Aerosoft A318/9

[Benjamin J 751]

9 minutes ago, kaosfere said:

[...]

The funny part of this is that the actual professionals tend to not care as much.   They have a tool that they need, but they already walk the walk, so there's no threat to them in people who may make their gear seem less special.  In fact, quite the opposite -- if there's something that will do what they need, cheaper, they'll hop on it.

[...]

Very well said, but especially the part I quoted above. I think it's an important point. Amidst the people claiming that this or that addon will 'blow the other out of the water' or some-such phrasing, it always strikes me that it's the actual pilots of these planes that seems quite impressed with any of the discussed addons.

These kind of discussion always remind me of the the Captain Sim 757 - and back in the day the QWsim 757. People complained it was 'hard to slow down', that it was 'required to deploy the spoilers on every descent' and that 'this was unrealistic'. Subsequently I've read posts and articles by various 757 pilots claiming that the 757 is notoriously hard to slow down and that it's frequently required to extend some spoilers upon a descent, IF the descent wasn't planned properly. To me this means that some simmers simply have no idea how the 757 is supposed to perform, and they probably messed up their descent planning, necessitating spoiler extension.

Am I any better? Nope, not at all. I quite often find myself needing to extend spoilers on descent, but that has everything to do with default ATC. But, I do recognize that having to extend the spoilers is not the addon's fault, it's totally because I decide to follow default ATC's underwhelming descent instructions. Sadly, more and more do I see people making all kinds of claims without really knowing what they are talking about - but not acknowledging that they don't have any of the real world experience, instead presenting their 'educated guesses' as rock-solid facts.

Does that mean that the addon is holy and perfect? Of course not. It's still software and it will have bugs that will need clearing. To Aerosoft's credit, they have been very clear and forward and describing currently known issues. What I am saying is that, if somebody says "it totally ignored this descent instruction", instead of jumping to the conclusion that the addon is at fault, maybe you just forgot to push a particular button? I lost count of the amount of times I forgot to push a button, only to see the plane not do what I was hoping it would do...

As Rob stated: there's a degree of ego in these discussion that is way more destructive than any of the 'unconventional' business practices of these addon companies.

[Benjamin J 751]

Right, so I did buy the Aerosoft Airbus Bundle, and finally had an opportunity to test it out. Took the A319 in Alitalia livery from LIRF to LSGG. Everything went very well until climbout - at which point managed climb went completely haywire, and commanded climb rates of +9000 ft/min, followed by imminent stall if I didn't disconnetc A/P and level off. When I checked the FMC it seemed as though it wanted me to climb to FL232 within the distance to the first waypoint - kind of crazy I think. Not sure why it calculated it that way. Maybe I forgot to press a button somewhere 😛 As soon as I took it off managed climb and over to manual altitude select, everything was smooth thereafter. A little disappointed with those climb calculations though.

Flight was uneventful for the most part. At one turn it took the turn pretty steeply, but then I believe Aerosoft was looking at managing the turn angle - it seems stuck at 15 degrees now? not sure, maybe I misunderstood something there. Anyway, everything was fine until LOC capture. For some reaosn or another the plane turned in the opposite direction and then back again when lining up. Now, frankly, it lined up perfectly. Whatever that maneuvre was, it worked, because it was the only thing it did to line up. After that the plane was completely stable - quite beautiful, though I was initially shocked at the turn it made. Was ready to take it off A/P and just do it myself, but it all worked out.

Onwards towards the airport, all ine dup - forgot to hit APPR and overshot the G/S, but fortunately I realized my mistake in time. Turned APPR mode on, took it off A/P, probably caused a herat attacked with some of my passnegers as I set up a -1700ft/min descent to get back on track, and when G/S and LOC modes were both activated and green, turned A/P back on.

And what followed was the most beautiful autoland I have seen so far. Granted, the weather was perfect - no wind or anything - but man, it was a thing of beauty to see the A/P cycle through the right modes while landing: LOC + G/S => Land => Flare => Rollout, and boy was the touchdown smooth! It'd be fun to see how it performs in stormier weather, but this was a very, very good start.

So, overall I really enjoyed this first flight. It's clear I've spent the past few months with the PMDG 737 given my initial confusion over some of the Airbus procedures, but I gotta say that compared to the Boeing 737 I thought the Airbus A319 was a breath to operate and fly. It's very stable, the cockpit layout of the Airbus is very intuitive to me, and most things are literally done with a single button press. Performance was very good for me as well, but then none of the scenery I passed through was particularly taxing. I might fly the A319 into EHAM sometime soon and see how that goes... Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to the various hotfixes, culminating in SP1, perhaps SP2, that will follow. Right now I already think that the 30$ I spent on the discounted bundle was well spent. I cannot comment on how it compares to the FSL, as I don't own it.

