**THIS IS NOW SUPERSEDED BY THE NEXT PINNED UPDATE**

 

Hi guys, 

First things first - why is my streaming from the Airline2Sim website not working - well the API that we use to pull the videos from Vimeo is broken. We're aware of it but there's been some head scratching between us and Vimeo for a few weeks over this. For now you can download the videos and watch them with sound and vision in the mobile, SD and HD formats but you can't stream them as before. I know that while not a disaster this is slightly annoying so this is top of our 'to fix' list. 

 Next - where the Hell have you been since September - well if you remember my note from then I went through a pretty nasty marriage breakup. I'm not alone here, every year I guess millions of people get divorced but until you've experienced it yourself, especially when you weren't the instigator, then nothing can really prepare you for the mental rollercoaster of going into battle with the person who a few short days before was your whole world. It's been a long and rocky road and frankly each day has just been about survival. There simply wasn't the emotional space to do much apart from just get dressed each morning, and even that was a struggle at times. Not fun, and I don't recommend it to anyone, even if it did mean I lost 20kg in weight! 

What happens next - well all the plans we were working on last year were put on hold indefinitely but one by one we're unpicking the ropes that were holding them down: 

PMDG 777 Cadet+ is now PMDG 777 First Officer Training Program. The thinking was that actually there was a still a lot of stuff from the 777 Program that we wanted to cover, such as AP off go-arounds, one engine stuff, ETOPS, NATS tracks, fuel dump, VOR and NDB approaches, crosswinds, cold weather ops and more so we've decided to expand the scope of the course to include it all. 

Airline2Sim Boeing 777 First Officer Training Program 

Video 1  - 777 Cadet debrief and course contents 

Video 2 - Autopilot off go around - Geneva RWY 05 (high terrain, GPWS, TCAS RA with other traffic)

Video 3 - Single engine go around - Hong Kong RWY 07L (high terrain, typhoon conditions, reserve fuel)

Video 4 - Crosswind landing - Amsterdam RWY 18C (max crosswind landing)

Video 5 - Crosswind takeoff - Paris Charles De Gaulle RWY 27L (consideration of engine pod to runway surface) 

Video 6/7 - Engine Fail at V1 / Fuel Dump / Return - Boston (bird strike, holding, return)

Video 8 - VOR approach Doha 16L (offset VOR, DME reads to beacon not runway) 

Video 9 - NDB approach to Kilimanjaro Airport (terrain, how to load non-precision approach)

Video 10 - LDA approach Tokyo RWY 23R (offset LOC, visual final portion)

Video 11/12/13 - Dubai to Newark with RNP Arrival (NATS TRACKS / ETOPS/RNP

Video 14/15 San Francisco to Dubai with divert to Longyear Norway after explosive decompression and engine severe damage. 

This is at the top of the board as we speak. Don't ask for dates, but the price will be along the lines of the Q400 FO Program. 

FSL Airbus A320 Cadet 

The A320 plays nicely in terms of performance after the latest update and I've been working on the syllabus for it. There are still a few missing features (wind entries etc) that our Bus guy feels would be highly desirable so we are dragging our feet a little in the hope that they will appear in an update. I'll have some more info soon, but you are going to love this one. It will be based out of the UK, featuring a variety of short and medium haul ahem 'speeding bird' destinations from London, including a couple of domestic sectors to places like Belfast City and then further afield to Nice and even a 'long' haul to Baku, a long way in an A320!

PMDG Boeing 747 Cadet

Expect this after the Airbus. It will still be set in Asia, based out of Hong Kong and take in cargo ops too. 

TFDI Boeing 717 Cadet

We've upgraded this to a fully fledged Cadet course as the aircraft has matured nicely with another big update coming. It'll be set in the Mediterranean and take in places like Mykonos, Skiathos and Corfu. The trainer is a 717 Type Rating Instructor so bring your game face!

Leonardo MadDog Cadet 

I haven't even had time to fly this myself yet, but I really, really want to cover it. We have a guy who flew this all around the USA until he moved to the 75/67 recently, so expect it to be shortish US destinations. No date for this yet. 

So we're still here. Down but not out. Thanks for your patience and for waiting for me to get the blue side back up. Life threw up a great big GPWS but we hit TOGA just in time. I'll be active here daily from now on, any questions, brickbats, bikini pics of my new gf (no don't ask really) then fire away.  

 

Edited February 19, 20197 yr by Airline2Sim

Amazing! Thanks for the detailed update, Ben. 😊

It's good to hear you're getting back on your feet. Was beginning to worry for awhile there...

Edited April 27, 20188 yr by Anders Bermann

Welcome back

Sorry to hear the heartache you had to endure.

But back to flying and a new GF is a great step into a better future!

Bob

Welcome home.  We have all hoped that your life would return to some form of normalcy at some point.  We know it was a hard, long road.

All I can say is welcome back and I hope you're well.  I'll be looking forward to new programs.

Gregg

Hey Ben - Great to see you are back after what has clearly been a pretty miserable experience. 

Good luck with all of your plans - looking forward to the A320 in particular.

Welcome back - great to have you back on deck. Looking forward to more programs 🙂

Hi Ben. Great to know you are back in action and have a plan outlined for the future. I see there is no mention of the Q400 Captain course, nor of the long awaited shared cockpit flight from the FO course. Do you have any comment to make on this or do we take it that the Q400 program now lives in the archives?

regards Trev

16 hours ago, TreeTops said:

Hi Ben. Great to know you are back in action and have a plan outlined for the future. I see there is no mention of the Q400 Captain course, nor of the long awaited shared cockpit flight from the FO course. Do you have any comment to make on this or do we take it that the Q400 program now lives in the archives?

regards Trev

Trev, thanks for the kind words and I’m quite happy to tackle that one directly. 

The problem with the Q400 Captain Program is quite what to do with it. We did some reasonably complex failures in the FO Program and whilst there’s still plenty to have a go at in terms of flipping switches (hydraulic failures, gear problems etc), a lot of is really just following the failure drills from the FCOM.

I’m not convinced that this is particularly rewarding from a flight simmer’s point of view. The fun stuff is more about the nuts and bolts of the challenging approaches that we taught, such as the VOR approach to SOU or the circling approach to CBY. 

The other issue is who would teach it. Josh has been on the Airbus for two years or more so he probably would be a bit rusty on it now. So indeed it looks like the Captain Program will sit on the shelf for a while.

I’ll hold my hands up and say on this one  that we that we couldn’t deliver. However I will put the shared cockpit flight as a separate video on the board for us to work on between the 777 and the Bus. 

Thanks for your reply Ben. Looking forward to the shared cockpit video.

In one of the previous threads about the captain series was mention of looking at the HUD. Perhaps that can become part of the shared cockpit video.

regards

Trev

9 hours ago, TreeTops said:

Thanks for your reply Ben. Looking forward to the shared cockpit video.

In one of the previous threads about the captain series was mention of looking at the HUD. Perhaps that can become part of the shared cockpit video.

regards

Trev

Yes indeed. I recall Josh telling me that the sim at Flybe had a HUD but that was the only time he’d ever seen one. In fact it was useful only for banging your head on. 😎

We will see what we can figure out. 

Can't wait for the FSL Airbus A320 Cadet 😎

That is excellent news, Ben, and thank you for the very informative update!!  I'm glad to hear things are getting back on track for you and I'm absolutely looking forward to the launch of the PMDG 777 Cadet+ program 😊

 

Any news?

Once again we are left hanging several months after last hearing anything.