
LEONARDO SOFTWARE HOUSE SRL - FLY THE MADDOG X MSFS24/20
This is a seriously deep simulation of the MD82. I had my eye on this for ages but the price tag always put me off. Finally finding it on a pretty good discount I got it. First off it has a great cockpit that is as close to real as possible. Be prepared to do some studying this aircraft as it has some quirks that are not obvious. An example is that the wheel chocks are not controlled by the EFB but are added or removed using the Anti Collision lights. Another is that there’s no click spot to open close the cockpit door and you have to use the door switch on the overhead panel. These are not complaints, just pointing out some little differences that defy instinctive expectations. The texture quality is best in the cockpit. The passenger compartment is very low quality. Most of the external model is good. Now for the money I really expected much better attention paid to visual quality and feel a little cheated, but like most people I wanted this for its extreme realism and systems. That is delivered in spades and I have no complaints about the fidelity of the realism. If you think because you’ve flown the SkySim DC9 that you will easily transition to this you’d be wrong. While the Maddog and SkySim DC9 are practically the same plane, the Maddog is far more complex and handles very differently. Not being a real world MD 82 pilot, but only a frequent passenger I can’t know just how accurate the flight model is. However it does feel pretty heavy on the controls especially on approach to touch down. You just need to be aware of the aircraft CG, weight, and whatnot as well as paying careful attention to the trim or face a difficult approach. It doesn’t fly like a 737 or A320 etc. Overall this is an amazing add on that really seems to strive for realism.