December 3, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
If you’ve been around the flight simulation community more than a day or two, you’ve probably heard or read someone reference “The ABCD, XYZ aircraft is study-level or is of study-level quality”. But what exactly does the term “Study-Level” mean when it comes to our home based simulators?
A Little History
I first heard the term “Study-Level” somewhat late in my use of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 or what can be referred to as FS9 (circa 2005/06. The term really took hold during the early FSX days and continued to be a popular term throughout the life of P3D. 3rd party aircraft developers like PMDG, FSLabs, Majestic, A2A, Level-D (B767), QualityWings and Leonardo are a few that come to mind who developed study-level aircraft for the home simulator.
Overused Term
There are many in the community who feel the term “Study-Level” is misused and/or certainly overused to describe 3rd party add-on aircraft. Their argument, is the only way to truly experience a true study-level simulator aircraft is to experience a full “Level-D”, high-end simulator such as the airlines use to train pilots. While I understand their position on the matter, I do believe it’s OK for us home simulator enthusiasts to use the term.
What Makes a Study-Level Add-on Aircraft
In my opinion and I know others will agree with me, there are a list of areas which if developed into a 3rd party add-on aircraft will make it study-level quality. This list would consist of High-Fidelity Flight Dynamics, Accurate Flightdeck Replication, Complex Systems Modeling, Realistic Avionics, Accurate Aircraft Performance, Detailed Engine Modeling, Accurate and Interactive Checklists/Procedures, Enhanced/Accurate Sound modeling, Failure and Damage modeling.
I think it’s near impossible for any 3rd party developer to meet 100% of each of these above mentioned items outside of a true Level-D simulator. But most who are actively developing study-level aircraft for home based simulators meet these areas within a 90% threshold just fine.
Study-Level Aircraft for MSFS
Before I list some current aircraft developers who produce study-level aircraft for MSFS, allow me to state what is NOT study-level. Default aircraft, and NOTHING from CaptainSim. Yes, I’m still a CaptainSim hater.
Here’s my short-list of 3rd party aircraft that lives up to the standard to be called study-level and are available or planned to be available for MSFS. PMDG, Fenix, A2A, Bluebird Simulations (757), Leonardo, Horizon Sim and Kuro mods of the default Dreamliner comprise the majority of the study-level aircraft that either are currently available for MSFS or soon have plans to be available. I would probably also throw iniBuilds and the team behind the FlybyWire A320 project in this list as well.
More about my own history with study-level aircraft
As I stated at the top of this article, I really became intimately familiar with study-level aircraft back in the FSX days. There was a time in my sim experience that I didn’t feel comfortable and didn’t truly understand the complexities of those early aircraft. But my first foray into a study-level aircraft was with the Level-D Boeing 767. It quickly became my “go-to” aircraft of choice and I took the necessary time to learn the systems and she was a joy to fly. Then came the PMDG 737, QualityWings 757. I soon became somewhat of a study-level snob and would only ever fly these types of aircraft. Today we are truly blessed with so many choices for MSFS in the study-level category with many more on the horizon. While each take a level of effort to learn and truly understand before ever attempting to fly them, I look to these developers as true quality in their overall craftmanship and dependability in the sim. With a few exceptions in the GA or general aviation category, the only airliners I will use are those who produce a study-level aircraft.
If you are new to the world of flight simulation and you are just fed up with the default aircraft or have made the mistake of falling for a CaptainScam aircraft….divert your hard-earned money towards those I mentioned above as you will not be disappointed.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
April 17, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
I realize this is the third “Reader Question” post I’ve made in recent weeks. Yes, that’s true! I’ve obviously been holding out waiting for the release of the PMDG 777-300ER as that will be a day-one purchase for me and within a few days I’m sure I would write about it. So until that happens, and I’m still holding out we’ll have it before CTP on 20 April, (but that is looking less likely) here is another email question/comment from one of our blog readers.
Hello, I’m new to your blog site and have already discovered a wealth of information that has helped me tremendously in my flight sim hobby. I’m considering purchasing the Bredok3D A380 from the MSFS in-game MarketPlace. Do you have any experience with this aircraft? I’ve read that FlyByWire is developing an A380, but as the A380 is my favorite aircraft I’m wondering if the newly released Bredok3D version is worth the money. I have experience with the Fenix A320 and PMDG 737, is the Bedok3D A380 similar in quality? Can you help?
