Several issues in recent months have sparked short-term furor's in the AVSIM Online Forums, in the e-mail boxes of those of us on the AVSIM Staff and sent similar ripples throughout the aviation simulation community. Though it is inevitable some of these be mentioned as this column progresses, I want to instead concentrate on what is the basic underlying factor in each of these cases. The other debates are for another time or place.

The root cause of the restlessness among readers is a problem facing all of the emerging "New Media," yet is old enough to have been studied and even coined a moniker for those who peruse the journalistic and other related journals. It is most commonly known as the "CNN Model." It just so happened; CNN was in the public eye as this issue came into its own.

The problem is one of "immediacy." With cable television, the Internet and everything else that embodies this New Media, we now have the ability to cover matters in real time—as we watch them happen. Be this the bombing of downtown Baghdad, the execution of Timothy McVeigh or the release of Fly! II, we have the power to cover events as they unfold.

This is a monumental advance in the world of journalism and a major hurdle for journalists. No longer is it enough to gather information from multiple, responsible sources, combine this with years of experience, then present a solid piece of journalism about what happened. Instead, we have come to expect journalists to cover major events almost like a sporting event, giving us play-by-play and color commentary as tanks roll into Tienanman Square.

However, this is not journalism. I'm not sure what it is, but I know for sure it is not journalism as we have come to know and expect. It is more voyeuristic. Even if you watch the big college football game on Saturday afternoon television, you still grab the newspaper the next morning to read about the game. You do this because you have come to know that story will provide a far deeper analysis of what occurred than could ever be gleaned from the simple observation, even with commentary, of the facts.
 

What does this have to do with AVSIM Online, flight simulation or anything the reader drawn to this site might care about? For that, I have to turn to one of those carefully avoided above—the release of Fly! II. A release even developers admit came far before the product was ready for prime time.

As other sites posted scathing "reviews," some within hours, the AVSIM Editorial Staff opted to take another route. In a front-page article, AVSIM Senior Managing Editor Maury Pratt told readers two things. First, don't expect a review from AVSIM Online until late June. Second, this product, while having glimmers of exciting things to come, was not worth the purchase price, or in fact any price at that stage of development.

The response was immediate. Hey, this is the New Media and immediacy is the big deal. Some readers concluded that AVSIM Online "was being easy" on the developers, publisher and whoever else could be associated with the product. Personal ties between the AVSIM staff and FLY! Developers were among the reasons put forth for the announcement. A few alien abduction scenarios probably even found their way into the fray.

In truth, this was a major departure from standard AVSIM policy. For the only time in my tenure here, we advised readers not to buy a product without our having conducted a thorough, let alone a decent if cursory review.

However, except for that one departure, which was the right thing to do at the time, the big difference was that AVSIM Online let the immediacy of the moment force a pre-review announcement, something outside normal practices. If you have been an AVSIM Online reader for any time, you are well aware that our reviews are never the first you will read. In fact, there are times when AVSIM Online reviews seem more contemporary with magazine published reviews than those on dedicated flight simulation sites.

Why is that? Because it has long been the position of the AVSIM Online Editorial Staff that we will bring you the best documented, most thoroughly researched review possible. That cannot be done overnight or even in a couple of days. With respect to Fly! II, here was the release of a new major flight simulation platform. Not just a flight simulator, but a flight simulation platform, for which other developers would be asked to have products ready within months of the initial release.

This was the total overhaul of the only major competitor to Microsoft Flight Simulator. And please do not take this as a shot in any way at any of the other simulators, most notably X-Plane. It would be great to see a couple of these generate numbers, in sales and add-on products, to challenge and push Flight Simulator to fight for market share. Yet only Fly! has managed such a move in recent months. Those are the cold, hard facts.

If you were to take the resumes and curricular vitae of the AVSIM Staff and begin to add up the years of experience in journalism, be it writing or editing; aviation, both real world and flight simulation; and product development and marketing, you are looking at hundreds of years of accumulated experience. Yet all of that talent could not have combined its efforts and produced the type review you have come to expect from us for Fly! II much before the end of June. It is just not that easy.
 

As any flight simulation enthusiast knows, new simulator platforms are complex beasts. Though I did not review Flight Simulator 2000, it provides a great example of what I mean. And I think most will recognize the pattern and times mentioned.

When the box hit the house, the CD was immediately in the computer as I searched for the installation instructions. Definitely not the way to do it, but I am being honest here. Within the first 24 hours, FS200 was installed and I had probably taken the Cessna up for a quick look at Meigs and Chicago.

Then the work began. It took a conservative 10 hours or so to initially configure FS2000 for my computer and equipment. Another 10 hours of tweaking was involved over the few weeks to get things just right or as close as possible.

Now like the majority of you, the staff here at AVSIM Online has lives, and livelihoods, outside the work we do here. Remember, all of the AVSIM Online positions are held by volunteers who do the enormous amount of work this site takes without compensation. So 20 hours into looking at FS2000, I have now got things setup and working pretty good with my equipment.

Next came another 10-12 hours, some during the tweaking stages, to learn how to interface with the simulator. What button is used to pan my view right, or is it better to use the skew functions? This is the time it takes all of us to learn the basic keyboard, joystick/yoke, and mouse commands to conduct a flight without pausing every few minutes to look something up. For me, and I will admit I am a reader, there are another 8-10 hours spent around this period reading, rereading and digesting the documentation. Something that has always paid off for me in a myriad of ways—both short and long term.

So after 40 hours, a full work week for many, I can now boot up the program and fly around without pausing and checking the documentation every few minutes. At this point, I can begin to review the general performance of the simulator, not yet the platform, but the simulator. Another 10 hours in the cockpit and I have a general feel for the aircraft, panels, scenery and the simulator in general.

Now I can tackle my area of expertise as it pertains to the platform—likely weather and/or scenery in my case. This would likely require about 20 hours comparing what is found in the simulator platform with real life and how the two interact to complement each other. Probably half the time will be spent in cockpit and half on research and comparisons. If there are any utilities included, figure another 10 hours spent with them.

After a total of roughly 80 hours, I am finally comfortable enough to write my segment of the review and make a recommendation as to whether you should spend your money, time and effort on this aspect of the simulation platform. With all of the hard work done, the writing actually comes quite easily. Most of the time, the detailed notes prepared are almost superfluous. I now know the product well enough to write about it with ease.

In the case of a major simulator platform like FS2000 or Fly! II, my work is then combined with those looking at other technical aspects of the program, as well as those just dealing with the aesthetics and feel it has. After some 500 man-hours of work, the review heads to our editors, where it is checked, smoothly woven together and finally posted to the web site for your reading pleasure.
 

More than a month has passed since the release, and most of the other sites have posted their reviews. Some came out within a few days of release. These reviewers have likely now either gone underground or they are still fielding the hundreds of corrections and changes subsequent work, mostly by their readers, has shown necessary.

In the end, it is the reader who must decide which way is correct for them. And while I can guarantee the AVSIM Online review will be well down on the list you have read, I can also guarantee you will get a well written, thoroughly documented piece of writing ready to stand the test of time.

If you must have immediacy, we are probably not your web site. But if you prefer timely, accurate news stories; thoughtfully researched and documented reviews; and the opinion of a talented staff who does this because we love it—then AVSIM Online is for you.