I have to agree. And look for my review of Redbird's FMX in an upcoming issue of Flying. Redbird, by the way, uses Microsoft's commercial sim modeling backend to support all of its simulation products.
The real accomplishment here, though, is twofold: that its sims are full motion and only around $60,000; and that the avionics are controllable with actual buttons and knobs that are very close approximations of the real instruments. So when you learn how to use the Garmin G1000, you're learning the whole thing, from where to locate the knobs to how they feel in your hand. Great stuff all.
Actually, the Garmin 696 is an approved Electronic Flight Bag, or EFB. The charts it displays do keep you legal. Just with that fact, it pays for itself very quickly, if you have a Jepp subscription, and only slight less quickly if you buy NOS charts. The iPad definitely won't be an EFB. But if you print the few paper charts you do need for free online, that's probably all you need right there. And please, the razor and blades model is exactly what avionics companies are doing, only they're charging for the razor too.
You make a good point. The major airlines are squeezing the regionals dry. They are the major driver for regionals keeping wages so low, because they've got to compete with other regionals, for getting that code share business. And you're right: people are just going to have to get used to paying more to fly. Robert Goyer
