PMDG BAe Jetstream 4100 In My Hangar!

I picked up the new PMDG BAe Jetstream 4100 product on Friday. All I can say is: WOW. This is easily the most detailed, complete simulation of a turboprop I have ever had the pleasure of flying in FSX. It is an amazing deal at only $44.95 (U.S.) -- I could easily justify paying 1.5 or 2 times more than this price for such a high quality simulation.

It took me all weekend (admittedly with many other distractions going on) just to read through the tutorial and complete the tutorial flight from White Plains (KHPN) to Washington-Dulles (KIAD). The tutorial document itself is nearly 100 pages long, and it covers the procedures from cold and dark startup all the way to landing. Flying the JS4100 is very complex, so you will want to pay close attention to the manuals, and check out the PMDG support forums over on AVSIM. This is NOT a plane where you can just skip the manuals and start flying around. If you screw up the torque setting, for example, the game will kindly melt your engines for you, just like in real life. There are a LOT of gotchas! However, mastering this plane is truly a rewarding and joyful experience.

There are a few minor bugs -- notably, some CTD issues at the beginning or end of the sim. Hopefully PMDG will work these kinks out and release a patch soon. They seem to be minor enough that I can deal with them for now. (CTD's during a flight are absolutely unacceptable, and fortunately, I haven't encountered any of those yet.)

I will do a full mini-review soon, once I get some more flights in. In the meantime, I will tease you with a couple of snaps from the tutorial flight:





Beware: this plane was designed only with a 3D VC -- just like the Captain Sim 727, there is no 2D main panel. On top of that, this one is FSX-only. Many FS9 fans are crying foul over this, but PMDG has made their position quite clear.

Captain Sim News

Captain Sim rolled out two bits of news today:

1. They shipped an update to the 757 Captain product for FS9 users, v2.2. Check here for the details.
2. They rolled out some screenshots of the 767-200 model addon for their 767 Captain product.

Enjoy!

Guess I'm gonna have to make some plans to get their 767 addon soon...

Captain Sim Tidbits

There are a few new things worth mentioning going on over at Captain Sim. These have been sitting out there for a while, but I thought I would give them a quick mention here:

• Captain Sim recently released the 767 Captain v1.2 service pack. I haven't been terribly motivated to pick this one up yet -- it looks almost identical to their 757 on the inside (no surprise there, since they share a common flight deck), and I'm already pretty happy with the Level-D 767. Might give this one a look once they start releasing some of the extras, like the -200 model.
• Captain Sim announced a calendar of upcoming product updates to look forward to:
• 757 v2.2 for FS9 due out in September
• 757 v4.4 for FSX due out in October
• 727 v2.3 for FSX due out in November

No word as to when any new releases, such as the 767 add-ons, or the 707, are due yet.

PMDG JS4100 Released

It's here!!! Time to start taking delivery of the PMDG JS4100 turboprop in our virtual hangars!

Price is only $44.95, a very reasonable sum for such a high quality implementation of a turboprop. I'll have to wait until payday again next week, but I assure you, I'll be picking this one up ASAP.

PMDG JS4100 Manuals Available

The guys at PMDG keep building us up for the JS4100! Today they made available the manuals and tutorial for the plane.

Maybe we'll see this one by Labor Day?

PMDG JS4100 Preview Video

PMDG posted a nice preview video of the JS4100 to YouTube, demonstrating the startup sequence for the plane.

They must be getting close...

PMDG JS4100 Liveries Previewed

PMDG continues to tease us with more screenshots of the JS4100. They have posted some screenshots of some of the liveries available for the product here.

Keeping fingers crossed that it won't be too much longer before we sim pilots can add this one to our hangars!