rufowler

Hmm,. So basically the aircraft shouldn't be going faster than the Vle speed with gear out once it's fully extended (& locked into place) ... and I'm guessing this is generally going to be a higher number than the Vlo speed, no? And if I have this right, an aircraft shouldn't be the going faster than the Vlo speed regardless unless it's fully locked & extended, and thus it will usually be a lower speed than the Vle. Am I way off?

Can someone explain the difference between VLE and VLO speeds? I know what the dictionary/wikipedia definitions are (VLE = max landing gear extended speed; VLO = max landing gear operating speed), and I've seen these speeds listed in the specs for certain aircraft. But I guess I'm confused about what they means in terms of when I should/shouldn't fly with the landing gear, and when to retract/extend them takeoffs and landings. They kind of seem like one and the same, no? Also, I'm mostly a GA flyer (and a newbie at that!), so is it safe to say that fixed-gear aircraft like the C172 don't actually have VLE and VLO speeds at all? Thanks.

rstough: I guess the big question that most of us are really interested in (even though we haven't asked in this specific post in several months) is when, more or less, is there going to be an official first release? I think many of the folks who are a little grumpy about the long delay will get over it if the product is a good one (and it sure sounds like it will be) and if there's a somewhat realistic time frame the launch. I mean, is it going to be like 3rd or 4th quarter of this year, or more like 2015? It's ok -- we can handle the truth. I think we'd just rather that REX was honest about how far away it is than to feel like we've been teased for 1-2 years now. Thanks.

Does anyone have any idea is Simaire is really happening ... anytime soon? It's been ages since they announced it and it seems very little info has gone out about it in a while. Very curious -- but trying not to get my hopes up.

Hey gang, I was about to purchase this plane and noticed it didn't have an autopilot. Forgive the newbie questions here, but is it possible to add an autopilot feature to an existing plane using the aircraft and panel files? If so, I'd get this 172RG in a heartbeat. Thanks!

I'm mostly an GA flyer, I have a few older Carenado planes that I like, and I was thinking of buying a couple of others. I noticed that most of the newer ones they sell are part of their "HD Series." My system at the moment is so-so for simming, and it seems to respond to any sort of strain performance-wise despite tweaking. (In fact one of the reasons I fly GA planes is that the nicer PMDG-level aircraft are too hard of my machine.) I'm wondering if / worried that some of these "HD" Carenado planes are going to impact my frame rate. Do you think that will be an issue? Thanks!

Does anyone know if Air Hauler (which is on the top of my list currently for its robust career features) can be run simultaneously with Rex Lattitude or FS Flight Keeper -- or any other addon that evaluates how you're flying? Although obviously landings are important, if that's all the AH is going to grade you on it might be good to have something else observing you more closely in the background. Not sure how they work or what files they use when you start a new job/flight.

Cool. Actually that DOES sound pretty neat. Dunno why I forgot to ask this the other day, but does anyone know if Air Hauler does what other programs (like Ideal Flight, FSPassengers, & Latitude) do -- evaluate your flying? Since I'm a novice flyer, I'd definitely benefit from that, and it would be nice to both build a "career" while also having the flight observed/evaluated.

Yeah, I've read a little about VA's and did see something about FS Economy specifically. I don't know why, but I kind of assumed I'd work my way up to that as I got to be a better flyer (I've only been at this for a few weeks) ... and maybe had a better running system. Figured I'd start with a addon program first and develop my skills first. But perhaps that's not really the way I need to look at it. Hmmm.

I figured it would just read from the index of airports I have loaded into FSX. I was wondering more about whether the algorithm that generates missions/jobs is really random (which I would prefer as I'd like to see places/airports I might not have heard about) or if it skews more towards the larger airports that in real life would probably be getting more cargo traffic. But no matter, I think I'm going to go ahead and buy it regardless in the next day or two. I didn't know about the support forum, but I just looked it up. (For all else interested, it's http://forum.justflight.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=33&title=air-hauler-general-discussion.) Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks, Portia911, and everyone else. This has all been really helpful. Looking forward to starting a "career" soon ... and getting more into this rather addictive little hobby. Happy flying!

Yeah, that part of the world is so damn gorgeous, and FTX's PNW is definitely on my to-buy list. I am a tad concerned about how well Orbx's regions will run on my system -- which I probably won't be able to properly upgrade to a gaming gaming until later in the summer or fall. (Slightly off topic, but Portia911: do you noticed it running slower when you bought a region? Can't tell what kind of system you have.) Also, about AH's selection of airports for the assignments: decent variety? not all large/highly trafficed ones? (I'm THIS close to just buying it now!)

Thanks Mickel. One more thing: Do the choices it gives you for destinations -- the jobs it offers when you take on a new assignment -- do they just tend to be the larger airports? As I mentioned, since I'm a GA flyer, I like the possibility that I get to fly into some tiny little places in the middle of nowhere. Hoping AH doesn't just keep the listing to the big/popular airports. (Unfortunately, it's not obvious from the demo). One thing I like about Ideal Flight is that it allows you to define a group of airports (multiple groups, actually) that the missions will choose from. You can set up a list of, let's say, big hubs in North America, or little grass runways in the mountains, or just a list of your favorites that you like to go to. It's very customizable that way. Hoping AH is too.

+1. After I first installed it, I went a little crazy pushing most sliders way up, just 'cuz, well, it was cool to all of a sudden have a noisy, rough machine. But you really don't need to push those way to get the full impact. Great product overall.

