Fall surveys

Catching up, spring 2024 feedback form

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Welcome back to the blog. It has been a while since we last posted here. In the last post, we mentioned that we would start vlogging on YouTube. We also mentioned that any significant amount of text updates would come here instead. Well, here we are with a text-based update.

TFM progress

We would have to write a novel to cover the updates and things that happened since the last update. Some of them are listed below.

• TFM is now running on dotnet 8.
• We now recommend people build from source.
• * At this point, focus is on MSFS, not P3D.
• We are waiting for the upcoming PMDG 777 for MSFS.
• … and more.

We will be getting back to our text-based updates with more PMDG 737 development. It will be an exciting time for TFM/PMDG users!

Spring 2024 feedback form

There have been some technical problems with the fall 2023 feedback form. As a result, not very many people had the chance to fill it out. Besides, end of the year feedback forms might have a conflict with the end of year holidays. So, we decided to try our feedback forms at the start of the year. The spring 2024 feedback form is now available. We are seeking feedback from the BVI pilots community and others with a vested interest in TFM’s direction. This feedback form focuses on keyboard commands, consolidating similar/related features into a single feature, and removing legacy (no longer used) components. Feel free to fill it out. We are looking for solid direction, so be sure to follow the directions at the beginning of the form. You can find the link at the top of any page on this website.
This is all we have for this week. Stay tuned for more posts here and on YouTube. Until next time, have fun flying!

Fall 2022 survey results

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Each year, we put out a survey asking the blind simming community where TFM should focus its development efforts. The topics included in each survey are ones that have a significant impact on our time and resources or have no definitive answer through social media polling. After the survey has finished, we gather the results and publish them for the public to read. Sometimes we put out follow-up surveys to answer questions posed by the previous survey or new topics that are asked before the next fall survey is posted. The rest of this post has the results of the fall 2022 survey that ran for the month of November 2022. In the results of the survey, we will put priority on answers with a rating of 50% or higher. Questions where answers are listed from most voted on to least voted on, we will work on resolutions in the order listed. Thanks to everyone who took part in the fall 2022 survey. The survey results are below.

 

Do you have interest in a mobile app?

60% yes

40% no

 

What platform are you most likely to use?

85.7% IOS

57.1% Watch OS

42.9% Android

14.3% Mac

 

Should we invest in a mobile version of TFM, rank the TFM features that we should include in TFM mobile. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

PMDG Panels

Flight Status

PMDG FMC

Ability to automatically announce changes in panel controls

Vatsim data

 

What PMDG aircraft should TFM focus on when support for the 737 is finished?

64.3% 747

35.7% 777

 

Should the 737, 747, and 777 include first officer type of features? This may include checklists, separation of work loads, and more.

73.3% yes

26.7% no

 

Choose the types of additional vatsim data TFM should include. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

ATIS Information, Weather, runway usage patterns, frequency

Facilities, ratings for controlled locations

Pilot ratings, new supervisor, others

Prefiles, information on the prefiled flight plans

general, version, last updated, provider etc

Servers, information about the login servers

 

The Vatsim traffic tab of the nearby aircraft window includes the following columns. Rank them in the way you want them listed in TFM: Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

Callsign

Distance From

Rating

Altitude

Ground Speed

Heading

Bearing to

 

The Vatsim controllers tab of the nearby aircraft window includes the following columns. Rank them in the order you want them listed in TFM. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

Callsign

Visible Range

Rating

Facility

Frequency

 

What forms of documentation do you have an interest?

60 % Text files in the TFM download

60 % A keypress within TFM

53.3 % YouTube videos

40 % A new website hosting the documentation

33.3 % Blog posts in a documentation category

26.7 % Microsoft Word Files

20 % Podcast episodes

6.7 % I don’t want documentation at all

 

How verbose should we make TFM documentation:

53.3 % Verbose

46.7 % Brief

 

What database feature should we focus on next?

86.7 % Flight tracker

13.3 % Landing Reports

 

Identify areas where the PMDG 737 FMC lacks. The following are points of interest taken from the short answers given.

It is too slow.

The cursor in the display test jumps around.

Not all FMC buttons have visible keyboard accelerators.

The FMC should be easier to use for new users.

The controls are visually confusing to look at.