I realise of course your point is that it is a presentation, so you may indeed be using the description ''Powerpoint'' in the generic sense, because if anyone could produce those videos with Powerpoint alone, then I would be greatly impressed. Powerpoint is in fact one of the simple programs I am occasionally asked to train people on in my job, although more typically I train people on things such as Flash, After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign Dreamweaver, 3DS Max etc (that's with the leading training company in Europe, presenting authorised training courses, so I know these programs better than most people do, and I know the kind of skills required to do training well too.) If you wanted me to train you, it'd cost you literally ten times the price of the entire AoA Captain package; that's for one day's training with me, and no, I'm not joking, that is how much high-end quality training costs, so keep that in mind when you weigh up the cost against what you are getting with AoA's stuff! Thus I can assure you that these more professionally-oriented programs are far more likely to have been employed in the production of the AoA training videos than Powerpoint, and there is a good deal of skill, knowldege and experience with them needed to get the best out of them. But that's merely an observation, and not really the point I want to make, which is... Let's say that Powerpoint had been used in their production, the difference would have been in how slick (or possibly not) things looked, which some might consider is not of much importance - after all, it's only the content that matters with training, right? - well, to some extent that is true, but there is a lot more to presenting information than that if it is to be done to best advantage. The difference is not to be underestimated, especially in training. Canadian philosopher, Marshall McCluhan (who amongst other things, predicted the emergence of the web and coined the phrase ''global village''), is also famous for having said ''the medium is the message''. Now, you could spend a long time disecting that phrase with people to find various meanings, but the point is that what he meant was the way a message is presented has a symbioitic relationship with the content of the message, which can either be a good or a bad thing, depending on both the medium that is used and the skill with which it is employed. The fact is, to do the kind of presentation videos AoA is creating to a high standard, not only in terms of content and scripting, but also in terms of how the design, framing and motion serve to reinforce the message, takes time. You need a good producer, a very good designer, a good editor, a decent storyboard artist, a decent audio engineer, and a whole host of other people skilled in various other fields, and that's before you have even got to packaging it up, marketing it and presenting it for purchase. So there are two ways you can do that; either with a massive team who all work well together under the guidance of a project manager, or with a smaller team who can multitask and know about how to present training properly. The chief difference between the two approaches is in the turnaround time and the cost, and if you want to come in at a budget of 80 bucks, then you are probably going to have to go with the smaller team and take a bit longer to produce it. That's just the way it is. If you think it is easy, have a crack at it yourself, and I don't mean that in a flippant ''can you do better? if not shut up'' kind of way, I mean really consider the work involved and then have a try at it; you'll have to get all the information needed to be conveyed, check it all for accuracy, slice it up into meaningful chunks for coherent episodes, script it, storyboard it, do the screengrabs and video shots, do any custom artwork for diagrams, record the audio, collate it all, do a rough edit, then a more refined edit making any changes or amendments that show up as necessary, then export it, wrap it up and then set it up for downloading, updating the website to reflect the changes. Then there is a feedback forum to run and other bits and pieces too. Think you can knock all that up in three weeks? I know it can be done, because I've done that sort of thing myself in the past, but don't fool yourself into thinking it is a breeze, because it certainly is not. It's a massive undertaking, and if you want the truth, I don't envy them the task, and I know how to do all that stuff LOL I'll give you an example, if you listen to the FS2Crew iFly 737 English pilot, that voice is in fact me, and that was just a simple case of recording phrases and making up the odd bits of script here and there. But it was a process that happened over a few weeks, since new things cropped up and stuff had to be re-recorded and amended, and that was just one of many voices in the product and a really rather tiny part of the product itself. Time-wise the entire amount of recording of all the phrases probably amounted to maybe half an hour, but it could not be done all in one go, so half an hour's recording time did not end up taking that small amount of time, even though on the face of it one might think that could be the case. No trainer is beyond reproach of course, and believe me, any decent trainer welcomes criticism, since it will highlight things they can improve upon. But keep in mind that although knocking up a quick training video might seem simple, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Take a look on youtube at the various tutorial videos people have put up, and you will see that the vast majority of them are really rather poor in comparison to AoA's output, which ought to highlight what skill at production can do to make a tutorial more effective, and how that will always take a bit of time. Al

I have to say, that "Location:Her Brittanic Majesty's Kingdom of Englandshire" says a lot about your style. I went to school in the "British" system and am just shy of 59yrs. I had to smile as I read your "essay": it said everything that needed to be said but, it was also a lesson. I guess this makes you the resident "maestro". Thanks for the lesson.

