First Time Maddog Customers - Learning the Maddog

Friends,

Many first time Maddog customers are learning the lessons that previous Maddog customers did, that this isn't an aircraft most people can fire up and fly.  Believe it or not, this is why so many people love the aircraft, as it takes going through the manual and learning to love this aircraft and all her incredibly modeled systems, and then banging through the checklists a few times to really get the hang on her. And believe me, you'll still have more to learn as you can pick up the MD-82 FCOMs and find that 98% of better works as it does in the actual aircraft.  In fact you'll find even more tests you can run than what you'll find in the checklist.  Some people struggle with this aircraft even after having used other DC-9/MD-80 sims.

The way I learned the Maddog:

1. Read through all the manuals with the aircraft loaded in front of me.

2. Went through the long checklist.

3. Once I was able to take off and land and operate all the Maddog systems I moved to the FCOMs.

Arguably, the Leonardo Maddog is likely one of the two best and most complete aircraft ever modeled for desktop flight sim (the other is the Majestic Dash 8 Q400), and one really can't choose one or the other as the best/most complete as they are entirely different complex aircraft.  The Maddog is of course has a digital/computerized flight deck, but the main difference is that the Maddog and her systems are a true pilots aircraft, which is to say that unlike other aircraft (or at least not the same level) the main computer for all systems in the pilot.

Back in the day I spent many happy hours learning the Maddog and her systems, and then sharing that knowledge with many others. When you learn the Maddog and her systems you'll be able to apply that knowledge to any other aircraft and have a better idea of how the systems work (obviously some changes between aircraft, but air, oil, fuel, temps, pressures and water are still what they are).

One thing I will mention now for you is that the real aircraft had a problem with fuel freezing over the fuel filters, and you'll have monitor fuel temps to prevent this from happening.  If you start to see engine fluctuations or lowering performance chances are it's the fuel getting too cold. Simply turn on the fuel heaters - it may take two 30 second heater cycles to bring the temps up and if you still have a ways to go then keep monitoring those temps. I'm sure we'll still see some posts about engines quitting in mid-flight at some point!

Finally, you can search all PDF files in the same directory by opening one of them and selecting Control-Shift-F.  This will really help out!

My very best wishes, and welcome to the Maddog!