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Sarge27

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Posts posted by Sarge27

  1. Posted

    All you folks that use Android phones or tablets might want to take a look in Google Play for an app called FlightIntel for Pilots. This is a real world aviation app that combines all of the current weather info available from FSS's ,AFD's, approach plates, STARS, SIDS, and just about any other often used resource that you can think of together all in one place, and all for FREE.

    It seems to contain just about every airport in the USA, including some offshore, Also some in Canada and even the South Pacific. Need a frequency? Click on the ATC button for a complete listing. Current PIREPS and NOTAMS? All there.

     

    This is about the best free utility I've ever seen. It downloads current data sets, so it's never out of date. Take a look, and happy flying!

  3. Posted

    The 737PIC was developed in a time where XP32 was the standard. You can't expect to have a company make it's products with an OS several generations further. Especialy if it also changes from 32bits to 64bits. Wilco did not force you to change to Win7/64.Don't get me wrong; I would have loved to see this patch free too, but hey, doesn't that count for pretty much everything :(
    They either choose to support this package through new operating systems or they don't. Supporting it through new OS packages is good customer service if they choose to do it. Obviously, they chose that route. But, in the abscense of any significant upgrade to the product itself, it's not right to charge for this patch. I really can't think of any other developer out there that does.

  4. Posted

    Well ain't that a crock! I had pretty much given up on installing PIC 737 in Win7 64 bit environment until I saw here that there was a patch...er...excuse me...."upgrade". I guess by calling a patch an "upgrade" this somehow justifies charging extra for it. Now maybe I'm way off base here...if there are cool new features or something, maybe it's worth it. But, all I'm seeing is a "patch" to let you run on Win 7/64. Maybe I'm too sensative, but it seems really outrageous to me that they would not fix this for free.

  5. Posted

    Hello Gang!I thought I'd post my flight simulation experience in this forum because FS9/FSX had a great impact in how well I performed on the real thing. First some background:Back in August my wife surprised me with the "Captain Experience" session from Fly-A-Sim. Fly-A-Sim is a company managed by Charley Shepard (Fligth Instructor for Southwest Airlines in Dallas), where he basically makes productive use of the Flight Safety flight simulators at the DFW Flight Safety facility when they are not in use. He mainly uses the Gulfstream II and Gulfstream IV simulators and has put together a very nice program where you spend one hour on a mini-ground school orientation and one hour flying several approaches and takeoffs from selected airports on the actual Gulfstream simulator.The experience was incredible. I am a pilot, so a lot of the things covered during the one hour ground school session I already knew, so I was anxious to get on the sim and start testing my true capabilities on the sim. My wait time to get on the simulator was almost 6 months due to scheduling conflicts and an overly busy Flight Safety facility, but this was allright with me as it gave me time to prepare and practice, somewhat, using FSX. I went ahead and downloaded the only Gulfstream availabe for FSX at the moment, which is the GIV by Rick Sasala. Believe it or not, after flying the real simulator I realized that Rick's addon actually flies very much in FSX as the real thing; it is somewhat dated and not very pretty in the outside graphics department (maybe someone can update it for FSX), but it flies well.When I finally sat down in the simulator (my wife Celia on the right seat), Charley quickly fired her up and set me up at 18L in DFW for our first takeoff. Not only did I perfrom the initial takeoff flawlessly, but every takeoff, landing, and maneuver thrown at me was performed right on the numbers. Charley was very impressed with how well I perfromed on my first simulator flight. He then proceeded to set me up on approach at KEGE (Eagle Mountain Colorado), in poor visibility, and the offset ILS approach was flown perfectly.I attribute my success with the real simulator to my practice runs in FSX. I had never flown this version of the Gulfstream before and had I not practiced my flying and my procedures with FSX prior to this flight, I would have certainly encountered a couple of the so called "Red Screens of Death". The real simulator is certainly a joy - it provides the motion, the behaviour, the physics, even the nausea associated with real flying, and everything you lack on the simulator at home. The graphics you see in FSX are much more better and detailed than what you get on the Fortran and Cobol based simulator program, however.I strongly recommend this Fly-A-Sim experience for those who can afford it, but make sure you practice your FS9/FSX before so you can get your money's worth.Sincerely,Dennis D. Mullert
    I went to Fly-A-Sim last year and flew the Gulfstream II. I have to agree that it was a great experience. The staff was very friendly, and set me up with just about any flight situation that I requested. (I flew the KEGE approach too...pretty cool!) I hope that I can go back one day soon. Regrets? Just one....now that I have flown their Gulfstream II, I've been looking all over the internet for a good one for FSX. So far, no joy!

  6. Posted

    If, after all this, you get Error Code 0x8002801c (Vista and Win 7), here is the fix.....Try running regsvr32 from a cmd.exe which you started as admin: create a shortcut to cmd.exe and right click the shortcut. You should find an entry Run as Admin in the context menu.Took a couple of minutes, but good to go now. Apparently, good old User Account Control gets in the way of regsvr32.

  8. Posted

    The complexity of the PMDG 747 may work against that strategy, especially with impulse buyers who may never have flown anything other than default aircraft. They may try it, get discouraged and leave it in the hangar. On the other hand, the A2A J-3 Cub would be perfect for that market.
    You have a valid point...however, this initial foray into retailers may be about more than just one of the company's products and one retailer. I'm just guessing here, but it seems logical.

