FS2004 Simulated Aircraft Bubble Sextant

[Dark Moment 0]

This PRESS RELEASE, together with the relevant zip file, was posted to Avsim.com, Flightsim.com and Simviation.com today. When they wake up from their weekend, you'll be able to download our new file from any of these sites; at time of writing, they will not be posted yet: "Dave Bitzer and Mark Beaumont are known to many 'classic' aircraft fans for their various freeware releases for the FS2004 Douglas DC-3. These include improved air dynamics, fuel management devices, panels, kneeboards and other work. Dave and Mark have also produced unofficial modifications for the latest FS2004/FS2002 MAAM-SIM DC-3. Now Beaumont & Bitzer are delighted to announce, after many months' work, the release of a first for FS in the form of an aircraft 'bubble' sextant. Based on the typical RAF Mk.IX variant, this gauge can be used with any FS2004 aircraft, enabling realistic celestial navigation within the simulation. Included are a comprehensive browser-based manual and other references. As travel by air developed and matured, navigation over long distances also developed and improved. In the early days, however, air navigation essentially used ship navigation techniques adapted for aircraft. Without "landmarks", the navigators used Ded Reckoning (DR) and the stars. Celestial or Astronomical Navigation provides a means of obtaining Lines of Position (LOPs) from these stars. Crossing LOPs will fix a position. Celestial Navigation requires a chart, and a planned course on that chart, with waypoints specified by Latitude and Longitude, an assumed time of arrival at each waypoint, and stars (including the Sun, Moon, or planets) in view. In the 1940s, extensive tables of star positions were made available to air navigators to be used with sextants to obtain these LOPs. In the tables, all times involved are GMT. This data is now available from the Internet in "ready to use" form. Beaumont & Bitzer's gauge simulates the sextant, and the process by which one obtains a LOP, or crossing LOPs to obtain a position, or fix. "We're very excited to be able to offer this small but significant freeware gauge to the FS community" says Mark Beaumont. "The beauty of flight simulation today is that we all have the chance to try out many different types of aircraft and fly them in the way they should be, or were, flown. Dave and I are particularly keen on the Douglas DC-3 and aircraft of her generation; this gauge brings a level of realism to that era of navigation that has not been available to date. There's a learning curve involved in using this sextant properly (or at all), without doubt; but we encourage you to put aside your DME, GPS and FS Navigator software for a while and to learn how demanding accurate navigation could be in the formative years of many of the world's airlines". By Dave Bitzer and Mark Beaumont. File name: DC3_BBSX.ZIP Uploaded: 6 December 2004" Our thanks are due to all those beta testers who assisted us in putting this gauge together. In terms of concept and coding, this was Dave Bitzer's most ambitious project yet, by far, and even Bumpkin Beaumont needed to keep a pretty steady hand with his paintbrush and keep all three brain cells active for several months. There are specific instructions included for installation to the R4D-6 or DC-3A from ... yes, you guessed it, MAAM-SIM. This is not an official download, however.It won't be for everbody ... there's a learning curve, for sure, if you are not familiar with celestial navigation ... but to our knowledge, this is the first time this has been effectively simulated within FS. So have fun! Now we're going to have a beer .... Mark P.S. I've just brought my DC-3 website up to date, which was getting dusty, and have split out FS2004 and FS2002. More to do, but take a peek if you haven't updated yourself as to what's there recently: www.swiremariners.com/dc3.html Note that the link to the sextant will NOT work until it is posted at Avsim, hopefully within today.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

[Gridley 257]

AWESOME! I can't wait - I've been hitting the "check new uploads" link constantly. As an amateur astronomer, and a fan of the DC3, this will be a nice addon. THANKS!sg

[Guest altack]

Hi Guys,my download is completed ! I still have to dig in my memories to know how to use the sextant...Speaking of "odd" gages, would it be possible to create a Load Adjuster for the R4D / DC-3 ? so that we can compute our Weight & Balance...Keep up the good work and all my thanks for your great work !altack

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

This is a fantastic piece of work.Weeks of reading before setting off at night without a gps!