Captain_E_Blackadder

This is my first post in the AVSIM forums and in the PMDG section. Happy birthday Iain, it sounds like your son has excellent taste in gifts! I also wanted to take a moment thank the PMDG team for an excellent rendition of this aircraft and share a bit of my somewhat relevant experience. The JS41 was my second PMDG product after the MD-11 (which I still fly often). This aircraft, or at least its engines, has a sentimental value for me. Some time ago I was afforded the privilege of co-piloting a Cessna 441 Conquest II, which also uses the Garrett TPE-331 (we had -10s in ours, compared to the -14s in the JS41). I was floored by the accurate rendition of these tricky engines. I don't know how PMDG managed to model things like the propeller start locks or the TPE-331's characteristic scream. I didn't think such things were possible given the limits of FSX.Managing the Garrett engines was the trickiest part of flying the 441, much like PMDG's JS41. I still remember having to take wind direction into account when towing the plane out of the hangar so we didn't get an overheat from wind blowing up the tailpipe, and having to watch out for a "bog down" of the engines during taxi. We also had to hit the un-feathering pump switch before and reverse our engines after start, just like in this model. The loudness of the engines is also well-modeled- the 441's engines were quite loud, even with hearing protection. The 441's props were right about at the level of my knees, and I spent some time during flight contemplating what would happen if one of those hefty props broke loose...The 441 lacks the IECs that limit torque on the JS41. We had to stand on the brakes and set take-off power manually. This became more difficult after a brake replacement decreased their "grip factor." If you pushed the power levers to the firewall on the 441, you would over-torque the engines very easily. We also didn't have the convenient white-line system on the EGT gauge to aid us in setting the condition levers to cruise.Conversely, the 441 is a very forgiving airplane to hand-fly, and it handles much like a 310. The Conquest (thankfully!) slows down much faster than the JS41. It's taken some time to get used to the tendency of the JS41 to remain at speed. The TAS of both aircraft is comparable (we usually hit about 300kts true at FL270-280 in the 441, which was not RVSM equipped).Anyway, I'm very happy with my JS41 purchase from PMDG. Flying this aircraft in FSX brings back many positive memories. Thanks for listening to my rambling reminiscence, and thanks again PMDG team for this astonishing aircraft!