claviermichel

This may be what you are looking for: http://www.topcatsim.com/?page=download in the middle of the page you will find a section called user guide. Ju8st go there and download.Cheers

This is very true. As an example: PSX from Aerowinx may not be expected to be released before 2012 or 2013. This is the price to pay if you want to get a professional simulation. The Topcat new flight planner has been in development for ages and may finally be available during the summer/autumn of this year. The list could go on and on for those add-ons which needs thousands of code lines to be up to the expectations of the new brand of armchair pilots. However there is a drawback in this constant search for more sophisticated add-ons which is the learning curve and the time one will have to spend to master them half-way. There may be a day in the non too distant future where you will get two different markets with each its own selection of add-ons. The first one will satisfy those who do not want to invest time in learning / mastering highly sophisticated software or have substantial aeronautic background and a second one which will be the "fire and go" market with much less accurate replicas of the professional softwares for the average simmers.Just my two cents.Cheers

Hi,PFPX will be a flight planner no less no more. If you are looking at take off / landing loading sheets you will still need TOPCAT, if you need weather datas injected into MSFS you will still need ASE or REX or similar, if you need charts and moving maps you will need Aivlasoft EFB or FSC. What I am trying to say is that there is no software which will be an all in one solution. Having said that one must recognize that putting too many different functions under one hood rarely give the perfect tool you dream of. In my opinion the guys at TOPCAT are really good at what they are currently doing so are the guys at HIFI and Aivlasoft, so let them continue to be specialists in their own field rather than demanding a mix of expertize in one software. The important issue is that these above average softwares must interact with each other either directly or through MSFS.Cheers

Hi,Topcat is not a flight planner as such but a solid and serious help for take off and landing performance calculation a look at their website will show you what I mean: http://www.topcatsim.com/. The word is out that sometime this year the authors of Topcat will release a flight planner software which is said to be reasonably professional. I even read comments saying that there are similitudes with the LIDO software used by several airlines here is the link: http://www.pfpx.com/. In the meantime there are few alternatives. One is FSBuild which "does the job" for the average simulation user (fuel calculation with wind components integration, export to a lot of flightplan formats etc...) webpage here: http://www.fsbuild.com but it lacks professional features. FOC (Flight operation Centre) from Danur is antique but very professional more here: http://www.danur.com/frontpage/index.htm. Warning learning curve is steep. So if I were you I would wait a few months for the flight planner from the Tocat authors.now if you are geographically bound in your flights ie. you mostly fly within Europe or the US there for both continents specific flight planning softwares available which are not that bad. I am not at home right now so I can't give more specifics but I am sure someone will. Just remember for Europe the name is FlightPlanPro.Cheers

Sorry I should have said TOPCAT is not in its current state a flight planner.

This looks almost identical to the Flight Operation Center dispatch briefing. Be aware the learning curve of FOC is very steep but the results are worth the efforts. If you are going to invest in this software subscribe to the weather data updates but do not subscribe to all airac cycles (much too expensive) quarterly or semi-annually updates are fully sufficient.FYI TOPCAT is neither a flight planner nor a complete dispatcher it is merely a take-off and landing dispatch help.Cheers

Not really difficult as such indeed but it needs a good understanding of the chart and to accurately follow the procedure especially DME and ALT.

Hi,Here is a link to an incident report at Chambery, France which happened on February 7, 2010 http://avherald.com/h?article=4345e4bd&opt=0Although the aircraft involved was a B737-300 the approach can be simulated with a B-737 NG. I hope serious simmers will educate themselves with this type of approach which in itself is not very difficult but necessitate a precise reading of the chart. The report includes the AIP chart and FDR report graphs. Interesting reading anyway.Cheers

Hi Benjamin,Have you ever tried BlackBox FlightLogger at http://www.utr-online.com/Software.asp?page=4In my opinion much better than GE. Works on windows 7. In the payware section FSFlight Keeper is certainly the best available at the moment.Cheers

A new version called PSX is in the making and may be on the market around the end of the year. The ACARS services you guys are talking about were developed for the B744 but could be used with any aircraft. However, some of the information available may not be relevant to the MD11. Setup is not easy but it is an experience in itself if you want to understand how ACARS works in real life.Cheers

Hi Bill.EFBFSX is a very useful application which goes well beyond showing charts. You will need Adobe reader to be installed on your PC to be able to run EFBFSX. It is highly recommended to install EFBFSX on a second computer and to use it exclusively form the remote PC if you want to avoid problems with the PMDG aircrafts due to the limited amount of unused "windows" in the panel.cfg of the MD11. My advise is go for it you will not regret your purchase. Have a look at the FSwidgets site: http://www.fswidgets.com for more information and their dedicated forum.Cheers

Thanks for the info and links

I highly recommend FOC. Looks like an antic but it does a great job at planning, dispatching and weather integration. Fuel flow calculations are very accurate. Steep learning curve however. Don't bother subscribing to airac updates they are too expensive.If you want to go the cheap way. Get the fuel flows for climb, cruise and descent on the net. Get a few simple math formulas also on the net. Buy yourself a couple of pens and a ram of paper and do the fuel calculation by yourself. After a couple of tries you will get it right and achieve a high precision. with the satisfaction of having achieved a professional dispatcher exercise. There is also a profesional dispatcher for all PMDG products which was created by Karl-Heinz Wichmann. It is an excel based semi automated workbook which gives you fuel consumption for the MD11, B747 and B737 with an accuracy of +/- 0.2% on all routes exceeding 250nm. Shorter routes can show inacurracy of up to 1.2%. If you need Karl-Heinz's email let me know by pm and I will contact him.Cheers

Hi Keith,An easy way to check where the problem is:1. Download sqawkbox (it is free)2. Uninstall FSInn3 Install squawkbox4. Re-do one of the flight where you encountered a voice problem After this check you will be able to ascertain which software creates the problem.Cheers

Hi,Guess you are referring to the Ulrich Tebin documents. As far as I know the origin of these documents is somewhat dubious and has never been proven free of copyright constrains. Believe me if Boeing had given permission to PMDG to disclose all data / tables for the MD11 for sure PMDG would have included these tables in their documentation.