exception. As we try to be more transparent with the general public and our users, the way in which we conduct ourselves has changed. Even though Talking flight monitor (TFM) is closed source, we also try to be more open about what we are doing to create features, and a little about what goes into making those features (EG: design choices, etc.). Here are a few design choices we have made at an organizational level.

  • No more private preview – This means that users are not required to follow or sign an NDA. Preview features are available to anyone who wants to try them out.
  • Starting on 02/20/2026, anyone with access to an active license will have to pay the normal subscription price (TFM pricing).
  • Anyone who contributes to TFM such as documentation, source code, etc., is a paying user (see above).
  • All preview licenses and subscriptions will be discontinued after the new terms of use go into effect.

Now that the boring part is out of the way, let’s get on to something more fun.

Priority boarding

Starting at TFM 6.9.5, priority boarding will be available for features not yet ready for production use. We came up with the idea after several popular apps such as Visual studio, Chrome, GitHub, and Gmail have found success with this style of ‘preview’. In TFM settings, you will be able to go to the priority boarding section and check/uncheck the preview features you want or don’t want to use. Everything is unchecked by default. Once a feature in priority boarding is released, it will be removed from the priority boarding program and will be made available to everyone.

Clipboard

Since the release of the clipboard, we have seen some confusion about what it does and how it works. We will try to dispel the confusion here. However, if you still need help, feel free to contact us at info (@) talkingflightmonitor (dot) com.

In the PMDG aircraft, there is a clipboard that you can drop down from the yoke if the feature is turned on in settings. On the clipboard, there are checklists and flows you can follow. A green check means the item is done, and a red X means it is not done yet. Clicking on a red item will perform the task and mark it as complete. TFM’s clipboard does the same thing, just in an accessible format. Pressing enter/space on an item performs the task and marks it as complete. However, there are items that are set to ‘set as required’, ‘verify’, or some other language that indicates the clipboard doesn’t know what to expect for that item, or the item changes based on flight conditions. Examples are autobrake, MCP altitude, heading, speed, etc. Those items are ‘manual’ items that require you to set the values in the panels.

We had quite a bit to say today, so, we will go for now. Next time, we will talk more about some of our upcoming web features, the checklist editor, and anything else TFM throws our way. Until then, happy flying!

Preview 2024.1, updates, and spring feedback form results

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Welcome back to this week’s blog post. Last time, we played catch-up and let you know about the spring 2024 feedback form we posted. This week I want to cover a few things, so this post may be a little longer than normal. We are going to cover preview builds, Talking flight monitor updates, project priorities, project restructuring, a new partnership, and results from the spring 2024 feedback form. So, let’s get started!

Preview builds

It has been a little over a year since we posted a preview build. Since then, Talking flight monitor has been going through growing pains in the form of a complete conversion from dotnet 4.8 to dotnet 8.0. We also started converting the windows and dialogs in Talking flight monitor over to a newer, more accessible user interface library. The conversion is going well. However, many people have been anxious, wanting to know when the next preview would be posted. We then posted a poll late last week, asking whether or not we should bring back the preview builds before the conversion was complete. The pole indicated that 99.9% of the respondents wanted the preview builds to return, even if the conversion wasn’t complete. In response to this interest, we brought back the preview builds. Preview 2024.1.503 is available for downloaded, and can be found on this website under the preview releases link. Make sure you read the entire release notes before downloading and using. By using the preview builds, you agree that Talking flight monitor and all of its associates, developers, and partners aren’t responsible for damage caused by the preview. The preview will be released around the 15th of each month.

Updates

After the preview release, the only updates are that the PMDG 737 overhead/anti-ice panel and the main area of the overhead panel are complete.

Project priorities

The BVI pilots communities have been talking about Talking flight monitor project priorities over the past week or so. It has come to our attention that a projected feature, ‘flows and checklists’ be implemented as soon as possible. This is because many of the community members feel that they would lose access to a first officer feature (provided by another developer) if we don’t act fast. Our official position is that we need to finish the PMDG 737 panels before attempting to create flows and checklists for it. Among other things, we are in the middle of a conversion/restructuring project at this time and might find it difficult to respond to the request quickly.

