Am I the only one that ever flies this beauty? Okay, the VC graphics are very dated, but a lot work went into the ACARS and ONS.

I flew it at lot, in FSX albeit. Got it because of the ONS. Fond memories!

I guess most of us fly this one:

https://www.flythemaddog.com/site/

Yes, normally the Leonardo Maddog for me, still my frontline short haul aircraft.

Though I have been tempted to get the Coolsky for the DC9, and also the ONS assuming there's an option to have it fitted in the DC9.

Yep - and as soon as MSFS release comes it will be an instant buy

4 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Am I the only one that ever flies this beauty? Okay, the VC graphics are very dated, but a lot work went into the ACARS and ONS.

Hi Tim, I bought the CS after our discussion a few weeks ago about the DC8 just for the DC9.For the MD80 I fly the Leonardo but really like the CS nine.  The Cool Sky MD88 is rich in system depth but as you say the VC graphics seem FS9 vintage. I decided to get the DC9 instead of the DC8 because it fits my simming style a little better, (short haul). Of course back in the day I have been on some short hops on DC8s.  

Cool sky Flight1 three-in-one is a good deal with each offering a different DC-9 experience. Hadn’t messed with the PMS / ONS / ACARS version and really had to go to school on it. I have the Maddog but I don’t use it anymore.

I am flying the Leonardo Maddog, but curious on how the Coolsky systems and functionality compare to it?

The DC9 is more tempting, but sadly flying VOR to VOR is very difficult these days. Especially in Europe. 

I used to fly the Coolsky Super80 and Super80 Professional a lot in FSX days and have flown it a bit in P3Dv4 but it takes some work to patch a few things after initial installation and having recently upgraded to v5.3 I'm not sure if I will bother.

Pros:
The training system is excellent, highlighting the buttons and switches to use during various procedures
You can select numerous aircraft states with one click
Flight model and sounds are good
System depth is impressive
Forum support has always been first class

Cons:

The main issue for me is that if you have your Windows screen set to 150%, this messes up quite a few of the training guides and gauges and without that set on a 4k screen the rest of Windows is unusable for me.
Textures are quite low res but perfectly acceptable

I have spent a lot of time with the Super 80 (the ONS/ACARS/PMS one that didn't last long). And now I know why. Even so, it is an interesting bit of history, fun to dig into, and does work. I've found some gotchas, though, at least in 5.2. Some of these are known issues; some are just weird stuff.

Known issue: With the Super 80 (not the others) if you use the Flight Screen (e.g. state and dispatch, which you probably will) some will find the course adjusts only in increments of 10. Obviously a problem during an instrument landing. This is the workaround. First select the "Professional" model, the one with the glass. Set up your state, e.g. cold and dark and payload and fuel. I go ahead and click external power from ground ops. To enter the necessary data into the Super 80 PMS, you'll need Gross Weight (it will accept a minimum of 120, by the way, and  you might be lighter or a shorter flight, but oh well), block fuel, cruise altitude (actually you can enter up to three FL options), wind component and TOC temp. So, you'll want to copy your CG and stabilizer setting, too. But go ahead and save it like you would if you were going to fly the Pro model. When you switch to the Super 80, it should remain in the same state, with external power available (if that's what you wanted). Your CG and STAB should be the same, or manually put it in on the pedestal. Good luck not getting yelled at when you advance the throttles anyway, but this is a cranky old bird. You'll figure it out. DO NOT GO BACK INTO FLIGHT CENTER or you'll trigger the course bug. You can still use the little arrow to access higher res panels for things like hydraulics, but just avoid the flight center.

This isn't as clunky as it sounds, well, not quite. But otherwise, the Super 80 was pretty much unflyable for me. Maybe not everyone gets this bug, but it's been on the Coolsky forum forever. When you switch to the Super 80, you should be golden, but I'd double-check fuel. The PMS is functional (unlike the abomination Captain Sim stuck in their 737-200) but wasn't all that accurate in real life, and this is never going to be an Airbus. Think of it as a fully automated DC-9 with a very bad user interface.

That's the major bug with the Super 80 I've found, with the workaround.

As far as gotchas, if you're interested in flying this one, print out the manual and start studying with highlighter and pen. Nothing is easy. Very little makes sense. When you learn the system, though, it will give you a glass-less managed flight (hint: PERF = VNAV sort of) that works very well. But not a push a button and hit autopilot at wheels up. It will perform ILS flawlessly, but don't expect an L1011 autoland. If you think INS is complicated, this keeps the most complicated features but gives you 99 waypoints. Fortunately, if you save the flight plan in v4 files (yup) as example LEBL-LIML-812.pln (the naming convention is essential) your ONS will have the plan "uploaded from dispatch." You can even modify it later, but it isn't intuitive or easy.

I'm having a lot of fun and it is definitely different and challenging.

As for the Classic DC-9, it's probably the best of the three, with a 3D overhead and failures, etc; The Pro is obviously not going to be the Leonardo Maddog and the VC graphics require a forgiving soul, but normal flight is modeled well enough for that Maddog experience. I like all three that come in the Megapack (the only way they come at all now, I believe).

I'm still learning every time I fly this thing, which is fun for me.

On 12/7/2021 at 5:37 PM, Ikarus280 said:

flying VOR to VOR is very difficult these days. Especially in Europe

Unless you're flying online or something, I don't see why VOR-VOR should be difficult. I do it all the time, merrily ignoring airways, even in Europe. If there's a gap in coverage, you can follow the other side of your last VOR until you pick up the next, or just hold a heading until you pick up the next one. There's hardly anyplace you can't find some radio nav aid to help you know where you are. There are still plenty of VORs with DME and one nice thing about the Classic DC-9 is that if you're not all that familiar with radio navigation there's a whole feature devoted to making that as easy and educational as possible.

43 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

Known issue: With the Super 80 (not the others) if you use the Flight Screen (e.g. state and dispatch, which you probably will) some will find the course adjusts only in increments of 10

Espen posted a fix for this and for the click sounds a while ago - there is a link in the support forum.

Thanks. You're a pretty smart guy, simfan 1983. As it happens, I did find that just now and came here at once to eat a hearty helping of my own avatar.. In my defense, I did find the beta click fix (that does click most the fixes or something) it was later bundled with as an exe file..Not sure how I missed the additional course correction fix, except oh well. Won't be the last time I'm an word not allowed. So like Emily Litella, "Never mind."

Still trying to figure out how to get the TO display on the FMA. I'm sure I missed that, too.

I knew it was a mistake to volunteer for those drug experiments back in '65, but $25 was a lot in those days.

Pretty sure everything else I said--to the extent there was anything--is valid.