timmcat

I know, must irritate the hell out of some, but here goes anyway.

Can anyone suggest (in their opinion) the best freeware civil airliner package for FS2002?

I've got the Meljet 747 and 777 packages, they seem pretty good, but any suggestions from anyone else?

Cheers

Tim

..and sorry again for the 'simming' thread.

BRL

Just out of curiosity, are there no other 'flight-sim' sites/forums out there that cater specially for fs98/2000/2 and nothing else?

Captain Over

The FS2002 add-on "A320 Professional" is eerily accurate. It HAS, however, frozen up and completely locked our brand-new system that has all the drivers updated on it. Can't figure that one out yet.

Besides the occasional freeze, it's pretty darn good. Now if the company could only put patch updates it would be bang-on!

~C.O.

PS: The video they have with Nigel narrating the "we do this, we do that" was funny. We've turned it into a drinking game - every error we have to tip one back.

BoeingBoy

Made by the same company as the A320 professional is 767 Pilot in Command.

Frankly it is unbelievable in it's accurate portrayal of the aircraft bearing in mind it is only a game add on.

I use it as a 767 driver to brush up for base checks and refresh after a spell away from work. It lacks some of the systems, and manual flight is guesswork, but with the autopilot in, used for flight profile and general major systems revision it is excellent.

I have not seen it in in the shops for a while but I believe it's still available from Wilco publishing online.

As I'm not on my home machine I don't have the link to hand, but I'll get back to this post later and let you have it.

niallcooney

BB,

Actually A320 Professional is made by Phoenix Simulations. Wilco Publishing has created A320 Pilot in Command... a brilliant sim and much more accurate then A320 Professional, but dogged by bugs etc, which will (apparently) be fixed very soon. Anyway I'm not firing it back up 'till it's fixed! Agreed though, 767 PIC is stunning. Or it would be if I could find the damn product ID to reinstall it!

Niall

Groundbased

There is another one called Greatest Airliners 737-400 which I find very good. It doesn't have the failure modes that you can programme into 767 pic bt does have some very nice features, like flight announcements that you can record yourself, full FMC nice overwing views and great sound effects. Think you can order it from Amazon. It also includes weight and balance software and software that allows you to design and use other airline liveries (comes with about 30 of its own though!!)

ETOPS773

http://www.precisionmanuals.com/PROD...ners/737NG.htm


The Boeing 737 NG series is coming!!..should be the best ever addon yet from the features list.

Anover one is the 767 Pilot In Comand panel with the Projectopensky freeware flight models...quite a stunning mix

See....www.projectopensky.com for the 767s

Random UAS Stude

Freeware? Meljet v.v.good
The rest mentioned here seem to be commercial packages...(other than project opensky (v.good too)

As for forums, www.simviation.com

Andrew M

Being a flight simmer myself, i don't mind the occassional thread. But this is PPRuNe which is about real flying !

I think that forum readers would find that most PPRUNE members lack knowledge and/or interest so the posts here won't get such a great response.

However, as big red L the moderator said there are MANY sites that cater for this type of thing.

The best ones are:

http://www.avsim.com/ - here you will find info, news on products and thousands of downloads such as aircraft and scenery.

http://www.simaviation.com/ - mostly centers on downloads - think there is a chat room/discussion forum here.

http://www.vatsim.net/ - these guys are the kings of virtual aviation. If you like using the real charts and weather when you use Flight Sims then you will love this. Members use air traffic control like simulators and they provide really realistic ATC services to you while you fly.

Mod: Perhaps you could put a link to these on PPRuNe if you want to avoid these types of threads.

timmcat

Andrew M. Thanks for your comments and links.

On the subject of FS threads in this board, I, as someone not linked to aviation, am very aware that I am contributing to a site to which I have perhaps, in the opinion of others, no right to be here. In fact, some months ago I posted a poll in Jet Blast which asked the question 'Should members unconnected to Aviation be welcome on PPRuNe?'. The response both with votes and comments was overwhelming and the general concensus seemed to be that providing those posting did not try to pretend they were qualified in a particular arena, then all were very welcome.

