I am into to flying routes with a time of 3 hours and maxim 4 hours. I hope this answers your questions. I don't care about failure modes.Aaron G.

I not ask question,just give you some suggestion.

Aaron, the NGX-700ER will be out in a month or two, that will have trans-oceanic range, with NGX level of detail. If your time limit is 4 hours, the current NGX-700 can easily give you those types of routes too...ala San Francisco-Honolulu type distances. Another thing to consider is runway sizes, the MD-11 and 747 require longer runways, thus limit your destination possibilities.CheersTJ

Aaron, the NGX-700ER will be out in a month or two, that will have trans-oceanic range, with NGX level of detail. If your time limit is 4 hours, the current NGX-700 can easily give you those types of routes too...ala San Francisco-Honolulu type distances. Another thing to consider is runway sizes, the MD-11 and 747 require longer runways, thus limit your destination possibilities.CheersTJ

I can understand your point of view however I like learning something new hence why I selected the J41 and the MD-11.Aaron G.

I have the MD-11 and 747...dont have the JS41. As far as cockpit 'flow', I can tell you tho that there is an interesting difference between the MD-11 'style' and the Boeing 'style'. In some ways the MD style is closer to the Airbus way of things, yet it is unique. But the JS can present its own challenges I am sure.Enjoy them.CheersTJ

AAron,Sorry I have completley missed your point,, if you are doing flights with a maximum of 4 hours, then the best plane you could possibly use is the NGX, you shouldn't really be bored of it right about now..You should buy the 747 if you want to simulate 747 routes, and the md11 for md11 routes.. I personally have both but have thousands of hours in the 747 since it's release...

Hi,I own the MD 11 probably a year now. I have the NGX since day #2 and the JS41 joined my hangar last saturday. I have done some flights on the JS and in a time range of 3 days I have toasted 2 engines. :DBut up to now Iike it very much, however the better external model textures are not at that quality as in the NGX. On the other side the icing modell is made nicly!Ofcourse the MD11 has also some nice things. One of the most presant things is '######n Betty' :D But I would recomend you to buy both! I think they are worth their money. ;)

I don't have the 747, but own the MD-11X and the JS41. Both are great airplanes.As mentioned before, there's a substantial difference between the Boeing style and McDonnell's style. When I bought the MD-11, I was used to the Boeing way of flying, so there were a quite steep learning curve until I got used to it. But once you get the hand of the plane, it's very pleasant to fly, even by hand. Although the MD-11 is a very big plane, it's quite easy to be controlled, be it in a hand-flown departure or a visual approach. The MD-11 is perfect for medium to long range flights, be it a 3-hour domestic flight (for large countries) up to an 8-hour transatlantic crossing. Because it's a big and heavy plane, it demands more runway than the 737, for instance, to takeoff and land, although not that much if you are flying at low weights. If you're flying a long route, like EHAM - TNCM, with, say, 70% loaded and enough fuel for the route, plus reserves and contingency fuel, you'll notice the effort the airplane makes to gain speed, and that will make you eat quite a long lengh of runway, which limits you number of possible destinations. But it doesn't make the plane any harder to fly.The J41, on the other hand, is great for short flights of, say, 40 minutes to 3, even 4 hours, altough you don't go too far after all that time. The average cruising speed of the J41 is about 250 KTAS at low altitudes and can reach up to 300 KTAS. This one is a little harder to hand-fly. It takes some practice to get used to it. Initially, you may get confused with the new style of cockpit, because ot isn't very similar to the jets' flight deck. But the tutorial flight will guide you through it quite well. It carries up to 25 PAX, IIRC, and can take off and land from short runways, which widens your possibilities of destinations. You can go from small regional airports to intercontinental class ones, like JFK, SFO, Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle. Because it flies lower than the jets, you're able to enjoy some sight-seeing or just appreciate the view out of the window when flying in mountain areas. Now, something that will require some more practice to master are the engines. They are quite temperamentel, but once you learn to treat the right, they'll make no harm to you. The base to a successful flight is: watch your EGT. NEVER forget that. When you start or make a power change, keep an eye on the EGT. You won't want to have a fire started up there. The J41 wasn't really made for single-engine flights. Believe me.I have both airplanes and would advice anyone interested to get them both, since they are totally different airplanes and each one serves very different purposes. You can't fly the J41 routes with the MD-11 and vice versa. The experience is completely different. So, if you have the dollars, get both. If you've got to pick just one, the choose the one that suits better your needs and that will give you more pleasant flights, either you like short routes flying relatively low or long international flights at 35000 feet. Both airplanes are very appealing visualy. Not as much as the NGX, though, since they are older, but very well done and totally worth your money.

Aaron,I have all the PMDG planes for FSX( excluding the 747/800). The 747 is great but is the most similar to the NGX ie programming the FMC is very similar the autopilot modes are basically the same, VNAV,LNAV etc. The MD11 are different enough to give you a new experience. If I fancy a shorter flight in the MD11 I fly a cargo flight and assume it's a one off charter. Also the MD11 wing is the same as the DC10 wing and therefore has higher landing speeds (of around 165 to 170Kts) than the 747. Thus landing manually is great fun. The J41 lands at a much lower speed than all the others (in the region of 110kts). The other interesting thing about the MD11 is the system controller which takes the place of the flight engineer and for example on pressing the ignition button will automatically turn of the packs to provide air for engine start. It also has dial a flap which allows you to dial a flap setting in from 10 degrees up to 25 degrees. So a lot of new things to do. The engine management of the direct gear turboprops in the J41 is a challenge, the FMC is completely different ie there is no scratchpad as such, instead you enter all data into a highlighted yellow box. The FMC only provides advice on VNAV and you can't control VNAV via the autopilot. It does not have an autothrottle so your descent will either be controlled by IAS or VS, therefore closing the throttles when in IAS mode will increase the rate of descent,putting power back on will decrease the rate of descent, and in VS closing the throttles will decrease the IAS and opening them will increase IAS (If you think you may be interested in flying Concorde or Simchecks A300 the ability to do this will be helpful).So in summary both the MD11 and Jetstream are great fun and whichever you chose I am sure you will not be disappointed.

I have all of em, but I have to say I fly the MD-11 a lot more, because FedEx has a lot of shorter, higher-density cargo routes than would be profitable for 747s on the same routes (pax/cargo). I don't think I've flown the poor 744 on my new rig, either. Sad. That might have to be a weekend goal.The J41 is a blast, but you won't find any current routes here in the States. I personally wouldn't put a J41 on that route you described earlier, but if could be done. It's more for the really short hops (less than one or two hour) trips. I use it on the old ACA route pairs (IAD-ROA/RIC/ORF/CRW/etc).

If you like flights that are max 4 hours the MD11 is a very good option. it is very different from the NGX but the MD11 is very fun to use on all kinds of routes. If you want to fly realistic you can fly the MD11 from Fed ex. They fly to every major city in the USA from Memphis. That gives you everything from 30 min, to 4 (6) hours of flight time.

The MD-11 is a great simulation and still my favourite over the NGX. They have been used for short hops as well as portrayed in the 'ITVV MD-11 DVD' and if you watch that, you will be inspired just as I was. The 'Martinair' flight takes you from EHAM-LEPA and back and the instruction by Captain Ruud Bakker is fabulous.http://www.itvv.com/product/MD11/mpmd11dvd.html

Edited November 22, 201114 yr by G7USL

I would prefer the MD11 too...I own both, but the JS is somehow limited due to its short range, whereas the MD11 can fly basically everything from 50-x000 NMand with operators like Fedex/UPS you can fly many real world routes.

Having used the PMDG 747 for quite a time it was not a big deal to "master" the NGX. If you want to learn something new and different. Go for the MD11.Reference for years.