The latest in Bill Stack's series on aviation for flight simulation enthusiasts, Jet Simming, addresses an important aspect of simming for many enthusiasts—how to plan for and enjoy flying jet aircraft. Having enjoyed the challenge of mastering the many aspects of simulated jet flying over the past five years or so, I found this book to be comprehensive in scope and interesting as well. Though hobbyists fly business aviation and air transport jets with Microsoft's Flight Simulator series more than with any others by far, Bill doesn't write specifically for that program; rather the material presented is drawn from real-world aviation and hence doesn't assume use of any specific simulation package. On the other hand, he specifically avoids mention of third-party add-ons, many of which extend the jet simming experience; his philosophy is to present information that can by-and-large be applied within the simulator's default capabilities.
So it remains up to the reader to learn on his or her own how to apply advanced capabilities and features of contemporary third-party flight deck environments, not to mention enjoying the "immersion factor" afforded by advanced flight planning and ATC-related add-ons such as Radar Contact or the phenomenal VATSIM and IVAO on-line flying environment—and the world of "virtual airlines". The reason I point this out is that experienced readers will likely wish that this book provided a more comprehensive view of what's currently possible in simulated jet flying, but that remains the task—and probably the fascination—of each individual in their quest to attain expertise in emulating the real-world jet flying experience (within the limits of PC-based simulation, of course). Nevertheless I recommend this book to simmers at all levels; for those new to the world of jet aircraft to achieve overall proficiency in its basic elements, and to experienced jet jockeys to review and practice the fundamentals.
What's covered:
Coming from a vantage point of familiarity with jet aviation (as I suspect will many of AVSIM Online's readers), I found the first two chapters to be, well, elementary and obvious: "Advantages and Challenges of Flying Jets" and "What Jet Pilots Do" so I'll not comment further of those chapters' 30 pages. Anyway, things get interesting after that.
Chapter 3 — Requirements for Flying Jets
This chapter, a staple of Bill's books, tells you what real-world certificates and ratings are necessary to fly jet aircraft under various circumstances. An outline of the types of aviation knowledge needed, though interesting perhaps, is so minimal that it serves mainly to introduce topics covered later in the book.
Chapter 4 — Jet Fundamentals
As Bill says, this chapter gets a few (fairly obvious) things out of the way so as not to keep bringing them up in subsequent chapters. Here he covers some facts about jet engines, and introduces concepts of particular importance in jet aircraft operations —instrument flight, pressurization, fuel management, the significance of pitch ('attitude flying') and so forth. There's a few 'ground rules' about Altitudes and Flight Levels, and Knots vs Mach air speeds.
Chapter 5 — Jet-Performance Speeds
This very short chapter introduces the notion of speed factors important to flight management and provides definitions of each, with guidelines for aircraft handling (such as flap setting maximums) as appropriate.
Chapter 6 — Jet Panels and Instruments
This chapter provides a good rundown on the instruments you'll likely find on any business jet or air transport, with examples and illustrations from FS' default jet aircraft panels. A section describes the Primary Flight Display (PFD), the Learjet's Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI)—but the larger planes' Navigation Display (ND) gets short shrift—and brief coverage of NAV 1 and NAV 2 functions. Position indicators (gear, flaps, and flight surfaces) and engine instruments are covered next. I found the latter to be useful because the descriptions explain the significance of N1, N2, ITT/EGT and EPR readings. The discussion is rounded out with coverage for spoilers, throttles (including TO/GA functions), and a few others. Discussion of the Autopilot is, well, incomplete to say the least. The rest of the stuff (pitot heat, various light switches, autobrake and the like) is there for the sake of completeness.
Chapter 7 — Planning and Preparing Your Jet Flights
As Bill points out in his introduction to this chapter, "Forgo (the flight planning) process and you will forego your realistic jet simming." Beyond such obvious considerations as selecting an aircraft, suitable airports and your route, this chapter focuses on considerations such as planning for expected weather, fuel planning, and instrument initialization (radio and nav frequencies, setting expected headings, course and altitudes, etc.). This chapter continues with other preflight considerations and effective use of check lists, up to the point of taxiing onto the runway.
