Tom: Now that the news is out regarding the revival of Propilot, can you tell us a little of what has transpired over the last year or so since its removal from the market? Mark: Well we have been actively searching for funding obviously. In addition, we have restructured the nature of our business, so it is not entirely tied to the gaming industry. We have also raised the bar as to our graphics and aviation competence as well, so we can successfully support other venues of visual simulation and training. We are currently structured to take advantage of any possible technical collaboration opportunities within the aviation field. ProPilot is a pivotal and fundamental aspect of this endeavor. Tom: By making Propilot available for further production and development, Sierra has done the community a tremendous service by allowing Propilot to > live and expand. Can you give us some of your thoughts on that, and can you tell us who now is on the design team and the company that is now supporting you? Are there many of the "old crew" that have come aboard? Mark: Sierra did the right thing here in our opinion. They let a product live on for the sake of the flight simulation community. As to design issues, we will be designing more from a team perspective on the full spectrum of products we are to produce. This spans more sophisticated aviation products than ProPilot itself. The key individuals involved in ProPilot at the time of the cancellation are now members of the ETC Interactive staff. We have also gained much additional and talented manpower through association with the existent divisions of ETC. Tom: Can you tell us a little of your parent company and how and what they will bring to Propilot? Will this relationship enhance the Propilot technology, and if so, how? Mark: Our parent company is Environmental Tectonics Corporation, or ETC, and is based in Southampton, PA. You can find more about the company by visiting their web site at www.etcusa.com. In particular, the section entitled News provides a comprehensive overview of ETC's accomplishments and capabilities in general. The article entitled "Company President's Message to the Shareholders (7/12/00)" may provide the most concise overview of ETC. Without ETC's insight and appreciation of the possibilities of the use of the technology contained in ProPilot, the revival of this product line would never have occurred. Without going into detail, there is no question that ETC's position as a dominant force in the manufacture of motion-base technology, and in particular unsurpassed centrifuge technology, amongst many other great product lines, provides a higher engineering standard for our staff to target and strive to achieve. Tom:
A lot has happened in the simulation world since Propilot was last
updated. FLY! and its associated freeware add-on's, the expansion and growth
of MSFS, the entry of X-Plane in the mass market, and so on. Can you give
Mark: This information will be provided when our web-site is up and running. Tom: One of the limitations of Propilot in its previous incarnation was the selection of video format. What video systems will the next generation of Propilot be compatible with; how high a resolution, etc? Mark: We have the capability to produce 1600x1200 presently. The low resolution days of ProPilot are over. We are focusing on the Direct3D and glide APIs for graphics acceleration support. Tom: Propilot set some ground-breaking precedents in terms of features. Can you tell us if the next version will hold any features that we don't currently see, or implement them in ways that we have not seen before? Mark: I am not at liberty to convey this information presently. Look for our web-site in the upcoming months. Tom: Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the previous Propilot and the new system yet unseen by anyone, can you give us a general comparison between the two? What of the new version are you particularly proud of? Mark: We are paying more attention to system related aspects of the product such as resolution and graphic's APIs. In addition, nothing is more pivotal to the next release's success than great flight models, awesome frame rates, and authentic ATC and radio communication. Weather systems, of course, are also high on this list. Please know that more details will unfold shortly. As to what would make me personally the proudest, I would have to choose that our next generation of products is accepted and acknowledged as a "flight simulator" in the strictest of terms. Tom: As you also know, open architecture is the continuing strength of MSFS. X-Plane and FLY! have also allowed for open architecture. Will the future Propilot provide this for third party add-on's? Mark: Absolutely. As you know, this was in the works with Pro Pilot 4 (or 2001), and will continue as such. Tom: There has been a hard core group of Propilot supporters on AVSIM who have steadfastly participated in our Propilot forum over the last year, and have been vocal in their desire to see Propilot live on. Do you have anything that you would like to say to them, now that there is a future for their beloved sim? Mark: All we can say is that this is a tremendous compliment and we can only repay this support by providing great product in return. This support does not go unnoticed and was read by myself frequently over the past year. Due to the state of negotiations with Sierra we choose not to cloud any issues regarding the future of the product for obvious reasons. Tom: Will we see the Propilot team in the forum over the next months to keep us up to date and answer all those anxious questions that this interview can't possibly cover? Mark: Absolutely. We intend to be an active presence at all times and we intend to be more attentive than ever. Tom: Mark, thanks for the interview., We look forward to hearing more detail in the near future. |
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