Ariane 737-900ER with X2 Service Pack By Don Filer (23 February 2009)Patience is a virtue and I am not aterribly virtuous fellow. I have no previous experience withAriane, the publisher of this software and have no axe to grindwith them. I was very interested in their new Boeing 737-900product for FSX, not only because it is among the new crop ofcomplex and tremendously realistic flight simulator aircraft butalso because I saw a negative comment left by someone who must havehad a bad experience with them. So, I started off with a cleanslate and mild curiosity about the publisher and theirproducts.Let me begin by stating this is an extraordinary aircraft fromboth a graphical and performance standpoint. The documentation thatcomes with the airplane is the best I have yet seen. The flightreference guide is a 40 page (non-printable) PDF file jam packedwith detailed information of every switch and function in thecockpit.
Includes beautiful sounds, effects, FSX 737 default virtual cockpit with improvements. FS2004/FSX/P3D Delta Airlines Boeing 737-900ER, registration N852DN.New model included (TDS739ERCFM56-7BE-LP2W3) with LED lights. The B737-900ER is developed by Tenkuu Developers Studio (TDS).Model features high resolution textures, dynamic flexing wings, nose gear steering, rudder lock, ground spoilers, low speed aileron locks at high speed, fully animated control surfaces, fully.
The flight crew training manual is 117 very readable pagesof information right out of Boeing's Operations Manual. Again in anon-printable PDF file.
Additionally the training manual includes atutorial flight taking you from Seattle Tacoma to San Franciscowith SIDs and STARs and step-by-step programming of the completeand accurate FMC. Even if you are an experienced commercial pilot,you are strongly encouraged to read the documentation from cover tocover. While it has been printer disabled, you may purchase thedocumentation at what the publisher claims is a very reasonableprice.Before you get so excited you start drooling, remember I startedthis off with a comment about patience. After you receive thesoftware and load it onto your computer which by the way, better berobust with lots of speed, RAM, and video processing capability;you must send Ariane an email message with a paragraph ofcharacters copied from the activation request screen. The publisherwill respond within 48 hours of your request with an email messageand you must copy this into the activation menu to complete theprocess. I sent my request on December 29th and received myresponse at 6:55 AM on December 31st.
So all I could do was sit inthe cockpit and look around until the activation was processed andI could begin setting the switches in the overhead panel to firethings up.This is a very effective way to make sure you read the suppliedmaterial and I encourage you to do that. The first time you havethe capability of pre-flight operations you will perform a warmstart of the flight deck and from time to time you will have torestart the engines.
Ariane has made this process easier by addingsome dynamic functions to the menu bar. While I'm glowing abouttheir documentation effort, I can't help but point out the tutorialexplains how to obtain the correct ILS frequency for runway 28R inSan Francisco.
Unfortunately, the documentation says it's 110.9. Ifyou really follow the instructions however, you will program thecorrect frequency of 111.7.Since I had plenty of time to burn, I thought I would visitAriane's user forum to see what other customers had to say.Unfortunately, you are not allowed to logon to the user's forumuntil you request permission to use the forum; which also requiresa waiting period. Once I got to the site and logged on with myapproved user name and password, I found that for the most parttheir customers are very fond of Ariane and its products. On to the business of flying the 737-900Once activated and depending on your experience in the 737, youwill spend some time familiarizing yourself and enabling theoverhead panel, IRS panel and the FMC. After getting the power,fuel, and hydraulic settings correct you will be able to start theengines.
This can be done with the help of the ground crew via theadditional dynamic menus or by pushing a call button from thecaptain's seat in the overhead panel. The IRS must be aligned andthis requires FMC initialization. After that you will have toprogram the FMC with departure and arrival airports, waypoints,SIDs, STARs, runways, gross weight, temperature, V1, V2, and VRsettings. This process can be simplified somewhat by 'reading' yourflight simulator flight plan data directly into the FMC.The aft electronic panel controls have to be set and minorsettings on the throttle control stand like setting the trim andarming the speed brakes before setting up the MCP with the cruisealtitude.
