The Pretend Flyer

Wilco/FeelThere Working on CRJ NextGen

2011-12-31T02:25:00.001-06:00

Wilco/FeelThere seem to be continuing the trend of refreshing their old products. The SimWare Simulations website seems to have the inside track with Wilco of late - they broke news of the 737 PIC Evolution first with a preview several months ago. And now, just last week, they showed off a preview of the next Wilco/FeelThere project: a CRJ NextGen series. They have some screenshots of external CRJ-700, CRJ-900, and CRJ-1000 NextGen models. Very nice looking. Should be interesting to see how these turn out. I'm guessing we will see these released sometime in 2012.

Hopefully this will light a fire under the Digital Aviation/Aerosoft folks to get their long overdue CRJ out to the masses soon, too!

Wilco/FeelThere Release 737 PIC Evolution

2011-12-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

I hinted about this one a couple of months ago, and now it's official: Wilco has released the 737 PIC Evolution. This is an update of the 737 PIC with better 3D modeling, an improved VC, and some other features.

It comes in two versions: standard and deluxe. The standard version is €28.88 for U.S. customers (or €34.95 for Europeans paying VAT), which works out to about US $38. The deluxe version apparently includes some additional liveries (though this is not immediately obvious from the Wilco site) and costs €37.15 (or €44.95 for Europeans paying VAT), which works out to about US $48.

This product covers the 737 Classic series, which consists of the 300/400/500 series. For those of you looking to assemble a complete Southwest Airlines virtual fleet, this will provide you with a 737-300 and a 737-500 to go along with your 737-700 from either PMDG (737 NGX) or iFly (737 NG).

This seems to have gotten some mixed reviews initially, with the consensus being that the product was probably rushed a little for the holiday season. It may get better after Wilco/feelThere start releasing service packs.

I will probably be checking this one out over the holidays very soon.

QualityWings BAe 146 Goes Beta

2011-12-14T13:58:00.000-06:00

QualityWings just announced that their BAe 146 project has just entered its initial beta test period! The first beta release includes the RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100 for FS9. More variants and FSX support are forthcoming. They expect an initial release in February. I'm looking forward to this one.

PMDG Updates 737 NGX to SP1b

2011-12-14T13:53:00.000-06:00

It's been a relatively quiet few weeks in the world of flight sim, but there have been a few interesting developments of late. First of all, PMDG has released the SP1b update to their 737 NGX product. This is a free update that consists of mostly minor bugfixes. The update comes in two parts - one for the original 800/900 series base release, and another for the 600/700 series expansion. If you are buying new, the NGX installers have already been updated to SP1b.

More info about the update is here.

PMDG Readies NGX SP1b, and More

2011-11-25T14:24:00.001-06:00

Robert Randazzo of PMDG recently posted that they are readying the SP1b update to their 737 NGX series. This will be a free update that fixes some issues that they did not have a chance to address in SP1. They are continuing efforts to work on the -ER series, the BBJ series, and the military series as well, but they have not yet revealed a timetable as to when these will be available.

Robert says the PMDG team is fully underway on 777 development at the moment as well. He hopes to update soon regarding release timetables (unclear as to whether he is talking about the NGX expansions, the 777, or something else here) as well as some "announcements on new product offerings." Oooooooh, the last part is really intriguing for me - can't wait for PMDG to open their kimono a little more and let us know what else they're cooking up!

Elsewhere, there seems to have been a bit of a rift developing between PMDG and McPhat Studios regarding the release of repaints for the NGX. The exact nature of the rift is unclear, but the gist of it seems to be that McPhat claims PMDG did not provide them with all the legal clearance they needed to release repaints for the NGX, while PMDG claims they bent over backwards to work with McPhat, and are displeased by McPhat's lack of professionalism.

You can read the comments by Robert Randazzo of PMDG regarding McPhat here.

You can read the response to these comments by Terrence Klaverweide of McPhat here.

Best as I can tell, this is one of those things that should have been fairly routine, but seems to have escalated into a pissing match on both sides. I hope cooler heads can prevail. I like McPhat, and think they do some great artistry on airplane repaints. Hopefully a little diplomacy goes a long way here - I think the flight sim world needs both PMDG and McPhat.

Captain Sim Updates 767 Captain to v1.5

2011-11-25T14:03:00.000-06:00

Captain Sim released the v1.5 update to their 767 Captain product this week. Details here.

This update is very similar to the recent 757 Captain updates, in that it removes the dependency on FSUIPC and eliminates some of the nasty rolling/rocking effects previously observed on ILS landings. I have snagged the recent updates for both the 757 and 767, and I am pleased to report that flying these two planes is a much more satisfying experience now.

Elsewhere, Captain Sim reports that "good progress" is being made toward the full versions of the 737 and 777 - hopefully we will see one or both of these sometime in 2012.

feelThere! Releases Embraer Phenom 100

2011-11-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

feelThere! has released their Embraer Phenom 100 VLJ addon for FS9 and FSX. This is labeled a "LE" product, which presumably means "Lite Edition". It does not come with a full implementation of a FMS, instead relying on the default FS flight planner to drive the Garmin 1000 avionics simulated in this product. (In essence, that means no direct support for SIDs or STARs, and grossly outdated navigational data.)

The Embraer Phenom 100 is available at the feelThere! site for US $34.99.

Note this product is also available for sale through Wilco Publishing, too.

Captain Sim Updates 757 Captain to v4.6

2011-11-02T16:44:00.001-05:00

Hot on the heels of the recent v4.5 update, Captain Sim has squashed a few more bugs and rolled out a v4.6 update to the 757 Captain. List of bugs fixed is here.

Some folks were grumbling that the v4.5 update did not quite fix everything as advertised, so hopefully v4.6 addresses those remaining issues now.

QualityWings Releases Another BAe 146/AvroRJ Video

2011-10-31T13:04:00.002-05:00

This one shows a full flight, and the 2D panels. Looks like they may be getting close to release.

feelThere! announces Embraer Phenom 100 (and more...)

2011-10-31T12:54:00.000-05:00

feelThere! sent out a mass email this morning announcing the Embraer Phenom 100. It is termed an "LE" product, which presumably means it is a less complicated model than their usual fare. (Though as an aside, I've never found feelThere's planes to be overwhelmingly complicated compared to some.)

For those of you on Facebook, they have been showing off some previews of the Phenom on their Facebook page.

Elsewhere, I managed to dig up some interesting previews of their 737 PIC v2, which following in the same vein as the recent updates to their Airbus products, will apparently be termed the 737 PIC Evolution. Apparently they are developing this update under contract for Wilco, according to their forums. No clue on when it will be available, but looks to be progressing nicely. This product covers the 737 Classic series (737-300/400/500) and should make a nice compliment to the 737 NGX or iFly 737 NG for those of you looking to simulate the entire Southwest Airlines virtual fleet.

PMDG Updates 737 NGX to SP1, Releases 600/700 Expansion

2011-10-31T12:43:00.000-05:00

After several delays, PMDG has release the SP1 update to the 737 NGX. For a list of the issues addressed with this update along with a link to the update, visit the PMDG customer forum. Due to a number of changes in the aircraft.cfg file, PMDG recommends that you uninstall the previous version of the NGX, and reinstall with SP1. (Yeah, I know, kind of a pain if you had a bunch of add-on liveries installed...)

PMDG also released the 737-600/-700 expansion pack to the NGX as well. Cost is US $24.95 for now, available here.

I picked up the update and the expansion pack this weekend. Most of the little minor bugs in the initial release have been worked out, and the plane is an even greater joy to fly now. Give the 737-600 a try - even though it never sold well in real life due to poor economics, it climbs like a rocket when very lightly loaded. Great fun!

Captain Sim Releases 757 Captain v4.5

2011-10-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim has released the long-awaited v4.5 update to their 757 Captain. I'm really looking forward to this one - hopefully it will fix a lot of the problems we previously experienced with the aircraft rocking from side to side on approach. They supposedly completely removed the dependency on FSUIPC, which apparently caused more problems than it was worth.

Hopefully we'll get some nice fixes for the 727 Captain next...

McPhat Studios Confirms Wilco/feelThere 737 PIC v2

2011-09-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

Remember that juicy little tidbit we dropped about McPhat looking for beta testers for one of their partner's products recently?

Well, it turns out that the developer in question is Wilco/feelThere, and they are indeed working on an update to the 737 PIC. If you want to help beta test it, step on over to McPhat's forums and put the good word in for yourself.

This is really good news. I liked the 737 PIC, but all the flat textures in the VC were very unrealistic. While I don't expect something on par with the PMDG 737 NGX in terms of realism, it will be nice to have at least a new refresh of the 737 Classic series. With airlines like Southwest flying both 737 Classics and 737 NG's, it will be very nice to have flyable versions of both in FSX this year.

Looks like we will have every 737 available to fly the virtual skies before long:

Captain Sim 737 Captain (737-100/-200) - the original "Baby Boeing" - exterior only right now, but interior in development
Wilco/feelThere 737 PIC v2 (737-300/-400/-500) - the 737 Classic series (coming soon)
PMDG 737 NGX (737-600/-700/-800/-900) - -800/-900 available now, -600/-700 and other NG variants coming soon
iFly 737 NG (737-600/-700/-800/-900) - all four models available now

Exciting times. Now hopefully soon, we can get some updated Airbuses, too!

Captain Sim Releases 737-200 Exterior

2011-09-15T16:45:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim has released the 737-200 exterior model for their 737 Captain project.

Right now, the 737 Captain is an exterior model only, aliased to the default FSX 737. Work on the VC and interior is ongoing. As with the 737-100 model, the current cost is €9.99 (about US $14.00). It appears that you can apply the purchase price of these external models toward the full versions, when they are released.

QualityWings BAe 146/AvroRJ Delayed

2011-09-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

QualityWings announced a firmer release plan for the release of the BAe 146/AvroRJ product today. Also, due to the scope and complexity of the project (both BAe 146 and AvroRJ models for FS9 and FSX), they decided to split up the release a bit. Right now, they are planning to do as follows:

Release Stage 1:
Avro RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100 for FS9

Release Stage 2:
Avro RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100 for FSX

Release Stage 3:
BAe 146-100, -200, and -300 for FS9 and FSX

Customers will pay for all models up front and get free updates as the subsequent stages are released. If this is too risky for you, you can always just wait until all the stages are completed. Unfortunately, they are now saying that Stage 1 will not be due until the end of Q4 2011, which means we won't see anything for FSX on this product until 2012. Bummer, but understandable. Hopefully they will use the extra time to make it an even better product.

Captain Sim Releases 737 Captain (Exterior Only)

2011-09-03T12:21:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim has released the initial version of the 737 Captain, featuring the 737-100 exterior model and three liveries. Work on the 737 Captain's interior systems is ongoing, but for now, the interior of the plane is aliased to the default 737 from FSX. Price is only €9.99 for now, and sure to go up when the full version is out. I understand early adopters will get a discount on the full version when it is released.

Enjoy!

QualityWings Shows Off BAe 146/AvroRJ Some More

2011-08-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

QualityWings has also given the fans some nice views of the virtual cockpit of the upcoming BAe 146/AvroRJ product. Note that this is not the final version, as they are still actively fixing several inaccuracies. However, this is looking really nice so far.

A preview of the night lighting is also available here.

This looks like it's going to be a fun little plane to fly when it's ready to go.

Captain Sim Says 737 Captain (Exterior Only) Due in September

2011-08-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim has posted an announcement that the 737 Captain (737-100) will be released in September, but it will be the exterior model only at this time. Price will be €9.99. Interior and expansion models will come later.

Apparently they are also seeking beta testers for the 737. Note that this does not tie in to McPhat's announcement today, as the 737 Captain (737-100/200 series) does not happen to use CFM engines.

Majestic Software Developing Q400 for FSX

2011-08-30T13:25:00.000-05:00

I have known about this one for some time, but this project appears to be taking shape and making good strides toward release. Majestic Software has been working on a Bombardier Q400 turboprop, and the advance screenshots are looking very nice. Visit their forum for more details. Enjoy!

McPhat's Partner Looking for Beta Testers

2011-08-30T13:23:00.000-05:00

McPhat Studios posted an interesting comment at their Facebook page today. One of their partners is looking for beta testers for an upcoming product. They dropped the hint that the product is a twin-engine model powered by CFM engines. Well, that means a few possibilities:

CFM56-3 series - found in Boeing 737 "Classic" (737-300/400/500 series)
feelThere! at one point had expressed interest in possibly updating their old 737 PIC with an updated 3D virtual cockpit. This is a definite possibility, if that project is still active. Who knows, maybe someone else out there is working on this.
CFM56-5 series - found in Airbus A320 series (A318/A319/A320/A321)
We know FlightSimLabs is working on an A320. Some have also suggested that the AirSimmer A320 is not dead yet. I suspect one of these two is the most likely possibility.
CFM56-7 series - found in Boeing 737 NG (737-600/700/800/900 series)
PMDG just released the 737 NGX, and has a pretty tightly-controlled community of beta-testers. With the iFly 737 NG also out there, I can't imagine that there is big enough of a market for any more 737 NG products at this time.