  9. Posted

    As has already been pointed out here, PMDG-747 is an older product now. But that aside, I suspect that Aerosoft may be trying to make a more permanent foray into "brick and mortar" stores. With that, several things have to be considered, not the least of which is the price point. Best Buy prides themselves on being a "discount" retailer. I would think that they may have some input into a price point that their walk in customers would support. Because Best Buy carries so many products for a rather diverse clientele, new products have to be far more attractive to the consumer than they might have to be in a "specialty store" such as a flight sim only store. Lower prices bring a a huge potential for "impulse buyers" who may rarely, if ever, buy add-ons. Without them, sales would probably be rather dismal except for a few flight sim junkies like us. I'm quite certain that both Aerosoft and PMDG want to see their sales maximized, probably in support of future retail plans. If that is the case, they are certainly taking the right steps, IMO. To get into more stores, they simply need to prove that their product can be attractive and will sell. If they can't do that, it'll be back to "on line" only.

  11. Posted

    My first response would be the real estate it is covering. Lets assume both screens are 1920 X 1080. That means 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high. Now on the 22 inch there would be less space between pixels because it is more compressed than the 32 inch. I may be way off base here, but I think that is how it is supposed to work.
    Also, remember that many computer monitors are 1920 x 1280. I've tried the 1900 x 1080, and that extra 200 pixels makes a difference.

  13. Posted

    Can you let us know how you find their gear? I'm considering buying one or two of their units in the future.
    Absolutely...for anyone that hasn't seen the VRinsight stuff, here is a link: http://www.wilcopub.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products_vriMy MCP arrived yesterday, so I've only had a couple of days with it. It came out of Belguim, and International UPS shipping was about $50. But, three days from warehouse to doorstep wasn't bad at all.The first thing I learned is that you absolutely want to run the MCP with the 5 volt DC power supply. Even though you have an option to run it strictly from USB power alone, it's just not enough, and it WILL cause problems. There is also an inherent problem in that the 5 volt DC power supply that you get with the MCP is a EUROPEAN style plug! No way to plug it in here....so a quick trip to a local electronics retailer netted an American version for about $10.The documentation is just OK, as between the weak English and the stuff that's just not covered well, you have to figure some things out on your own. That being said, it wasn't that hard, just took a few minutes.Once I got the panel up and running, it did fine. It comes with key definition scripts that you load prior to flying. One script covers all of the default FS X aircraft, and seems to work well with many add-ons too. In the case of certain add-ons, like PMDG and Level D, you will need a different script, because those manufacturers defined some custom key combinations to operate certain thigs. The good news is that those scripts, as well as others, are provided.The MCP has 8 buttons on it that are not defined, and you can easily define those to do whatever you want. I used mine for things like the master switch, avionics master, light controls, etc.After having made several IFR flights with both stock and add-on aircraft (my current favorite being the Digital Aviation Cheyenne), I can tell you that the MCP works as advertised. Between my CH Yoke, throttle quad, pedals, and MCP, I was able to pretty much complete an IFR flight without using the mouse on the panel or using the keyboard except maybe once or twice. Actually having to dial in those radio com and nav frequencies, transponder, and autopilot functions keeps you busy but makes it pretty realistic. You really do begin to feel the workload of single pilot IFR.I'm still working on deciphering a couple of minor things in the provided software (which lets you customize scripts), but over all, I'm a happy camper thus far.

  14. Posted

    Has anybody tried the VRinsight MCP or M panel lately? I've found a few comments that were a little dated, but not a whole lot of user feedback over all. I'm looking hard at trying one or the other and would appreciate some comments from recent users.Thanks!
    OK, I took the leap and ordered the MCP panel today....Wilco says they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee on it, so what the heck...let's see just how good that puppy is!

  16. Posted

    I purchased the Gulfstream III download from Abacus. They have the "try before you buy" module that installs with the aircraft and allows for a trial period followed by registration. The problem is that this module apparently does not properly install, and it blocks me from using the aircraft at all. There are several troulbleshooting ideas on their website for installation on Vista and other OS'es, but unfortunately NONE of them have worked for me. I'm running Vista 64. I am installing to the correct path, have tried all the "fixes", and I'm out of ideas. I e-mailed Customer Support yesterday. As of now, no answer. I wish I had tried before I bought. Anyone have any ideas?

  17. Posted

    Gotta weigh in here...I took a chance on the CS 757, and I'm glad I did. There is nothing about this bird that gives me heartburn, and though Level D makes a great 767, the CS 757 is a good bit more advanced. The panel modeling is superb in both 2D and 3D, and the systems are right on the money. A friend of mine, who is a real world 767 Captain, but had no MSFS experience, (hard to believe, huh?) came over with his flight manuals and checklists. Many of the 757 systems are very close to the 767 systems, and we found the 757 to be right on the money, except perhaps certain handling characteristics like pitch changes when flaps are used. At the current price, I'd say "go for it".

  22. Posted

    OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM REAL ENVIRONMENT SIMULATIONSDate: Tuesday, November 25, 2008Real Environment Simulations is please to announce that Real Environment Xtreme for Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, has gone GOLD. An official release date will be announced within the next few days.Real Environment Xtreme is a powerful, hi-definition, photoreal texture environment created entirely from state-of-the-artphotography. This new technology is tightly integrated with a full flight planner and weather engine to give the user the most realistic experience yet within flight simulation.

  25. Posted

    I've never used a Saitek throttle, so I can't help you there. But I HAVE used a CH throttle quadrant for several years. Advantages - 6 programmable axis (so you can simulate prop twins or up to six jet engines independently) and 12 programmable switches on the unit. Add that to your CH yoke, and you have so many switches that you won't be able to remember how you programmed them all.As far as durability, no problems at all. I would however, recommend that you purchase FSUIPC so that you can fine tune those axis (axises?) :)

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