IXEG 737-300

[rtodepart 761]

Well im now looking foward to see this bird out of the nest in the tarmac. Coming from southwest fleet makes me even more interested to see how it turns out . So far you guys are looking VERY good , congrats and keep up the good work .

[Janov 2,383]

These last few days we have been busy with the FMS again. You might know that all modern airliners have one of these - and while you can theoretically fly without them, they are very much a centerpiece to a safe and efficient operation. They are quite complicated and highly sophisticated - and while that is great when actually using them on board, it is also the reason why a realistic FMS has been the domain of very few and selected add-on making companies so far.

 

Well, we are taking on that challenge. The quality and feel of our FMS is blowing me away every time our coders punch out a new page or feature. I have written about the thrust management before, today I will punch up a few more "preflight pictures" and point out what I think is special about them.

 

 

 

Above pic shows the two CDU´s - note that they are still "floating" in mid-air right now. Every CDU can operate independently of the other one - show a different page, accept input, etc.

 

 

 

Above pic shows the "PERF INIT" page, where you will input weights and other parameters of the flight. You can see that I am about to enter "FL240" as cruise altitude into the boxes on the top right. The FMS uses this data to compute various things - amongst them the takeoff speeds as you can see on the next picture:

 

 

 

Above pic shows the TAKEOFF REF page on the left CDU and the N1 LIMIT page on the right CDU. You can see on the right that I have entered a TASS of 45 degrees - the FMS has calculated a reduced take-off N1 of 87.5%. It has also automatically selected a reduced climb thrust - otherwise the N1 would increase at the thrust reduction altitude. Also note the thrust mode annunciator shows "R-TO" to alert the pilot that a reduced takeoff thrust will be set.

The left CDU shows the takeoff data - once you enter the takeoff flap setting (1 in this case) the FMS will calculate and suggest V-speeds, that you can accept with the click of a button or overwrite with your own speeds.

 

 

 

This last pic shows the effect of those inputs on the EADI. V1 and Vr are automatically shown on the speed tape. V2 must be set manually with the MCP speed selector. Ready for a reduced power take-off.

 

Jan

[rtodepart 761]

Janov thanks for the update those pictures are looking good ....

[Kaan KASIM 54]

Looking forward to it. :Party:

[tkyler 88]

Hello. We thought it was time for an update. It has been quiet because we have been working very aggressively on the FMS and there is much to do there. We are making great progress though and have had some good results with our lnav route planning thus far and thought we would show some of the results. As we draw to a close of the FMS work, then we will be on our final stretch to wrap up the 3D and start closing up any loose ends. As we get more and more of our 3D textured, we will starting providing more regular updates.

 

Tom Kyler

Laminar / IXEG

www.ixeg.net

 

Here's some pics of the EHSI with more challenging lnav routes on them.

 

 

 

[Comanche 417]

Looks fantastic!! I can't wait to buy this addon!

 

Rob

[Janov 2,383]

Hi everyone,

 

we are still deep into the FMS and it´s implementation - but we feel that we are over the hump and will have this section wrapped up within a few weeks.

 

Tom, who is in charge of generating the lateral navigation (LNAV), has posted a new blog over at our website:

 

http://www.ixeg.net/...ve-lnav-routing

 

I just want to share this screenshot I took yesterday night when testing the path-drawing algorithm on an approach to EDDV (Hannover, Germany). It shows me coming in from the north towards the Celle NDB (CEL), followed by the RNAV transition to runway 27R.

 

 

 

I named the screenshot "Childrenofthemagenta" as a reference to the excellent video that was linked to in THIS post by Andy Goldstein. This guy has it perfectly straight:

 

http://forums.x-plan...11

 

Jan

[ZachLW 37]

Impressive! I'm a hopeless 737 fan!

 

Any chance of a fully analog version a la US Airways?

[Janov 2,383]

Impressive! I'm a hopeless 737 fan!

 

Any chance of a fully analog version a la US Airways?

 

For now the focus is on getting the configuration as shown out of the door. Future derivatives and different configurations have not been planned yet, so nothing is ruled out.

 

Jan

[pryoski 84]

Wow, really looking forward to getting this plane. I'm a fan of this aircraft as well!

[Janov 2,383]

Hi everyone,

 

development is going kind of slow these days. Working on the FMS is really tedious, this component is a total bug-generator! While just getting the "normal" operation working is challenging enough, the "what-if" scenarios are absolutely mind boggling. It is not suprising to me that the real FMS is already at version 10.7 and still quite a few documented bugs persist...

 

To take a little break from that and to give ourselves the reward of making something visually more impressive we have recently implemented the outside lighting (minus the emergency exit lighting and wheel well illumination, those are still to come).

 

I have a picture for you, and would like to point out a few prominent features to look out for:

 

- Outboard landing lights, with correct timedelay for extending and retracting

- Inboard landing lights, all with correct angles and light cones as specified in the manual

- Runway turnoff lights pointing outwards from the wing roots

- Taxi light that turns with the nosewheel

- Position lights, either powered from the transfer bus 2 or the battery bus, dependent on switch position

- Logo lights in the wingtips, illuminating the airline insignia on the tailfin

- Strobe and anti-collision lights, both with custom frequencies

- Wing illumination lights to light up the leading edges (for ice detection)

 

All lights are powered by the correct busses, so if you turn off engine 2 during single-engine-taxi-in you would (as in reality) loose the left inboard and right outboard landing lights, right runway turnoff lights and logo lights. Unless you have the APU generator power main bus 2, of course...

 

The picture was taken with HDR on.

 

 

 

There is also a short video sequence (6MB), but upload limits prevent me from posting it here. It can be easily found elsewhere...

 

Jan

[tkyler 88]

Hello everyone. We are back working a bit more aggressively on the 737 and wanted to provide a short update. We are currently working on exterior 3D elements, flap mechanisms and soon to be texturing on the wings. In addition, we're filling in holes in some of our systems. We have implemented galley load shedding to the electrical model, attendants ground service mode with automatic GPU disconnect and also galley loads, so when/if the coffee maker or microwave comes on in flight, depending on the length of the flight and the sequence of the flight, you will see this reflected on the overhead ammeter gauges in the cockpit drawing power. We are also implementing a custom battery drain/charge model so that when you are operating with standby power, you will have to manage your power draw closely within limits and think twice about when and if to try to attempt an APU start on standby power. We hope to provide more reports soon.

 

Tom Kyler

IXEG

[Alec 370]

Amazing work!

 

Be sure to get it working with Aerosoft NavData stuff, can't fly with anything else nowadays! As good as in RL!

[tkyler 88]

Be sure to get it working with Aerosoft NavData stuff, can't fly with anything else nowadays! As good as in RL!

 

 

We will be going with Navigraph initially but will look at Aerosoft' stuff eventually. What is it about the Aerosoft stuff that, compared with Navigraph, makes it closer to real life? (though I model airliners, I'm actually not a fan of flying them ) I know DME arcs are much better represented with Aerosoft data....but what else?

 

TomK

[Alec 370]

LIDO Database that Aerosoft Has access to is much more complete than the one from Navigraph, in fact many major Companies use the same database as we have in our Simulators. I used to buy from Navigraph, but Aerosoft has the lead by far now.