New Release: FlySimWare's Grumman G-44A Widgeon Seaplane

because everyone needs an autopilot and a gps in every aircraft, whether they belong or not.
Ill never understand the need for an AP- i mean, why use MSFS to be a passive observer? why get set up for a flight only to expect the software to do everything for you

but then, that kind of flying is antithetical to what i use msfs for, so no explanation is necessary: itll still be baffling

one of the problems is, when every aircraft has identical systems - first, it can be jarring if such systems arent appropriate for the aircraft, but second: how do any aircraft really differentiate themselves? at some point theyre similar enough of an experience that theres no compelling reason to open your pocketbook

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The addition of an AP to this plane would hardly makes this plane identical to others. You may be over egging this. General advice to others would be to worry less about how others want to fly their planes.

flying safely? whose life is on the line here?

if youre trimmed out, the aircraft should continue doing what your were doing prior to letting go. not sure why theres a need to take both hands off the controls in the first place

im so sorry, what was i thinking? i shouldve known dissenting opinions are verbot mea culpa

It’s less about dissenting opinions, but trying to force ones own views on others. If someone else wants an AP, does that stop your enjoyment of the plane in any way?

And if that bothers you, ask yourself the question “Why am I bothered by how that other person wants to fly their planes?”

voicing an opinion isnt the same as forcing it

I like AP in many of my aircrafts.

But in this one, I don’t want any. There are a couple of planes that I want to fly by hand, this is one of them.

YMMV

On the otrher hand, if I get a clean cockpit and 4K textures and everything modelled professionally to MSFS standards, you guys can have your AP.
Maybe we can make a deal with the dev, lol.

If there is evidence of a real world counterpart having one, and by the sounds of it there is, then I don’t see the harm.

Those that want it can use it, those that don’t can leave it turned off. Who knows, maybe this plane might end up with a working fuse panel, and you could simply pop the AP fuse.

Some had AP like this one: 1947 Grumman G-44A Widgeon – Alaska Aircraft Sales

I already have a gtn750 integrated, different avionics were used and replaced with the original aircraft so I feel mixing the stack up is a realistic approach without breaking realism.

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That has a Century AK656 autopilot fitted which I think is the Grumman Certified version of the Century I?

If so that’s really simple single axis autopilot with very limitted features even compared to something like the Century II in the JF Arrows, and to me perfect for a plane like this - just enough functionality to help in situations of high workload, but nowhere near enough to want to start relying on it.

Plus it doesn’t even need a new panel fitted - it fits in place of the Turn/Slip indicator

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Beta 1.7 is out!!! Now with basic autopilot and more texture upgrades!

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Very interested in this! Glad to hear it’s being fixed up - although I hate this ethic of ‘release the broken ■■■■ heap and fix it later’.

Does anyone have any screens of the new 4k interior? The textures themselves looked really detailed originally but for some reason were super low resolution.

Also how do the engines handle? Seems to be all aircraft in the sim you can fire up easy as pie and then idle at 0 throttle and they just keep running. Would like to have to coax the engines a little bit.

it’s in BETA and is marketed as such.
It’s not even at any store yet, you can only get it at the devs website.

I hate unfinished releases as the next guy but this is officially unfinished, so just wait with purchase if you dont wanna fly the BETA.

Didn’t Flysimware state that the next version (and this now is the next version) will be in the stores?

Karl

no, they stated this is the last BETA and after that it goes to stores officially.

At least that was written in every mail I got from them.

Will it be finished and perfect when that happens ? I don#t know, will tell you once it’s out :wink:

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Hopefully I didn’t come across too negative, I was responding to the original release where even simple gauges were not working, that’s alpha level not beta.

Still have a genuine interest in purchasing this in beta, now that it actually is in a beta state. Just want to see the new interior textures before taking the plunge!

I sensed nothing negative, I hope I did not respond rude or such.

Just wanted to clarify the status of this addon.

I have high hopes for it, but i also know I’m gonna have to mod some things myself, for example a clean cockpit that doesn’t look unserviced for 30 years. That’s a stylistic choice and I don’t think it’s going away.

Other than that that things is making good progress.

I will post some in a few minutes. The 1.7 Beta is still a Beta. They found more stuff to work on before coming out of it. There will already be another release that fixes a few textures that don’t show up properly in 1.7
 The two I can see that are weird now are seatbelt (shows up white) and the very bottom overhead - shows up stretched, but that will be fixed in the next version and it’s in the notes. Screens coming shortly, guys.

I downloaded 1.7 BETA and installed it (de-installed the former one before that.
I have Zero garmin Mods installed and also not a GTN750 or such. I don’t use any of that so it’s all vanilla on my game.

Spawned the plane ready on a runway for takeoff but the Garmin is not working. That is not right.













Here are some shots. There are a couple that clearly show some missing textures in this release (half the ceiling, the seatbelt, the fire extinguisher, etc), BUT
 if you look at the overall quality of the cockpit, it’s MUCH improved. I have included a shot of the new Autopilot buttons. Notice how much better the wooden pillar texture is comparing to the original release! This thing has a TON of ambiance and wear and it looks great. One thing remains now is to fix the missing ones, and then it’s good as far as I am concerned. It still flies like a dream and with an AP now present, it should make some longer trips easier on workload in cruise. Please note that thankfully, there is no VS mode of anything. Climb on your own, set altitude hold, and follow GPS. Or not. DIsable AP before descent and fly it in by hand - the way you should. :wink:

This is probably one of my top 5 GA airplanes in MSFS right now.

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