Sigmar

Hi everybody, good (long term) news since I just discontinued using FSX for good and changed over to X-Plane 10.30 (64 bit). I did enjoy sim-flying PMDGs products but FSX as a platform has reached the end of its lifetime. I've had enough fighting its many bugs ... For now I shall fly KingAir, CRJ, 757 and PSX (the successor of my old favourite 747 sim, coupled to X-Plane) until 737NGX and 777 become available for X-Plane. Happy landings Sigmar (LOWL/LNZ, Austria)

Oops, sorry ... I stand corrected, as I was fooled by the shorter range compared to the PAX version. So we have "our" bird now flying commercially. Sigmar Stadlmeier

Lufthansa Cargo just received its first 777 freighter. It will fly its first commercial mission on 19 November to JFK. Although it is not the long-range version, at least our Lufthansa Cargo livery will be flying soon. See mor details on the LH Cargo homepage: http://lufthansa-cargo.com/de_de/mainnav/unternehmen/boeing-777/ Happy landings! Sigmar Stadlmeier (LOWL / LNZ)

Hi, fellow 777 captains, I get 60 fps external view, 30-35 fps Cockpit view, no freezes, no stutters, no nothing, just smooth operation (and the well-known FSX issue of the PFD/MFD display freezes when out of range of a control tower can be rectified by switching to the next cockpit view with *A* and returning to the previous one with *SHIFT*+*A*). Please find enclosed my system details plus the settings which seem to work best on my system (which does not mean that they will work on yours.. any hints on what might work better still are appreciated, but this does a decent job already) : Hardware = ASUS P7P55D QuadCore, 8 GB RAM, nVidia GTX570 graphics (driver version 311.06), TerraTec Aureon 5.1 PCI Sound (ASUS on-board high definition Sound disabled in BIOS) OS = Win7/64bit FSX.cfg: HIGHMEMFIX=1, Usepools=1, RejectThreshold=262144, Poolsize=2097152 FSX settings scenery resolution 19m, scenery detail 1m, water low 2.x, cloud range 80 nm, traffic (air/road/boats etc) 10%, scenery complexity very dense, autogen normal nVidia Inspector Settings: AA 8xS, Anisotropic user-defined/off, anisotropic filtering 16x, neg LOD bias CLAMP, framerate limiter 60 fps, VSync force ON To sum up: performance similar to 737NGX and significantly more stable than MD11. Very well done. Sigmar Stadlmeier

+1 @Gregory: OS's 777 are 777-200 ER (Extended range) and are doing fine :-) Data and Image Gallery available at www.austrian.com --> Our fleet --> 777 ... Sigmar Stadlmeier (LOWL / LNZ)

+1 Thanks to everybody at PMDG, including developers and beta testers. Sigmar Stadlmeier (LOWL/LNZ)

(panel.cfg) That was the one I could not remember until I was back at my Sim PC -- John was faster :-) Good to hear your display is ok now. Happy Landings Sigmar Stadlmeier

Hi Alvaro, this may be obvious ... but have you selected and checked the proper resolution in your FSX settings to match your monitor? I once had an issue with FSX reverting to some default setting after I made some changes. Which graphics card do you use? (I am not at my sim PC right now; perhaps I can help once I return to it). Sigmar Stadlmeier

Hello, fellow captains, while some of us may be impatient, I still prefer a thoroughly tested product over one which is released prematurely... I closely followed the discussions both in the official (producer) and unofficial (AVSIM) forums on the Dash 8 recently released by Majestic, and what I saw confirmes what I had been suspecting. I just did a complete reinstall of my whole system (OS, software environment, FSX, aircraft...) because after installing that very product plus its first update I just could not complete any flight anymore (both hangs and sound-related CTD's, even with J41 which had never done that before). It worked before, it no longer did afterwards... the facts speak for themselves. Now, after spending one weekend, J41, 737NGX and MD11 are fine again. I am not blaming Majestic here, it might have been due to several leftovers from aircraft previously installed and un-installed again, but still... So I shall wait patiently until a mature 777 is released which does not mess up my system. Happy landings (and no CTDs... :-) Sigmar Stadlmeier (LOWL/Austria, J41/737NGX/MD11 and some A2A warbirds on the sim; PPL, 700 hrs and 1050 missions in real life; ASUS P7P55D, 8 GB RAM, nVidia GTX 560, Win7/64)

Update 4 April 2013: They are history. OS's last 737-800 (still in old NG colours) was retired. For those who can read German, see the report on http://www.austrianwings.info/2013/04/fotobericht-von-der-ausflottung-der-letzten-aua-boeing-737/ -- and those who do not may still enjoy the photos. Happy landings Sigmar Stadlmeier

Sorry, my reply is somewhat late ... very well said, Edoardo, this echoes what I have been thinking over the past year or so. As XPlane is moving toward a 64bit version, the PMDG 777 will be definitely the last addition to my FSX, and it will be so only because of PMDGs quality standards, and in no way due to those of FSX. I have not forgotten the many hours wasted on trouble-shooting (inter alia) the MD11 - troubles resulting mainly from FSX's many flaws under current OS's. The next major change will be the change of the simulator platform, and it will be from FSX to XPlane, and once PMDG starts releasing products for XPlane that change will happen soon. Sigmar Stadlmeier (home-based in LOWL/LNZ, Austria)

Nice LOWI approach indeed ... just in case anybody not familiar with LOWI wants to see the real thing: (Boeing 767 -- yes, seven-six-seven, of now defunct Lauda Air, IATA code NG) (737, ex-NG, as seen from the ground) Enjoy! Sigmar Stadlmeier (home-based at LOWL; never visited LOWI with anything larger than a DA40 in real life)

Hi, fellow simpilots,as an Austrian I cannot help sharing some images of the DC6B of the Flying Bulls with you. Check out their website www.flyingbulls.com and see their fleet (includes a B25, as well as an F4U Corsair and a P38!). The following images were taken in 2005 and 2009 at the traditional "AirPower" show, held at Zeltweg Airbase (LOXZ) every other year. Enjoy (just in case someone needs some inspiration for a livery...)Sigmar Stadlmeier(home-based at LOWL & occasional visitor to LOWS, where the Bulls are based)

Most interesting ... just "returned" from LTBA to LOWW, hit "pause" at some stage (to pick up my daughter at the nearby train station...) and continued thereafter. Found some strange indications on both the LEGS and PROG pages of FMC: Last waypoint indicated proper ATA, whereas next waypoint indicated a wholly unrealistic ETA (the 737 just does not need 8 hrs to cover 80 NM). Just look at the images provided: The 91 miles from VADEN to GOL (=Golyama) VOR cannot possibly take 8 hrs + ... and voila, once we pass GOL VOR, we see an ATA at GOL VOR of 1246 (UTC), rather than the unrealistic ETA of 2034 predicted before ... and so it went on and on, until a perfect autoland (both A/Ps engaged) at LOWW. Any ideas ... Ryan...?Sigmar Stadlmeier

Hi, fellow 737 sim pilots,bad news for those of you who like to fly the NGX in OS (Austrian Airlines) livery: Under their current restructuring efforts, OS has announced that its short-to-medium haul fleet will become Airbus-only. The 737s (which had all been inherited when Lauda Air was taken over by Austrian) will be replaced. Then both the OS and NG liveries on the -600, -700 and -800 will be history... I shall miss them in real life (I was actually on board OE-LNO once, on a flight to LDDU!) and shall continue to use them in the sim.RegardsSigmar StadlmeierLOWL (Linz/Austria)