Steve Dra

I'd agree Rick....but while the airframes may have alot of hours, I bet their cycles are low since they did long haul with much fewer cycles than a regional/domestic bird like a CRJ, 737, etc. (except for those ANA domestics) That is a bigger factor in airframe life, and I bet if you went shopping in Victorville, you could find a few late model, low hours/cycles 744 bought by an ambitious airline that had to park them when they over-stretched the budget and made some bad forecasting decisions , hehe. Watch the 60 mins story here. Its about a Qantas 767, but they mention all the 747s at the end as they are touring Victorville...a bucket list destination for me for sure. :smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7qdE4pMtk The Qantas fleet was impeccability maintained, and I'd have no issue making my private jet a 747-GE90 retrofit.

I bet she'd fly just fine on 2 Kinda' makes you wonder if someday in the future, all those 744's parked in the desert because they just can't compete with the fuel efficiency of a large twin, would have a new life if they re-engined them with dual GE90s. That would HAVE to be cheaper than buying a new large twin off the assembly line. I wonder if anyone ever seriously explored that?

Hey Rick I'll give you the DC10 had a better nose, now if they only matched the 2 with each other, what a plane huh? If you're referring to the F16 Jason, then yes that is one of my favorite fighters....but very loud when taxiing by!

Thanks Klaus! Got your checklist, looks great....and grabbed Tom's tutorial as you noted in your file...these we help me a ton when trying to learn to fly this classy bird. Living under the approach path of the south arrivals into Orlando (KMCO) back when I was a teenager, I frequently saw Delta and Eastern L1011's fly overhead. They were so easy to identify at night with the 2 rotating anti-collision lights on the belly. Loved watching them and wondering where they were coming from (no Flightaware back in those days...heck no internet for that matter.....HOW DID WE SURVIVE? Lol)

When they were developing the DC10 and L1011 way back when I remember seeing pics of both and thinking how much aesthetically pleasing Lockheed's version of the #2 engine was....not that the DC-10 doesn't look nice, but the L1011's was...elegant. :smile: The S duct just looks great IMO.... Captain Sim did a great job modeling her, and at 9.99 Euro, it was quite the bargain. Gonna' enjoy learning to fly her and re-living some trips I took on her many, many years ago (Got to fly on Delta, Eastern and ATA versions before she went the way of the Dodo). Really looking forward to replicating my trip from Gaeta, Italy back to the States when I was stationed there in the Navy.

Thanks guys, I think I'll wait to see what I think of the base model. It'll just be an extra 5 euro if I want to pick up the expansions after the sale. And they noted that the repaints work on all -200 models....that is what I was looking for. :smile: Got 45 mins to change my mind...Lol

Just picked up the 737-200. Can anyone tell me if the expansions (ADV and F/Combi) are 9.99 normal price....after the 24 hour sale? Dont want to pick them up yet until I've evaluated the base pack...but don't want to spend more than 9.99 for them either, hehe.

Another vote for the L1011. Running it in V3.1, installed with no issues. Runs with no issues (only flew for 45 mins). Runs very smoothly. Overall very satisfied with this 9.99 purchase.

For those interested in getting the 777 for P3d v3, you should visit their forums...specifically: http://www.captainsim.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1449973970 Read post #6 by Lowke, then the response below it by Captain Sim. Then review this post in the 777 forum: http://www.captainsim.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1444557937 Post # 6 by CS states they are working on the update for V3...will be available "soon"...since Nov 23 . Great price regardless that you can't use it yet in the latest version of P3d. Hopefully "soon" is actually soon now that the holidays are over. :wink: I'm enjoying the L1011 in P3dV3...no issues so far and the exterior is very well modeled....as usual by CS...never been an issue there for sure.

It's the Avatar feature in P3d Will. Here he is doing a wing inspection. :smile:

Hey Tim, Try running the Simconnect installers (3 of them in all) again. See the readme.txt file in the zipped package when you downloaded the latest version for the specific ones. Also, since I updated from 2.5 to 3.1 (never installed 3.0) I noted that the ONLY way I can get either the 737 or 777 to have all the switches working is to load it as the INITIAL aircraft. I have NEVER had to do that in any of the FSX and P3d 2.5 version before, just letting it load the F-35 from the loading screen.... and then selecting a PMDG bird afterwards always worked. Not in P3d 3.1 though. Kind of a pain, but it does work. Give it a try and report back if those things work for you.

