Boeing Flight Simulator on Trademe

[pilotgallagher01]

Yea all good mate, wasn't trying to sound like I was saying people wern't

[Ian Warren]

Couple weeks back telling people to stop and look , climb inside ..It was damn , a realistic experience , .... evenings most watch TV (POOH) and stink programming were had they come to this site now gone .. boy racers would be pulling their pants up , possibly look another direction .

[AlisterC]

Owen: I worked for Ford in Christchurch for 5 years, hard not to become attached

Chris: You mustn't have read my post that it's not all that hard to get it running FSX
I also wasn't actually refering to your sim as the 'privately' owned one. Tauranga is still open to the public for training and 'experiences'. The privately owned one I was refering to is a guy in England with it in his garage next to his ride on mower, Range Rover and real helicopter (so lucky)

Also, there is no way you will ever be able to install scenery yourself. Well, you could possibly figure out how to install it for one session, but as soon as you restart, it will load a default FS9 start up as you know. It doesn't do it from Christchurch though, but from your own sim. That computer you are not allowed to turn off ("Deathstar" if they named it) is the one that loads a default set up config to the flight sim computer when you turn it on. This way the sim has a stable, backed up flightsim so a simple restart fixes most problems. Just another of the innovations behind the reliability of these machines.

[mfraser]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Aug 26 2010, 01:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

.. boy racers would be pulling their pants up , possibly look another direction .

ROFLMAO!!!!

[pilotgallagher01]

Cheers mate, yea I might look into trying to put FSX on that..
Yea make sense now, regarding deathstar..
And my bad regarding the private owner lol
How long did you work with them?

[AlisterC]

For just over two years until the company shut down (company has since restarted). I worked mostly on the side building them, but also did some support, maintenance and install things from time to time. And plenty of flight testing of course Plus I was an instructor at Northlands for about a year prior.

[omitchell]

Sounds like we need you to come and fix up our sims lol

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Albatross @ Aug 26 2010, 01:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

..(company has since restarted). I worked mostly on the side building them, but also did some support, maintenance and install things from time to time.

Alister , they have just setup shop couple minutes from me .. i did knock on the door few weeks back , both Russ and Sean were in Brisbane ,

[toprob]

QUOTE (pilotgallagher01 @ Aug 25 2010, 11:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We do have a fair bit of addon scenery though to make the graphics looks good such as the freeware scenery for NZQN, NZNP and Fly Tamp Kai Tak in Hong Kong and a few other areas...Robin would be good if we had your Real NZ Wellington which we don't have

Yeah, sorry Chris, I did promise a CD, and I was expecting to do another run of Real NZ Wellington, but this is almost never ordered on CD any more, so I haven't yet had the need to make some discs. (Most Real NZ Wellington boxed versions are bought as 'Across the Strait')
I'll sort that out shortly.

I can remember standing in the doorway of the Christchurch sim ("Tea or Coffee?") during a descent into Queenstown, and was hanging on for dear life -- absolutely no need for motion!

Whatever happened to Northlands?

[vatsim-aholic]

QUOTE (IslandBoy77 @ Aug 30 2010, 10:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Perhaps you might have a market here then? I remember reading about the NZ ones when they came out, and word had it that there was nothing that could come close to them at the time. Do you think it's a case of technology having passed them by and them trying to flog them on? Also, the dollars you are mentioning - are they Canadian or NZ dollars? I'm just interested in the comparison and to hear that poss these NZ ones might be v over-priced. Not that I have $700k+ to burn... Or even $365k!

Yeah I don't think there is a huge market here for motion or fixed based simulators, without yelling too loud. The FE-Sims are great don't get me wrong especially the Takapuna one, has less break downs and smouldering than the Botany one did, which was tired. However my experience on the pacific simulators and loyalties aside, you can get the same experience for less! The Canadian Sim FDS produce way more than PS will every produce.. main reason being is the population in that part of the world, not to mention the amount that is exported around the world targeted to Simulator enthusiasts, not flight training. Thats why a holden costs the amount that it does.. how many holdens do you see on the road?

Granted you can spend millions on the airline simulators, but that experience is far more realistic and superior than the products built for the general aviation enthusiasts including pacific simulators. With today's countries on each others door steps, access to competitive products now is too easy.

