Byrna

Jeff, you hit the nail right on the head! That's what people here have been trying to say. We don't NEED to get updates on new car models because we know that about the same time each year, the new models roll out. And if, for example, electronics companies like Sony say "it'll come out when it'll come out"... then they would lose customers fast! As for software, Microsoft releases windows and gives updates about whether it is in alpha, or beta stage and people are invited to do beta testing and a firm date is announced and STUCK TO! I realize that these are much larger companies then the team developing Radar Contact and have much more resources, but it's a matter of THEIR attitude, not OUR patience! I personally don't get impatient a week after a product is announced and expect it to come out. I give the company time ... a year perhaps, and then expect some eta's. A good example of a fiasco is Airsimmer's 'advanced' A320 - it's dragging on and on and on and on and on... It's also on the heels of a very buggy basic edition. RC is not like Airsimmer but still, they seem to think we'll wait 'ad infinitum' for their software and wait in a 'vacuum' without any updates and then run like hell to grab our credit cards to buy them. This is probably because, as stated in this thread already, there is almost no competition, so FlightSim software developers can take all the time they need and then some. I don't mind being patient but RC 4.3 was announced in 2007 I believe and version 5 was announced what-2 years ago? There is a limit to our patience and a limit to the patience of all humans. This is not ranting, this is basic passing of time!And Jim, I also like you and love Active Sky but a case in point: Hi-Fi does not take YEARS to release a new version and they are very good in keeping us informed about the progress. So there is a big difference between Hi-Fi and JDT LLC for RC.Just my two cents worth...John

I don't even do simming anymore because I've lost all interest due to lack of intelligent ATC and good planes, and developers taking until we all go to our graves to complete their "precious" planes the ETAs of which have, frankly at this point, has become irrelevant to me. I just fizzled out. RC4.3 falls way short of what a proper and smart ATC program should do. So, Dave, to answer your question RC4.3 has serious issues: (1) resetting to the first waypoint in the middle of a flight for reason I still don't understand nor frankly care about as this is a problem that should NEVER occur in a $45 software (2) No NAT and Trans-Atlantic / oceanic controls which pilots would radio to check in with at regular intervals during the "blackout zone" where there is no radar contact just like in real life, get oceanic clearance, be told their expected ETA to the entry point of the NAT etc...These two points are enough to ruin this software for me and wish for their correction in release 5.Let's see how long it will take for Radar Contact (or a competitor to which I'm NOT afraid of switching if it beats RC) to get it's act together.John

This reply is a bit late but I re-read at length the step-by-step descriptive sections of the events in the crash report again and found that it was quite disturbing that none of the three pilots on board (including the training pilot) thought of monitoring the airspeed and then trying to react to it by simply disengaging the auto-throttle. This would have probably done it. This way, the ILS would be managed by the auto-pilot but airspeed would be managed by the pilot or first-officer. The airspeed was the big problem here. The pilots DID PUSH THE THROTTLES FORWARD in response to drop in air-speed, but apparently they did not push it forward enough. The RETARD mode PUSH THEM BACK AGAIN! The document suggests that A/P would have MAINTAINED the airspeed if the throttles were pushed to near or at maximum, but that pilot intervention would still be required with throttles at full since now, the plane would try to climb due to excessive thrust, which could pitch the nose up dangerously steep. So disengaging A/P altogether or just the A/T would have probably saved the plane. The visibility being very low that day (roughly 1SM or possibly less I think), it would have been wise to ONLY disengage A/T and control the thrust levers manually to recover the aircraft.So you are right of course, in saying that the pilots were distracted but sadly, could not learn their lesson. There was also an important point made in the final report about REPORTING : reporting mechanical problems promptly to engineers/mechanics by pilots. The malfunctioning LEFT (pilot's side) altimeter was apparently not dealt with due to negligent reporting of the issue or it was reported and not fixed. This is why, even though I AM Turkish, I will not be caught dead flying with Turkish Airlines and find the commercials we see on TV (in European channels like Deutche Welle or Euronews) quite hypocritical, making Turkish look so much more professional and safe than they really are...John