Follow up question for you, Portia911 and Mickel ... or any other Air Hauler fans: It looks like from most of the description I've read, AH requires you to pick a hub somewhere in the world. That's fine, but I'd really like to get all around North and Central America. I'm afraid that if I'm in career mode (which is apparently the most slow-going but also the most interesting) and since I'm primarily a small aircraft / GA flyer, it's going to keep me in one part of the world too much. So if I pick, for example, KSFO (San Francisco) I'm going to be flying an awful lot in California and the west coast. I guess my hesitation is that it appears that AH mainly has a hub-based system rather than a point-to-point system ... which would definitely be my preference. Am I wrong in thinking the game operates this way? Hope that makes sense. Thanks!

Yeah, the 2013 traffic creates problems for people apparently and it's best to revert back to 2012 apparently. Well, even if MTX does a more hard-to-figure-out solution for congested airports like UT2 does, that's definitely not a problem I have. My poor old system can barely run at 20% of the traffic running w/ out it becoming painfully slow. (And I have a feeling that's not bc of the software, but just my hardware. Oh well!)

Woah, you mean longer flights -- where I assumeing you run into more that need to get generated -- are inherrantly more hard on your system be AI is creating more flights ... cumulatively? Is this true of all the traffic programs? (Maybe I'm confused.)

Huh, well this changes things then. It's silly perhaps, but I would like to think I'm hauling people once in a while; I could probably get over it though is AH is a good career tool and allows you to stick to GA planes. (FWIW, I have Orbx Global Base & Vector. Next scenery purchases are going to be the FTX regions. They looks so damn nice!) Also, just curious: Besides the tools Bjoern mentioned (Route Finder & Simroutes): what do the rest of you use to plan your routes? This is all still pretty new to me, so I'm haven't purchased much yet and am open to suggestions. Thanks!

For all those interested, after having installed and used Accu-Feel for merely one day, I just want to say one thing: I. Love. This. Addon. Period. So damn cool -- makes every default plane seem like a payware, made every non-A2A payware aircraft seem like it should have been more expensive, easy to install, works flawlessles. Just lovin' it! Best $19 (usd) I've spent on this very costly little hobby. Way to go, A2A. Cheers!

Thanks guys. I'm assuming it works with most GA planes, no? Specifically thinking of ones published by Carenado? I only have a few non-default aircraft but obviously I want Accu-Feel to work for them too.

Cool. Thanks for all the input. I might give the Air Hauler and FSCaptain demos a whirl, but I see what you mean about them being limited too. I'm sure my preferences will change as I go further, but at the moment I really do just enjoy flying low & slow and feeling like I'm controlling an actual mechanical machine. There's something about the big airliners that makes it seem, I dunno, even more removed from what it's simulating -- and we all already are pretty removed from it! Thanks again.

I know I'm a little late to the game here, but I'm just getting into flight simming and came across Accu-Feel. Looks pretty darn cool from the reviews and videos. Just wondering about it's impact on performance. Does it affect your framerate at all? I don't have the most speedy system out there. (And I mostly fly GA aircraft, fyi.) Thanks.

I hear ya, Sportsfan. It was kind of a toss up, but I have a feeling your system (Intel i7, 4.4 Ghz, etc.) is just not gonna feel stuff l like my modest little system. For the time being, until I build my own PC, I'm gonna stick with the one that offers a low res version -- which means in theory I get to see as many planes flying around with for the same hit to my performance, but the aircraft won't be quite as detailed. And that's ok. For now. Yikes, I think that might be a tad over my head at the moment, but perhaps I'll try to figure it out. Also, looks like it needs a registered version of FSUIPC, which I don't have yet. (Did I mention I'm a newbie?) Thanks everyone for you suggestions!

FS Captain looks very promising, indeed! Just watched a youtube review of it and it's definitely in the running now. Don't know why that didn't come across my radar earlier. I had seen Air Hauler before but thought it might be more cargo-oriented and like the goal (as much as that's possible in a flight sim game) was to move up through the ranks and fly bigger airliner type of crafts ... which definitely isn't my goal as I really enjoy low & slow GA kind of planes. But maybe I'll have another look at Air Hauler. Thanks! I had seen some stuff posted about XPAX but it looked like it was a much less robust version of FsPassengers. Not true perhaps? I haven't seen/heard of the REX programs before; I always associated the company with weather-generating software Will definitely look into it. Thanks.

I'm looking for an addon that will put "game" into the FSX -- specifically something that allows for a career mode. Any suggestions? It seems like FsPassengers was (maybe still is?) the king of the hill for a while. I tried out the demo version, and it does indeed look pretty cool & very robust, but it also seems to lack an automatic flight planning feature ... I think. I also purchase Ideal Flight 10 kind of as an impulse-buy and in part because it seems like it would wraps a lot of different things into one addon: it auto-generates flight plans, randomizes weather, will let you park a plane and pickup where you left off, adds passengers & cargo, etc. I like it in general, but the "career" aspect of the program is a little light, especially compared to FsPassengers. Ah, if only I could combine the two! (Perhaps it's possible?) I missing any other good ones out there? Maybe I just need to use FsPassegers in conjunction with another planing tool? Maybe I just haven't played around with it enough yet? (Fyi, I fly mostly GA aircraft in case that a difference. Kinda feels like FsPassengers is gear more toward airliner careers.)