I did a real quick flight... and posted my very qickie observation here.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=14313&page=

I was about to take an early morning UPSVAC flight in my 767 and saw that there was only 3 controllers on Vatsim, and 2 of them where tower controllers. Yuck, it looked like FS9 ATC was my only option. I decided to run out and check my mailbox, hoping that the RC4 that I ordered a couple of days ago might be there, but expecting to see just junk mail and bills and a few Christmas cards. I pulled out all the mail, and felt something in the bottom that felt like a CD case........ Yeah!!!!! :) I am installing as soon as I finish this post... ''

Darn!!! I need a registration code, even for the CD version... Can't use it anyway :-jumpy

Hi Bob,Rick will soon get your code to you. I had mine back in 2hrs 14mins :-)Cheers,

>Hi Bob,>>Rick will soon get your code to you. I had mine back in 2hrs>14mins :-)>>Cheers,Just got it back. I am airborn now from KSDF tp KEWR. Can't wait to land and start up RC4....:)

Just landed from my Radar Contact 4 flight. In one word, "Excellent." As Ray Proudfoot said, the immersion level is very realistic . I had the ATC chatter selected on in the start menu and it really adds to the realism and makes you feel like you are really flying in the real world ATC system. I had just landed on a flight from Louisville to Newark using FS9 ATC ( probably my last time with that ) and while respecting the job that MSFS has done with the first real ATC in home simulations, it can really drive you nuts sometimes. On the way into Newark , I must have had 10 heading changes in 40 miles...050-- 070-- 050 -030-- 080 --060.. On and on, and of course that is coupled with the ATC contact Freqs changing every 3 miles, it is really enough to drive you totally bezerk... Now I land, get the emailed activation key, placed it into RC4 and the program starts right up. I went to their web site and got the Quick Start Guide , and just opened it up in a browser window next to the RC4 window, and easy as pie, I had RC4 ready for flight in less than 10 minutes. Load FS9, Active Sky ( had to change 2 settings in ASV which took about a minute, disabled FSHOT FX and I am ready to fly. I know the manual is pretty big, but you can use this product right out of the box, if you want, with the Quick Guide. Instantly the ATC chatter started while I was at the UPS gate at Newark, and it was like really being at an airport listening to the radio. All the menu selections made sense, the little text box that you can size and place anywhere on your screen is not a problem at all, and and it just runs as smooth as silk. IFR clearance, ground, Tower, Departure, Center, everything was flawless... Now I am getting ready for the IFR approach into BOS on 33L ILS ( I think that is the runway # ). I am flying towards the airport at 7,000 feet and getting a little close and I am thinking ,.." Maybe this is where it screws up, because MSFS would have had me turning and vectoring all over the place from 40 miles out. All of a sudden, ATC tells me to descend and turn onto a downwind for the ILS approach, followed by a turn to a very realistic intercept angle fo the ILS base and FAP. All the while, the ATC chatter is going on , and I felt like I was really there. At any time during the entire flight , it was a simple matter of pressing one key and I could check the enroute weather and when close to the destination airport , the weather there, as well as active runways......Five miles out on the ILS , I get handed over to tower, they give me the wind , altimeter , and clear me to land as the outmarker signal in my 767 goes off.. The one thing I worried about was the ATC sounding robotic. I believe it would probably sound better if the playback rate was speeded up a bit, which would make an improvement in the flow of the ATC speech, but with everything going on with the chatter, the excellent and realistic ATC, this is no big issue as far as I am concerned. The people that put this together really did their homework , and it shows. The only bad thing is that this was a Christmas present that I bought for myself, and I probably shouldn't have opened it until Christmas day :-roll Oh well!

thanks for the report. another happy camper. the beauty is, the same experience will be repeated at every airport, every time. try a non controlled airport. get your clearance in the air. miss approach. fly the tutorials and you'll be an expert in 8 flights. or is it 9? if you fly the 9th, you'll get the true internationalization, including phraseology and transition alitude/level experience.if you have any questions pop over to our forum, it's around here somewhere :-)jd

Bob,Which two settings in ASV did you have to change? I'm waitng on my RC4 copy to arrive and am hoping my initial start up is as seamless as yours.Brad2 miles from KELP/KBIFhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Just an update on Radar Contact 4 . . I have been off from work all this week due to some repairs that are being done to my home, and I start flying right after breakfast while the repairmen are working ( I think they think I am a bit daft with my Track IR Hat and headset on, staring at the computer screen for hours :) ). Now I have no need to check and see if any controllers are on line prior to starting my VA flight, cause they are always there with RC4. I am doing SIDS as I depart the airport, runway changes so I can take off closer to the UPS ramp where I am parked instead of having to taxi all over the airport. The interaction with AI is excellent. I have AI on 100%, and no problems flying into or out of any airport. When I am on final, the aircraft in front of me clears the landing runway in plenty of time without the 1.5 MPH taxi speed that AI loves ( and usually has me yelling an screaming ), and the guy behind me doesn't try to race me to the runway threshold. One of the things I really like is the runway selection option. Let's say I am assigned a landing on 8R at Atlanta, along with the other AI, and I decided to change to 9R on approach. Now I am coming down a parallel approach path next to the other AI traffic, just as it really is in Atlanta. This really adds to the realism, being able to look out your window and see another aircraft flying along side you onto the adjacent runway. Another thing that makes it so realistic, is when you are cleared for "postion and hold on takeoff". The controller sometimes makes you wait a bit, after taxiing onto the runway, before giving you your takeoff clearance..... really adds to the realism. Today I am going to try the emergency scenario. You declare an emergency, and RC4 will then begin to vector you to the nearest suitable airport, just as would be the case in real life. All the approaches I have flown so far, have been great. No bizarre turns , or extended finals, or overshoots of the LOC. No more having to dive bomb down to the runway, or being flown into the side of a mountain, on approach. I always wind up at the correct altitude and the correct spot for a sensible entry to the ILS. They even have a short approach option which I haven't tried yet, which gives you about a 5 mile final. This is used quite often in real life, when I fly commercially into Atlanta. All you have to do is press a key on the menu selection when you are nearing the airport and ask for the short approach... I usually don't buy a program when it is just released, since I like to wait until the smoke clears and the initial patches are issued before deciding to buy or not. I knew that they have been working on this RC4 for quite a long time, so I figured that they must have been doing some extensive Beta Testing. For this reason, I decided to give the new release a shot. So far after many flights, no bugs, no crashes, no complaints. It works as advertised, everytime I use it, which is everytime I fly... Programs like Active Sky, and the Leveld 767, and Ultimate Terrain, have raised my enjoyment of flying MSFS far beyond what they cost.RC4 is definitely in this same league. Can't wait to go flying again this morning..... :-)

Can't wait for my copy to show up... Bob how long did yours take from the time you ordered it? I ordered mine last Wednesday...

>...( I think they think I am a bit daft>with my Track IR Hat and headset on, staring at the computer>screen for hours...I wonder what they might think if you were also using VoiceBuddy so they would hear you talk to the PC at the same time ;-)http://jdtllc.com/images/rcv4bannerbeta.jpgPelle F. S. Liljendal

HiI just wondered if anyone knew if you could buy this in the shops, and if so, which ones? I haven't left enough time for me to order it over the web, and I have some time free to play around with it over Christmas.It sounds great.

>Can't wait for my copy to show up... Bob how long did yours>take from the time you ordered it? I ordered mine last>Wednesday...I got mine in 2 days, but I live in Georgia, and that is where it was shipped from.... Probably add a day or two for the rest of the US,,,

sorry, it's web onlyjd

Sounds great. However, I think this is a product which should be downloadable. I almost never purchase CDs over the internet. And I'm the kind of guy who impulse buys. It would be on my hard drive now. Unfortunately I'll probably never get it given the current delivery method.