Helo & Flightsim Screenshot Thread!

[Chock]

Chock

[Reaves]

http://www.arianedesign.com/catalogue.asp?

Ever tried anything from these guys Chock? I purchased the 737BBJ for FS9 and found it pretty good. Very hard to fly and get the hang of but the virtual cockpit is the best quality i've ever seen.

[Chock]

I remember looking at the Ariane 737 and thinking it looked nice, although I seem to recall what put me off was not the aeroplane itself, but the website, which could have been a lot clearer with regard to what you needed and didn't need concerning all that 'base package' malarkey. I actually emailed them about it, suggesting they needed to clarify it. Never heard back from them, but I will take a look at the site again, as the may have made it easier to follow than it used to be, and it's always nice to get a recommendation from someone.

It might have just been me being thick (or drunk possibly, when I looked), but I've been put off a few places that sell stuff online for FS by that, RC Simulations website is like that too. If you want to be confused, go to their VOX ATC info page! Many times I've been all set to buy something from them, credit card in hand, and then thought, nope, I'll end up with the wrong thing based on how loopy your online purchasing is, and it is not as if I never buy stuff online, I do it all the time.

I do already have two add-on Boeing 737s for FS, the PMDG 737-800, and the (old style turbojet) Tin Mouse 737-200, but another one wouldn't hurt if it is good quality. Incidentally, the Tin Mouse 737 is free if you are looking for an old 737 for FS and it is outstandingly good for a freebie (it's got great engine sounds - wear your earplugs LOL), you can find it via the AVSIM forums, where it has its own support section. I posted a screenie of the TM 737 on here about a week or two ago (yellow repaint job) if you want to check it out for looks.

What I really want though, is a decent Airbus A320, and as far as I'm aware, there isn't any decent Airbus add-on for FS with the ECAM, CDU and FCS modeled accurately.

Anyway, cheers for the recommendation, I'll look at Ariane again and see if I can follow the destructions this time:rotfl:

Chock

[Reaves]

I know what you mean with the web site, it's not the best i've seen.

While the BBJ 737 is great it does have some flaws.

It's a LOT harder to fly, as you actually need to set your GPS position before even moving the airplane. There are a LOT more working buttons you need to use in the VC plus I never really figured the autopilot out properly as it is more advanced then your normal FS plane. Plus it needs online activation which takes at least a day to receive the email code. (Not a fan of waiting to use something i've paid for, downloaded AND installed.)

The whole interrior of the plane is modelled and you can get some great views out of the internal windows. But as I mentioned, the learning curve is steep, their aircraft require a lot of real world knowledge. But i'm sure if I could get it off the tarmac you should have no problems.

While I do like it, I recommend it with caution, they are quite expensive and imo are only for people who want a lot of realism with the aircraft.

[Chock]

Is the Ariane 737 better than the PMDG 737 would you say? I like the way the PMDG 737 flies, and although it could do with a working overhead in the VC, generally speaking it is pretty good, but if the Ariane one is better, then I might have to have it:rotfl:

I think the PMDG B747 pretty much set the benchmark for aeroplanes in FS9 in terms of systems it models, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise if there's something out there that does more, and for flying a sim, a medium range aircraft makes more sense, unless you really enjoy sitting at a monitor for eight hours in a simulated 747! So an improved 737 that is better than the PMDG offering, would be something I'd like very much.

By the way, if you want something that is really seriously impressive in terms of flying like the real thing, and which has every button and switch working as it does in the real thing, then the Aeroworx Beechcraft B200 King Air, which is in the night screenshots I posted on this thread is well worth having. It probably is the most convincing flight model I've come across in FS9, and FSX for that matter, and you don't need a degree in complex aircraft systems to fly it either. Although it is quite tricky to land it well when there's quite a lot of fuel on board, and it has a scary long take-off run when at full weight. But it almost gives you vertigo when flying it, it really is pretty convincing.

Chock

[Reaves]

I haven't tried the PMDG so I couldn't say. All I know is it's very complex as you can edit your waypoints via the Navdata computer

Things like cruise speed, and many other things are input into here. I had a bit of trouble using the package because of it. Plus it seems many waypoints arn't in the FMC so errors occur. I would constantly find my plane way off course after leaving my PC for a few hours.

If they had a forum it would be great but the support and information on the website is severely lacking.

As I said it has it's problems (for me anyway as I prefer GPS autopilot when not using the stick myself ) so it's hard to recommend it.