Project restructuring and new partnership

While we go through the conversion process, we will also go through and implement a modular approach to Talking flight monitor development. This means that when portions of source code can be isolated from the rest of the codebase, it should then be isolated and packaged so it can be reused in other projects. Doing this will make the software faster and more reliable. It also gives users the ability to download components or modules they are interested in using. For example, why force everyone to download Talking flight monitor with PMDG 747/777 support when they will never use it? So, while we work through the conversion process and other items on the table, we will work on the modular design for the project. This modular redesign will not require a redesign of what is already finished or planned, so no worries there.
On the restructuring side of things, I recently started a software development company that focuses on supporting other software developers in their journey of becoming a professional software developer, student, or other professional in the field. It develops accessible software tools for those students/professionals so they can independently complete their work tasks. Inspiragon (my company) and Talking flight monitor agreed to a partnership. The terms of the agreement are Inspiragon will provide me at no cost as a three-quarter time contractor to work on Talking flight monitor. It will also cover Talking flight monitor’s development related expenses, if any, in exchange for revenue on paid addons. This also means that Talking flight monitor’s website will change throughout the rest of this year. Inspiragon will add a new feature request form, a new contact form, and potentially a new bug tracker. This way, there is no need to create an account on GitHub. Just fill out the form and submit it, and you are done. Now, coming out of this partnership is the requirement that Talking flight monitor develop paid addons to be sold on Inspiragon’s website. So, at some point in the future, we will start working on those paid addons. At this point, I don’t know much about the paid addons, other than they will be on a monthly or yearly subscription rate. When the time comes, we will release more details. You can visit Inspiragon’s website at www.inspiragon.com. At the time of writing, the website is nearly empty. It is just getting started. Bare with us as we go through growing pains together.

Spring 2024 feedback form results

In the spring 2024 feedback form, we got some interesting results. Some we were expecting, others were a surprise. To start, Most participants use P3D. However, most of them also voted for us to drop support for it. Next, everyone used payware aircraft and voted to consolidate features, preserve the state of the trim toggle, and convert the automatic detection of aircraft into a manual selection process. Finally, most of the participants voted to have the left and right bracket (command keys) separated from the TFM virtual keyboard while providing a way to turn them on and off without affecting the TFM keyboard. There may be follow up polls or feedback forms throughout the year to further narrow down the interest of the communities that use Talking flight monitor.
This has been a long post, so I will end it now. Keep watching YouTube for new videos, the website for new content, and the TFM communities for support in your flying adventures. Until next time…

Catching up, spring 2024 feedback form

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Welcome back to the blog. It has been a while since we last posted here. In the last post, we mentioned that we would start vlogging on YouTube. We also mentioned that any significant amount of text updates would come here instead. Well, here we are with a text-based update.

TFM progress

We would have to write a novel to cover the updates and things that happened since the last update. Some of them are listed below.

• TFM is now running on dotnet 8.
• We now recommend people build from source.
• * At this point, focus is on MSFS, not P3D.
• We are waiting for the upcoming PMDG 777 for MSFS.
• … and more.

We will be getting back to our text-based updates with more PMDG 737 development. It will be an exciting time for TFM/PMDG users!

Spring 2024 feedback form

There have been some technical problems with the fall 2023 feedback form. As a result, not very many people had the chance to fill it out. Besides, end of the year feedback forms might have a conflict with the end of year holidays. So, we decided to try our feedback forms at the start of the year. The spring 2024 feedback form is now available. We are seeking feedback from the BVI pilots community and others with a vested interest in TFM’s direction. This feedback form focuses on keyboard commands, consolidating similar/related features into a single feature, and removing legacy (no longer used) components. Feel free to fill it out. We are looking for solid direction, so be sure to follow the directions at the beginning of the form. You can find the link at the top of any page on this website.
This is all we have for this week. Stay tuned for more posts here and on YouTube. Until next time, have fun flying!

Post surgery update/P3D support

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In last month’s blog post, we covered the heartbeat of Talking flight monitor and what it will take to address existing bugs and to do an in-place upgrade of the entire system. This week, we will update everyone on my surgery and provide some important news about supporting P3D and Navigraph.

 

Surgery update

 

Surgery went well. The doctor wants me off my feet for at least four weeks. This means I can do light weight activities inside. He put a limit on how long I can be on my feet, including how long I can sit at a desk during the day. As a result, I had limited time with my laptop, until my wife found a workaround. Now, I can “sit at my desk” as long as possible. This still means limited times because sitting on the couch with my feet up on my desk chair stresses out my back after a while. At least it is as many times during the day as I want. Doing flights is easy because I can be at my desk until autopilot takes over, then move to the couch. I will keep everyone updated on the next stage of recovery with the next blog post.

