727 family by FlyJsim

[Michael_Chang]

I've gotten the 727

 

So right off the bat, when I saw the promotional videos I knew this was going to be good. Thankfully, I was right!

 

Download:

a huge package, 700 megs! (wow) when it was done, installation was simple and easy, which I like, into my XP 10 folder and ready to go!

 

First loading:

Normally, I like to load planes into PM before I load them in XP, to check things like Wireframes and basic appearance/animations. I opened it up and fell in love. The polygon count is a little on the high side, but over all she's very efficiently modelled and beautifully textured, the resolution of which is amazing, possibly even the highest in X-plane!

 

 

In XP:

So now that I was confident that my poor macbook could handle the pressures of loading the plane, I set up my XP 10 and got ready for the action. First thing I noticed, was that it was quite laggy. I went into exterior view and the plane gave me a perfect arpeggio in F as it lagged to a start. after about 15 seconds of that, the frame rates suddenly shot to 30-40 frames per second, which was a nice surprise. Exterior quality of the plane is superb, and the animations are smooth as butter.

 

I decided it was time to check the cockpit. My memory of this time is slightly foggy, because I'm quite sure I passed out from the awesomeness. After wiping the drool from my laptop, I had a look around. I was a bit dissappointed that there wasn't a cabin, but the detail of the cockpit long makes up for it.

 

After using their custom made loading panel to load my plane, I started flying! She's definitely harder to fly than my 787s or 767s, partially because of quality, and partially because of age. I will have to comb through the manuals to fully understand this bad girl. Again, many of her animations are amazing, I particularly like their wingflex.

 

The sounds are very FSXish in a good way, they are very well crafted and sound amazing.

 

The cherry on top for me was the nose gear. THEY ACTUALLY GOT THE TURNING MOTION CORRECT! A lot of modellers seem to miss this detail, and I'm actually happy they caught it.

 

Service with a smile? well i'm definitely smiling.

 

Criticisms:

Being me, I always try to find criticisms too, but in this case, it was quite hard.

 

I did find, however, that the slats had a tendency to slice straight through the wing on their deployment sequence, and that the reverse thrusters of engines 1 and 3 sliced through each other on deployment. The errors are very small and far between.

 

<you can see, the flap is sort of in the way of the speed brake

<here the slatis stuck in a strange way

<another slat shot

<reversers are stuck

Aside from that, I very literally couldn't find anything wrong with the plane! Exterior = superb, Panel = superb, Sounds = superb. I am at a loss of words.

 

 

 

Well done FlyJsim. I look forward to more from you.

 

 

[Dozer]

Great review, thanks for writing it! I can't run it because my system can't run XP10 (and I can't afford a new PC right now) so I will vicariously enjoy the aircraft through the reviews and comments from yourself and others.

 

I have a few questions about the aircraft. What are the systems like? What proportion of the switches and dials do anything? Do you need to keep switching to the Flight Engineer's station to set fuel pumps etc to keep the aircraft flying? If you set things up wrongly, will stuff break or malfunction?

[PWJT8D]

Dozer, the complexity of the aircraft is about as high as you can go with a 727. The Flight Engineers panel is fully functional other than I think two or three switches that are irrelevant at this time such as the External Power switch as there is no GPU with this aircraft. Also the manual pressurization is not modeled, however the Auto Pressurization is so you still have to enter your cruise altitude, landing altitude as well as toggle the FLT/GRD switch, the system does the rest as it would on a 727.

 

A lot more extensive list can be found on the systems at flyjsim.com but the entire fuel system is modeled with crossfeeds and fuel heats, air conditioning, packs, bleed airs are modeled even down to different duct systems. It is very much in depth. If you've ever had the time in CaptainSim's 727 then I think you will like Jack's more.

 

Also to add, yes there are failures set up. Being that there is no autothrottle or FADEC to speak of, keeping the engines at too high of an N1 for too long will result in engine fires. Which that being said, the engine fire panel is fully simulated as well. 

 

I do know that a future free update will have a cabin and ground equipment added. 

Edited December 22, 2012 by PWJT8D

[Ryan M.]

Holy crap, 62 dollars?

[Gjalp]

That would be the complete series...all the variants made. The price is more like US$32 for the variant of your choice. Its better to get the US$62 pack as it contains all three aircraft (the -100, -200F and the -200 Adv.....),

I need to save lots as I have a few planes I want to get, this being one of them

 

Slainte,.

 

Andy

NZCH

[Ryan M.]

Really? I only had the option to buy the pack, unless i'm missing something!

[Michael_Chang]

i strongly suggest it, it's a great buy

[Ryan M.]

Maybe for Christmas   

[Orcair]

Really? I only had the option to buy the pack, unless i'm missing something!

 

 

Each variant is $32 (-100, -200ADV, -200F). Or you can buy the complete package (-100, -200ADV, -200F) for less than that of two. ($62)

[Ryan M.]

Oh, I clicked the wrong option....

[WFR22]

Is the North American livery pack included in the package? That'd seal the deal completely

Cheers

[Orcair]

Is the North American livery pack included in the package? That'd seal the deal completely

Cheers

Nope its separate as the package is by XP Jets, not FlyJSim/Amerrir 

[Hampster]

Well done, much better review than your last ones....

[Michael_Chang]

Well done, much better review than your last ones....

 

possibly because this plane is actually good? XD yes, i tried to be nicer this time around, i must say it was an impressive jet.