Concorde X by Flight Sim Labs

IanHenry

IanHenry

Charter Member
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As the magazine PC Pilot is running a series of tutorials on flying Concorde by Flight sim labs, I was wondering if anyone at SOH had bought it, and have any views on it’s value for money, as it is rather expensive to say the least (£44.95)
Also I noticed on their site, if you click to buy there is another item listed called eSellerate Download Service (eDS) costing £3.31, what is it and do I need it?
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https://store6.esellerate.net/store/checkout/CustomLayout.aspx?s=STR6332530635&pc=&page=SinglePageCatalog.htm
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Any help gratefully received.
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I bought it when first released and loved it. Admittedly, it's not the easiest plane to fly, but there are options for the auto crew to take care of some of the CG and other essentials to keep her aloft. FSL did her justice and I don't think you'll regret the purchase.

As for the price, it's about average now for a detailed piece along the lines of PMDG, A2A and Captain Sim. The manual that comes with is fantastic and has a tutorial flight as well.

Matt
 
It's a great aircraft. Simple! Bought it when it came out. Love it. Have the famous DVD which taught me the ropes.
 
Ian,

For the level of complexity, I would say it is value for money at that price. Only a few non essential items are not simulated.
Here are a few shots I have taken that show the quality of the model.
aa6.jpg


detail1.jpg


nightto1.jpg


In my opinion it certainly does Concorde justice.

As for your second question, the eSellerate Download Service is an option that allows a one year download extension for the installer.

Hope that helps,

Scott
 
Thanks. I understand that you can fly this complicated aircraft without going through all the processes every time you whish to fly it and that sounds very appealing to me (I don’t have enough simulator time to go through a complicated start up procedure every time that I want to fly).<o:p></o:p>
It is very expensive to me for a single add on, but you guys opinions are certainly making it look worth the expense.<o:p></o:p>
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Regards,<o:p></o:p>
Ian.
 
I got this as a Christmas gift last year, but like the PMDG 747 I haven't really spent enough time to master it.

I was very happy to see the PC Pilot series on the Concorde as I didn't have the MD-11 that they featured previously and missed a lot of the PMDG 747 articles. The first two articles cover the quick start features, so I'm hoping to get some flight time soon to give those a go.

So far I've only ever managed to take off, I've not got as far as landing!
 
I bought this when it was first released, and I've hardly flown anything else since because I find it so immersive. And I'm not a fan of airliners generally. I think one of the best things I did was hunt down a copy of 'The Concorde Stick and Rudder Book' by Mike Riley - it explains a lot of the reasons things were done as they were on Concorde, as opposed to how they would be done on 'normal' airliners.

The ITVV DVD (mentioned previously) is also a great help, and is a very interesting program whether you have the FSLabs Concorde or not. The feeling you get when you've got the Canarsie departure from JFK just right, then watching it done for real, is something else.

There is an FSLabs addition to the top menu (alt button) in FSX which is where you set the payload and fuel contents. There are preset loadings for both, it's all straightforward. Below the loading option is an option for panel state, where you can either select 'cold and dark' or 'ready for take-off'.
 
IanHenry said:
Thanks. I understand that you can fly this complicated aircraft without going through all the processes every time you whish to fly it and that sounds very appealing to me (I don’t have enough simulator time to go through a complicated start up procedure every time that I want to fly).<o:p></o:p>
It is very expensive to me for a single add on, but you guys opinions are certainly making it look worth the expense.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Regards,<o:p></o:p>
Ian.
Click to expand...

Ian I will try to help out here. I have also owned Concorde X since day one, and have had many many awesome flights with her. With that said, if you do not have a lot of time to learn the systems, and fly the bird you will be disappointed. Climbing to 50,000ft+ to achieve the Mach 2 speed takes awhile (as it did in real life). Weight and balance is very critical, and the Civa INS is time consuming to program/operate. I think this aircraft is one of the ones that is almost as real as it gets. Very satisfying once you have mastered all of the systems. Granted I will admit I have broken the laws on a few occassions and gone Mach 2 over land. Ah well. It is a simulator after all. :icon_lol:
 
just my penneys worth. I bought it, and ever since have been trying to scheme some way for TWVA to add it to their fleet as the concode TWA never took delivery of.. its a grat plane to fly..
 
