PMDG's secret project? The 747-100!

[dvdfab5]

8 hours ago, jon b said:

I’m inclined to agree, this will be quite a hardcore thing to operate, although I’ll probably buy it personally as I like the aircraft.

We used to operate the 747-400 along side the 747 classic and those classic pilots were from a different breed, proper larger than life pilots with real skill and character.

Compare that now to the current generation of bland people coming off 2 years on an A320, who are happy to quote a manual at you but actually have very little flying skill, and it’s a world apart.

I’d say a classic 747 would be beyond the capabilities of quite a large percentage of today’s graduates coming out of flight school. The reason being from what I can see is it’s a completely different sort of person now training as pilots to decades gone by.

Some, including airline management would say that’s a good thing, I however am not so sure.

Anyway I digress slightly, yes the -100 will be fun , but very hard work and will take a lot of study.

Yep, that is why there are two different type rating for the whale:

B747 - covers the -100/200/300/SP

B747-4 - covers the -400/-8

I'm also really looking forward to this release. I fly the -400/-8 in real life however my airline retired the last of the classics about 20 years ago before I was hired. I’m envious of the guys I work with who got to fly those with the CiVA and Littons. so this will be an awesome way to (sort of) live that era. The oldest round dial I flew was the Fokker F.27 in the ‘90s with no autopilot, both right and left seat. That was real flying!

cheers

[mspencer]

18 minutes ago, james42 said:

Very interesting. Justflight already has a good few aircraft in development, so it makes sense for them to offload the 747. I'm guessing PMDG could do with a new product line after essentially canceling the MAX.

Based on what I saw of the JF 747, acceptable modeling and ghastly textures, if I were Randazzo I'd have no interest in purchasing... that.

It'd be a cleansheet, not sloppy seconds.

[EGLD]

very disappointing 😐

[jon b]

20 minutes ago, dvdfab5 said:

The oldest round dial I flew was the Fokker F.27 in the ‘90s with no autopilot, both right and left seat. That was real flying!

Too right, good man ! I was on the HS748 during the 90’s we must be the same vintage 😉

[CAP1234]

Searching around PMDG forums as well other forums - there are rumours that PMDG's secret project might be 747 classics, especially after Rob's last post on their forums showcasing old analogue altimeter.  Does anyone remember that Just flight was also working on 747 classics for MSFS (initially was for P3D but they cancelled their P3D program) but if I go on Jusflight's in development section on their website - it has disappeared from there. So my theory is either they have abandoned/halted the 747 project or perhaps sold their models to PMDG.  The latter is least likely as PMDG is known to create their own models from scratch. But who knows - time will tell!

[lenny777]

Don't understand this retro. 787, 777X even 767/757 are projects I would have bought. Disappointing.  I'll pass.

[OzWhitey]

10 hours ago, TOGA-saurus said:

Ready Por Fushback? 👀

I remember picking up that box in the store and nearly drooling at the cover with the KLM 747 on it and begging my parents to get it for me. What an incredible add-on back in the day.

I'd absolutely love to see a -100. Imagine a proper JT9D simulation, or even if they go with the really early birds, a JT9D-3A, with the blow-in doors and extra noise. Not to forget the unforgiving sensitivity of trying to start them up in cross/tailwind conditions!

I still have the rather ripped poster of a KLM classic 747 cockpit that I had on my wall back in the  late 1970s. One of the things that inspired me to take up flight sim -I wanted to know what all those buttons and switches did!

[Abriael]

1 hour ago, Lenny777 said:

Don't understand this retro. 787, 777X even 767/757 are projects I would have bought. Disappointing.  I'll pass.

They pretty much teased the 777X.

Ultimately, it can simply because a certain developer loves a certain aircraft. Many retro tubeliners are beloved and iconic, so theres nothing strange that they're being made.

Edited October 7 by Abriael

[CAP1234]

6 minutes ago, Abriael said:

They pretty much teased the 777X.

Ultimately, it can simply because a certain developer loves a certain aircraft. Many retro tubeliners are beloved and iconic, so theres nothing strange that they're being made.

Yes - however 777x has not even entered passenger service as of yet (2026 earliest I think), it will be years before PMDG can get hands on data they need. 

[Abriael]

16 minutes ago, CAP1234 said:

Yes - however 777x has not even entered passenger service as of yet (2026 earliest I think), it will be years before PMDG can get hands on data they need. 

They did mention that their work with Boeing on the MAX would possibly enable that. We'll see.

[james42]

3 hours ago, mspencer said:

Based on what I saw of the JF 747, acceptable modeling and ghastly textures, if I were Randazzo I'd have no interest in purchasing... that.

It'd be a cleansheet, not sloppy seconds.

But did we actually see any screenshots from the MSFS version? I'm pretty sure they only showed the P3D version so that would explain the textures not being up to today's standards. 

[mspencer]

24 minutes ago, james42 said:

But did we actually see any screenshots from the MSFS version? I'm pretty sure they only showed the P3D version so that would explain the textures not being up to today's standards. 

I don't think so, but from what I saw of the P3D version I'm not sure it would've looked any better in MSFS. It was really tough to look at.

[eslader]

14 hours ago, jon b said:

We used to operate the 747-400 along side the 747 classic and those classic pilots were from a different breed, proper larger than life pilots with real skill and character.

Compare that now to the current generation of bland people coming off 2 years on an A320, who are happy to quote a manual at you but actually have very little flying skill, and it’s a world apart.

I’d say a classic 747 would be beyond the capabilities of quite a large percentage of today’s graduates coming out of flight school. The reason being from what I can see is it’s a completely different sort of person now training as pilots to decades gone by.

There are two sides to that coin, though. Back in the "classic" days CRM wasn't a thing, and in at least some airlines (-cough-PanAm) the Captain was God and the lowly copilot was there to shut up and do what he was told.  This attitude lead to more than a few significant air disasters.

I'm not a fan of relying on too much automation, in aviation or outside of it, without having the underlying skill to take over manually when needed but on the other hand I think it's good that cockpit workloads have gotten less intense. If you have to spent 100% of your concentration flying the plane normally, what's left to deal with unexpected situations?

 

3 hours ago, Lenny777 said:

Don't understand this retro. 787, 777X even 767/757 are projects I would have bought. Disappointing.  I'll pass.

Well I mean, technically if they make a 787 or 777X they're going to have to include stupid failures due to bad manufacturing if they want to be considered study-level. 😉

I like 'em all. I've had a ball with the recently-released 727 and MD11, but I also appreciate the incredible systems underlying the newer jets too. I'm still sad that Qualitywings imploded before bringing their 787 over to MSFS. It wasn't anywhere near PMDG level in P3d, but it was very good nonetheless.

[Ixoye]

I was hoping for a modern business jet.

[dbw1]

21 hours ago, dvdfab5 said:

Yep, that is why there are two different type rating for the whale:

B747 - covers the -100/200/300/SP

B747-4 - covers the -400/-8

I'm also really looking forward to this release. I fly the -400/-8 in real life however my airline retired the last of the classics about 20 years ago before I was hired. I’m envious of the guys I work with who got to fly those with the CiVA and Littons. so this will be an awesome way to (sort of) live that era. The oldest round dial I flew was the Fokker F.27 in the ‘90s with no autopilot, both right and left seat. That was real flying!

cheers

I hear you. I did time in the hs748. Going into 3000’ of gravel off an ndb approach at night in snow was pretty common as was servicing fishing lodges in the north who had what they generously referred to as a runway. Great flying. After that the SF340 was a piece of cake.

i’m really looking forward to this new PMDG creation. I quite like their dc6 as they did the R2800 engines great - I have time with those engines flying the CL215 water bomber.