woodreau

That sounds good. Probably don't want to go past 20DME to DET though, when you slow down to approach speed, you'll be doing about 2-2.5 miles a minute, and if you are on a 10 mile final - that's 4-5 minutes eaten up by your final approach. You don't want to go too fast that you can't slow down in time, but you don't want to go too slow either. But anyways, Good luck, enjoy your time and have fun - it will be a treat and a blast... I personally don't like simulator time, because every time I go - it's a test that I have to pass or I'm out of a job. It is nice to be able to step foot in one to be able to play. I've only been able to do that once, and it was to fly approaches into Aspen Colorado, and play dodge the mountains Steve W.

Thanks, I was not trying to start a EULA discussion. Just wondering what everyone was getting after looking at the license requirements.

rfresh737 has a lot of good pointers in his advice. You really don't have time in 30 minutes to fly a SID up to 4000. You don't want to do any taxiing, just start on the takeoff runway with the engines running, configured for takeoff. Do your taxiing after your last landing, if you want to get a feel for the tiller/rudder pedals. You'll just have enough time to takeoff, level off at pattern altitude, turn crosswind, downwind, vector to ILS, go around, and do the pattern again to land. basically two patterns. You can try to do a touch and go instead of a go around from the first approach, but be prepared for a takeoff configuration warning after you apply TOGA thrust to go around after touching down. (spoilers are out and flaps are not in takeoff configuration) Ignore it and have the instructor configure the aircraft for go around to fly your second pattern. As a point of reference, when pilots are training in the sim, the goal is to get into the cockpit, do the cockpit preparation, do all of the required dispatch paperwork, weight and balance, and push off the gate in 15 minutes. (Crews don't get it done in 15 minutes at the beginning - takes them 30 or longer to start - which eats into their precious sim time too - although they do have longer, but they have more to do) Engine start during the push back, and then taxi to the runway, so it's usually 20-25 minutes before they are up in the air on a really good day when they are at the top of their game. As far as hand flying, if this is your first time in a simulator, you might want to fly with autothrottles. It takes one thing you have to monitor off your mind and just allows you to focus on the plane's altitude and heading. You have another person in the seat next to you - he or she is your other crew member and a resource for you to use. You're busy flying the plane, command the other crewmember to set your MCP panel - your speed and heading bugs, altitude selector, etc. Steve W.

After reading everyone talking about Prepare3D, my question is which version is every one getting? The academic license for 60? Professional for 200? or the Pro Professional for $2300? Thanks

Use charts? or a TAWS / GPWS gauge?

From what I understand try to upgrade the GTX 750 card to something better like a x70 or x80, if you're going to go all out with the processor. The 750 won't do so well when paired with a better processor. That's my understanding anyways.

I think you are making it difficult. Your diagram that you posted in an earlier post explains everything. A course is a direction that you want to follow from one point to another. (The desired course in your diagram) Track is the result of the environment (wind/rotation of the earth etc) on an aircraft's heading. Heading is the direction the nose of the aircraft is pointed in. In learning to fly you learn to basic aircraft handling as well as learn to see the effects of the environment on your aircraft as you fly ground reference maneuvers around a point or as you fly traffic patterns around the airport and you learn how to correct for the winds to get a desired track over the ground. You learn to recognize where you are in relation to where you want to be and make the aircraft do what you want it to either visually or by following a course deviation indicator (CDU) or a bearing pointer.

It's interesting that there aren't a lot of smaller regional aircraft listed, since they make up the bulk of domestic flying today. I'll have to see: Planes I've flown in: L-1011 B747-200 B747-400 DC-9 MD-80 MD-88 DC-10 MD-10 MD-11 B737 B757 B767 B777 B727 A300 A319 A320 B1900D JS-31 Shorts 360 DHC 8-200 Saab SF-340 EMB-120 ATR-72 ERJ-135 ERJ-140 ERJ-145 CRJ-100 CRJ-200 CRJ-440 CRJ-700 CRJ-900 CRJ-1000 ERJ-170 ERJ-175 Fokker 70 BAE-146 SGS-233 SGS-232 KR-03A C150 C172 C172RG C177 C182 C182RG DA-20 PA-24 PA-28 PA-44 BE-76 BE-58 BE-55 DHC-2 Beaver Amphibian R-22 TH-57 SH-3 SH-60B MH-60S CH-53E CH-46D/E CH-47 UH-1 OH-6 C-141 C-130 Kawasaki C-1 C-2 Greyhound T-34C F-14D C-9 C-40A P-3

Found the Bundle Link. I was just confused by the Airbus X Extended and didn't know which product was the one to purchase if one hasn't ever had the Airbus Product. Downloading as we speak. Looking forward to flying it to see how it compares to flying the real thing.

Thank you for explaining. So I need to purchase the Aerosoft Airbus A318/319 and Airbus A320/A321 to get the initial product and not the Airbus X or Airbus X Extended as those are older, correct . (reaching for credit card) Apologize for drifting the thread OT. I'll need to start posting where my A320 is once I get the software, though it won't look anywhere as good as your guys. Next I'll need to investigate scenery packages. My real-world A320s are at the former Delta Cargo terminal at DFW, where they spend their precious few hours of downtime for maintenance.