Hi Richard,Doesn't your FSX PC have a motherboard with a BUILT-IN network card on it? Many motherboards, in fact most of them, have this now, and they also have built in audio as an aside... I use Norton Internet Security 2010 and have used the newly designed Nortons since 2009. They have many options which you can turn off and also have full-screen program detection mode and I have found it to be highly effective in stopping malware and internet intrusions, even when surfing new websites that I've never been to. Norton, by the way, has the LOWEST performance impact of any security suite out there now, and has the best spyware and other malware detection percentage... Check PC Magazine reviews for proof if you like. Also, Norton Anti-virus with Anti-spyware has a gamer edition I believe, which has a much lesser performance impact...So don't worry about the internet. One thing I WOULD do (and which you are probably already doing) is not to install any other games on that FSX PC or any other programs which can conflict with FSX and its driver requirements).Have fun!Can Agbaba (John)

OK, if I did miss something, then why don't you point me to the exact post that answers ALL my questions above? By the way, I just did a advanced search with author "Tabs" for posts between Dec. 5 and 16 and "no results found" came up. That issue regarding the search engine in the avsim forums returning zero results continues and others have had this issue also. So even if I did search (I did look at the PMDG site and these forums before asking the question), the results would have been either zero or unclear. So if you're so "thorough" a person, show me the posting ... then I might believe you. Otherwise, consider this: It is not a crime to ask a question to clarify a matter in a forum.Can

Ryan,That is why I posted this above - In order to clarify "what was said" because "what was said" is spread out over 11 pages of postings in this thread and is difficult to make out since it is a long thread and most of the discussion concerns the manuals on sale now, and not what will be included with the plane as a package. Furthermore, I just saw this thread yesterday and had to try to sort out all of it in one reading so it was quite an ordeal, not that I need to explain why I need clarification. If "what was said" WAS clear, I would not have posted this request for clarification. I hope that clarifies for you, what I said.Can

Hi Robert and Ryan,I am quite excited about this plane as many people are and the real-life manuals are fascinating to be sure. But I wanted to get at least an idea of what the content will be of the manuals included in the NGX as PDFs. I think from what I've read from you and Ryan in this thread, these will be shorter less detailed versions of the manuals being sold now (developed by Boeing), is this right? Do we just pay for the NGX and have these manuals included as downloads or will be purchase these PDF (or "non-authentic") version separately?Thanks again for this astounding project that you have undertaken PMDG! It is the closest Flight Simulator has ever gotten to providing "real-world" training using a PC simulator! Can Agbaba (John)

Hi Al,Have you seen the final report for the crash? I had not searched for it and had not realized it was out in May of this year. It is basically faulting Boeing's design and recommending that it be changed, as well as faulting the pilots and recommending more training for stall situations during approach.I for one found the wording of the Netherlands investigation committee quite clear and blunt with regards to the need to have adequate warnings and design changes for the altimeter / retard/auto-throttle systems on the 737NG and quite glad that they made this recommendation.I think now, money or not, Boeing will have to at least consider some redundancy and warning systems for the altimeter / auto-pilot coupling logic.I am curious about what you and anyone else think about this also.Here is the link to the final report, which is publicly available: http://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/docs/rapporten/Rapport_TA_ENG_web.pdfJohn

Just wanted to make sure that you did NOT delete or rename the uiautomationcore.dll in the Windows folder as this should not be touched in any way and is required by Windows 7. You just place the VISTA version as per the links in this thread into the FSX main folder.

Anyone?

