| AVSIM Panel Review DC-9-41 Panel |
||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
The DC-9
is one of the more common aircraft types in Scandinavia, and in the rest
of the world for that matter. To this date some 976 of these have seen the light
of day. I wrote "to this date" intentionally because in some sense the
old DC-9 is still being manufactured as the MD-95 (oops sorry, Boeing
717). To this date there has been no 100% accurate DC-9 panel available,
so I was very happy when I found out that the talented Bryan Shirota
was building a DC-9 panel in cooperation with equally talented gauge
programmer Geir Olsen. The only drawback (well, now I´m picky) was
that Bryan was making a -51 panel. Being a SAS fan I was hoping for
a -41 panel... I had known real life SAS DC-9 captain Stellan
Hilmerby for some time. Stellan is well known and a popular chap in
the Scandinavian FS community.
Reader Survey
This survey is intended for those that have used this product or add-on. If you have used it, please let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if you have not used this product, do not take this poll (you can view the poll from the "Results" link below).
Many
people have been most impressed by his way of always responding to
questions and helping out with details from the real world aviation.
For some reason Stellan got involved in Geir's and Bryan's panel creation
as a "technical advisor." Well, to make a long story short, Stellan
did more than just give advice. He built a -41 panel to add to the
DC-9 panel project, and here we are! The outcome was a new panel creation
team, Bryan building other versions while Stellan was building the
-41 panel. All these are based on Geirs' innovative gauges.
Off we go! Installation is very standard; just unzip the panel and gauges
and put them in their respective directories. No problems here so let's crank
up the cockpit door!
There are several new gauges never seen in the FS world before (disclaimer,
never seen by me), so we´ll start with a brief tour of the cockpit
on the ground. But before using this panel I recommend you visit Capt. Hilmerby´s
site. There you will find a multitude of information as well as
the usual user guide. More on that later!
Here
we are standing at the gate at Karlstad airport (ESOK) in Sweden.
The first thing that you´ll notice is that there is no autopilot where
you would expect it. Instead you will find a flight director. The
autopilot is placed at a separate pop up panel, a good and realistic
solution since it is placed in the center console on the real DC-9
classic; let´s return to the FD later. A glance on the overhead shows
the usual seat belt and no smoking signs, starter switches, and two
test switches. One of them is connected to the master caution and
warning buttons; the other to the bowtie. When pressed, they light
up the associated gauges. Finally there is a autocoordination gauge,
a spoiler light and a parking brakes indicator.
At the glareshield,
starting from the left, you will find a stall warning light, the light
is functioning—maybe a bit to well since it engages on every takeoff.
To the right of the stall warning is the caution- and warning-button. They
light in a number of different situations, and require a reset click
to cancel the caution or warning.
Where the autopilot would normally
reside is the FD. This FD is made exactly as the real one and it is
a blast! First of all, it looks great, the gauge itself has a photoreal
appearance that blends very well with the rest of the panel. The FS
has the usual heading and course bugs (connected to the AP) and a
pitch wheel. Furthermore there is a knob for selecting the desired
mode. There are several of them but the most useful is the radio auto.
Perfect for flying a ILS manually. Looking down from the glare shield you
will find the usual set of engine gauges.
Over to the left side of
the panel you will find many new neat gauges! First lets check
the artificial horizon. This one is made just like the real one. There
are many features such as a test button, realistic flight director
bars and even a candy bar that shows the runway creeping up for touchdown!
Underneath is the nav indicator. This one also looks like the real
thing and contains ADF bugs, a very nice feature. The altimeter looks
standard, but it actually differs from the usual ones. Think about
it—nearly all altimeters have the numbers rolling upwards; this is
not realistic so on this panel the numbers roll down! Just above the
altimeter you will find something completely new! The bowtie is a
DC-9 master warning indicator. There are several lights that go on
at different situations such as AP disconnect. Very nice indeed! Below
the altimeter is the fuel totalizer. This gauge not
only gives you a hint of the fuel status, but it can also be used
to indicate your weight. Useful for hard-core simmers that use a
speedbooklet!
In addition
to the main panel you will find a pop up throttle, FPDA pushback,
a yoke (with a AP disconnect button) and the pop up Autopilot. The
throttle is the one found in Eric Ernst´s MD panel and the FPDA
pushback should be well known to most of our readers by now, so let's
concentrate on the new things.
Let's check out the
autopilot. This is a real masterpiece—gauge programmer Geir Olsen truly
shows some stunning programming skills here. The layout of the AP
window is very nice made; the only drawback is that the click areas can
be a bit hard to find. The AP can be used in several different modes.
The most "correct" way is to use the IAS hold for climb and
then let it capture and maintain the altitude. As Stellan explains,
V-speed hold is very dangerous since the engines can only produce a
certain level of thrust...
There are many neat features, one of them is that the V-speed wheel actually
moves when you are in IAS hold. Also on the AP sub panel is the ADF,
transponder and com radio switches, all of them with some nice extras
such as standby freq.
This AP is not easy to use if you are dependent on the standard FS AP.
First of all, there is no autothrottle, just as in the real thing and
the new (for the FS world) layout can give you a hard time learning the
operations. As a conclusion
I really like this panel. The support found on Stellan´s site
is great, with an online manual and some other nice DC-9 check lists and operations
information. The graphics are a rarely seen but nice mix of photoreal and
hand-drawn. There are some minor bugs, but the DC-9 crew has promised
to fix them in a coming update. My favorite part of this panel is
the AP. The fun in learning is the overall sensation! Well done Stellan,
Geir and Bryan!
You can download Stellans DC-9 panel from Avsim's library here.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
