Thanks Drac. Alpha sim have been really good at listening to customers and updating their aircraft. They also have a B-2 coming out and I know Ive already added my 2 cents worth. Alpha are one of a very few thats doing military aircraft and not following the beaten path and cranking out commercial aircraft that have already bloated the market. None of their planes can even come close to the latest paywares but with a growing customer base and imput from guys like you, I hope they get better. Thanks again for the evaluation and lets hope Alpha listens. Jim

Greetings Drac!"(...) the older I get, the better I use to be ROTFLMAO (...)"Yep, I recognize that only too well (wide and wicked grin)! I was rather late with having children, so any possible grandchildren are at least several years in the future. However, when the time comes that I can bounce a granddaughter or -son on my arthritic knee, the stories I will tell them about the days when ole gramps was "cloaking and daggering" will quite likely bear little resemblance anymore to what really happened. The true relationship was about 99 percent cloak and 1 percent dagger (which was very pleasing on account of me holding my precious skin in high regard!), but by the time I'll be boring the living daylights out of the tiny future rugrats, I fear said relationship will have made a 180 degree turn (bashful grin)!Be well!Jaap.

Nice plane!

>Most of my problems with the Alphasim Buff are that it just>does not fly correctly. As most know I am a real world pilot>with over 9k hours in B52's -- all versions. Major Dopke, first let me say I deeply appreciate your service to the United States of America. I cannot imagine the training and risk involved in putting 9,000 hours into flying an airplane like the B-52 but it is indeed staggering. If I recall correctly, Ernest K. Gann decided to call it quits at just about that figure and he was a pilot of no small repute.I am the one responsible for the flight model in question and while I cannot comment on the visuals, I believe I can address at least some of the issues you raised. You did not mention what the exact circumstances of your test entailed, but I suspect that you were flying the default flight model, which is what we call the the "simple" flight model. Most of our aircraft come with both a simple and "advanced" flight model. The reason we adopted this approach is that we found the vast majority of our customers are not pilots and have never flown an aircraft (no surprise there, MSFS is a terrific game, too!). A lot of folks are anxious to just hop in and fly, and don't spend a lot of time fussing with preflight procedures and checklists and such. Things like trim and flap settings, etc. are often overlooked or even unknown to a good share of our buyers. They're just out to have a good time, really, and to throw a tough flight model at them straight out of the box usually results in a lot of initial complaints that need to be resolved by discussing the checklist, trim, liftoff speeds, and so forth.Our simple flight model is set up with a basic fuel tank arrangement that will not disturb the CG regardless of fuel loading, and is also set up so that flaps, gear, and spoilers have zero effect on aircraft trim. We also set the gear and flap deployment time to around 5-10 seconds instead of the 60 seconds you have on your B-52 for flaps. Moreover, the fuel load in the simple flight model is about 50 percent of maximum so that folks will have little trouble getting her airborne and back on the ground.I suspect you test-flew our airplane using the simple flight model. The advanced flight model changes the bird substantially, adding the following features:-significant trim change with flaps/gear/spoiler use-accurate flap/gear extension times (60 seconds for flaps)-all fuel tanks duplicated within FS9 restrictions-maximum fuel load available-CG shift on fuel burn (requires some CG management)-gross default takeoff weight is 480,000 poundsBy contrast, the simple flight model has the flap and gear extension times cut to just ten seconds. All fuel tanks are located exactly on the 25% MAC location and the maximum gross weight on load-in is limited to 302,000 pounds. There is no trim change with flap extension and retraction, and likewise with the gear and spoilers. In addition, electrical power is always available so the batteries will never leave you in the dark.I would ask you try the bird again and ensure you have installed the optional "advanced" flight model. Instructions for doing so are in the checklist. This aircraft does in fact lift off tail-first with the advanced flight model, as the attached image shows, and I believe you will find that the trim changes mimic the real aircraft to a reasonable degree. The B-52 manual was used to create this aircraft and we did have several B-52 aircrew involved in testing it and we are confident we have done a good job of creating a plane that is worthy of the price of admission.As an aside, which I think you will also appreciate, you cannot imagine the number of comments we've gotten about the aircraft flying in a distinct nose-down attitude while in level cruise. "Something's wrong with my plane! It looks like it's diving all the time!" No, that's just the six degrees of wing incidence at work.We do appreciate your comments and hope that the advanced flight model will bring the aircraft a little closer to what you were expecting.

Dear Alpha J,First, thank you for your kind words. Yes, 9k hours are a bunch, but they build up fast when you're driving 17 hour round trip flights to the badlands. Actually, I'm guilty of rounding up, like the phone company LOL, if my old memory serves me correctly, it was something in the neighborhood 0f 8756hrs of actual flight time in the Buff..I do appreciate your words and information. And you can rely on this one fact. I will go to my friends home this evening, twist his ever-lovin arm and fire up your aircraft under exactly the conditions you have described.Also, should it perform like you state it does, then my old teddy bear butt will be back on this forum this evening to eat a bit of old crow and put things right. Anyone who knows me, also knows that I am honest, fair and just call em as I see em. In this case, I truely hope that what you implied is exactly what is the problem and believe me, you will get my heardy endorsement!Lastly, thank you for your post . . . I'm really anxious to try the new settings.Best to you and yours,Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

Greetings Drac and Alpha J!For once I am not full of @$#@$, but full of hope (grin)! Be well!Jaap.

Hello All, Well, I'll give you the short version of this quickly and later we will dive into it more completely as I am about dead today and need some rest.Alpha J was pretty much right on and I was wrong. Oh, my Lord, he finally said it . . . the Drac man was wrong? Yeah, yeah, I know, but for all the right reasons. Don't all of you laugh at once LOLMy friends aircraft was the victim of a very bad install; this guy might have flown 747's but he's no computer wiz by any means. I changed the files to the advanced cfgs, and was still displeased, so I started looking at his files, looked at the site and sure enough, there was an update which he HADN'T installed. Jump to uninstalling his mess and reinstalling and updateing . . . now, we're dealing with a totally different aircraft -- one which has much promise and I'm seeing things in the cockpit and on the aircraft which weren't there before and the thing is working pretty good.J and I are also communicating, (he really seems like a nice guy after you quit bashing his aircraft ) and I have given him a few points which I want him to play with and he has said its no problem.So, I really can't wait till he sends me a file or two and I get another wack at this baby. Sooo, those who have NOT bought this yet, don't give up . . . I think it very well will end up a bargin at its present price. Those who have it, fear not . . . we'll get it flying just like a 'Buff' yet, and it really isn't that far off once you are dealing with a real proper install and the update.One thing I did love was the nose down cruise . . .for those of you who complain about that, well, that's how this baby is intended to fly, 3-6 degrees nose down at cruise. Hey, blame Boeing. Oh, and if you take away fuel to make min wt, do it on the outrigger tanks and the left and right aux tanks . . .that is how it was done in real life.Ok, the Crow is done, well cooked and with a little salt and mustard might not be too bad. I have to admit, I'm really impressed that J and the gang at Alpha are very interested in making this correct and wanting it only to be better -- with what I've seen with the new and proper install, it's got a darned good start and can only become a classic. Trust me, I have all the confidence in the world that the Alpha team is willing to do what it takes to satisfy me . . .and that should satisfy you guys, cause I know how the 'big bird' flies . . .and I'm very impressed with J's eagerness to improve the model.Best to all, (chomp and spewing out hot feathers)Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

> Oh, and if you take away fuel to make min wt, do>it on the outrigger tanks and the left and right aux tanks . .>.that is how it was done in real life.That feeds right into my request for info for my in-progress fuel system addon for the BUFF, which you might be interested in...http://alphasim3.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=1382

Well then guys, it's time for me to whip out the plastic. About crow: it's one of my regular dishes, and I usually need to take my foot out before I can cram the poor innocent fowl into my mouth (grin)!Jaap.

Good grief, that was just about the fastest way I ever ridded myself of 29.09 euro without receiving anything in return. One gets three downloads, and all of them produced an error message informing me that either username or password isn't correct. So I've got zero downloads left, and no Buff.Oh, well: I lived nearly 60 years without a Buff, so I guess the remaining few decades I won't really miss it. But it would have been nice. Jaap.

Wow you give up fast. Username and a076 for the b-52. If all else fails read the faq and forums.

Greetings JimJam!Oh c'mon, it's only money: I'm much more concerned with my serene peace of mind (grin)! First I wasn't recognized as an existing customer on the site, although I've bought about half a dozen aircraft from them in the past. So I announced myself as a new customer, picked a password, ordered, paid, tried three different combinations of what could possibly be my username and my password (yes, including a076). Neither worked, in other words: not a single download was made. Yet Alphasim DOES count each failed attempt as a download, with the sad result that I have neither a Buff, nor any downloads left. So bugger them.Be well!Jaap.

Just contact us through our regular website and I am confident this will be resolved. Once in a while this happens for some reason or another but in every case I've heard of it's always some slight glitch in the way the login was made.

I hear ya. Never had trouble with Alpha but at least 50% of other log ins I do. I cannot log into Pmdg and others its pure luck. Im sure it is the way my firewalls,anti-virus,cookies and other programs handle them but I feel naked disabling them. Usually if I cutomize my configuration that one site accepts, another it screws up. I know Im tired of typing a long detailed reply only to have it not being accepted. Anymore I usually just have to ignore a post even though I have a answer that would really help someone. Avsim forums are one of the few that I actually have luck with.

Jim,I've been talking all day with AlphaJ and trading e mails, I'm presently waiting for a few files to try . . .and then we're off to the war zone.J really cares and is willing to do anything within reason to make this aircraft right -- we should be so lucky that other developers are so gracious. Stay tuned, more to come.Best,Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"