B727 FSS B727-200F Pre release review

[Lord Farringdon]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen this so apologies if a post has already been raised for this. 

Wow. I have been waiting so long for this and know that FS Reborn and SWS are jointly working on a -200 and a -100. However it seems unlikely they will make it for this simulator but rather for FS 2024. So, FSS have pulled a rabbit out of the hat and dropped what looks like a fairly good rendition of the this classic and iconic aircraft.    

British Avgeek discovered a bug in the auto pilot on decent which forced him to revert to a hand fly a visual approach into a high altitude runway. It seems he really appreciated the old school approach. 

I just had captions on but a couple of things I noted in his comments. The APU is indeed tucked into the left hand wheel well but he didn't mention that it exhausts out of the top of the right wing near the wing root. This is correctly modelled. Also he correctly identified the tail skid which is there to protect the the number two engine from an over rotation but commented that it didn't appear very aerodynamic. That's because it retracts flush with the fuselage when the gear is raised.   

I thought the rudder and ailerons looked a bit too light and twitchy and the reviewer did mention that. It may just be the reviewers hardware setup or it could indeed still need some tweaking to get the feel right. The nose wheel might need some work on those sharp turns and there didn't seem to be a Coopers vane fitted although the reality may be that it wasn't fitted to cargo aircraft late in their lives. 

The textures could be better that is to say the painters have perhaps overdone a bit of the ageing in places (shades of MD-11F) but this an artful thing and can be down to personal preference. Personally I liked it.  It is a hard working smelly freighter.

The EFB seems pretty impressive too with nicely tagged divisions.  The old school nav alignment process and manual input of the waypoints will be a struggle for some I imagine but the challenge is to really plan your route and enter the waypoints accurately. Not just request the automated flight plan to be loaded in the FMC and then think about which bar you are going to haunt later on tonight!!   But of course there is a modern nav system option available for those who need it if it all seems too scary. They seem to have integrated Navigraph charts too, so not sure how they have done that or what coverage it gives. I'm thinking probably only the US? 

Finally, the reviewer was working hard to keep up with the airplane at times with a lot manual things to do, some bugs to overcome and flaps that can take 30 seconds to extend and require a bit of planning but there was a sense of real airmanship being required to fly this old girl and lots of opportunity to get hands and feet time flying this extraordinary and iconic jet. 

The reviewer mentions 6 August release date and $US42.   I cant wait!! 

Cheers

Terry 

 

 

 

Edited August 1 by Lord Farringdon

[Vitold69]

v0.1.37 

Taking into account their E-jets wandering how long they are going to stay on zero versions.

[longhaul747]

It does not look all that bad but when it comes to a plane like the 727 it has to be all in.  This means we need a 100 and passenger versions and if you really want to go all in the Super 27's.  I will be tracking this and since I want a 727 I will probably end up getting this at some point but the SWS package in development is likely where its at long term for me.  If the SWS package ever actually makes it out.  Development times these days is astronomical and some of these projects will end up being vaporware I am afraid.   

[bobcat999]

Does anyone know if they are following up with -100 and -200 passenger versions?

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN]

I watched V1’s stream last night and I was in awe. It looks incredibly detailed and advanced in its development. Is the version 0.1.37 really this particular build?

Has FSS developed this in-house? The systems modelling appears to be remarkably detailed, hopefully the price will be right. I still remember my last 727 flight in a Northwest bowling shoe livery. I believe V1 also mentioned that there will be a passenger version, but I’m not sure which variant(s) exactly.

Cheers,

Pete

[Bob Scott]

A 727 will be nice to have...the only one I have left flying is in XPlane 10, and FlyJSim doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get it working in XP12, whcih has been out for going on two years.

One thing that jumped out at me (at ~33:00 in the video) is the flawed way the DME rolls over...it's counting down from 161, goes to 160, and then when it ticks just under 160 the tens counter flips all the way to 5, showing what appears to be "150".  My bet is it does the same in the 100s digit when rolling over as well.  The old CaptainSim 727 panel in FS9/FSX had that nagging problem.  Hopefully they can make the tens and hundreds digit rollovers incremental, as it is IRL.

[Paul K]

Nice! The 200F is the only 727 I'm interested in.

[regis9]

Glad to hear this one seems to be decently well done.

I can’t wait to overload an Aerosucre 727 and barely make it off the runway 😂

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN]

13 minutes ago, regis9 said:

Glad to hear this one seems to be decently well done.

I can’t wait to overload an Aerosucre 727 and barely make it off the runway 😂

You might not be the first one though, lol 😂 

 

[rob0203]

Another early acces by the same developer, sorry but I bought the e-jets and it is still not finished.

[JBDB-MD80]

5 hours ago, longhaul747 said:

 If the SWS package ever actually makes it out.  Development times these days is astronomical and some of these projects will end up being vaporware I am afraid.   

Raul from FS Reborn is the main guy on that 727 project and he is "all in" on getting it out the door for users but it will not be in 2024 or maybe even 2025 but he will deliver and I expect it to be a more detailed version than FSS but if one needs a 727 soon than go for FSS as it doesn't appear to as basic as their E series.

Edited August 1 by JBDB-MD80

[jspilot]

I watched V1’s epic stream today.  I’m not a 727 expert by any means but this plane has all the traits I look for when trying to decide if I’m going to purchase a plane.  Its flight model looked fun, the sounds are great, the textures looked great and it looks like it will be fun to fly.  I do want to see someone fly it with a modern GPS for navigation to see how well that’s integrated but overall this plane looks like it has serious potential!

[mspencer]

4 hours ago, Peter Z KCLE_EDDN said:

I watched V1’s stream last night and I was in awe. It looks incredibly detailed and advanced in its development. Is the version 0.1.37 really this particular build?

Has FSS developed this in-house? The systems modelling appears to be remarkably detailed, hopefully the price will be right. I still remember my last 727 flight in a Northwest bowling shoe livery. I believe V1 also mentioned that there will be a passenger version, but I’m not sure which variant(s) exactly.

Cheers,

Pete

They don’t necessarily have issues programming complex systems, it’s just a custom FMS seems beyond their skill set, hence the issues with the EJet. 
I said that when it came out, they’ve proven with a lot of those systems and the Tecnams that they can execute on a good product but the E170 was probably way too ambitious for a first time dev. 

[Lucky38i]

1 hour ago, rob0203 said:

Another early acces by the same developer, sorry but I bought the e-jets and it is still not finished.

It does help to apply context to situations. V1 was given early access to the product. FSS is releasing the 727 on the 6th as a complete product, it is not being sold as an early access product.

[Lucky38i]

37 minutes ago, mspencer said:

it’s just a custom FMS seems beyond their skill set, hence the issues with the EJet.

They posted a pretty in-depth video and blog post on their upcoming FMS including VNAV a few weeks ago. The constraint here is time that a number of people struggle to understand for something as complex as VNAV, particularly one that needs to deal with complex RNAV leg types of modern day.