iFLY Review

[Guest meekal]

Folks,I found the iFly 747-400 review today understated. This freeware is close to brilliant and compares favorably with other add-on's, some of which, as we know, are very expensive. I have even managed to get technical support by writing e-mail's to the developers directly. They have always answered me and have always been courteous and helpful. I cannot say that for other developers/forums.I agree the FMC needs work and more data in it, such as SIDS and STARS. That should not be all that diffficult and I hope the developers will make further enhancements to the FMS.She is a joy to fly by hand, resembles a "heavy" in terms of handling, is stable, and goes where you point her. On AP she is equally solid and will follow a flight plan via the CDU/FMC perfectly. LNAV and VNAV are very good although VNAV sometimes requires vertical speed intervention. This is true of most other payware add-on's. On an ILS, I find the turn to the LOC a bit slow, the a/c tends to overshoot but then re-captures the LOC, albeit painfully slowly. By about 5 miles out she is perfectly centered. One would prefer an earlier line-up with the runway centerline, followed by GS capture. This is the correct sequence of an ILS approach with GS interception from below. The a/c follows the GS diamond very well and on GS engagement all three AP's come on simultaneously.At very high resolution the displays are quite stunning. I do not see much sacrifice in terms of FPS although I generally fly with little scenery. The author does not mention the auto-land feature at all. This is a huge ommission. She auto-lands very well. The flare and touch-down are just about as good as it gets. If you come in a little fast, she will float excessively, as in real life. You have to fly the nose-wheel onto the runway which is also realistic. Some other add-on's (costing a huge amount of money) have not been able to master an auto-land. One expensive one has the aeroplane flopping down on all three gear points simultaneously. The defects in ground handling don't bother me. I prefer to be flying.In sum, this is a really outstanding piece of work that I would have happily paid for. It intrigues me why its developers chose to make it freeware given the incredible amount of time and effort that must have gone into making it. As freeware, the iFly 747-400 is an embodiment of a true labor of love. Meekal

[Chock 17,769]

It intrigues me why its developers chose to make it freeware given the incredible amount of time and effort that must have gone into making it. As freeware, the iFly 747-400 is an embodiment of a true labor of love. Meekal

Often people will create an impressive freebie as their 'shop window', with a view toward getting into a paid job developing such things, which might explain at least some of the motivation for why the iFly 747 was made. Of course it could equally be that they 'just wanted to do it'. But quite frankly, if I were an FS software developer, I'd have been on the blower to these guys ages ago, offering them a job.I agree with you that this freebie 747 is hugely impressive. I've got the PMDG 747, which cost me about 40 quid I seem to recall, and I was happy to pay that too, because the PMDG 747 is almost certainly the best FS aircraft there is. So whilst the iFly 747 is not quite as good as that, it's not far off it, and you certainly cannot argue with the iFly 747s price, given that it is completely free. I've handed over money in the past for FS add-on aircraft that are nowhere near as good as it.I imagine PMDG would prefer that it did not exist either, because I'm sure its availability has put a dent in sales of the PMDG offering, notwithstanding the fact that the PMDG jumbo is a bit better.With regard to the ground handling of the iFly 747, I've not had any problem with that myself, it seems to get around the taxiways okay for me and as you say, it seems to fly pretty well too. I think it deserves a place in everybody's FS hangar, as does the PMDG offering.Al

[Arjun 0]

Hello All,Thanks for your replies. I was not too sure with the LOC and GS capture as i normally hand fly the final approach (i like to hand fly the aircraft. It's more entertaining). I have never tried the auto land because i have NO idea how Auto Land works on any aircraft. A bit weird seeing i fly the 747. As Mentioned in the Review, the iFLY is an aircraft that EVERY person that doesn't want to pay should download. The ground doesn't matter that much, true. Also, this is the first Review i have written and that has been published. THis is also the Review that determined if i was going to be an AVSIM Reviewer or not and it turned out that they Accepted me.ThanksArjun

[Chock 17,769]

I'm glad you got the gig Arjun, it's a nice review.Now you get to join the rest of us poor reviewers, spending hour upon hour wading through obscure pages on the internet and looking through huge piles of books in an attempt to get all the facts straight! :( Al