After setting the auto brake to RTO and setting theflaps, you should make the final adjustments to the PFD ND displayso you can see the map for about 20 miles ahead.If you really want to make things realistic you can contact thetower and get the FTC involved in your flight. I flew with andwithout them wanting to determine how well the FMC would workwithout the flight controller giving me directions. When followingthe FTC commands you will most likely bail out of your LNAV and FMCwaypoint settings in order to comply with the tower. While on thesubject of how much guidance you want to have, I found itinteresting the documentation points out twice, 'an FAA surveyamong pilots found 90% flew the descent manually to the FAF orapproach.'
While I was successful in performing fully automatedlandings, it was not from information found in the documentationbut from the user's forum. I did plenty of manual landings where Ibounced the landing gear hard and veered off the runway a couple oftimes.
I like how it looks when the 737 flares and touches downgracefully on autopilot. I'll have to practice a while before Ihave that kind of control.I also downloaded Ariane's free X2 service pack which fixes anFMC Hold problem and includes some additional audio. The enginesound of the Ariane 737-900 is incredible and very realistic.
Ifound the sound of the air rushing by at 300 knots to be quitevivid and the ambient sounds of switches clicking, brakes releasingand flaps lowering is very good as well. Eight flight attendantannouncements as well as music can be called up from the galleypanel and are audible in the cockpit.Some pretty unique views of this aircraft are provided byAriane's designers.
The galley may be hidden leaving a jump seatview of the flight deck as well as a couple of different wingviews; two including the engines. The 3D graphics are delightfuland the views spectacular. The designers have taken special care tosimulate the actual performance of the Boeing 737. You will notice,especially on take offs and landings, this baby handles veryrealistically. Your first attempt to jerk her into flight willundoubtedly cause a tail dragging experience.
Smooth and delicatehandling of the yoke and throttle are mandatory. InstallationActivation process aside, the installation consists of one.exefile that stores everything in its proper place. The 737-900ERcomes in two liveries, Boeing and generic.
After staring at thegeneric tail artwork, it occurred to me that it is partlyContinental and part something else, KLM maybe. You may purchase anadditional 10 liveries directly from Ariane and this seems to be ahot topic on the user's forum. The repaints were subcontracted toMcPhat whose repaints are exquisite. As of this writing, Arianeisn't providing them free but separate in add-on packs.A couple of things make this package remarkable. Theillustrations and diagrams in the documentation are a dream cometrue. With 40 pages of explanation, even the novice will get thehang of the FMC and its precise control capabilities.
I suspect thetarget audience for Ariane's 737 offerings, like the, is commercial pilots intraining. While a joy to fly for hobbyists, you can easily getyourself in a corner trying to get the airplane configuredcorrectly.
I floundered for a half hour trying to get the IRSsaligned. I finally opened and closed the baggage compartments andmain exit door and that cleared up the problem. This aircraft withits long haul capability makes a real-world simulator an affordableexperience for the average Joe, taking it completely out of thegame category.
ConclusionWhen the price of one airplane exceeds the cost of the simulatoritself, you have to ask yourself why. Compared to the standardaircraft that come with Flight Simulator the Ariane 737-900 ERexceeded my expectations.
This is a real learning opportunity and ajoy to fly. The software is memory and speed hungry but the payoffis eye pleasing visuals and realistic sounds that make you feellike you're really there. Thumbs up is my vote and I hope you enjoyevery minute flying yours as much as I did. Test SystemProcessor: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4 GHzMemory (RAM): 3.00 GBGraphics: ATI Radeon HD 2400 PROGaming Graphics: 1406 MB Total Available Graphics MemorySystem Type: 32-bit operating system Vista HomeNumber of processor cores: 4Totalsize of hard drive: 931 GBPrimary monitor resolution: 1680x1050Don Filer.