Turns out, the Scarebus has a little thing called the 'green dot' on the PFD. It computes the best glide speed for you.

I'm pretty sure that the "green dot" isn't modeled in the default FSX Airbus A321, unfortunately. Anybody know best glide speed with 3 degrees of flap? Where's Captain Mike Wray when you need him!!!!!Also PPFSA, a question for you: Have you tried the mission ... and if so, is there any way to reach Teterboro (assuming USAir guidelines for engine thrust settings on takeoff?)Cheers,Kevin

Sorry no I havent tried the mission. As far as the 'dot', its a variable thats computed on multiple factors automatically, so I assume its not modeled in FSX, but I dont fly the buses in FS so I dont know.Re: making Teterboro, if it could have been made, Im sure the crew would have. I've flown in there in real life, there isnt any room for error, especially with the traffic coming out of Newark.

One other thing the bus has is a thing called a 'ditch switch'. This closes all external openings in the plane to allow it to float longer. Whether or not it was activated isnt clear, and won't be, until the NTSB is done with their interviews and the information is released. Right now everyone involved is under a 'gag' order.I read a prelim report that says the "ditch switch" was not activated.

One other thing the bus has is a thing called a 'ditch switch'. This closes all external openings in the plane to allow it to float longer. Whether or not it was activated isnt clear, and won't be, until the NTSB is done with their interviews and the information is released. Right now everyone involved is under a 'gag' order.I read a prelim report that says the "ditch switch" was not activated.

Ya I heard that too. Apparently it isn't used much :( I called my pal when I heard about it, he was actually sitting in the cockpit at Nashville when he answered. He and the co pilot looked it up in the manual to see what exactly it did, shows ya how much its used LOL. It seems it works so well that if its armed while pressurized, you can damage the aircraft.

Excerpt from a report, gives a bit of insight including the flap setting, if it helps with your 'mission' setup..."In the initial radio conversations with air traffic control after the bird strike the captain decided to not try La Guardia because they were too low, too slow, pointed the wrong way and there were too many buildings (obstacles). When Teterboro was brought up, the captain also decided not to attempt going there because Teterboro was even farther away, he had never been there and they'd have needed to fly over populated areas with catastrophic consequences if they didn't make it. Therefore he said "We're gonna be in the Hudson" and deliberately steered the airplane to touch down near a vessel on the river. He called for flaps 2, which were set by the first officer and called "Brace for impact". They lost electricity upon impact with the water."

Excerpt from a report, gives a bit of insight including the flap setting, if it helps with your 'mission' setup..."In the initial radio conversations with air traffic control after the bird strike the captain decided to not try La Guardia because they were too low, too slow, pointed the wrong way and there were too many buildings (obstacles). When Teterboro was brought up, the captain also decided not to attempt going there because Teterboro was even farther away, he had never been there and they'd have needed to fly over populated areas with catastrophic consequences if they didn't make it. Therefore he said "We're gonna be in the Hudson" and deliberately steered the airplane to touch down near a vessel on the river. He called for flaps 2, which were set by the first officer and called "Brace for impact". They lost electricity upon impact with the water."

Thanks Jay. Was this a media report, or an official report?

Thanks Jay. Was this a media report, or an official report?

I'm not sure, it came to me in email from a source at US Air. It sounds like a transcript of the cockpit recorder, there was a lot more, I just posted the part about the flaps, since you were asking earlier.

I'm not sure, it came to me in email from a source at US Air. It sounds like a transcript of the cockpit recorder, there was a lot more, I just posted the part about the flaps, since you were asking earlier.

The "best" flap setting for the actual aircraft and that for FSX may be two different things. I know that the FSX default A321 seems fairly realistic (feels similar to the Boeing 737 in a lot of areas) but certainly Microsoft testers never tried much flying with the engines cutoff. The best performance (most ground covered vs longest time in the air) is certainly a complex set of factors - CG position, flaps, engine windmill drag, weight, winds, weather,... I do agree with one post above that usually full flaps isn't the best answer since they are selected on final approach and have the most lift but also the most drag and without any power will cause a quick speed bleedoff on the actual aircraft (unless you really point the nose down). I do notice on the FSX A321 PFD, an Alpha Floor indication. The actual aircraft is, of course, fly-by-wire and therefore the computer control law that is called into action with this gliding without power situation may have a lot to do with "best" flaps as well. What we do know is that the Captain made a very good choice - maybe the only one that would work out. With all our computerized systems, he still had to make the call. He didn't have time to do a Google Search on "best emergency landing fields".Dave

What we do know is that the Captain made a very good choice - maybe the only one that would work out. With all our computerized systems, he still had to make the call. He didn't have time to do a Google Search on "best emergency landing fields".

I think this is the most important thing to keep in mind. While we have the luxury of running this problem over and over and over in our simulators, Captain Sullenberger had at best just a few seconds to commit to a course of action. I haven't seen a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder yet, but I'll bet when it comes out, we'll find out he made his decision fairly quickly to get the aircraft away from populated areas.That's the most heroic aspect of it. He had, really, no way of knowing he'd survive an icy plunge into the Hudson River on one of the coldest days of the year. The aircraft could easily have come apart and sunk quickly, and I think the Captain and crew knew that. Yet, he moved quickly to put the aircraft in a location where people on the ground wouldn't be affected by his decisions. That's the epitome of heroism, to me.Still, I think it's valuable and fun to practice this scenario in the simulator, trying different solutions and seeing what works, and what doesn't. I know I'm learning a great deal about the trade-offs of one approach versus another. I've only found one reasonable way to get back to a runway without endangering lives on the ground, but I know there are several more that others have found.Incidently, I've put up a new version of this mission (version 0.97). It is for Acceleration-users only because it adds some cinematic sequences introducing the mission and if you land on a runway, some cinematic sequences at the end with your reward. Also some bug fixes. It's available for download at http://www.flightsimulatorxmissions.com in the Beta section of the Downloads area.Cheers,Kevin

Kevin, It appears that the latest version of the US Airways 1549 requires a US Airways A321 - not just any A321 which is all I have - you get an aircraft initialization error. No real problem though.Dave

Kevin, It appears that the latest version of the US Airways 1549 requires a US Airways A321 - not just any A321 which is all I have - you get an aircraft initialization error. No real problem though.Dave

Open the .flt file with Notepad and search for the sim= line in the [sIM.0] Section. Replace the name of the plane to whatever the title of the Airbus that you have is in the aircraft.cfg for the version that you have. It should be something like: sim=Airbus A321 Paint2for the World Travel default Airbus A321. In reality the plane was actually an A320 Airbus. Hope this helps, regards, Bob.P.S. The flt file is in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Missions\Airline Pilot\USAIR1549_BirdStrike folder if you have the default location of FSX.

Kevin, It appears that the latest version of the US Airways 1549 requires a US Airways A321 - not just any A321 which is all I have - you get an aircraft initialization error. No real problem though.Dave

Dave, sorry about that. I noticed that immediately after I uploaded the version. I immediately fixed that and reuploaded. You must have downloaded that that pretty quickly. Sorry about that.(PS: There is a free USAir livery that is fairly easy to install. It's available at flightsim.com. Search for filename: uwa321.zip. I'm not able to distribute it with the mission.)Cheers,Kevin

Kevin, I downloaded the US Air livery and also downloaded the latest photoreal scenery for New York City from megasceneryearth.com (MY #1) - looks good but there isn't a set of winter textures.Dave