AVSIM Shareware Review FSPilot

FOREWORD: FSPilot

One of the most interesting things I can think of, in reading and writing reviews for Avsim, is that the third-party developers for add-ons to Microsoft Flight Simulator never seem to run out of innovations. Just when I would think, "that's it! There can't possibly be any more..." along comes another product that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in the world of flight simulation.

The shareware product I am presenting to you, FSPilot by the German developer Scientific Networks, is in its own way something new for me. FSPilot has been around in one form or another since 2005, yet my first introduction to it was for this review, and the product I am reviewing is the 2.11 version. Although I am primarily looking at FSPilot for FS2004, a free update to make this add-on completely compatible with FSX is also available.

INTRODUCTION: Universal Autopilot

If you're like me and you've never heard of FSPilot before, then you're probably wondering what this product is. Put simply, FSPilot is an enhanced "universal autopilot" for virtually every aircraft, including third-party add-ons, and especially including helicopters, that FS2004 supports. FSPilot also includes a digital moving-map EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System), a flight planner, and some extra goodies like an .MP3 player and a Snapshot photo tool. FSPilot is provided as a shareware download, with a generous period of free-flight usage that allows anyone to thoroughly try out this product before choosing to buy it.

The history of this product may shed some light on its utility. Originally, FSPilot began as a project to add a simple autopilot function to the excellent freeware spacecraft simulator Orbiter. Using the Orbiter Software Development Kit (SDK) as a source, the autopilot was compiled in the C++ programming language. The result was an application that would allow even a child to safely pilot the lunar lander.

The programming was difficult, but the team at Scientific Networks prevailed. In late 2005, the sights were set on creating an autopilot for "FS2006". Of course, the vast majority of aircraft simulated in MSFS have their own autopilot functions, however, many of those autopilots were limited in what they could do. When I saw what FSPilot can do, I can agree that by comparison, the default MSFS autopilots are indeed limited in their scope.

Coming from Orbiter, FSPilot's developer was used to frequently switching to external views to watch his flight. As a result, he designed the autopilot interface as two free-floating windows that allow the sim pilot to safely fly while viewing the aircraft from the outside. In fact, it's possible to fly entire flights from the external view, or if you have an aircraft with a passenger cabin view, from your favourite window seat. Controls such as lights, landing gear retraction and extension, flaps, autobrakes, and so on, can either be automated or operated through the autopilot interface.

The Autopilot and EFIS Windows are at the heart of FSPilot.

At this point, sim pilots who desire complete realism in their aircraft might have concerns with FSPilot. The level of automation in this product is so high that it is easily possible for the aircraft to take off with proper flaps, cruise following proper waypoints, choose the best runway on which to land at the destination, automatically make its approach in any wind condition, land and brake to a stop -- all this by pressing the "Autopilot ON" button. If a fully automated flight is configured, then there's very little for the sim pilot to do.

Fortunately, FSPilot is designed to accept a wide array of configurations, and a sim pilot can easily tailor the autopilot to perform with as much or as little automation as he or she sees fit. In fact, I think one of the most entertaining aspects of FSPilot is tinkering with the programmed flights to see just what it can do under all types of variables: weather, time, altitude, distance, and even aircraft type. I am not a computer programmer by any stretch of the imagination, yet the programming language available within the autopilot interface is so simple, even I can build and execute my own flight plans from scratch.

This pull-down menu is where FSPilot gets started in FS2004.

INSTALLATION: A Shareware Download

FSPilot may be downloaded from the Avsim library, or from the Scientific Networks website. You may view the website in English or German. The current download at this writing for FS2004 is the 2.0 version; there is a free patch to 2.11 available, and more developments are on their way. The shareware license allows the user 30 free uses of FSPilot before the license runs out. During this time, FSPilot is fully functional, however, a pop-up window appears during the splash screen to tell you how many uses you have left. After the 30 uses are done, the pop-up window no longer appears, but some functions within FSPilot are disabled. Registering the product will allow the complete use of FSPilot, with no pop-ups or restrictions.

The download itself is very small, around 22 Mb, and the program, once executed, requires 43 Mb of hard drive space. To install, you unzip the compressed download file and double click on the self-installer. You will be asked to navigate to your main MSFS directory, where the program will install itself in its own sub-folder. In FS2004, FSPilot creates a pull-down menu option that you can access when you are in your aircraft. The registration device can be accessed within this menu, once you have paid for FSPilot.