Thanks for the thread - been wondering about this plane ....

What liveries are included? Anything older - Landor, etc? I'm not a big fan of the new Chatham Dockyard Union BA scheme. Hoping a prototype scheme is included?

thanks,

dl
 
Thanks everyone, I just bought it, the price didn't include VAT, so that’s another 20%, defiantly the most expensive Flight Sim addon that I’ve ever bought. <o:p></o:p>
Yet to take it up for a spin, so wish me luck!<o:p></o:p>
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Regards,<o:p></o:p>
Ian.
 
Liveries included are the BA red tail, Landor and Chatham, Air France and FSLabs house scheme. You have the option of P1 or P2 for each of these when selecting your aircraft, so that is a total of ten in your 'select aircraft' menu.
 
If you need help Ian PLEASE ask... Words of advice to you right now.. Set the parking brake, turn off the engines, and press Cntl+I to align the Civa INS. That will at least save you that head ache in the early learning. :icon_lol:
 
I'd echo most of that, except for the INS - to get real enjoyment from this simulation, I really think you need to learn to handle the aircraft (which means forgetting much of what you already know). The best way to do that is circuits or short hops, learn the INS seperately when you decide you have enough understanding of the aircraft to go somewhere and not worry too much about how you're going to land it (nothing worse than a long flight and a ballsed-up landing!)

You'll find it's quite comfortable to fly on tight circuits, especially if you avail yourself of all the resources provided. There seem to be two schools of thought on this sim - those that want to do absolutely everything themselves because otherwise a computer is doing the work, and those (like myself) who feel that the aircraft was designed to be flown by a 3-man crew so the virtual flight engineer is perfectly acceptable. Sometimes, I wish there was a virtual co-pilot as well!

Use the autothrottle on approach until you're totally comfortable with her - it was common in service. 190 kts ias hold on initial approach, with 154 - 167 dialed in ready (assuming empty to normal landing weights, sensible weather). Select IAS aquire at the 800 ft call, then concentrate on keeping approx 700fpm descent and 11deg AoA - ground effect will turn that into a greaser. at 40 ft, deselect autothrottle and gradually retard the throttles and pull back on the stick. The ideal is to maintain a set attitude throughout, there is actually no flare as such when landing Concorde.

Hope you're having fun with her, let us know if you have any problems.
 
I fly with the VFE on. For me usually I am going through the checklists while climbing to FL50 and watching everything. So don't have time to do the fuel transfers and babysit all that. Just trying to get him quick started with the INS instead of waiting forever for it to warmup/input coordinates/load. The bird is very easy once you get the basics. Is just a matter of getting in the manuals, and reading how it all works. Also making sure if you are doing ILS landings that you flip to glareshield switch from INS to RAD. I always forget that one, and usually don't wind up figuring it out till it's to late and have to go around.
 
Many thanks for the offers of help. I’m not normally interested in tubeliners, I tend to use GA, jet fighters and warbirds but I figured if you are going to start somewhere, it may as well be Concorde!<o:p></o:p>
After installing Concorde and restarting the computer, I was ready for my first flight, but when I loaded it I had no instruments wheels on the aircraft, so I restarted the computer again and this time they were ok.<o:p></o:p>
I did find that Concorde wants to fly with a nose up attitude I’ll try and fix that on the second flight tonight.<o:p></o:p>
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Regards,<o:p></o:p>
Ian.
 
Ian the Concorde will always fly at a nose up attitude just by the nature of the aerodynamics she uses to maintain flight. I am no expert in this area by any stretch, but this site is a good place to learn a lot about her. Plus their forum has been very helpful to me: http://www.concordesst.com/home.html . It also has the real world routes and stuff that BA, and AF used. In normal flight though she should be about 5-8 degrees nose up, and on landing above 15 degrees nose up is normal, if not nearer to 20. I always have to move the camera up to see the runway out the windows on final if I am not doing an ILS landing. Is good to hear you got your initial issues sorted though, and are flying. That is better than I did for my first flight. :gameoff:Just be sure to get in and read/study the books. I usually fly with the tutorial manaul open just because those procedures are far more complete, and they answer a lot of questions in it. Where the manual just has the basic checklist, and you have to go to individual chapters to see how everything works.
 
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