FBC57

Sorry, mate. I misread that pricing. I thought it was another 1000 bucks dearer. In that case, 1099 is a good price for an MCP and an EFIS. The CP Flight one (not full size? where does this crap come from?) fits right in the FDS MIP and is 499 euros for the MCP and 250 for the efis, so probably a coupla hundred cheaper than Jetmax. I have the CP Flight MCP and twin EFIS's. They are really nice and great feel and quality. Easy to set up and accurate. CP Flight make an EL model and a Pro, but to my knowledge, the knobs are the only difference between the two. The pro model is twice the price, tho. And PM systems.....well, it's old news, mate. I think you'll find that Sim A and ProSim eat PM for breakfast. You can run a full cockpit suite in ProSim on two PC's and probably 3 for Sim A. I built four dedicated PC's to run Sim A and when I went over to ProSim, I didn't need the fourth PC, as it doesn't need a server PC to run the modules. Both have their pro's and cons. My friend, Iain Williams @ http://www.flaps2approach.com/ gives a great breakdown of both pieces of software. He also does testing on all manner of sim parts. Frank Cooper

FDS is a great Company to deal with and their service is top notch. Products are solid and reliable and are at the top end of the scale. You cannot go wrong buying anything from them. Your decision is whether you want to go a full sized cockpit (then, NO Jetmax) or a half cockpit, which is Jetmax. At this stage they have no plans for adding the second half or FO's side, so make up your mind before you pay. Either way, you will be happy. Ohh, and they do work with the NGX, they have info about this on their site. Their throttle is quite inexpensive, when you compare to current units on the market. The MCP and EFIS, however, I'd say were too expensive. Just my .2c Frank Cooper

Ctrl-Enter, Ctrl-Backspace.........Shift-Enter, Shift-Backspace Works for me, Frank Cooper

I think you're missing the point, mate and I don't know why you would attack me like that! I am referring to the fact that eco-friendly is a marketing term that is devised to fool people into thinking they are flying green, when in fact jet engines are polluting the atmosphere. That's an oxymoron! I cannot understand why you would get upset at anybody making a statement based on fact. This forum is a public forum for people to exchange ideas without fear of persecution. Let's keep it that way, Frank Cooper

The voice-over in that clip sounds like Chris Palmer from Angle of Attack. And eco-friendly.....huh, what about the gallons of unburnt fuel that spew oiut the back of every airliner engine???? Eco, my a^%$, Frank Cooper

That is an epic vid. Brilliant music (for once they found a good modern track that even us oldies might like), fantastic hd video. That big pilot would have a problem pulling back on the yoke, tho. He's right upagainst it in the last few shots. Nice to see them having a giggle during the filming. Thanx, mate, I really enjoyed it, Frank Cooper

It's the first time I've seen this vid, too. I really enjoyed it and for once the camera work was not too bad. It's so refreshing to see a Captain and FO being receptive to a young up'n'coming pilot and letting them share the knowledge of this wonderful thing we call aviation. It is such a pity that we live in a world full of despots that have taken a lot of this type of information sharing away from us. Thanks for sharing the vid, mate, Frank Cooper

Yeah, what he said. Or you could take it into photoshop and do a perspective on it. That will allow you to slant it the opposite way, like Steve has done here. Frank Cooper

Sim Revolution is probably the best throttles currently available, if you can wait long enough. I ordered mine in march and haven't even had an email from them in months. I hear from a few recent buyers that a year can be a reasonable wait for them. Shame about that, as they have a great product. Frank Cooper

I've nearly watched all 9 1/2 hours, Chris and it's good quality learning material. I laugh, cos my old mate works for an airline and I think he's even surprised at my level of knowledge of an aircraft that he works on every day. You guys have done a great job and I'm looking forward to the next phase, Congrats, mate! Frank Cooper

Opencockpits have just released a CDU, very professional. You can ask them, but I think you'll find that it will work with the NGX, Frank Cooper

I'm building a cockpit and using the NGX to set up all of my routes, test scenery, hardware, etc. I bought an i-pad and wanted an EFB. My routes are all Australian, so I bought OzRunways. It is an awesome program, but I've had a great deal of trouble getting it to work. Through the efforts of Rowan from OzRunways, I finally did. A new version, 2.8.1 came out today and it's a bottler. If anybody wants a complete EFB, this has got to be the one. I also bought the FSWidgets EFB, FS Kneeboard 2 and trialled a few others, but the content in OzRunways left the opposition for dead, in my opinion. Great program, great support, Frank Cooper

