FSX-MS Wanted, New FSX Plane

[malct 13]

Hi, I have had the qw757 since it was first realised, but since buying a new PC with windows 8.1, i have had a lot of issues with it, so looking to buy a new plane that not complicated to learn to fly like the 757 worked and i still still could not get the reverse thrust to work, So looking for something thats not to complicated.

Looking at the QW 787, i understand that its equal complicated to learn, plus expensive and a very bugs.

 

Can anyone recommend a decent plane to buy, Prefer something large than small, I was looking at the 777 , But with the new A350, I guess that's to new yet.

Any recommendations would be great.

 

Thank you all

 

Malc  

[Jim Young 2,356]

I feel your pain.  It took me a year or longer to learn the Flight Management System (FMS) for the Level-D 767.  You learn that and the rest is fairly easy.  The QW787 and 757 have the same type of FMS.  You program the FMS and you have most of the battle won.  QW has tutorials and you should only be using the tutorials until you have it all figured out.  There are many videos on the Internet too from the community that teach you how to program the FMS and setup the rest of the aircraft for takeoff and landing.  The manuals are usually worthless (at least for me) as they are filled with so much information they become boring.  The QW Manual for the 787 is over 400 pages long.  But it is good to check out things that might be confusing like, starting it up, lowering the flaps, turning on the lights, turning on the air-conditioner, etc.  The meat of learning is in the tutorials and the videos of others going through the process of setting an aircraft up, taking off, and then landing.  I own the QW 787 and think it is their best effort and it will only get better! I personally would not recommend another aircraft (heavy) until you learn the 757 though.  But I do like the PMDG 777 a lot!  The engine sounds, the feeling of being in something really big, the performance, are the things I like. 

[Chock 17,769]

I would suggest you try either the PMDG Boeing 737 NG or the iFly Boeing 737 NG (either one is good, the iFly one is a bit easier on frame rates and more bang for your bucks, but the PMDG one is graphically slightly better in a couple of ways, although personally, I prefer the iFly one).

The reason I suggest these, is that since the Boeing 737 is the most popular airliner in the world, having been in continuous production for over fifty years and having sold well over 10,000 models, there is perhaps more tutorial material about how to fly the 737 than any other aeroplane ever, in all kinds media; everything from PDFs, youtube videos, software courses, apps, books and specialist websites, so you're bound to be able to find a method to learn it which suits the way you like to learn things.

Both the PMDG and the iFly 737s are very mature products, so there is very little chance of any computer issues with either of them. The other reason it's a good choice is, should you go for the iFly 737, it includes all major 737 NG variants, including both the 737-900 and 737-900ER, although in fairness, the PMDG version gets you an -800, which is perhaps the most common NG variant.

The 900 model variants of the 737 are just about as close to a Boeing 757-200 as you're going to find in another airliner unless you where to include the Airbus A321 in the mix, since it is very similar in terms of performance and size, but being an Airbus, it's a big learning curve change from a Boeing).

Whilst the 757-200 is slightly bigger than the 737-900, both aircraft have a span of around 120 feet, and there's only about 20 feet or so difference in the their lengths, both have a wing sweep of 25 degrees, both have a cruise speed in the range of Mach .78-.80 and they both seat about 200-220 passengers (depending on seat configuration), in fact the only reason the 737-900 cannot legally seat as many as the larger 757 models, is because of the smaller number of emergency exits it has, meaning it could not evacuate them as fast as a 757 could. so you're pretty close to a 757-200 with a 737-900.

There are differences of course; the 757 has a larger MTOW than the 737 and in spite of the fairly similar length and span of the 757-200 and the 737-900, the 757 is still a bigger aeroplane overall (i.e. you can walk under a 757 without ducking down at all, whereas you really have to crouch down low to go under a 737, this is a very noticeable difference between them when you work on them). On the plus side of this, a 737 will fit on a slightly smaller stand than a 757 and be able to handle smaller airports better than a 757 can, but not by much.

With either RB211s or PW2000s, the 757 is undeniably much more powerful than the 737 with its CFM 56 engines, in fact the 757 is actually considerably overpowered to the point where it has very sprightly performance, so it is a bit of a step down to fly an 737 as opposed to a 757 in terms of overall performance (especially on a single engine), but generally speaking, they're both broadly similar in terms of what they can do. The downside of the difference for the 757 however, is the fact that it kicks out quite a lot of wake vortex (and ATC people know this, so they treat it like a heavy as far as spacing goes). This means it will sometimes get slotted in behind stuff rather than in front of things when airports are handling a lot of traffic, which might be useful to know it you use VATSIM or similar online ATC. So whilst the 757 is a slightly 'flashier' aeroplane than the 737 NG, they are not so different as to be poles apart in terms of avionics, and such and I think it'd be a good choice for you.

