I just got Leonardo's MD-82 (www.flythemaddog.com) after its service pack 1 was released earlier this month to make it work in FSX and fix a few things. I was looking for a complex add-on, and the landscape is quite sparse these days on FSX. I wanted to share my thoughts on it in case someone finds it of use.The sim is on-par with PMDG and LevelD or Captain Sim's C130 in terms of detail of systems programming. I'd say it's even more detailed as even circuit breakers are the black box are functional and can be configured. Details like having no less than four separate lighting controls for various sections of the panel, a full terrain and weather radar speak to the attention this bird has received. Clearly a lot of work went into it.It has a basic flight attendant board/unboard, the voices are ok, and I like the fact that volume can be changed with each sound file (the trim noise was unbearable at default).The sim is rather immersive in terms of the systems. The cross between steam gauges and glass cockpit makes for an interesting learning curve because the more current glass systems (Boeing, Airbus) clearly do much more for the pilot than the older MD's avionics. This can lead to interesting challenges if one relies on how things work with the Boeing or Airbus systems. Plainly put, better read the manual because what you think is happening may not be there. That by itself is reason enough for me to put the bird in my hangar.The 2D panel is implemented as a single gauge, which seems to help the frame rates and smoothness of it all. The mouse/kbd interface is logical and usable (lots of mouse hotspots) and the keyboard equivalents can be mapped to unused FS key combinations. The ability to do this via the mouse or via the keyboard is nice. The interface is designed for a mouse with 2 buttons and a scroll wheel. Touches like zooming the MFD with the scrollmouse is nice.The flight model feels right, not that I would know how it's supposed to feel, my only experience in RL being a passenger on an MD-83 going to Dallas... The plane is stable and responds well to inputs. It's also a rocket on the way down and slowing down takes some planing. This appears true to life, and as was pointed out, the only thing that will slow you down is the gear down. The fast approach makes for a great challenge.The bird has no VC yet. This said, I only miss the VC when I taxi and lookout for traffic, which isn't a problem. Leonardo says a VC is coming at some point. I can't imagine what a VC will do to FPS in FSX if they model even half of the switches in the 2D panels.Couple of notable items:- FMS is on-par with PMDG's and has all the expected modes (VNAV, NAV, direct, manual fixes, constraints, hold, etc...).- Automatic flight is detailed and read the manual or be surprised as to what happens (or doesn't).- engine management is needed to fly the bird correctly. Watch out calibration on throttles. FSUIPC's joystick and axis management pages are very helpful there.- You need the latest FSBuild patch to support the maddog's flight plans.- SID/STARs are very minimal. There is a full provision to create your own with a graphical editor utility provided with the package(another indication of the love this add-on received). But clearly, that's a lot of work, and somewhat lacking in a package at that price point. The file format is similar to PMDG's, but not quite. I still have to figure out why I only see half the runways in KDEN for example. The point is that if you want SID/STARs in the FMC, the full functionality is there, but you get to do the work. Downloading those is no easy thing, although you can start with the nav files for PMDG and go from there.- When boarding, all doors open. That seems odd.- The external model is nicely detailed, and textures are ok. The paintkit is provided for improved textures. A bunch of liveries, mostly European airliners, are provided. Delta is provided, American can be d/l on AVSIM.- No flex wings on this bird. That would complete the package nicely.- RAM turbine, all lights and engine smoke modeled. A lot of attention to detail.- No FPS hit to speak of, but memory footprint not small (the single gauge file is not a small thing). Works great in FSX SP1 on my box. - Waited 12 hours to get the license keys e-mailed to me.All in all, I'm enjoying this add-on quite a bit, although the learning curve is not for the casual simmer. It's one of the very few complex add-ons for FSX right now, or so it seems. Definitely not the type of bird where you press E and get going. You can, but that's not the goal here.Cheers,Etienne

EtienneI'm sure a lot of people will find this review useful, thanks for your work.At the risk of adding a tiny bit more to your work, could I suggest that you also post it to the "Readers' Product Reviews" forum here at AVSIM? It would give it even more exposure. :-)

I would second these comments. I use it both in FS9 and FSX. Two differences I find between the 2 sim platforms are:-No 2D side-views in FSX, so the side windows are missing.-The forward view is tilted down to the tarmac to the extent that the tarmac/runway fills the entire forward window. I tried modofying the "eyepoint" command in the aircraft.cfg, but that didn't seem to do much to help.All in all an excellent add-on, and very technical.Bruce.

I love what I am hearing about the ability to share cockpits, but no VC is unfortuanately a show-stopper for me.Best Regards, Donald T.

Myself and several others at PMDG are big fans of this plane, I think it's great!

The Flight 1 MD80 has a VC, if that helps :-)