For me a good filler for PMDG products (granted you are in to classic aircraft) is A2A simulations. If I want modern aircraft I come to PMDG. For classics I go to A2A. I have all their Accu-sim products: B377 Stratocruiser (classic prop airliner), P-47D, and J-3 Cub. Their Accu-sim adds such environment, and realism to the aircraft. That B377 is a real challenge to fly with those 4 big 28 cylinder radial prop engines. I think you would maybe have fun with that in the meantime. Is always refreshing after flying those birds to go back to the fully automated MD-11, or even pilot friendly J-41. Makes me appreciate the technology a whole lot better. :(

I really need to check their stuff out at some point. Maybe I'll grab the Cub for flying around PNW.

Hi Folks,

Welcome to Avsim Nicolas. I see it's your first post, as it's always nice to see how the PMDG forums bring out people for thier first couple posts. Again, welcome.

When I enter the cockpit of any of my PMDG aircraft, I know too, that it is going to do what it is supposed to 100% of the time.

LOL, maybe not 100% time but definately more than 90%, IMHO, especially when referencing PMDG's older aircraft like the MD or the 744, those two aircraft seem to have alot of attention to detail in both the Flight Model and systems simulation, where PMDG's latest release, the J41, seemed to be an excercise in development of an outstanding looking Virtual Cockpit, one that really has set the standard for VC's to come. Unfortunately, for the StudySim fans, this meant that PMDG only had limited time to develop the rest of the airplane and systems. So your statement is, for the most part correct for the StudySim addons PMDG has made, but the simulation of the J41 doesn't do everything as correct as the MD or 74 does. Again, IMHO, this was a very bright marketing decision on PMDG's part to maximize thier development efforts for the highest possible sales numbers.

On the other hand each time I use another developers aircraft except the LevelD 767 ( A first class product), I really never know whats going to happen. Inevtiably something goes wrong. The most common issue that bugs me is that no other developer seems to be able to get VNAV functions correct and FMC's are very poor.

Every developer has bugs in the initial release, (If thats what your talking about) even PMDG. In regards to VNAV. Here's a few developers (that I know of) that have nailed the functionality and correct logic of VNAV......Leonardo, PMDG, PSS, Dreamteam, Coolsky, LDS and others as these are the addons which I personally have experience with.

Aside from that there seems to be and endless amount of bugs etc that just take the fun out of flying in addition to extremely limited Nav data.

Have a look at the Navigraph site. and then navigate to the FMS updates page. Every developer listed there has designed thier addon to be updated with the latest nav data. That means that all those develeopers are sharing the same info for the database on thier FMS or GPS systems

In my opinion the worst offenders are the CS 757 and both Airbus series from Wilco, they are just crap all round. It seems that PMDG is the only developer that has the expertise to develop sim aircraft as they should be. Level-D is very good too, but their activity seems to be almost non-existant these days.

Thats not too nice to call any developers work, "Just crap all around", it's probably better than you could do. PMDG is an amazing developer and in some places has been at the forefront of the FS addon market, but there are many developers who have released outstanding work, work that, in the eye of the beholder, is better than the work done by PMDG.

So im my opinion PMDG has no compitetion, they are in a class of their own and deserve it. Sure, I wish we could get aircraft a little quicker from them, but I would rather wait for an aircraft that works properly, and as PMDG has informed us there are alot of aircraft in the development pipeline. There are other good developers for smaller not so complex aircraft., but when it comes down to highly complicated systems modeling etc., thre is only one name: Precision Manuals Development GroupOn another note, as a poster above mentioned, I also think that upon the release of the PMDG 777 it will be the aircraft to dominate the flight sim skies for years to come. So thats my two cents worth.HAPPY FLYING,NicholasBB

IMHO, PMDG is a great developer and I will continue to purchase thier products as I feel they are one developer out of many that are consitently pushing the envelope of 3rd party FS aircraft addons, but they are not the only developer that are doing so. There are many other developers that are 1 and 2 man teams, with a fraction of the resources of PMDG trying to achieve success so that they can keep our hobby alive. IMHO, it seems that the mass majority of flight simmers look ay PMDG as the giant that they are and very often this will overshadow all the other developers who don''t have the resources necessary to compete with PMDG on the business and marketing level.I respect PMDG, but my rant here is for no other purpose than to try and make people aware that there are some incredibly tallented developers out there that deserve a fair shake even if it takes a bit more time to find thier home page because they can't afford the same marketing capaign as other developers who have been fortunate enough to catch the wave. Remember, that without a good healthy amount of competition, the further development of a market will stagnate.I'm really sorry about my rant and I will get off my soapbox.JB

I'd agree with the comment that you can "trust" PMDG aircraft most of the time. I have the 737-800 and the 747-400, and the 747-400 especially is very trustworthy, especially during descents with VNAV PTH.The Level-D is somewhat less trustworhty I find during descent - usually I use V/S because it seems to really flip its lid on a lot of descents. But that's okay - I love the LDS 767 also, it's great on frame-rates, the systems are simulated really well, sounds are great, very immersive etc...Cheers,Rudy

Thats not too nice to call any developers work, "Just crap all around", it's probably better than you could do.

