hmslion

I'm not a pilot but I've flown a 777 simulator at the United Airlines Training Center at the AVSIM conference a number of years ago. Landing the real thing is easier than on the computer. The plane trims better, is easier to get stable on approach, and you feel the changes in attifude as well as see them on the gauges. But I would not have had that success without my PMDG planes or the Level D 767.Colin Ware

Um, the plane is not compatible with FSX. FS9 only.

Um, if you go to the Boeing site you will see the landing gear was retracted for at least the photo part of the flight. Also remember it's not like the plane's gear has never been tested. They put the plane on jacks and cycle the gear as part of routine testing. I saw the beast land at BFI - I volunteer at the Museum of Flight. Looks like a slightly bigger 747. Liked the proportions, and the new engines look very cool. Lots of VIP types at the Boeing facility. Came in very smoothly. Colin Ware.

Francisco - you need to overclock that CPU. Get it up in the 3.8 to 4 ghz range and you will see an improvement. Your I7 will easilly hit 4 ghz with good aircooling. Realistically though, even with my CPU oc'd to 4ghz, good video card, 6 gigs or RAM, I am in the very low teens at complex airports, with moderate traffice (fsx native traffice to boot) and a plane like the PMDG MD11. The technology is just starting to catch up with what FSX offers, esp, if you want realistic weather, better clouds. Tom's Hardware Guide has some good articles on overclocking. Colin Ware

In my experience it's very dependent on the conditions. In heavy weather, it brings my rig (i7 ocd to 4 gigs, good video card, 6 megs of ram) close to a stand-still. Single digit frames in a complex plane. 10 - 12 with a simple plane. Fromo a technology point of view, we are just on the cusp of computers that can handle complex scenerey, airplanes and weather simultaneosly, whlle deliver fluid frames above 20. so, as FSX has been since day 1, trade-offs are required. Colin WareSeattle

Wow - new paint job. The one hanging out at BFi was in traditional Boeing Blue. Like it.Colin Ware

Sorry, my name's Colin Ware

Alaska actually does fly PANC to Hawaii directly. From Bellingham, Sea-Tac, PDX, and SFO as well.

Um, how much do we think the airlines pay for a set of these manuals - because these are essentially the same thing. PMDG is not delivering some ad hoc manual with a few graphs taken (likely without copywright permission) from manufacturers docs. These are the same things the pilots use to train to fly the real bird. Obviously, casual simmers won't be interested in these. But for those of us who like deep immersion and learning something in depth, they are an absolute steal. A glimpse into the life of the guys and gals who sit up front. Colin

Terrific review - I'd buy this set of jets if the night lighting was realisitc. Feel There has some kind of "thing" against dark cockpits at night.

None of the above - www.flypfc.com

I have the program installed but not getting any cockpit textures or needles on the gauges. I patched up to v 1.2 but still no joy. Anyone else have any suggestions on getting this program up and running?Thanks!Colin

The Level D plane dates back to FS2000 - it was first developed as a freeware panel by a real 767 driver who wanted a training aid - it has developed into the plane we fly today. I've met the pilot - at the Seattle AVSIM conference. Nice guy. The Level D works well - all of it. The captain sim stuff mostly works. I have the 757 and rarely fly it. The FMC is quircky esp when it decides it doesn't want to load waypoints from a STAR. I have not tried conditional way point programming but the Level D does it just like the real thing. The CS plane is resource intensive and there is now way to turn off the cabin, which is a huge waste of polygons in my book. The CS plane brings my system to its knees on final into any large airport - and I have a good system (i7 overclocked to 3.8, 6 gigs ram etc). Buy the Level D - it holds up well despite its age.

My brand new Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS was supposed to be delivered today - but the foul weather in Seattle has delayed it. The same weather that lead a 747 to skid dangerously close to the end of the runway at SEA TAC, which, for that runway, ends in a particuarly nasty and steep ravine....

I'm lucky. Living on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, I see them all the time coming in and out of BFI for their trial flights. Nothing this cool though....

I must respectfully disagree on the Captain Sim front. Very nice airplanes, but very shallow systems implimentation. To mention them in the same breath as PMDG and Level D do these two publishers a great disservice. The FMC in the CS 757 is an ongoing disaster on my system. It won't add STAR waypoints to flight plans for starters, it allows very little pilot input. Compared to the Level D implimentation of the auto flight system, the CS 757 is a CLS level airplane at best. As CS says, it's a game and yes it is a fun toy to take around the circuit and that's about it. The flight director on the 727 is also useless, not simulating in the least the way the true one works on the airplane. the autopilot is also poorly coded. The plane flops around the sky like a salmon strugglilng upstream when it's trying to acquire and track a VOR radial. Same is true for the flight director on the C130 - it really wants to grow up and be a very poor imitation of a VOR needle not a flight director. Why they choose to do such a poor job implimenting the one gauge you spend most of the flight staring at is absolutely beyond me. The flight director in the Level D works just fine. You mention PMDG. Do you know how long it took to release the MD11? Years. Four plus to be exact. Many expressed the very same sentiment you did about "vaporware" and development times. That plane appeared and is flying on my computer right now. I trust Daryl and his crew will release a great plane. It's easy to forget that the LevelD goes all the way back to FS2000 - nothing else out there has that kind of lineage. It, the two PMDG birds and Flight 1 Mustang are about the only planes in FSX where everything works the way its supposed to. Colin Ware

I have been trying to get the overall patch for Mega Scenery Earth to run on my reinstall of FSX. The installer is unpacking the files, but the library update software is choking - and then not-responding. I can't find a MS Earth forum on the PC Aviator website. Anyone had this problem? A solution?Thanks.

Not yet-given the need to reinstall everything that plays with DLLs. I just did a reinstall. It took 8 hours. Not wild about that.

I have been having a lot of trouble with system instability lately so re-installed FSX and all add ons last weekend. I am now getting this error message on start-up. I've unistalled and re-installed the MD11 several times and still getting this message. Any help?FS has detected a problem with a third party software programName: PMDGSounds Dynamic LibraryVersion: 10,0,61355,62Company PMDGFile: PMDG\DLLs\PMDGSounds.dllColin WareSeattle Washington

Just a quick question - why do you think that a Mac will have higher quality hard drives? Most people buy Macs for the software, not the hardware. And you can't even run FSX on a Mac without either a dual/boot set up or an emulator program running. This just struck me oddly - please don't take this as any kind of criticism. colin

Buy the Captain Sim 707. Similar systems with one fewer cockpit windows. Folks on the forums are saying good things about it. Sadly, according to the DF forums the DF DC8 is dead.

The A6 is fun to fly but quite simplistic. Very few systems modeled. Flap handle in the VC doesn't have two settings. Night lighting is terrible. DIANE is simulated in a very shallow manner. When they released it they also hadn't figured out how to put an ILS on a moving carrier in FSX so you can't fly anything but visual approaches to moving carriers. VC is also blocky and not up to current FSX standards.

There's nothing wrong - there still isn't a computer out there without exotic cooling that can handle FSX with complex scenery and weather and complex airplanes.

Wow - and I thought the turobo prop and MD11 were pretty much flawless. I really can't wait for this bird.

terrible night lighting - no dark cockpit. Just a urine colored wash on the panel. Very distracting when you are trying to find the airport in the dark.