Captain Sim 777–A First Look
This is not going to be an official review of the new Captain Sim Boeing 777-200 as it basically is an exterior only model which incorporates the default B747 panel and B737 sound at this time. Now I know what you must be thinking, especially if you are not familiar with the Captain Sim product and the way they have released products before. From what I understand they have released products in the past in a piece by piece fashion. Meaning it starts with the exterior model and then sometime down the road they will release an interior model etc. While I’ve known about Captain Sim for a while, this is the first time I’ve installed and flown one of their aircraft. Thankfully they start with the exterior as it would look funny flying around just a shell of an airplane.
At present time, the Captain Sim Boeing 777-200 (exterior model) is available 9.99 Euro ($14.56 USD). Now if you’ve read several of my recent blog posts you know I’ve purchased several new aircraft for my virtual hangar. First, about a month ago I purchased the iFly 737NGX and that was followed by the LVLD 767. I’ve blogged about how much I enjoy flying these aircraft and that I’m hooked on the payware aircraft modeled closely after their real world counterparts and have truly enjoyed the realistic procedures required to get these aircraft into the sky and safely back onto the ground. So why did I pay nearly $15.00 for an exterior model that only that acts and behaves like a default or freeware model?
Well…the answer to that question is I didn’t pay for it. I won it. Yes…I won something and I’m tickled about it. I haven’t won anything in years and wasn’t expecting this at all. It was given away as part of the raffle for our AvA 10th Birthday bash event. I actually could choose from any Captain Sim product and I chose the 777. Why? Well this one of course is easy to answer. Since I already had the B737 from iFly and the 767 from LVLD, it made sense to select either the B757 or the new B777. I decided against the B757 as I’m really looking at the Quality Wings 757 if they can ever get their GoFlight hardware integration working. Once this happens then I’ll gladly give them my money. So I figured I really had nothing to lose on the 777. I decided if all else fails, I would just fly it like I would my POSKY B777’s until I found a payware model that I liked. Plus, the FSX Flight Sim community (in my opinion) is really lacking in the quality payware 777 department. We have awesome 737 models out now (and soon to be released PMDG) and we have great 747, 757 and of course my new pride and joy the LVLD 767. But 777’s??? Nah….not really. So I’m hopeful this one fills a very important void for all of us FSX users.
I had just wrapped up a KDFW to PHNL flight in the LVLD 767 (wow what a treat to fly) and had some time before dinner to install and check out this CS 777. She installed with no issues and when I fired up FSX she was listed right there in the aircraft menu. Where else did I expect to find it? I was pleased to find that out of the box she comes in the following liveries American Airlines, British Airways, KLM, United Airlines, Japan Airlines, Air France and Singapore Airlines. This is great because three of the seven are members of the oneworld alliance (AAL, BAW and JAL) and I’m planning to simulate my real world trip to London from Denver in a few days. I can fly any of the oneworld codeshare flights with AvA. This is great by the way as it allows for such diversity in aircraft. When I have a need to fly a Boeing 747 I can jump in and fly a BAW flight. Now I have a saying (which you’ve all heard I’m sure) and that is “If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going”. So…while I could jump in an Airbus A380 as Qantas I haven’t done so just yet. Anyway you get the idea.
So I started the Captain Sim Boeing 777 in the British Airways livery and took her for a lap around DFW. We departed on 17R and headed east around and out of the way of Dallas Love Field and then came around from the NE to land on 17C. For a default, freeware aircraft I have to say she handled great. Yes..I had just finished an almost 8 hour flight to Honolulu in the awesome LVLD, but this wasn’t bad. Considering she is lacking in the interior and flight dynamics like the LVLD.
From the outside the “eye-candy” is fantastic and the image above doesn’t do her justice. I can tell you this B777 will be moved front and center in the virtual hangar in front of the POSKY models I have. The POSKY’s look great, but there are some visual issues (like a hole in the fuselage) which sort of stick out. I’ve tried to find a fix, but gave up. I just make sure I take on extra oxygen and blankets and life is good. 
Again, this is just a first look. Please….Please…Please keep your 9.99 euro in your pocket for now (unless of course you just want an exceptional looking exterior visual modeled aircraft in the liveries I mentioned before. You can also find additional liveries in the usual places such asAVSIM.net. I plan to take this beautiful aircraft on a round-trip long-haul from Denver to London Heathrow and back to simulate my real world trip I’ll take in a few weeks. I will make sure to provide more information in the form of an update so you can better decide.
Finally, I am entitled to the additional packages once they are made available by Captain Sim. I’ll do a full review of the Captain Sim Boeing 777 at that time. Time will tell if she’ll work with myGoFlight MCP when all is said and done. I sure hope so.
In closing, I’ve really enjoyed providing this first look into the Captain Sim 777. I think I’ll review a few other items I have in my flight deck in the near future. I know I promised some information on the VRInsight CDU I purchased a few weeks ago. Perhaps that will be the first review item. We’ll see.
Until next time,
Jerry