My point with the PP presentation was that 20 minutes of the video consists of a background picture, text floating in from left/right and a narrator reading the same text. That is a PP presentation to me and if that has taken almost a month to produce............... Sorry but I didn't get the "awsome" feeling. This discussion over the videos from AoA is, from now on, closed from my side. I have accepted to wait patiently without comments and will let other people be the judges in the future. I do feel sad for AoA for all the damage they ar doing to themselves, but as they seem to have VERY loyal deciples out there I'm sure this will be good in the end. JJJ

There's no question that the AoA videos are top notch visually appealing and in depth training tools. Quality, however, is only half of the equation. Just being able to produce "the best of something" isn't very useful if the production process is riddled with delay. I've decided that I can go through the FCOMs in half the time it will take them to crank out this first set of videos. And, I'll have a heck of a lot more control and certainty in timing my training.

There's no question that the AoA videos are top notch visually appealing and in depth training tools. Quality, however, is only half of the equation. Just being able to produce "the best of something" isn't very useful if the production process is riddled with delay. I've decided that I can go through the FCOMs in half the time it will take them to crank out this first set of videos. And, I'll have a heck of a lot more control and certainty in timing my training.

I've read the FCOMs, but have already picked up things in the AoA videos not covered in the FCOM.

I've read the FCOMs, but have already picked up things in the AoA videos not covered in the FCOM.

Really? What about lighting or caution/warning did you learn in the video that is not in the FCOM?

Which lights would illuminate each of the 12 individual caution messages. (Not saying that that's not mentioned in the FCOM btw, I'm just saying that's something I didn't pick up from it).

Ok, so when will the next video be released?

Someone had to ask ;) We're working on it. Great progress so far. Definitely shorter timeframe than the last!

Without AOA you have a game, with AOA you'll get a simulator! Boudewijn

Ha! Love it...

