Flight 1 ATR 72-500?

[EHM-1821 Javier]

I went over to my local and also only-1-in-the-country store selling flightsim addons, and I saw the Flight1 ATR,  so i thought of buying it I just read through the reviews by flightsim.com and avsim and i'm impressed, and i want to get it more now;D

However, this shop mentioned is kinda "cheating people's money", selling the Flight1 ATR at a cost way above what i see on flight1's website and also fspilotshop (i did the conversion to SG$) so i'm looking to buy it online.

But, just a few questions before i make my decision,

1) Is it so complicated that you have to read an entire manual before you fly and is there an FMC? (Like PMDG's planes?)

2) If I buy from fspilotshop.com (its cheapest there;D), is there a download option or is it by shipping only? and if it's shipping only, how much does it usually cost?

3) Would you guys reccomend me to get the product?

Thanks alot

[EHM-1883 Matt]

Hi Javier,

Someone else can give you a better reccommendation than myself probabaly, but I'll tell you what I think anyway:

1) It is a very complicated plane and you will frequently have to flick to the manual to see how things work, but if you are experienced with other "difficult" payware planes, it shouldn't be a problem. There is also an FMC. It's a bit different to the conventional FMC's, but it's not hard to get your head around.

2) I believe there is a download option, but I reccommend shipping. I don't know how much shipping costs to Singapore but if it's coming from America or Europe expect it to be expensive

3) I think it's a good product if you like the short hop flights but don't expect an easy ride with it until you understand what's what. Flight1 has put the price so high because it is a very sophisticated payware plane and quite complicated, so if you're looking for a plane just to "play around with", I wouldn't really reccommend it, but if you're looking for a plane to "learn from", I would certainly reccommend it.


Finally, Don't forget how much it eats up of your computer

[EHM-1518]

Hi Javier,

I am flying the Flight-1 ATR and think it's a very nice plane. To answer your questions:

1) Like most payware add-on it's a bit more complicated to operate than the default planes (e.g. you can not start the plane via Ctrl-E or something like that), but that's the intention to buy a payware
At the beginning it's recommended to study the manual and I think it's impossible to do a successfull flight without reading the manual first.

The FMC is quite good and the data can be updated with new cycles from Navigraph. But be warned that there is no autothrottle and not a full VNAV support available from FMC and autopilot. The FMC will calculate your TOD but you have to start the decent on your own. There is also no autoland, because the real ATR does not have one.

Have a look here http://atr.flight1.net/forums/default.asp to get more answers to all your questions.

2) Don't know, I have the boxed version

3) Like Matt said I would also recommend the plane if you like short flights and are willing to spend some time to get into it.

Best regards
Andreas

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

Hi Javier,

First, I recognize I am very fond of this aircraft so for question #3 let me say I am happy with what I got for my money

As for the complexity, there is indeed a long documentation but it is an interesting reading too. As an engineer I enjoyed learning (at last!) how some systems are built and linked together - no matter that this is no mandatory information for flying it.

Also, besides making IFR flights involving full FMC programming, I also use this aircraft for the EHM VFR world tour and I am happy with the results. For this purpose I use a "fast" checklist that takes less than 5 minutes from cold and dark to taxi.

Another thing to note is that when you buy the ATR you get both FS2004 and FSX versions. Also, as I started using FSX quite recently, I am not really confortable with the VC-only philosophy, and the ATR may be flown in "2D" cockpit more easily than the default FSXaircraft (due to a smart view system)

I cannot tell much about the delivery in Asia, but wherever you buy it from, I suggest checking where they deliver from. I noticed a huge difference between Flight1 who has a delivery center in Europe (bought from them twice, delivery was within a week) and FsPilotShop who has not (delivery took ~ 3 weeks).

Hope this helps

Andrei

[EHM-1821 Javier]

Thanks for your inputs, guys;D

I guess i will not be buying from fspilotshop (the shipping cost added with the product cost will kill me!) :]

Does anyone know how much is the shipping cost if i buy a boxed version from Flight1, any sort of a shipping cost calculator like what fspilotshop has?