I understand that this Product Extension is mainly cosmetic and that no new functionality will be incorporated, but will PMDG fix the long-existing bugs in the AFDS with this release? Thanks!Rushad E.

Please read the announcement thread, this is a visual model and sound addon ONLY.What bugs are you referring to exactly? The 744 received numerous service packs and the freighter addon, all of which included fixes and additions to the systems simulation.

Hi Ryan,Thanks for taking the time to reply. Anticipating a reply to read the announcement, I tried to make it clear that I had read it and understood that it was mainly cosmetic, but was still hoping for existing bugs to be fixed - I obviously failed in my attempt :-)Anyway, I have documented AFDS issues in several posts (search on pilotwannabe), starting in December 2005. In fact, you had replied to that first post with "I'll make sure the team sees your reports...". All of the (potential) bugs I've documented over the years still persist in V2.10 for FSX. I have also discovered a few more since my last post, but have not posted them on the forum because (1) I understood that there were no more planned service updates and (2) Most of my posts on this topic were met with radio silence from PMDG. I'll be happy to take this discussion off-line if you'd like. Drop me a line at B744*AT*com$cast*dot*net (needless to say, drop all non-alpha numerics).Rushad E.

Rushad,I looked back through your posts. I'm sure I did mention these things and for whatever reason I guess they never got changed. It's highly unlikely we'll make any further changes to the 747's code - the programmer responsible is no longer with PMDG. If we revisit the 747 in the future (like we're now doing with the NG), I'm sure we can address these.Honestly though, I think these are incredibly minor things you mentioned and they in no way affect the normal operation of the airplane. Intercepting glideslopes from way above them, flying around with CMD engaged but the FD deliberately turned off etc. As they say on a popular football show in America, "C'mon man..."

Ryan,Not to beat this to death, but if these bugs are "minor," then I have a different interpretation of "Functionality at the highest accuracy, programmed after engineering schematics to ensure everything behaves like on the real plane." This quote from the PMDG website only seems to be true if you follow Steps 1, 2,...N in a given order. In a separate post, even a RW pilot (janov) identified the lack of Roll and Pitch mode annunciations with only A/P engaged as a "major" flaw.I like to hand fly with the A/P and FD turned off. If I disconnect both the FDs FIRST and THEN disconnect the A/P, we see the MCP lights remain illuminated. Worse yet, the A/T still thinks that the previous pitch mode is engaged and does not revert to the SPD mode. Minor bug? Not IMHO. I realize that this is not how the 744 is flown in line flying, but that is not an excuse to trivialize these issues.Take-off with only the A/T engaged and both FDs OFF. As soon as you reach the MCP altitude, the ALT light on the MCP illuminates even though FDs and A/P are OFF. You can now push most of the other MCP butons and have them illuminate as well. I would not call that a minor bug either.I like and use this PMDG product. I just find it disappointing that documented issues remain unfixed several service updates and an FSX upgrade later (these same issues also exist on the FS9 version). I guess I'll have to wait for PSX to have a bug-free simulation for the 744.Over and out.Rushad E.

... I guess I'll have to wait for PSX to have a bug-free simulation for the 744.Over and out.Rushad E.

Ohhh, long wait. Sorry to sound trite, but there is no such thing as completly bug free software. All the issues you have mentioned are inappropriate annunciations in abnormal situations. None of them affect safety of flight so they can not be counted as critical, they do not interfere with normal flight operations, so they can not be counted as major. They do not mislead, distract or confuse the pilot in the normal course of their activities (given that it requires the pilots positive and deliberate action to generate them) so it is hard to even call them minor. I laud you on your obervation and dedication to detail in finding them in the first place, but let us try to keep some perspective here.

I like to hand fly with the A/P and FD turned off.

Well, no SOP of any airline allows for FD being off (per my understanding). You developed taste for very weird way of flying and now complain .. I agree with Paul Smith, these are extremely minor issues.There is no question that if you started to flip all switches/levers in all possible permutations and compare how this sim compares with the real thing you would probably find many discrepancies. Does it mean this sim has BUGs that 99.9% of users would care about - don't think so.

Aside from the issues the poster originally made, It would be good to see that the 747 update maybe included some of the "Hardware Support" thats rumoured to being included in the upcoming 737. The biggest bug to me is the lack of flying this highly realisticly simulated aircraft in a realistic manor, clicking with a mouse, even if as the originally posters bugs were addressed to me is a still a very unrealistic way of flying. I love the PMDG 747 for all sorts of reasons, but I never fly it anymore purely becasue it doesnt interface with hardware. hence my great anticipation to have the 737, where I'll be able to start using my hardware again with something other than the levelD 767, but it would be nice to use the 747 again for some real long haul bashing.you obvioulsy see some point in re-viving interest in the 747 so why not really go the whole hog and generate an awful lot more sales, with some hardware support. Then we'd really have an excting 2010 to look forward to with all your other releases.Best RegardsJames

There are not going to be systems updates to the 744, end of story. The programmer responsible does not work for PMDG anymore and things that are being done for the NGX are part of an entirely new architecture, they can't just be taken and put into an older product. Perhaps some day we'll revisit the 747 and do it over from scratch like we're now doing with the NG.