I just tried the (fully functional) demo for FS Passengers. I first had to set up my airline company and I 'bought' my first aircraft for it, the Aeroworx Kingair B200. After I prepared the aircraft (flightplan, fuel...), I started the flight - KSFO (which is the 'obligatory airport' in demo mode) to Sacramento Executive. The program told me there were 8 passengers waiting at the gate. When everyone was aboard (a mini-window gives you the boarding status), I switched on the seat belt sign. After about a minute or so I could see everyone had fastened his seat belt. I could even pull up a menu which gave me the names and weights of my eight passengers...After take off I could see there was a little trepidation with the passengers because of turbulence, but overall they were still very satisfied with the flight so far. At cruising altitude I switched off the seat belt sign (the copilot announced it was now safe to unfasten the seat belt and to move about), but I could see 5 passengers preferred to remain buckled up. I thought it would be nice to serve some sandwiches and drinks to the passengers (which earns you bonus points), but I couldn't, because a light aircraft like the Kingair doesn't carry a flight attendant. Well, it was a short flight anyway, so I figured the passengers wouldn't complain...I didn't follow any airways, so at some point I overflew Travis AFB. Suddenly, I was being shot at by light firearms. I received a hit in the right engine, which I emediately had to shut down and feather. I didn't have time to recover from the shock, before my left fuel tank was hit. I had to declare an emergency. I figured I could still reach KSAC on one engine, because it was only 15 miles away. While on approach, at some point I noticed I was too high, so to avoid a go around, I made a steep descent. My copilot started yelling at me that we were going to crash. But of course, I knew what I was doing ;-). I managed to make a safe and smooth landing ('kiss' it said in the flight report) the passengers applauded and were a 100% satisfied with the safe landing. I parked the airplane, shut down the engines and opened the passenger door. One by one the passengers started leaving.Because of my handling of the emergency, I received a number of bonus points. The passengers thought my company should deserve a better reputation. And I made a nice profit from the flight. I can start saving to buy another airplane...Just to give you an impression of how FS Passengers is an addon like no other. It adds an immersion factor to FS, which I can see can become addictive very fast. No need to tell you I didn't have to think twice to buy it!Paul

Thanks for your perspective Paul.It certainly sounds very interesting given that long-haul flights can become a little "uninteresting" at times.What else though can you do with the program over, say, a 5+ hour flight? I get the impression that it is still fairly limited in what it can add to the quiet periods of a long flight.Have you, or anyone else, tried it out over a long flight?Cheers :)Josh

Sounds interesting, but small arms fire? Just for overflying a USAF base? Maybe in Afghanistan or Iraq. I know a couple of people who have unintentionally busted some class D airspace protecting a USAF base, and although they got a bit of a tounge lashing, they certainly didn't get shot at. Not to mention that I doubt that a base would rely on small arms for aerial defense. This program seems to have a few interesting features, such as passenger reaction. But it seems that the developers went overboard in their quest for adding "excitement" to FS.Edit: This is just my opinion. Some people probably find this kind of thing refreshing. I'm not knocking you for liking it. I just think that some of the features are a little "out there".

The program has a feature where you can earn bonus point when flying in dangerous war zones. Each zone has its own 'risk factor', based on real world situations. For instance: flying over Kali Colombia or over Iraq is far more dangerous (more risk of being shot at) than flying over let's say Kosovo, and earns you more bonus points if you pull it off safely.I was surpised myself that California is considered a 'war zone'. But I guess this was done for demo purposes only. AFAIK you don't get shot at every time you overfly a military base. Anyway, you can turn off the feature if you consider it being 'over the top'. Paul

When you say the program told you the weights of your passengers, did it automatically load the pax weight into the aircrafts total weight, or do you have to do it manually like normal? FYI: When I do my GA stuff, and if I fly to east from KPWA, ATC tells me to overfly Tinker all the time, I've never been shot at, and I live on Tinker and can asuredly say that we've never shot any one down.Jeff

Paul,I was also disturbed at the notion that the USAF would start firing on a civilian aircraft without warning, but it's good to know that you can turn that feature off. Equally disturbing is the website's apparent focus on "post-crash reporting", but to each his own, I guess. Is it possible to disable the failures feature as well? Using the Aeroworx B200 as an example, there is already a maintenance module in place that handles that very realistically, and the mean time between failures for the PT6A engine is so long that you could fly King Airs for a lifetime and never experience an engine failure.Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleischwww.simulomundusrex.blogspot.com

>When you say the program told you the weights of your>passengers, did it automatically load the pax weight into the>aircrafts total weight, or do you have to do it manually like>normal? Yes, it does load the passenger weight according to their seating arrangement. FS Passengers also can load fuel I believe (I haven't tried it thouroughly yet).Paul

Hi Guys,Well I purchased the program, I'm still waiting for a key to unlock the program. I wanted to ask how long it takes to get a key issued so I joined their fourm, well I cannot leave a message in their fourm because I also need a password from them to leave a message, so now I sit and wait.I just hope they are not so overwhelmed that it takes days to get my Fourm Password and FSPassenger Unlock Key.

I made a first flight with the demo and it really did convince me.This is a very smart addon, easy to use and completely customizable.The sounds are great, the ATC chat adds a lot during the flight and the charming Flight Attendant does her job very seriously.You can use (or not) the airline management features, you can also select the level of failures.You can activate or deactivate features and sounds to really match your taste.The product seems to work without any problem and has no impact on fps.The small window with FSP indication can be dragged, reduced and hidden with a few keyboard shortcuts. Even the fonts and background are customizable to match your panelsFor those who love long haul flights, FSP is a very nice surprize.The only weakness I have noticed so far is the choice of voices sets which is for now quite limited. I assume that other sets will be available soon.My overall impression is very positive for this clever addon.I will probably purchase it soon.Best regards,David

>Paul,>>I was also disturbed at the notion that the USAF would start>firing on a civilian aircraft without warning, but it's good>to know that you can turn that feature off. Equally>disturbing is the website's apparent focus on "post-crash>reporting", but to each his own, I guess. >Petty beyond comprehension...it's very difficult to understand why a computer simulation program gets you worked up so much....but yep, 'to each his own', as you so boldy put it. Here's a saying derived from my own opinion... 'If you don't like it, don't buy it'. ;-)

Kurt...ummmm....this is a GAME.

Hi Michael,According to the thier web site, there was a problem with his ISP's email server and he had to hand create each email and was up all night. He has taken the purchasing function of his site down until the auto key distribution feature gets fixed.Looks like a pretty cool program. Be sure to report back to us.Thanks!Barry

Anyone try this with a bizjet? I'm a big fan of the Eaglesoft Citation X, but I've been distracted by GA flying using FS Economy. If this program can provide me with a similiar purposeful experience in a bizjet I'd probably be willing to pony up some bucks for it.

Does it run on WideFS?You can connect the output of your sound card on the WideFS computer to the In on the sound card of the primary FS computer. Oh but it would need the aircraft payload data and other FS data right? I wonder if that is available via FSUIPC?Just currious if someone has done this.Barry

"I was also disturbed at the notion that the USAF would start firing on a civilian aircraft without warning..."According to the documentation with the demo:"In this demo the Buchanan (KCCR) airport in San Francisco was set to be a 100% war zone risk."Robert