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When your plane punishes you for not disengaging your gear in the form of wear on the hydraulics, you’re no longer simply in FSX. You’re in a PMDG simulation, and FSX only sits to provide the graphics. I’d like to welcome you, at last, to the PMDG 747 QoTS II Review.

Let’s get going. HISTORY The Boeing 747-400 is the second most modern variant of the 747 series by Boeing, or more affectionately referred to as the “Queen of the Skies.” While she is getting a bit long in the tooth, the 747-400 is still a solid workhorse in the fleets of major airlines, and although the plane is beginning to struggle with efficiency, it will still be a staple of international travel for a long time to come. From the base 747-400 to the 744D (a domestic model only sold in Japan) the 747-400 has been an absolute success during it’s life, something that can’t exactly be said about it’s newer and bigger brother, the 747-8i/f. Typically found on long range high density routes, it’s been a staple of aviation for big and busy routes worldwide. INSTALLATION When you first purchase the product (you purchase an FSX key OR a P3D key, not both) you get access to a single installer and product key. You download the installer, run it, allow it to do it’s thing, and it’ll be done in no time.Once it’s done installing, you’re left with the plane itself, and the wonderful PMDG operations manager.

Using this operations manager, you can add and install PMDG liveries (either 3rd party or directly) as well as read documentation, and even update the plane. It’s a fantastic set of features, all in an easy to use app, but I would have liked to maybe see a fuel/payload calculator, if not an external load manager. Either way, I love the manager.

On par with Aerosoft as the top repaint adding tool. FIRST THOUGHTS After digging through the immense amount of documentation provided with the airplane (we’ll dig into that a bit later) I got my FSX configured how they want it to be configured, and loaded into my wonderful LFPG scenery to be blown away. My Delta repaint was thankfully equipped with the CRT displays, and my first impression was that I had never seen an effect rivaling that screen curve in FSX ever before.

You glance up to the fantastically modeled glareshield and MCP, look up to the crisp and accurate overhead panel, and down finally to the mish-mash looking pedestal. I think very few planes in FSX ever truly have character.

Some developers try with worn down textures, but most devs just wind up with a neglected look, not a well taken care of but worn in look. The 747 is different. It feels cared for, not beaten down. But no amount of care can prevent wear, and that’s why the PMDG looks so great. It captures the wear, but not the neglect that so many developers wind up with when they try this effect. Moving to the outside we find much of the same story. While the default PMDG liveries are a bit clean and shiny, it’s acceptable given they’re meant to replicate a fresh off of the line plane.

Install an addon livery of your choice though, and the true “character” of the model will come out again. Dirt and grime exactly where it would be on the real airplane, but not excessive. Some liveries from older operators have a bit more dirt than the new fellas who have kept the airplane a bit tidier. The reflection mapping is also spot on, and really gives off a nice vibrancy to the plane. INTERIOR MODEL PMDG are known not only as the top dogs in systems, but also in the visuals department, and this plane absolutely keeps their legacy. I might even dare to say that it is their best interior model yet. When I review other products, I dig for compromises in the model, but I just can’t find any major compromises in this cockpit.

The text labeling for buttons and switches is incredibly crisp, and they don’t lose their sharp effect when you move in close, something I’ve only ever seen in the 64bit world of X-Plane. And it gets better, the switches are awesome as well.

They look ever so slightly ground down and misaligned, which does wonders for the “worn in” effect. The overhead panel is exceptional when it comes to sharp labels and great buttons. Speaking of buttons, something I don’t usually touch on but felt necessary in the QoTS is the animation of buttons and knobs. They’re fantastic, and seem to be especially smooth compared to similar products. There are also the small things in the animations, like how the IRS knobs move from off to align seamlessly, but go over a little bump when moved to nav. There’s also the delay between when the OVRD pumps for fuel are turned on and when the yellow VALVE message appears.

This is illustrated by the examples below. This means that when some pairs of letters create awkward spaces, kerning adds or removes space between letters to create a more visually appealing and readable text. A typical kerning table lists pairs of glyphs and specifies how much space a text-processing client should add or remove between the glyphs.