Hi!

After looking at pics and reading the extremely favourable review in this month's edition of PCPilot magazine, I am seriously considering adding 727 Captain to my aircraft collection.  I currently have CS's 757 Captain which, though I did have a few issues early on, has become one of my firm favourites.

Firstly do you recommend the 727?  I'm supposed to be getting a new computer soon as we are having our pc-room redecorated, and as my PC usage is mostly FSX and other similarly demanding products, I am hoping to specify the new machine so it is tailored for FSX (Quad Core, 4Gb RAM etc).  The current machine I use FSX on is actually a laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo at 1.83GHz with 2.0Gb RAM and an nVidia GeForce Go graphics card with 128Mb cache.  Whilst it runs FSX ok, it does struggle with high-end aircraft addons.  I can just about get away with reasonable FRs with the 757 Captain in the VC, provided I turn traffic and autogen off and tone down the scenery settings to about Medium-Low.  So my next questions are, should I get the 727 Captain product now and try it on my current machine, or wait until I get a faster system?  And, more generally, what sort of system specs would you recommend for the new machine if I intend to use it primarily for FSX - i've been looking closely at Dell?

Now onto a different topic altogether really - airway navigation!  I understand the 727 had no FMC, and as it wasn't a long haul aircraft had no INS either, so we have to use VOR.  Whilst i'm fairly familiar with using VOR-VOR navigation, I like to be as realistic as possible and would therefore like to navigate using airways and intersections, much like FMC-equipped addons do - though they do it themselves with little or no pilot intervention!  Does anyone know how I can plan a flight using airways and intersections, and how to fly these in FSX (with the 727)?

Thanks!

Tom

Well, on your current machine I would wait, you won't full enjoy and appreciate this plane with your specs.
As for your new system, it depends on how much you are willing to spend. Make sure to get high end processor ( i7 if you can ), high end graphics card ( something like Geforce 260, 275,295 ) good amount of ram, and what's important, a good power supply. Something like a 750watt psu, with over 40 amps on the 12 volt rail.

Hey mate :)

You'll enjoy the 727 and you can always use it on your current rig until you get the new one.  I personally find it to perform *a bit* better than the 757.

As for your new rig, I wouldn't necessarily go with a quad core unless you're going to overclock it.  FSX doesn't use multiple cores well, so I'd get a really fast dual core.

Cheers for replies!

Interesting what you say about FSX and multi core.  Will certainly take that into consideration. Thanks.

Any suggestions as to my query about airways?

Thanks,
Tom

FSX gives you the option for airways, simply choose IFR and High altitude aiways in the flight planner.

I don't recomend the 727 until they straighten out the trim issue. It makes hand flying the plane on departures and approaches a hopeless case of flighting the airplane.

If you do buy it you can build real world routes as follows. Go to flightaware.com / pilot resources / flight route analyzer. This site will give you recently used real world routing between two points.

Buy the program FSBuild and plug in the route from flightaware.com. FSBuld will build the flightplan and plug it into FSX for you. Open the FSX flight planner and load the flightplan.

FMC's use airways and VOR's as well.

Thanks for the replies!

@JETPILOT - what's wrong with the trim?

The rate at which the main trim motor operates is much too fast. it's very difficult to trim the plane while departing and landing. I don't fly the plane anymore becuase of this. It's a shame becasue it's other wise a nice plane. CS seems to ignore this issue.

I do have to say that the trim operates way to quickly, however it doesn't bother me one bit at all because I have the Saitek pro flight yoke.  On the saitek yoke you have a toggle switch on the left hand side of the yoke, much like the electric trim on many newer aircraft.  I use this for trim.  I may have to push it just for a second, but it does the job.

Best Regards,
Robert