FEATURES: The Big List

FSPilot is crammed with interesting items. Here is a list of features in FSPilot:

• Universal Autopilot. The autopilot functions in a similar manner to the default MSFS autopilot. You have controls for airspeed, altitude, and rate of climb. This autopilot can control pretty much any MSFS or third party aircraft.
• Helicopter Autopilot. The controls can be switched at will from fixed wing to rotary wing aircraft. The autopilot can be used for auto-hovering, flying to waypoints, and even landing on precise GPS (Global Positioning System) co-ordinates.
• Does not require FSUIPC. FSPilot is written to be completely independent of FSUIPC.
• Time Compression. The autopilot will remain active and in control at high rates of time compression, far beyond what MSFS is capable of. Most aircraft will handle very well at 16x and 32x time compression, and if the transition from waypoint to waypoint is gradual, FSPilot can run long flights with even higher time compression than that.
• EFIS/Navigation Screen. The EFIS moving map functions as a wonderful one-click navigator. Simply click on a navaid (a waypoint, a beacon, an airport, what have you) on the scaleable map, and the autopilot will automatically adjust your course to intercept the navaid. You can string a series of navaids together to chart a course. Pages within the EFIS include written details of your flight plan, as well as navaid data such as local communications frequencies, runway information, and so on.
• Low Altitude Flight. Below a given threshold (default of 300 feet) above the ground, the autopilot will try to fly a low-profile flight path, following the terrain something like a fighter jet.
• Google Earth Interface. FSPilot has a built-in system to work with Google Earth (free version) to track your flights.
• Auto Approach. When you are near you destination airport, you can ask FSPilot to seek out the best runway to land on, based on weather conditions and runway length. Then, if you desire, the autopilot will generate an approach complete with waypoints that it will follow to precisely land on that runway. Finally, FSPilot can perform the landing, even in severe weather.
• Automated Flight Plans. Using the simple command language, FSPilot can be programmed to automatically operate flaps, lights, gear, taxi, brakes, pushback, thrust reversers, as well as individual control surfaces for acrobatic flight. Navigation from departure to arrival and every waypoint in between can also be completely automated.
• Inverted Autopilot. The autopilot can be rigged to fly many airplanes upside-down, at the push of a button.
• Microsoft Access Database Interface. FSPilot can write flight data to MS Access, creating a logbook of your flights. Details such as the aircraft model used, landing performance, duration of flight in real-time and in session time (with time compression), and distance flown are automatically computed. You can add screen shots and comments to each flight log, and compile them into an archive. If you don't have MS Access, the FSPilot webpage points you to its own freeware database system.
• Audio Cues. FSPilot can be programmed to play various audio files on command, including .MP3 files.
• Screen Shot. You may take screen shots within MSFS which are saved to the folder of your choice. You may specify the file type, size, and quality of these shots. Taking a shot can be as simple as pressing the "camera" button on the autopilot panel.

All of these features are fully enabled during the shareware trial period of thirty sessions. After the trial expires, some features are disabled, unless you register the product.

PERFORMANCE: Unexpected Appeal

FSPilot has a lot of features to try out. Most of them apply to what I would consider two broad categories of autopilot function: things you can do in real-time and under time-compression, and things you can do to program the autopilot in advance of the flight. Some other features involve customizing your flight, including recording and archiving. Because there's such a wide range of features, and most of them are intended to be applied to nearly every Flight Simulator aircraft ever simulated, there's also a wide range of performance issues as well, although overall FSPilot does a remarkable job of handling things.

My impression of Patty Wagstaff's thrilling inverted flight sequence at the Abbotsford Air Show. FSPilot did most of the work in this picture.

Some aircraft do better at being handled by FSPilot than others, but it really boils down to what your flight plan is. For instance, using the inverted flight button on the Boeing 747 is not a safe option, however, FSPilot does try to get the job done, and it is possible to fly your jumbo jet upside-down. On the other hand, inversion works extremely well with Patty Wagstaff's aerobatic Extra. Likewise, when asking FSPilot to autoland a fixed-wing jet, it seems to do better with the smaller aircraft than the larger ones, although it can stick that Cat III landing with the 747 if you need it to.

One issue I had with FSPilot was that the autopilot seemed to bank the aircraft too quickly and too steeply for my tastes. It turns out that this design is intentional, so that larger aircraft can make proper turns at their waypoints under high time compression. If the autopilot made its turns more slowly, then the aircraft would tend to miss their fixes and circle aimlessly, especially with time compression in the upper settings. There exists a simple and elegant solution to this issue, and I will get to that in a moment.

