Cliff, the PMDG will indeed be one of the best addons ever, but some people like the old steam gauges better as well.

So PMDG is building a cargo 727?

So PMDG is building a cargo 727?

No...CS has the best FSX 727 available, and PMDG has no plans that I've heard of to build one.

Hey, glad to help! :) If you haven't downloaded the B727 user manuals from HJG, you can find the link to them here, towards the bottom of the page: http://simviation.co...nels/boeing.htm (It's a zipped file).They are in HTM format, and the Index.htm is the starting point file.

I've gone through the manual, but still having trouble understanding the INS. It says that the INS needs to be manually set up if you start a flight with the engines not running. But I start without engines running, and the INS appears to be activated with my ramp coordinates entered already and the gyros already calibrated (Green light is on on the panel). Then are my waypoints from the MSFS flight planner supposed to be pre-loaded into the INS, or do I have to do that manually for each waypoint?I tried to get underway, got the AP engaged, got up to cruising altitude, and tried to activate the INS mode for the AP, but it bounced right back to manual mode.

Go to the main Avsim page, click on 'reviews', then choose 'aircraft reviews', scroll down a bit and you will find my Just Flight CS727 review, open up that review and look right near the end of it. You will find a bunch of useful links there, and the very last one is a link to where you will find the mods you need to make the 727 fly better. All the other links are worth checking out too by the way if you like the 727.Al

Al that is an excellent review, very thorough and unbiased coverage of the pros and cons. Really enjoyed reading it. Unfortunately, with all those required tweaks, it seems to be the traditional Captain Sim product, lots of potential but never finished. The FSX 707 sounds like their first product to break from that development philosophy. I noticed you reviewed the 2.3 version of the 727 and the 2.4 version is out now. Do you know if the 2.4 version addressed any of the issues that you mentioned?Ted

I've never found a fix that tweaks the power of the engines. What can I do to work on that?

That would be great. I hate overspeeding N1 on takeoff and applying 60% N1 just for taxi :( If only CaptainSim dropped that lazy "It's just a game" policy and started finishing their products, we could have such a nice collection of vintage airliners for hardcore simmers...

Well, that's one of the problems with having the JF boxed version, if you don't have access to the CS site from having made a purchase there, the latest patches can be a bit slow in coming to users of the boxed versions, since their route for such fixes is via the JF support pages, meaning one has to resort to searching elsewhere for such fixes if not prepared to await them filtering down to that 'official support route'. That doesn't actually affect me to be fair, since I've bought a lot of CS stuff via their site and can cheerfully get onto their forums etc, however, when reviewing the product at hand, it was better to stick with what came in the box for reasons of accuracy to the product under review. In any case, I've still not tried that current patch because I've actually been rather ill for a while following a quite nasty accident, so I'm kind of catching up with things again at the moment :-)With regard to the engine power problem, as I seem to recall mentioning in that review, I think they've kind of 'averaged it out' across the variants to make no single one which you can get from them outrageously inaccurate on the power curve, all whilst still being able to use a single flight model. That might seem lazy of course, but I think we have to remember that compilation collections of several aircraft variants are often 'built to a price', which also probably accounts for not having an INS or a later FMC-equipped variant in the package either, as well as having one VC for all models, which leads to some placarding anomalies for some variants. I'd like to see all those things change, but whether I'd like to see the dent it would make in my bank account is another matter entirely!Al

Well, that's one of the problems with having the JF boxed version, if you don't have access to the CS site from having made a purchase there, the latest patches can be a bit slow in coming to users of the boxed versions, since their route for such fixes is via the JF support pages, meaning one has to resort to searching elsewhere for such fixes if not prepared to await them filtering down to that 'official support route'. That doesn't actually affect me to be fair, since I've bought a lot of CS stuff via their site and can cheerfully get onto their forums etc, however, when reviewing the product at hand, it was better to stick with what came in the box for reasons of accuracy to the product under review. In any case, I've still not tried that current patch because I've actually been rather ill for a while following a quite nasty accident, so I'm kind of catching up with things again at the moment :-)With regard to the engine power problem, as I seem to recall mentioning in that review, I think they've kind of 'averaged it out' across the variants to make no single one which you can get from them outrageously inaccurate on the power curve, all whilst still being able to use a single flight model. That might seem lazy of course, but I think we have to remember that compilation collections of several aircraft variants are often 'built to a price', which also probably accounts for not having an INS or a later FMC-equipped variant in the package either, as well as having one VC for all models, which leads to some placarding anomalies for some variants. I'd like to see all those things change, but whether I'd like to see the dent it would make in my bank account is another matter entirely!Al

Sorry to hear about the accident Alan, I hope the recovery is going well?Bryan.

