Hoping that JustFlight will start selling this againā¦
Well I plumped for the Maddog in the end.Expensive even with 20% sale but it looks quite good and I couldnāt see the Skysim DC9 improvement/update coming out anytime soon.
The Maddog is getting revamped to a āversion 2ā made for 2024 these days, no release date yet though. It is a solid aircraft, but the sound pack for it is quite poor, there are improvements available though, and a payware soundpack on the horizon in the near future. Right now it is very enjoyable to fly, it will only get better with the version 2 release. It will be a nominal upgrade fee for existing customers if I remember correct, but check their forums for the official communication on this.
Am I right in thinking there is no freighter version included? Not sure there is in the new DC-9 package eitherā¦
Doesnāt look like the proposed updates have or are coming out if you bought it.
The freighter is included, there is the 30-F with Aeronaves TSM livery, currently operational.
What makes you say that?
Got an email this AM, the update seems to be out finally!
Hopefully itās good, this DC-9 becomes a success, and other classic jets are developed for MSFS.
On my way, will be back with a review soon.
I did a brief flight yesterday of the DC9-30, just hand flew a circuit at CYYZ. I took off at 90,000 lb weight, which seems to be a middling weight, not too near MTOW, but not empty either. the plane was fairly easy to control, but I couldnāt get any DME info, also the plane seems to be overpowered, was climbing at 4000 fpm while quickly accelerating to about 250 kts. Not sure, but this seems a bit high?
Otherwise a nice plane, and no other issues were detected.
edit I didnāt turn the Nav Radios on perhaps thatā[s why no DME.
Was glad to see the update. Flew a short leg with the -30 and all was well. In the earlier version I lost hydraulic fluid and was never able to figure out why/how to fix (including no fix from developer). This seems like a very promising update! Thanks
Just tried the new update and I donāt see any issues with the plane that I can think of, I just think flight controls are still a bit twitchy, and the sounds could be improved as well. But overall I think itās a really nice plane.
The developer said thereās more variants coming in the future like the -40 and -50, and itād be nice if they added different cockpit color options like did in their FSX/P3D release in the past.
A very quick & dirty review of this updated version.
Graphics and textures are nice, I would say better than Leonardo MDs, worst than Fenix, so somewhere in the middle. Cockpit lighting at night looks really nice.
You do get both the 10 and 30 but the pricing seems a little high.
Dev has said he plans to add a GPS and improve sounds.
Sounds are eclectic, some are very good, some are very bad and some are just missing. For example when you open windows, or change digits in the NAV or COM radios.
Systems seem to be working quite nicely in this version. I still think the starting process is bonkers, in the real plane you donāt need the starter pump to start the engines but here you do. Maybe this is a slightly different version of the DC-9 from the one I know and this might be accurate but feels a bit odd.
Autopilot works very well. It captures ILSs ok if you are gentle with it, VOR navigation works, heading mode works, turn knob works and vertical speed knob also works fine.
None of the standard bindings for AP work, you need to use Spad Next or similar if you want to bind things like the turn knob, pitch knob or altitude alerter to your hardware.
Flight model seems to be very good, the plane is VERY sensitive on the pitch axis but I was told this was the same in the real plane and in most planes with a huge T-Tail. We can compensate it with curves if our hardware does not have the weight and resistance of the real thing.
In my very limited knowledge it seems a bit sluggish on takeoff.
I got a lot of spurious alerts here and there specially from the GPSW system and the Stall alert system, got Stall alerts at 160+ kts, got some terrain alerts at +2000 AGL, etc. These tend to come and go quickly so no big deal but a bit annoying.
EFB is fine, setting weights is easy. You can also open the doors but they take a few seconds to open and the EFB light only changes to green once it is opened. So you click, nothing happens but the door is opening, so you click again and now you are closing it, etc. It would be better if the light turned green when the door starts to open and not when it finishes. Hope this saves some people from pulling hair.
Was this useful? I donāt know I like the DC-9 and this after the update is very decent. Could have been better? Yes sure.
i will buy it i think will be a great aircraft despite its launch
A couple of quick test flights in, and I still see this thing being very overpowered, I was able to cruise at 250 kts at about 6000 ft using EPR somewhere under 1.2. Having never flown a DC9 I donāt know, but should this thing be able to go that fast at such a low power level?
Did a two hour flight with the new patch.
I think both the flight model and engine model are pretty poor.
Itās way too over-sensitive, and thatās using a baseline profile that works great across a variety of planes and especially the Maddog. And yes, I could easily create a separate profile with all sorts of exaggerations, but what this highlights is a lack of overall tuning of the model.
The way the wings are set up and combined with the T-tail this plane is meant to be sluggish and heavy at slow speeds, something which the Maddog demonstrates really well. Instead, you land this thing like an airbus, sitting there making tiny inputs with your pinkie.
The biggest offender is the instantaneous response of controls, like youāre flying an F-18 and not a jet from 1965. No inertia, no feeling of weight, both in the air and on the ground. No amount of curves in the controls will fix that.
Talking about F-18 - the other disappointment are the engines. These are JT8Ds - their spool time should be measured in minutes. You should have to think way ahead of the plane and set your power accordingly, instead you have faster throttle response than the Longitude. You can go from nothing to full take off power in a matter of seconds, near instant response.
I want to like this plane so much. It looks great, has all the right qualities. I love the Maddog but always wanted the smaller variants. Itās supposed to be perfect.
Iām hoping the dev will patch it up but I just donāt know man.
I remembered how this thing cost me $70 a few months back and just felt sad.
I purchased the DC-9 today for MSFS 2024 and a major issue I have is that the HSI/RMI/VOR system is completely out of whack.
When tuned into a VOR sometimes the RMI needles will point relatively accurately towards the VOR initially but when setting the HSI to a direct TO course itās indicating up to 30-40 maybe 60 degrees in a different direction.
Course deviation needle on HSI is doing seemingly random things. When Iām directly on say the 270 degree radial the HSI will indicate perhaps 220 and continually drift even though track is not changing.
Trying in intercept a specific radial doesnāt work at all. I can weave back and forth through where I know it is (Navigraph / Little NavMap) and the course deviation will stay pegged at full scale deflection. It could take my 10ās of miles off course and have me flying at a 90 degree angle from it.
The VOR autopilot mode will lose the track very quickly and do wild fishtails trying to intercept something, ignoring what the course deviation is indicating which will soon be at full deflection. Aircraft will sometimes settle into something thatās vaguely heading towards VOR but doesnāt care at all what radial/track/course youāre trying to fly. DME seems to be reading ok.
Iām seeing that other people are saying this system is working for them but mine is definitely broken in v3.1. Any ideas what could be going on if Iām the only one with this issue?
I agree with all your points and am also quite sad I spent $80 CAD on this. To me it feels like an alpha version of a freeware aircraft.