I think I see a piece of broken safety wire. :blink: Love life at 4k! This pic does not give the sensation of how crisp it is on a 55" 4k TV. The feeling of how big a 777 really is, is captured by this pic (nice update by PMDG to let us walk under the plane now)

Great shot...and make sure you don't put any petrol using those nozzles in your shiny plane. And for the U.S. folks who think he's making a degrading remark about gender preferences....fags=cigarettes in Scott's part of the world.

Great shots Chris! I've done some cargo hauling over the holidays and will post some pics soon. Hope we get a 744F to move freight with this year. :wink:

True Chris, but it would be nice to have the few observation windows transparent so we can check our wings for ice. :smile: I'll just fly freighters until they do, hehe. The update sure enough reduces the VAS load, (under 3G at KLAX now....) great job PMDG!

I can report that it's also present in FSX:SE. Tried the default paints as well as ones I've painted and they exhibit the same behavior.

Sorry to hear that Randy. I painted her knowing nothing about the internal strife going on within the company, I just painted her by request and like freighters in general. I hope you've recovered and are still in the aviation industry, I had to leave it long ago for similar reasons. Eastern was my favorite airline growing up, and I was planning on getting a job with them when I got out of the Navy, but they went out of business much like many airlines, mainly due to horrible, greedy management, its just the way the airline industry seems to be. Great pics again guys, glad to see everyone pitching in! Rick, love the Lufty MD-11, reminds me I have to do some Lufthansa 777F flights in my modified paint of her.

I know most freeware painters share my sediments in that we enjoy contributing to our community and seeing others enjoying our paints, and that's all the payment we'll ever request. :smile: Merry Christmas to all and thanks to everyone who make this hobby better with their contributions!

Hey Mike, I waved to you from the cockpit but you were in the forward equip bay yanking a bad radio out. :smile: Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. I'll be out at KDFW next Thursday catching a morning Spirit flight out of E to Tampa. Took an AA MD there on Thanksgiving...hope its not my last MD flight, they ride really nice but are showing their age. :mellow: Great shots Paul. I'm glad you're getting the NAC of flying freight around. (like that livery)

Great pics guys! Rich, get in a freighter and lets see some of your excellent shots! Irman, love the TNT livery, orange just looks good on the 777! Hey Rick, thanks for "weighing in" with the mighty MD-11. Just watched a UPS MD-11 derpart KDFW...they look so graceful in the air! All I can say is "WOW" (hehe pun intended) Chris, my freightdog bud....nice set of freighter pics there. I have to do a Polar flight soon...haven't flown her in ages (that's another livery that I really like on the 744F....can't wait to port this paint over when we get the Queen) Here is my LDS 767 UPS paint departing KDFW for Atlanta....Busy busy for the freight boys! In case y'all won't be visiting here tomorrow or on Friday....Merry Christmas to all! Keep posting freighter shots...its great to see everyone pitching in!

And there is always the possibility that some painter out there will cover a livery that is not in the release package. I've seen it happen before! :Whistle: Personally, I can't wait to port all my fictional 777 freighter paints over to their real, big sister counterparts. :smile2: And of course fly them to all corners of the globe!

Stunning shots Darryl! No need to justify your model dev choice here, your superb screenshots are all we should be commenting on. :wink: The only thing wrong with the model you're showcasing is that it has too many holes in the fuse! (says the freight dog who only likes 1 or 2 wing inspection windows on his plane)

Hey Ed...the Queen is ALWAYS invited to the party, no matter her age, she sure has earned that! I love that MK paint of yours. :im Not Worthy: Awesome Patrick! I was hoping we could get some 'Luxing help with all these packages...first rate Cargo airline. Were they the launch customer for the 748F?

Sweet shot Rich! I've been flying FSX:SE with DX10 with great results and actually have P3D 3.0 but have not upgraded from 2.5 yet, now yet another version behind, with 3.1 LOL. I'll have to take some time to get the newest version installed, those new dynamic reflections look pretty sweet! Need to read thru the P3d forum and get the latest scoop on how to uninstall/reinstall properly. Is the AS Airbus working in 3.1 yet do you know?

Thanks guys! Hey Paul, I like the Swiss Livery. Looks good on the 777. :smile: Love the wing flex on the 748 HL. I need to cross the pond, haven't done an Atlantic crossing in a while! Let's see more freighter shots guys! :wink: