Customer Reviews

Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Master the Experience!: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)

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I recently purchased and received this book in advance of the new FS-X simulator. The book appears to have been hastily prepared, and rushed through production. Some of the aviation information is inaccurate, and the aircraft screen shots don't match the text.

For example, it discusses "V speeds" on page 37 where it calls Vfe the "The maximum landing gear extended speed" instead of Vle. The definition for Vmca is not very accurate either.

On page 39 the author suggests helicopter rotor blades are tilted to increase or decrease aircraft pitch and forward and backward motion. Actually, the blades angle of attack is adjusted by the cyclic for pitch and roll and by the collective for altitude control.

On page 73 the author confuses IFR flight with IMC flight, and on page 192 he suggests decommissioned aircraft are parked in the dessert to "decrease erosion and other weather related damage." Decreasing corrosion is what he should have said.

On page 194 there's he describes a "mail run" mission in a King Air 350 complete with pictures. Two of the four pictures are of a Beechcraft Baron and not the King Air at all.

ON page 201, he states that "oil leaks often lead to complete engine failure". In real life, that's not the leading cause of engine failure at all. Also on page 201, he incorrectly describes the Rutan "Long Ez" as a ultralight in a recount of the John Denver accident.

If you are looking for accurate aircraft and aviation information, wait for a different book or at least a revised and edited new version of this one.

There are many typographical errors. Even worse, the airspeed info is often inaccurate. For example, on page 107, the Boeing 737-800 is listed with a cruising speed of 477 kt but when you read the next line it states that the maximum speed is 147 kt.

On pages 86-87, the specs for the Mooney Bravo show the cruising speed of 195 kt. But when you look at the V-speed reference the max cruising speed is show as 174 kt with a Vne of 195 kt.

This book was a waste of money.

If it didn't have a short precis of each mission, then it would be completely worthless. I was looking for something more along the lines of one of Andy Herd's FSX reviews found at Flightsim website. And Andy's reviews are free! I paid over $20 for this waste of time and paper. Does the writer, Bart G. Farkas, really think people buying this manual are looking to find out the basics of how a plane stays aloft? We wanted the FSX secrets, the down & dirty stuff that only a collaborator with the programmers could have written. What we got was a 2nd grade book report on the very basics of aviation. Save your money, or review a copy before purchasing. You've been warned.

There is almost nothing in this book that is not found in the in-game information. In fact, much of the text here is just copied directly from the game. It may be slightly handy to have the info on your desktop but it's not worth the money.

This book is nothing but fancy advertisement. It only tells you some of the things that Flight Simulator X does. It does not explain how anything is accomplished. Absolute waste of money if you are looking for explanations.

I don't know who Bart Farkas is and based on this hack job I hope I never do. Did anyone read this "book" much less proofread it before publication? How can one copy text, practically verbatim from the in game help files, and still have so many typos(3-4 to a page), not to mention inaccurate information, incorrect photos, etc.? We should coin a new phrase in the publishing industry, "a bartfarkas job" for when greed and incompetence totally replace writing, useful information and editing .

Although the reviewers of October 14, 2006 rated this FSX Guide very poorly. they have inadvertently strengthened the product by giving a very useful and informative errata to the Guide. We applaud their specificity. We also look forward to an immediate, upgraded corrected FSX Guide from Prim Game Guides.