One thing worth mentioning is that your enjoyment of the product will probably come down to how you fly it. I was rather shocked by the managed climb mode and seemingly erroneous calculation of the FMC (but it's entirely possible I did something wrong!!!), but because I tend to follow default ATC and its climb and descent instructions, there is very little room for using these managed vertical modes anyway. Therefor I'm not very likely to run into any errors with them in the first place... Just a small disclaimer right there for you.

[joemiller 269]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:22 PM, Greggy_D said:

In what way, besides failures?  Just curious.

 

hahhaa

[fluffyflops 1,845]

just be popular we had quite a lot of a319 requests this weekend on edi-gla.co.uk

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

They made a mistake with this early release, people love to compare and find issues, it's not good for them (the company). I know, they are honest about what's in and what's out, but the product is way too unusable to be released. Three, four months more would have made all the difference.

Even with the FSL being high-priced they are taking a lot of risks here, i hope this won't be another 'CRJ' flop because i do want that A330 to be flyable and it'll be based in these baby buses. Fingers crossed, very low expectations though.

[steve howlett 137]

Obviously there are issues with it,aerosoft have been upfront about that.so anyone who bought it was aware of that. i've been using it all the time and get from A-B without any problems.like all software it gets better over time.look at the FSL bus it was heavily critisized for it's performance issues,now after quite a while they seem to have got on top of that.I am not that much of a systems guy so the Aerosoft bus is great for me and so far i'm very happy with it.Performance,Realight ,Trueglass and the modelling are very nicely done.so well done to Aerosoft 🙂

 

 steve

 

[The Dude 113]

12 minutes ago, Nuno Pinto said:

 but the product is way too unusable to be released.

I did not see your account on the buyers list. Care to explain how you came to this conclusion? 

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

1 minute ago, Flyer024 said:

I did not see your account on the buyers list. Care to explain how you came to this conclusion? 

You know people know people, right?

So i guess i don't need to explain some of those people buy addons and you can come over to their house and test them (mostly like i did with the CRJ and thank God i did). Your attitude on the other hand is hard to explain.

[steve howlett 137]

How can you say it's unstable Nuno ,like i said in my previous post i use it all the time and have no issues with it.a recent hotfix also solved some issues.did your friend have that installed??.you leave your self open to critisizm by saying things like that with only a short amount of time with it.

 

 steve

[anden145 2,273]

1 hour ago, Nuno Pinto said:

Your attitude on the other hand is hard to explain.

Agreed!

The attitude in here sometimes baffles me... I don't know why you need to publicize your receipt, for an addon, for it to be justified to make your observation. Especially since it's not equal for all! If the review had been positive, I bet no one would have demanded for proof of purchase...

Makes you wonder...

[steve howlett 137]

Anders you would want to know when someone says  "  but the product is way too unusable to be released " that they have

1 bought it

2 tested it extensively

3 not just said it because of hearsay.

4 or said it after half an hour (or more)on a friends computer.

it needs to be an informed opinion.Flyer024 is a real bus pilot.if he says it's a good simulation that needs an sp1.then thats all i need to hear.and please remember all the patches FSL have had to get it to where it is now.

 

 take care

    steve:-)

 

[The Dude 113]

I just think it would be beneficial for the readers here if Nuno really tested the AS bus at his friend’s to give us a bit more information. People here are looking for reviews and opinions and just saying it is way to unusable is imo a bit too little on the information side of things.

I do not care if he writes 1000 words about how bad it is, that is his opinion and that is ok. But I do care to see a few more words than just “way too unusable” I also do not demand a proof of purchase, I can see that info all by myself. I just hope people can come here and get informed opinions by people who actually flew the product and instead of throwing around one-liners invest some time to inform the community here. 

Edited July 15, 2018 by Flyer024

[steve howlett 137]

Absolutely Flyer.unfortunately some people have very short memories and quickly forget how long their favourite software took to become what it is now.there are also quite few people here who just say things to stir up a row.myself i'm very happy with the Aerosoft bus(i waited a long time for it)and i know it will get any issues sorted out quickly.A hotfix has already been put out.

good luck with its release

     steve

[beep747 93]

@Flyer024: forgive me my ignorance , but are you somehow involved in the development of the aerosoft airbus series? I just ask to better understand your reactions on this topic.

Jos

[steve howlett 137]

yes he is involved,also a real bus pilot.i know who  i'd listen too.:-)

 

 steve