Discovering a Jewel

falcon409

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Staff member
There is an artical in this months Computer Pilot magazine by Tom Kurtz entitled Exploring Madagascar. . .part 3.

An interesting narrative that includes flying several different aircraft along the way. One of them is the Piaggio Avanti P-180. I knew Mario Nuriega(sp?) did a version that was quite good and that I had flown quite some time ago, but with uninstalls of FS9 and moving the sim from one HD to another, I lost quite a few airplanes and scenery addons along the way. The Avanti was one of them.

This article got me thinking about it again and so I went to flightsim.com to search for it. I found the freeware version easy enough, but I also found a few repaints for a payware version also. . .by FSD. I don't think I ever knew they had done one, but I went looking anyway. For $17.00 U.S., you can't go wrong. I had flown the freeware version a few times after downloading and installing and liked it, but purchased this one anyway since the price was right for me.

Admittedly, nowadays the quality of this addon can be found in most freeware offerings. . .freeware designers have gotten that good over time. Pricing was everything this time and I don't regret paying $17 for this one at all as it is the best one available on either side. I especially like the VC and the view position on the FSD version. . .much easier to see on finals as Mario's version sat almost as high in the view as the 2D. Sure I could have made some tweaks and gotten the view down where I wanted it, but even manually setting the VC view in the freeware version didn't give me a view I was totally happy with, FSD's version on the other hand was exactly where I wanted it.

Another nice thing about the FSD version is that there are ton's of repaints available right on their website. . .some beautifully done liveries.

In the past I've been quite vocal at times about FSD and their customer service, which can be appalling. . .but in the case of the Avanti. . .it's a jewel worth paying for.
 
I don't know... the freeware one is one of my favorite planes in my FSX hangar, and the VC of this plane is awesome, so detailled and completely clickable. Moreover, the external model is absolutely fantastic.... I would never pay 17$ for a payware with such a great quality freeware, it would just be a waiste of money...
 
That FSD model was first built for FS2002 I think. I've had it on my HDD forever and it shows it's age a bit - many things in the VC are not clickable. The XML gauge programming means you cant save the flight in-transit without the panel gauges going crazy when you select the flight again. That said, I would love to see an update - The FSD Avanti would have more hours on it than any other FS model I own. It's a virtual work of art and a fabulous flyer, even after all this time.
The Noriegia (sp?) model is great too, but for me the beautiful VC of the FSD one keeps me there. I wonder if the author would be at all interested in tidying up the VC art; maybe even updating his model to the latest Rockwell collins Avionics set being offered by Avanti USA?

LPXO
 
I don't know....... I would never pay 17$ for a payware with such a great quality freeware, it would just be a waiste of money...
. . .and that is certainly your right. I just happen to disagree, which is what makes this place interesting.
 
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