Depends on what you're building. FDS now sell a cut down version of the full cockpit called Jetmax. It is that which has just been advertising full compatibility with the NGX. As far as use in a full cockpit, the NGX wasn't built for that and ProSim and Sim A are. Those two professional pieces of software supply the interfacing for FSX (or any number of other sim software such as P3D, etc), so you still need a flight model. That is where the NGX can come in, but it is a complex piece of kit and the integration for full cockpits is still a little way off, I believe. I have heard that the logic in the NGX software can take over some of the sub systems created by the pro software such as ProSim and Sim Avionics and can cause problems. Frank Cooper

If you flick the battery switch to on, the FMC will come alive. You don't need to crank up the APU. Get onto some of those tutorials, they will sort it out. Frank Cooper

I'm running twin 680's in an PC, specifically built for FSX. It is without doubt the best FSX machine I've ever built. It does not stutter and I don't even have it OC'd. However, this machine has quite a spec and the 680's may not be solely attributable to it's performance. It's an ASUS Rampage 4 Extreme, i7-3960X, 32GB Ram, Water-cooled, and an OCZ Revo 3x 2 PCI-E SSD. I don't care about frames, only smoothness,and it's still in testing so I can't offer any details there. The things that separated this from any other unit I've built were the deep rich colours and shade that were rendered. It was quite unlike anything before. My Server unit (this PC) has a GTX580 in it, and it's chalk and cheese. Good luck with the decision, mate. Frank

Any chance PMDG might do an update for the new MAX model? The winglets are different, tail cone and the engine cowls as well. It would be nice to keep up visually with the current models. Frank Cooper

Wow! Just go take a look at Iain's photography site, that's Wow! He should be working for National Geographic. The cats and especially the cheetah shots are glorious. Well done, Iain! Frank

Sorry, Iain, I shoulda told you in my last email about the updates. You definately need SP1C, but don't load any new liveries until you install the update and do it for both the 600-700 and the 800-900. There's a bunch of great liveries to be had for Ozzie airlines, too, mate. Just go to the Add-on livery section. Happy flying with the best 737 in simming, Frank Cooper

They do look good and seem to be pretty good guys to deal with. If I hadn't bought the Sim Revolution TQ (over 4000 bucks), I would have bought the SimQuad one. I've also seen the 737 one from throttletek and it's OK, too, but the SimQuad one looks to be a closer replica of the NG. Frank Cooper

I have the PFC Saab yoke. It's nice, but have heard from quite a few that they have problematic pots after a while. Mine's still like new, so no probs, but the ACE yoke is miles ahead in quality. Only problem is the cost. If you can get one at a reasonable price, grab it. For my money, FDS is top quality, even tho it's a bit pricey. It's hard to put a price on quality and functionality. They also have A1 after sales. As for the Sim Revolution throttles, you can't buy better, mate. Frank Cooper

I'm sorry, mate. I wasn't saying that you can't build a home cockpit for under 300 (and I just plucked that out of the air based on my own experiences with some pro sims). I was making a guess at how much he'd spent, based on the full (obviously original base) cockpit nose section, his hardware, projection system, etc. You can have a cockpit for a hellluva lot less, just depends on your budget. And I think you'll have to take up the wrong fonts comment with the manufacturers of the MCP's such as CP Flight, Opencockpits, etc. The guy can't be held accountable for originality for that, and I don't think you'll find that he gives a hoot when he's flying around all day in something that's been that well put together. I take my hat off to the guy (altho I'm biased), I'd like that kind of set-up too. Frank Cooper

I'll be knocking on his door if he does.......... Frank Cooper

You're missing the point Chris. Some people have higher disposable income than others, some people have a higher commitment level with their hobbies than others and some people build sims like this because they are medically unfit or too old to fly commercially. For 300 k, you can have a cutting edge toy like this, fly it till you drop dead at 95, keep up with all of the pilot lingo and procedures. For some of us, that is really living the dream............. Frank

Most of the systems incorporated in cockpit building can be run off normal household electrical now. No more need for 3 phase (unless you are running dof systems and such). I'd also say at a rough guess, his sim cost around 200 or 300 thousand. You can buy a cockpit shell for a bit over two grand now. It's the ultimate boys toy, thas for sure... Frank Cooper

Uh, Ron, not sure if you're aware, you've posted this a number of times in the forum Frank Cooper