Fab10

An excellent review of an excellent aircraft, Stephen - thanks. 
 
The SSG E170 Evolution is very nice, and a welcome addition to my hangar. It is certainly a far superior product to its SSG predecessor stablemate, but improvements we would naturally expect. Whilst the former model might reasonably be seen as a "lite", SSG's E170 Evolution is surely positioned higher in the league, and ranked and judged accordingly?
 
The FMC is bespoke, with much of it depicted with an Embraer styled overlay, but underlying UFMC Boeing core FMC components do at times show through. This can change the immersion level, especially when Boeing derivative FMC menu's appear in your Embraer VC. 
 
One of my gripes is as Stephen pointed out to do with some of the mouse click spots that canne hard to find, for instance the altitude selector (fast up), as well as some of the upper light switches, as I tend to inadvertently operate switches other than the one I am trying to!
 
The seat texturing is below par at this price point, as is some detailing on the sidewalls including the tiller and oxygen mask; my commenting on this is essentially driven by product pricing. 
 
The VC lighting would benefit from a revision; having just watched several E-Jet YouTube videos, the main panel downlighting should be much brighter with a greater range of adjustment. 
 
It is a known fact that the little LED's above the glare shield controls are not illuminatedy as standard by Embraer, as this is a customer option that is apparently not terribly popular. As an Embraer customer myself (of sorts!), I'd very much like SSG to make this a clickable option, as interpreting LED's within a VC is possibly easier than gauging PFD acronyms, This would be a perfect option for SSG's in-VC menu system - LED's ON/OFF. Some of the PFD notations don't necessarily correspond as I might expect them to, but admittedly this may be my lack of clarity, due in part to not having a manual, and knowing well the old and venerable Wilco / feelThere E-Jet series.
 
Also to be noted is that a full user manual is yet to be delivered, and that a paint kit is said to be enroute. That said, the supplied liveries are diverse and outstanding as they are, and knowing SSG as the prolific livery makers that they are, those liveries will keep on coming. 
 
Having watched several more YouTube Embraer videos, it seems to me that the PFD/ND displays are possibly slightly inaccurate, though not wildly so; for instance, the placement of the excellent vertical profile is slightly at odds with the real aircraft, and WX radar labelling is missing where it should sit on the opposite side to the TCAS settings. 
 
These latter issues are minor, and perhaps SSG might easily address them. However, reflecting on the fact that SSG have moved their products upmarket, customer expectations have thus been proportionally raised, and when comparing other products by price range, it may be reasonable to expect SSG to tackle some if not all of the comments raised. 
 
After all, once done, the product will very much stand up in its own right - it's already very good, and already a sound favourite of mine, but imagine how good it will then be?

Hi,
Yes, it is possible to open .FMS flight plans in the E170's FMC. 
Press NAV, then NAVDATA, and when the message appears to open FMC plans press the lower most RH LSK, and this will take you to the familiar XP FMC flight plan page. 
Therefore, yes, you can export from your favourite planner in .FMS format. 
Fabio

Stephen,
I absolutely agree, FMC's as the heart and soul of an aircraft should precisely mirror their real world counterpart. 
I have not test found the discrepancies that you mention, and indeed, that sounds like it is a bug of a critical nature. 
I had hoped to put a positive spin on the negativity surrounding this model. 
Let me put that another way; my newly found enthusiasm for the Embraer E-Jets led me to reinstall my old feelThere product, but to my surprise, it was showing its age more so than I had expected. In turn, this served to highlight the good points of SSG's effort, such as the really rather good modelling, though it did rather show up the FMC's discrepancies. 
My gripe with the X-Crafts E-Jet was the non-standard FMC that neither looked like or felt like an Embraer unit, whereas SSG have made an effort to visually match at least some of the Embraer's FMC. 
The entire FMC unit, however, should have zero Boeing-esque elements to it, even if the underlying structures are indeed JC's UFMC. 
SSG, to enter into the upper echelons on this market, the detailing, texturing, and systems of the aircraft must more resemble in form and function the product that they based upon. 
The Evolution does this to a reasonable extent, but to fully warrant its price, the aircraft should have deeper and more reliable  systems depth at it heart, and an enhanced quality at its interface, and by this I mean where we as pilots sit as well as how we interact with it. 
Good try, nice aeroplane, though this won't stop me looking forward to more in the way of revisions.
Best wishes,
Fabio

Hi,
 
Lots of comments to analyse, it appears that this aeroplane has caused some issues!
 
However, it is actually very flyable. Think of the FMC as being part-Boeing and part-Embraer, and remember that you can always grab X-Plane .FMC flight plans via the "navdata" entry under the FMC's menu, and to execute this, press the lower-most FMC button on the RHS.
 
This might help create plans more easily, but that said, it is very possible to enter flight plans via the Boeing FMC or via the Embraer FMC portions of the display. Searching the web for feelThere's old E-Jet V2 PDF manual might be another viable source of additional information to guide you through the FMC setup.
 
There are issues, however, when moving through various AP and AT modes, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to fly (obviously!).
 
Best wishes,
Fabio
 

The complexity of FMC's varies model by model, and possibly it's an unavoidable fact of aviation life that the more FMC's can do, the more we will need to learn them on an aircraft by aircraft basis.
 
In fact, and just like any other aircraft FMC, once the Embraer FMC becomes known to you, it becomes an familiar old friend, so just give it time, but do try to check-out the PDF I mentioned as it may give you some pointers.
 
I once mentioned to a E-Jet Captain friend of mine about the apparent complexity (or did I mean difference?) between Boeing types and the Q400 FMC, and he said that up until he flew Embraer after Q400's, that the Dash FMC was "normal" and that he hadn't considered that other aircraft FMC were really any different. Just wait until an accurate facsimile of the Q400 Universal FMC comes into XP, there'd be no point in talking to the developer!...
 
However, until FMC's are 100% accurately portrayed within X-Plane, we might need to apply a little bit of Boeing, Airbus or Embraer know-how into our button pushing, but in essence it is the delivery of accurate FMC's that is mission critical if developer's wish to enter the upstream market, and in this regard SSG, FlightFactor, and even IXEG have work to do, some more than others, but as it is, they are mostly doing OK, just a few more tweaks and we will be there, of that I am sure. BTW, I am not discussing the intention of delivering fully fledged FMC's, I am considering what we have right now.
 
We are seeing improvements everywhere. are we not?

OK, thanks.
I'd love to see the Q400 given the full FJS treatment!

Fitting XFMC into the FJS B732 VC would seem to be logical.
Not that I can remember precisely where, but there's a nagging thought in my head that suggests his Q400 is next in line for a revamp.
Now that would be very welcome news!