Some useful links for 737 products, and learning how to fly them:  

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=iflyfsx

https://www.precisionmanuals.com/pages/products/FSX/NGX8900.html

http://www.smartcockpit.com/plane/BOEING/B737NG.html

http://www.b737.org.uk/

Edited October 21, 2018 by Chock

[malct 13]

Thank you both for your replies, Jim your correct about the 400 page manual, I just want to get in and start flying without all the complicated stiff that can be over my head.

I don't have a clue on what has happened to the 757, i have had to do a full install of all my software and the plane is just sitting on the tarmac, flaps fully down, looks like no power with no instruments working but yet the engines are on.

I like the long haul flights hence the bigger planes since i do a lot of flights from the uk to asia and i have all the airports, Bangkok, Dubia, Doha etc 

The 757 is now outdated since the new crop of planes but agree the 737 as been about now a very long time. I will have a look at those links Chock 

[malct 13]

Jim, I have had the 757 since it went on sale, So i am not going to get any better, Its the manual, To complicated for me.

Out of the 2 Jim, Which one was easier to learn and to fly?

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

2 hours ago, malct said:

Jim, I have had the 757 since it went on sale, So i am not going to get any better, Its the manual, To complicated for me.

Out of the 2 Jim, Which one was easier to learn and to fly?

 

There are a lot of aircraft mentioned in this thread.  In your op you indicated an interest in the QW787.  I have it and enjoy it.  It is currently the most modern aircraft in the air and countries are buying it up like crazy.  I always enjoy learning the aircraft that has the latest tech.  It is expensive though so, unless you have a lot of money, flying it one or two times and finding it difficult to fly may not be the right thing to do.  QW continues to update this aircraft and fix any bugs so it should be around for a long time in the future.  Both the 757 and 787 are easy to fly.  Again, you need to know how to program the FMC if you are not already familiar.  All heavies have the FMC so a basic requirement for full enjoyment.  I could program the FMC on either aircraft and everything is so automatic, you just take off, raise the gears, turn on AP (LNAV/VNAV) and then go and take a nap and come back near the top of descent or on final approach (someone has to lower the gears and flaps). 

The 787 comes with five very comprehensive tutorials - one on how to start it up when it is cold and dark; one on flight planning (or how to program the FMC); one on taking off; one for landing; and probably the best for those still learning is a very basic tutorial on the Autopilot system.  Believe me, that's worth a lot of money right there!!  You won't need to read the 400+ page manual as they provide step by step instructions.

So, personally, this is the one to get because of the basic instructions for flying the aircraft and the fact it is the most modern aircraft in the sky.  Once you learn how to fly a heavy, they all become easier to setup and fly and you will definitely get more enjoyment.  I remember learning the FMC with the Level-D 767 and it seemed so complicated.  I decided one day to sit down and learn how to program it.  It was that or the ending of my career as a virtual pilot.  I remember the LvlD developers trying to talk me through the programming but I think I also followed some of the instructions on YouTube too.  But, once I learned it, I can now program an aircraft in less than five minutes using the DEP/ARR pages on the FMC.  Fun stuff...

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

Forgot to add... if you purchase the QW787 through Flight One, you can get your money back after 30 days if not satisfied.  So a win-win situation.

[Jim Young 2,356]

On 10/20/2018 at 4:25 PM, malct said:

Any recommendations would be great.

You might be interested in the 12-hour $12 sale topic in our Bargain Hunter's Forum too.

[malct 13]

Thank you Jim, I will go for the QW787 i think, Shame there wasn't a $12 sale on this 

[Chock 17,769]

You should be aware that the QW787 is a bit heavy on a PC system, and since FSX has a VAS limit, you might want to back off some of your other settings to give it headroom. On the plus side, the FSX version of the QW 787 does actually come with an in-sim VAS monitor which you can see in the VC, so you can monitor how it's doing on handling that VAS limit.

[malct 13]

Thanks Chock,  I did by a new PC just for FSX with a good processor , Just need everything running.