Quite a few years ago, I discovered FS9. I found myself immersed in a delightful world of jaunting around the countryside in a C172, marvelling at the changing weather, dodging the clouds and making a bumpy hash of my landings. I loved it. I still do.
Then I fired up the default 737 and was amazed at the dramatic change in power, speed and its ability to munch up the miles. I spread my wings further and further, able to fly across continents using the wonderful GPS switch, and the agricultural but useful NAV switch autoland feature. Natural progression and my inquisitive nature led me to self-learn how to hand fly the thing, and within a few months I was quite proficient at flying myself and the 73 down the ILS after taking spurious default ATC vectors and weaving in and out of traffic cutting above and in front of me.
I was hooked, truly hook, line and sinkered.
So one day I took the liberty of buying the PMDG 737. 'The best 737 for FS9' as it was then. I thought, well it'll just be a pretty model, nice virtual cockpit and a few more details to take care of. Little did I know.
I fired her up for the first time and was truly amazed. Wow. How good does this look? And what do all these switches do? And a glass cockpit, painstakingly detailed and crisp and clear. And I spent the next two hours trying to start the thing up. And failed quite badly.
Frustration....
I left it for a few weeks and went back to the default 737 until curiosity got the better of me and I loaded the PMDG bird up at the gate at my 'home' airport, EGCC Manchester. Sat there with a badly worded, badly translated quickstart guide to the PMDG 737 and played about with it. Managed to get the engines running, then got quite stuck with the FMC. Decided to leave that alone as I was depserate to get her up in the air. So with the config horn blaring out I heaved it up into the sky and took her for a few circuits.
It felt so right, heavy enough on the controls to know you were flying something big, but responsive and tactile too, and a complete pig to land. I failed on each attempt.
But I was hooked. Again.
Next thing I knew I was knee deep in PMDG literature. Proper guides to the systems, walkthrough for the startup/shutdown procedure and a detailed guide to the FMC, MCP and how the autopilot modes all tie in with everything else.
SIDs, STARs, AIRAC databases, derates, assumed temp take offs, EOSID procedures, F40 shortfield landings...everything was being absorbed into my mind in a steep but enjoyable learning curve. And the more test flights I had, the more I was learning how to fly the thing. Soon I was hand flying the SID up to transition altitude and the VNAV'ing up to cruise. Then being amazed at the precision and grace of the fully couple autoland.
There were some frustrating moments indeed - time when the mouse and stick were slammed down on the desk and it did something I didn't anticipate or wouldn't do something I wanted it to. But it wasn't the plane's fault, it was all my mistakes, oversights and when it clicked, it all made sense as to where I was going wrong.
So it got to the day when I performed my first flawless flight. Everything was perfect, hand flown SID right up to the cruise, Radar Contact giving me precise and realistic instructions and clearances. Active Sky depicting fine, fine clouds and winds aloft. The 737 was dancing to my tune, and the beat was a good one.
So after a nicely planned descent into the TMA I received my vectors to LOC intercept from ATC and duly stuck the numbers into the MCP. The bird gradually rolled out of it's turn as the localiser came alive and something strange happened. I reached for the mouse and clicked out the autopilot and autothrust. With a gulp and and intense concentration I kept the localiser within half a dot and started a gentle descent when the glideslope hit the middle. USing gentle power inputs to control the descent, I kept it all within decent control and as F30 came in a few miles from the fence I nudged and bit of power on and concentrated even harder on keeping everything steady. A stable enough fnal approach, and a slightly bumpy but perfectly acceptable touchdown just to the right of the centreline followed.
As I stowed the reversers and looked ahead for my taxiway to exit the active I realised I was bathed in sweat, and felt like I had a very healthy red glow about the cheeks. My hands were trambling slighty too. Concentrating much? I think so!
I kept everything in until I had set the parking brakes at the gate and pulled the cutoff levers. Then I let out a whoop and did a little dance around the room - I was elated, absolutely, completely overjoyed. The sense of achievement was immense. Even better than passing my driving test at 17. And that was when I realised I was even more hooked than the other times I thought I was. From that moment on I dived head first into the whole thing, making ultimate realism my goal. After a year or so of the PMDG 737 I moved up to the 747 and found her even more of a joy to fly. However nothing felt as good as that first complete flight with my old love, the 737.
So, fast forward to my FTG days and I spent most of my time logging hours in the 747-400. But every now and then I'd fire up the 737 and relive some of that pure magic I felt whilst learning in her. A powerful beast on take off, slippery as hell on the descent and a wonder to hand-fly on the approach. Wonderful stuff.
And now.
Now, I have my credit card at the side of me, and a Firefox tab open with the 'Buy' button primed for the iFly 737NG.
And I feel terrible. I feel like I'm betraying my PMDG 737. I am really tempted to cancel the FF tab and never consider the iFly again.
However, I am mindful that if the iFly is as good as it looks, and has the potential to be - that magic again could be relived, if not bettered.
I just don't know what to do. I would be loathed to fly my PMDG bird out to the big aircraft boneyard in the desert and leave her there to rot and rust away, never for the engines to howl again, never to hear the trim wheel flutter itself around as the flaps config changed. It would be a crime to just park her up, jump out of the seat and leave. Leave for what seems to be a new breed, the younger, better looking model.
As you can tell, this whole thing is quite a big issue for me, and I never thought I could ever be so... introspective and thoughtful about a load of 0'a and 1's flowing through some microprocessors.
But I am, and I need your input and thoughts guys.
What to do?
