July 30, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment
Hello to all my wonderful readers. As we say goodbye to Spring and a reluctant hello to Summer, I’ve made the conscience decision to cease purchasing add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Of course, this excludes the PMDG Boeing 777, PMDG Boeing 737 Max and probably also excludes any other 3rd party aircraft that might take my fancy. Pending of course we believe that those aircraft add-ons will be made available for MSFS 2024. In addition, I’m also excluding any 3rd party airport scenery as there are some good ones which should be released very soon such as Flightbeam’s San Francisco (SFO). So having said all this, what am I choosing to stop spending money on?
That’s a good question! As I study and ponder more on all the “What If’s” about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, I’m wanting to take a wait and see approach before investing in some add-ons that I had planned to purchase in MSFS 2020. For one example, I’ve made the decision against purchasing ActiveSky’s weather add-on. While I’ve followed some of the progress made in recent weeks, I still don’t see a major, noticeable difference from default weather. There’s every chance that MSFS 2024 will have a better weather engine on release and for that reason I don’t see the need to waste money on that product.
Another example is the new immersion packages being released by //42. I truly love the work these guys do and I’ve owned these types of add-ons for aircraft in P3D. I had been looking closely at their SimFX product but some of this functionality appears to be default in MSFS 2024. Of course one of features I’m speaking about is the Aurora Borealis. Of course I realize this is just one of the many features included in the SimFX add-on. I tend to look at it as I’ve been flying without these features for a long time and I can just wait and see what MSFS 2024 brings later this year.
Of course, I’m still purchasing add-on airport sceneries and aircraft. Just in the past week or so I’ve added about a half-dozen new European airports to my sim and of course purchased the PMDG 777. Likewise, should any other aircraft release from Fenix, PMDG etc. that I enjoy flying I will most likely still purchase as we there should be no reason for the developer to charge full price to move them to MSFS 2024.
Have you taken a similar approach to add-ons in MSFS 2020? Let me know.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
July 23, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I recently received an interesting and somewhat concerning email from one of our new readers to my blog site. Here’s the email….
Hello Jerry! I’ve been reading your blog postings for a few months now and they have really helped me. I’m relatively new to flight sim. Have been flying MSFS and the PMDG 737 and Fenix A320 for about two years now. I love the immersion of flying on VATSIM and have already accumulated a few hundred hours on the network. I still consider myself somewhat of a novice and tend to avoid any large VATSIM events. However, a few evenings ago I was flying into XYZ airport. I received some late vectors from the approach controller and needless to say I didn’t feel comfortable with the stability of my aircraft and ended up having to go around. When I informed ATC of my go-around intentions they seemed a little upset and suggested I learn how to fly my aircraft before getting on the network. I really don’t believe I’m at fault, I thought it was OK to conduct a go-around procedure if the situation warranted it. Please share your thoughts on this. I’d really like to be a better virtual pilot. Thank you for all you do for the flight sim community and I look forward to your feedback. Tim
Well Tim, and anyone else who have found them in a similar situation. You did nothing wrong! Let me repeat that, YOU DID NOTHING WRONG! For the sake of transparency, I did edit Tim’s message and removed the airport identifier. But needless to say, the airport is a major US airport on the west coast. I’ve been flying on VATSIM before it was VATSIM and have thousands of hours. Even I have had some challenges with some controllers at this particular airport. But I digress….
There is absolutely nothing wrong, nor does it make you, or should cause anyone else to think of you, as a bad pilot if you feel you need to execute a go-around procedure. In the real world, pilots execute go-around procedures for any number of reasons and some of those reasons are exactly what Tim described.
I’m really not sure why Tim would have received a negative experience from the VATSIM controller. It’s possible the controller was tired or had a bad day. It’s also possible the controller had a few knuckleheads which had been causing him issues just before and felt Tim was just another problematic pilot which he just didn’t have the patience to deal with and thus made a snide remark.
