You have the option to purchase via a 153Mb download (Euro 34.19) through a link to the Flight 1 website, or, at the same website, you can order the CD edition for Euro 38.42. I was fortunate to receive the Flight 1 CD boxed version for review. Fortunate in that the CD boxed edition represents excellent value given that it includes an ITVV DVD, a neat 40-page 'Check Flight' manual, and a useful two-sided colour Panel Familiarisation Sheet (A3 size). The DVD features an 8.5 hour Leisure International Airways 767-300ER flight from Gatwick to Orlando, alternate Tampa, in the command of Captain Dave Henry and First Officer Norman Port. Watching the DVD before getting in to flying the Level-D 767 is great for gathering an impression of what to expect from a software package for which it is claimed is "the best procedural simulation of any type available for Flight Simulator".

Installation

The installation was very straightforward affair taking me no more than about 4 minutes. I always like to know exactly what folders and files have been installed with any new product added to flight simulator and so here's what is set up:

Level-D Simulations Folder: This 160Mb folder sits within FS9 and includes several subfolders. First of the sub-folders is a 767-300 folder which in turn includes the 175-page manual and 15-page manual addendum (PDF format), readme files, and a big collection of 767 crew sound (wav) files (more later). Second sub-folder is the Level-D software development kit, which I did not have time to investigate. Third sub-folder is the Navdata and the fourth sub-folder holds the Tutorial files (e.g. 38-page CYVR-KFSO tutorial, 34-page EKCH-EGLL tutorial and corresponding charts). The tutorial files and charts are also accessible via the windows-programs-Level-D menu.

Level-D 767-300 Aircraft Folder: The 232Mb 767 aircraft folder residing in the FS9 aircraft directory holds not only the actual aircraft files (3 models: Rolls-Royce/Pratt & Whitney/General Electric types, custom panel files, custom sound files, texture files) but also most notably the repaint manager, and the configuration manager. The repaint manager is a very handy utility which allows you to very easily add new liveries available at the Level-D website (the default installation sets up just one livery in Level D colours). Just simply download the livery file of your choice from the many available to the 'Downloads' folder within this aircraft folder and when you launch the Repaint Manager, it automatically finds and installs the livery for you. More on the Configuration Manager later but suffice it to say at this stage that the set-up process places a short-cut icon for this utility on your desktop.

Level-D Gauges: No less than 33Mb+ of gauge files are installed in the FS9 Gauges folder comprising of 54 gauge files plus 22 virtual cockpit gauge files.

Level-D Flights: Within the FS9 Flights sub-directory reside Level-D demo fights (EBBR approach and parked at KSEA), and training flights (EBBR-EGLL as well as Failure Scenarios).

Finally, by accessing your PC programs through the Start menu, you'll notice you have a Flight 1 Software link with a Level-D link, facilitating access to manuals/configuration manager/release notes etc. and a Level-D 767-300 Tutorials link.

Immediately after installation, there were a couple of further straightforward steps I had to take to get all the files completely up to date. These included downloading the latest AIRAC data file (Worldwide Aeronautical Navigation Data), SIDS & STARS from the Navdata website (www.navdata.at/) and downloading and installing Service Pack 2.1 from the Level D website – this includes all the enhancements and bug fixes previously included with Service Packs 1 and 2. The above files are easily installed, especially the Service Pack and AIRAC files which come as self-executables.

Manuals and Tutorials

Check Flight Manual: As mentioned above, the boxed version of the Level-D 767 comes with a handy 40-page pocket-sized manual. As well as providing you with installation instructions, this manual mainly focuses, via your first tutorial, on taking you through a broad overview of the procedures involved in a full flight from cold and dark cockpit at Heathrow to final at Paris Charles de Gaulle. This leads you through setting your aircraft up via the configuration manager, making appropriate selections trough the Level-D drop down menu in FS9, inputting the flight plan into the FMC, starting from “cold and dark”, and executing the full flight.