So, the bottom line is that somebody out there appears to be looking for a beta tester for either a 737 Classic, or an A320.

feelThere's Next Airplane: Embraer Phenom 100

2011-08-30T12:28:00.002-05:00

Well, after a period that has been mostly quiet for the last several months, it looks like some upcoming projects are finally being unveiled. I'll hit you with a few of these today:

feelThere! has made a couple of interesting posts on their Facebook page recently. While it seems most of their effort has gone in to developing their ATC Suite, they haven't completely neglected developing airplanes, too. They showed off a nice rendering of an Embraer Phenom 100 that they appear to be working on. Supposedly they will show an in-game screenshot of it soon.

Here is a cutaway rendering of the cockpit, too. And here is a cutaway rendering of the interior.

No word on when this will be out, but feelThere! usually doesn't show off projects until they are nearing the final stages of development. Could be we'll see this one before Christmas, but don't quote me on that!

Along with the ERJ and E-Jets, feelThere! seems to have found their niche as the go-to company for Embraer products in FSX. (I would love to see them try their hand at an Embraer turboprop, too, such as the EMB-120!) Just the same, the Phenom 100 is a very interesting choice...seems the Cessna Citation Mustang from Flight1 will have a little competition in the VLJ segment in FSX.

Mini-Review: PMDG 737 NGX

2011-08-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month, PMDG released their long-awaited 737 NGX product. The initial product release consists of the 737-800 and 737-900 models, with other 737 variants forthcoming as optional expansion packs. PMDG's servers were overwhelmed with enthusiastic flight simmers around the globe picking up their copies of the plane - and also a rogue denial-of-service attack apparently originating in China. I decided to wait about a week and let the initial excitement die down just a touch. I finally picked up the NGX about two weeks ago, and have spent a fair amount of time with it since.

Here we see the PMDG NGX 737-800 model in all her glory, in an American Airlines repaint:

For our test flight during this review, we will be doing a quick charter run from Miami International Airport (KMIA) to Jose Marti International Airport (MUHA) in Havana, Cuba. The above screenshot was taken on the initial climbout over south Florida. Flight time will be about 45 minutes, which is just about enough time to do a quick rundown of all the features of the NGX.

As with PMDG's previous flagship level products, the NGX comes with a full set of 2D panels. Here is the main 2D panel for the captain's seat:

Here is another 2D panel for the dome lighting directly overhead:

Here is another 2D panel for the captain's FMS:

Here is a 2D panel for the center pedestal, controlling the radios, transponder, and TCAS:

Here is another small 2D panel controlling the fire suppression controls:

And another 2D panel for the overhead switches, including the lights, pressurization, and hydraulics:

Here is another 2D panel for the INS:

And here is a smaller 2D panel for just the overhead lights - this is a smaller version of the overhead panel, designed to not obstruct the pilot's view while flying:

Now here are a couple of screenshots of the 3D virtual cockpit, which is my preferred way to fly. The Florida Keys loom somewhere down below:

PMDG has spared almost no detail when modeling the NGX. Every switch makes a click, and with few exceptions, actually does something. Boeing supposedly gave PMDG unprecedented access to the schematics and design documents of the real 737 NG series, and PMDG used this information to model every last bit of a 737 NG in the NGX. I understand Boeing is providing PMDG with similar access to the 777 for their forthcoming 777 product, as well.

Flying the NGX is a bit like peeling an onion. (Then again, I think this is probably true of every PMDG product I own!) Veterans of the old PMDG 737 series (FS9-only) or the iFly 737 NG will have no trouble getting the NGX up in the air quickly - probably without even reading the tutorial. To a lesser extent, any flight sim veteran should be able to get the NGX airborne with only a modest learning curve.

However, there is a gotcha: systems that are not modeled in other 737 NG products are modeled on the NGX. In gory detail. For veterans of other 737 NG products, this will occasionally lead to some unexpected issue popping up, due to the fact that the NGX actually models a particular system that others do not. One example: on my maiden flight of the NGX, I simmed an American Airlines flight from KDFW to KAUS. I ran with about 1/3 fuel load. About midway through the flight, I get an alert that the hydraulics system is overheating! Never seen that one before. Well, it turns out that the real 737 NG uses fuel in the center tank as a heat exchanger for the electro-hydraulics pumps. If you don't have at least around 2,000 lbs. of fuel in the center tank, there is no liquid there to collect the excess heat from the hydraulics pumps, and they overheat. Good to know. This is the kind of detail you can expect to see in the NGX.

Similar to the PMDG MD-11, there are other bits of eye candy modeled as well. Things like the pushback sequence, and ground connections for the MD-11. You can even chock the wheels when you are parked at the gate!

Now I would be remiss if I did not mention one of my most favorite features in the NGX: the Heads-Up Guidance System, or HUGS. Sure, PMDG is not the first developer to introduce a HUGS in a product - the Wilco/feelThere ERJv2 models a HUGS in the Embraer E-175 and E-195, for example. However, PMDG probably has the best implementation of a HUGS I have ever seen. Notice how the color of the light changes when you peer through the HUGS to the outside windscreen, for example:

The HUGS is a wonderful innovation for pilots, as it provides them all the instrumentation information they need without having to look away from the window. Pilots can integrate the instrument data along with the visual external cues to increase situational awareness - for example, if the airspeed is too high or too low, the pilot can adjust the throttles accordingly without even taking his eyes off the approach.

Another nice feature of the HUGS in real life is that you can see the data being presented at any viewing angle. Notice what happens in the HUGS in the following screenshots when I pan to the right in the 3D virtual cockpit:

Amazing! This is the level of detail you can expect with the NGX. Using the HUGS makes a smooth landing in normal conditions a snap almost every time. You never have to pan away (or zoom back far enough) to monitor the instruments while landing.

Here are a few other pictures of the exterior model as we fly over the Florida Keys:

Key West is down below: NAS Key West (KNQX) on the right, and the smallish Key West International (really?) Airport (KEYW) on the left. With a runway only 4800' long, it's hard to believe that AirTran and Delta actually run Boeing 737-700s (severely weight restricted) on scheduled service out of there to Orlando, Tampa, and Atlanta. Remind me to try that flight when PMDG releases the 737-600/737-700 expansion models for the NGX:

Touching down in Havana. Welcome to Cuba!

Another nifty feature of the NGX, not shown here, is the ability to dynamically configure the airplane's fuel, payload, and features through a special menu on the NGX. If your pet airline uses the Collins instrument panel instead of the Honeywell instrument panel, changing it is easily done in just a few mouse clicks! You can also save configurations for a particular repaint. Some of the repaints from PMDG even come with configurations that accurately reflect how that particular airline configures its 737 NG. Very cool.

So you may be asking, what are the downsides to the NGX? Not many. Here are a few I can think of:

I have experienced a few intermittent freezes and crashes. However, this may have been a product of having my graphics sliders set too high on the new flight sim rig I am testing out. I need to run some further test flights with more realistic settings to gauge whether or not this is a big problem.
Performance did seem fairly reasonable on both my laptop and my main flight sim rig. It may tax some older systems or video cards much more than some other add-ons. PMDG has spent a great deal of time optimizing the NGX, and there is definitely a balance to strike between having lots of detail versus reasonable performance. I think PMDG did a smashing job of finding the right balance with the NGX - for most of us with decent systems and video cards, we will have our cake and eat it, too.
Price is US $70 right now, for a limited time only. It will jump to US $75 when the first expansion model (the 737-600/737-700 series) comes out. This seems on the high side, but is actually a tremendous value for the features and level of detail that you get. Plus, you get to control how much you want to spend: if you want all the variants, you could potentially blow as much as US $150 or more. (Thankfully, not all at once!) If you don't care about those and just want to fly a 737 NG of some sort, then you'll get by just fine with the base model.
Complexity will put off some novices. I love a certain amount of complexity myself, but if you don't, then you might consider giving the iFly 737 NG a go instead.

In short: PMDG will no doubt clean up on all the 2011 Flight Sim Product of the Year awards. It won't even be close. Which is really too bad in a way, because there are also a lot of other interesting aircraft coming down the pipe in the not-too-distant future. However, PMDG has definitely earned it with the NGX. Serious flight simmers will definitely want to add this one to their collection. The NGX is fun to fly, and will reward extensive study of her features for a long time to come. Don't miss it!

Rating: *****

Another Little Piece of the CoolSky DC-9

2011-08-19T19:14:00.002-05:00

Espen of CoolSky gives another little sneak peek of the upcoming DC-9...this time, in PMDG fashion, it's a small sliver of the VC. Looks very, very nice...McPhat seems to be doing a great job with the modeling. Looking forward to this one, too!

Did You Get Yours Yet?

2011-08-12T02:56:00.000-05:00

I picked up my copy of the NGX today. Here is she is on her maiden flight from SeaTac to PDX:

Folks, this plane is an absolute gem to fly. I love the iFly 737 NG, but the PMDG NGX is even better. And that is not intended as a slight against iFly - theirs is a very nice plane, too. However, the attention to detail on the NGX is second to none. Will elaborate more once I have a chance to completely soak it in.

Digital Aviation/Aerosoft CRJ Cockpit Previews

2011-08-11T19:02:00.000-05:00

Mathijs Kok of Aerosoft gave the masses a nice update on the Digital Aviation/Aerosoft CRJ project a few days ago in the Aerosoft forums. There are some nice screenshots of the cockpit there, too! It's looking really nice. Hopefully they will put the finishing touches on this bird in the not-too-distant future, and we can open up the CRJ-based regional affiliates for our new NGX-based airlines... ;-)

This Week's Sim News

2011-08-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

Lots of little news items trickling out here and there. Rather than making a bunch of new blog posts, for each one, I'll just collect them all and post them here:

The PMDG 737 NGX is out. I'll be snagging my copy later this week, when the initial stampede dies down slightly. I guess this means they will be turning their full attention to the 777 next...
CoolSky made a new blog post pertaining to their DC-9 - specifically, on radio navigation. This is a highly useful introduction to anyone who isn't familiar with old-school aeronautical navigation, before the days of GPS and modern FMS units that do most of the work for us. The CoolSky DC-9 will be true to original form, predating all of these technological advances. Thus, knowing how to track VOR radials will be very important to successful operation of this plane. Espen is also including a "special radio navigation training simulator" as a component of the CoolSky DC-9. This is apparently one of the secret features he had referred to previously. Looks neat.
According to this post, Captain Sim is apparently looking for some 757 experts to help test out VNAV/LNAV functionality in their upcoming v4.5 service pack for the Captain Sim 757. Bugfixes include stripping out the dependency on FSUIPC, which will make the flight model much more stable. Major thumbs up on this one.

PMDG Releases 737 NGX, Gets Cyber-Attacked

2011-08-05T01:58:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting day over at PMDG!

First off, they did indeed release the 737 NGX, as promised.

However, at around the same time, their servers were targeted by a nasty denial-of-service cyberattack, apparently originating from China. This attack forced PMDG to take their servers offline for a while. As of this writing, they are still offline, but hope to be back up again soon.

Speculation in the forums is rampant that the perps may be sympathetic to the competing iFly 737 product, which was developed at least partially in China. However, PMDG has downplayed this suggestion, and urges everyone not to jump to conclusions.

I think I'll wait at least a few days for the stampede to die down, then I'll order by NGX in an orderly fashion. Hope to have a mini-review up here in a week or two.

Elsewhere, AVSIM's forums (where PMDG's user forums are hosted) were also offline due to technical difficulties earlier today. Not exactly the smooth launch PMDG was hoping for, I suspect. Nonetheless, these are just minor blips along the way, and everyone should be enjoying their new NGX's very shortly.

McPhat Unveils Some Interesting Plans

2011-08-02T11:05:00.000-05:00

The gang over at McPhat Studios have been rather busy this year, and they recently shared some previews of their upcoming projects with the masses:

As previously mentioned here, McPhat has been handling the 3D modeling of the CoolSky (Flight1) DC-9-30 project, in addition to their usual repainting duties. In their blog, they mention that the DC-9 development phase is "nearing its end." Elsewhere, Espen has promised another update on the DC-9 very soon. Looks like we may be taking flight in the DC-9 before long!
McPhat has also been going it on their own for the first time, with the development of an ATR 72-500 model. It still looks early in development, but the screenshots are very nice so far. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this project is that they are targeting this for X-Plane, and not FSX. However, they have not ruled out a FSX version of the ATR at some point. They state it will not be a full simulation of the ATR, but the flight model will be realistic. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. I love the PMDG Jetstream 4100 turboprop, and hope we can see more realistic turboprops in the future.