Alex,At the risk of sounding repetitive and tiresome for some who may have already read my postings on Adobe Air, can you also check to see if you have ADOBE AIR installed in your add/remove programs (or progams and features in Win7)? This may be a culprit as the file EXTENSION is the same as the airplane .AIR files, one of the two main files which control all planes in FSX. I had to not only uninstall Adobe Air, but uninstall and re-install PMDG 744X from scratch to fix my sudden climb issues when I started descending well before the FMC-calculated top of descent (TOD) and this had nothing to do with winds since I had already reduced or eliminated all wind-based turbulence in FSUIPC and my weather program - Active Sky Evolution.John

Hi, I'm curious about a basic thing you may be lacking since you mentioned crashing when accessing the FSX menu. Do you hav the UIAUTOMATIONCORE.DLL file for VISTA installed on the root of your FSX folder?Though, I assume from your post that you had no FSX crashes before installing FSX? I have had the PMDG 744X and have had no crashes but I DID install the uiautomationcore.dll file which is required. Otherwise, you will have crashes randomly when you access any item in the FSX menu.If you do have the uiautomationcore.dll vista version (and you have Windows 7 running FSX), then it's best you post in the PMDG forum or if it gets bad, send a ticket to PMDG via their website:http://support.precisionmanuals.com/Main/Default.aspxHope this helps you a bit...John

Hi Ron,I certainly sounds like a process to me. It is like a program is running, then stopping, running, then stopping again, at regular intervals. You have to ask yourself a few questions:(1) Have you updated you windows via winodws update recently and if so, did this update include upgrades to Windows media player, internet explorer and anything other than the usual security updates?(2) Have you upgraded your video card, soundcard drivers recently?(3) Have you updated or installed an ADOBE product like flash or ADOBE AIR recently? I am quite suspect of the program "adobe air" which installs now as part of a flash player update or is required for the Adobe flash player to update properly. Today, I got an error during the update of my Adobe flash player to version 10.1 that Adobe Air is not installed. Also, by the way, I keep getting requests to UPDATE ADOBE FLASH player to the same version OVER AND OVER AGAIN (v. 10.1). I have finally ignored and cancelled this update. For now, I don't want to waste time troubleshooting it. But I HAVE uninstalled Adobe air as it has the same file extensions as the .AIR files in FS. Just a thought you might find useful.(4) Do you use windows media player to scan your files as already suggested here? Did you recently rip MP3s to your MP3 player using media player?(5) have you changed the settings in your internet security suite or antivirus/antispyware or have you purchased a new internet security suite?(6) Have you installed any new programs at all lately?John

Martin,I read parts of the threads here and in your link provided. I am curious about something: Did you remember to place (manually copy) the VISTA version of UIAUTOMATIONCORE.DLL file into your ROOT FSX folder? This is a MUST to avoid crashes to desktop, screen going black with FSX giving error that it has encountered a problem and needs close ... I had recently re-installed my FSX and forgot to add this file and was getting CTDs. After finding the correct VISTA version (not the windows 7 version), all is OK. This CTD is a known issue in Windows 7/64-bit if this uiautomationcore.dll for Vista is not placed in the FSX folder.Here is the link to the correct version from a thread in the avsim forums:http://www.search-dll.com/dll-files/download/uiautomationcore.dll.htmlThis file also exists in the Windows 7 SYSWOW64 folder. Do NOT delete it as Windows 7 needs it. Just ADD this version from the link above to the root of the FSX folder as FSX will see it and use it automatically, without searching for the Windows 7 version.Hope this helps.John

Hi Coneman,Thanks... I was actually just digging around about how to use AI planes. Just never had interest in them so I basically know very little about their setup. UT is mentioned by many flightsimmers. I wonder how the framerates are like though. I don't have an i7 system, just an E8400 (see my signature for my system specs) with a good video card (5770) though not the fastest. Can you or anyone else tell me if this will reduce frame-rates even if I just use, say 25% AI traffic for airliners only and no GA traffic for example? I use add-on airports and my frame-rates are anywhere from 10-20 (Aerosoft Mega Airport Amsterdam X is slower for example). Will my frame rates be unusable if I add AI even at only say 25-50%?Just wondering...John