FSFlightMax

By Terry Tyler (6 June 2002)

A few days ago, another tool joined the ranks of "must haves" - the "FSFlightMax" Flight Management System. Produced by a small dedicated team of enthusiasts way down under in the Land of Oz, Sim Systems' FSFlightMax is in my humble opinion, the most powerful and fully featured utility of its kind that I have yet seen. Modelled faithfully on the Avidyne FlightMax 850 - a 'Real-World' FMS, it is at first sight bewildering in the number of user manuals alone, the makers of the 'real thing' having given their permission for the software engineers in FSFlightMax to include them in the simulation package. This alone indicates to me that this is a high quality production.

So for those of you who haven't yet seen the object of this review, what does it look like? Here's a screen shot of the beast asleep.

Basic module - before power up.

Simple - looking, isn't it? Just seven buttons, two knobs and a screen. But all is not as it would seem. The simplest control is the On/Off control knob - does just what it says. After that, things begin to get more interesting - the other, lower, control know is in fact two knobs in one - an inner and an outer. Hmmm. What next? The three buttons between the control knobs are Menu, Esc and Enter. No surprises there for the crafty PC user! But it's in the clever way these buttons are programmed to work that brings in the remaining six buttons which have no useful legend to tell us what they're used for. This is an add-on where you have to RTM (Read The Manual) to find out just what can be done with the unit. And there are eight - count 'em, EIGHT user guides, a total of 204 pages of information for you to absorb. Phew!

Fortunately, it's not required to read all before switching the unit on - there's a comprehensive introduction written by the producers of this unit which will get you up and running, well, trotting anyway!

It's not my intention or desire to give readers a course of instruction in how to use the machine, so if you're interested enough by the end of this review to find out for yourself, go download the basic package: FMax10.zip and its update Fmax11.zip, you'll find them both at http://www.fsflightmax.com Since the package is a module and not an application, it fits in its own folder within the FS [Modules] folder, and has little or no affect on frame rates while Flightsim is in action.

To bring it to life, open the Modules menu in Flightsim and click on FSFlightMax/Show/Hide. Up pops the unit - powered off. Click the left side of the top knob, and the thing starts up by conducting a self-test. When this is finished, click the "Enter" button (remember them?) and away it goes. For first time use, the screen shows very basic information - your aircraft overlaid on a basic map of your location, and surrounded by the compass rose.

Heading, compass rose, flight plan route legs, radar status and other traffic (small number left of center).

Now the fun begins! Clicking on the "Menu" button brings up a list of desirable facilities - top of the list is the map itself. This little beauty has five options to look at: Traffic Overlay, Compass Rose, Clear Strikes, Settings (of which more later) and Help. When selected, Traffic Overlay lets you see other aircraft around you as you fly, whether above, below or grounded, Compass Rose lets you select either the Rose or Arc as directional aid. Clear Strikes does what it says - it clears the history of Lightning Strikes from your radar, if you have this facet of the program checked "On". Settings has four further menus: Data Blocks, Airport Filter, Nav Map Settings, and our old friend, Help.

Briefly, Data Blocks allows the pilot to see at a glance various aspects of his instrumentation without having to hunt around the panel for them - time (UTC and local), altitude, TAS and ground speed, barometer pressure, waypoints (in various flavors; next, last, waypoint and ETE...you get the idea)...each and every in-flight function of the navigation system can be custom selected.

Night lighting, data block info, map, traffic, weather radar and warning at base of screen - aircraft on ramp at TNCC.

Airport Filter enables the pilot to select just those features of an airport that he/she wishes to know about with the minimum of searching for it in a manual. Every detail of an airport can be uploaded from the Internet and stored within the FSFlightMax for later use when required.

Nav Map Settings are just that - for instance you can specify whether you wish to have only those airports which have a tower, only runways over a certain length, whether the airport or base has a water landing and so on.

Next up comes Ground Proximity. This speaks for itself - it presents a side on view of your aircraft's altitude AGL, and a side-on view of the terrain's ups and downs as you fly over it. I haven't tested this option over mountainous territory yet, as I'm allergic to heights (yeah, right!), but one of these days...

Next on the list we have Traffic - which is a simple toggle (no menus!). However, this is where the lower, outer knob comes to life - you can change the distance from which traffic in the skies around you can be seen from 5 miles to an incredible 500 miles.

Charts. There's little to say about this option at present, except to say that charts may be purchased separately as needed and uploaded to the unit. There is a demo chart already in place, but unless you're a fanatic about flying small circles over the island of Guam, it probably won't do a lot for you. The charts currently recommended for use with the FSFM by its proud parents are produced by AeroPlanner. This option has the largest sub-menu list of any of the current built in goodies, and allows the pilot in command to manipulate any and all charts that may be needed on the flight. I shall say no more.

The included demo chart of Guam.

RADAR

The weather radar in display mode - note the degree of tilt in upper left corner, and range.

LIGHTNING

To keep the module as close visually to the real thing as possible, there is an option labelled CD Player, but this is non-functioning - let's face it, if you haven't got a CD or DVD player in your PC's set-up, how the heck did you get Flight Simulator onto your hard drive?

System. Encompasses module settings, data files can be loaded with this and from this menu you can load or unload your flight plan. When loaded, your route is marked on the map display with a white line for previous or future legs, while the leg you're currently on is shown in a tasteful magenta.

FSFLIGHTMAX

Night lighting is covered here - the lighting does not currently change automatically from day to night and return. This is something that is planned for a future upgrade issue, as is the ability to resize the module according to your likes and dislikes or (in my case and a few others - you know who you are), poor eyesight.

Two *.bmp files are part of the package. You get to choose whether you want the smart silver finish or the warm night light. It's a simple matter to swap out the file you don't want to use and save it somewhere safe while you go fly with the other decorative effect.

So, that's a run down on the FSFlightMax, in my opinion the most fully featured and valuable addition to my flight simulation hobby to come my way in literally a long time. One thing is certain, if the fellers at Sim Systems are as good as their words, there will be more options on the way - and did I mention speedy customer support? I had a couple of problems in the first day or so, and emailed my grief to them - it's never taken John Hnidec longer than an hour to get back to me with the solution - at one point his email solving a problem arrived almost before I'd sent my question!

Terry Tyler
buckland1@ntlworld.com

Visit author Sim Systems.