hey, for helping to track down issues, do the pmdg aircraft (747X in particular) have the simulated equivalent of the flight data recorder found on the 'real thing'?if not, why not? surely the value of the real one would be just as useful in the simulated case - being able to understand what is happening after the fact.if the sim has such a thing, I should think that this would be very useful for giving the developers the ability to look into how a particular issue cropped up.please advise.regards,peter belbin.

Hi Peter, Check out FS Flightkeeper. If you haven't seen it already, it'sworth a look. It doesn't record much system detail but keeps a goodrecord of aircraft performance (rate of descent at touchdown, etc)throughout the flight. And it's quite configurable (flexible). Itis payware, but I've found it to be worth the price. I also useit to submit my Pilot Reports to virtual airline.http://www.aerosoft.com/cgi-local/us/ibosh...w100,4799354740Best regards,Ken Boardman

Hi Peter,In addition to Flightkeeper you may want to have a look at the following page:http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/nav/#What_is_This flight recorder is the only attempt I know of made by any flight sim developer. It has been working well for me on FS9. Frankly speaking I have not tried it on FSX so I can't comment on that platform.Having said that, you raised a broader issue here which may be considered by a number of people as a taboo. The question is: in the sim world what are developers, Microsoft, the simmers (users) and Vatsim/Ivao?. Compared to the real world the answer may be that the developers are the aircraft manufacturers, Microsoft delivers the environment we are evolving in, the simeers are the pilots, ATC personnel, mechanics, airline agents of all kind, and even passengers, and Vatsim/Ivao a kind of FAA or similar where pilots are evolving in a more or less regulated environment.My point is that in the real world aircraft equipment like flight recorders are generally speaking not developed and manufactured by the aircraft builders but more often conceptualized by the Aviation Authorities developed and manufactured by independent companies and some of these equipments MUST be integrated in the aircraft before delivery by the aircraft manufacturers the remainder been sold as options.So, in my opinion it would not be the role of PMDG to develop a flight recorder but if we had in the sim world a strong Vatsim/Ivao who would impose vital equipment on aircrafts PMDG would have to integrate sub-contracted equipment before delivering the aircraft to the simmers.What we miss in the sim world is an Aviation Authority which can impose security standards on all actors and at all levels meaning from aircraft conception to equipment, from flying rules to code of conduct. This maybe the next decade goals for new developers.Regards