Paying for a Betatest is the worst someone could do!You do hard (but funny) work and therefore you should ge the free copy of the product at the end.(or like an other top notch company I test for: the whole product line for free)Companies, who demand money for betatesting should be ignored from the FlightSim community.(there are some examples where you can see how "successfull" and reliable a company with paying-for-betatest is...)

Tim,Our beta team members who are not real life pilots or maintenance engineers on the aircraft in question don't really get a spot through any set "process" per se, sorry. Occasionally someone who's very helpful or knowledgeable on the forum will catch our eye and we may invite them, but for the most part our team now is made up of people who intimately know the real life aircraft.

I guess that explains why pmdg aircraft are so good!Keep it that way.David DD

We get a ton of emails and support tickets about it actually... Basically if someone can verify their real life job with the aircraft we're making and verify that they have experience with computers and FSX, then we'll consider them. We already have a bunch for the NGX though.

Ah, ok, then I guess I'll have to wait for NGXv3.0 and try then haha. Kidding aside, thanks for the insight!

Seriously, beta testing is rewarding and satisfying on many levels, but I'm not sure I'd call it fun. With PMDG at least the process is professional and well coordinated!

The fun is witnessing the process of a product being created and fine tuned. The reward is getting nice reviews afterwards on a product, that by the time of release feels a bit like "yours" The testing itself and giving valuable feedback to the devs is more difficult then most people realize.

Again, look at the Airsimmer fiasco. Their beta builds float around the net and the large amount of "extended team" testers didn't help them at all to release a bug free product. I am not attacking AirSimmer, just stating the truth. Good beta testers are hard to come by. I would love to get an early view on the bird, but I am sure PMDG have more than enough people with the knowledge and spare time that is needed to beta test.And before even thinking about beta testing, they haven't even reached that milestone yet.Don't forget to use protection. According to your friends at PMDG those cockpits are really dirty places. :(

Don't know about the company you mentioned, but fact is even after release people will find (minor) bugs. Simply because so many more people ,with different hardware specs, addons and setups., are using it in very different ways. Sometimes ways you wouldn't think of. Trick is to minimize the bugs to an absolute minimum. Something you can trust PMDG will do. About beta testers: I've seen some really good ones. Well documented prepared and most of all with the absolute interest to make the product the best on the market. For that they were willing to do all nighters just to meet deadlines, doing boring tests. Nothing fancy, just testing over and over again.And as soon as devs are starting to complain about testers, you know as a tester you're doing a good job

And: not to forget, that fun of betatesting depends on the developer.It could also be that you test and test and afterwards marketing wins and a complete buggy product will be released.And it is not always good to have 100% aviation professionals on board. Newbies try things out of the standards (loopings :( , hard landings, flaps to early, flaps too late, etc etc) what a "professional" wouldn't ever do.Professionals work mostly after checklists. But a good addon isn't one which is just working after checklist. A good addon shows consequences when not using checklists.That is why "unprofessional" betatesters should be in every team.Thats my part :(

I am currently working as a functionality games tester for one of the most recognised publishers in the world. Would that be of interest to anyone here?

And it is not always good to have 100% aviation professionals on board. Newbies try things out of the standards (loopings :( , hard landings, flaps to early, flaps too late, etc etc) what a "professional" wouldn't ever do.

I don't have to TRY for that. they just come naturally! heheJack C

I have the feeling that PMDG has a very efficient beta testing team, that is quite "tight knit".. I would imagine that as a general simulation user [the majority of us here] just simply isnt as good as the guys who have been making and designing add ons for years. The real world pilots etc.Alex

I worked for one of the largest game publishers in the world after school for about 2 yrs as a code release and compatibility tester. That's probably why even 10 yrs later I come across bugs all the time. Must have learned how to mess with software back then subconsciously, especially working 80-100+ hrs a week. I think PMDG should let me see the NG and I guarantee I will find at least 5 bugs nobody else has found yet :D

I don't have to TRY for that. they just come naturally! heheJack C

Lol, tears in my eyes because of that comment

I was a Beta Tester for Aerosoft on a few of their Mega Airport Sceneries which was fun. However, I didn't have to pay anything or sign anything, all it was was a simple email offering my services towards Aerosoft.It is fun and find it interesting although I feel Aerosoft are going through a small quiet phase at the moment.Good luck with finding a place on a Beta Team :)

You would HAVE to pay me a lot to be a beta tester for an FS aircraft. Beta testing is mind numbing in and of itself but setting up a flight, planning, taxiing departing, climbing cruising, descending all to TRY to reproduce a bug on final approach or landing... No way would I want that job.

It isn't too bad.

Professionals work mostly after checklists. But a good addon isn't one which is just working after checklist. A good addon shows consequences when not using checklists.That is why "unprofessional" betatesters should be in every team.

I didn't mean to imply that we have ONLY professional pilots on our team - there are quite a few normal simmers on the team.I think our products speak for themselves though as far as consequences when going outside the bounds of normal flight operations - we try to design dynamic systems that will react correctly regardless of what the situation is - we don't program fake systems that only behave correctly on the surface and "break" once you go outside of normal.Professionals do understand their aircraft's systems and know the cool little quirks in how the real thing operates - that really sets what we're doing apart from other addons we think. Someone who intimately knows the NG in real life will be able to load ours up, check for these little quirks and actually find them there.