Another issue I had with FSPilot involved the helicopter autopilot. This is something that I was completely unprepared for. Most of my MSFS helicopter flight time has been taken up with short sight-seeing hops in the Robinson, as it's relatively easy to handle. There have been times where I would have liked to have hovered more effortlessly over a particular landmark, or even landed in a discrete patch of ground, like the GPS co-ordinates of the front yard of my house. FSPilot certainly allows the autopilot to take over the helicopter, but I found that my initial flights were shaky at best with the autopilot on. I soon learned that the helicopter autopilot requires very precise, very smooth control. Once I mastered making changes to the speed, altitude, and heading that were gradual and logical, FSPilot flew my Robinson helicopter like a beautiful dream. As I am writing this article, the software developer at Scientific Networks is working to improve the helicopter autopilot code, which in the end, should prove to be most impressive.

FSPilot hovers over the skyline near Munich International Airport. The helicopter autopilot will perform auto-hovers and can land on a dime.

What I am coming to is that there are limits to what FSPilot can do, depending on the airplane, the flight plan, and the environmental conditions. When you learn to fly with FSPilot, it helps to be careful with your adjustments to the controls. If you exceed flight tolerances, the aircraft will start to behave in unpredictable ways. There is a bit of a learning curve as you discover what FSPilot will or will not do during a typical flight.

Some of the limits to FSPilot are purely artificial in nature. Again, I mention the steep banking the autopilot prefers to use. Many of the FSPilot preferences are kept in a simple data file which can be easily altered by the user, either by accessing the data file or through the Options menu. If you are like me, and you don't like the way the aircraft banks under autopilot, you can make the adjustment to a bank angle that seems more or less reasonable. The trade-off is that the autopilot may be unable to handle your aircraft under very high time compression.

There is a high degree of what I could call "tinker factor" here. If you like the idea of poking around the innards of a computer pilot to see just what it will do, then you should enjoy FSPilot. There is a lot of play value in just trying out all of the different autopilot settings on your favourite aircraft.

Likewise, if you want FSPilot to simplify your flight process, then it can do that as well. Unlike many more complicated add-ons for MSFS, FSPilot does generate strong appeal for an unusual audience: children. The navigation system can be simplified down to a single mouse click on the EFIS map: point the mouse to where you want the airplane to go, and it will go there. Children (and kids at heart) seem to delight in controlling the beautiful aircraft models, and parents and guardians don't have to worry about the kids wrecking expensive controls, or containing their frustration with complicated cockpits. FSPilot is genuinely fun for the whole family, and educational for all ages in the worlds of simulated aviation and programming.

Generating pre-programmed flights can go beyond creating a flight plan. Although the programming language used to create these flights is very simple and easy to use, there are a number of sophisticated variables that may be included. I tried the tutorial that asked me to follow a Boeing 737 flight from Frankfurt, Germany to London, England: it was as uneventful a passage as could ever be hoped for. Then I looked at some of the more complicated features -- again, if you enjoy playing around with computer command lines and experimenting with variables, then FSPilot is sure to please.

The beginning of an automated acrobatic flight plan. Image is reproduced with the kind permission of Scientific Networks.

FSPilot comes pre-packaged with a number of complete flight plans, and some of them were really very complex, at least by my standards. By adjusting individual ailerons and elevators, not to mention throttle percentages and so on, it's possible to create aerobatic flight plans composed of several stunt sequences: you can pre-program you own air show, complete with smoke effects and music!

OUTSTANDING ISSUES: A Labour of Love

FSPilot is what I would consider a labour of love for Scientific Networks. It started out as a home-based project, and now it has grown into a large shareware product. It's not quite at the level of a payware package, in that you buy an item, and what comes to you in the box or the electronic "wrapper" is all you get. Put simply, FSPilot at this writing remains unfinished, but I must stress this is a good thing! There is more to FSPilot than the basic download.

The developer is continuously creating free updates to the product, largely based on conversations with users. I have found it difficult to write a review of FSPilot in that I am revising the features list as time goes on. When this review gets published, I am sure that there will be some new innovation that I can download for my copy of FSPilot.

A portion of the available programmable flight commands, with the full list available on the FSPilot website. Image is reproduced with the kind permission of Scientific Networks.

One feature that is missing from FSPilot, is any sort of manual included with the product. At first, this must seem to be a glaring oversight, but there is a manual and some fine tutorials to be had on the FSPilot webpage. Considering the number of updates that are being released for FSPilot, any off-line manual that came with this product would have to be frequently revised. The basic workings of FSPilot are intuitive, so that the only reference I felt I needed to keep was a copy of the current list of command parameters.

Another feature that I have some lukewarm feelings about is the panels themselves. While it is easy to turn the two floating operational panels on and off, or move them around the screen, the panels cannot be resized. The team at Scientific Networks is very much aware of this, and has plans to include resizable panels, but this feature may require some time before it reaches fruition, as the programming for the panels is complex and difficult to revise.