Well….to answer your question, No….I do not have any experience with the Bredok3D A380 and I don’t plan to purchase it. In my opinion it is a waste of money. To take this one step further, I doubt I would even install this aircraft into my system if it were free or if I were given a copy of it. I just dislike these Frankenstein type of aircraft that mostly utilize the default aircraft systems (in this case the default A320). There are just too many developers that have taken this course with releasing add-on aircraft that may look from the outside to be what is advertised, only to find out they utilize the default aircraft. Another example of this is CaptainSim’s Boeing 777 that when released used the default Boeing 747 systems.
I suppose you could consider me a bit of an add-on aircraft snob. I don’t mind spending my hard earned money towards something like the Fenix A320 or the PMDG 737 (or hopefully soon to be released B777-300ER), but I’m just not going to waste my money on this trash. It’s just not worth it in my opinion, especially considering that a freeware version of the A380 will release soon from a reputable developer (FlyByWire) who has a proven track record with their A32NX.
While I can appreciate that the A380 is your favorite aircraft, likewise the Boeing 777 is mine. I’ve never been tempted to purchase anything other than the PMDG version once it releases and it’s been a really, really long wait as I completely uninstalled P3D about 2 years ago once the Fenix A320 and PMDG 737 released. So it’s been more than two years since I’ve flown a 777 in the sim. But the wait will certainly be worth it.
Bottom line and my complete open and honest opinion for you. WAIT!!!! Don’t spend your money on the Bredok3D A380 as in the long run I think feel you’ll be disappointed. Especially when you state that you have experience with the Fenix A320 and PMDG 737. Trust me, even without flying the Bredok3D A380, I can tell you the level of detail, level of quality and level of immersion in the Bredok3D A380 will be absolutely NOTHING like the Fenix or PMDG and I’m more than certain that the FBW team will blow everyone out of the water with their A380 once released.
If you’re just craving some larger, long-haul type aircraft until the FBW A380 releases, then have a look at the Horizon Simulations Boeing 787-9 or the Kuro Boeing 787-8. Both of these are fine freeware representations of the Boeing Dreamliner.
There are far too many other quality aircraft which you can fly until the FBW A380 releases. Have you tried the Horizon Simulations Boeing 787-9 or the Kuro Boeing 787-8? Likewise, the Headwindsims Airbus A330-900Neo is likewise a fairly descent aircraft which I also have in my virtual hangar.
Scammers/Scamware
Final thoughts on this subject. Some in the community refer to Bredok3D, CaptainSim etc. as scammers and call their products scamware. While I’ll stop just short of calling them scammers and development of scamware, I will just say that buyers must beware of what they are getting from these types of developers and this is part of the problem. Since the release of MSFS 2020, a very large number of newcomers have entered the hobby. This is a very good thing for the hobby, but these individuals haven’t been around to witness the behavior of developers like this in the past and don’t understand the questions to ask. They just see a shiny, new Airbus A380 and think that will be a quality aircraft. Unfortunately, developers like Bredok3D, CaptainSim and many others like them are not going to stop doing what they are doing until such a time that their Frankenstein projects no longer sell.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
September 14, 2022 / admin / 1 Comment
If you’re new to the world of flight simulation, especially since the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, did you know that not all add-on, payware aircraft are created equal? Since the release of MSFS back in August 2020, many quality payware developers have been hard at work in creating study-level, true to life representations into the sim with so many more to come in the future. I routinely talk about two of my favorites with that being PMDG and Fenix. But there are a few payware aircraft which have been released in the past few months that in my opinion caution needs to be considered before purchasing.
There seems to be a trend being set by a few payware developers to be the first to release various add-on aircraft in the Microsoft Marketplace in what many are calling a “cash grab” effort to sell payware aircraft which utilize existing default aircraft models. CaptainSim was I believe the first when they released their Boeing 777 which utilized the default Boeing 747 systems. A few months ago, LatinVFR, which are renown for their top-quality airport scenery add-ons, released an Airbus A321 which uses the default Airbus A320 systems and are planning to soon release an Airbus A319 in the same fashion.
It must be said that those who enjoy MSFS on the console platform are very unlikely to see true study-level aircraft from PMDG, Fenix etc. So I guess I do understand there is a potential market for these aircraft for those on the console platform. However, if you enjoy MSFS on the PC platform….I’m of the opinion these “Frankenstein” type aircraft are a waste of money and/or certainly not worth the asking price. Especially when you take into consideration the FBW A320 project is 100% freeware and the Fenix A320 is priced at just over $55 USD.
Again, the reason why I chose to write this article and publish it, is because I know many have been duped by this and thought they were buying a more complex add-on aircraft. Of course if none of this matters and you’re really not bothered by the fact these aircraft are not true representations, then by all means add them to your virtual hangar and enjoy them.
As always, thank you for reading and happy flying!!!
Jerry
