American Airlines Virtual

I fly the PMDG 737 and Flight 1 Super 80 and both are great.

One thing to think about is which experience you want. A realistic 737 isn't too far removed from a standard FS9 or FSX aircraft. The major differences will be the FMC and the autoflight modes available to you. The MD-80 has many more differences if it's modeled well. The overhead panel is a puzzle and there will be things you may never have heard of before like engine sync, pneumatic cross feeds, and long trim . The MD-80 FMC also gives you less help setting reference/flap speeds, so you need to use the tables.

Christopher - my $.02. As much as I love the Flight 1/Coolsky MD-80, I would suggest buying the PMDG 737 NGX for FSX. Yes, I know it's pricey, but it is a plane you can grow and learn with. Look at it as an investment. You'll be learning and growing with this plane for a long time.

If you have never really gotten into FMC programming, you are going to have a learning curve anyway. There are basically 2 levels of FMC - rather simple setups like the ERJ/CRJ and the ones that have a lot of depth like the 737/767/MD80, etc. Even though I would recommend you starting with one that is a little deeper, you can still do a rather simple setup and still fly the airplane -- and the depth/complexity is there as well.

The other plus of the 737 NGX is the volume of help in the form of video tutorials and forum posts. Real world 738 pilots are telling you how to fly the a/c just like they do ... IF you want to immediately jump to that level of detail (room to grow). BUT if you want to jump into the plane w the engines already running, load the fuel/pax, import a flight plan, and do the other minimal setup to fly w the FMC - you can do it in 5-10 mins.

FMCs may look hard and daunting (still remember my first flight w the Level D 767 trying to follow the tutorial AND fly the plane, too ), but just take one of the tutorial flights and walk through it. AND there's a lot of help on here as you know. There are many of us who are more than willing to get online with you using teamspeak and help walk you through and answer questions. All you (or anyone else) needs to do is ASK!

Also, this a/c is visually great and just "feels" right when flying it. With your new high-end computer, you should get more than acceptable performance.

My own humble opinion is that the iFly is great. I don't fly the PMDG new release but I bet it is the best if you have FSX. For MD 80's however I must say the Leonardo is untouchable!!! You have to sit in the seat and fly it. Don't leave it too long or something will go south and quickly. Frozen fuel cloging the fuel filters etc.. don't de-ice the A/C in severe icing conditions and you will lose an engine to FOD. Better follow the checklist too. The best system simulation that I have seen with an extensive manual. If you take the time to learn the a/c you wil love it I'm sure. It really does sound like the PMDG is nice too though although does it auto generate failures if you do not follow procedures like the Leonardo? The PMDG 6-700 does not; maybe the new release does. Enjoy; either way you are in for a treat....


Mike