PMDG Announces 737 NGX Pricing

2011-07-27T04:27:00.000-05:00

Hot on the heels of the announcement that the 737 NGX will drop on August 4, PMDG has finalized their pricing and release structure for the NGX. It's actually pretty good news, overall. To recap:

The base models of the NGX will be the -800/-900 series, both with or without winglets. Price will be US $69.99 if you buy right away; otherwise, it increases to US $74.99 when the first expansion pack is released within 1-2 months.
The initial expansion pack will be the -600/-700 series models, both with or without winglets on the -700 series. Price will be US $24.99, and it is expected to be available 4-8 weeks after release.
The "ER" variants (-700ER, -900ER) will also be available as an expansion pack, 4-8 weeks after the -600/-700 expansion. Price and availability TBA.
The "BBJ" variants (BBJ, BBJ2) will also be available as another expansion pack, "subject to interest." (If the PMDG forums are any indication, there is plenty of interest.) Expected another 4-8 weeks after the ER expansion. Price and availability TBA.
The "military" variants (P-8, Wedgetail) will also be available as another expansion pack, "subject to interest." Expected another 4-8 weeks after the BBJ expansion. Price and availability TBA.

Are you ready for the release? I know I am!

I'm Still Here!

2011-07-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

This summer, our family is in the process of relocating back to the Pacific Northwest of the USA. We have been living out of suitcases for almost a month, and all my computers (save for my laptop) are in storage. Thus, I'm a little behind the curve on the Flight Simulator scene right now. Fortunately, we plan to move into our new house next week, and hopefully things will quickly return to normal again after that.

So what's new in the world of Flight Sim since I last posted?

The iFly team has released SP1 of the iFly 737 NG for FSX. (Link available to registered owners only, sorry for everyone else!) This update fixes a lot of the minor, irritating bugs, and makes for an even more satisfying flying experience. I have to admit, the iFly 737 NG has been getting a lot of flying time on my laptop during the move.
PMDG has been toiling away on the 737 NGX, and the reports from the field of wide beta testers are streaming in. They also upgraded their servers this past weekend to handle the expected influx of 737 NGX orders. Captain Randazzo just announced that, failing any significant problems that warrant a delay, they expect to unleash the 737 NGX to the wild on August 4. Get your credit cards ready!
Not much news on the Digital Aviation/Aerosoft CRJ. Mathijs Kok reports that things are looking great, but not as quickly as we would all like. Hopefully we'll get another update soon!
The QualityWings BAe146 is still apparently on track for a Q3 2011 release as well, but QW seems to have gone quiescent since the July 8 livery preview post. Hopefully this means that they are buckling down and getting everything ready to roll out.
With all the great 737 NGs coming down the pipe, what about Airbus? Well, this bunch gave us a really nice preview of their A320 external model last week. And rumor has it, this other bunch is not quite dead yet...

Enjoy, and happy flying!

QualityWings Begins Showing Off BAe146/AvroRJ

2011-06-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

QualityWings has been giving us some eye candy, with external liveries of their upcoming BAe146/AvroRJ add-on over the last several months. This week, they have begun featuring some views of the interior 2D panels as well. Enjoy!

Supposedly, this is scheduled for release in Q3 2011. Hope they stay on target...this one looks very interesting.

Speaking of the PMDG NGX...

2011-06-09T12:45:00.002-05:00

PMDG has been slowly releasing more tidbits about the NGX. It seems we are inching ever closer to completion, but they are sparing no missed detail along the way. This should truly be a great product. I have avoided reposting every new update that PMDG posts, because, well, I am trying to avoid PMDG fatigue here, and frankly, there hasn't been much new to tell.

One interesting bit that came out a few days ago is that you can apparently configure your 737 NGX on-the-fly. Want to switch from the Honeywell-style MCP to the Collins-style MCP? Or from EFIS/MAP to PFD/ND displays? No problem! This video clip provided by PMDG illustrates the on-the-fly configurability of the NGX:

This is very interesting - as I previously pointed out in my review of the iFly 737 NG, the 737 NG is arguably one of the most configurable jetliners around. It seems every carrier flying the type has its own, slightly unique flavor of it. iFly handles these details by requiring you to define the configuration of each model on a per-livery basis in its Fleet Manager, which is an entirely reasonable approach. The NGX, however, takes this to an entirely new level - the dynamic reconfiguration of the cockpit is a nifty feature.

Though the pragmatist in me actually sort of likes the iFly approach, in a sense - if you know the configuration of a particular carrier, it seems like it would be a pain to have to wade through all the settings and dynamically set them to match your preferred carrier's configuration before flight each time. I would hope the PMDG will have some kind of per-livery default configuration you can set ahead of time, so you don't have to waste time configuring the cockpit to your liking each time. I'm sure they probably will - but this video doesn't seem to make that particularly clear. Nonetheless, the ability to play with the cockpit configuration on-the-fly is a feature that we will all have some fun with.

Mini-Review: iFly Jets 737 NG (FSX)

2011-05-22T03:27:00.001-05:00

While the forthcoming PMDG 737 NGX product seems to be grabbing most of the hearts and minds of the flight sim community, another competing project has quietly emerged on the scene. Developed by a relatively new outfit known as iFly Jets and distributed by Flight1, the iFly 737 NG series, which was originally released for FS9 last year, has recently been enhanced and updated for FSX. The FSX version finally rolled out last week, and I felt it would be worth taking a look at - especially since PMDG seems to be in no big hurry to release the 737 NGX just yet. (Yes, I know, they have very good reasons, and we won't get sidetracked with that here.)

The iFly Jets 737 NG includes all of the following variants of the 737: -600, -700, -800, -900, BBJ, BBJ2, BBJ3. Here is a shot of the external model of the 737-900 with winglets in Alaska Airlines livery:

For this review, we will be simulating a short delivery flight from the Boeing 737 factory at KRNT to one of Alaska Airlines' hubs at KPDX. Here is a shot of the main 2D panel from the Captain's seat:

Here are various other 2D panels. The FMC:

The flight yoke:

The upper center console, with dual FMCs, throttles, and the other goodies one would normally expect to find here:

Here is the main overhead panel, including the lights:

Here is the rest of the overhead panel, including the IRS:

Here is the radio stack in the lower center console:

And here is the main 2D panel from the First Officer's seat:

The iFly Jets 737 NG also comes with a very nice 3D virtual cockpit:

One thing worth pointing out here is that the 737 NG series is one of the most configurable aircraft series around. It seems every carrier which operates the type has their own unique combination of options for their own 737 NGs. Examples include winglets vs. no winglets, eyebrow windows vs. none, old MCS vs. new MCS, CRT vs. LCD screens, EFIS/Map displays vs. PFD/ND displays, and so on. The really cool thing is that the iFly Jets 737 NG allows you to configure these options on a per-livery basis. You can go investigate the cockpit pictures of Delta's 737-800s at sites like Airliners.net, and configure your Delta repaint with many of the same options. This adds a degree of realism that is very nice - as opposed to add-ons like the Captain Sim 757, which model only one fixed set of options for the 757.

Here are a couple of examples of how you can vary the options. The first picture resembles a Southwest Airlines example, which recently switched from EFIS/Map to PFD/ND in all of its 737-700s. Note the newer-style MCP as well:

And here is an example from a United (Continental) 737-800, which still uses the EFIS/Map style displays, presumably for commonality with their older 737 Classics:

All of these options are managed on a per-livery basis through the iFly 737 NG Fleet Manager, which is part of the iFly 737 NG Configuration Manager. The Configuration Manager does the usual job of managing payload and fuel for your next flight, as with many other similar utilities. The Fleet Manager tool within actually helps you manage your repaints and configurable options. It is somewhat crude - you still have to unzip your repaint into the appropriate subdirectory under SimObjects\Aircraft first. Once you do this, the Fleet Manager can find the directory you have created, and walk you through the process of setting all the options for that repaint, and update the Aircraft.cfg file for you. Here is a screenshot of the Configuration Manager. Click on the "My Fleet" button to access the Fleet Manager here:

And here is a slideshow of various images of the iFly 737 NG in action, on our delivery flight from KRNT to KPDX:

The iFly 737 NG series is fun to fly, and generally works as advertised. I ran into very few problems with crashes that could not be attributed to other external factors, such as running out of memory. (Due to a lightning storm taking out my main FSX rig, I had to install and fly the iFly Jets 737 NG on my laptop. It actually worked okay.) Make sure you are not low on disk space, in case your machine needs to swap pages to disk. When I ran low on disk space on my laptop, the iFly 737 NG started behaving in some rather peculiar ways. Freeing up disk space made it a lot happier. Users with powerful systems will not likely run into this issue.

Of course, this review would be incomplete without discussing some limitations/drawbacks of the iFly 737 NG series:

One notable omission in the list of 737 NG variants modeled by the iFly 737 NG is the 737-900ER. While externally almost identical to the 737-900, the main point of frustration for me is the inability to "convert" a 737-900 to a 737-900ER by adding the auxiliary fuel tanks. Yes, I'm aware there are a few other differences between the 737-900 and 737-900ER - such as the extra set of doors, allowing it to be certified for more passengers - but as I see it, the missing aux fuel tanks are the only thing affecting the operation of the plane itself, by limiting its range. I would love to see a 737-900ER modeled by the iFly 737 NG as well, perhaps in a future update of the product. It seems it wouldn't be terribly difficult to add this variant, considering that they already do a BBJ3, which is based on the 737-900ER.
Weather radar is not modeled on the iFly 737 NG. Then again, PMDG won't be modeling it in their 737 NGX product, either. As a workaround, there is a procedure posted in the iFly forums for adding the third-party Reality XP Weather Radar into the iFly 737 NG panel.
The EGPWS Peaks display is apparently not modeled on the iFly 737 NG. Not a huge issue, as it is an optional feature in the real-life NG.
Repaints from the FS9 version of the iFly 737 NG apparently are not 100% compatible with the FSX version. I tried installing an FS9 livery in the FSX version, and it looked terrible. Not a major issue, but be warned if you download any repaints from AVSIM.
The iFly Jets 737 NG series seems a little framerate heavy - nothing severe, but probably roughly in the neighborhood of some of the Captain Sim products. You may want to dial back your detail settings a little if you are working on a lesser machine.

Conclusion:

The iFly 737 NG for FSX is one of those very unfortunate victims of timing. In and of itself, it is a very nice simulation of the 737 NG series - an aircraft that has been long overdue for a proper treatment on FSX. If iFly had chosen to do almost any other aircraft instead, everyone would be raving about how nice a product this really is. However, because of the looming release of the PMDG 737 NGX within the next few months (presumably), it will be difficult for the iFly 737 NG to get a fair shake. It remains to be seen how much the PMDG 737 NGX will actually live up to expectations, but given the details that the PMDG developers have let slip so far, it is shaping up to be the Cadillac of 737 NG simulations. I liken the iFly 737 NG to something more along the lines of a Toyota Corolla - a solid, dependable, and less expensive simulation of the 737 NG series. It may lack some of the features and modeling that will make the PMDG version special, but it is still a very, very good simulation of the 737 NG series. I like the iFly 737 NG, and I wish the iFly team great success with the product. It is a solid first release from a relatively new team on the payware scene. Hopefully, iFly will have better luck in the future with choosing projects that will differentiate them from their competitors in the marketplace. I would really love to see iFly do a Boeing 717, in particular - I think they would do a great job with it.

If you are looking for a decent, relatively inexpensive simulation of the 737 NG, and you don't want to wait for the PMDG 737 NGX, then you certainly can't go wrong with the iFly 737 NG series. It works well, and it is actually fun to fly. Subject to the above limitations, I can't really say anything bad about it.

Rating: ****

Caution: Foreign Objects on the Runway!

2011-05-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

If you have ever tried to fly into Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport in Belize City, Belize (MZBZ), you have no doubt encountered a very nasty little bug in FSX: for some reason, the airport bounds are not correctly computed, and there are all sorts of trees and other objects growing right in the middle of the runway! Turn off your crash detection for landing at this airport, folks.

Here are some screenshots which illustrate the issue:

Apparently, this is a well-known issue in FSX, although I didn't encounter it until very recently.

There are apparently some third-party fixes available for this problem, although Microsoft has never issued a fix themselves.

Preview of the iFly 737 NG for FGX

2011-05-19T13:53:00.001-05:00

I'm going to do a full mini-review on this one perhaps as soon as a few days from now, but I just picked up the iFly 737 NG for FSX last night. I took a quick first flight from KDAL to KHOU in the Southwest Airlines 737-700 "Illinois One" livery, which is available as a free download through the iFly forums.

Here are some nice preview shots of the upcoming review, just to give you a taste. The first one is a shot of the exterior model, climbing toward cruise:

Here is a view of the 3D virtual cockpit:

And here is another shot of the exterior, with landing lights on as we line up on final for KHOU:

Initial impressions: it's very nice, especially for the price. What it lacks in all the little flourishes that will make the PMDG 737 NGX special, it makes up for in a less expensive package that is easy on the wallet. Plus, as a Flight1 product, it is fully backed by Flight1's legendary guarantee, so you really have nothing to lose. I really like that it comes with the 737-600/-700/-800/-900/-900ER/BBJ/BBJ2/BBJ3 variants, as well. There are a few minor glitches, but nothing unprecedented for a 1.0 release.

Enjoy! And consider picking this one up if the PMDG price tag will be too expensive for you, or you simply MUST have a 737 NG NOW.

Flight1/iFly 737 NG Now Available for FSX

2011-05-18T03:32:00.000-05:00

I had to dig around in the Flight1 forums to find this, as this has not showed up on their main page yet. An outfit known as iFly (distributed by Flight1) came out with a FS9-only version of a 737 NG last year. Now, as of this week, it appears that the FSX version of their 737 NG is also available. Pricing is a little unclear from the webpage, but the FS9 verison is US $54.95, so I suspect the FSX version is similarly priced.

You can download the Flight1 e-commerce wrapper containing the iFly 737 NG for FSX here.

Very interesting timing, as the PMDG 737 NGX is apparently also very imminent. I'm tempted to give the iFly 737 NG a look in the meantime, though, just to tide me over...

PMDG 737 NGX On Final

2011-05-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

What's that in the sky up there? Could it be? The PMDG 737 NGX really is on its delivery flight to our hangars?

Apparently, it is so. NGX has been in beta for about a month, and many issues have been resolved. Wider beta coming soon, and then...it's time to take delivery of the NGX.

Very good news all around. We will definitely be flying around in the NGX before long. Check out the new videos in Captain Randazzo's post.

PMDG is showing off some 737 NGX livery previews, too.

Considering I lost my main flight sim rig in a lightning storm last month, I guess it is the perfect occasion to go build a new one... :-)

Captain Sim Releases 777 Captain (Exerior Only)

2011-04-21T23:08:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim announced that they have released the initial version of their 777 Captain product, which is only the exterior model of their 777. Price for this is currently €9.99, or around US $15. They are apparently working on the interior systems now, but for the time being, the interior of the Captain Sim 777 is aliased to the default FSX Boeing 747-400 panel.

Currently only the 777-200 is available, although I presume that in the usual Captain Sim fashion, there will be other 777 variants available in the future as well.

I called this one long ago...not surprised they are doing this one, given the way Captain Sim has been working their way through the Boeing line. It will be interesting to see how the Captain Sim 777 stacks up against the forthcoming PMDG 777.

I think I'll wait on this one until they are a little farther along, but this is certainly a very interesting development.

Wilco Releases Airbus Evolution

2011-04-07T21:44:00.000-05:00

After several brief delays, Wilco has finally released the Airbus Evolution Vol. 1 and 2 for FS9 and FSX. Many regard this as largely a service pack for the existing Wilco Airbus products, though some of the fixes are nice to have.

PMDG Promises the NGX Is Near!

2011-03-31T11:36:00.000-05:00

Today, Captain Robert Randazzo of PMDG gave the fans a major update on the status of the 737 NGX. And the news is all good - it seems we will be scheduling our delivery flights of the NGX very, very soon.

I don't know about you, but I'm as giddy as a schoolboy on Christmas Eve. Been looking forward to this one for a long, long time - and it definitely looks like it will be worth the wait.

FlightSimLabs Updates Progress on Airbus Project

2011-03-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

FlightSimLabs has just given the fans a nice glimpse of their progress on their Airbus series! It sounds like they are really going all out in terms of detail. They have even thrown in a screenshot to tide us over for a while...

Enjoy!

PMDG Putting Finishing Touches on 737 NGX

2011-03-22T23:22:00.001-05:00

Captain Robert Randazzo of PMDG reassured everyone in a forum post that the NGX is on track, and nearing completion. He promises to offer more of an update later in the week. Stay tuned!

Interestingly, many PMDG developers have already moved onto the next project. Presumably, this is the 777 and/or Dash-8.

The Boeing 747-8i Takes Flight!

2011-03-22T18:28:00.000-05:00

In real-world aviation news, Boeing conducted a successful maiden test flight of the 747-8i in Washington State today! Very cool.

CoolSky Gives Preview of DC-9

2011-03-22T03:12:00.000-05:00

After McPhat let the cat out of the bag about the CoolSky/McPhat/Flight1 DC-9 in the works, CoolSky recently put up a tasty preview of the DC-9 project. Enjoy!

Going to be a fun bird to fly!

Captain Sim Gives An Update on the 737 Captain

2011-03-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

Captain Sim has posted some more screenshots of their 737 Captain work-in-progress. Nice, nice, very nice...

Looks like they are making great progress with it.

Wilco Delays Airbus Evolution

2011-03-07T23:53:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Wilco was in the process of updating the Airbus Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 series to the Airbus Evolution. Well, apparently the update did not go quite as planned. The release date slipped to March 7...and as of now, has slipped again to March 28.

I'm guessing this didn't go according to plan. Hopefully they can sort it all out soon...

Flight1 Combines Super 80 and Super 80 Pro Editions Into New Bundle

2011-03-06T13:46:00.001-06:00

As we eagerly await the forthcoming Coolsky/McPhat DC-9, Flight1 has announced a new product bundle for the Coolsky Super80: the Super80 Ultimate Edition. This is a boxed-only edition that combines both the Coolsky Super80 and Super80 Pro into a single box, at a great price of US $69.95. The two products are also available as downloads for US $39.95 and US $54.95, respectively. Quite the bargain.

Captain Sim Announces 707 Captain Expansions, Base Pack Price Cut, Update

2011-03-06T13:39:00.001-06:00

Captain Sim released three expansion models for their 707 Captain: the 300C cargo variant, the VC-137 (original Air Force One) variant, and the E-3 Sentry military surveillance variant. Cost of each expansion model is €9.99, or around US $14.

Captain Sim has also slashed the price of the 707-300 base pack, which is required for all the expansion models. Previously €59.99, it has been slashed by €30 to €29.99 now. That works out to around US $42.

The 707 base pack has also been updated to v1.3, which contains some more bugfixes and enhancements over the previous version.

The 707 Captain is a great plane, so definitely jump on this one if you are a fan of the classics.

And Speaking of PMDG...

2011-03-01T21:17:00.000-06:00

They put some more screenshots of the 737 NGX up this evening.

Enjoy!

Coming Attractions, Early 2011 Edition

2011-03-01T15:52:00.000-06:00

2011 is shaping up to be another great year for the Flight Simulator X community. As it has been a while since we last did this, let's take a brief look at the projects currently in the pipeline, along with any known information about release. Note that these dates are purely speculative, and might even be totally false. PLEASE do not bother the publishers working on these products!

PMDG 737 NGX - PMDG has showed off some impressive screenshots of this bird recently. This is one of the products I am really looking forward to this year. The realism will be unprecedented for a flight sim aircraft. Can't wait to get my hands on it. While it has been delayed substantially since the original target timeframe, I get the sense that PMDG has expanded the project and added substantial new features since the original timetable was conceived. Nonetheless, it wouldn't surprise me to see this one hit the streets sometime this summer. However, PMDG is flight sim equivalent to the Paul Masson winery: they will sell no airplanes before it's time! We will just have to wait (im)patiently until they are satisfied that they have a release-quality product.
PMDG 777 - This one will reuse some elements of the 737 NGX, and PMDG estimated at one point that it would take approximately six months to do a 777 after they release the 737 NGX. If that still holds, maybe we will be flying the 777 by Christmas. Then again, with PMDG, who knows? We'll just have to wait.
PMDG Dash-8 - This is the successor to the BAe Jetstream 4100 in the PMDG turboprops line. Given that PMDG mentioned that they have committed most of their resources to the 737 NGX project, I suspect this one isn't terribly far along. Perhaps we will see this one sometime in 2012. We do know that PMDG is starting with an older Dash-8 variant. I sure hope they (or somebody) will do a Q400 eventually, as those have arguably become the most popular variant of the Dash-8 flying nowadays.
Digital Aviation/Aerosoft CRJ-700/900 Series - This is another one I am eagerly anticipating. CRJs are almost ubiquitous with the regional jet carriers in the USA and Europe. After Digital Aviation went under, Aerosoft stepped in to help rescue the project. Aerosoft appears to be working on the 3D model, while the former Digital Aviation guys are working on the systems. The modeling part appears to be finished, and now we are we are simply waiting for the systems part to be done. Perhaps we will see this one out this summer as well. So far, the screenshots we have seen look very nice.
QualityWings Boeing 787 - This is a very interesting project, given that the 787 itself is still in development. I am curious to see how closely the QualityWings 787 will resemble the real thing. I suspect this will be a "lite" product a la the QualityWings 757 series, where they greatly simplify (read: inop) most of the systems on the aircraft. No idea when this one will be available, but 2012 or later wouldn't surprise me.
QualityWings BAe 146/Avro RJ Series - I am actually really looking forward to this one. I have been hoping someone would do a BAe 146 for a long time. Even though we don't see the BAe 146 much in the USA anymore, it still serves as a workhorse in many European regional carriers' fleets. It is such a unique and interesting bird, compared to a typical CRJ or ERJ. QualityWings has promised to up the ante on realism with this one, and I hope they deliver. QualityWings says that this one will be out in Q3 2011.
FlightSimLabs Airbus Series - This is another one I am really excited about, although the newly-updated Airbus series from Wilco may give it a run for its money. Still, a lot of people say that even the updated Wilco Airbus series isn't necessarily realistic. FlightSimLabs did a great job with the Concorde-X, and I suspect they will do a killer Airbus eventually, too. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see this one until 2012, though, as FSL has yet to release any previews or much in the way of information about the project yet at this point.
CoolSky/McPhat DC-9 - As I mentioned yesterday, McPhat let slip early in February that they are helping CoolSky do a Virtual Cockpit for a DC-9. This makes total sense as a successor to the Super 80 product. This represents an expansion of McPhat's capabilities, as they previously just did repaints. Very exciting to see! No idea when the DC-9 will take to the virtual skies, as we have yet to see any previews. Could be later this year, or sometime next year. You may recall that Sky Simulations/Aerosoft did a decent DC-9 for FSX a while back.
Captain Sim 737 Captain - Captain Sim has announced they are taking on the Baby Boeing - the 737-100 and -200 series! They have some early previews of the external model up recently, and they are looking great. Maybe we will see this one toward the end of 2011.
Airsimmer Airbus Advanced Edition for FSX - I would like to take these guys seriously, but I have heard too many negative things. I sincerely hope they will pull it out, and prove all the naysayers wrong.
Level-D Simulations 757 - I know this one has been something of a running joke in the flight sim community; akin to the flight sim equivalent of the Duke Nukem Forever game, or Guns 'N Roses' Chinese Democracy album. Could this be the year that Level-D finally delivers the 757? Who knows?
feelThere! - We know they are hard at work on the ATC 2011 suite, and a scenery project. Wonder if they have any plans to do any more aircraft? We shall see...

Let me know if I've missed anything else exciting in the world of aircraft add-ons for FSX. Enjoy!

McPhat Slips CoolSky's Next Project

2011-02-28T16:52:00.002-06:00

Ha! I totally called this one last year, in my entry to guess McPhat's next project on their message boards.

According to a tweet posted earlier this month, McPhat Studios is helping CoolSky do a Virtual Cockpit for a DC-9. Sweet!

Microsoft Gives Some More Flight Teasers

2011-02-21T10:45:00.002-06:00

Microsoft has posted some more screenshots and videos of their upcoming Flight product to their website. Check it out here.

The graphics definitely look to be something of an improvement over FSX, particularly noticeable in the terrain.

There is one interesting comment in the latest (February) video: "Birds fly for free. So can you." This makes me think that Microsoft may be exploring a new revenue model with Flight. I wonder if it will be in the vein of the classic Facebook game FarmVille, where you play for free, but pay small fees for all sorts of "upgrades" to the game? Perhaps this will be more in the vein of a MMOG, like World of Warcraft, where you can join the "cloud" and fly around with other virtual pilots in realtime?

It will be interesting to watch what Microsoft is cooking up for the successor to FSX.

Wilco Updates Airbus Series to Airbus Evolution

2011-02-21T10:00:00.002-06:00

In other Wilco Publishing news, they have recently revamped their website and announced a major update to their Airbus products:

Airbus Series Evolution Vol. 1 (A318/A319/ACJ/A320/A321)
Airbus Series Evolution Vol. 2 (A330-200/A330-300/A340-300/A340-600/A330-300 MRTT)

Both upgrades add tons of new features to the Wilco Airbus products. Too many to list here, but some highlights:

Weather Radar
Heads-Up Display (HUD)
Navigation improvements
Systems improvements
Others

Pop on over to the Wilco site for full details.

Upgrade pricing for owners of the previous Wilco Airbus products is €16.49 for each product, or €19.95 for Europeans who have to pay VAT. This works out to about $22 for people in the U.S.

If you are purchasing the Wilco Airbus series for the first time, the price is €49.55 for Vol. 1, or €59.95 for Europeans paying VAT. This work out to about $68 for people in the U.S. Vol. 2 is priced at €41.28, or €49.95 for Europeans paying VAT. This works out to about $56 for people in the U.S.

I've had fun with the Wilco Airbus planes in the past, although I know they aren't terribly realistic. It will be interesting to see how this update improves on the realism of the Wilco Airbus. More importantly, it will be interesting to see how some of the other developers working on an Airbus (Airsimmer, FlightSimLabs) respond to this new product.

The Wilco Airbus Evolution series is out today, so go get 'em!

