It's not MSFS but look at this!

[guym-p]

Sorry for the delay in replying; I've been out of circulation for a few days.

My question about widening the forum's scope was not a mercenary one. I'm not going to press anyone about how much better X-Plane is than MSFS because it would be like comparing Lotus with Mercedes-Benz. There are things Daimler do that Lotus will never do, and a quality of finish that Lotus will never be capable of. Nevertheless, a Lotus owner will find his choice of car the most satisfying, and vice-verca.

Instead, it's about having somewhere that all British flight sim enthusiasts can correspond, regardless of the kind of simulator. FS-X is the market leader, and the current state of the art. As FS2004 proved, simulator software has a life of several years before it feels old or dated, but if there is no direct replacement, that time will come. By broadening its appeal this forum would gain intelligence about the likely next step, have its own experts to help others migrate a large stock of scenery, and developers to help port aircraft designs.

Coming back to the Comet, and to answer gordon-in-aberdeen, it is all my own work with one exception - the sound. Sound effects are by Chris Wraight, a professional sound engineer. He has some experience of MSFS too, and is only too aware of the difference between them. X-Plane sound is pretty dreadful. Spooling engines and doppler effects are embarrassing. If you consider that half the illusion in the cinema is provided by sound, it's a major disappointment.

Laminar Research, who develop X-Plane, are a tiny company. They have a team of four and some freelancers who join in on demand, but even then I think it's rarely more than 6 people at any one time. If you send an e-mail, it gets answered, often by Austin Meyer himself. If you've suggested something useful, it might appear in a month or two with the next free upgrade. It's happened twice to me. That't great for a sense of community involvement. The down-side is that if Austin does not think sound is important, it will not get developed. Or, if they become distracted, as they were with the iPhone/iPad App, then development of the main simulator slows to a crawl, or stops altogether. Now that they appear back on track, we have high hopes for X-Plane 10 ...

Guy.