Not anymore... as of Nov 20, Spirit is at E31, E32, E33, E21, E34. Delta moved into the E Satellite as their portion of the E Terminal closed for TRIP. I've been loving your guys' (esp HLJames') screenshots. Is there a difference between the Aerosoft A318/A319 and the Aerosoft A320/A321 and the Airbus X Extended or are these all the one and the same product? I've been confused by the product naming on the Aerosoft Website. I'll need to pick up the Airbus to add to the hangar.

If you have a fast processor, the 750 will cause a bottleneck from what I understand.

Okay, I think I understand your question now. I took a look at the ILS 17L approach for ZSPD. There is no Cat III approach for any airport in Shanghai. There is a Cat II approach for ILS 17L. I think your confusion is the CAT 3 DUAL indication on the FMA. The FMA indicates the landing capability of the aircraft in configuration of the aircraft at the moment. It changes all the time. If you are flying a visual approach, the FMA will still say CAT 3 DUAL as soon as you press APPR and couple the second autopilot assuming all other equipment is operational. The CAT 3 DUAL indicated on the FMA has nothing to do with the actual approach being flown. It just lets you know that the aircraft is capable of a CAT 3 Fail Operational Autoland. As to the remarks as to a manual landing, the CAT II ILS Rwy 17L approach plate has a limitation note of "Manual Operation below DA" of 400m RVR, which means to me that a Cat II approach may be flown and if the RVR is 400m or greater, a manual landing may be made. The approach minimums is 350m. So if the visibility is less than 400m but 350m or greater, an autoland is required. Then you have to consider other limitations. At my airline Cat II approaches are always conducted to an autoland (i.e. More restrictive), so even though the approach plate allows a manual landing with a visibility of 400m or greater, if we were to fly the approach it would have to be to an autoland. If a generator were to fail during the approach, the CAT 3 DUAL indication would change to CAT 3 SINGLE indicating the aircraft is no longer capable of a Cat 3 Fail Operational autoland. Now it is limited to a Cat 3 Fail Passive autoland. If autothrust were to fail later on in the approach, the FMA would change to CAT 2. Further indicating to the pilots of a degradation in landing capability of the aircraft.

The video was pretty bad. I was wondering why he was continuing the autoland below 400 ft with a blinking G/S indication. And despite him saying it is 0 ceiling and 50m visibility, the runway was in sight well before landing. If it were truly 0/50m, the first time you would see the runway is the runway centerline light going underneath the nose wheel as you touchdown. Cat III aside, the aircraft is capable of autoland in Cat I. Cat III conditions are not required for autoland. It's just in Cat I conditions, the tower controller is not protecting the ILS so you do have to be aware of possible disruption in the ILS localizer or Glideslope signal that would cause the aircraft to deviate and be prepared to take over the approach and landing/go around and rollout. A Cat III approach is always an autoland for an Airbus, so I don't know what you mean by a manual landing. What you have to monitor even in an autoland is the rollout. If ROLLOUT is not indicated on the FMA at touchdown, then you have no idea where the aircraft is going and should be prepared to takeover the landing rollout to remain on the runway, if the autopilot is not maintaining runway centerline after landing. That may be difficult if you don't have forward visibility.

Whenever you set an altitude in the FCU, you are telling the FMGC that you want a different altitude than the one the aircraft is currently at. You then pull or push, depending on what you want to do. If you pull, you will either get an OP CLB or OP DES. In an OP CLB or OP DES, the aircraft will ignore any altitude contraints set in the FMS. So it will only show ALT in cyan underneath OP CLB or OP DES. If you push, the aircraft will attempt to honor any and all altitude constraints set in the FMS. You will get CLB or DES then underneath CLB or DES, it will either show ALT in cyan or ALT CST in magenta. There may be an altitude constraint set in the FMS. If the FMGC calculates the aircraft will meet the altitude constraint without having to stop at the altitude constraint, it will just show ALT in cyan. If the FMGC determines the aircraft needs to level off at the altitude constraint, it will show ALT CST in magenta and then indicate what altitude it is constrained to on the altitude tape of the PFD in magenta. Once the aircraft gets to the point of altitude capture, the ALT/ALT CST transitions from the second line to the top line of the FMA to show either ALT* or ALT CST* to indicate it is in the process of capturing the altitude that is either set in the FCU or the altitude constrained by the FMS. Once the altitude is captured the FMA will display one of the following ALT, ALT CRZ, or ALT CST, depending on the situtation. If it is ALT CST, the aircraft will only level as long as it is constrained, after it passes the constrained waypoint, it will resume the climb or descent to the altitude set in the FCU. At which point it will then show either CLB or DES, with ALT in cyan underneath, and the FCU preselected altitude in cyan on the altitude tape of the PFD.