I love the looks of this airplane. I like flying the thing but I, like JIMJAM, am having problems with the auto pilot. I cant get the heading hold finction to work and the heading bug runs away on me too. Altitude hold functions fine but turning on the heading hold switch does nothing. I have not had time to sit down and study the manual in great detail but have glanced at it which was the only way I could locate the auto pilot. It does look like a great aircraft and tonight I plan to go home and throughly review the manual. Speed control is also something I need to get used to. It's really quick and climbs like a rocket.

I hope I can help you on the AP thing. Make sure to turn on the Flight Director needles, lower left side of the Captain's yoke, there is just a small switch. Having the FD on, the "HDG select" on the Pedestal helps you and the HGD bug drives the plane then. Holding the current altitude or a pitch command also isn't a problem then.So you need the package of "gyro power", enabled AP servos, the "pilot side" as active one (Pedestal again), that mentioned FD switch and an active AP mode via those pedestal switches to actually fly automated. But the roll out behavior is very slow it seems.I think I'll try the Civa INS integration later to allow a somehow guided flight without a too modern GPS. Maybe I add both though, depends.I was just looking for that very nice radar and terrain information screen on this plane, very atmospheric feature but it took me quite some time to find the "on" switch I must admit.Now I have some nice green glowing screen delivering not only radiation to me but some very useful pictures. Great feature.The Alps ahead! (currently in Map view)

Might be that CS is cheating a bit on that radar view because you mainly get a picture from above while the real thing should send out rays from the aircraft itself (so another viewing angle would be realistic) but hey, fun and not-expensive product here and I can tell of some fun flying it.

I hope you are aware that this will mean Christmas 2011. http://www.captainsi...?num=1283263156I found 25 Euros for the complete B--52 package to be a fair offer.

Thanks. I hadn't seen that post. I was hoping for a Christmas sale to pick up some expansion packs. I'll try some if the Iris $5 specials then.

Great idea and prices near stealing there, Kevin. I think that I'll join in. For those who are interested, I've added the nice Civa INS to the B-52. Realistic or not, it's fun to operate on the older birds. Look here and feel free to comment. http://www.captainsi...?num=1292196885

CoolP,Where is the buttom to turn on the Terrain Radar???? :PI´m completely lost to find it!!!!Thanks!

No problem, Flavio. Better don't ask me for how long I was looking for the thing I've missed. See here, two green things are glowing. One is the screen and the other one (enlarge the picture to see) ..For details on the actual image use the Terrain Display Control Panel on the Pedestal and the brightness knob on the screen itself.Another one. I've altered the static_thrust = 30000 value in the aircraft.cfg to 22000 to get rid of this rocket-like climb attitude. Maybe the "fun" factor in this product was the too high performance, now I'm using it without fun and I'm even more happy.

Thanks man! I probably would use many avgas galons parked in the ground just to find that buttom .... :( :( :biggrin:Thanks again!!!

Glad to read from your success there. I still have to try the low and fast bombing runs with that thing in "peak" mode. I'm quite exited, I must admit.

Dave, they've just announced it, so don't raise expectations too soon. :( This won't go like the other 737 in the making of course but how about some nice surprise if they report about progress instead of constantly waiting for it?I'm still trying to fly and operate the "light" B-52 in the meantime and must say that it's far more than light (without being heavy). I double the statement about the framerates, they are great. The graphics are highres, the gauges offer some custom setup and not just a doubled one from other birds (sure, ADI and HSI will look somehow familiar).Although you have 8 engines there, you can map only 4 throttles so far, so they go in pairs. The manual speaks of a FSX limitation there, sounds ok to me. The grab system works but I'm completely unfamiliar with such features and have to test the actual flying with it. Nice little detail though.One downside which some of us wouldn't discover until somebody told them: You don't see your wings when looking from the VC. I can see the lights on the wings if I turn my head (trackir user) quite far but no wing surface there. CS states some FSX poly limits for this and as you have to turn that head very far and well beyond the normal range compared to other birds where you would discover the missing wings just after a few seconds, I'm ok here.From the outside, the wingflex looks amazing. Even the spoilers cause reactions here.As the graphics are impressive and stuff like sounds, tooltips, clicksounds and fluent gauge reaction are very good (except for the gear up/down sound, this is too standard for me), this one offers some fun at a very nice price point in my eyes. Far more than a "fun product" so far, quite some details to explore. I'd say that she's a bit too powerful from the first flights, but I may be wrong on this.She could use some AP popup in my eyes. This plane (like most newer CS ones) is VC only, but I always liked some one or two useful popups to operate such birds (maybe an item for 1.1.). Definitely no need for a complete 2D cockpit though.If you like to take a view into the actual detail before buying, go for the manual2 from here http://captainsim.co...20/manuals.html.

An FSX limitation, eh? I've always thought Captain Sim broke through the limits of Flight Simulator through XML coding and such. Dave.

Maybe you guys can tell me if this (picture) is a CS joke (a good one then) or a somehow real plate on the yoke there.Uploaded with ImageShack.us

It's sort of like the real thing. The actual B-52 yoke has a more conservative 'Boeing B-52' design which changed a bit over the years. But there were several semi-official SAC badges produced based around the B-52, of which you can find several varieties as stickers that would be handed out at air shows etc. On occasion these would be stuck over the actual yoke badge by crews, maintenance people etc. These stickers had things such as 'peace, the old fashioned way' and 'let peace rain, upon our enemies' on them, so you are effectively flying one that has had that happen to it.Here's a real B-52 yoke, this is quite a flashy variant, most of them were with the text in a more conservative white:http://www.angelfire.com/il2/aphs/52e.jpgAl

Thanks, Alan. Do we both agree that one can smile about such little things in the virtual cockpit?

Thank you CoolP, have had 2 successful, if not hair raising, flights using the information provided here and over at ORBX. The terrain radar power had me stumped as well as a number of 'dummy' switches.Definately a challenge first up being a solo pilot, cured any boredom and worth every cent.

If you ever run out of neat little buttons to push there, include the Civa INS and get some more.

I am intrigued by this beast, it seems it has more to it than meets the eye.However before i decide on whether to buy, i thought i would see what other think of it. Having read some of the issues on the CS forum it seems people cant even get the thing started or atleast firing on all engines.What do you all make of it, in terms of realism and reliability/glitchesTom