 

Navigraph support

 

Talking flight monitor is now added to the Navigraph HUB. Anyone with a subscription should be able to add the current cycle. This is only for the source builds though. If you would like to build from source to test bleeding edge code, follow the directions found at Building TFM from source. We are currently adding support for the database, so no new features will arrive until this is finished and tested.

 

P3D support

 

P3D 6 was released sometime last month. Some significant changes were made to improve the P3D framework and scenery. However, these changes broke support for the PMDG line of aircraft. In other words, PMDG aircraft do not work in P3d6. PMDG announced that after trying to add support for P3D 6, they had deeper problems than just changing some installer files. In the same announcement, they stated that revisiting this problem wouldn’t happen until the 777 and 747 were added to MSFS. This puts the timeframe sometime in mid or late 2024. As reported in the announcement, PMDG most likely won’t continue support for P3D if the changes require too many resources or too much time. Since MSFS arrived on the scene, the market share for P3D 4 and later has significantly declined. Even though more addons and scenery exist for P3D than MSFS, more addons are being altered or newly developed for MSFS. This brings us to Talking flight monitor’s placement in the market.

Talking flight monitor strives to support as many simulators as possible. However, we are also limited in time and resources. Since market value of P3D is declining in favor of MSFS, and PMDG doesn’t support P3d 6, we are not supporting P3D 6 nor continuing new development on P3D 5. Any new development in Talking flight monitor will be focused on MSFS. Keep the following in mind.

 

  • When features are identical in both simulators, we will support P3D5 and earlier.
  • If Talking flight monitor works in P3D6, it is at your own risk.
  • As long as the PMDG SDKs are the same or close to the same, we will support the P3D versions.
  • When the PMDG SDKs are drastically different, the MSFS versions take priority.
  • Navigraph support is independent of a simulator, so works in both P3D and MSFS.
  • We will not support Aerosoft products.
  • We do not support FS2Crew or similar products.
  • We do not support the PMDG DC6, TS4xxx, or similar aircraft.
  • Support for Osobo aircraft requires an evaluation.

Again, we will do our best to keep P3D5 and earlier support going. However, we can’t make promises to the effect. We hope everyone understands our decision to back off on P3D support. In the event PMDG does support P3D 6, we will reassess the situation.

 

PMDG 747 week 3 roundup

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Welcome to week 3 of the PMDG 747 rebuild series. This week has given us some ups and downs. However, we made it through the week with some interesting changes to TFM. So, read on for some fun and potentially not so fun updates.

 

Changing the blog series name

 

Since we started the blog series on the PMDG 737, we have introduced new features and bug fixes not related directly to the 737. It is the same with the 747. We are introducing new features and fixing bugs not directly related to the 747. Keep in mind, we are still working on the 747. We are also working on things not related to PMDG aircraft. Given this, we are thinking of changing the series name to “TFM updates, week X” or something similar. If you have any other ideas, feel free to drop us a line on the contact form on the website.

 

What happened to Navigraph?

 

Some users might have seen the GitHub commits mentioning the removal of the Navigraph support in TFM. This is true. Navigraph has taken forever to get back to us about adding Navigraph support to TFM. Since they are taking forever and we aren’t using it anyways, we removed support for it. In the event we are able to make use of it, we will add it back into TFM.

 

PMDG 747 changes

 

Since we have been working in other areas of TFM, the 747 hasn’t gotten much attention. There are a few things to mention.

 

  • The Overhead Maint/Electrical panel buttons now work.
  • Added the Overhead Maint/Fuel panel, described below.

Overhead Maint/Fuel panel

 

This panel is self explanatory. It only has two buttons listed below.

 

ALT+S – Scavenge pump. Press SPACE or ENTER to toggle.

ALT+R – RSV 2-3 transfer. Press SPACE or ENTER to toggle.

 

While looking through the SDK, there are some controls or entire panels that have write-only controls on them. This means we can provide a setting, but can’t read the setting. These controls and panels aren’t much use to BVI pilots, so we will leave them out of TFM until PMDG can provide an outlet for reading the existing setting of these controls and panels. In the Overhead Maint panel, the following panels are left out of TFM until further notice.

