Flight 1 ATR: Your thoughts please

[Cai Zicheng 171]

Hi folks,

I'm looking at the Flight 1 ATR-72 for FSX and I need your thoughts about it. It surely looks like a very good simulation but the graphics look a bit outdated.

So what is your idea about this product? Is it worth buying for some $45?

Thank you.

[haskell 298]

It was a great plane back in the day. But it is over 8 years old now. I really enjoyed it when I flew it but, at the time, it didn't have a widescreen panel and the oval gauges really bothered me. I don't know if it's been updated but it looks like the last update was 2006.

 

If you don't have it I would highly recommend the PMDG J41. It is the same price and light years ahead of the ATR in terms of the sim.

[flyerboy 114]

Was a great add on for fs2002, then I believe they patched it for fs2004. Was made by Dreamfleet, the same mob who made the 737 for fs2000 and 727 - however they no longer exist.

[Sweetwater 11]

I remember a Freeware one back in the days as well... or maybe I am flashing back to Woodstock... (known to happen without notice) Made by ISDT? Is that right..? I flew the wings off an ATR from them.. Just a note in case the cost makes you want to try a freeware out for size.

 

Jeff

[Boeing or not going 578]

Great airplane, dated graphics, no proper virtual cockpit night lighting. But Flight1 has a money back guarantee policy

[kannwar 47]

I tried it a few months back and like others are saying the visuals are very outdated. Thanks to Flight 1's excellent 30-day refund policy however I lost nothing. Like a previous poster I would defo give the PMDG J41 a look over - I haven't tried it myself (no one seems to fly these things really and as I am a VA flyer it's kind of a deal breaker) but it looks amazing.

[waj23061 1]

I have been using/flying the Flight1 ATR72 for FSX in American Eagle for about 4 years exclusively from KMIA to KEYW. In my opinion, and remember, subjectivity plays a BIG part in opinions, I would start with a freeware and see if you like flying the ATR, then make a decision whether to move to the payware or another type of aircraft.

[alepro 15]

Personally I thing the Flight1 ATR is a great aircraft with very good system modelling, owing to the co-operation between the developers and Aerospatiale (who approached Flight1 and asked to have the ATR72-500 modelled in FS!) and the visuals are not that dated that I wouldn't recommend it anymore. After all the LevelD 767 is very dated too and was also patched from FS9, but is still widely considered a great add-on. Btw, the Flight1 ATR was developed for FS9 NOT FS2002 as stated above. One other great aspect of the aircraft is that FS2Crew is available for it.

 

My main beef with it is that I am getting a strange bug where the autopilot randomly stops following the flight plan for some inexplicable reason. There are some others that are suffering from this bug, as is evident from the Fligtht1 support forums, but no fix is known nor planned, so I had to abandon this rather excellent aircraft along with the Feelthere Airbus series (not so excellent) which gives me the same problem.

 

I'd say, buy it, learn it and if you have the same problem as I have or don't like it for any other reason you can rely on Flight1's unparalleled service and get your money back. Can't loose IMHO.

[Cai Zicheng 171]

Okay I get your ideas. And is it heavy on fps?

[alepro 15]

Nope, not on my machine at least (2011 iMac with i7 2600 and ATI6970M).

 

If you do decide to pull the trigger on this I suggest you install the FSX model update available in the support forum.

[Bigmack 30]

Excellent modelling, sounds and and systems. There is a wide panel avalible and it was only made for FS9 and later ported over to FSX. It is a few years old but it 's definitly not dated. It was modelled after the actual ATR and it's simulated quite well. However there are small % that have problems when programing the vnav of FMC. Alot of times it causes FSX to crash. But I think there's a work around if you read the forums, which offers very little support now for the ATR from Flt1.

[ailchim 213]

I'd agree with the above - a great plane in its day but the PMDG JS41 is streets ahead. Having said that, the JS41 is a pretty rare bird in real life, so think about which liveries you'd want to fly it in, if that matters to you.

 

I don't know where you are but I can thoroughly recommend Eastern Airlines Virtual if flying the Jetstream in the UK is of any relevance. It's very easy going, just join up & fly and Eastern are the biggest remaining operator of the JS41 I think. Wish all virtual airlines were all like that.....

 

http://www.easternai...svirtual.co.uk/

 

One general point though. Flying a turboprop at the level of realism in the ATR or the JS41 is I think harder than the equivalent short haul jet - start locks, hotel modes, lots of icing in the JS41, engine fires in the JS41.... If I say some like it hard, I trust nobody will get the wrong idea but in many ways, having used all 3, the PMDG 737NGX is in many ways easier to handle.

[kannwar 47]

I'd agree with the above - a great plane in its day but the PMDG JS41 is streets ahead. Having said that, the JS41 is a pretty rare bird in real life, so think about which liveries you'd want to fly it in, if that matters to you.

 

I don't know where you are but I can thoroughly recommend Eastern Airlines Virtual if flying the Jetstream in the UK is of any relevance. It's very easy going, just join up & fly and Eastern are the biggest remaining operator of the JS41 I think. Wish all virtual airlines were all like that.....

 

http://www.easternai...svirtual.co.uk/

 

One general point though. Flying a turboprop at the level of realism in the ATR or the JS41 is I think harder than the equivalent short haul jet - start locks, hotel modes, lots of icing in the JS41, engine fires in the JS41.... If I say some like it hard, I trust nobody will get the wrong idea but in many ways, having used all 3, the PMDG 737NGX is in many ways easier to handle.

 

Hey man thanks for linking that VA for some silly reason I thought Eastern VA was American based! Now I really have an excuse to get that JS41 =D. Too bad British Airways sold these birds, I'm getting tired of the highly automated A320s now.

[cptawsom 19]

Having a very bad experience with my recently purchased Leonardo SH Maddog 2010 Pro, I would not recommend any aircraft that has not been explicitly designed from scratch, for FSX, and FSX only.

 

Leonardo SH Maddog 2010 Pro has many bugs, and half of them (fuel quantities are ignored when beginning a new flight, unless you begin the flight, press ESC to quit it, and then immediately press Fly Now again) are caused by the fact that it is not designed for FSX (no Simconnect).

 

Also having a vastly inferior visual model for previous MS FS versions (when they ask €50 for it).

 

So conclusion:

 

By any means do not buy anything that has not been explicitly designed from scratch, for FSX, and FSX only.

 

That's my personal opinion.

[krylite 0]

The price could be reduced further due to it's age. However the plane is still simulated great with systems modeled that approach the completeness quality of PMDG at least of the original PMDG 737NG. With the fixes supported for FSX it works fine. I had to make sure my fsx.cfg was clean or it caused a lot of ctd's when running ATR72. Great all around commercial turboprop that was used by airlines in the U.S. for a while before concerns over safety performance incidents phased them out of the U.S. airlines. Also has some nice passenger cabin details back when Flight1 and PMDG used to do more cabin detail animations and gimmicks for FS9. Like what was mentioned, Aerospatiale worked with Flight1 to create this detailed simulation. The manuals are detailed like PMDG's and overall this is a rare turboprop cockpit simulation with no sign of default gauges and sounds.