What on earth has that got to do with it? He's not in the business so he doesn't have to! Remember, we're not talking about freeware here.Iain Smith

What on earth has that got to do with it? He's not in the business so he doesn't have to! Remember, we're not talking about freeware here.Iain Smith

Still not a nice comment, regardless, CaptainSim does make a hell of a good model and they are pretty good texture artists... So you can't very well say they are, "Crap All Around".JB

Well said richard welsh . . . i second all of what you said.

I have four pdmg aircraft and i just love the MD11. i think its great i dont mind the 747.8i too

PMDG's only competitions are LVLD (which has really come to a new low, not much going on around their part of the woodds) and Maddog. Maddog is one of the, if not THE BEST in system simulations (Sorry PMDG, but it's true, Maddog is just....breathtaking in system simulation). PMDG is amazing in Model and VC, and of course System sim. is top notch too. Airsimmer LOOKED promising, but we don't want to go down that road again :(Karan

PMDG's only competitions are LVLD (which has really come to a new low, not much going on around their part of the woodds) and Maddog. Maddog is one of the, if not THE BEST in system simulations (Sorry PMDG, but it's true, Maddog is just....breathtaking in system simulation). PMDG is amazing in Model and VC, and of course System sim. is top notch too. Airsimmer LOOKED promising, but we don't want to go down that road again :( Karan

Besides the Leonardo Maddog, you might also wanna add A2A simulations to that crowd. I know it may be like comparing apples to oranges when comparing sims like the B-377, P-47 and the new B-17G. But these sims do an amazing job of systems simulation and immersion through thier use of persistent systems.... Just like the maddog, the A2A accusimmed products will take into consideration how well you treated your aircraft. If you allowed one engine to get too hot, or landed too hard the last flight, you might start her up next time and see some potential breakdowns... In the new B-17G, you actually have a maintenance hanger screen that allows you to choose what to fix, or not to fix based on wear severity. Wow, imagine the PMDG aircraft with full systems simulation and something similar that would allow you to maintain failed or inop items with persistant aircraft conditions from flight to flight, combining both ideas, like the persistent MEL from Leonardo Maddog and the maint hanger from A2A's latest the B17G. That would be pretty nice...Whatcha say PMDG? How about you move the 73NG's release date back a few months and throw something similar in?JB

I forgot to say that FSD make a good payware aircraft to.

How about you move the 73NG's release date back a few months and throw something similar in?

You're assuming we're not already way ahead of you... :( No need to delay anything, the plane actually has the ability to track service times and our failure modes are based on real life data from maintenance records along with the usual "sim" style failure system that we've had in the past. This all happens through custom "sim" pages on the FMC and EICAS too, sorta the next level adding onto what we did with the MD-11's MCDU FS Functions page. It adds a few other cool things that people have always requested too. Gotta save some info for later though!

WOW!Im guessing then that it will have real time re-fueling like the MD-11? This i think would be more important on the 737 than the MD11 as you have to turn it round sometimes in only half an hour.Another cool thing that i as thinking of the other day is realtime pax and baggage boarding. You set how many Pax and Bags and click START BOARDING, and your aircrafts weight will increase untill all bags and pax are on bord and it will say BOARDING COMPLETED.To add more realism to this feature you could increase the boarding speed if the both the rear and front doors are open and reduce it if only boarding through the front door. And you will need to complete it by having an UNBOARD option once their all boarded. This will make turnarounds more realistic because if you ask me they are currntly the most un realistic portion of flight sim. And in the 737 your turnaround will sometimes be longer than the actual flight.NGX will be the best addon ever. Cant wait.

You're assuming we're not already way ahead of you... :( No need to delay anything, the plane actually has the ability to track service times and our failure modes are based on real life data from maintenance records along with the usual "sim" style failure system that we've had in the past. This all happens through custom "sim" pages on the FMC and EICAS too, sorta the next level adding onto what we did with the MD-11's MCDU FS Functions page. It adds a few other cool things that people have always requested too. Gotta save some info for later though!

Two thumbs up. Ryan. That sounds excellent.One quick question Ryan... So are you saying that the damage/failures/inop items will be persistant from one flight to the next, with a FS shutdown in between? And, if so, will the persistent failed/inop items that meet the MEL, effect the airplanes systems as a whole, thus making it necessary to ammend the flows and CL's to accomidate particular items on the MEL? Looking foreward to the release date.JB

You've got to be pulling our chain Tabs (I know youre not). This is excellent news. I wouldn't of wanted it delayed to add that stuff, but since it is in there go on ahead and bring it on. :(

The only reason i have fs2004 installed is so i can fly the PDMG 737.