Precision Manuals Development Group (often abbreviated as PMDG) is a commercial add-on aircraft developer for the

Microsoft Flight Simulator ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' is a series of amateur flight simulator programs for Microsoft Windows operating systems, and earlier for MS-DOS and Classic Mac OS. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed s ...

, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D, and

X-Plane The X-planes are a series of experimental United States aircraft and rockets, used to test and evaluate new technologies and aerodynamic concepts. They have an X designator within the US system of aircraft designations, which denotes the exper ...

series. The company was founded by airline pilot Robert S. Randazzo, who stated that his ultimate goal was to develop the software to the point where it could be used by airlines and manufacturers to supplement pilot training. The company is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada but has several employees in countries such as

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It has eight employees as of 2018, with a collection of beta testers which include multiple aviation professionals. PMDG's software has received praise for its realism.

Company background

The company began by producing detailed flight manuals, hence its name. However, the company soon moved on to developing add-on aircraft after creating only two manuals for the Microsoft Flight Simulator,

747 747 may refer to: * 747 (number), a number * AD 747, a year of the Julian calendar * 747 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 747, a large commercial jet airliner Music and film * 747s (band), an indie band * ''747'' (album), by country musi ...

and

757 757 may refer to: * Boeing 757: a narrow-body airliner * AD 757 __NOTOC__ Year 757 ( DCCLVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 757 for this year has been us ...

. The first aircraft development was a package of the

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maid ...

and

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

for the

Fly! ''Fly!'' is a flight simulator video game for Windows and Macintosh developed by Terminal Reality and published by Gathering of Developers. Gameplay It includes simulation of air traffic control features as well as aircraft's on-board sys ...

simulator, which could be played on Macintosh or PC. On 25 October 2014, it was announced on PMDG's AVSIM forum, that the

Boeing 777-200LR The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap betw ...

base package will be available on the

Prepar3D ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' is a series of amateur flight simulator programs for Microsoft Windows operating systems, and earlier for MS-DOS and Classic Mac OS. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed sig ...

platform. With employees and contractors working around the world, PMDG is headquartered in Northern Nevada, approximately 15 nm north of Reno-Tahoe International Airport. On June 4, 2012, PMDG announced that they would move back to Virginia, where the company was founded.

Aircraft

PMDG has created nine aircraft for

Flight Simulator 2004 ''Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight'' is a flight simulation video game released in 2003, and is part of the '' Microsoft Flight Simulator'' video game series. It is the last version to support Windows 98/ 9x series of opera ...

and ten aircraft for

Flight Simulator X ''Microsoft Flight Simulator X'' (abbreviated as ''FSX'') is a 2006 flight simulation video game originally developed by Aces Game Studio and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to ''Microsoft Flight Si ...

, two of which are extensions of the 747-400X. The PMDG Boeing 737 NGX is for Flight Simulator X and Prepar3d only and is currently available in 737-800/900 winglet/non-winglet models. The 737-600/700 winglet/non-winglet models are a continuation of the base package and are available as an expansion. The 777-200LR and accompanying 777-300ER expansion were the first PMDG products for Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D V2 which was released on February 7, 2015, as well as Flight Simulator X (the NGX was patched to P3D V2 compatibility after the 777). On June 1, 2016, PMDG released the

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

simulation, marking the first aircraft by the company for the X-Plane series of flight simulators. With the arrival of P3D v4, the 747, 777 and 737 aircraft are being freely upgraded from P3D v3 (32 bit) to P3D v4 (64 bit). On February 24, 2019, it was announced that no new products would be developed for 32-bit platforms (not precluding updates to existing products). Thus, the B747-8 was the last release for 32-bit platforms, notably marking the end of 13 years of FSX support. On November 8, 2019, the PMDG NGXu was released. It is a version of the upcoming NG3 product for the Prepar3D platform, and offers the BCF, BDSF, BBJ1 and BBJ2 variants as expansions to the base product. The NG3 itself will only be available on the new Microsoft Flight Simulator due in 2020, with expansion packs covering the entire NG, BBJ, and MAX product lines. PMDG announced the previous day that all development for the X-Plane platform as well as all 32-bit platforms would be canceled. On October 20, 2020, PMDG announced the development of the

777X The Boeing 777X is the latest series of the long-range, wide-body, twin-engine jetliners in the Boeing 777 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777X features new GE9X engines, new composite wings with folding wingtips, greater cabin w ...

family of airliners was in an early stage. In mid June 2021, all products for X-Plane and FSX were retired ahead of the release of their first product for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons Microsoft Flight Simulator Software companies based in Virginia Companies based in Alexandria, Virginia 1997 establishments in Virginia Software companies of the United States