 

  • EEC
  • EMU (748 only)
  • APU startup source (748 only)

Weather changes

 

Since we are working on other things along with the PMDG aircraft, we decided to start putting weather tracking into TFM. Adding weather is nice because we can add a few things at a time until the weather services are exhausted. Here are the weather events added this week. The below are added to the request wind command which will be renamed in a future release.

 

  • Visibility in knotts.
  • Turbulence level, none, moderate, severe, or extreme.
  • Precipitation level, none, light, moderate, heavy, very heavy.
  • Precipitation type, none, rain, snow, or hail.

We also added the ability for TFM to automatically announce when the aircraft enters/exits a cloud. The precipitation level/type will get added in a future release.

 

Bug fixes for this week

 

  • The PMDG 737 now only displays its own heading box. Previously, it would display the heading window for freeware aircraft instead of its own.
  • The rebuild database button in TFM’s airports database settings is now ‘build database’. Previously, it had the confusing name ‘rebuild database’.
  • The build database will only display if either P3D or MSFS is loaded into a cockpit. Previously, it would be displayed even if there were no simulators loaded. Pressing the build database button without a loaded simulator forced TFM to crash.

 

Other changes

 

  • Read instrumentation now works. Press right bracket (]), then SHIFT+M to toggle it on and off.
  • When using ‘Where am I?’ right bracket (]), then SHIFT+C while on a runway will now give the runway distance in feet.

 

What about the 737 comms panels?

 

We are still working on the comms/audio panels. There is a sequence of events we have to figure out to make the microphones and receivers change frequency type. We will keep everyone updated as things move along.

 

 

PMDG 747 week 2 roundup

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Welcome back! Last week, we started rebuilding support for the PMDG 747. During the PMDG 737 rebuild series, the blog post titles got very long in some cases. During the PMDG 747 rebuild series, the blog titles will resemble this one: PMDG747 week 2 roundup. With that in mind, let’s get started with the PMDG 747 week 2 roundup! This post may be longer than most, but keep reading to find some interesting changes to the airports database, and the first panel to be supported in the PMDG 747.

 

Airports database

Why the changes?

 

The airports database structure has significantly changed since TFM 23.1, released at the start of January 2023. The new database design reduces the memory footprint of the airports data loaded into memory. When TFM starts, it loads the airports database. This database is over 3GB in size while it lives in memory. Each time a user requests information from the database, it calculates that user’s current location in relation to everything in the world. The resulting airports database takes up an additional 3GB of memory. To reduce the number of times TFM recalculates the user’s current location in the world, TFM constantly recalculates the user’s current location every 250MS. The consequence is that every 250MS, TFM eats another 3GB of memory. This forces the CPU to over work, pushing incomplete work on to the GPU, which eventually overloads. As a result, MSFS users experience audio buffering, jittering or jumping video, or significant lagging when the airports database is loaded. P3D users don’t experience these problems because the airports database is small enough to rebuild without taking up significant portions of computer resources. To make it easier to work with the airports database, all users will have the same changes to work with. Below are the changes made to the new airports database structure.

 

What’s new?

 

* When starting TFM for the first time, you must build the airports database.

* Start TFM.

* Go into TFM settings.

* Find the airports database section in the tree.

* In the airports database window.

* In the P3d airports database area, locate and set the P3D airports database folder.

* In the MSFS area, locate and set your MSFS airports database folder.

* Locate the “rebuild airports database” button and activate it.

* A message will appear, notifying you when the database is finished building.

* Press the OK button to close settings.

* Restart TFM by pressing right bracket (]), then CTRL+SHIFT+X.

* When TFM restarts, it will load the new database.

* Most TFM airport database features such as the ILS tracking system stay the same. We will announch any changes when they occur.

* Most airport database features run faster. A test of the ‘Where am I?’ feature accessed by pressing right bracket (]), then SHIFT+C significantlly improved in speed.

* Report bugs in the GitHub issue queue if you find any problems.

 

What’s missing?

 

* We removed the freeware flight planner. It requires a significant rewrite to comply with the new airports database design.

* We removed the airports search window found under procedures menu in the freeware flight planner. It requires significant rewrites to comply with the new airports database design.