Guess & Win Wilco's Next Product!

2011-02-21T09:40:00.000-06:00

Wilco Publishing has put up another Guess & Win contest over at their website. It originally popped up late last week, but due to heavy traffic, the site was inaccessible for a while. Everything seems to be kosher now, so pop on over there and take a look. All correct entries will be entered into a drawing for one of five free copies of the product. Good luck!

feelThere! Releases Tower! 2011

2011-02-12T13:17:00.000-06:00

feelThere! have been busy lately as well, working on some non-aircraft add-ons for Flight Simulator. In particular, they announced their ATC Suite a few months back. Just this week, they released the first component of the ATC Suite: a revamped Tower! 2011 edition.

Tower! 2011 allows you to simulate working in a real ATC tower at an airport, controlling the movements of airplanes taking off, landing, and taxiing around the airport. It can be played in single- or multi-player mode, and there will be other modules that will be included as well: TRACON and ATCC, for the different phases of flight control. It looks like a very interesting product series.

Check it out here.

QualityWings Announces BAe 146/Avro RJ Series

2011-02-12T13:11:00.000-06:00

Well this one was a pleasant surprise!

Hot on the heels of their recent announcement of the Boeing 787, QualityWings has made another stunning announcement as to what they have been up to: the Ultimate BAe 146/Avro RJ series! I am really excited about this one. System complexity is supposed to be higher than their Ultimate 757 last year. Check out the announcement (including a list of features) and screenshots here. There are also some great preview animations of the BAe 146 here.

I liked the QualityWings Ultimate 757, apart from some customer support difficulties that I had real problems with last time around. Hopefully they have managed to iron some of those issues out.

Wow, between the Captain Sim 737 Captain, the PMDG 737 NGX and 777, the Aerosoft/Digital Aviation CRJ-700/900 series, and now the QualityWings BAe 146/Avro RJ series, 2011 is shaping up to be another fine year in flight simulation!

Captain Sim Gives Early Preview of Their 737 Captain

2011-02-12T13:04:00.001-06:00

Wow, looks like I picked the wrong week to go out of town on business! Some interesting new Flight Sim developments this week.

First, Captain Sim has released a couple of previews of their 3D external models of the 737-100 from their 737 Captain series. Recall that this is their "Baby Boeing" series - the 737-100 and 737-200 series, with the classic cockpit. Anyway, the models look very impressive for the relatively short amount of time that they have been at work on the project. I wouldn't be surprised to be flying around in their 737 Captain sometime before Christmas, but we shall see.

Check it out here.

Captain Sim Releases Weapon for FSX

2011-02-06T00:38:00.000-06:00

Captain Sim has released Weapon for FSX. This adds air combat capability to FSX, by adding several weapons systems to the built-in F/A-18 or LX-45 aircraft. Looks like fun, and is relatively inexpensive at € 14.99, or around US $20.

PMDG Shows Off Their 737 NGX

2011-01-28T09:25:00.002-06:00

PMDG has just posted a major update on the 737 NGX, complete with tons of eye candy. Captain Randazzo goes into great detail on all the small details that are very realistically modeled on the plane. My description here wouldn't do it justice - just pop on over to AVSIM and read it for yourself. Suffice it to say that this is probably the most detailed plane ever modeled in Flight Simulator.

PMDG has promised to post more pictures this weekend. Could the 737 NGX really be on final at long last, ready to land in our virtual hangars very soon?

Get ready, this is going to be a fun ride!

Too Cool!

2011-01-27T12:04:00.002-06:00

I recently upgraded the hard drive in my main FS rig to 1 TB from 250 GB, as my many planes and liveries were stretching my available space to the limit. I used Acronis True Image Home Edition to move my Windows installation over to the new disk, without having to reinstall everything. (Great product, by the way - did exactly what I needed to do, with a minimum of fuss. Two thumbs up!)

Unfortunately, in the process, I discovered that running everything from the new drive invalidated many of my license files for my aircraft add-ons. The major problem children have been the planes from PMDG, Flight1, and Captain Sim. So, for the last several days, I have been going through the painstaking process of backing up my Aircraft.cfg files containing all my repaints, uninstalling planes, reinstalling planes with new license files that take into account the new drive, and then restoring my Aircraft.cfg files. Ugh. Surely there HAS to be a better way of upgrading your hard drive. This is nearly as bad as just reinstalling FSX and all my airplanes and repaints from scratch. :-(

Anyway, I took this as an opportunity to double-check all my favorite sites for any updates to add-ons that I may have missed, by redownloading the latest versions. While perusing the Flight1 site for the CoolSky Super 80 Professional, a familiar line appeared in the "Product Reviews" section:

"If you can only buy one add-on for FSX this year, get this one. You won't be sorry. It is really a shame that the MD-80 is a dying breed these days, in the era of high fuel prices. This one is definitely a fun plane to fly, and the Super 80 Pro add-on captures that essence very nicely." - The Pretend Flyer

Very cool, guys! Thanks so much! It's really neat to see this site get mentioned elsewhere in the flight sim community. I do this blog mainly as a little hobby whenever time permits, and I find interesting things to talk about. Lately, most of the developers must be really hard at work, because there has not been a whole lot of new news since the holidays. Still hoping to see the PMDG 737 NGX and the Aerosoft/Digital Aviation CRJ real soonish.

I have been very pleased with nearly every Flight1 product I own, and they are great guys who are very easy to do business with. Go give 'em some love if you see something there you like.

QualityWings Announces Boeing 787

2011-01-20T21:42:00.001-06:00

QualityWings is showing off some initial screenshots of their Boeing 787.

This one should prove to be interesting...

Mini-Review: feelThere! E-Jets v.2

2011-01-18T16:35:00.005-06:00

I've been thinking about this review off and on for a few weeks now, and admittedly, I have struggled with it a bit. This review will be much shorter than a typical review, as the feelThere! E-Jets v.2 is primarily a derivative product of the original feelThere! E-Jets released in 2008. If you have seen that product, this product does not add a whole lot new to it.

I refer you to the original mini-review of the feelThere! E-Jets here, in case you missed it. The E-Jets v.2 VC and 2D panels are largely unchanged over the original E-Jets version.

In this review, I will focus on the new features that the v.2 product adds to the original version.

The main things that the E-Jets v.2 adds include:

Two new E-Jets models: the Embraer 175 and 195
feelThere's Call! for the E-Jets
feelThere's Map! integrated into the 175 and 195 models
A simulated HUD used in the 175 and 195 models for landing
Many new liveries for the 175 and 195 from McPhat Studios, at extra cost.

Here is the 195 model, in the Embraer house livery:

Here is a shot of the Call! panel for the E-Jets:

I actually like Call! a lot. It does add a degree of realism, in the sense that it acts as a virtual copilot that helps you run through the checklists at each stage of the flight. You can even have a virtual flight attendant provide a safety briefing to the passengers before takeoff.

Here is the HUD, which I think is actually rather neat:

Bottom line: I can't really say anything bad about the E-Jets v.2. It works well, behaves as expected, and is actually fun to fly. A few of the textures look a little subpar in the 2D panels when flying at night. It's not terrible, but not very realistic looking, either.

My main concern with the E-Jets v.2 is one of value. If you have never bought the E-Jets package before, then the v.2 product will definitely be worth your while. Otherwise, if you previously bought the first E-Jets package, you probably can't escape the feeling that you are paying twice for something you already bought previously. Sure, Call, Map, the HUD, and the 175/195 models are extra bonuses, but are they really worth around US $45 for all that? I would have liked to have seen a lower, upgrade price for previous owners of the E-Jets package. Unfortunately, no such option exists.

Rating: ****

Mini-Review: FlightSimLabs Concorde-X

2011-01-18T14:12:00.021-06:00

This review has been a long time coming. I let my wife borrow my main computer for FSX after her laptop needed some repairs. I sometimes use my laptop for decent, lower-detail flight simming, so it was not that big of a deal. Most of my add-ons run fine on my laptop...with one major exception: the FlightSimLabs Concorde-X. Finally, after several months, we got my wife's computer repaired, and my main FSX rig is back. I had hoped to do this review months ago, but finally, here we are. Guess this is a pretty decent way to start off 2011, eh?

Here is an action shot of our specimen for this review:

As I started looking at the Concorde-X, a few potential product slogans came to mind:

"Captain Sim says it's only 7 magic hours from New York to London in their 707. Now try our Concorde - we get you there in less than half the time! How's THAT for magic?"

Yeah, probably too long.

"This product is what a PMDG Concorde would look like, if PMDG ever did a Concorde."

True statement, although probably not the most flashy slogan.

Oh well, I guess this is why I work in engineering and not marketing.

For anyone older than 30 or so, the Concorde needs no introduction. It dutifully served a niche role providing supersonic transatlantic transport for the well-to-do who needed to get from New York to London or Paris (or vice versa) in a big hurry for almost 30 years. Its futuristic-looking design resembled something more akin to a rocket than an airplane. Though the age of faster-than-sound transport has passed, at least for now, the development of the Concorde brought about many innovations in aerospace technology that we take for granted today.

The Concorde was jointly developed as a result of a cooperation treaty signed by the governments of Britain and France. The two major companies involved were the British Aerospace Corporation (or BAC, now known as BAE Systems) on the British side, and Aérospatiale on the French side. The name "Concorde" reflects the cooperation involved in designing and producing these aircraft. Only 20 frames were ever produced, and of those, only 14 saw service with British Airways and Air France. The Concorde began service in 1976, and had an impeccable safety record for nearly 25 years. Tragically, one French Concorde was lost in 2000 in a crash upon takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The Concordes were grounded for a time after the accident, but they resumed service again in 2001. Finally, due to rising fuel costs and poor economics, the Concordes were retired for good by both British Airways and Air France in 2003. The now antiquated flight deck of the Concorde (requiring a flight engineer) was also a significant contributor to this decision.

The features that made the Concorde unique are too numerous to list here. Most people are already very familiar with its iconic delta wing shape and droop nose. The powerplant consists of four Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus Mk. 650 turbojet engines, mounted underneath the delta wings. Much less obvious to the casual observer is the complex system of 11 interconnected fuel tanks, positioned all throughout the plane. These tanks are designed so that the fuel itself provides ballast for the plane, and fuel can be shifted around in flight to alter the CG of the plane (and thus, its flight characteristics) in flight, as fuel is burned off. Cruise speed is typically Mach 2.0-2.02, which reflects a ground speed of over 1300 MPH.

When flying in excess of Mach 1.0 (supersonic), the Concorde was required to be a minimum of 35 nm away from land, due to the sonic boom produced by its pressure wave. The Concorde typically cruised anywhere between FL500-FL600 over the Atlantic, and had special dedicated tracks (designated as Sierra Mike for westbound, Sierra November for eastbound, and Sierra Oscar for overflow) that it always followed on its journey across the Atlantic. Typically, the BA Concorde would depart Heathrow on a southwesterly track, and skirt the southern coast of Ireland as it reached its supersonic acceleration point. On the other side of the Atlantic, it would skirt the coasts of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England before decelerating off Long Island and circling to land at JFK Airport. This made for a seemingly convoluted track until you keep in mind the 35 nm requirement for supersonic flight.

So here is our specimen on the ground at London Heathrow, preparing for our transatlantic hop to New York-JFK:

Here are a couple of shots of the 3D VC inside:

And here is a collection of the various 2D panels you well see. Many of them are self-explanatory, but I won't take the time to detail them all here, due to the sheer number. Suffice it to say that the overhead controls, center pedestal, and flight engineer's panel are fully represented with all of these. Note our cruising speed in some of the panels below: at 1040 knots ground speed, we are well on our way to Mach 2.0:

As you can see, the Concorde uses triple Delco INS units for transatlantic navigation. They were quite state-of-the-art for 1976; although quite dated now in the era of FMS systems. Still, they're better than nothing. They work essentially the same as the INS units you have seen in the Captain Sim Boeing 707, the Simcheck A300, and others. Basically, you program up to nine coordinates in at a time, then point the plane in that direction and tell it to fly. Add nine more coordinates each time you run through the previous set of nine.

The good news is that the Concorde does come with autothrottles, and essentially automatically handles step climbs above FL500 for you in its "Climb-Cruise" mode.

The tutorial that comes with the Concorde-X is excellent, and is an absolute must read. It simulates an entire flight from Heathrow to JFK, going through the checklists in minute detail. The tutorial is very nice in that it actually correlates the checklist items with pictures of the panels, showing you exactly which switch to flip on which panel in the right order. This eases the rather steep learning curve of the new Concorde pilot a bit, with so many panels to keep up with. I would recommend running through the tutorial even two or three times at minimum, just to really get the hang of it. Using the tutorial, I successfully completed a flight from Heathrow to JFK in 3 1/2 hours. Not bad for a rookie!

Here are some more action shots from the flight below. First of all, the reheaters (afterburners) are active when the plane accelerates from supersonic (Mach 1.0) up to about Mach 1.7. Here you can see them in action:

Nearing our destination, we cruise past Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. We are cruising at around FL560 here:

As we slow down to subsonic, don't you love the exhaust coming out of those Olympus engines?

