1 minute ago, kaosfere said:

I was interested in this one, but your enthusiastic review has totally sold me on it, Carl.  I'm going to be grabbing this and giving it a spin a bit later on today.  I'll report back!

I as well....looking forward to some group flights with Carl later in this unique little airplane. 

Sadly, after I bought it, I rode my bike (Schwinn 10 speed) out to the field, and while chatting with an interested observer who saw the bugger on the ramp, me still on my bike with the plane behind me at my 7 o'clock...my friend (who was going to fly it later) rolled it directly behind my bike.  Not knowing it was there, I backed my bicycle up and completely crushed it flat. 😞   Its a total airframe write-off.  

When doing the NTSB incident paperwork and also filing the insurance claim, neither the NTSB investigator nor the insurance adjuster knew of this plane and when I described that it was crushed by my 10-speed Schwinn bicycle, well...the NTSB guy suspended my license for falsifying an official document, and of course the insurance adjuster denied the claim.  Its been a bad day for me. 😞 

I would venture to say that this aircraft is the perfect choice for MSFS and the state it is in these days. 😁 It doesn´t have an autopilot, does it?

5 minutes ago, Janov said:

I would venture to say that this aircraft is the perfect choice for MSFS and the state it is in these days. 😁 It doesn´t have an autopilot, does it?

 

Didn't take long for the trolls to show up, did it?

1 hour ago, Steve Dra said:

I as well....looking forward to some group flights with Carl later in this unique little airplane. 

Sadly, after I bought it, I rode my bike (Schwinn 10 speed) out to the field, and while chatting with an interested observer who saw the bugger on the ramp, me still on my bike with the plane behind me at my 7 o'clock...my friend (who was going to fly it later) rolled it directly behind my bike.  Not knowing it was there, I backed my bicycle up and completely crushed it flat. 😞   Its a total airframe write-off.  

When doing the NTSB incident paperwork and also filing the insurance claim, neither the NTSB investigator nor the insurance adjuster knew of this plane and when I described that it was crushed by my 10-speed Schwinn bicycle, well...the NTSB guy suspended my license for falsifying an official document, and of course the insurance adjuster denied the claim.  Its been a bad day for me. 😞 

Im ashamed to admit i laughed, even tho i knew where this was going from the beggining 😄

57 minutes ago, Janov said:

I would venture to say that this aircraft is the perfect choice for MSFS and the state it is in these days. 😁 It doesn´t have an autopilot, does it?

Yes last update really screwed up AP.  I can only  imagine what joyfull opportunity it present you to gloat here. However, the irony is that fully functional VNAV  IXEG is work in progress  since 2015, yet it works quite work well in Flybywire 320 in 3 month old sim! But like you said real pilot rarely use VNAV right ? 🙂

4 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

I can only  imagine what joyfull opportunity it present you to gloat here.

Yes, it quite made my day, thank you 😁. And then to see that plane with that huge canopy, perfect for viewing the pretty scenery. Too good to pass on.

And yes, real pilots rarely use VNAV in descents - at least real airline pilots 😉. 

10 minutes ago, Janov said:

Yes, it quite made my day, thank you 😁. And then to see that plane with that huge canopy, perfect for viewing the pretty scenery. Too good to pass on.

And yes, real pilots rarely use VNAV in descents - at least real airline pilots 😉. 

Yes for those of us who never use autopilot perfect view is important ! 

I figured Boeing just put VNAV in 737 for fun! And company just paying for it because they have too much money, right? 🙂 

By the way when did you last fly 737? 

The jet version is pretty cool!

37 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

Yes for those of us who never use autopilot perfect view is important ! 

I figured Boeing just put VNAV in 737 for fun! And company just paying for it because they have too much money, right? 🙂 

By the way when did you last fly 737? 

Well, VNAV was getting used a lot in climb and cruise on the 737s I flew - the FMS is good at calculating the correct speeds and also helps in heeding restrictions on climbout (warns if you can´t make one or levels off if you forget an "at or below" one on a SID like they love to have in the UK).

VNAV was getting little use in descents, in fact I was known as "the Captain that uses VNAV PTH 😮" (because I wanted to figure out how it works for our IXEG work) - it isn´t very reliable in the sense that it doesn´t allow for "better than planned" conditions and an unexpected tailwind or ATC shortcut will leave you in trouble making a restriction. In other words it is "cutting it too close" - and that is why pilots don´t trust it. The overwhelming reason for it getting little use in descent is that very few approaches really play out the way they are in the FMS, so "predicting" the actual path and mileage is something that pilots are often better at than the FMS.

That being said, it does pain me that our IXEG does not perform this calculation equally as bad as the real plane did and I hope that we can simulate this to the same level soon (whats another few months after 5 years! 🙄)

I flew the 737 last in 2012. Since then I have been flying the Airbus 320 family (including the NEO) and use VNAV (it is called managed descent on the Airbus) even less than before - the 320´s calculation is even worse, unless you buy a package they call "DPO" or descent path optimization. Our airline forewent that - so yeah, I guess you can get it if you have too much money or don´t quite trust your pilots to hit the airport without the FMS helping 😉

Cheers, Jan

 

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by Janov

Reporting back from my first test flight over KMPI.   This thing is a lot of fun!  It's also a handful.   @cavaricooper was right, you need to dance very gently with it but it's really responsive, it looks great, and that big bubble will be amazing for sight-seeing.

I've created a little 10 minute video of a couple circuits at KMPI if anyone wants to see.   YouTube says it'll be an hour or so to upload, though.  (My upload speed sucks.  😞  )   I had to scrub one landing and should have scrubbed the second, but I didn't want to make the "little" video too long.

One thing I noticed was that I couldn't hear the sounds of my gear at touchdown, only the whine of the engines.  With that and the unusual position and perspective I wasn't really sure when I was actually on the ground.  @cavaricooper, have you noticed that at all?

 

Edit:  HOLY CRACKERS THE JET MODEL 😂🙃

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by kaosfere

Rob, I noticed that it's also near impossible to hear what ATC is saying over the whine of those little screamin engines. 😄

3 hours ago, Janov said:

I would venture to say that this aircraft is the perfect choice for MSFS and the state it is in these days. 😁 It doesn´t have an autopilot, does it?

Not enough content in the XP forums eh?

Whirlwind tour through Yosemite Valley using the fabulous freeware mod for it.      I had to do some impromptu, uh, mid-air refueling.   6 gallons of gas doesn't last very long.  😂

 

3 hours ago, Alvega said:

Didn't take long for the trolls to show up, did it?

Lighten up, lol, it was a funny one-liner.

Seriously, people are laughing and joking, and getting riled up over a video game; it's not like they are ranking on your wife, first-born kid, or your mother. 

People are so hair-triggered these days. 

 

How is that plane legal to fly? It's like being in an RC!