 

PMDG 737 updates

 

The 737 isn’t quite finished yet. There are a few items that need finished. The audio/comms panels are taking a little longer than expected because we need to contact PMDG support for clarification on some of the controls. The FMC redesign is delayed because we are looking into what alternate design will work best. Aside from these outstanding items, the 737 is complete. If you have a special request for the PMDG 737, drop us a line and we will look into it.

 

PMDG 747 updates

 

Overhead Maintenance/Electrical panel

 

We added the overhead maintenance/electrical panel. This panel controls electrical activity in the engine generators and APU generators. It also defines how electricity flows from the APU and generators. As always, there is more than one way to access the controls in a panel. Either use the TAB key and move through the controls, or use the assigned keyboard commands, listed below. Since there are groups of controls in this panel, each keyboard command will take you to the group of controls linked to it.

 

Keyboard commands

 

ALT+G – Generator field reset switches. Group that contains 4 engine generator reset switches. Change by pressing SPACE or ENTER.

ALT+A – APU reset switches. A group that contains the 2 APU reset switches. Change with SPACE or ENTER.

ALT+S – Split system breaker. Change with SPACE or ENTEr.

ALT+N – Ground power test switch. Change with SPACE or ENTER.

ALT+P – Towing power switch (748 only). Change with SPACE or ENTER.

ALT+1 – Generator reset indicators. Readonly.

ALT+2 – APU reset indicators. Readonly.

ALT+3 – Split system breaker indicator. Readonly.

 

 

Other changes

 

The “Where am I?” feature has a new capability. In the past, this feature would announce the runway, gate, or taxiway where the aircraft is currently located when on the ground. In addition to these locations, “Where am I?” will announce the airport code if you are not located at a runway, gate, or taxiway, but are located somewhere within the airport’s geofenced boundaries. This helps identify when you are at the airport in the below cases.

 

  • You ran off the runway during landing.
  • You completely missed the runway during a landing.
  • You are landing on a runway that does not exist in your scenery.
  • * You attempt to drive around the airport and get lost.
  • * Pushback puts part of your aircraft in the grass or other surface.
  • * You attempt to taxi and run off the taxiway onto another surface.
  • * Other scenarios not listed.

 

It is our goal to give the “Where am I?” feature the ability to automatically announce location changes. This post is one of the longer ones we have written, so we will close for now. Until next week, have fun flying!

PMDG 747 week 1/PMDG 737 week 29`

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Welcome to 2023. This is week 29 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series. This week we will cover some final items to get done in the 737. We will also cover the start of the PMDG 747 rebuild series. Let’s get started!

 

Finishing the PMDG 737

 

There isn’t much left in the PMDG 737 to finish. All that is left are the audio panels (3), comms panels (2), and the redesign of the FMC. I would suspect that it should take another 4 or so weeks to complete before another preview build comes out. Some users might want to know why it is taking so long to finish the 737. There are a few reasons. First, I ended up with a hard case of the flu over the past few weeks and had to recover. Now that I am better, we can continue. The second reason is covered below.

 

Starting the PMDG 747 rebuild series

 

This week (Jan 2, 2023) starts week 1 of the PMDG 747 rebuild series. It will follow a similar format as the PMDG 737 rebuild series. Each week there will be a blog post covering what has been finished each week, followed by a YouTube video showing the new features/changes for the week. When the 747 rebuild series is complete, we will feature a full flight on YouTube to show off the new features working together. As a reminder, the PMDG 747 rebuild series is expected to take around 52 weeks to complete. So, be patient during this cycle of previews.

We hope you have enjoyed the PMDG 737 rebuild series and are looking forward to the PMDG 747 rebuild series starting today. Until next week, have fun in your flying adventures.

PMDG rebuild series, week 27: Control Stand, MSFS performance, close to the end

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Welcome to week 27 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series. A lot has gone into the past 4 weeks, and we have a lot to cover. The control stand is finished, and we have some bug fixes most people will like. The fall 2022 survey is now closed. Thanks to the people who filled it out. We will post the results on Sunday’s blog post for week 27. Now, on with the new content!