[AFRIKAKORPS]

I took these few simple pictures after a short test flight with my new Venom. Its definitiely a great airplane to fly.

[Oberon]

Dowly's excellant Subsim Aviators paintwork with a custom nose art I was playing around with on one side:



And the squadron logo on the other:

[AFRIKAKORPS]

My beatiful new SAAB Gripen, its such an elagent plane too.

[Chock]

I like that DH Venom AK, is that the Alphasim one?



A screengrab of one of my FSX faves, try doing IFR with this in crap visibility if you like a challenge:

Chock

[AFRIKAKORPS]

You got it Chock, its the Alphasim version, and like every Alphasim aircraft its great. Their SAAB Gripen is great too, not only does it look amazing but it also handles very well. Is that a PBY Catalina flying boat? I would hate having to land that thing in a storm. How does it handle?

[Chock]

Thats the default Grumman Goose G21A that you get in FSX, one of the better default aircraft in FSX, It looks more like a payware aircraft in fact than most of the included ones.

It flies really well, very stable, easy to trim into level flight and it has an absolutely amazing virtual cockpit, very atmospheric. Apart from the (modern) radio stack, it has very few instruments suitable for IFR flight, but it has good stable flight characteristics (apart from when you drop the flaps and it goes badly out of trim - probably like the real thing I imagine). That's why I like doing IFR in it, because you can concentrate on the problems that having bugger all in the way of navigational instruments creates while not worrying about trimming it up for level flight.

And it's a Navy plane too, so it's cool.

Chock

[AFRIKAKORPS]

Surprisingly thats probably the one aircraft I haven't flown in FSX yet. It sounds like a lot of fun, and a challenge here and there doesn't hurt either. If theres one thing I enjoy about old prop aircraft is that you don't have to deal with a million computers while flying; you just use the essentials. How many custom aircraft do you have Chock? I would imagine quite a few.

[Chock]

Not as many as I would like, I want PMDG to get their asses in gear and make some of their stuff FSX compatible, and I'd love them to get a move on with their Airbus too, the FSX Airbus is dreadful, and all the current add-on ones don't model the ECAM properly, which is kind of the point of an Airbus:rotfl:

Without actually looking, these are the noteworthy ones I have in FSX (list below), although I do still fly a lot of the add-on aircraft I have for FS9 (which is a much longer list than this one LOL), because apart from the air-mass modeling of FSX, FS9 is almost as good, and I still have a lot of cool add-ons for FS9 that I like to use. The Flight 1 (Aeroworx) Beechcraft King Air B200 for FS9 is still the best add-on aircraft there is in my opinion (shame it won't work in FSX), the PMDG Boeing 747 for FS9 is a pretty close second though. FSX still has a lot of catching up to do.

Note that I have tweaked and messed around with a lot of the config files in some of these freeware ones, either to get them to work in FSX, or to improve the way they fly, and I've invariably repainted them too.

Cessna 172R (payware from Flight1)
Bucker 131B Jungmann (freeware from AVSIM)
Piaggio P149D (freeware from AVSIM)
Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-500 (payware from Flight1)
Embraer EMB-120 (freeware via WestWind)
Airbus A340-200 and 300 (freeware via WestWind)
Boeing 727 Professional (various models), tweaked to run in FSX (payware from Just Flight {Captain Sim})
Lockheed L188 Electra (freeware via WestWind)
Douglas DC-8-71F (freeware via WestWind)
CASA (Junkers) 352L (freeware from AVSIM)
Douglas DC-6 (JBK version via AVSIM)
Vultee Valiant (JBK version via AVSIM)
Harrier GR-7 (freeware from AVSIM)
Pilatus PC-12 (payware from Flight1)
SA Pitts Special S1T (freeware from AVSIM)
WOP2 Boeing B-17 G (payware from Shockwave Productions)
Cessna 441 Conquest II (payware from Flight 1)
Boeing 247D (JBK version via AVSIM)
Bell UH-1D Iroqouis 'Huey' (payware from TTTS collection)
Aerospatiale Gazelle (payware from TTTS collection)

There are probably some others, but those are the ones I tend to mess about with, and I know all these work okay in FSX running on Vista. It would probably take me all day to list the add-on aircraft I have for FS9:rotfl:

Chock

[GSpector]

WHAT, No Blackbird listed

That's just not fare

Where's there sand for me to kick:hmm: