To Christian Grill, Is PFPX dead?

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Hi Jeff,

I had a problem recently recovering access to AIRAC data which was resolved by Judith. Also received a seasons greetings from Judith and Christian.

So there are 'signs of life'.

A very happy and safe Christmas to you.

 

[Porthos]

I had email with Judith recently when the servers went down and then a few weeks later.

I was enquiring as to whether PFPX would be updated to export in the current XPlane format.

Her answer - No!

They were doing a few minor changes but not the ability to export in XP11 format..

[Cloudster]

What a disgrace from these developers. This update is useless and didn't even add official support for MSFS. The lack of communication with their customers is an absolute shame. What is so difficult about giving us some sort of news so that we know if there's a future road map or not. Oh well, I give up. Doesn't seem like they care at all.

[VHOJT]

I don't know - the product works and is what it is.  We paid once for it - why should we expect updates, for me at least, 8 years down the track?  Granted, exporting to some platforms would be good.

[wtfwtfwtf]

On 19.1.2021 at 13:45, VHOJT sagte:

We paid once for it - why should we expect updates, for me at least, 8 years down the track?

 

Generally speaking: The flight simulator world is ever evolving and a product which is no longer supported and updated to face those changes will surely not attract new customers. If that is what a developer/publisher chooses to do, fair enough. However, I will stay clear of any other products that the developer might bring to the market in the future. For me, longterm commitment and support is fundamental. In this case, I continued to support the developer with buying a server subscription every year. With a diminishing use case and modern alternatives, that incentive will also surely fade.

[Richard McDonald Woods]

I believe that there is no better planning tool currently available for pilots wishing to plan correctly for longer haul flights. PFPX continues to perform well even after all these years. With the coming of GFO, I shall continue to plan with PFPX for my long B777 flights.

I accept that if a pilot wants to plan short haul flights then an alternative planning tool might be appropriate.

[phil747fan]

6 hours ago, Richard McDonald Woods said:

I believe that there is no better planning tool currently available for pilots wishing to plan correctly for longer haul flights. PFPX continues to perform well even after all these years. With the coming of GFO, I shall continue to plan with PFPX for my long B777 flights.

I accept that if a pilot wants to plan short haul flights then an alternative planning tool might be appropriate.

 

On 1/19/2021 at 5:45 AM, VHOJT said:

I don't know - the product works and is what it is.  We paid once for it - why should we expect updates, for me at least, 8 years down the track?  Granted, exporting to some platforms would be good.

 

the most important is there.

[OY-HAH]

On 1/22/2021 at 3:16 PM, Richard McDonald Woods said:

I believe that there is no better planning tool currently available for pilots wishing to plan correctly for longer haul flights. PFPX continues to perform well even after all these years. With the coming of GFO, I shall continue to plan with PFPX for my long B777 flights.

I accept that if a pilot wants to plan short haul flights then an alternative planning tool might be appropriate.

Do you find Simbrief inaccurate compared to PFPX on long haul flight planning?

[Richard McDonald Woods]

No, just no experience of Simbrief on long haul planning.

PFPX, however, offers more realistic features, I believe, like forthcoming weather at waypoints and redispatch. 

[Mklemme]

3 hours ago, OY-HAH said:

Do you find Simbrief inaccurate compared to PFPX on long haul flight planning?

 

I believe another key difference between PFPX and Simbrief for long haul flight planning is that PFPX will (usually!) generate a wind-optimized routing to minimize fuel burn whereas I think routes generated by Simbrief are either (1) what routings prior users have used for the city-pair in question or (2) Simbrief's own in-built route planner which essentially generates great-circle (least distance) routings independent of wind conditions. Depending on the location of the jet stream relative to the GC, this can be advantageous for longer haul oceanic flights particularly where no organized tracks exist or where one wants to select the ' best' track. This level of detail of course may not be all that important to each individual user.  

[OY-HAH]

Ok, thanks a lot, guys

[jpgmultimodal]

@Richard McDonald Woods Hello Richard,

 

PFPX works perfectly as well with short regional flights, with the Majestic Q400 anyway. Wind, time, fuel as expected and of course the possibility to tailor your PLOG the way that you like for your needs. I tried Simbrief and was not convinced. It is a (free) good tool but not as accurate as PFPX.

 

Regards,

 

JP

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Hi JP,

Agree completely. Most dogs have 4 legs, but not all animals with 4 legs are dogs!

[Palle]

Gentlemen

 

The PFPX is without any doubt the best flight-planning tool available, as with any system you need to fine tune it, and that is obviously not always easy, you need to practice, practice and then practice again, after that you have to collect, compare your data and then fine tune. Sounds time consuming, it is indeed, but you will get a well working system in return.

 

Best regards

Palle H. Jensen