Hate to join this topic, here is my latest short final CDT case… Might be a long read but I needed to pull off some frustration here.
Xbox user, with only the xbox controller and a mouse,
Flying the Deluxe edition Boeing B787-10 departing EHAM bound to MMMX, no flight plan from the map, just spawning at a gate capable to fit this heavy bird.
Got in there early to manually set the flight on the FMC with data from the flight plan generated at SimBrief, a lot of waypoints to be added as there is no way to load the file on the xbox, no big deal. Load and balance checked considering the alternate and winds, charts on hand, fuel loaded, pre flight done, so far so good and ready to get clearance, it is nice to request the IFR clearance as per the FMC flight plan, just struggling with the altitude (more on this later), got the clearance, and ready for pushback.
Engines started and headed to the active, here we go! took just a bit more of 3/4 of the runway to reach v1 and managed to climb for an initial 10000 ft, took about 4.5 minutes to get there and after a couple more minutes I realized that this was my cruise altitude for the (not so I) IA ATC despite I entered FL370 in the FMC earlier, so needed to call ATC to request increase of 10000 ft twice, and 7000 to finally reach the planned 370. Stepped climb was approved and about 20 minutes later 370 was reached.
I actively monitored the flight until reaching the North Atlantic track D for westbound, handed the ATC communications to the copilot and from there I moved to my laptop to get other stuff done, got a nice lunch and did some other stuff at home, only monitored the progress, fuel and winds every hour or so.
Finally got into the Canadian airspace, sat in the couch for some other 30 minutes and kept going with the life at home until reaching Houston Center FIR which indicates we are on the last 2-3 hours of the flight, I came back for the last 1.5 hours to prepare and brief the arrival to MMMX, a bit of extra fuel weight due to a +75kt tailwind over the Atlantic, but still all good.
Descent started, STAR set in the FMC (AI) ATC took this as a change in the destination and got a new flight plan approved there which is still annoying, that also resets the cruise altitude to 13000 ft so a bit of mess was added to the operation, sorted that out and made it to the Mexico Arrivals frequency, NAV radios to MEX ad ILS set and the plane was set on the arrival, nice spacing with other AI traffic this time and there is a gorgeous sunset with the Mexico City skyline view (Thanks FlyMex for the Mexico City landmarks Add On). Established on the localizer, gear down!, turning to final on the MMMX 05R ILS Z approach, ATC handed to the tower frequency, all seems good to land after 11 hours of flight.
Boeing 787, Cleared to land Rwy 5R, acknowledged and turned off the auto pilot for the last 2 miles in the approach. Gliding smooth with no challenging winds and suddenly the screen went black, CTD on short final, 11 hours after a great experience and less than 10 minutes to reach a parking spot and turn off the engines on this nice looking simulation.
So here I was, took a couple of seconds stare at the Xbox main menu screen, a couple of blinks and rested the controller at the coffee table in front of me, took a sip of water and turned the console off, then headed to my bar cabinet for a short glass of bourbon.
And that was it.
Will rest a couple of days from the sim, then attempt a few domestic legs and some touch and go sessions on my local airport, maybe some day I will try another long haul, I hope the Sim update 7 will fix more CTD issues, but let’s wait and see.