We capture the localizer and glideslope, and come in for a smooth landing on Runway 31R at JFK:

Welcome to New York. According to local time, we actually landed before we took off!

Are there any drawbacks to the Concorde-X? Well, let me put it this way:

This is NOT an airplane for beginners. If you are new to FSX, I would recommend cutting your teeth on some easier planes before attempting this one. The real Concorde required years of dedicated training and flight experience; and the Concorde-X faithfully reproduces many of those considerations in the simulation. Even for experienced pilots, getting airborne in the Concorde-X will take considerable time and patience, due to the unique nature of the aircraft.
The 2D panels are not terribly photorealistic, but acceptable. Quality reminds me a bit of the Simcheck Airbus A300. Decent enough, but not totally convincing. The 3D VC is very nice, though, and may even be the preferred way to operate this aircraft.
However, this may be due to the fact that there are a LOT of 2D panels - just like in the real Concorde, with its myriad of panels. In fact, the sheer number of panels will tax many computers with subpar graphics cards, including most mobile chipsets. You have been warned - I could not play Concorde-X on my laptop, due to frequently running out of graphics memory just from loading the sheer number of 2D panels. Be sure you have a decent graphics card with sufficient dedicated graphics memory (say, an nVidia 8000-series or better) before you try the Concorde-X.

I don't consider these "cons" terribly negative, per se - really just cautionary advisories for potential customers.

FlightSimLabs is a relatively new player on the flight sim scene, although their founder is an ex-employee of PMDG. The PMDG influence shows - FSL does a terrific job of simulating the Concorde in all of its gory details in such a way that even PMDG themselves would be proud. Complexity of operating the Concorde is managed through various shortcuts, including the Virtual Flight Engineer, and keyboard commands for automated startup of the engines, and automatically aligning and programming the INS units. These shortcuts simplify things for the pilot who just wants to get to Mach 2.0 in a hurry, without worrying about all the little details. This is actually not a terrible compromise - in the real Concorde, there are no fewer than three crew members (including the Flight Engineer) working through their preflight checklists simultaneously, while in the Concorde-X, the burden falls squarely you, on the pilot. So having the Virtual Flight Engineer automate some of the flight engineering tasks is not necessarily an unrealistic compromise. All that said, cruising at Mach 2.0 and watching Greenland zoom by on the overhead map is a rather exhilarating experience.

FlightSimLabs is reportedly working on an Airbus A320 next. If their upcoming A320 simulates a real Airbus as well as the Concorde-X simulates the real Concorde, then it will be another surefire winner.

Bottom line - the Concorde-X is a must-have for the pilot who absolutely, positively had to get there yesterday. The overall quality is very high, and the plane behaves largely as described, without any major bugs or CTDs. Detail is exquisite. Difficulty is challenging, but don't be daunted. Just be prepared.

Rating: *****

Merry Christmas (belated) and Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T01:17:00.003-06:00

Seasons Greetings to all! What did you enjoy flying or seeing in FSX in 2010? And what are you looking forward to most in 2011?

I am definitely awaiting the PMDG 737 NGX and 777, and maybe we'll inch closer to a fantastic Airbus for FSX from Airsimmer or FlightSimLabs, too!

feelThere Announces ATC Suite

2010-12-26T12:34:00.003-06:00

feelThere! is branching out further from add-on aircraft to other aspects of the flight simulator experience. They recently announced Tower 2011, the latest update to their air traffic control tower simulation. But it doesn't stop there - Tower 2011 is the first component of an entirely new ATC Suite that feelThere is developing. Future updates include Tracon and ARTCC modules.

They have set up a new web site devoted to their new ATC Suite. Looks like they are posting some interesting previews there. Check it out!

Captain Sim Feeling the Christmas Love After All

2010-12-20T15:18:00.003-06:00

Captain Sim just announced in a Facebook post that they will continue the annual holiday tradition of the €9.99 one day only sale again this year, after all. They say all but two titles will be offered for €9.99 between 15:00 UTC on December 23 and 14:59 UTC on December 24. (Compute the appropriate range for your timezone accordingly, e.g. CST in the U.S. is UTC-6.)

No word yet on which two titles are exempt, but I have to guess their two newest titles: the 707 Captain and B-52 Driver. They haven't announced this on their website yet, so we will have to wait and see if my hunch is correct.

Still, a good deal if you haven't picked up one of their older titles, such as the 727 or 767.

Enjoy!

Captain Sim B-52 Driver Released

2010-12-09T17:18:00.002-06:00

Captain Sim has released their B-52 Driver, complete with a 3D VC interior!

Price is €24.99, which is about US $33. Seems very reasonable.

Time to get your Big Ugly Fat F***er on, if you've been waiting for this one! Enjoy.

PMDG 737 NGX Manuals Coming Soon

2010-11-30T17:26:00.002-06:00

Robert Randazzo of PMDG recently made an announcement regarding the availability of flight manuals for the 737 NGX in the very near future. Apparently, these are based on the real manuals for the 737 NG, available from Boeing! They will be a whopping 3,300 pages, and I'm sure it will probably cost a pretty penny to order them all. I'm thinking if I bought the paper and toner to print them out on my laser printer at home, I would probably be looking at close to US $100.

Still, the very fact that they are announcing the manuals is a very good sign that we are on the homestretch. Not clear that we will see the NGX before Christmas, but I think we have a good shot at flying her early in the new year.

PMDG Gives Another Preview of the NGX

2010-11-22T14:38:00.001-06:00

Robert Randazzo at PMDG has given the world another glimpse of the upcoming 737 NGX. This one focuses on the Heads-Up Guidance System, or HUGS. Looks very impressive. You can really see this plane beginning to come together.

Can't wait...

Mini-Review: SimCheck/Aerosoft Airbus A300

2010-11-20T00:50:00.011-06:00

How about a little surprise? After tooling around in a Boeing 707 last month, we are going to continue the classic jetliner theme again with a look at SimCheck Software's Airbus A300.

Now before we begin, how about some background knowledge about Airbus and the A300?

In the 1960s, both the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 ushered in jet travel to the masses in the U.S. However, they represented a one-size-fits-all solution to air travel: they were too large to serve some markets, and too small to serve others. Aircraft manufacturers initially responded by developing somewhat smaller, more efficient aircraft for smaller markets: namely, the Boeing 727 and 737, and Douglas DC-9. At the other extreme, aircraft manufacturers designed wide-body jets to carry more passengers on high-demand routes: the Boeing 747, the Douglas DC-10, and even the Lockheed L-1011.

In Europe, a lot of similar designs for narrow-body aircraft emerged in the late 1950s and 1960s as well: the Hawker-Siddeley HS-121 Trident had some similarities with the Boeing 727, and both the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle (French) and BAC 1-11 (British) had some similarities with the Douglas DC-9. Europe had narrow-body aircraft designs down pat, but lacked anything to compete with the wide-body aircraft the Americans were producing.

Several European governments recognized this deficiency, and decided that it would be beneficial to work together and pool their resources to more effectively compete in global aviation. Thus, the Airbus consortium was born in 1967 as the Groupement d'Interet Economique, or Economic Interest Group through a government initiative between the governments of France, (then) West Germany, and the U.K. Over time, the Airbus consortium would grow to include Aerospatiale, Deutsche Airbus, CASA, and British Aerospace.

With the framework of cooperation established, the Airbus companies set about producing their first aircraft, a twin-engine wide-body model. The use of only two engines was among the first of many groundbreaking decisions made with the design of what was to become the Airbus A300 series. ETOPS regulations had yet to be developed by the FAA, and twin-jets were banned from many routes in the U.S. at the time.

The A300 took its maiden flight in 1972, and entered routine service in 1974. Sales languished through the mid-1970s until Frank Borman, then-CEO of Eastern Airlines, became impressed with the A300 in 1977, due to being 30% more fuel-efficient than the Lockheed L-1011. Eastern went on to order 23 of the type, and it began to take off. Pan Am ordered some more, and Airbus went on to sell nearly 900 A300's during its entire production run, which ultimately ended in 2007.

In the U.S., the A300 continued to see regular service in the passenger fleet until 2009 with American Airlines, primarily on routes to the Caribbean out of Miami and New York's JFK Airport. Sadly, one of these planes was lost in the infamous American Airlines Flight 587 crash in New York in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 disaster. Even to this day, the A300 continues to see regular use primarily as a domestic freighter with both FedEx and UPS. Elsewhere, the A300 still features prominently in a number of foreign airlines' passenger fleets.

The initial variant of the A300 was A300B1, featuring GE CF6 engines. This was soon followed by the A300B2, which used either GE CF6 or Pratt & Whitnet JT9D engines, which were also used on the Boeing 747-100. Soon, more design improvements and a center fuel tank for increased capacity yielded the A300B4 series, with the A300B4-100 and A300B4-200. Further refinements and a glass cockpit (which eliminated the need for a flight engineer) were realized in the A300B4-600, or A300-600 for short. This was the penultimate version of the A300. A shrink of the airframe also resulted in the A310, which also utilized the glass cockpit.

The A300 pioneered several features that are now essentially standard on many aircraft, including:

Wind shear protection
First ETOPS certification in 1977
Autoland
Electrically-controlled braking
Automating the flight engineer's functions in later versions; thereby eliminating the flight engineer

The SimCheck A300 represents the A300B4-200 variant, dating to about 1980. It does include some niceties such as an INS and an autothrottle, but no glass cockpit or FMS. It represents one of the last of the great analog cockpits utilizing steam-powered gauges, before the 1980s ushered in the era of glass displays. Here is the SimCheck A300 in DHL Cargo freighter livery at LA/Ontario International Airport (KONT) in Ontario, CA:

The SimCheck A300 consists of a sizable number of 2D panels to represent the functions involving the pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer.

Here is the pilot's panel:

And the co-pilot's panel:

Here is the electrics panel:

Here is the panel governing the hydraulics:

And the fuel panel:

And the pneumatics panel:

If you are intimidated by all these panels, don't worry. Fortunately, you don't need to mess with these panels much unless you want to simulate a full startup of the airplane. Otherwise, when the airplane loads, these panels will be configured in an appropriate configuration for engines already running.

Here is the overhead panel; pretty standard, by and large:

Here are the throttles, flaps, and other controls at the center pedestal:

And here is the radio stack:

Here are the Carousel INS navigational units, in lieu of a FMS:

Interestingly, unlike some of the CIVA INS implementations I've seen elsewhere, these do not require you to align the units in advance. I'm not sure if this is a feature of the A300 (doubtful), or if SimCheck simply chose not to implement this action as a simplification of the aircraft. I'm guessing the latter is more likely.

Last, but not least, here are a couple of views of the 3D virtual cockpit:

For good measure, here is a view of the configuration utility. This does not actually directly connect to the sim and configure the plane for you; it is merely a tool that you can use to do load and fuel planning in the aircraft using the standard FSX mechanisms:

So what do I think of the SimCheck A300? Overall, I really like it. It is fairly easy to learn, and fun to fly. You don't have to understand the ins and outs of the entire flight engineer's panel to get up and running, but it's there when you want to play around with it. The software itself is fairly solid - I did not have any noticeable problems with program crashes or the like.

Complexity is somewhat similar to a Wilco/feelThere product: there is enough there to feel like you are in the real thing, although some of the finer details (such as INS alignment) are omitted. Purists who like detailed, PMDG-style simulations may not like this as much.

I do hope SimCheck (or someone) will implement the A300-600/A310 glass cockpit as an option, along with possibly a FMS, in a future update to the A300. An A310 shrunk model would be cool, too.

Perhaps my biggest gripe about the A300 is that the panels do not look terribly realistic. Maybe I'm spoiled by too much time in Captain Sim's products lately - I will readily own up to that! Nonetheless, the rendering of the cockpit in the SimCheck A300 appears less than state-of-the-art. Perhaps this is not necessarily a bad thing; it may be somewhat more framerate-friendly this way. It's certainly not any worse than the Level-D 767, which continually gets high praise from the simmer community.

Bottom line: a solid product that is fun to fly. Definitely a worthwhile choice, particularly for simulating cargo flights. At around US $45, the price is right, too!

Rating: ****

Captain Sim 707 on Sale

2010-11-12T09:39:00.002-06:00

Captain Sim has slashed the price on the 707 Captain, to only €39.99, or about US $55. I think this is a terrific deal for such a high-quality plane. Since Captain Sim is not planning on running their annual 1-day only €9.99 sale this year, this might be as good a time as any to jump on it if you are considering it.

If you are still on the fence, Captain Sim has released a free demo of the 707 Captain for trial purposes.

Captain Sim Announces Their Next Project

2010-11-11T09:33:00.003-06:00

Captain Sim recently gave their customers a chance to have a say in their next project.

Well, the people have spoken, and Captain Sim has listened: the next project will be the 737 Captain series. They are going to take on the Baby Boeing initially: the base model will be the 737-100, and the expansion model will be the 737-200.

