[26JAN18] ...These are a few of our FAVORITE things...

[ErichB 3,054]

3 minutes ago, rsrandazzo said:

Josef,

Figuring out how to get our fully customized animation sequences to play with the replay logic is on my list of wants.  I will solve it one of these days.  The thing with software engineering is that you sometimes just need a free weekend and a fresh idea to crack the egg wide open.

The airplane nerd in me LOVES replays...

 

 

Rob

 

Are you collaborating with Keven (Chaseplane) on replays for PMDG aircraft?

[Beardyman 340]

Pity is that PMDG spends so much time and effort about modelling and animations, but i do not see and don't care cause i sit in the cockpit.

Very very rarely i see plane outside, mostly when parked, before flight - something like walk around.

For me PMDG can do only cockpit with systems and i would be happy :-)

[PaulGR 158]

The sounds for me.
I have a sweet 10" sub under my desk and I love the vibration it creates.
 

Other thing is those old CRTs. Man you nailed those hard.

[uhntissbaby111 58]

I like that you guys modeled the ECS automatically raising the cabin temperature during the flight. I read it in the FCOM and on the next flight paid attention to the temps. And sure enough, as the flight progressed the temps rose

[Cocobellomann 1]

3 hours ago, rsrandazzo said:

Josef,

Figuring out how to get our fully customized animation sequences to play with the replay logic is on my list of wants.  I will solve it one of these days.  The thing with software engineering is that you sometimes just need a free weekend and a fresh idea to crack the egg wide open.

The airplane nerd in me LOVES replays...

 

 

YEESSS! I am very grateful for that. 

 

The airplane’s complex behavior and the enormous sound encourages me every time to take this simulation very seriously. (And I mean all plane types).

Josef

[RichieFly 507]

I'll chime in hear and add my vote for the sound-scape.

I recently bought a nice headset. This allowed my to use my digital-out connector.

Once I matched the digital device used in the PMDG sound settings, oh my goodness. I've never heard such rich and complex sounds.

Love it.

[wedgantilles 76]

16 hours ago, rsrandazzo said:

FUEL DENSITY MODEL: 

Extrapolate that out to something the size of a 747-400 and you can see that if you get fuel in Beijing during the summer time and your density is 6.3lbs/gal, you have significantly less range capability than you would if you fuel in Seattle in winter and get a density of 6.85lbs/gal.

If you aren't flying out to maximum range, none of this really matters much- but it is still pretty nerdy and fun once you start paying attention to it! 

Well that is very interesting to read those tiny bits "hidden". I'm sure I've not really seen anything of that magnitude simply because I'm not a captain at all, and just like the reviewer you talk about :)

I'm just curious about this fact not as much in the sim than in the real world. As you underline it can have a significant impact on the aircraft flying near maximum range. Does this mean there are some kind of readings available when you refuel the aircraft, that the captain or the flight planner can use to plan the fuel quantity properly ?

[swood721 28]

29 minutes ago, wedgantilles said:

Well that is very interesting to read those tiny bits "hidden". I'm sure I've not really seen anything of that magnitude simply because I'm not a captain at all, and just like the reviewer you talk about :)

I'm just curious about this fact not as much in the sim than in the real world. As you underline it can have a significant impact on the aircraft flying near maximum range. Does this mean there are some kind of readings available when you refuel the aircraft, that the captain or the flight planner can use to plan the fuel quantity properly ?

 

In my experience, the fuel density can definitely be noticeable but not enough to cause issues with the flight. When I was a First Officer at my airline I would fly the 757 on our TAPA-FHAW route pretty regularly (alas I’m not senior enough to hold it now that I’m a very junior Captain). That’s our longest regularly scheduled route (I flew a ferry from PANC-RJTY in the 757 once. That was LONG in a 757!) on the 757 and we usually max out with 75,000 lbs of fuel. Depending on the time of year or even the time of day, I’ve seen as much as 75,300 and as little as 65,200 give or take. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not enough to cause any issues with flight planning but I did notice that missing 800 or so pounds when we landed.

[zsolt23 9]

Dont know if this is has been modelled before but I have noticed on a few recent flights especially on windy days the rudder will sway back and forth gently on the tarmac during preflight. Nice touch. 

What gets me is the general high fidelity of the simulation. I love pushing her to the limits and she works as advertised. I tried a flight into SLLP a while back which was quite the experience. Approach speeds were higher of course and thrust reversers were not as effective either. Lets just say I did not leave El Alto successfully as planned. I realize she is only certified to 10000 ft. Any chance for a high altitude package?

I've had a few pressurization failures, just watching the cabin altitude creep higher as you try to figure out where to land will get your blood flowing.

Yes, I also love the landing gear on the 777/747, however I have not been successful in replaying takeoffs and landings to notice too many intricacies, will be on the lookout 😉

Excellent job on the 744, looking forward to the -8.

Regards, Zsolt

[mcbellette 145]

The things I like are quite simple things, yet they bring so much realism to the simulator. I love that we can see into the aircraft cabin and cockpit, whereas all we saw in previous iterations of MS Flight Simulator was grey-ish representations of windows that could not be seen through. I like the fact that wing surfaces such as flaps, ailerons and speed brakes all move compared to early versions of MSFS, where they did not. The same goes for landing gear animations, changing from a quick up or down animation to complex animations detailing effects of hydraulics and aircraft weight and braking effects on the nose wheels. I like that we can have different real world and fictional liveries and that we can simulate airside services. This simulator has come a long way in a relatively short time (largely due to developers like PMDG pushing the envelope and pushing MS to do better) and I hope that there will be future versions of this simulator that build on these improvements and I hope that PMDG will be a part of that.

[Guest]

 

18 hours ago, rsrandazzo said:

What resulted was a three dimensional algorithm that models real world fuel density based upon where on the planet you take on fuel in the 747-400.  (Real time fueling only...  I left instant fueling at standard density as a fallback in case anyone got into trouble, or the model did anything unexpected...

Extrapolate that out to something the size of a 747-400 and you can see that if you get fuel in Beijing during the summer time and your density is 6.3lbs/gal, you have significantly less range capability than you would if you fuel in Seattle in winter and get a density of 6.85lbs/gal.

Robert, I’m interested to know how you did this. Did you have a static summer and winter value programmed for very country in the world or does the FMC dynamically work in the background to figure out what the density should be depending on location, time of year, temperature etc via the internet perhaps?

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains,

Normally I start out my threads with an image or two- but this time I just gave you a wall of text.  Sorry. 

So here is a quick screen capture of a few of our favorite things about the 747-8.

 

 

[Captain Kevin 586]

Would that be the rain effects, the moving map, or the electronic flight bag.

[MauB 67]

My goodness, so many interesting stuff in one shot!

[PopsBellNC 21]

AILERON LOCKOUT Advisory Message after I screwed up a cold-weather start in Fairbanks, AK this afternoon. Now THAT is detail!!