I personally have executed dozens of go-around procedures while on VATSIM and under ATC control and have never been met with any negative comments towards my piloting abilities. Bottom line and as I previously stated, Tim did nothing wrong and shouldn’t have been subjected to any abuse.
In the future, if this happens again to Tim or anyone else, I recommend leaving feedback on the particular controller in question with their ATC Division website. In the US, the VATUSA website is the place where one can leave feedback regarding their overall ATC experience. I often utilize this feature. Just visit VATUSA and under the drop down menu titled Facilities, select the particular ARTCC region and that will direct you to that site and from there look for the feedback link where you can provide your feedback. While it is perfectly acceptable to leave feedback of a negative experience, always provide a constructive form of feedback when doing so. Unloading your own snide comments won’t help you. Also, I encourage everyone to also leave feedback when you’ve had a positive experience on the network. Remember, those who volunteer to provide ATC services on VATSIM are doing it in their own spare time and without ATC coverage, our experience as pilots wouldn’t be the same.
Until next time….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
July 15, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
You might remember I first mentioned my interest in the new Winwing Airbus FCU back in May when I posted about my brand new purchase of the Thrustmaster Airbus Captains Pack. Well I had placed my order for the Winwing FCU way back on 23 April and had all but lost hope that I would ever receive it. Roll forward 2.5 months and I finally have it in my hands.
The Winwing Airbus FCU arrived nicely packaged to my address via Fedex. The package shipped directly from China and spent nearly a week in Japan, before finally making it to Memphis and then on to Denver. The box you see below had an outer layer of white plastic protecting the box and where the labels were attached.
Upon opening the box, everything inside was protected in styrofoam.
Removing the top layer revealed the included USB cable and hardware to mount the included plastic stands.
and finally the well packaged and protected FCU
Installation and Setup
Unfortunately, the package contains no documentation. I was already expecting this as I had watched several YouTube videos showcasing the unboxing and setup of the WinWing FCU prior to receiving my unit. I realize we’re all trying our best to reduce the amount of paper waste, but WinWing hasn’t even bothered to put together an online user guide that I could locate on their website. But like I said, there are a few YouTube videos which will help walk you through the steps of what needs to be done. The best video to watch is by Easyjetsimpilot and the link to that video is is here.
While I followed step-by-step-by every excruciating step of the above mentioned video, I ran into issues which I struggled to get around. My hardware setup is fairly massive, but certainly not unique. I have over a dozen USB peripherals which I use just for flight sim. These include of course my newish Thrustmaster Captain’s Edition stick, throttles and other side devices, my rudder pedals, my yoke and multiple GoFlight hardware modules I use when flying the PMDG aircraft. I also have a Razr keypad I use for controlling my views along with many other devices. Some are directly connected to the PC and others are plugged into powered USB hubs.
While it is true some of these devices aren’t all used on every flight. Example, I don’t use my yoke when I fly an Airbus and I don’t use the majority of the GoFlight hardware in the same scenario, the thought of having to disconnect and reconnect these devices just to keep the Winwing FCU happy was frustrating. After stepping away from my system for a few hours, I finally figured out that somehow there is a conflict between the Winwing FCU and my Logitech Racing Wheel. OK, I can live with not having the racing wheel connected when running flight sim. So to keep the Winwing happy and allow me to enjoy some Fenix Airbus A320 flying, it’s disconnected.
Overall Opinions on the product
Other than the frustrations I mentioned above, I am mostly pleased with the Winwing FCU. Having it, along with the Thrustmaster Captain’s Pack has greatly reduced the amount of use needed from the mouse and keyboard and I’m very excited about that. Flying the Fenix A320 is just as enjoyable and immersive as flying the PMDG 737-800. For that reason, I’m very happy with the product. The FCU appears to be well made. I have it installed just under my monitor and while this is working for now, I want to do something a little different, but haven’t quite figured out what that will be just yet. Most likely this will be pushed out as I plan to have a much different setup once we move and can live with the way it is for now.
