RedBird Simulator

[Big Pistons Forever]

Anybody have any personal expierence with this device ? I am interested in comments and impressions.

[Walker]

My understanding is there is no certification advantage over one of these compared to any other FAA AATD, IE Percision flight controls MFD, An Alsim, or Diamond's sim...
correct?

[North Shore]

I'm curious, too. I'll go and blow $150 at 'the club' this fall and try theirs out.

[Big Pistons Forever]

My understanding is there is no certification advantage over one of these compared to any other FAA AATD, IE Percision flight controls MFD, An Alsim, or Diamond's sim...
correct?

No but the addition of 3 axis of motion at this price point is revolutionary. I am particulary interested in pilots opinion of how realistic the motion was and whether it noticably improved the simulator experience ?

On a related note, redbird and all the other new generation sims are now approved for IFR renewal rides. I wonder what this will do to the economics of running light twin trainers. It is always going to be way cheaper to do a renewal ride in the box over a ride done in the airplane. Since a large part of many FTU's MEIFR training business is doing renewals this has the potential to signoificantly reduce utilization. The upside, however will be FTU MEIFR instructor jobs are going to be less attractive to low timers looking to build ME time, the group of instructors who least qualified or suited to teach MEIFR. Hopefuly the relative ease of putting someone on the books to teach on a sim vs an aircraft will encourage part time instructors who are working line pilots with real world expereince and guys who have retired, but have a life time of experience to draw on.

[yeelut]

a fun device~ I tried for about 15mins..
Good for the first few basic and instrument trips...
There are still something for improvement as I heard my friend working with it.

[bluenote]

Are there any outfits in the Southern Ontario region that has one that also renews Ifrs.

thanks

[mark_]

What kind of software does it run? Full motion for under 100k really raises the bar.

Mark

[UpSide Down]

Compass West Aviation inc. in Victoria have just set theirs up and will have it certified Wednesday 19th of April.

Russ Ballman is the man to contact at 250-516-7877.

[denbro]

I believe that Cornwall Aviation (in Southern Ontario) has theirs operational and approved. They also do IFR renewals. Phone is (613) 931-3311

[metal]

What kind of software does it run? Full motion for under 100k really raises the bar.

Mark

For the flight model and visuals, pretty sure its just Flight Sim X.

[rjonno]

From my short experience with the redbird I can say that it's definitely a step up from your average ATC-810, and for very low acquisition cost to the club compared to other full motion alternatives. Panels are entirely swappable as well, so you can go from clapped out 'ho to G1000 in minutes, very nifty.

[Walker]

Any thoughts as to if there's an advantage to a redbird vs say any of the similarly priced (or higher priced) NON motion sims out there?

$60,000 Redbird
$80,000 PFC MFD with wraparound
$150,000 D-sim

[Cobra64]

Any thoughts as to if there's an advantage to a redbird vs say any of the similarly priced (or higher priced) NON motion sims out there?

huge marketing asset.

[tiny]

PSMA at CEN3 have had one up and running for about 6 months now. I hear they are pretty happy with it so far, though it does have some room for improvement. Haven't been back there to use it myself though.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Got a chance to try one last weekend. I thought it was pretty impressive, not perfect but a significant step up in realism. The redbird is now at the stage where the visuals and the motion are good enough to do VFR manoevers. For the first time in light aircraft training there is an affordable synthetic device that can be used for for more than just IFR procedures training in IMC conditions. Any school that has a AST or Frasca better sell it quick before it becomes worthless. I think it will quickly become the industry standard and schools will have the choice ....get one.....or lose most of their students. This is allready happening in ZBB. Pro just announced they are getting two redbirds as they were losing students to PFC which now has one.

It will be interesting to see how this develops as all the other PFD makers must be scrambling and will have to either substantially beat redbird on price or offer measurably better performance. I predict we will soon see wrap around visuals and motion at the same price point.

[172PIC]

It's running on Microsoft ESP which is the commercial build of FSX - very innovative use. There's an article in June's Flying about them. It's too bad Microsoft has abandoned FSX and ESP though so while this will work fine there won't be any further updates to the simulator.

If you want the cheap version buy FSX a yoke and rudder pedals get a few payware addon planes (more realistic) and you're good to go (if you have a good PC at least). Must be pretty nice with full motion though!

[Geko]

Yes. You must buy this FSX add on -> http://fullterrain.com/product_nablue.html and either of these http://fullterrain.com/product_us7S3.html / http://fullterrain.com/product_us1S2.html.

[Coast-dog]

From what I can gather from the Redbird website, they might actually be running X-Plane. In the promo video, the touch-tablet the instructor is using, the interface looks to me like the X-Plane instructor console interface...

If that's the case, then the instrument refresh rate should be very smooth - perfect for IFR practice. They should be able to simulate any light aircraft you wish...

[metal]

Its not, as 172PIC pointed out above. Besides, if you look at the visuals and even the loading screens, its identical to FSX.