FSD Saratoga....Anybody have?

[spilok 1,136]

I see one of my favorite planes being offered by FSD today. If anyone has bought it, I'd be interested in your opinion of it from performance, visual, and operational point of view.ps.I believe that this was the plane that John Kennedy Jr. flew that fateful night from Essex County airport in N.J. toward Martha's Vineyard. Unfortunately , he wasn't well experienced in IFR flying.

[Guest Sammie22]

Me too.. and also if the GPS is in-house designed and properly works for instrument procedures. The default GPS in FSX seems a little flaky at times.

[RFields5421 1]

I'll be buying it like all the FSD products.One thing I wish they would eventually get fixed is the phony registration numbers on the default repaint.I see again the main repaint has a reg # which starts with N and the number zero - which is not allowed in the US. There are no N0 registrations.

[Guest rightnumberone]

I wonder if that's intentional. Kind of like in the movies, when they mention a phone number ... it always starts with 555.There's obviously no such thing in real life, so as to avoid people trying to call that number. (Yes, people will try to call it.)

[Guest rightnumberone]

I haven't bought a lot of aftermarket add-on planes ... but this one has some features that I've never seen before in any aftermarket plane ... like the engine aging over time if it's abused.Their website is stunning as well.

[Guest SageWisdom]

>Me too.. and also if the GPS is in-house designed and>properly works for instrument procedures. The default GPS in>FSX seems a little flaky at times.I have it, and its a real beauty.As far as the FSX GPS, I don't find it more flaky in FSX than the rest of the sim. This sim is just plain flaky. It looks like they are using some of the default components. Im not really sure. But it works just fine to me. The glass displays are cool, and run smooth.

[Jay R 0]

I'm considering it. Considering........considering.......we'll see.[hr width=100%" size=1 color="black]http://forefrontgrp.com/MyLogo2.JPGJason | General Aviation Fan

[Guest davidvoogd]

>I haven't bought a lot of aftermarket add-on planes ... but>this one has some features that I've never seen before in any>aftermarket plane ... like the engine aging over time if it's>abused.>>Their website is stunning as well.All of FSD's planes model it, its sort of neat. But the Digital Aviation DO-27 has the best damage modelling system out there.The Saratoga does look interesting, currently debating it myself too. Would be nice to hear feedback from someone who has it.

[Guest JimC1702]

I picked it up late last night. Purchase, download, and installation was flawless, including three additional paints. I didn't really get to fly it until this evening.The plane looks and flys great, as expected from FSD. I started on a VFR flight but switched to IFR about halfway through. Everything worked fine. Only issue I've seen so far is the tool-tips for the overhead are messed up but FSD is already aware of it.My first landing was smooth as silk. Unfortunately I seemed to have damaged the flaps as they wouldn't retract once I was on the ground. Guess I'll have to break out the POH and learn to fly it properly. :)Overall it's a great package. Personally, I'd rather see GA singles in the price range of $19.95 to 24.95. $29.95 is pushing the limit of what I'll pay for a plane of this type.Jim

[spilok 1,136]

I pulled the trigger on this one....and it's worth the money. I like it! I'm not a fan of the glass cockpit model, but I love the conventional Saratoga. You get both.Flies great and feels so real.

[FTD1949 0]

So far I have seen a response from one person who owns the FSD product also list their system specs. From what I could see it was a high end system and I'm sure the aircraft works great for that system. (great system by the way). If anyone responds to the thread it would be very helpful to all if you would kindly list your system specs along with your impression of the aircraft. It would be most helpful as not all of us have the luxury of running top of the line hardware at this point in time. Thanks, Craig

[Guest JimC1702]

I'm running an old P4 2.6 with 2 gb of RAM and an nVidia 7600GT AGP. Works fine here. I'm also running FSG mesh and landclass, World of AI, and both Just Flight Military Plus Packs.Jim

[moss1 11]

Hi folks, It's been a while for me here since I mainly am a FS9 user at the moment. Anyway, if it helps, I purchased the Saratoga for FS9. The performance is very good compared to other AC that give me problems at add on airports in the same situation. FSD definitly optimized this for performance. There is also a slider in the configurator that comes with the product, so you can adjust the plane for performance or quality. The only things I don't know if I'm happy or not with is the engine sounds with the throttle opened. It has a weird sound to it. I did inquire about the soundset to FSD, and they confirmed it is from the real deal, plus I've never been up in a saratoga in real life. The other thing is the strobe lights. They don't flash continually. Almost like once in a while. Otherwise a great plane. Flys and handles nice. I am in the process of making a short video for her, so once it is complete, I can post it here if I can figure out how to accomplish that part. In all the years here, I've never uploaded anything at avsim. I'll let you know when the video is complete.

[McCrash 3]

>I picked it up late last night. Purchase, download, and>installation was flawless, including three additional paints. >I didn't really get to fly it until this evening.>>The plane looks and flys great, as expected from FSD. I>started on a VFR flight but switched to IFR about halfway>through. Everything worked fine. Only issue I've seen so far>is the tool-tips for the overhead are messed up but FSD is>already aware of it.>>My first landing was smooth as silk. Unfortunately I seemed>to have damaged the flaps as they wouldn't retract once I was>on the ground. Guess I'll have to break out the POH and learn>to fly it properly. :)>>Overall it's a great package. Personally, I'd rather see GA>singles in the price range of $19.95 to 24.95. $29.95 is>pushing the limit of what I'll pay for a plane of this type.>>Jim>Do you have damage turned on in FSX?Does the FSD Saratoga have it's own damage setting?

[Guest JimC1702]

>Do you have damage turned on in FSX?>Does the FSD Saratoga have it's own damage setting?>FSD planes have "persistent damage modeling" which you can control from the Load Manager. But I'm not sure if it effects anything other than the engines. I'll have to explore a little more to be sure.Jim