 

MSFS Performance fixes

 

Many users have noticed that TFM will cause MSFS to buffer audio, drop frames in the video, and on occasion crash. The obvious problem is the airports database and its size. The default MSFS airports database is around 780MB on disk. That’s almost 800MB of text files! When loaded into TFM, it expands to around 2GB. For some reason, loading the MSFS airports database caused GPU overloads, dropped frames, and code matrix overloads. We implemented a fix for it. However, our testing is fairly limited to a few users at this point. To check if the problem is fixed for you, do the following.

 

NOTE: The following steps requires Open broadcasting system (OBS). So, make sure you have downloaded, installed, and configured it for an MSFS recording session.

 

  1. Start MSFS and load into a PMDG 737 aircraft.
  2. Start OBS and set up for an MSFS recording.
  3. Start the recording session in OBS.
  4. While recording a video, force TFM to produce problems. A common way to cause problems is open the cockpit panels with left bracket ([), then Ctrl+P.
  5. When done trying to crash MSFS or TFM, stop the OBS recording.
  6. In OBS, go to help>logs>upload and activate the menu item.
  7. In the logs successfully uploaded window, press the analyze button. A webpage appears with the results.
  8. Read through the results. If TFM is not causing problems, you will have no GPU or code matrix overruns.
  9. Close OBS.

 

It would help us if you would send us your OBS analyzer results, especially if it identifies GPU and code matrix problems. You can send the results to info at talkingflightmonitor.com. Note the @ is spelled out with spaces around it.

 

The PMDG 737 FMC slash key

 

The slash (/) key on the PMDG 737 is now fixed. This includes the P3D and MSFS versions of the PMDG 737.

 

Control Stand

 

The control stand is self explanatory, so we wont go into much detail about its operation here. However, we will go over the keyboard commands for each section. Most of these sections are split into groups to accommodate keyboard commands. All of these controls have the ability to be silent. Just go to TFM settings/PMDG/737 speech events/Control Stand to find the sections below. Check the box to have TFM announce the value when it changes, and uncheck the box to have it remain silent when the value changes.

 

CDU

 

  • Has no keyboard commands.

 

Trim

ALT+T – Elevator trim. Use ‘U’ and ‘D’ to change the value.

ALT+A – Aileron trim. Use ‘L’ and ‘R’ to change values. Currently there is no method to center it.

ALT+B – Stab trim. This is a read-only view.

ALT+E – Electrical stab trim switch. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+P – Auto pilot stab trim. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+S – Stab trim. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.

 

Pedestal

 

ALT+F – Pedestal flood light. Use I and D to change the value.

ALT+P – Pedestal brightness. Use I or D to change the value.

ALT+K – Parking brake lever. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+1 – Parking brake indicator.

ALT+2 – Pedestal unlock indicator.

ALT+3 – Unlock failure indicator.

 

Fire protection

 

The keyboard commands are grouped because there are too many controls for individual keyboard commands.

 

ALT+H – Fire handles. For each focused fire handle, press P to pull/push the handle, L to turn it left, and R to turn it right. The focused fire handle must be pulled out to turn I while a fire or fire test is in progress.

ALT+C – Fire alarm cutoff switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+O – Overheat detector switches. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+T – Fire tests. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+1 – Fire handle indicators.

ALT+2 – Overheat indicators

ALT+4 – Extinguisher test indicators.

 

 

Cargo fire protection

 

ALT+F – Forward selector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+A – AFT selector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+W – Forward fire detector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+E – AFT fire detector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+I – Discharge. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+T – Test. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+1 – Forward extinguisher test indicator

ALT+2 – Aft extinguisher test indicator

ALT+3 – Forward fire indicator.

ALT+4 – Aft fire indicator.

ALT+5 – Detector fault indicator

ALT+6 – Discharge indicator

 

Transponder

 

Left bracket ([), then Shift+T – Opens the alternate transponder window.

ALT+E – Transponder code. Type a value and press ENTER.

ALT+S – Transponder source switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+A – Transponder alt source. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+M – Transponder mode switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+I – Ident switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.

ALT+T = Transponder test. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.. WARNING: the test feature only works under certain conditions.

ALT+1 – Transponder failure indicator

 

The next update will come in week 29 or 30 when we finish up the PMDG 737 and push it out the door. Have fun with the new release. You can download it by clicking the preview releases at the top of the page. If you need help getting started with TFM, feel free to send us a contact by filling out the form on the contact us page. Have fun flying, and don’t forget the bug reports and feature requests.