Santa has been early this year - it'S here, the whole package, via UPS Express (no shipping costs in this store...)
I will - hopefully - take off in an hour or two and make my virgin flight with this new 737. A couple of first impressions. First impressions are:
wowh, very good so far. This could become the new airliner benchmark for my FS9, maybe even outclassing the legendary PMDG 747 and
Level-D 767! Again, this is about the FS2004 version, which was released earlier last year. The FSX version is sold separately since sometime
this late spring, I think.
I got it on DVD, not as a download. No messing around with Flight1 installers, no messing with their service if I need to reinstall on
another or a new set-up system. No messing with the SP 2.1 download, it is included on the DVD, installer said. iFly is very restrictive with
their support in the forums, the forums are not opened until you have registered a copy, that is bad public relations and a missed advertising
opportunity. I feel not invited to spend the time to register there just to see if there even is acvtivity in the forum. Probbaly there is, and
probably they have good support. But it is bad customer relation, I think. I didn'T like that with the STS Space Shuttle Simulation, and I still
do not like it here.
You get also a small booklet with basic info on installation, options, configuration manager, and a training flight, and a sheet of Din A3 paper
that gives you a quick overlook on what panels are covered:
To adress my own post from above: yes, the HUD is there, definitely, and it looks cool! From the pdf:
The install went smooth, when ignoring that it triggered my antivirus to go red over the exe. Checking the exe via Anti-Malware by
Malwarebyte, nothing was found, I switched off Avira Premium and went ahead.
Specs say 1.3 GB of HD space are needed. After installation, you have a link to the config manager on your desktop (here you handle liveries,
loadout, and select winglets and eyebrow windows), and a link to the pdf-manual - a whopping 522 pages, "aber hallo, Alter!" 't seems we have
some homework to get done.
Notice: all cockpits come in 2D and 3D versions, and the 2D cockpits again come with a 4:3 and a 16:9 version, so there are no distorted
instruments with the bitmaps. Nice!
I so far had just one short stop on the fly in FS, to check if the plane is there. It is, or better: they are, mayn versions of the NG and NGX. The
2D panels at day are solid work and readable, the virtual cockpit really looks good, very good. Night textures and lights will be checked later. The
cockpit is extremely noisy, so is the exterior view with running engines. No frame impact (I would have been surprised anyway). The VC is fully
clickable it seems - and the FMCs both can be well read and fully operated in VC view as well!
So far the first impressions, I'm set to get into my flight planner and then have a first haul from Vienna to Münster later this afternoon. I will
report back after that fligh,t this night or tomorrow, then giving my experiences with system depth and reliability and functionality. I'm excited
right now, this looks like a sure winner so far, and if the flight dynamics are like what I have seen so far, it is. I'm just glad that I have had 737
earlier, the Dremafleet 737-400 for FS2002 and the PMDG 767NG for FS2004, so I have an idea what the overheadpanel layout is about and
how the FMC and APC is basically handled - else I would need to consume all those 522 pages first indeed. Oh, and the plane got awared "Best
Airliner for FS2004 in 2010" by German site Flugsimulation.com
Flight1/iFly:
