Western US Expansion Launch: Dec 27

[stealthbob]

Not every service is meant for every customer.

I am a mere pixel pilot, my personal attraction to PE was and is the fidelity to real world as I personally like the challenge and the binary understanding from correct and not correct. That is the value to this guy...expansion allows me to broaden that experience.

This service is not a fit for some and it doesn't have to be...all good.

[Matthias Geiss]

I can understand that Vatsim/Ivao are very popular due to being free and I really appreciate what the volunteers do to keep it staffed as good as possible. Still, when I can find an hour or two for flying online, I want to be sure that I have full, professional ATC coverage. This is not the case on Vatsim or Ivao most of the time, except for events.

In an average month (no holidays etc.), I can probably fly 4-8 hours total, so PE costs me about $2.50-5.00 without, and about $4.40-8.75 with the expansion per hour. That's still cheaper than going to the movies or having dinner with my wife. And if you think about all the money that we spend on flightsim addons and hardware, it's really not that much.

[jiva602]

In an average month (no holidays etc.), I can probably fly 4-8 hours total, so PE costs me about $2.50-5.00 without, and about $4.40-8.75 with the expansion per hour. That's still cheaper than going to the movies or having dinner with my wife. And if you think about all the money that we spend on flightsim addons and hardware, it's really not that much.

I am in a very similar situation and PE with the expansion will run me $3.00-$7.00 per hour for any given month.

Having already invested quite a bit in my very modest sim setup, I can definitely say that the monthly fee for PE has been, and continues to be, WELL worth it.

[gsuoumu]

Q: How will the bonus fields work during the trial period? I'd find it unfortunate if we only got to use one during the trial period. Might I recommend that we maybe rotate the bonus field every day during the trial? I'm not oblivious to the strain that might put on the controllers - ie, one of the benefits of rotating the bonus fields every two weeks is so that the controllers don't have to be "intimate" with all of the bonus fields at all times so rotating that bonus field would require them to get intimate with a new field every day - especially considering that I expect that bonus field to get a lot of use. Just a thought.

[Keith Smith]

The training for all of the bonus fields won't be completed when we launch. Also, it seems reasonable to me that having one bonus field as well as all of the primary fields will give you enough info to make a purchase decision during the trial. You can look at a sectional chart and take note of the location of all of the bonus fields and determine whether those flights are of interest to you or not.

[NyyDave]

Awesome! For some reason I just imagined this expansion being "LA to SLC and back, woo boy" which I can respect but is too long a session for me. Doing like PHX to SLC or PDX to SFO really sounds neat.

Keith, as an on-and-off member how soon do I need to reactivate to enjoy the trial run?

Thanks!

[Keith Smith]

Dave,

If you're a piston guy, then the bonus fields and the Hidden Gem feature are probably going to be of the most interest as those give you destinations that are in closer proximity to the primary fields in the expansion area. For example, you could do SBP to MRY, SFO-RNO, or 21W to YKM (an example of the hidden gem idea combined with a bonus field).

For existing subscribers (or anyone who has had an active account in the past), the trial period will be Dec 27 - Jan 10. So, feel free to activate any time between now and Dec 27 and you'll get access to the 2 week trial period when it opens.

[zerofay32]

What will be the first bonus field or is that still TBD?

[Keith Smith]

The bonus field during the first two weeks of operation will be KABQ.

[Keith Smith]

Just realized a better way of explaining the trial situation....anyone with an active PE account will be able to fly in the Western US Expansion area between Dec 27 and Jan 10. Hopefully that clears it up We are essentially not starting billing and account checks for the new airspace until that 2 week period is over.