For a fascinating and exhaustive discussion of the pros and cons of printed manuals, there is another ATR thread...I spent several hours with this. Visuals are outstanding, as one would expect. Virtual cockpit and even the cabin are amazing. I have never been a fan of VCs -- let alone virtual cabins -- but I was very impressed. I look forward to many happy hours opening and closing the toilet lid in the head! My system stutters and pauses when I shift to the VC, but I have everything maxed out (you can config the level of detail). Framerates were good.Hand-flying is a joy. Rotation, climb, approach, landing... all seem exceptionally stable and easy to fly. Again, I don't usually notice flight models unless something seems off, but this one did seem exceptionally nice to fly.Autopilot works fine; ILS approach into KSTL was solid, and AP flew it to DH with authority.System complexity -- whew! I noticed a couple of gotchas, but for the most part it turned out to be easier than it looked. (Although I had my share of warning bells -- reminds me of another Flight 1 product: Iron Knuckles DC-9). It is not hard at all to get it started up and ready to take off. (I think my previous experience with PSS's Dash-8 and Flight 1's Iron Knuckles DC-9 helped.)Gotchas: condition levers need to be well advanced before your panel lights come on. Setting the prop brake to operate in Hotel mode is tricky; I use the aux hydraulics button on the pedestal to clear the warning bells. Those are the only two things that really had me confused for any length of time. So far :-)Oh, the instruments are plenty big and easy to read with many pop-upsand options. I flew by radio nav aids and it was pure pleasure.One major problem I'm still having: FMC crashes when I hit the PROG button, and the published fixes do not address it. For me, this is not an airplane I will be flying with the FMC until it gets fixed. However, there is no reason to suspect this will not happen quickly, and in the meantime it is still a blast to fly without it.My initial impression is that this is among the very best releases, and will seduce many jet-jockeys away from the robo-planes and 8 hour flights.Speaking of commuter routes, here are the Delta Connection Southeast Atlantic (EV) routes I was able to find, all connecting to Atlanta:Bristol VA/Johnson City/KingsportDothan, ALAsheville, NCColumbus, GAAugusta, GAFayetteville, NCChattanooga, TNLexington, KYGainesville, FLGulfport, MSMontgomery, ALMacon, GAMyrtle Beach, SCKnoxville, TNRoanoke, VAPanama City, FLValdosta, GAThat ought to keep you busy, with or without an FMC!Congratulations to Flight 1 for another outstanding product!P.S. I didn't print out the manual. I did print out the tutorials and refer to the PDF file when something confused me.

Ditto. I am printing the manual slowly and as I need it, but am far more interested in the aircraft itself!My only problem at the moment is that I keep having to hunt for lights to check that they aren't lit - there's a challenge for you! ;-)I have to say that so far this one gets a big thumbs up. For the level of complexity, I'm getting pretty good fps. I've barely even started scratching the functionality of the thing!The only thing I could wish for really is that with anything that tries to model systems this deeply, it would be nice to be able to test the failure modes more realistically. Can we have proper engine fires and the like in the next version of FS, please Microsoft? ;-)Right. Anyway. Back to the unlit warning light hunt... :-hahIan P.

re. condition levers: Your generators won't come online unless they're in auto (or certainly out of feather) mode, that's probably why your instruments didn't light up.

One can always tell a top rate A/P by it's altitude capture and this plane is ON THE MONEY. One only needs to take a certain un-named 737 and see what I am talking about (Not PMDG which also has a great altitude capture). Might as well call this ATR a CBT!Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/southparkcartmad.gif[h3]I WANT MY 747![/h3]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)

Randy,Want to hear some interesting "altitue-capture" story? Drop me PM or email.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

I had a great altitude capture in the PMDG 737 that brought me in smoothly... right into the LAX terminal. But anyway, how complicated is this bird to fly? And does she lag in frames when flying from the VC like that same 737?

Great to hand fly, It's complex alright but one can start and go too. The VC is very flyable on my rig, it is in the lower teens at heavy airports and clouds but once in the air is is a **little** better than the PMDG which might be because of PMDG's large displays with all that data displaying...Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/southparkcartmad.gif[h3]I WANT MY 747![/h3]Caution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)