No word yet on how far they are planning to run with the 737, but the "737 Classic" series (-300/-400/-500) from Wilco is getting a little long in the tooth, and might benefit from the Captain Sim treatment as well. However, I just can't see them taking on the 737 NG, with PMDG moving full steam ahead on theirs.

Nonetheless, the Baby Boeing is a very solid choice for Captain Sim, as it will fit right in with their Boeing 707 and 727 models. I voted in favor of it myself, along with a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and Douglas DC-8. I really do wish someone would take on the TriStar for FSX - there are some very interesting features about that plane, such as the Direct Lift Control system. But that's a discussion for another day. :-)

Enjoy!

More Goodies Coming from Captain Sim, No Holiday Sale This Year

2010-10-26T14:54:00.002-05:00

Hot on the heels of the 707, Captain Sim appears to be readying two more "major" releases for before the end of this year, according to this post from Tanya (Captain Sim moderator) in their forums.

One product is known to be the full version of B-52 BUFF. The other? A surprise...

Unfortunately, because of the timing on all this, Tanya has confirmed that the really awesome annual holiday blowout sale (where all products sell for €9.99 for one day only) will not take place this year. So, start saving your pennies...

I'm very curious to see what the new mystery product from Captain Sim will be.

Mini-Review: Captain Sim's 707 Captain

2010-10-24T14:41:00.036-05:00

First, a little history:

Most aviation enthusiasts are well-aware that the Boeing 707 was not the first passenger jetliner to enter service. This distinction belongs to the de Havilland Comet, which first flew in 1949 - just a few years after the end of WWII. Unfortunately, the Comet suffered from several initial design flaws involving metal fatigue. These flaws led to numerous accidents, including a pair of spectacular plane crashes in 1954 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. As a result of these incidents, all Comets were withdrawn from service by the mid-1950s, so that they could be redesigned.

de Havilland's misfortunes during this time created a huge opportunity for its compeitors, including U.S.-based Boeing. In spite of the flaws, people were still clamoring for fast air travel that only jet engines could provide. Thus, during the early-to-mid 1950s, Boeing was busy cooking up the world's first widely-successful jetliner. This project began with a prototype known as the Boeing 367-80. Ultimately, from the 367-80 prototype, Boeing developed both the KC-135 Stratotanker for the military, and the 707 for the general public. The 707, in turn, was the basis for a few other interesting military projects, including the E-3 Sentry AWACS, and the first Air Force One jet, used as VIP transportation for the President of the United States to anywhere in the world.

The Boeing 707 took its first test flight in 1957, and entered service a year later. Boeing continued to produce the 707 until 1978, even as it developed the newer and more advanced 727, 737, and 747 models. In fact, the 707 heavily influenced later Boeing narrow-body aircraft; particularly the 727 and 737. There are still parts of the newest 737 NGs that are unchanged from the original 707!

The 707 went on to become a smash hit globally with the leading airlines of the day, including American, Pan Am, Braniff, TWA, BOAC, Qantas, andmany others. The Boeing 707 was perceived by the public as a safe, modern, and efficient way of traveling - particularly overseas - and passengers embraced flying in 707s like never before. With a range of over 5,000 nm on the 707-320B, the age of intercontinental jet service had arrived. As Captain Sim touts on the ad banner for the 707 Captain: "Europe is only 7 magic hours from New York!" The 707 ushered in the jet age for the masses; while the de Havilland Comet was relegated to becoming a mere historical footnote.

To this day, very few airworthy examples of the 707 remain; almost no airline uses them for scheduled passenger service anymore, except possibly Saha Air Lines in Iran. In its day, the 707 endured as a serviceable passenger aircraft with many airlines well into the 1980s and beyond. TWA was the last U.S. air carrier that flew 707s on domestic routes; these aircraft were withdrawn from service in 1983.

This fascinating blog post from Southwest Airlines features several pictures of Dallas Love Field about a month before Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1973. The Boeing 707 was still a popular airliner for American Airlines at the time, with no fewer than four examples featured in the first photo.

While the 707 may no longer grace the real skies above us on a routine basis, the good news is that she will live on in the virtual skies on our computers. Captain Sim recently released their version of the 707 for FSX, known as the 707 Captain. This is their latest release in their "retro jets" line of classic Boeing airliners, following the excellent 727 Captain released last year. So how does the 707 Captain stack up? We'll dive into details momentarily, but suffice it to say, I think diehard fans of the 707 will be very pleased. The 707 Captain appears to be a very faithful rendition of the 707 for FSX, with many important details being modeled. For younger pilots, this will serve as another great introduction to flying first-generation jetliners using steam gauges, without the help of autothrottles or FMS computers. More expansion models are on the way from Captain Sim, including the 300C (convertible cargo variant), VC-137 (Air Force One), and E-3 Sentry AWACS variant. There may yet be other models, such as the 707-220, 707-120, and 707-020 (known as the Boeing 720 for short).

The 707 Captain comes with various liveries in two main configurations of the 707-300 series: the 707-320B, and the 707-320B Advanced. The Advanced variant mainly differs by introducing three-section leading-edge flaps on each wing, allowing for lower takeoff and landing speeds. There are also two examples of the 707-338C included, but it is unclear how these will differ from the planned -300C expansion model.

Enough talk - let's get down to business, shall we? Here is sight we will probably never see in real life: a view of the 707 on the runway at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (KAUS):

Here we are at Runway 17R, about to launch our takeoff roll for a short flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW). This is a 707-320B Adv, painted in a 1970s era Continental Airlines livery. The 707 originally featured four Pratt & Whitney JT3C engines, which are forerunners of the JT3D's subsequently used on many popular aircraft: the Boeing 727, Boeing 737-100 and -200 series, the Douglas DC-8 series, and the McDonnell-Douglas DC-9 and MD-80 series. Later versions of the 707 also used JT3D engines, identified by the "B" suffix in their model numbers (e.g. -320B). These engines are well-known for being loud, and the 707 Captain does not disappoint in this regard! These engines are also well-known for being very smoky, and the 707 Captain faithfully reproduces this effect as well:

Just like Captain Sim's previous product in this series, the 727 Captain, the 707 Captain only features a 3D virtual cockpit for flying. There is no 2D panel view of the entire flight deck. Captain Sim regards this as outmoded technology, and believes only having the 3D VC makes for a more immersive experience. As with the 727, there are a number of preprogrammed views in the VC that one can cycle through by pressing the A or Shift-A keys on the keyboard. This makes it easier to quickly find things like the overhead switches, which mitigates the need for having a separate 2D panel for this.

Here is a view of the front office looking straight ahead:

And another one looking at the center console. Notice the four engine throttles:

There are some very cool aspects about the 707 modeled in this center console here, as well. Notice the round amber screen in the middle? This is a fully-functional vintage, 1950s era weather radar! To the left of this is the original doppler navigation system used by the 707; to the right, a CIVA INS unit. More on these later.

There are a set of 2D panels for some of the more commonly accessed functions, such as the autopilot. These panels are designed to reduce the pilot's workload during flight by making these functions quickly available; as normally, the 707 is piloted by a 3-man crew. Captain Sim used a very similar design with the 727 as well.

As is typical with Captain Sim products, there exists a panel governing all the animations used on the aircraft:

This panel can also connect ground air and power for starting up the engines of the aircraft.

Next, here is a 2D panel version of the weather radar:

And here is a 2D panel displaying a moving map of the plane's current position. This is actually tied into the doppler navigation system; though in reality, it is a stripped down version of the GPS map:

Here is the 2D autopilot panel - very handy to have when you are controlling ascents or descents and need to keep an eye on the horizon. I'm not sure which model this is, but it functions very similarly to the 727's Sperry autopilot. This may be a Bendix PB20, but don't quote me on that:

Seasoned old-school pilots will have no trouble at all picking this one up and setting a course along a VOR/DME radial. One happy note: the autopilot in the Captain Sim 707 appears to be much better behaved than the Captain Sim 727, which was prone to nasty oscillations back and forth before finally settling in on the radial. (Some subsequent modifications to certain parameters in the config file for the 727 reportedly fix this, but I haven't looked into it in a while.) Thankfully, the 707 is very stable by comparison, out of the box.

Here is another 2D panel that we also see on the 727:

Now, we get to one of the more interesting 2D panels. Remember the CIVA INS I mentioned earlier? The Captain Sim 707 does not enable this by default, but they do ship an alternate panel.cfg file as of version 1.2 that enables this. I have gone ahead and enabled this configuration, and here are the 2D popups for the CIVA INS:

The CIVA INS is actually a freeware gauge that is available for adding INS navigational capability to a wide variety of aircraft. The Concorde-X from FlightSimLabs also ships with it.

In the era prior to GPS and FMS systems, the INS was a major boon for overwater flight, especially when going over the Atlantic Ocean from New York to London. The old doppler navigation system used on the 707 was only capable of following a track and a distance, before switching to another track and distance. Obviously, this was not very accurate. One old 707 pilot reported that it was common practice to issue separations of 120 nm between aircraft flying overwater, just to allow for navigational errors! Pilots typically looked for contrails from planes ahead of them to determine if they were still on course.

The INS, while still primitive by modern FMS standards, was a major improvement. The INS could keep track of its current position, with periodic recalibration, and automatically track the aircraft to up to nine waypoints ahead on the route. Pilots continually have to add more waypoints to the INS. There is no onboard database to correlate fix JASMO with lat/long coordinates; the pilot must enter these into the INS directly from the flight plan on paper.

The CIVA INS is one feature that Captain Sim added since the 727. It turns out that it is also possible to add the CIVA INS to the 727 as well, and many sim pilots may find this preferable to navigating from VOR to VOR. Practically speaking, there is less need to have an INS on a 727 as compared to a 707, as the 727 had only half the range of the 707, and was very rarely used for overwater flights.

Moving right along, let's cycle through some of the preset views of the 3D VC. Here is the copilot's seat:

Notice the flight yoke here. You can click on the flight yoke to make it disappear, so you can see the instruments behind it. Clicking on the hole in the floor where the flight yoke used to be will make it reappear again.

Here is a better view of the center console:

One other thing about the CIVA INS here: it is not operable from the 3D VC yet. Captain Sim claims that they need some unspecified "technical details" from the CIVA INS developers in order to make this work. For now, the 3D VC version will display the current position of the plane, but the only way to control the CIVA INS is through the 2D popup panels.

Here is the overhead panel:

And here is the flight engineer's panel, directly aft of the copilot:

Here is a passenger lounge area in the cabin. Wouldn't it be nice if planes still had these?

Here is the view from coach. Wonder what the tickets for a ride cost?

Here is the galley. What is today's inflight meal?

One more view from the captain's seat, with the flight yoke unhidden:

Here is the spot view from outside, directly behind the plane. The 707 looks very distorted and unnatural at this angle:

Here we are on final approach to land at KDFW:

I've spent many lines above talking up the pros of the 707 Captain. So how about the negatives? It turns out, there are very few. This is an astonishingly well-done, polished product from Captain Sim. I didn't even encounter a single CTD during all my test flights. However, nobody is perfect; not even PMDG. There are a few minor issues with the 707 Captain:

It is a beast, graphically-speaking. If your graphics card is not up to snuff, you can expect to wait a bit for your GPU to render views inside the 3D VC. Sometimes, even artifacts or other oddities appear. You may want to dial back the graphics a bit on this one, if your GPU is outdated.
There are a few incomplete details, such as the integration of the CIVA INS into the 3D VC. Hopefully they can get this resolved in a future release.
There seems to be a glitch on the 2D autopilot popup where the elevator pitch control wheel just stops rolling after a while. The plane still remains controllable up and down, so it's obviously working, but the graphics are just not working right for some reason.
It's a little spendy: even though Captain Sim recently slashed the price by €10, €49.94 (approx. US $71) is still not cheap. If the price is too high, customers may want to wait until Captain Sim runs their annual holiday sale in December to rack up some big savings on this one.

All in all, you could do far worse than to add the Captain Sim 707 to your virtual hangar this holiday season!

Rating: **** 1/2

PMDG Lifting the Veil on the NGX

2010-10-23T18:32:00.002-05:00

Slowly, but surely, the PMDG gang is giving us tasty morsels of the NGX!

Their latest preview takes a look at the Virtual Cockpit, along with some side-by-side comparisons against their previous 737NG product. You can really see the big leaps forward in the 3D modeling with the new version. Very, very impressive realism.

I want one with a big red bow on it in my virtual hangar for Christmas this year... :-)

I'm Back...

2010-10-23T01:39:00.005-05:00

And look who's got a new toy:

Expect a mini-review soon!

Sorry for the quiet period recently. Been very busy with my day job, and other duties in real life. Haven't had much time to sim lately. Progress on the PMDG 737 NGX and Aerosoft/Digital Aviation CRJ seems to be crawling along; hopefully we'll see both of these great toys by Christmas. However, Captain Sim's new 707 is proving to be a very fun aircraft for simming in the meantime.

Microsoft Unveils Flight!

2010-08-17T17:58:00.001-05:00

Microsoft has unveiled what appears to be the successor to Flight Simulator X, known as Microsoft Flight. Little is known about the product, except that it has been under development since early 2010. Stay tuned...