Operating Manual: This comprehensive 2.4Mb 175-page manual is installed during the installation process or you can download it from the Level-D website. It is essential reading if you are going to get the most out of the product and having printed off the lot, I set myself the task of reading it through in my spare hours over a couple of weekends. It describes each aircraft system through its 17 chapters in very fine and clear detail. There is standard chapter organisation into 3 constituent parts – detailed textual description of a system, associated panel controls, and normal procedures associated with the system. I found that this method worked very well and I could work out the various functionalities with the manual in one hand and my mouse pointing to the panel in FS9 in the other. My only criticism of the Operating Manual is that it is entirely in black & white as some colour diagrams and screenshots would not be out of place for such a fine product.

The Manual Addendum. Also set up during the installation procedure, the contents are simply an addendum to the main Operating Manual to bring it up to date with the enhancements made to the Level-D 767.

Performance Manual: A formidable 55-pages worth of data and tables largely covering flaps settings and thrust data is added within the tutorial folder.

The "Special Print Edition" Manual. If you’re really into having the gold version of the operating manual, you can order a copy for Euro35 from Flightlevel Publishing via www.flight1.com - this includes a vinyl ring binder, 400 pages of information, checklists, articles by 767 pilots, flight planning guide etc.

Tutorials: To recap on the tutorial situation, in addition to the check flight tutorial (EGLL-LFPG) in the boxed version manual, there are three excellent (though attention-demanding) tutorials written by the Level-D beta team, two of which (tutorials 1 & 3 below) are installed during the set-up process. All three are available from Avsim.com or Flightsim.com: tutorial 1 : lds767tu.zip (CYVR-FFSO), tutorial 2: lds1tut2.zip (KJFK-LIRF) and tutorial 3: lds3tut.zip (EKCH-EGLL).

The Level-D drop-down menu

Once you have launched FS9 following the installation of the Level-767, you'll notice that you now have an additional Level-D menu item on your menu bar. This is your gateway to setting up choices and preferences when flying in FS9. The sub menus available are as follows; 'Panel' - allows you to import panel data from another flight (e.g. cold & dark cockpit situation), to export your current panel data setup to another flight, or to define the default panel setting for the Level-D 767. 'Failures' - a quite unique feature of an FS9 aircraft (except for the 767 Pilot in Command fore-runner as far as I know?) this allows you to set a whole variety of aircraft system failure types to either occur randomly or within a time period of your choice. You can also use this menu to help repair failures once they occur. 'Settings' - includes custom controls settings (keystroke/joystick settings), realism and carrier options, preferences (including a choice of different crew voices and accents!). 'Ground requests' - request assistance from ground personnel with interphone/external air or power connection, pushback etc. (these functions are also available through the overhead panel by hitting the 'Ground Call' button). 'Quick tips' - by default, every time you load up a Level-D 767 the Quick tip of the day pops up, which is useful at first, but as this gets annoying after a while, you can disable this function.

The External Model and Sounds

The Level-D 767's ancestor was the 767 PIC (Pilot In Command), but you wouldn't think there was ever a connection when you examine the visual detail of the external model. This was the 767 PIC's weak point but I am glad to say that the Level-D model is simply excellent. It would take quite a while to describe the sheer amount of external detail and animation so, all I will say is, check out the screenshots at the website as they speak for themselves. Just one point to note though is that external texturing is available in two formats: 32-bit (the default installation of the Level-D 767 in FS9) and DXT3 format - the latter is easier on your system and you won't notice much difference in appearance. Notable also is the fact that all external lights are linked to dedicated cockpit switches. The sounds from the two General Electric CF6-80C2 61,500lb thrust engines are very faithfully reproduced. For once I can speak with some degree of personal experience as I recorded several videos from my window seat on flights between Heathrow and Canada and back a few years ago and the sounds at a variety of thrust levels match very well. That was my first flight in a Level-D 767 and I remember the cool understatement of the Captain as we neared Calgary, Alberta that "there are a few light thundershowers in the area". In actual fact, there were Tornadoes in the area, as witnessed by the tragic news later that evening that several people had been killed in the vicinity of Edmonton when a twister touched the ground. What a first flight! Nevertheless, I was most impressed with the sense of robust strength and stability of the aircraft on a challenging approach.

