MDChase

Good Afternoon Gentlemen, I haven't been on here in a while so I wanted to stop by and make some observations based on my last couples months. Unfortunately I haven't had time to fly the NGX since about November because I have been caught up in Naval Flight Training. 2 weeks ago I started "Primary" training which is the 6 month phase that we train on our first Naval Trainer which puts us through Fam Flights, Aerobatics, Instruments and Formation. I am lucky enough to get to fly the new T-6B which is an incredible aircraft. It cruises close to .7 mach, has a full glass cockpit and HUD,although I will say it takes some getting used to flying in a G-Suit and on Oxygen.But the reason I am writing is I have spent the last 2 weeks buried in operations manuals and emergency procedures and just finished my first phase exam that included the FMS system. Because everyone here strives to be as close to reality as possible I think its necessary to say how much the NGX helped me in this process. Our FMS is very similar although the data entry is a little different because we use an Up Front Control Panel instead of a keyboard and the FMS menu its self is displayed on one of the 3 MFDs in the cockpit. However operation wise it is incredibly similar to the NGX and many other FMCs. What really impressed me came when they described how much the system cost and how in-depth it was. It is very in-depth and includes an incredible amount of functionality, but nothing I had not seen in the NGX.This is a true testament to Robert and his team, their ability to put that kind of functionality into a simulation for such a low price is astonishing, and it really took me learning a real world application to see how talented they are so I just wanted to give a Bravo Zulu. Well done gentlemen.Unfortunately the next 6 months of my life will involve flying 4 hours a day and studying the other 20 (maybe some sleep if I can find time) so I won't be able to fly the NGX, but believe me I can't wait to get back and fly her, even if I am doing the real thing, it is a truly incredible simulation.-ENS Matthew ChaseStudent Naval AviatorUSCG

I gave Maryland one a go but I don't have enough experience with the Alpha layers and what not, and I go back to ground school for 6 weeks starting Thursday so I'm not going to have any time, its so impressive what these guys can do.-Matt Chase

Is Maryland One on any of the repainters radar? Thanks again for all the impressive work you do!-Matt Chase

Just saw an article about Ryanair potentially introducing in-flight porn. All I can say is PMDG forget multi-cockpit I think we need this next, and if possible just put it as an overlay when we press the WXR button. -Matt Chase

Yea, I'm not sure and I'm not an expert on the topic either (being from Baltimore I fly Southwest about 20 times a year) but I have always peeked up there to see, and the last 5 flights or so I have noticed the PFD/MAP.-Matt Chase

Bryan, I flew on a 737 on Friday back home and they had the PFD/MAP action going I think they changed to this within the last year.-Matt Chase

A lot of it came from situational awareness as well as having a smooth transition between aircraft, some pilots fly the 733 and 737 in the same day so it was easier for them to transition between aircraft. It actually makes a lot of sense, I think the just started using VNAV again in the last year.-Matt Chase

The mood here is very tense, so I'm going to bring up another issue I have found with the NGX for Robert, it's graphics are better than real life, I had a solo today and I could swear my pipers panel wasn't in 4096 x 4096. I couldn't find the FMC either, thats what you get for flying freeware (thanks Navy) and my attidude indicator kept freezing, literally. Is there an FSX.cfg for real life?-Matt Chase

I have always learned to counsel people in private thats the only reason I don't understand someone being singled out in the forum, especially when he is a customer not a subordinate.-Matt ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

The galley on my NGX is empty and I'm out of beer, is there going to be a fix for this? -Matt ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

Well said. -Matt Chase

John that was my quote on professional talk, and it was geared more towards the people that we're flaming Robert about it. I agree and I think I noted that in a small community it is different. Having lost my father when I was 15 (I'm 22 now) I can sympathize and just thought it was one of those times where we didn't even need an update. I realize I didn't word it great but it was supposed to mean more that if he has to deal with family obligations we don't necessarily need any update at all. To the discussion of keeping busy I don't have a wife and kids yet but I do have a cross country solo today so I'm going to do that, oddly enough even after a real flight I'll still fly the NGX today. -Matt ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