Captain Sim Releases 707 Captain

2010-08-16T22:29:00.003-05:00

Captain Sim has released the 707 Captain! Enjoy...

(I'm away on vacation this week, but will have more to say about this when I return...)

feelThere Updates Website, Releases E-Jets v2

2010-08-11T09:54:00.002-05:00

feelThere released the E-Jets v2 product today! Pricing is US $39.95 directly from their website. You can also purchase the product from Wilco Publishing, where it is €39.95 for European customers, and €31.82 for non-European customers. Looks like US customers can save a few bucks by ordering directly from Wilco and paying in US currency.

Along with the release of the E-Jets v2, feelThere unveiled a slick new update to their website today. Looks very nice.

Guess I'll be picking up the E-Jets v2 later this week. Still enjoying the first one, and it will be nice to add the remaining two E-Jets models to the fleet.

E-Jets v2 Page at Wilco Goes Live

2010-08-04T02:09:00.002-05:00

In yet another sign of the imminent release of feelThere's E-Jets v2, a new page has recently appeared at Wilco Publishing for the product. The download links are not active yet, but it looks like the release will be happening very, very soon...

feelThere E-Jets v2 Forum Opens with Screenshots

2010-07-28T14:27:00.004-05:00

In yet another sign of the imminent release of feelThere's new E-Jets v2, they have opened up a new forum for the product, and will be posting a new screenshot a day of the plane until the release. Here is the screenshot thread!

They have posted a picture of the VC over at their Facebook page, and it is supposed to be up at their forums, too. Looks nice, albeit not much different from the v1 at first glance.

I think we'll be seeing this one any day now. McPhat supposedly has the World Airliners 1 and 2 livery packs already ready to go for this, as well.

By the way, no mention of this yet over at the Wilco page. Then again, they didn't announce the ERJ v2 (branded as the "Embraer Regional Jets" product) on their page until the very last minute. Presumably Wilco will be helping feelThere with distribution of this, once again...but we'll see.

PMDG 737 NGX Sliver - 26-July-2010

2010-07-28T00:30:00.003-05:00

PMDG gave the fans another little sneak peek at the 737 NGX virtual cockpit on Monday!

I'm anxious to see this thing coming together...

Aerosoft/Digital Aviation CRJ Update: 19-Jul-2010

2010-07-23T00:11:00.002-05:00

Mathijs Kok from Aerosoft also checked in this week with some more preview pics of the CRJ. The virtual cockpit appears to be progressing very nicely!

Mathijs says they are still on track for a late summer release...will be interesting to see if that holds. Nonetheless, it looks like a very exciting product when it finally hits the virtual skies.

feelThere E-Jets v2 Enters Beta Phase, Lots of Previews!

2010-07-23T00:04:00.004-05:00

feelThere and their partners over at McPhat Studios, who have been working on a ton of extra liveries, have been showing off some nice previews of the E-Jets v2! This includes the E-175 and E-195 models, as previously mentioned.

Previews are streaming out of feelThere and McPhat now, here are some links for your viewing pleasure:

Some E-Jets v2 preview pics are over at feelThere's Flickr page.
A really nice screenshot of the new E-Jets HUD is over at the feelThere forums.

McPhat will be doing at least a couple of World Airliners liveries for this one, so stay tuned!

Looks like the E-Jets v2 will be taking the virtual skies before long -- quite possibly any day now.

Captain Sim's 707 Captain in "Beta," Releasing Soon?

2010-07-06T16:12:00.005-05:00

Captain Sim announced in their support forums over the weekend that their forthcoming 707 Captain add-on has reached "beta" status, and if all goes well, it will be released to the world around the end of July!

Great news! I am really looking forward to this one. The 707 is truly a classic, worthy of a quality version in FSX. It will definitely be fun to take this great lady for a ride, especially since she so rarely flies the skies in real life anymore.

Looks to be an exciting few months ahead for Flight Sim fans:

Captain Sim 707 Captain due out late July/August, as mentioned here.
feelThere E-Jets vol. 2 is now in "beta" with lots of repaints being done over at McPhat. I imagine we'll probably see this one drop in August/September, if not sooner.
Aerosoft/Digital Aviation CRJ trucking right along. Aerosoft claims an August release is targeted for this, but that date seems very aggressive to me. (Translation: no offense, but I'll believe it when I see it.) Still, I would be very pleased to see this one drop sometime in the fall.
PMDG 737 NGX is also trucking right along. Previews of the external model are expected very soon. I think we'll see this one in the fall, too. The Dash-8 and 777 won't enter the wild until 2011.
There are lots of other projects in the cooker, too. Who knows? We may get a few surprises along the way. CoolSky is rumored to be working on another project. FlightSimLabs appears to have their roadmap for the next several years set with their new high-fidelity Airbus series. Aerosoft plans to get underway on a BAe 146 sometime this winter. PMDG is working on a Dreamlifter, and who knows what else? Somewhere, Level-D is still toiling away slowly at their 757. feelThere is working on an airport project, and possibly a refresh of their 737 PIC (Classic series). Maybe even AirSimmer will get it together and unveil the advanced version of their Airbus. Captain Sim still has the B-52 Driver, the 767-400, and probably other goodies yet to be announced in the queue.

Interestingly, a few new add-ons for X-Plane have been trickling out fairly recently, too. I've never played X-Plane, but it looks interesting. I'm not sure if this is a trend, or even if X-Plane is gaining any kind of momentum since Microsoft canned the ACES team last year, apparently ending any development of the Flight Simulator franchise.

Digital Aviation CRJ Preview: 02-Jul-2010

2010-07-02T15:52:00.003-05:00

DA/Aerosoft have given the fans another update on progress of the CRJ here.

Looks like they have made a little more progress on the VC and the overhead panel. Very nice! Matthias Kok seems to hint that they were a little distracted with the Andras Field project (a virtual airpark) for a bit, but are now hot on the trail again.

Captain Sim Summer Sale (1 Day Only!)

2010-06-30T16:08:00.002-05:00

Got an email from Captain Sim today. For 24 hours only, they are running a tremendous sale: all of their products are only €9.99! If you have been holding off on checking out their 727, 757, or 767, here is a great way to pick those up without breaking the bank. And if you find them less than satisfactory, then at least you're not out much. I think this is a steal. Check them out!

The sale will run from 15:00 UTC on July 1 (10:00 AM CDT here in the USA) to 14:59 UTC on July 2. If the servers are overloaded, keep trying.

Good luck!

PMDG 737 NGX Preview: 25-Jun-2010

2010-06-26T16:54:00.003-05:00

PMDG gave us a tasty shot of the throttle console of the NGX yesterday!

Wow. Is it real, or is it a computer-generated model?

Can't wait for this one. I think I'm beginning to sound like a broken record with these posts. :-)

feelThere Still Discussing 737 PIC Refresh

2010-06-25T12:16:00.004-05:00

In a separate post in the E175/195 thread, Vic from feelThere! also mentioned that they are discussing the possibility of a refresh of the 737 PIC with Wilco.

Sounds nice -- I would assume this would be an update to the 737 Classic series (-300/-400/-500) as PMDG is already covering the 737 NG (-600/-700/-800/-900) with their upcoming NGX. From what we have seen of the NGX, it looks like it will blow the doors off of all challengers. Still, a full 3D virtual cockpit for the 737 PIC would be a really welcome development.

feelThere/McPhat Working on Update to E-Jets, Now in Beta!

2010-06-25T10:09:00.018-05:00

I had seen some passing hint of this in the past over in the feelThere! forums a while back, but there have been some very interesting Twitter tweets coming out of McPhat Studios recently. It definitely looks like feelThere! is working on some kind of update to the E-Jets add-on, and this time, the 175 and 195 models will be included as well. McPhat appears to be doing some repaints for these new models at the moment. Recall that the original E-Jets release back in 2008 only covered the 170 and 190 models.

It is unclear whether this is an entirely new development, or will these new models will simply be an external expansion on the original E-Jets add-on. I would guess the latter myself -- the original E-Jets release is very high quality, and still probably recent enough that an entire rewrite would not be justified. I actually really like the E-Jets and still fly around in them from time to time.

Stay tuned...

EDIT: (previous incorrect speculation here removed)

This is a joint feelThere/McPhat project. They are referring to it as "EMBv2" and it has officially entered beta phase this week, according to the feelThere Twitter channel. Wow -- wonder what E-Jets v2 adds over the original E-Jets, aside from the new 175/195 models? Will be interesting to see.

In addition to texturing, McPhat now appears to be doing the 3D external modeling for feelThere on this project, which they have referred to as their "first 3D project." Looks like McPhat is expanding their sphere of influence a bit. This is good news, as it may enable companies like feelThere! to leverage McPhat's talents and put out products more quickly.

I have updated the title of the blog post accordingly.

EDIT 2: had I been paying closer attention, there is a whole thread about the new EMBv2 going on over at the feelThere! forums. :-)

Vic mentions that the following new features will be included:

175/195 models
Call! for E-Jets
A HUD based on Embraer's HUD
"Something else" to be named later (oooh, don't you love surprises?)

EDIT: there is some speculation elsewhere that the "surprise" may be Map!, though feelThere! has not confirmed this. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Between feelThere!, PMDG, and Captain Sim, it seems my wallet is guaranteed to stay thin for the next several months. :-)

Further clarification: this is a SEQUEL to the E-Jets, not a replacement! The EMBv2 will ONLY include the 175/195 models. If you want the 170/190, you have to buy the original E-Jets product.

Vic also hints that feelThere! is working on their first airport scenery project.

FlightSimLabs Updates Concorde-X to SP2

2010-06-25T07:41:00.002-05:00

FlightSimLabs has updated their Concorde-X add-on to SP2. Read the announcement here.

This update adds a new Performance Calculator utility, and fixes several bugs and issues discovered after SP1 was released.

Still planning to pick this one up soonish, as I have heard lots of good things about it. Just been very busy this summer...

Captain Sim Updates B-52 Driver Preview

2010-06-23T09:37:00.003-05:00

Captain Sim has been nice enough to give the fans some Aerosoft-style progress reports of their B-52 Driver virtual cockpit under development! They just gave us another update today. Very impressive work over the last month or so.

Looking really sharp. The B-52 is shaping up to be a very nice companion to their C-130.

In other Captain Sim news, wonder when the 707 Captain will drop? They have been kind of quiet on that one lately...

Wilco Releases Piaggo P180 Avanti II

2010-06-19T11:02:00.002-05:00

After being announced on their website several months ago, Wilco has finally released the P180 Avanti II for FSX! Looks like a fun little ride. As a bonus, you get a drivable Ferrari in Flight Sim.

Cost is €27.95 for European customers, or €23 for everybody else. That presently works out to about US $28.50, thanks to the more favorable exchange rates recently. Quite the bargain!

More Previews of Aerosoft/DA CRJ VC

2010-06-16T01:27:00.001-05:00

The CRJ VC is trucking right along!

PMDG Dreamlifter?

2010-06-16T00:40:00.002-05:00

Robert Randazzo at PMDG gave the fans a tease of another project in their skunkworks today. Looks like a Dreamlifter!

No word on whether this is another external model extension on the 747X like their recent 747-8(probable), or an entirely new project.

Sorry for being so PMDG-centric with the blog lately, but as you might have guessed, it's mostly quiet elsewhere in the flight sim scene.

PMDG Unveils Screenshot of 737 NGX Radio Stack

2010-06-12T00:30:00.002-05:00

PMDG gave us a little more than a sliver of the 737 NGX today -- wow!

This is going to be an amazing plane.

Another PMDG 737 NGX Preview Sliver

2010-06-11T10:25:00.002-05:00

Vic posted another preview sliver of the 737 NGX cockpit yesterday. Looking good!

In other PMDG news, Capt. Robert Randazzo (PMDG head honcho) came in fourth in Nevada's Democratic primary race for Lt. Governor this week. Oh well. Perhaps now he will have more time to focus on making great virtual airplanes, at least.

Digital Aviation CRJ: Early VC Preview

2010-06-09T23:36:00.003-05:00

Mathijs Kok of Aerosoft posted some early views of the 3D virtual cockpit from the upcoming Digital Aviation CRJ! Enjoy.

It's still very rough, but there is a lot of nice potential shaping up here. It will be fun to watch it blossom into fruition.

Very nice of Mathijs to share the progress of the CRJ with the flight sim community. Thanks!

Digital Aviation/Aerosoft CRJ Update: 27-May-10

2010-06-04T02:00:00.004-05:00

I missed this last week because of the Memorial Day holiday, but Aerosoft gave us another weekly preview of the progress on the Digital Aviation CRJ. See the post here.

The exterior model is looking really sharp! Can't wait to see some of the developments on the interior.

PMDG Gives Another Sliver Glimpse of the 737 NGX

2010-06-04T00:24:00.003-05:00

The cats over at PMDG are having a lot of fun with this -- and of course, we simmers are eating up every minute of it. :-) PMDG has given us another sliver preview of the 737 NGX, this time the radio panel.

Wow.

I have a feeling they are going to sell a lot of these.