5 hours ago, evaamo said:

This will be the fourth time I'll pay for the Leonardo Maddog, and I'll do it with my eyes closed.

This is the most comprehensive add-on for the MSFS platform since the FS9 days, bar none. You can say what you want about FSLabs or PMDG, but Leonardo beats them all.

It's a challenging, fun, and reliable rendition of the MD-8x. To me, this is the best kind of add-on for MSFS: you enjoy a high-fidelity (aka study-level) simulation of an airliner that can do modern ops but is old school enough to make it challenging (read: engine and systems management and VOR/ADF/ILS navigation), but in addition to that, it is really fun to hand fly and shoot visual approaches in it. In the country where I was born (Venezuela) there were mostly DC-9s and MD-80s operating for the local airlines, and not only was I lucky enough to be in the jumpseat a couple of times on domestic flights in both IMC and visual conditions (it is a busy cockpit!), but I have friends who flew it until not long ago that later transitioned to bigger birds such as the 777, 747 and 787. They all miss flying the Maddog. Some of them still fly the Leonardo because of its fidelity. 

If you are new to the hobby or to MSFS, you should definitely get this aircraft. It will provide countless hours of fun and Leonardo has been a supportive developer since...ever!

HTH the undecided

-E

As a pilot who has only flown GA aircraft in the simulator, this post has convinced me to start with the MD80 as I begin my transition to the commercial jets. Sounds like a great aircraft to begin learning on the big birds!

6 minutes ago, Doering said:

Sounds like a great aircraft to begin learning on the big birds!

There is a reason they call her a "Maddog." 🙂

1 minute ago, Adrian123 said:

There is a reason they call her a "Maddog." 🙂

I was going to say. I wouldn't start with this one

6 minutes ago, fogboundturtle said:

I was going to say. I wouldn't start with this one

An internet quote “The Mad Dog nickname came not only from its MD initials but also because it takes off like a rocket and makes a hell of a lot of noise. Unlike later automated planes, the Mad Dog also needs full hands-on attention from the pilot during takeoff and landing.”

I’m up for a challenge! Plus I have you guys!

Edited April 26, 20224 yr by Doering

For all the Mad Dog enthusiasts and those just generally interested in why the airframe is so well remembered and why its called Mad Dog, here are some bits of info that might help including an article on the last Delta MD-88 flight. 

 

The MD80 was designed as a stretched version of the Douglas DC-9 and was originally designated as the DC-9 Super 80. It was eventually officially renamed as the MD-80.

Amongst other enhancements,  Delta's MD-80's were updated with EFIS and were rebranded the MD-88. 

While having similarities with the B727 ie a T-tail and rear mounted engines, the MD-80 was in fact a much later aircraft first entering service in 1980 whereas the B727 was getting quite old at that point having been in service since 1964. The MD 80 competition at the time was in fact the Boeing B737 Classic and the Airbus A320. 

But one thing it did share with the B727 was its rocket like climb-out and associated crescendo. For this the MD 80 got named Mad Dog which seems to have been a play on both the MD abbreviation for McDonnell Douglas and also a nod to the aircrafts demand for pilot attention during its take-off and landing phases. A recent example of this was the 2015 MD80 crash at la Guardia where the aircraft veered off the runway and slid along a snow covered berm for almost a 1000 feet. Fortunately there were no causalities.  A wall street article shortly after the accident stated that "pilots and other safety experts have long known that when the MD-88's reversers are deployed, its rudder... sometimes may not be powerful enough to control deviations to the left or right from the center of a runway".  The final report by the NTSB found the probable cause of the accident was the pilot's "inability to maintain directional control of the airplane due to his application of excessive reverse thrust, which degraded the effectiveness of the rudder in controlling the airplane's heading."

It will be interesting to hear feed back from Mad Dog day 1 purchasers on how well modelled that little 'gotcha' is.  Although given the tendency for this to happen on landing in almost every aircraft in MSFS, it may be a little hard to tell!!  

Another suspected reason for the Mad Dog nickname was the availability of a notoriously cheap American wine called MD 20/20. It was commonly known as Mad Dog 20/20 amongst frequent drinkers because it gave you a "buzz for your money!"    

Other not so well known and more derogatory nicknames (possibly created by Boeing and Airbus crews) included: 

Stupid 80 (from Super 80's), Minimum Delay 80 (Minutes), Super Tube, Super Slug, Long Beach Sewer Pipe and Lead Sled ( because it was underpowered).    

