A FlightGear ( even if Light... ) version?

I have been following about each and every flight simulator you can name, civil mostly because I only use combat flightsims to taste their flight dynamics, most of the time way ahead of anything we have for MSFS, X-Plane, etc..., but I have also been following Flight Gear, and remember exchanging some messages with someone from the Majestic team back in 2005, 2006 when they were working on the Q-300, and considereing using JSBSim as an external flight dynamics engine.

 

Well, the upcoming V3 of Flight Gear will represent, IMO, a huge step forward in terms of usability, features, etc... I have been using the release candidates and "puting them to proof" and I am really amazed at what they achieved.

 

Being an open-source project, and freeware, doesn't prevent FG from having already some very complex / detailled / good aircraft models, including a Tu-154, B777 and B747 with FMS implementations and autoflight systems very professionally implemented, etc...

 

In FG, as you know only too well, everything is possible, and the JSBSim platform is a powerful one. That's why Majestic ellected it for the Q-400, and it shines when used with FSX working as a mere scenery and weather browser :-)

 

Well... what about a Q-400 version, even if light, made available for those who can't afford a payware flight simulator, but have access to what is actually the most powerful flight simulation platform available for the PC - Flight Gear - even if graphically, and scenery wise it can still prevent you from giving it a fair try?

 

Since your Q-400, which I consider as the ultimate turboprop simulation  available for MSFS / ESP, has it's FDE based / run externally on JSBSim, porting the aircraft to the Flight Gear 3.0 platform would certainly be more or less easy. The sophisticated systems simulation are another matter tough..., but again, if "C" was the main programming language used to implement it, that would make it easier...

 

:-)