Can anyone post a picture of the VC in the rain?

 

Please and thank you! 

 

Here you are :-)

 

Oh my god it's droplet porn!

 

Makes me so want to switch! Ugh.

 

Thank you

Oh my god it's droplet porn!

 

Makes me so want to switch! Ugh.

 

Thank you

 

Eheh, but we do have that as well in FSX :-)

 

Problem is, from month to month, sometimes week to week, X-Plane 10 and add-on makers are giving sometimes huge steps towards making this really the best choice for general flight simulation.

 

Scenery, more detailled and complex aircraft, wetaher enhancements and great OSM and photo scenery and Mesh V2, altogether make us, who also use FSX, feel that's its probably time to jump...

 

Then, MSFS will shutoff GFWL, so, installing FSX again is out of question for me ( I have the DL version ... )

 

Reading the forums at P3D reveals the Déjà Vu fight against stuttering, OOMs, etc...

 

X-Plane 10 is becoming pretty much the best choice as a future platform, for those willing to embrace it... But it has to be a soft transition, because otherwise we will keep looking back at those great add-ons we will miss...

I tend to push heavy metal, so, the 737NG, the A320NEO and the T7 are all up my alley. AFAIK there's a good T7 and A320 on XPX. The only thing preventing me from moving now is the fact that I'm fairly heavily invested in FSDT, FlyTampa and Flightbeam sceneries..

 

I'm kinda waiting out on P3Dv2 and letting it mature over the course of this year, until then I guess I'll just deal with FSX, the investment into XPX is just not something I'm able to justify right now.

Manual flying the NEO bus is still off. I doubt they will ever get it right.

Manual flying the NEO bus is still off. I doubt they will ever get it right.

 

I'll probably join you soon, because I have placed an option for an A321 at Peter's store :-)

Like the real ones, we place options. You will not regret it.

Since I installed XPX on my machine 2 weeks ago, I got more and more into this great simulator. I already have the great FlyJSIM 727, the fantastic FF 757, and yesterday I had to buy the JARDesign A320 too! And what can I say? In terms of system simulation, authentic look and graphics and the A/P with the FMGS, it's most definitely the best Airbus simulation I've ever flown in any platform. And I had or have the PSS Airbusses, the Airsimmer, the Wilco with update for both platforms, the Airbus X and Extended and the BBS Airbus 320/330. The first test circuits (base training patterns) and the first two flights were flawless and highly enjoyable.

The only problem is the FBW in manual flight, especially the pitch axis! It's not impossible to fly a SID and landing manually, but it needs way too much control input and corrections! I had the chance to fly 2 sessions in a Lufthansa A320 full flight simulator, and in my opinion, none of the addons mentioned above gets the manual flight right, but the A320 Neo needs some serious tweaking. The look and feel is already as real as it gets!

I can't say that enough, if you want a bus that works by the numbers and you want to FLY it, get Peter's A320/321.

I can't say that enough, if you want a bus that works by the numbers and you want to FLY it, get Peter's A320/321.

 

Is his A320/321 the same as his A380 where it's rather difficult to enter FMGC routes and have to rely on the basic (REALLY basic!) XP routing?

But manual flight isn't all, right? A modern airliner like the A320 isn't flown by hand that much. I had Peter's A330 and A340 for X-Plane 9 some years ago. They surely improved dramatically, but for me the lack of a proper flight management system and a missing, or not fully working 3D cockpit, is a total show stopper. I still remember very lively the moment, when I sat down in the F/O seat of the full flight simulator for the first time! I have to get a little of this feeling back with a perfectly modelled 3D cockpit with crisp textures and displays that look like the real deal in terms of correct colours and fonts used on the PFD, ND, MCDU, etc. The JARDesign truly shines in this disciplines.

I think manual flight is one of the most important aspects of a simulation, even for tubeliners. Heck, it's when you're interfacing with the aircraft the most.

 

None of us tin-pushers really do much during cruise, so the aircraft dynamics could be like a brick up there for all I care, the computers will handle that while I'm away sipping a margherita, but during takeoffs and landings, you're really interacting with the aircraft a lot, and the flight dynamics need to be bang on, especially for (what I hope is) the majority of us who fly a SID manually once in a while or disconnect the A/P at G/S intercept. Real pilots thrive on manually landing the aircraft, to the point where techs need to tell airline pilots to let the autoland do it's thing so it can be certified every month.. So yes, manual flight dynamics, IMHO, make or break an addon..

I wish, we could combine these two Airbusses! I want to use PFPX to plan my route, I want to fly online, when my time allows, I want to use the real procedures and automation has to work the way it does in the real thing. So for me, the lack of a flight management system and displays that look like default stuff really keep me away from buying a (not cheap) piece of software... I think, at the end of the day, it's all personal taste.

I wish, we could combine these two Airbusses!

 

+1!

 

I wish for that too... although the JAR team is continually updating their NEO, and it is already very nice.

 

Regarding handflying, I would say that Peter's buses should be used primarilly for procedural IFR trainning, specially training approaches and departures. The 320/321 have a more functional and closer to real FMGC than the A380. They allow for route import from X-Plane 10 default routes, and some editing  ( very limited I know... ) too.

 

But the many chances I had to jumpseat on A320/21/19s, it was nice to see the crew, most of the time, hand-flying and even managing power way before final app!  Some started at the IAF, disconnecting the AT when the GS was intercepted....

 

I've also seen the buses being handflown up to the first assigned altitude of a SID.

 

On visual approaches, circle to land approaches etc... having a good, realistic flight model and FBW modelling is also very important, and that is where Peter's Airbuses shine !

+1!

 

I wish for that too... although the JAR team is continually updating their NEO, and it is already very nice.

 

Regarding handflying, I would say that Peter's buses should be used primarilly for procedural IFR trainning, specially training approaches and departures. The 320/321 have a more functional and closer to real FMGC than the A380. They allow for route import from X-Plane 10 default routes, and some editing ( very limited I know... ) too.

 

But the many chances I had to jumpseat on A320/21/19s, it was nice to see the crew, most of the time, hand-flying and even managing power way before final app! Some started at the IAF, disconnecting the AT when the GS was intercepted....

 

I've also seen the buse being handflown up to the first assigned altitude of a SID.

 

On visual approaches, circle to land approaches etc... having a good, realistic flight model and FBW modelling is also very important, and that is where Peter's Airbuses shine !

You're right! Hand flying IS an important part. On my second session in the LH A320 simulator, I had the chance to hand fly the LOC/DME east approach into LOWI with the visual circle to land into RWY 08. I was deeply impressed, how stable the simulator was in its handling. The necessary inputs on the side stick were minimal, until the final turn, 3.5 NM out of OEV of course. But it was quite "easy" to control this turn (30 degrees of bank) while the sink rate was rock stable! None of the Airbus addons I've ever used in flight sims came close to this.

I am really curios how Peter Hager's aircraft feels on such procedures.

If it had better avionics, better looking displays, better sounds and a 3D cockpit, I might give it a chance.

For now I hope, JARDesign will improve the handling of their FBW in the near future!