Feel Real – Project Opensky – 747-400 (Virgin Atlantic)

(Designed By: Mitsushi Yutaka, Hiroshi Igami Flight Dynamics By: Johan C Dees)

Firstly I’m a big fan of the Feel Real products, and towards Opensky. But the 747 (or Jumbo) has now made a completely new generation of aircraft available for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000. As you will read below this stunning new development has brought forward a great new range of aircraft available!


Installation

The installation was relatively easy compared too some downloads. Just unzip to the Aircraft directory and away you go! No messing around placing files all over the Flight Simulator directory.

Panel

Sadly this plane has the default panel which I personally despite, but if you got the time search FS Planet or another Flight Simulator site, they’re bound to have a 747 Panel. I found one easy enough. And by doing that it’s so much easier to fly! Now when I was going to pick this plane from the Aircraft on Flight Sim I also noticed that there was no description or Performance Specifications, just Copyright Issues and names of the people who made it. Which I found, a little disappointing because some people will use the Info for knowing the limit altitude or capable speed etc…

Flight

It will be a routine flight from Heathrow (EGLL) to Kennedy Intl (KJFK). Using the 747-400. This aircraft is capable of carrying 586 passenger’s maximum, but today it was only going to be 457. It was a teatime flight where-upon we should be departing Heathrow at around 6.30pm. The weather was great and as we looked forward to the Oceanic weather it was also very nice. We planned to climb to 37,000 feet and a maximum speed of 350knots. After departing Heathrow we will climb out over Wales then up the Oceanic route to cross below the Bahamas and then finally up to New York. Below I will be reviewing the special features of the Feel Real Boeing 747-400 Virgin Atlantic!

Review

With the 48 – sided Fuselage the large Jet looks magnificent. The textures are one of the best I have seen, with the large bird sitting at Terminal 4 Heathrow. The textures include great effects from real looking doors and windows to 3D pilots in the cockpit. With full working Lights and moving Flaps, Slats, Spoilers, Wheels, Elevators, Tilting Gear-bays, Ailerons and Engine Fans. These aircraft can be downloaded from FS-Planet in 3 different liveries (Virgin Atlantic, KLM Royal Dutch and Air France!) As you manoeuvre your Spot View around the aircraft to pretend your actually doing the walk-around before start-up you can see the fine detail that has been placed on this aircraft. The gear (wheels) for one are such a fine detail you would believe they are actual pictures taken and placed on the aircraft. Then you move above to the engine all 4 of them, as you see the fans are still you gently zoom in too even see the little swirl on the middle part of the engine! The livery is just as if you have a real Virgin Atlantic 747 sitting at Heathrow. With the Union Jack placed on the Wing Tips, makes me feel proud to be doing this review for such a magnificent aeroplane. Just for the fun of it I decided to take one of the many pictures that are taken from real life, the camera right on the tip of the nose, showing the sheer mass of the bird. And you know it looks as real as the real thing.

A few other things I noticed were mainly just the excellent detail from the Emergency doors on the engines to the aerials above, “look as real as I think it can get” Even the wheels you can pick out the many bolts involved to secure the tyre’s. As I see in FS Traffic some of the aeroplanes passing behind us from 757’s – 737’s none of them look like the 747 does. On start-up all 4 engines start up as smooth as a brand new Fearri would. After start-up I begin to imagine the luxury the passengers will receive when they step on board this aircraft. With “Lady Penelope” sitting on the side, I begin to take a look at what Virgin Atlantic and all the other liveries have got to deserve to have such a fine plane on MS Flight Simulator! The only problem with such fine detail I find is; sometimes from Spot View the detail may appear a little smudgy or it may appear a little messy where the designers try to darken the colour or lighten it. Anyway that is no problem to what the aircraft holds. As we finish boarding we are pushed back with all 4 engines started. As we are granted clearance to taxi, we start the big bird rolling by it’s own Power for the first time today. As she rolls we get up to 3knots ground speed and it seems so slow. As we line up all checks are complete, flaps at 15, all lights on, autopilot set and off, and ready to role. As were granted clearance we increase the throttle and roll down Runway 27L at Heathrow, as we gain enough speed we lift the baby into the sky with EASE! We climb to 1,500 feet where we are cleared to turn on Navigation and from there we fly on autopilot. Sadly this aircraft has not been fitted with Fly-By-Wire so we know we’ll be landing it ourselves. No Problems.

As we are in mid flight at 35,000 feet and 350knots at 3:28am everyone is sleeping apart from the Staff, so I decide to go to Spot View to see the aircraft from above the Ocean at Night.

As you can see in the fine detail some passengers have shut their window covers and some partly shut. You can see the inside lights and even some shadows of the passengers. As we go round to the engines you can no-longer see the swirl inside but now you can see them rotating at a High Speed. I can imagine the temperature is inside them. We only have the Beacons, Tail lights and the Logo’s on as we go to a view from the top of the tail we can see the sheer length of the aircraft and the far distant dimmed light of the cockpit far in front.
As we come on the Approach we descend and open the flaps, as I watch them move, they move with such real-ness I was breath-taken. As we come on finals we descend the Flaps to Full, Spoilers on, Gear Down, All Lights on, And cleared to Land. As I watched all the above move I was amazed. We now see the distant Runway and prepare to land manually; we switch off the autopilot. On finals we come through the clouds and it’s a bit bumpy through turbulence.

As we clear the clouds we touch down and open the slats and add the 4 Reverser’s and you can hear the Power pull us back as we slowly slow down, we begin to taxi increase the flaps, spoilers, and Landing Lights off. As we approach the gate we can see all the lorry’s and vans waiting to Welcome us To KJFK. As we pull on the Parking break and begin to shut down the engines. In my mind I give the big bird and great big Thanks! For 1. A magnificent experience and 2. For being Freeware although in my opinion it is most defiantly worth to be Payware.

As I take a final look at the bird I see how lovely it looks nice and peaceful sat on the American Soil. Well done Feel Real!


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