The L1011 was just the latest classic I've been playing with recently. Glass is nice, but steam gauges and a list of VOR freqs sure a lot of fun. So I'm thinking I'll stick to whatever was flying in 1976 and see if I can make a go of it. That means a lot of nice airplanes get locked away in the future, but so be it. The only thing I really see missing is a 747-100. Anybody else try to limit themselves so drastically and succeed?

 

1976 was as good a year as any.

Why limit yourself? Pick a date like the late 90's where both the classic steam gauge planes, like the L-1011, DC-10, 727, 732-5, 757, 767, 747-200,300, and 400 DC-9 etc flew along with the most of the more modern glass cockpit aircraft. The only aircraft that wouldn't be prototypical for the most part would be the A380 and some of the Embraers.

Yup, these were the great years.

I have all fingers and toes crossed that Just Flight comes through with a solid SP2 for the DC-8.

 

Seeing Paul Golding over there definitely gives me hope  :lol:

 

Either way, I'm there with ya Tim.

 

I really have, and just very recently, completely burned out on the glass flight decks.

@ANDY -- As to why limit, well, that's the whole point of it. Unless I have a self-imposed theme, I'll be tempted to fly the modern ones. They're easy, at least easier than the steam gauge airplanes. On the wrong side of 50, I'm beginning to realize there is a limit to what I can accomplish. I only have so much flying time per week. Sure, there's nothing wrong with firing up the computer and flying one of twelve or fifteen airplanes I'm half-way proficient on. But I want to limit myself so I get really good. By the same token, I have temporarily given up long flights and will often just fly from Seattle to Vancouver and back, practicing the basics on a flight I know very well. 

 

Will I cheat? Probably :smile: I'll probably even cheat with an Airbus, since I really like what Aerosoft did with their latest. Maybe I can make it a mortification for Lent. Giving up simming entirely would just be asking for trouble LOL But just maybe I can limit myself. I'd limit it to Captain Sim except for the marvelous Coolsky DC-9.  In fact, no more than I posted this than I find myself doing a review for a very modern airplane (not here). So now NONE of my time gets spent flying with steam gauges! At least not until the review is done. But by limiting myself I concentrate on a half dozen airplanes. I think there are people here to devote themselves to ONE airplane. Then there are others -- like me -- who promiscuously buy and fly everything that comes out, almost compulsively.

 

@BRIAN -- There are indeed a lot of mods for Captain Sim airplanes, and I am grateful to the people who have the know-how and willingness to make them. It doesn't bother me that they don't fly by the numbers, though, and, aside from dialing down the power on a couple and the V-speed cards, I don't get into exact EPR numbers anyway, partly because I'm not sure what "accuracy" means in that context. I'm content to fly by the seat of my pants while trying to maintain something short of the firewall on the throttle. If I'm having fun, it's a successful product for me. The A2A Stratocruiser is a nice airplane, but until they have a random feature of a propeller shearing through the fuselage, it just won't be realistic enough for me. They didn't have a large production run, and I think about half ended as hull losses. Can you imagine if we had airplanes that unsafe these days? But it's a very nice add-on, very hands-on.

 

@JAMES -- We haven't had a really good 747-100 since Ready for Pushback (or 200... don't remember anymore). I probably still have more time logged in that than any other single airplane. Just Flight's 747 isn't bad for what they set out to do, and it has my favorite manual of any product. (I'm thinking Angelique wrote it.) They got permission to install the CIVA INS (at least I assume they got permission; it's in there, anyway: three of 'em,!) The reactivation system is irritating and baffling to me, and they're the only company that I ever paid for the privilege of re-downloading / registering a product. (McPhat now charges for the service, too.) Before someone says Just Flight doesn't do that, yes, it did.

 

The only gap in Captain Sim's catalog is the 747-100, and they're now developing their own INS. That gives me hope that they could be working on one. I think they would do a fantastic job on a 747-100.