Flying The Maddog 2006....

[altstiff 71]

Anyone have this and care to elaborate on how good it is? I'm using it for FS9 only and never looked at this until I seen that it has a VC now. Just wondering if anyone has good or bad things to say about it.Keep in mind I'm a LVD PMDG type of guy.

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Anyone have this and care to elaborate on how good it is? I'm using it for FS9 only and never looked at this until I seen that it has a VC now. Just wondering if anyone has good or bad things to say about it.Keep in mind I'm a LVD PMDG type of guy.

Hi,As far as I'm concerned: Easily on par with LevelD and PMDG.Very good system rendering, very nice 2D cockpit graphics and pretty good on framerates too. In my opinion the best MD around and I have all 3.I don't use the VC, so I can't comment on that.A negative point is the NavData. It uses the PMDG data, but there are issues with the syntax of the PMDG SID/STARs.There is a freeware convertor which does a pretty good job, but sometimes you don't see any SID/STARs for an airport.Apart from that, a joy to (hand) fly.Egbert

[mackintosh 0]

Anyone have this and care to elaborate on how good it is? I'm using it for FS9 only and never looked at this until I seen that it has a VC now. Just wondering if anyone has good or bad things to say about it.Keep in mind I'm a LVD PMDG type of guy.

First of all, I can't speak for the VC, as I am a 2D pilot. Having never even been in the cockpit of an MD80, I can't speak for actual accuracy of the panel nor the systems modeled, however, with that in mind, I would place the LH MD80 on the same level as LevelD and the PMDG 747. It does require a thorough read through the manual and you really need to adhere to procedures to take that bird up into the sky without something going awry (I did go through three engine fires and a hot-start or two before even getting to 1000 feet the first few times - but all were user errors). Nearly all the systems are modeled too (except for the IRS - but I have no idea if the real GPS-equipped MD80 has that any more). In flight performance is ok. I find that it follows VNAV nicely. I think its descent calculations are a bit off (descends later than it should), but that could just be me. Manual landing are as flawless as could be expected. I found that in autoland however the autopilot overflares a bit and sometimes loses track of the glideslope. The 2D panel has multiple lighting modes and can be configured to a variety of airline options depending on the operator with the included utility (which is also a most excellent loader and fuel planner - one of the best I have seen).Last, but not least, I have heard that people have performance issues with this bird. I haven't had any though, so hopefully someone else will chip in with their experience. My frames are pretty much par for course for an add-on of this complexity and match those of LevelD or the PMDG 747. This is all in 2D however.Hope this helps somewhat :)

[philbrown 9]

I have had to remove it from my PC due to performance issues. It just couldn't handle the level of detail that my other aircraft could manage.I have had issues with the VNAV descent. The top of descent does seem to be way too late to make any restrictions entered into the FMC. And I also had issues with the poor braking action simulation during cold weather. Operating from KORD, whenever the temperature fell below 0C, the brakes would hardly work at all, resulting in many overruns on some quite long runways. I also found the controls a bit too sensitive, even with the sensitivity dialled right down.On the plus side though, the systems are modelled very well, and until I started using some quite heavy sceneries with gave me the performance problems, I did enjoy flying it, and would still recommend the MD80 despite my issues.

[Jure 36]

It's a great aircraft, among the best add-ons in my opinion. :( I have no problems with performance on my FX-57 and the VC is second to none. I have decent FPS even at places like FSDreamteam KORD with 150+ AI aircraft milling around. All sliders to the right. What else is there besides all the things that others wrote about?The Maddog comes with great night lighting in 2D, panels have their own lighting which you can adjust in many ways to your liking. It looks quite spectacular, in fact. Regarding SIDs and STARs... yes, there is a freeware utility to convert or correct them for the Maddog and if you follow a few simple rules, you will see them in the FMC. There's a lot of information in the manuals and besides that, there is a SID/STAR utility that comes with the package.Documentation is great, too and with the extensive tutorial that accompanies the manuals you will be in the air in no time. There is also a neat loader with fuel planner and an utility page where you can set up keys, performance by using sliders for different displays, choose your airline options (each aircraft can have it's own customized instrument cluster and there is a choice of two basic colours for the pit - pinkish and light blue). Also, there are both models of the MD, one with a cone tail and one with a screwdriver tail.Maddog can be flown with your friend over the internet but I have not tried that one yet. My personal recommendation: get the MD-80 sounds done by Turbine Sounds Studios http://secure.simmarket.com/turbine-sound-...soundpack.phtml There are few things that compare to the roar of the JT8Ds at full blast and this sound pack does them justice... :(Well, the list goes on.... ah, just get it, you will not be disappointed if you are a LVL-D/PMDG kind of guy. :( Regards,Jure

[Epikk 62]

Nearly all the systems are modeled too (except for the IRS - but I have no idea if the real GPS-equipped MD80 has that any more)...

