Hi guys, the one thing, which I feel is lacking in Flight Sim, is the option to have random failures which I have not planed or programed because its no fun having an engine fail when I know it will fail and hence I am completely prepared for it!!! And in any case it would be better for my airmanship if I knew that a failure could occur at any point in time, and anything on the aircraft which could go bust and I would definitely be more aware of what is going on. Sometimes I find myself going to sleep during cruise. Anyway, I've tried the 2 freeware programs FS reliability Factor and random failure 1.0. But a) Reliability Factor is shareware, only runs 20 minutes before registration required and random failure 1.0 is not user friendly. Does anyone have anything else they can recomend?ThanksSheaTail Winds all the way.

FSPassengers has that function as part of the package. [p class=dcmessage] BradKELP/KBIF http://home.elp.rr.com/bmbanister/BannerSig_BMBanister.jpgAMD Athlon XP 2600, Asus A7V600, 1GB PC3200, NVidia GeForce 6800, SB Live

Random failures is an interesting concept but what I really look forward to are failures created by a rough handling of the aircraft engine(s) and accelerated wear and tear and damages caused by improper use of pumps or other mechanical or electrical stuff (pumps etc.) Real Air has done a good job with the Spit'. This needs to be imitated and developped.The temp gauges are for now too much of an eye candy for instance.Dominique

Shea, Until something better comes along (as Dominique mentioned), I've been using the same FSReliability you spoke of. Setting a fractional percentage of a failure to occur at some point still puts a bit of tension into the sim that I enjoy each time I use it. But as far as standing off the product because the shareware version stops after 20 minutes? While it's not free, the $7US to register is not such a big deal (to me, at least.) If you're looking for a freeware program to do the same thing, I doubt you'll find anything...

I had the same Q. There are options.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchhttp://www.flytechsoft.com/index.html

FS Passengers implementation is a bit more sophisticated than just random failures. Some are random, like bird strikes or jammed gear. Others increase in likelihood with wear over time or abuse. These often have symptoms that you can see coming, such as high temps or asymetric performance across two engines. If your income permits it and you have enough capital, you can keep up on the maintenance of your fleet and will experience few of these wear-relate failures. Failures are not the focus of the prgram but the implementation is really well thought out. You can set the probably of a failure when you first set up the program.Do read everything carefully and ask questions on the forum, as the manual is not great (some nuances are lost in translation and come back to haunt you). In many cases there is "no going back" if you set an option and decide later you didn't understand it, at least until you start over by creating a new company (a major decision not done lightly). The program has some great other features as well (co-pilot services, etc), and the addition of passengers to your aircraft is a huge, pleasant transformation. You'll be surprised how quickly you get hooked into worrying about keeping them happy and advancing the rank of your pliots. If you fly low and slow in light GA aircraft, the program is a bit more limited because the designer clearly was thinking airlines when he implemented it. But I created a fictional little regional charter service servicing the south west with 5 single engine props or small prop or turboprop twins and have been purring along once I got used to things. Good stuff.

>FS Passengers implementation is a bit more sophisticated than>just random failures. Some are random, like bird strikes or>jammed gear. Others increase in likelihood with wear over>time or abuse. These often have symptoms that you can see>coming, such as high temps or asymetric performance across two>engines. If your income permits it and you have enough>capital, you can keep up on the maintenance of your fleet and>will experience few of these wear-relate failures. Failures>are not the focus of the prgram but the implementation is>really well thought out. You can set the probably of a failure>when you first set up the program.>>Do read everything carefully and ask questions on the forum,>as the manual is not great (some nuances are lost in>translation and come back to haunt you). In many cases there>is "no going back" if you set an option and decide later you>didn't understand it, at least until you start over by>creating a new company (a major decision not done lightly). >>The program has some great other features as well (co-pilot>services, etc), and the addition of passengers to your>aircraft is a huge, pleasant transformation. You'll be>surprised how quickly you get hooked into worrying about>keeping them happy and advancing the rank of your pliots. If>you fly low and slow in light GA aircraft, the program is a>bit more limited because the designer clearly was thinking>airlines when he implemented it. But I created a fictional>little regional charter service servicing the south west with>5 single engine props or small prop or turboprop twins and>have been purring along once I got used to things. Good>stuff.I agree 100%. It is an excellent program.To add to that I was flying a DC-3 and was coing in too high and used some flap to slow her down on decent, well I went too fast and "BANG" (you hear it) the flaps were damaged and stuck in that position with a whopping bill for repairs at the end of the flight.FSP keeps you honest.

Learning to fly the Aeroworx Beech 200 I pitched up a bit too high on flare and did a tail strike. $72k repair bill! Ouch. I forgot to add above that the damage and failures come with sound effects on this program. Glad you reminded me. I've heard that bang myself a couple of times (and the co-pilot chastizing me with sarcasm).

Thanks for the replies. I do use FSPassengers, And i am currently flying a 737-700 with Winglets around the world. I've taken her from India to Bahrain, and I hope that I can take it further. And CowlFlaps, I know what you mean, when u say that we have to worry about the passengers and our points, when I first got FSpassengers that program made me overly nervous when landing, it took me a while before I got my composure back. Anwyay, I once tried to land into Baghdad and lost EVERYTHING, i actually made it back to the runway, BUT is it me or is it IMPOSSIBLE to do a belly landing in FS9?????? I thought i brought her in nicely and VS was less than -100ft/min. Anyway, thats another subject for another thread. But thanks again for the answers. And you're right $7 isn't much. ThanksShea

Ditto to FsPassengers.Bird strikes, windows cracking, all in all just enough possible 'terror' to keep you alert!Punishment is severe for bad flying, this wee add on program has made me polish up my flying!If you do not pay to maintain aircraft, or buy from 'Joes Second Hand Aircraft' sales lot, you can end up with disasters at any time!

Dominique,Some of the payware addon planes out there do this to some extent. I agree that this would be more realistic then simply implementing random failures.