The screaming passengers does sound fun, especially for visiting e-pilots.
Thanks!
Do tell more.
Well......asside from the extra bits that I'll come to in a minute, FSPassengers adds 2 completely new dimensions to the game. First and foremost it adds an economic model, every aircraft in the game (and most addon aircraft) come with a payload model that dictates carrying capacity, etc, so you can set your ticket prices, load up and go fly, a successful flight will pay you large amounts of cash with which to repair your aircraft and buy new aircraft. You can set things like the quality and cost of your on board refreshments, ticket prices for each class, etc. Any aircraft that doesnt come with a payload model (or an incorrect one) can be edited in the included payload editor (GUI interface, really easy to use).
The second new dimension is a pilot rank and experience model, ie when you first start flying you'll have a C1 rating and only be qualified to fly single engine prop aircraft under 5000lbs, as you make successful flights you'll earn promotions and qualifications to fly heavier (and more profitable) aircraft. Make a poor flight, eg land too heavily and pop a tyre or roll off the runway, etc, and you'll earn penalty points, possibly enough to be demoted.
All the extras though are brilliant. Not only will passengers scream and complain in bad weather or when performing unsafe manouvers (aileron roll a 747, oh my god do they scream) but you'll also have a cabin crew on hand to serve drinks, food, start the inflight movie, etc. You'll also have a co-pilot who'll give you voice info on faults that may develope (my next point), warn you of passing alititude limits, etc.
You're also bound by flight rules now as well and must have the correct lights on your aircraft at all times, for example turning the landing lights off over 10,000ft, etc. Speed limits (stay under 250kts while under 10,000ft unless you request otherwise from ATC) and so on and so forth.
However, the biggest and best extra that comes with FSPassengers is the faults model. Your aircraft will have an age in flight hours, you can buy a cheap one with 5000hours on it or a brand spanking new one.....the older an aircraft is, the more chance it'll develope a fault in flight. You've also got 25 and 100 hour services to pay for (or not) which also make a difference to the faults that might show up. Instead of scripted faults though, with FSPassengers they're randomised depending on the state of repair of your aircraft.
So far I've seen:
Bird strikes on take off resulting in a slow increase of oil temp in an engine that, unless throttled back, will eventually result in a flame out.
Bird strike on take off resulting in immediate flame out.
Cracked window suddenly causing a depressurisation.
Gear / flaps failing to extend / retract.
Nav light causing a short in the electrical system.
Complete failure of the electrical system.
Tyres bursting on landing due to being under-inflated.
And I've read on the forums about a passenger emergency requiring an immediate landing but have not experienced it yet.
Apparently there's an update coming soon as well which'll include lots of new faults.
Finally, the results of all flights can be automatically exported to the FSPassengers Virtual Airlines database and be browsed online on the website or linked externally from your own website.