FSPilot takes its own screenshot! Unfortunately, at higher resolutions the FSPilot windows become difficult to read and operate.

Apart from the fact that the floating panel size is locked, I also have some problems with the hotspots that are used to control some of the functions. The main functions, particularly on the EFIS, are extremely easy to click on and use, but some sub-functions, such as turning pages in the EFIS are somewhat harder to accomplish, especially on higher screen resolutions. Again, I am confident that this issue will be addressed when the panels are updated.

Lastly, to improve the performance of FSPilot, it is recommended to reduce some of the Realism settings in MSFS. While this can help improve how FSPilot functions -- it does seem to handle some aircraft better than others -- I sometimes forget to return the Realism settings back to their original positions when I am flying the sim without activating FSPilot.

CONCLUSION: Executive Summary

To summarize my review to this point: FSPilot is a shareware utility for MSFS that provides a unique "universal autopilot" that is capable of completely controlling just about every aircraft that has been designed for Flight Simulator, including fixed-wing aircraft (propeller-driven planes and jets), helicopters, and commercial and free-ware add-ons. FSPilot also provides a programmable flight planner and a one-click navigation system that allows for setting and following waypoints on the fly. FSPilot provides control over your aircraft at time compression settings well beyond what MSFS is capable of, so that it is easy to simulate long-haul flights in a short simulation session. You can even use FSPilot to perform fully automated landings. You do not require FSUIPC to use FSPilot.

FSPilot is not really intended for sim pilots who demand ultimate realism in MSFS. What it will do is simplify your flight, and allow you some powerful tools for automatically controlling your aircraft. It's ideal for people who want to fly, but don't have the time to sit through long-haul flights. FSPilot is also remarkably family-friendly, which to my mind is unusual for MSFS add-ons.

There is also the significant and entertaining ability to go into FSPilot and play around with its internal settings. Not only can you alter how FSPilot interacts with your aircraft, you can program any or all parts of a flightplan so that FSPilot executes your commands automatically.

FSPilot is a shareware utility, with 30 free uses. If you go through all 30 uses, most of the program remains functional, but some of the features become disabled until you register the program. It's free to download and try out for yourself!

THE LAST WORD: FSX

As I am writing this review, FSX (Flight Simulator 10) has been released commercially. Scientific Networks has already released a new version of FSPilot for FSX called FSXPilot. The deal is the same as before: unregistered users have 30 free uses, while registered users may simply use their key to activate FSXPilot. The functionality of FSXPilot is the same as its predecessor, although the resourceful developer is busy writing new features into the program. Reportedly, helicopter and Boeing 747 autopilot performance has been improved, and there's a new module that allows for weather information in FSX to be imported into the EFIS.

Finally, there is a new Internet domain for both FSPilot and FSXPilot which is the same as the old domain, but with a name that is easier to remember (www.fsxpilot.com). You should find all relevant information for the program at this website, plus free download links, tutorials, endorsements, and a public forum.

Traditionally, at the end of most Avsim reviews, the reviewer is encouraged to put forth a list of likes and dislikes regarding a product. I will forego this list, as there is a long list of things to like about FSPilot, and relatively few dislikes. The point is, even if I did list my pros and cons for this product, the feature list keeps changing, so that by the time I've written about some feature, it may have already been improved or replaced by something new.

Again, since the shareware license is so generous, the best advice I can offer is to suggest that anyone who is interested in FSPilot or FSXPilot should download it and try it for themselves. I think that FSPilot was a lot of fun to try out, and it provided some interesting and new ways of flying my simulated aircraft.

I did ask the team at Scientific Networks for some final remarks regarding FSPilot and FSXPilot, and this is what the lead developer said:

" I liked very much to have FSXPilot on my system on my switch to FSX, as it represents one of the first add-ons which is a standalone .EXE (executable program), which does not require FSUIPC, and which offers real-time point and click navigation of real world NAV targets in FSX. I find the FSX planes harder to fly than in FS2004, which in part is due to frame rate drops on our test systems. FSXP was out only one week after the FSX release date due to the new 'Simconnect' FSX interface.

"I would like to thank AVSIM and all AVSIM users for the continuous support of my project. AVSIM is and will be my premiere download and publishing site, where I find all news and add-ons that are relevant. Next steps in FS(X)P development will be the integration of multiplayer- and AI-aircraft on the EFIS and generation of routines for finding each other as well as flying auto-formations."

With so many great features to begin with, and more on the way, FSPilot and FSXPilot are interesting downloads for anybody who wants a new way to fly in the MSFS universe.

FSPilot makes it possible to run your entire flight from a passenger seat! Go on and try that sometime, I double-dare you!

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