A few observations after my first flight of the Maddog 2008:
I'm not sure why but she is
extremely squirrely on the ground handling. Joystick settings which work perfectly for all my other aircraft result in some extreme turns while taxiing at 10 knots? This became even worse when landing at Las Vegas...as soon as the nosewheel touched down (well within my Vth speed) it was all I could do to keep her on the runway, and control inputs seemed extreme. I was sliding left and right as if the tires had absolutely no grip...weird. Finally got her going in a straight line and parked at the gate. I might need to do some FSUIPC tweeking on this one!
I finally gave up on it's totally unrealistic windshield icing...I departed Fort Collins - Loveland (KFNL) in 55 degree F weather...but the windshield iced up...Bah!! I've turned off all icing in FSUIPC until this unrealism is fixed by Leonardo.
Once airborne she was fine and acted as I would expect. I did have some major stuttering when looking at the forward, panel view, in 2D but found a few "performance" changes to make, in the Maddog settings, which corrected this, at the FTM forums. This stuttering occured all the time, by the way, not just at detailed scenery.
I would not rely on the flight planner to set your fuel...it was way off for my first flight and I had to add fuel on the way to avoid running out. My fault, as I thought the numbers looked way wrong before departure.
This aircraft is
highly detailed in it's systems and start-up requirements, and it took a lot of reading and experimenting to get to an engine start. That being said, you can ignore a lot of the "test this" and "test that", included in the turorial/checklists, as it will not affect your flight. I thank Brett for his start-up procedure...alas, it did not work for me. I always ended up with a "hot start" on one or the other engine. The issue seems to be getting from holding the engine start button while the rpm's come up, to the fuel shut-off valve after reaching 20% N2...it's tricky and not guaranteed. If you have a Mouse Wheel, however, your problems are solved. By rolling the mouse wheel down on the engine start switch...it will "hold" rather than spring back. You can then slide your cursor over to the pedestal fuel lever for the engine and just wait for the N2 to get above 20%...when it does, slide the lever up and...Bingo! a good engine start. It took me 8 flights, and 8 attempts at an engine start before I found this little trick at the FTM forums. It was a life saver because after you spend 40 minutes on aircraft and cockpit setup...the LAST thing you want is a hot start!!
I cannot comment on the VC (what's a "VC" anyway?
).
The exterior visual model is very good and doesn't suck resources like some I have. I really like the crew and ground crew interactions which occur...really sweet. You MUST read the tutorial to get them to work, however. It involves turning on microphones and speakers for "INT" (interphone) and "PA". It's all explained if you take the time to read the tutorial.
Do NOT make a false entry into the FMS Route page (waypoint or airway), If you do I have no idea how to fix it. Unlike the PMDG and other products, the "delete" function is sketchy, at best. I had to restart 3 times due to experimentation with flightplan waypoint entry function. Get it right and double check it, BEFORE you hit the relevant LSK!
All in all, I would recommend much reading at the FTM website forums, before you decide to purchase this addon. The tutorial included
seems insurmountable, at first glance, but as you "mess" with it you will see that it is telling you
everything a RW pilot would do, and it becomes up to you how much you adhere to it. Some things, of course, must be done before the Maddog will fly.
All that being said...I like it very much. I am still going to search for an answer to it's very bad ground handling/taxiing behavior and will let you know if I find an answer. This is NOT an aircraft for the "CTRL+E" crowd...not even close! If you like to start up and fly, within 10 minutes...give it up, this ain't for you!
More later, as I figure it out.