PMDG at Avsim FANCON - An attendee's perspective

[JasonB 117]

This past weekend, I attended the Avsim Fancon along with my wife and while this has been my first ever Avsim Fancon experience, I must say my expectations were somewhat met. I would have liked to see a little bit more vendors, especially hardware vendors such as Flight Deck Solutions, the likes. Although there were quite a few fantastic looking hardware there, especially Saitek's answer to CH Product's yoke and throttle, the price is real good and fair for such a new offering. The fellow manning the Saitek booth mentioned that they were having such a hard time meeting the demands for the yoke, they were offering fancon discounts which I plan to take advantage of.But that wasn't just it, I was involved in the Charityflight 2007 crew, flying a 767 around the world, raising money for children's hospital foundation in Toronto. Lots of fun though long nights of flying. I met alot of genuine people at the convention and chatting with you guys about flight simulation and such, it was a truly remarkable experience. Some of you have chatted with my wife. She has told me that alot of the guys out there wished that they had a wife like mine, not because she's good looking (she is) but she has been incredibly supportive of this hobby, and being at fancon has opened her eyes up alot more to what this hobby is all about and that there's all sorts of people, grandfathers, CEOs, people young and old who love this hobby. I take that as a compliment! I'm saving the best for last, PMDG. For those who don't know how far Bill Grabowski and I go back. We go back several years yet we never met in person. We had started an MD-11 project several years ago, I did the visual model, Bill was working on the panel. We never did come to a release point, but things drifted off, I was going through life and later PMDG offered to take Bill Grabowski on, I was very happy for him because one, he's a man of talent and dedication, two, PMDG was a name we all knew well. I knew that the MD-11 project would be an unbelievable product offering. I met Bill for the first time on Saturday after the MD-11 presentation and we exchanged greetings, I complimented them on a fine job on the MD-11 project. Literally the whole room was full of curious onlookers wanting to see the MD-11 that has been over 4 years in the making, actually longer than that when Bill first started it himself. I won't go into great details, but I was able to get my hands on playing with the panel and the aircraft, I must say the wait will be worth it! It is a finely tuned and handcrafted piece of software, you will feel right at home with the panel. True its a different way of interaction... but its the best feeling. Everything is modelled and set up to work just like the real thing on the MD-11, what you see on the MD-11, PMDG has it modelled. I'll describe one neat little detail that floored me was the modelling of the ability to select whether the center gear is locked in the up position regardless whether you select the gears up or down, its already modelled! When your on the ground, just click the center gear switch to off, and the gear will actually come down and lock itself in position on the ground, that left me speechless. But there are many, many other details but I won't get into details, you'll just have to buy the product when its released and find them all for yourself! I also had the opportunity to meet Robert, Michael and Lefteris, they are truly dedicated guys, they know what they are talking about and they're actually very nice fellows, especailly Robert, quite the jokster. While I was flying the MD-11, my wife was chatting with Robert behind me the entire time and she tells me, he's a funny and cool guy to come to know and talk to.I as well as the others at the fancon have been fortunate to meet the PMDG crew and got to try the MD-11 out as well as talk about flight simulation as well as talk about family, kids and life in general, its been a honor to meet all those people who we all have interacted with online but never met in person. Many of you have met each other in person before, but I have not and it was really nice to put a real face to the names. I look forward to the next fancon, wherever it may be. My hats off to the PMDG crew for a fine appearance at Fancon 2007 and I look forward to keeping in touch with those who I have met. As a token of appreciation, here's a nostalgic look at the MD-11 model that I developed over 7 years ago for FS2000/2002 using FSDS (I work with 3DS Max/Gmax now. I ran a freeware group with Bob Klemm and Andy Reynolds as Creative Simulations International, CSi for short. This particular repaint was done by Federico Veronesi. [a href=http://library.avsim.net/sendfile.php?Location=AVSIM&Proto=file&ImageID=10199" target="_blank]Click here to see the original CSi MD-11[/a]Cheers,Jason BrownBurnaby, BC. Canada

[BillVC303 1]

I have to echo you Jason. The MD-11 will be fantastic to any hanger out there. I was very much in awe of how stunning it was. I'll be shelling out the "EUROS" for it once it comes online, but would rather pay CDN DOLLARS for it. ;0) (easy Bill)Great show guys and yes, you wife is very pleasant Jason. All the best

[Bill Grabowski 0]

Jason,That old MD-11 model still looks good after all these years!That was a VERY nice little piece you wrote above. I and the rest of the PMDG guys are honored by your words, but actually, it was our pleasure to have met both you and your wife Christie at FanCon. You two are the sweetest couple I've met in a long time, and I loved being with you both. You also modestly forgot to mention how well you handled the MD-11. I was impressed. You're a natural.Thank you and warm regards,Bill

[Bill Grabowski 0]

Hey Bill,I thought all the Level-D guys were now official honorary members of PMDG?! You know what that means... And actually, we LOVE CDN dollars. Send all you can.Best,Bill

[Gavin 99]

JasonI remember your CSI MD-11 - a great freeware product. Thanks!BillStill waiting patiently for the PMDG MD-11. Happily the POSKY ERJ-145 with your 145 panel helps to pass the time.Cheers guys!

[Bill Grabowski 0]

Gavin,You have chosen ... wisely. Glad the ERJ's still are to your liking!Best,Bill

[BillVC303 1]

Bill, as a jedi knight, the dark side will never be able to enter... ;0)Here is agood image of Christie and Jason. Jason is the one flying his leg on Charityflight Worldflight. http://www.charityflight.com/avsim/images/IMG_2606.jpg

[Bill Grabowski 0]

Bill,Great picture! Will add to my collection.Too late. You've already been seduced to the dark side. You too will soon charge in Euros. :-lukeBill

[ahuimanu 50]

Sure, kick the greenback while it's down. :-(Jeff