Received R4D CD in the UK mail today. Already have EIGHT HOURS PIC of the NATS/BEA/UAL combo. Forgot to eat breakfast, forgot to eat lunch, forgot to feed the cat! Yes, it REALLY is that good, you can lose DAYS of your life! So far highlights include:1: Full manual startup from cold'n'dark on first boot - the interactive manuals with the inserted video is utterly, completely and totally the ONLY way to present information about complex FS addons - I don't think I've used `Ctrl+E` at all yet! Spent thirty minutes just watching the vids and had the starting procedure down pat before stepping foot in the cockpit.2: Just sitting watching the props rotate and blipping the throttles. Sad, but the motion in the props and gear legs when you open and close the throttles is completely addictive. THAT'S what I put an AMD 64 3000 in for! And someone has finally got the tyre smoke animation thing right - and the little tailwheel tracks are really, really clever!3: Thinking I had a glitch with the undercarriage, then realising that the technique for raising the gear and that for lowering is slightly different, after going back to the manual. (For the non-manual-readers who might get caught, the latch must be in the fully UP position before the gear lever itself will lower. When raising the gear you unlock, then raise the latch, then raise the gear lever. I had inadvertently then clicked on the latch again which had lowered it to the pre-locked position and couldn't get the gear lever to move down: MAAM-Sim 1, Allcott 0) 4: The correct operating procedure for the cowl flaps - move to open, then to `off` - it's explained in one of the vids and BECAUSE it's explained why in sound and pictures it makes perfect sense straightaway.5: Love the ability to `overboost` the engines. Shame it doesn't result in expensive clunking noises and pistons flying through the air, but no more throttle slamming for me!6: Flight model `solidity` is an absolute treasure. I use Active Camera and FSForce for my FF2 joystick, and most of the aftermarket aircraft cause the AC head latency to move around so much in the VC view that it's like riding a bicycle over a cobbled street. not this time. And I used a `heavy prop` config for FS Force from their own support forum and it actually takes muscle to bank this plane around the sky, yet it's much lighter in pitch. What an achievement!Congratulations to all concerned and I'm sure this is going to give a lot of people pause for thought about enhancements. My own contribution says a fully operable VC and windows that mist up and need proper wiping (a la Bill Lyons) would just finish this off, as this is one of the few aircraft that DESERVES to be flown only from the VC and it would have been nice to have had the tie-downs and covers of the previous version, taking advantage of the wing-fold, arrestor hook key commands. It would also be great to have a `maintenance mode` like some of the other complex payware packages, but none of them hold a candle to THAT manual. It's a work of genius when even I can follow it first time out! Allcott

ROFL. Got mine yesterday as well. However, I've got a major problem with it... I want ALOT MORE alcohol than the gauges allow. I'm thinking at least a couple kegs ought to do me. (deicing-shmeeicing, alcohol shouldn't be wasted in such a manner! *grin*)

Glad to hear that Bill's hard work is paying off and copies are finally getting through. I'm also glad you guys seem to be having as much fun with it as I did during the test flying phase. everyone worked so hard on this project and it's topped off by one of the most accurate flight models I've ever had the pleasure to fly, and I have flown a few believe me.Have fun and fly her as she's meant to be flown. Thats all we ask. Oh and thanks for supporting MAAM!CheersTimhttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif