Just Flight's F-Lite Range: An Interview With Alex Ford

23 April 2008

All questions answered by Alex Ford. Alex is Just Flight's Publishing Director.

1. Who had the idea for the F-Lite range of products and why was the label first conceived?

[Alex Ford wrote] Well I think that I proposed the idea but it was born out of several conversations and discussions that I have had with simmers and read on forums - basically that although 'Professional' level products were excellent and that they would continue to purchase these, a large majority of simmers were not actually getting to actually fly the software much because it was so accurate and complex in its systems. It really was not possible to jump in the cockpit and take off and enjoy flying. You had to press every switch and move every lever and ensure each action was just right, just to get an engine started and although many people want that there is still a large volume of simmers who don't want or don't need that complexity level to go flying, so F-Lite was born to answer that demand.

2. How many products are in the F-Lite stable now?

[Alex Ford wrote] Well it keeps growing and I think we are up to around five products at present; DC10 Collection, VLJ, A340 500/600, Airbus Collection and our just released title Airbus Collection Long Haul, but more are on their way for sure 747-200/300 is the next one - people really like the range with its combination of excellent graphics and great flight model aligned with a more simple style of operation.

Here are a couple of links to some of our F-Lite products:

3. Do Just Flight use specialist developers to produce the F-Lite products?

[Alex Ford wrote] All our current F-Lite products have been skilfully developed by the experts over at CLS - they really know the formula well providing excellent graphics and eye candy as well as a great flight model but user friendly systems.

4. Can you give a simple explanation and perhaps an example of how an F-Lite aircraft will differ to a fully worked up /comprehensive aircraft?

[Alex Ford wrote] Sure - let's take the FMC (Flight Management Computer) as an example. In our Professional range this is quite complex and realistic allowing simmers to drill down quite deep through several layers of options and settings to set up the aircraft pretty much as you would the real machine - this of course takes skill and knowledge which we do supply via tutorials and our PDF and printed manuals but of course all this takes time and there is a set of simmers who perhaps would love to do all that but really don't have the time to learn how to do this or indeed the time to actually do the programming of the FMC and would rather just go flying in a great looking machine, so this is where F-Lite comes in. The F-lite machine still has a functioning FMC but it is less in-depth and you don't actually have to touch it (unless you want to) to actually go flying - as an example you can simply import a flight plan from Flight Simulator into it at the pressing of around 1-2 buttons and then your flight plan is loaded and you are ready to go flying - simple and easy but still fun to fly and use.

5. Do you see the F-Lite branding playing a major part in Just Flight's plans in the coming years?

[Alex Ford wrote] Well we have several brand lines like our 'Professional' range and our very popular 'Flying Club' general aviation set so F-Lite is in addition to those along with our other multitude of packages.

6. Any other specialist brands or labels due to come out from Just Flight?

[Alex Ford wrote] Later this year we will be re-introducing our 'Combat Zone' brand for military aircraft, these will probably be along the same lines as F-Lite - looks great but easy enough to operate and fun to fly.

7. How successful do you believe the F-Lite range has been?

[Alex Ford wrote] It been very well received and continues to be very popular - we had to ensure that we explained the philosophy of F-Lite to our customers before and when we launched it as previously we had only offered the Professional range so we had to ensure that people did not buy the F-Lite range and expect it to be as complex as the Professional range - it seems to have worked well and people understand the differences quite clearly.

8. Can you give us an indication of upcoming titles that may receive the F-Lite treatment?

[Alex Ford wrote] As I briefly mentioned before the next F-LIte product is the 747-200/300. This will feature all the normal F-Lite features in a multitude of liveries. After that we have plans for several more popular airliners of two and three engine varieties - I am sure they will be well received - we will be publishing exclusive info and pictures of those on our in-development page and staff blogs on our site and in fact pictures of the 747-200/300 are there now - expect more news soon!

Thanks for all your questions - It has been a pleasure replying and I hope that I have answered them to your readers satisfaction.