In the Cockpit

Referring again back to the 767 PIC ancestry, I was fortunate in having flown the latter in FS2000 and FS2002, so that the new Level-D 767 cockpit I was climbing into was somewhat familiar, at least superficially, and a little less intimidating than it might have been. However, Level-D have built upon and refined to an even much higher degree that which was already superlative in its day. This product is essentially a very very detailed masterpiece of accurately reproduced 767 aircraft systems and controls covering just about every system, control and function that the real aircraft has – as well as that, as was the case in the 767 PIC, there is also the possibility to set up and learn to deal with aircraft systems failures. And if there is a focal point of all this cabin detail, it has to be the highly sophisticated Flight Management Computer (FMC), which is a very enjoyable piece of kit once you get used to it.

The panels available in the 2D cockpit are the captain and first officer panels (interchangeable via a switch panel below the lower EICAS, which also houses a switch to bring up a detached mode control panel MCP), and the overhead, pedestal, and FMC can be summoned via panel view switches next to the low level Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator EHSI control panel. All these panels are crystal clear and easy to read, and I was particularly pleased with the relative simplicity (in the sense of Boeing design) of the overhead panel which is very easy to navigate once you familiarise yourself with it. The cockpit is of the glass cockpit variety and there are no real surprises there for flight simmers familiar with modern jet cockpit layouts - but the beauty of it all is that almost everything is fully functional. You have some degree of choice in setting gauge features such as Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator EADI through the Level-D drop-down menu. The only notable feature absent was the lack of a weather radar component in the EHSI. This level of detail and functionality means that to get the best out of the aeroplane you need to get yourself into procedural flying.

The virtual cockpit does everything the 2D cockpit panel array does in a 3D environment and it looks and feels fully authentic - from within that environment you can also call up 2D panel components such as the FMC.

Much of your work in the cockpit (and the biggest chapter in the Operating Manual), will centre around the FMC. If you're not familiar with a modern FMC you will have your work cut out for you, as there are standard conventions you must master before successfully using it. But it's worth persisting with as this panel is probably the single most enjoyable part of a hugely enjoyable package and the best way to get to know it is by following the tutorial flights. Through the FMC, you can control not only the aircraft's routes flown, but also its flight performance profile. To reduce the labour of manually inputting flight plans, sample flight plans come with the tutorials and are easily loaded into the FMC (as a company route).

Flying

OK, I've read through the entire Operating manual, including revising the whole FMC chapter and it's time for real action. Of course it's not necessary to do this as you can simply load up the default Level-D 767 with cockpit and engines already warmed up and it's relatively easy to throttle up, takeoff, and handle this aeroplane at a satisfactory but superficial level. However, the attraction of an aeroplane like this for me is the fact that you can do everything by book procedure if you want to as all the systems are there in front of you. All you have to do is be patient, and exercise a degree of perseverance.

So, my first serious outing was following the check flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle in the manual, which came in the box. This leads you nicely step by step from the basics of using the configuration manager (from which you soon realise how important it is to get your figures for such things as Zero Fuel Weight, takeoff fuel, and take off trim etc. just right), through creating your Level-D flight and getting the flight settings right, through following normal pre-flight procedures and checklist for a cold and dark cockpit, through overhead preparation, FMC (manual) flight programming, and on to the flight itself. If you've followed everything up to now slowly and carefully, you then find starting the engines a real breeze. The feature in the overhead panel (through the cabin communications panel in the centre of the overhead) whereby you can call up ground staff for assistance with such things as ground power, external air connection, failures repair, and pushback is good fun because you "talk" to the staff and they talk back to you. This feature also applies with the internal intercom and don't be surprised to get calls from the air hostess asking you to raise or lower the temperature in the cabin - you have controls on the overhead with which to do so! The real near-panic comes when you hear the captain alert the crew for takeoff and you then begin the take-off run and can't remember what you read in the manual a few minutes previously because so much is happening and so fast. But within a few minutes after take-off, things gradually begin to settle down, allowing you to get ahead again. Of course, this aeroplane flies to such a degree of automation, that provided your flight plan is set up correctly in the FMC and the aircraft properly configured, you can engage the autopilot almost immediately after take off, activate lateral navigation (LNAV) and vertical navigation (VNAV) and just about relax from the start (but I guess in the real world there has to be more "hands-on" at such a critical phase of flight). Once you reach cruising altitude, the captain makes a further announcement to the passengers announcing as much, and interjects again in like manner when descent commences. The remainder of this short flight went smoothly for me as I rigidly and nervously followed the exact procedure set down. Workload increased again on approach, but with good weather, and no experimentation en route (never fly with my airline), touchdown with full autoland was perfect. The FMC simply did almost everything for me and not only that, with the Level-D preferences set for the first officer to handle gear, flaps and MCP altitude, I really had it very easy.

