Sorry guys, need to ask this as the last "civil" sim I played on a PC was MS FS98, and there are reams of pages that are confusing the hell me and giving me a migraine about the new ones. I defer to your opinions, please, if anyone has a civil flight sim.

On Steam I see there are two; FSX and X-Plane. I need to know the following...

Do they have these airports as standard install? (Ecuador) New Quito, Guayaquil, Coca, Baltra, San Cristobal and Manta. (Colombia) Bogota, Medellin Rio Negro and Cali. (Peru) Lima and Pisco. (Panama) Tocumen. (Bolivia) La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. (Caribbean) Aruba, Cuaraçao, Punta Cana, Montego Bay.

Do any have, or as Steam, can an add on for an A319 or A320 be installed?

How about NavAids? All ILS, VOR and NDB included?

Finally, if all criteria is satisfied by both, which would you recommend over the other?

Thanks!

or you could hire your local ATC student in training >.>

I have FSX steam version, but I am not 100% certain on the airports you listed as being included. I will look them up when I can either tonight or tomorrow. As for navaids, the sim typically has almost everything recognized by the FAA, domestic and international. I have found minor discrepancies in certain published instrument approach and departure procedures and what is in the sim, but in large part, most procedures can be executed as published, making use of all NAVAIDS. I have used the sim to help practice GPS approaches as published as well. The sim also allows me to keep me proficient at my instrument scan.

If you are looking to learn instrument flight, or looking to stay proficient if you are already instrument rated, it is a good sim to use. I cannot comment on XPlane, never had it, but at least the developer still supports the program, unlike FSX.

There is considerable payware available for FSX, but be aware, some will not work with the Steam version. Various commercial jets from Airbus are available as payware, and Aerosoft leads the way with A319 and A320 add ons.

I bought the Steam version because I invested a lot of money in FS 2004 add ons and didn't want to upgrade after FSX came out. Steam version was cheap, and good luck trying to find the boxed version of FSX. I think eBay has some for a couple hundred bucks.

Thanks Hawss, I was leaning towards FSX myself, but am going to hang fire on getting either until I am "updated" myself enough on all features, and also anything else anyone might add on this thread, to be able to make a choice. Regarding FSX, for example, I did not even know it wasn't supported anymore, and as far as I understand, it is dated to 2005 world scenario. This won't help with the new Quito Mariscal Sucre Intl Airport, however there does seem to be this ADE to design airports yourself. I read something up about it being usable with the Steam version, too. The Steam version includes the underpowered tail strike risk nightmare A321, which is a plus for me as it serves my purposes.

Can the A320 add on be applied to the Steam version, do you know? Can't seem to get to the bottom of that.

X-Plane I need to look into; might be OK, but as I said, I have been concentrating on FSX for now. Again, it would probably be the Steam version, unless there are really good reasons to go with the digital download version.

I am not going to be spending a ridiculous amount of time on these, BTW. It is just for purposes more or less along the lines of what you mentioned in your post.

@Tracer - That PilotEdge would add quite an interesting dimension, like TS does for DCS. Worth a look on the trial, at least. Regarding ATC, I used to enjoy playing around with this one on the browser ... I am sure Alpha can tell us if it is any good, though. LOL!

Well, what can I say? I gave in and got the Aerosoft A319 last night for FSX, installed it this morning, and just had a quick trip from SEQM to SEGU. Now, I was not impressed with the FSX stock A321 (it was rubbish), but this one is not bad at all.

For those who don't have it, a quick first impressions report follows (I know Arctic was in the chat once about wanting it, at least).

After installing, I set it up in Quito New Intl Airport at Gate 10. It was already engines on upon entering scenario, so I shut them down to get to grips with keys, more than anything. For reasons I don't want to get into, really, I do know my way around an A319 cockpit (OK, I work with them for Avianca, though in what exact capacity will remain undisclosed, lol!).

Over Head Panel:
A great deal of the PBs and rotary switches work here! Fire test, air conditioning panel, ADIRS, lights & signs, hydraulics (noted, the Yellow System electric pump actually does recharge the alternate brake accumulator as it should, and the PTU comes on if the Green System is unpressurized, nice!). Only a very few things are not operable, not enough to interfere with a normal flight. APU is fully functional.

Glareshield Panel:
Seems to be fully functional on the EFIS control panel, BUT, actions are duplicated on both sides, and not individually as IRL. No matter, it's the F/O following your actions. FCU Control Panel is fully functional, with working push/pull selector knobs for Managed/Selected modes. Pleased with that.

MCDU:
I would say this is 80% realistic. SIDs, STARs, and Approaches can be selected for both primary and Secondary FLT PLNs. Both Primary and Secondary FLT PLN pages remain independent, but there is some duplication that happens in the respective PERF pages that needs to be watched, and values for minimums and acceleration altitudes do not reset to default when a new Approach is selected. The Init page works nicely, though the full ADIRS align is a bit fast. The Predictive GPS option on the PROG page takes you to the Position Monitor page, and not the RAIM page, as it should (LOL!).

You cannot seem to be able to set custom SPEED LIMS for Departure and Arrival airports. This IS an issue with high elevation airports like Quito, and forces you to use Selected Speed during climb out to avoid high speed busts under 10,000 ft AFE. Also, in the PERF pages, transition altitude/level MUST be manually set, or it defaults to 18,000 / FL180. This is true of the USA, but not everywhere else, and the function is usually automatic IRL. However, individual WP Speed and Altitude constraints can be set, so this may be used as an effective walk around for the above problem.

Finally, though the FIX INFO page is there, you cannot specify radials, only the radius for your selected fixes.

Otherwise, everything else was very authentic!

Now. Actually flying the thing, the automatic transition between PERF modes works a treat. Selected and Managed modes on the FCU work as they should, and effectively allow you to practice things like GS intercept from above procedure, and such, which is good. Altitude capture and FLT PLN following in Managed NAV mode is great. I have not tried the ACTIVATE SECONDARY FLT PLN yet, so I cannot comment. The dual AP works nicely for CAT III DUAL mode. This is cool. I have not tried CAT III AUTOLAND yet, though. Finally, AUTOBRAKES work!

Would I recommend it? Hell, yeah, if you like sitting around watching the Auto Pilot flying the aircraft for you!

1:20 on Log for it as yet, be giving it a bit more time soon.



This is very nice, the symbology on the PFD/ND is spot on, and so much better than that dreadful box standard FSX A321.



Turning at WP TEMOX. Wait, Lufthansa???!!! OK, well at least it is a Star Alliance associate like Avianca...



Home and dry at SEGU! It was fun, actually....