I must admit that I was shocked to learn that upon initial connection with the FCU and their SimAppPro software that a firmware update was required. I could certainly understand if my FCU had been sitting on a shelf in some obscure warehouse for months prior to be ordering it, but I assume with the 2.5 month wait I experienced that my FCU was “hot off the presses” and should have arrived to me ready to go.
But I also think what is seriously lacking with my Winwing FCU experience is their SimApp Pro software. In my opinion it seems to be very clunky in use. But it is what it is and I will live with it.
Final Thoughts
After learning about their future plans during FSExpo to release more hardware devices for the sim, I was excited. But this excitement (at least for now) has been taken back a few notches. But we’ll see what happens over time. If a new product were to be announced (example their EFIS panel) I most likely would wait before ordering it. Especially if the wait for that product is going to be 2-3 months as we’re most likely moving to Texas later this year (read more about this here) and wouldn’t want to place an order while I’m still in Colorado.
So far I’ve flown about 3 flights with the Winwing FCU and as previously stated, I’m really loving the added immersion of not needing to use my mouse to control the functions contained within the FCU hardware. As I have no experience with the other available FCU hardware options, I honestly can say that I’m 100% happy with the Winwing FCU.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
July 8, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
While I was traveling last week, I was trying to stay in touch with all the related Flight Sim news breaking both from the FSExpo and elsewhere. In my American VA, one of our members posted some information about a newish application that has been released called Lossless Scaling. In all honesty, I really didn’t pay much attention to it. I was fortunate enough that when I built my current gaming machine last summer, I added the Nvidia 4090Ti GPU. The details from what I could find regarding this Lossless Scaling application mentioned how it helped non 4000 series GPU’s gain a few more FPS. But I figured for a mere $7 I would try it and see what it could do with my 4090. While I didn’t gain much in the FPS category, I did gain enough to say it was worth the small investment.
If you’re interested in trying out the Lossless Scaling App, it’s only available on the Steam Store. So you’ll need a Steam account both to purchase and also to run it. Launching the Lossless Scaling App will launch the Steam client each time, but like I said many have found the benefit from using it both in MSFS as well as other games. So it’s worth the effort.
As for the settings, well I’m still tinkering but have left most settings at default for now. But I’ll show you what I have set and you can use that as your own benchmark to start.
So if you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket and you want to see if you can squeak out a few extra FPS, then give the Lossless Scaling App a try.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
July 3, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
Hello ladies, gentlemen and boys and girls….the past few days I’ve really been giving the new PMDG 777-300ER a good workout traversing across the North Atlantic a few times. While I spent the first few days of ownership of this awesome aircraft flying some of the shorter domestic routes which American Airlines still operates such as DFW – ORD I felt the need to see how she handles on a much longer route. After all, this is exactly what this aircraft was designed for.
My first long-haul flight in the brand new PMDG 77W was DFW to LHR, simulating American Airlines Flight 50. AAL50 holds a very special place in my heart as it was the first time flying on an American Airlines 777. Back in early 2001 this flight was operated in the Boeing 777-200, but today it uses the 777-300ER. This business trip was also responsible for allowing me to meet my wife and was also the first of many transatlantic flights I’ve made in the real world to London.
Anyway, I loaded up the B77W in DFW. It was a full load of passengers and plenty of freight to make the flight profitable. A mere 8 1/2 hours later I touched down on runway 27L. The following day I debated picking up a British Airways flight towards the Middle East and just continue eastward around the globe, but instead decided to fly back to the US in time for the US Independence Day holiday and what better place to be than in Philadelphia.
AAL50 PMDG Boeing 777-300ER Catching the sunrise over the North Atlantic.
Descending along the eastern coast of the US headed for Philadelphia (PHL).
PMDG 77W on approach to KPHL RWY 09L and passing the Commodore Barry Bridge along the Delaware River.
I honestly couldn’t be any happier with this new aircraft from PMDG. Yes, I truly can’t wait for the 777-200, but for now I’m going to be doing all my long-haul flying in this beast.
Until next time….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