The Maddog 2006 is equipped with AHRS. It's not an IRS. It's not a GPS... It's a different system providing the aircraft instruments/systems with data like attitude, GS, acceleration, etc...

[Krister 51]

I'm also a PMDG LevelD-kinda guy and held off buying this bird until it was released with a VC. Having flown it now for a couple of months I realize I could have bought it without the VC as well, it definitely is worth it. Same can be said about the DA Fokker 70/100 that is one spectacular bird even without the yet-to-be-released VC.On my computer there is only a slight performance issue when I intially switch to VC. It takes quit a while to load all the textures (say 4-5 seconds and this I haven't experienced on any other aircarft). Also if I'm in 2D and look to the left or right it loads the VC which is why I now switch to outside view when I want to peek to the right or left.I don't quite agree that you will have it up in no time although you are a seasoned PMDG-user. That probably means, unless you are a very quick learner, that you will miss out on the differences between the MD and Boeing logic. Personally I was fighting on vatsim yesterday to make the aircraft reduce to 200 knots from 240 and it just wouldn't adhere. So I had to read through the manuals which in my opinion are nice but perhaps a bit lacking. Nicely laid out and so but too brief and not PMDG-class. The mentioned tutorial though is very nice and is a must read.The only real beef I have with this aircraft, and which is most probably related to my systems since others haven't experienced it, is the quirky behaviour of the flight model on approach and handflying. All the sudden the nose instantly pops up or down some five degrees and then back again. There is no such smoothness as can be found in eg the Embraer 190 from Feel there (never thought I would say that!). But again, it is probably systems related.The Maddog 2006 does get you involved like very few aircrafts does and personally I highly recommend it. There is a new version coming up, Maddog 2008, but I have absolutely no idea when!

[Egbert Drenth 250]

Personally I was fighting on vatsim yesterday to make the aircraft reduce to 200 knots from 240 and it just wouldn't adhere.

The nickname of the MD80: "The lead sled" If one aircraft is difficult to slow down, it is the MD80 ....

[Krister 51]

Actually the problem was that I was flying with AT, set the speed bug to 200 knots but it wouldn't reduce from some 240 knots no matter what. So I had to check out what Alpha Speed meant from the manual! :DOh, I had to add regarding the quality of the VC - once it's loaded it's wonderful. It does lack the 3d buttons you find in the PMDG747 but it's all very crisp and clear and you can easily do the whole flight from VC view only - especially if you use Track IR.

[Jure 36]

Krister,you can convert all VC textures to DXT1 which will decrease loading speed substantially. There's a good thread about it here:http://www.flythemaddog.com/forum/index.ph...amp;#entry35537Regards,Jure

[Krister 51]

Krister,you can convert all VC textures to DXT1 which will decrease loading speed substantially. There's a good thread about it here:http://www.flythemaddog.com/forum/index.ph...amp;#entry35537Regards,Jure

Thanks Jure, I'll definitely check it out!

[Forever777 0]

The nickname of the MD80: "The lead sled" If one aircraft is difficult to slow down, it is the MD80 ....

The MD80 is a variant of the DC9. Not a difficult airplane to slow down at all. The plane should slow to 200 pretty easily with just slats. There's a saying among airline pilots that if you can see the runway on a DC9/MD80, you can land on it. Now the 737, which has a very clean wing, is difficult to slow down.

[jagabom 21]

Yea the loading of the VC is very slow on my puter so I use the 2D. I even use the non VC config so that if I look left or right, I don't see the VC.Might try that conversion mentioned above. Some guy also made up a shortened startup procedure that gets you flying in like 2 minutes. Perfect when you just want to get in the air.JimCYWG

[tull 290]

Yea the loading of the VC is very slow on my puter so I use the 2D. I even use the non VC config so that if I look left or right, I don't see the VC.Might try that conversion mentioned above. Some guy also made up a shortened startup procedure that gets you flying in like 2 minutes. Perfect when you just want to get in the air.JimCYWG

I have been flying this bird now for about a month and still getting to grips with it .....its just fantastic! Yes the vc tevtures take a while to load but defo worth the buy. The only thing I am struggling with is accessing their website and forums.....is is their website down does anyone know??RegardsPaul EGCC

[Jure 36]

Paul,just been on their forums... everything OK. Regards,Jure