If only JF/CLS made a 'lite' version of the 727....that would be great, concerning CLS has already done that type of quality with their DC-10 Collection and their Airbus A300/A310 series. I wonder if there's gonna be a simplified INS system on this thing...it's like the spell JF did with the FMC on the A320 package.Dave.

You can actually put the INS from other aircraft into the CS 727 by altering the cockpit config file, since it is only a gauge. Either the one from the CLS 747, or the one from the SimCheck A300, or that freebie standalone one kicking around on the 'net (name escapes me at the moment, but it's easy enough to locate) would do. Of course there's no slot for it in the VC, so it wouldn't be on the pedestal, but it can be added as a 2D pop up if you really want to INS navigate the thing.Similarly, you could put the Integrated Simavionics FMC into it too if you liked, and end up with a 727 more like the ones flying about these days. Personally I quite like flying it with just the VOR nav system, and many really were flown in that way. That's actually one of the plus points of the JF version's extra printed manual, it has a great tutorial on how to do that properly, written by my buddy, Jane Rachel Whittaker.Al

You can actually put the INS from other aircraft into the CS 727 by altering the cockpit config file, since it is only a gauge. Either the one from the CLS 747, or the one from the SimCheck A300, or that freebie standalone one kicking around on the 'net (name escapes me at the moment, but it's easy enough to locate) would do. Of course there's no slot for it in the VC, so it wouldn't be on the pedestal, but it can be added as a 2D pop up if you really want to INS navigate the thing.Similarly, you could put the Integrated Simavionics FMC into it too if you liked, and end up with a 727 more like the ones flying about these days. Personally I quite like flying it with just the VOR nav system, and many really were flown in that way. That's actually one of the plus points of the JF version's extra printed manual, it has a great tutorial on how to do that properly, written by my buddy, Jane Rachel Whittaker.Al

Hi AL - I hope your recovery is going well!For instructions on including the CIVA INS in the CS727, go here:http://www.captainsim.org/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1286031420Works great!

I've gone through the manual, but still having trouble understanding the INS. It says that the INS needs to be manually set up if you start a flight with the engines not running. But I start without engines running, and the INS appears to be activated with my ramp coordinates entered already and the gyros already calibrated (Green light is on on the panel). Then are my waypoints from the MSFS flight planner supposed to be pre-loaded into the INS, or do I have to do that manually for each waypoint?I tried to get underway, got the AP engaged, got up to cruising altitude, and tried to activate the INS mode for the AP, but it bounced right back to manual mode.

Hmmmm....I will have to play around with its INS some more....I know it's a little different from the CIVA INS that I'm used to using. (I use that in the FSX CS727, the FS9 Tinmouse, and DreamFleet's superb B727).

Oh I'm fine now, thanks for the concern though guys.Al

Of course if you want to go completely over the top, look on the Cockpit Memorobilia Sim Parts page of this link and scroll about halfway down, where you will find a couple of real INS cockpit units, an Aero Products one for 55 bucks and a Litton one 75 bucks: http://www.oncealoft.com/Al

Hi AL - I hope your recovery is going well!For instructions on including the CIVA INS in the CS727, go here:http://www.captainsim.org/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1286031420Works great!Hmmmm....I will have to play around with its INS some more....I know it's a little different from the CIVA INS that I'm used to using. (I use that in the FSX CS727, the FS9 Tinmouse, and DreamFleet's superb B727).

Update - look here on HJG's General Forum for detailed instructions on using their INS:http://tonymadgehjg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=3449

Of course if you want to go completely over the top, look on the Cockpit Memorobilia Sim Parts page of this link and scroll about halfway down, where you will find a couple of real INS cockpit units, an Aero Products one for 55 bucks and a Litton one 75 bucks: http://www.oncealoft.com/Al

Yeah, that's a very cool site!Jim

Update - look here on HJG's General Forum for detailed instructions on using their INS:http://tonymadgehjg....lay&thread=3449Yeah, that's a very cool site!Jim

Surprisingly enough, I figured it out last night and successfully flew from Glasgow to Dublin. Very cool. But thanks for the link.