Growing in confidence, I leapt forth to tutorial 3, a 90-minute flight from Copenhagen to Heathrow. This tutorial has been prepared in great detail by the beta team, including airport charts and procedural charts, and the tutorial itself is colourfully and graphically illustrated with Panel and FMC screenshots, full flight plan print-out, and detailed checklist – almost like a full manual for the product in itself. Again I prepped from a cold and dark cockpit (importing a cockpit configuration via the drop down menu is easy), going through each system on the overhead, main panel and pedestal, and finally running up the engines. All ready to taxi, just a few more switches to throw on the overhead when - damn! Every instrument went dead! Engines running but no instruments! All I could remember was hitting something in the vicinity of the overhead pneumatic controls – obviously incorrectly. There was nothing for it but to accept that 30 minutes preparation were down the drain and start over. Which goes to show that you cannot rush an aeroplane like this, at least not until you become better versed with sequences and preparations (again as I say, never fly on my airline). Second time round and everything went OK. I also appreciated the importance of using the option to save a flight at critical points as when you reload at a later time you get the whole flight, including the FMC programming and aeroplane configuration back to where you saved it. My slightly longer flight this time allowed more room for probing the aircraft systems and FMC functionality. I did find that coming into the London Area with full ground detail and 100% AI set, my frame rates began to suffer somewhat (running a Dell Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz with 1.00 GHz RAM and 128Mb DDR ATI Radeon 9800), but even at that, not to a degree that spoiled my enjoyment. Nearing London, I received a number of visual and audio TRAFFIC! alerts on the TCAS, not surprising giving the chaos in the skies without AI ATC. Some of the conflicts were so dangerous that I was given audible instructions by the flight computers as to what avoiding action to take, and after the conflict had passed, I was also told so. The approach to EGLL (Lambourne STAR) using the supplied flight plan was a niggling problem in that I always seemed to be too high at each of the last few waypoints but by the time I got to final approach this had been sorted out by engaging a more rapid rate of descent through adjusting vertical speed on the MCP. However, autoland this time had to be disengaged in the final stages as I began to weave from side to side on the glide path - I would put this down to my own bad handling of selected headings on the final stages. Having saved this flight at various stages, I could repeat the approach sequences many times, and fine-tune my awareness and work rate to get it better and better each time. I was also able to simulate the feature (so familiar in the real airspace over Greater London) available on the FMC of executing holds of different patterns.

Dealing with Failures

Having gotten this far, I then felt so confident as to set one of my engines on fire at 33,000 ft and try to deal with it (OK - I already warned you twice to never fly on my airline – it's too late to complain now). I defined this nightmare scenario through the failures menu, choosing to give myself 3 minutes before the left engine began to overheat. Sure enough, 3 minutes later, I got an engine fire visible warning on the Engine Indicting and Crew Alert System (EICAS), and similar visual warning in the warning and caution annunciator array and general warning indicator. There was also an audible alert. On the pedestal, the left engine fuel control cut-off displayed a warning glow at its base and the left engine fire protection control had lit up ready for me to activate it - so I cut the fuel to the left engine and activated the fire bottle to the left engine - with the result that the fire warnings extinguished and I continued unhappily on my way. For those who have by now lost all confidence in my competence to command a flight, I am sorry to have to tell you that despite these enormous obstacles, I subsequently landed successfully on Heathrow 27L on one engine and without further incident.

Conclusions

This has to be one of the most satisfying reviews of a product I have undertaken. I could find no bugs and no dislikes of any significance. The manuals and tutorials, though challenging, were easy to follow, provided I took it reasonably carefully. Provided I showed respect, the aeroplane flew perfectly and responsively, while the cockpit sounds and engine sounds helped maintain the very convincing impression that I was handling a real Boeing 767. I would not say that this is a package to be taken on lightly, but if you're after a real sense of satisfaction, procedural discipline, and precise and trouble-free engineering in a simulated airliner, together with a bit of fun thrown in here and there, this is an unbeatable package.

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