While PMDG’s 777 is soaking up a lot of attention right now I’m not quite ready to show off my own flying with the wide-body Boeing so instead I’m checking out some new (to me) scenery. Orbx’s London Island EGLC version 2 is a very interestingly located airport not too far from the centre of London. I wanted to check it out and put in a little flight time on FSS’ E175 which I haven’t flown for a while. It’s seen quite a few updates so how is it feeling? Let’s check out the scenery, the airplane, and do a nice little flight over to Schiphol airport.

Checking out London City

Opened in October 1987, London City Airport (EGLC) is a passenger and private jet airport located near the heart of London and not that far from key landmarks like the O2 and Canary Wharf financial center. It’s proximity and direct connection to city transit services no doubt make it an appealing option for those looking for a short haul flights to other nearby cities. It’s this airport and the Orbx EGLC version 2 rendition that I wanted to check out for this flight.

Orbx have recently upgraded the scenery for this airport with a version 2. Reflecting the most modern configuration of this airport, there are plenty of details to look at. The welcome sign, rebuilt ATC tower, and plenty of nearby buildings and industrial areas have been added to the scenery. That together with various scenery updates to London can make for a really immersive experience.

For this flight I’m taking the KLM City Hopper E175. Typically this is serviced by the lengthier E190 but I don’t have that aircraft just yet… so this will do!

Here’s what the airport looks like!

Departing

After remembering how some of the E175s systems work I was asking for ATC clearance to taxi to runway 9 for departure. This is a small and tight airport which makes it kind of fun and interesting compared to the larger airports out there. This is more intimate and the extra details of the scenery add to the immersion.

Once at runway 9 we got clearance to depart and immediately throttled up for a quick departure. No problems!

I did have problems with the autopilot for a brief moment before realizing that I hadn’t dialed in the altitude. Rusty on this aircraft and not paying as close attention to the EFIS as I should have been. Then we were on our way and climbing away from London and from the UK.

Landing

After a hop across The Channel we were doing a long way around Amsterdam to come in for a landing on runway 06.

I ended up hand flying a good chunk of the arrival as I grew a bit distrustful of the autopilot and I was feeling like I was missing something on capturing the localizer. The E175 is actually quite nice to fly as its smooth and responsive so its not a complaint but I wasn’t sure if I had done something wrong or the airplane had. Maybe neither but I hand flew it just the same. The landing was decent and down we were at Amsterdam Schiphol using some default scenery from MSFS.

Back again to London City

I decided to finish off this journal that I’d fly the return route from Amsterdam back into London City to get the approach perspective. That is one of the appeals to this scenery as Orbx have detailed the location nearby and the MSFS World Updates have some great London scenery too. Together… a visually impressive approach. The E175 does not have the steep approach mode that the E190/195 does so we won’t be doing the procedures exactly as it is but again this is just a bit of fun.

This was a straightforward return flight and one where I was feeling back at home in the E175 after a long absence. I’d adjusted my flying to its quirks and by the time I was on landing approach I had everything sorted out including capturing the ILS fairly quickly and setting up for a pretty decent approach – for me anyways!

Landing back at the airport, there were lots of details to appreciate. There’s a really cool illuminated sign on the Tate & Lyle Sugars that I did not notice in the day. At night, its all lit up. As are the aprons and buildings. I unfortunately could not see the centre of London due to some fog but it was a beautiful approach all the same. One day when I have the E190 I’ll be doing some BA City Flyer in and out of here for sure!

A few thoughts on the latest FSS 170/175 updates

My perspective on airliners has changed as I’ve gathered up a lot of perspectives of operating different aircraft from different flight sim developers over the last couple of years. The E170/175 were great for me when I started out because of the complexity of other airliners made getting into them difficult. But fast forward quite a bit of extra flight time and my feelings have shifted a bit

FSS have undeniably made major progress on the E170/175 line. The sounds are better in nearly every respect though the sound levels on the engine remain an issue. The cockpit textures have been revised and have better definition than they have ever had before too. There are new audio call-outs on takeoff and landing that I hadn’t heard before. And the EFB is gradually gaining some features too.

The weak spot of this project remains is autopilot and navigation systems. Its not a surprise. FSS are working on the feature and despite an earlier goal of having it ready by July, they’ve let us know ahead of time that its not here yet. It may be several more months before it does. The AP does work, you can do a flight with it, but its not at the level of refinement of the other airliners and having experienced them now… I can really feel difference in polish here. The auto throttle moves back and forth all the time as it tries to chase maintaining the set speed. It’ll get better, I’m sure, but its not there yet.

On other thing has been impressive. These were real performance hogs in the past but the frame rate on this flight has been very good though it did deteriorate a bit over the flight. Maybe still a few memory leaks in there somewhere.