Fritz1965

I've said something to that affect before and if the trolls didn't get on me, technical support did. All I ever said was that it would be nice to be kept up to date. From now on I'm just going to keep quiet for fear of stepping on some nerves.

I have to agree: one of the biggest mistakes I made was to jump on the FSX:SE wagon without fully researching it for problems such as this. With the old desktop in storage along with the original FSX DVD, I thought it would be advantageous to purchase the Steam Edition. The context of the announcement implied that an updated release of the 737 NGX was a handful of days or so away. It's been over a week, no status updates, and so I have an expensive digital doorstop because it will not run. Same thing with ActiveSky Next; one message indicating that there should be a Steam-compatible release around the 10th- it is now the 14th and still no news. I am sure that we can all agree that it is better to have a proven, quality release than to deal with one that was hastily done and full of bugs, but on the other hand I feel that it is a bit of a disservice to us paying customers when we are left hanging. I work on cargo ships for a living- it would have been nice to have all of this working before I have to leave in a few days for another 4 months and out of reach of broadband Internet connections. That's just my two cents worth.

That's what I get for trying to respond via iPhone, LOL. My bad wording. I saw the $15 app on iTunes, as well as a couple more that were payware and simply was not impressed with them. The web-based one on the other hand is simple but more than enough. In response to some of the statements regarding the use of checklists on actual flight decks: I don't know what videos you were watching, but the ones I own clearly show the first officer using them during all phases of preflight, flight and postflight. Seriously...... most of us are computer pilots. We can get away with the missed step here and there without any RL consequences, but how would you feel if you were on a REAL flight and found out that your flight deck crew neglected to use checklists??? I am not a pilot. I am an engineering technician working for the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor processing equipment. Even though I have tested and calibrated literally hundreds of the same subassemby, I STILL have my test procedures in front of me and open to the current step of testing. There are many examples of complacent crew being key factors in major airliner accidents because the crew was "too experienced" to have to use checklists. -Michael Tucker-

With all due respect, I'd rather save my money. Maybe for $0.99 I'd do it but in my opinion it's priced far beyond "reasonable.I'll print out the checklists, laminate them, and spend the money at Starbucks. -Michael Tucker-

No problems here either. I have also downloaded VoxATC and after I get through all of the documentation I'll be giving that a try.For the outrageous amount of money they want for it however, I'll be sticking with RC4 for the time being. VoxATC gives a 7 dayfree trial so I can enjoy it for at least a week... -Michael Tucker-

Lots of great info, guys :)I have to make a major correction.... I was at KSEA, not SFO. I don't know where my head is, LOL. Anyway, weather forecast indicated that I would make a northbound approach and as I said in my last post, I ended up having to set up for a southbound approach. I already have those websites in my Favorites list; they will definately come in handy! -Michael Tucker-

Thanks for the reply, it helps out a lot. Now I need to learn to program the FMC "on the fly". This all came about when I used TOPCAT to determine my landing runway, and I also use ActiveSky Evolution to add to the realism. I was flying from KPHX to KSFO, which is not a very long flight. I downloaded the current weather in SFO using TOPCAT and it appeared to be a northbound landing. By the time I got there and tuned to the ATIS, I found that landings and departures were southbound. Either the wind changed direction or I completely goofed up during my flight planning, but for some reason I could not tune in the ILS frequency for the runway in use. I missed a step somewhere- I thought I had programmed my new approach runway into the FMC and I did enter the correct frequency in BOTH NAV radios (double- and triple-checked it) but I could not capture the glide slope. After two missed approaches, I ended up doing things the hard way and hand-landing the airplane. -Michael Tucker-

I have been using Topcat as one of the tools for flight planning, but I'm still trying to figure out how to determine what runway to anticipate for arrival. It sounds like a newbish question, but when my destination airport has two or more possible runways (26, 34L, 34C, 34R, etc.....) based on wind direction and speed, how do I plan my arrival? Is this something that is done during the latter stages of the flight, during descent? -Michael Tucker-

This is kind of a "newbish" question, but since TOPCAT doesn't support the -900 model, can I get away with selecting their -800 with reasonable takeoff thrust derate accuracy? -Michael Tucker