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JustFlight Phoenix Sims Boeing 777

By Supah - 1st Jul 2007
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The JustFlight/Phoenix Simulations Boeing 777
or: Why being an airline pilot is a dayjob and not a weekend hobby
First flying on the 6th of june 1994 the triple 7 is one of boeings latest aircraft to join the airline fleet. Being the first plane to be entirely designed digitally it is a natural for inclusion into Flight Sim 9. When first I was told that I would be reviewing a 777 my initial reaction was Why? Does not FS9 come with one?. Does this addon actually add something beyond that of Microsofts rendition of the 777? Lets find out! On with the testing!

The addon comes in a sturdy DVD-type box. It contains a DVD and the manual. Installation is pretty straight forward and trouble free. The manual is of good quality though perhaps the format is a bit small, however all the content is available at the phoenix simulations website as PDFs so that isnt a big problem.

The versions modelled are the 200LR, 200LRF freighter and the 300ER. All come in a myriad of liveries for various airlines and in a VC and non-VC model to aid those with slower machines. The models look good and appear to be accurate. The list of working bits in the models include things like a Ram Air Turbine (remember our old friend the rat from the starfighter review?), flexing wings and doors. Everything we have come to expect of a FS9 addon done in excellent quality. So far so good!

The cockpit for me is the real selling point of this addon. The bitmaps are apparently made using high polygon 3d models which are rendered to create the backgrounds for the 2D panel. Normally panel makers use photographs or draw the bitmaps by hand with varying degrees of succes depending on the authors photographic prowess or their skills with Photoshop. Phoenix Simulations went another way by modelling the panel in a much higher level of detail then would be useable for FS9, it would bring most pcs to a crawl. They rendered the panel, IE made picture from the right perspective for the bitmap. This gives much better clarity and detail to these panels. The gauges are very readable and very useable.

The coolest thing, in my opinion, functionality wise about the panel is the Flight Management Computer. If used correctly this machine is the heart of any operation with this plane. It will guide you from take off through a departure procedure to cruise, to a arrival procedure and a landing. Sounds fantastic but dont expect to just jump into this. Using the FMC will require some studying on the users part, as it should. Included in the installation is a tutorial flight from Seatle to Los Angeles which is of great help however this does still leave the user with some questions. It shows you what to do on that particular flight but not what to do on any general flight. For instance how the Center of Gravity is calculated, what arrival procedure to use. The latter is slightly helped by a link to Airnav, a site that provides navigational data for free however this is only for US airports so if you are going to a airport outside the US you will need to do some research. If you manage to operate the FMC without the manual at arms length you have my deepest respect! I must confess that after a good bit of trying I am still lost without the manual. That probably says as much about my clumsyness as about the depth of realism in this plane. A nicely working weather radar is provided and the TCAS on this machine works when FS9s less then stellar ATC has traffic coming a bit close for comfort. The Virtual Cockpit is equally stunning to behold and fully functional from both seats. The guages are easily readable and workable.

The airplane handles like one would expect and gives you the feel that you are really flying a heavy aircraft. Under cruise conditions there are however some issues with the aircraft suddenly surging to extreme airspeeds, I must be the first mach 1,5 triple 7 pilot! I hope this will be fixed through a patch because this is for me the only blemish on a great product.

In conclusion I feel that this addon is an improvement over the Microsoft stock triple 7. Especially its cockpit graphics, functionality and the FMC are this machines strongest points. As airliners go this is amongst the best I have seen and if the "surging" issue gets fixed it might be the very best! I am happy to give this addon a 4,5 out of 5.