Pacific simulators are still using 3 projectors and 3x flat panel screens.. technology around is advancing quicker that they will be able to keep up, from my extensive research in starting Oceanic Simulators, is there are a lot of products out there for the aviation enthusiast who does not require a simulator for certification, yet still get exactly the same experience. You can now get curved screens and using one projector instead of three for instance. Alot of the components now are USB plug and play.. eg you can buy the overhead panel and plug it in and run the disk.

It's all about target market, the Pacific Simulators are not targeted to the aviation enthusiast at all, it's a product designed for training and franchise business. I just find it hilarious that it costs that much, I know our labour rates are high and steel is more expensive today, yet computers are cheaper and more powerful. Unless you are planning to run it as a business, in which case they want alot more money than 750k.. with plenty of strings attached or you plan to use it for a training device at a flight training school (which is where I think this simulator will end up) if it actually sells for that money.

[SeanG]

Wow! $750K.... maybe we should sell the new one's on trademe!! We are selling the brand new ones for $550K <lol>

The question about "mapping the controls" earlier; We have a software layer between the sim (FS9/FSX/ESP/Prepar3d/X-Plane) and the physical hardware which controls all the interaction with the target sim software, therefore any mapping changes are made once for a change in sim software. Easy really. We really don't talk to the sim software very much, we only need to tell it about things that we want to manipulate, and since we don't use any of the sim's system logic, that's not a whole lot

SeanG

[madaz]

I spent 90 minutes on the Hamilton one, although I enjoyed the experience overall it had various faults which I found disappointing like AI ATC not knowing your altitude and AI aircraft not using the active runways. The flap indicator gauge was for show only as well as some other less important switches and gauges. They told me although it was the last flight experience sim installed it was one of the first built so perhaps that is why it had these idiosyncrasies. In my opinion an asking price of $750K (for the Hamilton Sim at least) would be a joke.

[AlisterC]

It was the first built.
I'm not sure why you mention AI ATC, as I never used the default microsoft flight sim ATC when I was an instructor, and there is no means to communicate to it in the sim. And AI aircraft are only there to give some life to the otherwise often dreary default airports. Instructors will usually take you to the nearest runway to get you in the air as soon as possible, so that might not suit the weather. Or if you had like most my customers, calm winds, then any end of the runway could be active. The AI also can't be refreshed easily for weather changes. The sim doesn't use traditional flightsim menus.
I realise these sort of niggles disappoint the average simmer, but by no means detract from the 'experience' for a non aviator. I wouldn't buy Hamilton either for $750k lol But then no one would try and sell that one for that price. Takapuna however is a much later generation simulator (eg the flap gauge works on that one)

(thanks Sean for clarifying what I said earlier)

[madaz]

QUOTE (Albatross @ Aug 28 2010, 09:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It was the first built.
I'm not sure why you mention AI ATC,

The Hamilton Sim had ATC, it was not the microsoft FS9 ATC, it had a kiwi accent and was interactive via voice, perhaps it was a human hiding in a room somewhere?

[SeanG]

QUOTE (madaz @ Aug 28 2010, 10:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Hamilton Sim had ATC, it was not the microsoft FS9 ATC, it had a kiwi accent and was interactive via voice, perhaps it was a human hiding in a room somewhere?

The sims all run a "scripted" ATC program, which is there for customer participation only, rather than controlling the AI world, and instructors *should* be steering you towards active runways, therefore avoiding AI conflicts <lol>

SeanG

[AlisterC]

Sean I always figured that if the customer only had a half hour session, I wasn't going to let them spend 15 minutes of it waiting on the taxiway for traffic to clear

[deeknow]

QUOTE (Albatross @ Aug 28 2010, 02:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sean I always figured that if the customer only had a half hour session, I wasn't going to let them spend 15 minutes of it waiting on the taxiway for traffic to clear

Reminds me of my session in the FE Sim in Hamilton, on finals into Queenstown RWY23 and see a Qantas 737 taxiing straight at us.. did we go around.. nope.. touched down and rolled straight through it, no PAX injuries, it was like magic

[Ian Warren]

My experience was point out features , the instructor telling me points of reference over many the photoreal scenery using the 737 in its VFR role , spent large part correcting .. i didnt tell him till after the flight i had a bitta inside knowledge

[AlisterC]

A bit like my movie here Dean? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHtML4g3vs
That is a good example. No means to tell ATC you are on final, and no way to tell the AI to stay off the runway lol

[Ian Warren]

Alister , I liked that , it is one heck off a box a tricks and feeling it generates as you climb in the sim .