There's also a discussion of performance speeds for taking off—how to determine appropriate V1, Vr and V2 speeds (simple tables are provided). Even so, I found this chapter to be limited in its usefulness because it skips over (by design) discussion of en route planning methods (referring the reader instead to another Top Skills book, "Flight-Sim Navigation") and should have at least mentioned the linkage between setting up the flight plan in FS' Flight Planner to enable automatic flight path control with the autopilot, and how the GPS is used (other than a brief mention in the previous chapter)—not to mention the usefulness of 3rd-party flight management computers not only in setting up flight plan details but also in verifying these before take off.
Bill states in his Preface that, among other things, "To give my book the widest appeal, I do not explain various add-on programs such as air traffic control, navigation displays and flight management computers. It opens a Pandora's box that I want to avoid." As I noted earlier in this review that's ok—to a point. Sure there are variations in various third-party implementations, but why not offer generic coverage of these critical topics? To my mind not explaining the ND used in conjunction with an FMC misses the essence of flying in an IFR environment. These topics could easily have been covered had Bill not taken the position he did and would have immeasurably improved this book's usefulness. Quality FMC/FMS implementations are available (and have been for some time); in my opinion Bill should have explained these.
To carry this point further, simulating engine start-up is covered in just three brief paragraphs. Well, that pretty much covers it with FS' default planes as he intended, but I personally find that using a 3rd-party overhead panel that's both realistic and functional adds much to the sense of 'being there'. Again, I was disappointed that Bill chose not to at least outline the steps (as implemented in Wilco/Eric Ernst's classic "767 Pilot in Command" and similar offerings from DreamFleet, Phoenix Simulation Software, and Ralph Tofflemire's B-747 package, for example) to activate a plane's Electrical, Pneumatic, Fuel and other systems as part of these planes' engine start sequence.
Chapter 8 — Flying Business Jets
This chapter sets the stage for flying the entire range of jets, from the FS default Learjet to the Concorde. (Topics covered here therefore aren't repeated in the following chapters). In addition to describing a jet's characteristics during each phase of flight from taxi to parking, Bill offers useful sections on 'attitude flying' as well as pointers on good flying technique. Jets are fast; therefore you need to "think ahead" of the plane's current position, especially in setting up for landing. You'll also find useful tables on such topics as engine parameters while climbing, cruising and during descent.
The general format of this (and in the next two chapters) is to list the steps in handling the plane; for example, 'Begin rolling', 'Check your decision speed', 'Rotate and lift off', 'Climb out' and so forth. During climb out you'll retract your gear, hold the pitch, retract your flaps, etc., each with a paragraph or so of explanation and guidelines for proper handling. I found myself nodding my head in agreement until I got to 'Using the Autopilot During Climbout'—Bill acknowledges that this is routine in real-world aviation but advises simmers not to use FS' autopilot in this phase "because our experience with flight simulators have not been good." Well, I beg to disagree. Not only is Microsoft's autopilot much improved in FS2002, but (again) some 3rd-party implementations are arguably outstanding. Consider that (for the larger air transports at least), the FMC in conjunction with the autopilot manages engine thrust automatically as a function of aircraft weight, attitude and speed, and even fuel economy considerations and current flap settings—not to mention absolute accuracy in responding to pilot input, and their ability to fly both DP (SID) and STAR waypoints unerringly while the pilot is busy monitoring and responding to ATC controller instructions. Refinements beyond the scope of FS' default capabilities, yes—but nevertheless crucial to handling a jet aircraft realistically.
I found much to like in the 'attitude flying' sidebars. For example, in "Attitude Flying for Climbing and Cruising" I was pleased to find this essential advice: "... Pilots take advantage of these aerodynamic tendencies to control airspeed. To decrease airspeed, they raise the pitch. To increase airspeed, they lower the pitch. ... During descents, pilots reduce power to reduce airspeed, then they adjust pitch to maintain a desired descent angle." And during final approach the throttle/elevator control relationship is critical: "... Control the loss of altitude with the throttle. Too much throttle reduction will cause too fast a descent, and too little throttle reduction will cause too slow a descent... You must reduce power to descend at a faster rate. If you merely pitch downward, you will increase your airspeed and consequently your altitude." Not only is this good advice, it illustrates why the autopilot's speed control should be disengaged well before touchdown—advice you probably wouldn't have found elsewhere.