MD-80 production ended in 1999 after 1,191 were built.

Finally, please enjoy this article I found on Delta's last Mad Dog flight.   

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/delta-air-lines-md-80-last-flight/index.html  

 

Cheers

Terry

1 hour ago, Steve Dra said:

Like, love it, have it....glad you guys will soon too. 🙂 

Such a classic looking bird.

I know you have one in Delta colors. Any chance that there is a World Atlanta repaint also? They are still flying in the US and I enjoy flying their routes. 

1 hour ago, Steve Dra said:

Like, love it, have it....glad you guys will soon too. 🙂 

Such a classic looking bird.

 

 

9 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

Yes.  Just Flight was very smart and read the feedback after they announced the price of the BAe 146 at $80 USD. A lot of people just said they wouldn't buy the the BAe 146 at $80 USD. Mind you, it was a lot of people here at Avsim that said that, and the makeup of people here at Avsim are the "hard core" flight simmers, the very market that these study level airliners are targeting. So Just Flight reduced the price to $65 USD and all those people that said they wouldn't buy the BAe 146 at $80 USD, did a 180 degree u-turn and said at the new price, they would purchase the BAe 146 at $65 USD.

Just a $15 USD difference, and Just Flight probably doubled their unit sales of the BAe 146.

In fairness, the Maddog is going to blow anything by Just Flight out of the water from a fidelity standpoint. And that's not a slam on Just Flight. I'll be grabbing the 146 as well - they make good stuff but... Leonardo is on whole 'nother level compared to most flight sim developers.

Kinda like Honda makes very good cars, but you don't hear anyone saying "until that 911 Turbo is the price of a Civic I ain't buying!"

1 hour ago, Doering said:

As a pilot who has only flown GA aircraft in the simulator, this post has convinced me to start with the MD80 as I begin my transition to the commercial jets. Sounds like a great aircraft to begin learning on the big birds!

Oh boy.. You're in for quite an experience.  Just... Know going in that you're going to set the engines on fire a few times. 😉

 

 

10 hours ago, ark4diusz said:

I am wondering how good sounds will be? In the P3D version default sounds were definitely the worst part of the MD-80

Absolutely. From what I've seen / heard, it sounded the same in MSFS. Not very convincing sound atmo.

I will keep a very close eye on it, before making a decision. 

Here we go! The big boy releases start now. Price is fair imo... It wont do 737 or A320 numbers so I say its fair, we know the developer, they do a great job, provide one of the best simulations of the line and they provide good customer service/support. I'm in. Like others have mentioned I really hope they up their sound game though. 

Grew up as KDTW my main hub in the 80s and onward I just have a love for the MD80/DC9 so even if this plane is no longer in the skies today its firmly in my memory forever with a great fondness!! 

Interesting that Leonardo are releasing just 4 days after Sim Update 9. I guess they have tested with the beta and do not expect any issues? In any case, I am happy the really cool stuff is now finally coming into MSFS as well.

2 minutes ago, Makinen11 said:

Interesting that Leonardo are releasing just 4 days after Sim Update 9. I guess they have tested with the beta and do not expect any issues? In any case, I am happy the really cool stuff is now finally coming into MSFS as well.

For sure Leonardo has tested their Maddog already in the SU 9 beta.  If you look at the timing of their announcement of the release date, Leonardo announced the release when they were sure that Microsoft/Asobo wouldn't issue any more patches in the SU 9 beta (of course, Microsoft/Asobo are not going to issue another patch in the SU 9 beta with 1 day left in the beta).

3 hours ago, NovemberUniform said:

Absolutely. From what I've seen / heard, it sounded the same in MSFS. Not very convincing sound atmo.

I will keep a very close eye on it, before making a decision. 

Yes, unfortunately it seems that the sounds haven't changed much. That's what the developer wrote on FB:

I love the Leonardo Maddog. I think over the years I bought every version they've released so far and have flown them hundreds of hours. But the sounds were never on par with the otherwise exceptional quality of the Maddog. It's the only addon for which I bought a sound set.

So I had hoped they would completely redo the sounds for the MSFS version. It's a bit odd for an addon in this league to not come with a high-quality sound set. We can only hope that they will improve the sound in the future.   

Edited April 26, 20224 yr by Tim-HH

9 hours ago, virtuali said:

So, you can sometimes chose where you buy from, which might allow you to not pay extra taxes in some cases, for example if you live outside the EU and are buying from an EU seller, VAT is never charged. 

Technically, that now includes the UK......