I realise of course your point is that it is a presentation, so you may indeed be using the description ''Powerpoint'' in the generic sense, because if anyone could produce those videos with Powerpoint alone, then I would be greatly impressed. Powerpoint is in fact one of the simple programs I am occasionally asked to train people on in my job, although more typically I train people on things such as Flash, After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign Dreamweaver, 3DS Max etc (that's with the leading training company in Europe, presenting authorised training courses, so I know these programs better than most people do, and I know the kind of skills required to do training well too.) If you wanted me to train you, it'd cost you literally ten times the price of the entire AoA Captain package; that's for one day's training with me, and no, I'm not joking, that is how much high-end quality training costs, so keep that in mind when you weigh up the cost against what you are getting with AoA's stuff! Thus I can assure you that these more professionally-oriented programs are far more likely to have been employed in the production of the AoA training videos than Powerpoint, and there is a good deal of skill, knowldege and experience with them needed to get the best out of them. But that's merely an observation, and not really the point I want to make, which is... Let's say that Powerpoint had been used in their production, the difference would have been in how slick (or possibly not) things looked, which some might consider is not of much importance - after all, it's only the content that matters with training, right? - well, to some extent that is true, but there is a lot more to presenting information than that if it is to be done to best advantage. The difference is not to be underestimated, especially in training. Canadian philosopher, Marshall McCluhan (who amongst other things, predicted the emergence of the web and coined the phrase ''global village''), is also famous for having said ''the medium is the message''. Now, you could spend a long time disecting that phrase with people to find various meanings, but the point is that what he meant was the way a message is presented has a symbioitic relationship with the content of the message, which can either be a good or a bad thing, depending on both the medium that is used and the skill with which it is employed. The fact is, to do the kind of presentation videos AoA is creating to a high standard, not only in terms of content and scripting, but also in terms of how the design, framing and motion serve to reinforce the message, takes time. You need a good producer, a very good designer, a good editor, a decent storyboard artist, a decent audio engineer, and a whole host of other people skilled in various other fields, and that's before you have even got to packaging it up, marketing it and presenting it for purchase. So there are two ways you can do that; either with a massive team who all work well together under the guidance of a project manager, or with a smaller team who can multitask and know about how to present training properly. The chief difference between the two approaches is in the turnaround time and the cost, and if you want to come in at a budget of 80 bucks, then you are probably going to have to go with the smaller team and take a bit longer to produce it. That's just the way it is. If you think it is easy, have a crack at it yourself, and I don't mean that in a flippant ''can you do better? if not shut up'' kind of way, I mean really consider the work involved and then have a try at it; you'll have to get all the information needed to be conveyed, check it all for accuracy, slice it up into meaningful chunks for coherent episodes, script it, storyboard it, do the screengrabs and video shots, do any custom artwork for diagrams, record the audio, collate it all, do a rough edit, then a more refined edit making any changes or amendments that show up as necessary, then export it, wrap it up and then set it up for downloading, updating the website to reflect the changes. Then there is a feedback forum to run and other bits and pieces too. Think you can knock all that up in three weeks? I know it can be done, because I've done that sort of thing myself in the past, but don't fool yourself into thinking it is a breeze, because it certainly is not. It's a massive undertaking, and if you want the truth, I don't envy them the task, and I know how to do all that stuff LOL I'll give you an example, if you listen to the FS2Crew iFly 737 English pilot, that voice is in fact me, and that was just a simple case of recording phrases and making up the odd bits of script here and there. But it was a process that happened over a few weeks, since new things cropped up and stuff had to be re-recorded and amended, and that was just one of many voices in the product and a really rather tiny part of the product itself. Time-wise the entire amount of recording of all the phrases probably amounted to maybe half an hour, but it could not be done all in one go, so half an hour's recording time did not end up taking that small amount of time, even though on the face of it one might think that could be the case. No trainer is beyond reproach of course, and believe me, any decent trainer welcomes criticism, since it will highlight things they can improve upon. But keep in mind that although knocking up a quick training video might seem simple, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Take a look on youtube at the various tutorial videos people have put up, and you will see that the vast majority of them are really rather poor in comparison to AoA's output, which ought to highlight what skill at production can do to make a tutorial more effective, and how that will always take a bit of time. Al

Wow! I couldn't have said it any better myself. That's perhaps the most encouraging comment I've read thus far! It's great to know that someone truly understands our challenges ;)

Which lights would illuminate each of the 12 individual caution messages. (Not saying that that's not mentioned in the FCOM btw, I'm just saying that's something I didn't pick up from it).

Ah, I see. When it comes to the FCOM, it pays to read, reread and take notes.

Ah, I see. When it comes to the FCOM, it pays to read, reread and take notes.

Its easier to pick up things watching the videos than trying to read the fcoms

Its easier to pick up things watching the videos than trying to read the fcoms

Not when they don't exist!

Its easier to pick up things watching the videos than trying to read the fcoms

Maybe. But the FCOMs and FCTM are here. The videos are nothing but aspirations at this point. Look at the bright side, a year and a half from now, you will have picked up a lot.

Maybe. But the FCOMs and FCTM are here. The videos are nothing but aspirations at this point. Look at the bright side, a year and a half from now, you will have picked up a lot.

yea true by that time i mite have read the fcom in a year and a half

The lighting video preview (on YouTube) looks awesome, but, at this point, I'm inclined to wait. I'd just as soon leave the $80 in my bank account where it can earn interest, which is more than the money will do if I buy the Captain's Package now. Just from a business/marketing stand point, AoA really should consider releasing a development timeline. Trevor

I never tought of it in that perspective...brilliant! Really....I think their videos are very well done! I am a man with very little patience tough and because of this I prefered to cancel for now instead of checking every week for a video and being disappointed everytime. I am willing to pay the extra cost for not being as patient as others...that's just the way I am, I like to have things quick but it will save me alot of headaches.

I never tought of it in that perspective...brilliant! Really....I think their videos are very well done! I am a man with very little patience tough and because of this I prefered to cancel for now instead of checking every week for a video and being disappointed everytime. I am willing to pay the extra cost for not being as patient as others...that's just the way I am, I like to have things quick but it will save me alot of headaches.

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