A vexing problem for many new to flying jets is knowing when to begin your descent from cruising altitude. Of course an ATC controller will tell you that if the ATC feature of your simulator is active (and is based on having 'filed' a flight plan) or you're flying on-line with VATSIM or IVAO, but it isn't so easy when using just FS' flight planner/GPS facility. (Again, most 3rd party flight planners provide a calculated beginning-of-descent point—even multiple descent points when you're flying with an FMC in which you've pre-programmed a given waypoint's altitude crossing restriction—typical of most STARs.) Anyway, Bill provides formulas for both 'precision' and 'rule of thumb' methods when you're flying on your own.
Bill's description of approach and landing procedures is excellent. A lot happens quickly and there's a lot to keep in mind as you approach the runway—even given the autopilot's strong assist in maintaining your heading and glide path. He covers such factors as landing approach speed, flaring, what to do when touching down, stopping and exiting the runway while offering many useful tips along the way. But I have another bone to pick with Bill's flat-out statement that "Autopilots in today's personal flight simulators will not follow a prescribed instrument-approach procedure." While that's true with the plain-vanilla flight simulators, even FS2002, any competent FMS implementation does exactly that. Although he acknowledges that FMS functions aren't covered in this book, I think his statement should have included that clarification.
The chapter concludes with a series of exercises based on flights out of Teterboro, NJ to Groton, CT to reinforce the points made.
Chapter 9 — Flying Jetliners
Like the previous chapter, step-by-step procedures explain handling each phase of the flight, but from an air transport perspective. For example, there's tables offering flap settings at IAS increments during climb, descent and landing, for each of FS2002 default air transports, the B-737, B-747 and B-777. (The Landing V Speeds chart covers Gear and Landing Vref as well.) Again, there's helpful tips and also exercises, this time at LaGuardia and Kennedy, New York and Boston, MA, and finally a flight to Dulles, VA.
Chapter 9 — Flying Supersonic Jetliners
This exotic air transport, the Concorde (offered in FS2000) is demanding to fly. There's a good discussion of this plane's unique characteristics and of course the step-by-step procedures in this chapter focus on the Concorde's idiosyncrasies. The overall panel layout and instruments that are unique to Concorde are explained in this chapter.
An example of useful information here is that "On the ground, Concorde's CG will be imbalanced whenever all fuel tanks are full. Our experiments with the fuel menu revealed the following maximum levels: left, 86 percent; right, 86 percent; center, 100 percent, and center 2, 86 percent." This section goes on to discuss both manual and automatic fuel rebalancing, and of course the added wrinkle of positioning the visor and handling the plane's afterburners (called "reheaters" in the UK). Another interesting fact is that the Concorde won't climb to cruising altitude at a constant rate-of-climb, so that must be managed in order to reach supersonic velocity. Again appropriate tables and exercises are included.
Appendices
The book concludes with a comprehensive set of check list callout items, and finally, sources for printed flight charts and an index.
Top Skills aims to provide you, the flight simulation enthusiast, with a library of books on flight simulation. Author Bill Stack is a management consultant, professional writer, speaker, trainer, entrepreneur and flight simulator since 1989. He is assisted in writing this book by Graig Trainer, a commercial flight instructor in Australia.
Previous AVSIM Online reviews of Top Skills books are my Flight-Sim Pilot's Information Manual 2001 and Flight Sim Pilots Information Manual 2002 by Pardave Lehry, and also my Instrument Flying for Flight-Sim Pilots.
Concluding thoughts
"Jet Simming" is a good primer for those who want a general overview of business and air transport jet simulated flying, but it could have been much more for those who've done a fair amount of flying in FS (and other simulators with large aircraft capabilities) and want to fly in a feature-rich simming environment—possible (at this writing) only when features offered by key add-ons are included in the material. Well, that's "food for thought." The price is $22.95 and is available at the Top Skills website.
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