My point is, and this is proven within some 'simming' threads, that all with an interest in aviation are here, and that threads on this subject always seem to incite some discussion and debate. Indeed if you look at the profiles of some of the contributors, many are civil and private fliers in their own right.

Perhaps I stand to be corrected, but I think that most don't object to the occasional thread, but I agree that in depth discussion should be confined to the forums dedicated to the subject.

Cheers

Tim.

PS.. At the time of writing, of the three 'most viewed' threads on this forums homepage, two of them are 'sim' related (one of them is this thread!!)

Andrew M

That's rubbish - I have nothing to do with aviation (although I do want to change that) and I found myself quite welcomed here.

Do you want to fly in real life or just for fun on the computer. Although the simulators are getting more and more realistic it still cannot beat the real thing though.

timmcat

Andrew, whats rubbish? You seem to have agreed with me.

Andrew M

I posted my reply in a hurry - picked up your post wrong !

I read it and thought you said PPRuNe members were bothered by people who don't have anything to do with aviation.

Sorry,
Andrew

SuperOwl

Maybe the answer would be to have a Flight Sim forum on PPrune.

Speaking for myself, it was a flight sim that got me to have a go "for real" in the first place. No doubt there will be others like me. Also, with the VFR scenery that has come out in recent months and given that with FS2002 it is possible to make the Nav exercises in the textbooks come to life. This sounds silly, but you can actually practice getting lost and finding your way again in the safety of your home. Surely when used seriously a Sim can become a very valuable tool and more than just a game?

Obviously a Sim is no substitute for the real thing but given that a fair few of us do use them for training purposes and perhaps fun as well, then maybe it would be nice of the powers that be to provide a little niche where people like me can discuss various aspects of these often underestimated pieces of software.

For the record, I had my first lesson in over six months the other week and my instructor was quite pleased that I had retained almost all of the things I had learned prior to my lengthy lay-off. In all honesty so was I. Thank you FS2002.

For those of us who have a real interest in both real and virtual aviation then our own little hidey-hole would be most welcome. Maybe any out and out simmers would see the Sim bit on PPrune, have a look at the rest of PPrune get that little bit of inspiration and then get on the phone to their local airfield and have a go for real.

In short, I think that as a lot of people who are pilots do use flight sims of some sort then maybe there could be a place on PPrune for them.

Just a thought. No big deal if it isn't listened to.

flyingwysiwyg

SuperOwl,

I agree. I think any flightsim is a useful tool for people who fly. I used it when I was learning to practice tracking VORs and it helped a lot. I hear a lot of people use it when doing IR.

IMHO what's the problem with Flightsim posts in this forum?

If people don't want to read it they don't have to.

Just my 1ps worth

timmcat

How about it then Danny?

Andrew M

Yes, I agree. I learned what all the instuments are for and how they work. Although you cannot learn to fly using a sim, you can find out basic stuff.

Lets just say when I went for a trial lesson I knew what everything in the cockpit was for - and how to tune a VOR and so on.

There is a use of simulators for this - it can be used to show what effects the controls has on a plane before taking a nervous first flyer up and to show what effects the movement has on the instruments.

And yes, a forum for flight sims !!!

ratsarrse

I'm not convinced that a sim forum is required - AVSim et al have it well covered. Having said that, there is a natural commonality of interest. It was flightsim that made me realise that flying can be accessible to anyone, not just airline pilots or the military. If it hadn't been for flightsim, I wouldn't be bankrupting myself in my quest for a PPL right now. Yeah, cheers Microsoft!

I learnt a lot from simming - I felt comfortable in a plane straight away. Anything that reduces the learning curve a little has to be a good thing. I have had to swear off flightsim for a bit though - I don't want to develop too many bad habits...

Louie the Fly

I can't see a problem with people talking about flight sims in an aviation related forum, although I would vote for a separate "Flight Sim" forum within PPRuNe.
The difference between PPRuNe and a forum like AVSim, is that AVSim is for general fans of flight sims.
A flight sim forum on PPRuNe would be for PILOTS who are fans of flight sims - there is a difference.

BTW: Does anyone have access to a decent free/shareware PA-28 Arrow II for FS2000?

Happy flying!