Well said, much more eloquently and succinctly then I could put it. -Matt Chase

I think part of the issue is giving someone a chance to attack his personal life by putting it out there. PMDG is a business we don't need to know about their personal lives or why that has contributed to a delay, that certainly is not consider professional in a lot of fields (before someone jumps on me I'm not saying Robert is unprofessional because I absolutely believe he is). If it did not come out when it was supposed too that is all that needs to be said and it should just be dealt with from there accordingly. I understand Flightsim is a small community but I don't think that voids standard buisness relationships. That being said, it should also not even be a question about whether family comes first so I don't see why people think they need to make a post saying they agree. Off topic discussions here are always frowned upon, I would say this is far from on-topic. They made an announcement, we're consumers, we wait. -Matt Chase

Good point Mark, and I know I had made some remarks on this thread that lead to people jumping all over me, and I agree with you, what I don't agree with is the people who say they having it working blaming all the issues on the people who are having them. Software is a finicky thing and these things will happen but it's not always the users fault. -Matt ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

Understandable but should people have to go through this much trouble to get it to work? -Matt ChaseUSCG(Student Naval Aviator)

I see what you're saying Don but I have an i5 2500k system that I built and installed everything from the ground up and still have the issues . When it works it works great but when it doesn't I'll just get a crash straight to the desktop. I just think theres instabilities that were overlooked. -Matt ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

Well said. -Matt Chase

Being a born and raised and proud Maryland boy (More stuff in my house with the Maryland flag on it than is probably culturally acceptable haha) I have also been waiting for the Maryland One. I had a weather cancellation for my flight today so I couldn't do my checkride so I figured I'd try my hand at repainting. This is my first real repaint so I'm sure there is leaps and bounds to be made but I wanted to share for those also interested. Sorry the screenshot quality isn't great. ENS Matthew ChaseUSCG (Student Naval Aviator)

Looks awesome! Thank you! -Matthew ChaseENS United States Coast Guard (Student Naval Aviator)

Evening everyone, I am currently working on my first ever repaint and I have had a lot of success but when I install the livery I am getting windows (openings not textures) on the bottom of the aircraft and the windows are shifted incorrectly on the right side. The actual fuselage psd and dds seem to line up fine though. Thanks for your help! Matthew Chase

Not the real military? Thats an incredibly ignorant statement, considering we have troops abroad who have given their lives and risk our lives everyday at home, if you don't agree with opinion on the product thats fine, but it's pretty uncalled for to discredit people who serve their country. Look which service Academy President Obama chose to speak at this year, it was the Coast Guard Academy, my commencement so obviously somebody thinks we're "real", plus I'm receiving the exact same flight training right now as every Marine and Naval Aviator. That being said, I know these things take time and this isn't their only job, the only things I am disappointed with are the CTDs, I understand other bugs are going to happen because this isn't an XBOX game they have to make it work on a million different systems. I'm looking forward to SP1 and I hope it fixes everything and I'm sure they working hard to make sure that happens. I'm sure the CTDs have something to do with FSX just being an older program and the SimConnect bufferpool not being large enough to handle the data transmissions, and I hope there is a fix that is possible because I know FSX creates a ton of limitations. Matthew Chase

There seems to be a lot of condescension in your statement, especially because I gave it up to serve my country, but Microsoft charges for new versions, but not Hotfixes, although I will say Windows 7 was probably a result of Vista being so terribly flawed. But in that comparison this is also a new version of a previous product, and is necessary because of the changes in technology. And luckily the Coast Guard decided I should give up Software Engineering too and is now paying me to fly.

Why would a company ever charge more for additional work to fix a product, that is an asinine statement, I see that I have obviously shaken the wrong branches here though so I will just continue waiting, until then I'll be in cockpit.