The NAV logic in the Wilco 737 is a bit buggy to say the least. In LVL CHG mode on descent, it tends to level off then pitch up before diving again. Also in LNAV mode sometimes it moves around laterally a bit more than one would expect. PMDG LNAV and VNAV logic seems better. Both aircraft have their bugs but ultimately both are very nice to fly.



In descent, I tend to use Vertical Speed or VNAV on the Wilco, because of the issues with LVL CHG, but I nearly always use either LVL CHG or VNAV in the PMDG, but never vertical speed. In the above image, I am descending to FL80 in vertical speed mode at a VS of -950fpm at 250IAS.

I find the frame rates in the virtual cockpit of the Wilco to be better than the PMDG, especially when using the TrackIr device.

Another issue on Squawkbox is the sudden appearance of aircraft either directly above or below me with TCAS shouting "CLIMB CLIMB" or "MAINTAIN VERTICAL SPEED" and then "CLEAR OF CONFLICT". This seems to happen every time someone connects to the network within a certain range. Very annoying. Otherwise, the TCAS on the 737 classics (Wilco) is good.

Another issue worth mentioning is the Wilco Airbus A320 with its faulty LNAV capabilities. Sometimes on a SID out of an airport, the plane seems to suddenly decide it has missed a waypoint and tries to turn back again. Very dangerous if it happened in real life. One has to be alert to this possibility, keeping the LEGS page of the FMGC open to bring the next waypoint to the top, or else selecting the heading by pulling the knob and matching the heading with the SID path. I think this is one Wilco could easily release a patch for, no?

Also on the Wilco A320 is the issue of top of descent calculation. If you add an arrival or change arrival (STAR) or runway, the FMGC in the Wilco A320 DOES NOT recalculate TOD. Pity. They did everything else so well. It's a nice bus to fly but sometimes the couple of small faults can put one off.

There it goes again. Just descending from FL320 through FL260 on the EEL1A arrival for EHAM (Amsterdam Schipol) in the 737-500 (Wilco) and in VNAV mode the plane went overspeed, requiring intervention. This does not happen in the PMDG.

Another bug: If you set the autobrakes in the 2D panel, they are not set in the VC. So, for example, on descent if I set Autobrakes 2 in 2D, I change to VC and the autobrakes are off. Then in VC I set autobrakes to 2 and back in the 2D panel they're on max! So to avoid confusion I have to set them both, which sometimes takes a bit of fiddling around.



Meanwhile, if I set autobrakes initially in the VC, say to autobrakes 2, then revert back to 2D panel, they are set to 2. So, the lesson is, use VC if you can to set autobrakes! In the above image, autobrakes are set to 2 in the Virtual Cockpit.

There it goes again. I'm flying LOWS (Salzburg) to EDDF (Frankfurt) and trying to descend on the PSA3W arrival into Frankfurt and the nose just won't go down in either VNAV or LVL CHG. So it's back onto Vert Speed -2500 for me.

[Edit]: And just as I posted that, the plane turned on LNAV and some ePower menu appeared in the middle of the screen and my plane almost turned over - it exceeded bank angle and suddenly dropped from the sky. I lost about 15,000 feet in under a minute. But recovered it of course! Was also doing 400 knots indicated. Must be the weather.

Another bug! This time it's on the radio pedestal. When you select the NAV1 audio to listen to the morse signal for the NAV1 frequency, the Wilco tends to play two morse identifiers at different pitches. I've noticed that in the PMDG (and other aircraft, in fairness), selecting NAV1 will give you the NAV2 morse code, while selecting NAV2 will give you the NAV1 code.

One thing I will give to the Wilco 737 over PMDG, in fact two things, are:

1) The air conditioning stops audibly when you turn off packs for engine start;

2) The gear up and gear down noises are more realistic.

And here's another for good measure:

3) PMDG engine start noise "starts again" if you change the view to external.

Ok, just an update. Am here flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Edinburgh and on climbout from Paris the Wilco 737-500 decided it had missed a waypoint and tried to turn around to go back. This is akin to what happens quite regularly on the Wilco A320 series. Not very nice when it happens suddenly, but thankfully I just pulled the yoke to the left and the A/P disengaged and I was able to correct the course and then re-connect the autopilot. It's quite head-wrecking when it happens. Also, I got a "bank angle" warning on a flight earlier today when I was in the cruise, turning on a waypoint for a new airway. Last time that happened, I found myself plummeting from the sky, like the Adam Air 737-400 flight which had a wind-forced A/P disconnect at cruise before it fell out of the sky somewhere over Indonesia.

Still maintain that the PMDG is much more secure in VNAV and LNAV than the Wilco, but one drawback to the PMDG which some will not like (and I certainly don't) is that it has to load in the Nav data before you can fly it and this can take a while, whereas the Wilco just loads in straight away.

I use VC quite often with the TrackIr device and find the Wilco more frame-friendly than the PMDG. However, that said, when you switch from 2D to virtual cockpit in the Wilco, the cockpit textures seem to take ages to load.

There is no easy choice between the POMDG 737 Next Generation and the Wilco 737 Classic. Ultimately, my decision has been to fly both!