jjohnsondawgs

I’m super excited about PMDG venturing in to the XP world, but I also feel this is a necessary move to start to solidify the future “#1 go to” platform for flight simulation. Here’s the dilemma with “younger” flight sim software, majority of end-users don’t buy it because the lack of big-name 3rd party developers (PMDG, ORBX, Aerosoft, etc) to design add-ons. Developers are scared to devote large amounts of money and time to a product when the demand is not there for it currently…….meaning the majority of users don’t have XP and are waiting on developers before buying it. The cycle has to be broken either 2 ways, the majority buys the product and……..wait (like we did with MSFS), or “big name” developers start developing add-ons and it gets adopted……this is risky for the developers. Unfortunately the mass isn’t flocking to XP so that is why I applaud PMDG’s risk as this will……in my opinion…….begin a paradigm shift with “big name” developers starting to develop on XP and more and more users going that route. Granted I understand this won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen with just 1 PMDG developed plane, it will take time and more “big name” developers committing to future development in X Plane. If the same add-ons were available for X Plane as they are for FSX, even after buying so many add-ons for FSX…….I wouldn’t skip a beat in moving to XP and calling that my #1 flight sim. Do I have X Plane right now…….nope…..waiting for my SSD before buying it! X Plane + Any PMDG + Any ORBX region/airport = Loads of fun and flying until more addons arrive!! PMDG <<<<visionary and leader Jeff Johnson The KATL

You could just stick with Orbx the entire way, they not only make great scenery but they also produce a great little 4 seater GA aircraft called the Lancair IV-P (pressurized), it's a tricky aircraft to take off and land because of the high stall speed but can cruise at 250kts @ FL250, or you can choose to go low and slow over that beautiful scenery.

I have MS Salt Lake City and those mountains are really cool looking at high altitude but I still get giggity descending down into that beautiful night lighting and terrain in FTX........I think I'll just fly in both. :(

If you want a good moving map FSWidgets makes IGMap for the iPhone/iPad/Droid, it's not laggy at all and has clickable airport info (rwys, freq, ILS info), VORs, NDBs, and intersections and you can choose to turn those off or on at any point. It displays your route with clickable waypoints and has many map overlays including a google maps look as well as shaded terrain, also has US terminal & sectional charts. I don't know if the iPad comes with airport charts or not. http://s1234.photobu...ftommy06/IGMap/

I was a little skeptical at first about how the IR would perform in the game.......wow am I glad that I bought it, now I don't fly without it. It enhances the 3D cockpit like you wouldn't believe. Think about a turning approach, you can line yourself up much easier when you can move the view back and forth very quick and precise vs. using the hat switch which can get annoying and no where near precise enough to the view you want your eyes focused on.

After being spoiled by the ease of flying the 747 for so long I decided to try to learn the MD-11, let me tell you.......the systems are completely different. I quickly ran through the tutorial and thought I would just take her up, loop around, and try to get my first successfull landing...........I never got off the ground. I ended up in the fence and trees about 300ft passed the runway, I was wondering what that message was the whole way down the runway.................."Warning, stabilizer......Warning, stabilizer"!!

No doubt, starting to decend in those mountains in a snow storm at dusk puts me on the edge of my seat!! They started with Australia but have started to map the entire US beginning with the Pacific Northwest which is a beautiful region to fly in, the scenery looks absolutely stunning. I would say hands down Orbx scenery is the best out there, but that's my opinion.

I just bought a 55" LED 3D samsung........now you guys are giving me ideas!!

There are two companies that in my opinion are the leaders in making ground breaking and extremely high quality products, one would be PMDG, the other ORBX........and you can clearly see why.Intoducing PeopleFlow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiQ8DG_Xcnk

Just bought the new Orbx - Lancair IV-P........what a great GA aircraft, flies up in the FL's and cruises around 250 kts!! This thing is sweet.My Absolute FavsPMDG MD-11XPMDG 747XREX2.0Orbx FTX scenery (all).......love the night lighting as you are approaching cities, can't wait till they do all of the US.TrackIR5 - wow what a difference this makes, forget multiple screens and the hat switchSoon to be FavPMDG 737NGX!!

Very cool!

Okay, let's get back to the topic of the 737NG. Since most of us know about the HUD that should blow us out of the water, will any of you fly in inclement weather or bad fog on your first leg so you can utilize it on landing........or save that for later, and where will you be?

That MD does look similar, thanks Kyle! Markus - I agree about filming the PFD, once I touched down though I had to film the outside because of how smooth the landing looked.......don't make those all the time. I'm usually spot on with keeping it aligned with the Flight Director, after :50 it was mostly side-to-side movements because I like to look around......TrackIR is just too fun. :( 767fan - Thanks, glad you liked it.....yeah I guess 50 is overboard on the flaps, I think I mainly do that to catch the first taxi way. My AI for traffic is on 4% and airline traffic is 20%, the autogen looks like it is high but it's only on normal. The scenery is FTX PacificNorthwest, best scenery out there.....in my opinion.

Hey guys,Not an expert on the MD or flying it for that matter, would like a real experts opinion on whether you think this "looks" overweight or the nose is up too far. A little background, fully loaded with around 12lbs of fuel on final, video is right before I capture the g/s....I think, I had flaps 50 and maintaining vref/vapp I forget which one is first. Is this normal looking from the outside where the nose looks to be way up there?

Congrats on the finish at the air races, now as Ari Gold would say in Entourage.......GET BACK TO WORK!!

Giggity!

I have not seen this issue before and I am on Windows 7 64 and fly the MD-11 almost every night, not to say it's not Win 7 but it could be something with your weather apps / install of them. Try running a default weather theme in FSX, how does that work? After initially switching from Vista 64 to Win 7 64 I had all kinds of issues, I soon realized that right-clicking and selecting "Run As Administrator" for all installs and starting applications helped resolve all my issues. Be sure that you are doing this evertime you install/run FSX or any other program that communicates with it, it will cause issues if you don't. Hope that helps any! - Jeff Johnson

Try vRoute, the fuel planner is not bad, has the pmdg MD-11 as an option for fuel planning. It lets you choose an alt airport, payload, captain's reserve fuel, and altitude......and uses those to calculate the taxi, total trip, contingency, alternate, final reserve, minimum landing, and total fuel amounts.I flew the same route twice from KLAS-KLAX (BOACH HEC CIVET) using both vroute and aerotexas for fuel planning, vroute spit out the following:OptionsAlt: KSANPayload: 104,423 lbs (PAX & Cargo via the PMDG Load Manager)FL300Captain's Reserve: 500lbs (default)ResultsTaxi: 4500Total trip: 11230Contingency: 1060Alternate: 6930Final reserve: 6360Minimum landing: 2000Captain's Reserve: 500 (can be modified)Total - 32580I thought this was still too much but yielded better results than aerotexas which spit out 37000 lbs total fuel, although I could not choose a FL, Alt, or Payload so the results could've been lower.....or higher!I'm sure the manual way yields the most accurate results since you can calculate wind and other factors not included in these planners.

Spot on, this thread needs to get back to the positive side! It will look beautiful when it comes out, and I will gladly wait! - Jeff Johnson

This is an excellent thread, also does anybody know of some good "mountainous" flights/approaches for a 737?Thanks,Jeff Johnson

I have FTX and UTX, the night lighting in FTX is much better. Has a few light styles and sizes to choose from, also the light poles are more visible. I love flying in FTX scenery, and they are about to come out with scenery for North America.

They are about to come out with scenery for North America, it will be for the upper Northwest region of US & include portions of Canada. It will have Portland, Seattle and a few other cities in the both countries. It looks sweet.