July 19, 201213 yr Does 3d lights reflect light on clouds when flying threw them? I thought I read or saw somewhere that it does. The reason I ask this is because I don't see light reflecting on clouds when I fly threw them. Thanks
July 19, 201213 yr I have the Shockwave lights but don't recall seeing outside reflections. With some aircraft the beacon light continually reflects inside the VC - which is annoying and not very realistic . Strobes, nav lights and beacons reflecting on the ground, inside clouds and fog and sometimes off the wings - yes, you may see these in the real world. But in the cockpit in my experience - never... To me this is the one drawback of the Shockwave lights though it may not be an issue in all aircraft The intitial enthusiasm for providing the positioning info to add them to new aircraft on the A2A forum seems to have died away so most of the database there is from a couple of years ago. Though you can do it yourself, it's very tedious. But when you do have them, they are excellent Cheers Ian
July 19, 201213 yr Author Hi Ian, thanks for the reply. I remember reading some where that landing lights can reflect on clouds when flying threw them. That's why I decided to purchase it. I agree with the lights flashing on the inside of the aircraft, although I don't see it all of the time (which is weird). Anyway's maybe it was just FSX and not FS9. What a shame, it would of been nice to see landing lights reflecting of clouds while sitting in the flightdeck as I flew threw them. Thanks, Gabe
July 19, 201213 yr I agree it would be nice, though in the real world it can be quite hazardous. I had a friend many years ago who was killed when the aircraft he was first officer on crashed shortly after take off. The accident investigators thought that part of the problem may have been that the pilot flying was disoriented by the glare of the landing lights being reflected back into his eyes. It was a night take off and visibility suddenly decreased as a strong rain squall moved in. (There were other factors - the aircraft was seriously overloaded due to an error).... Cheers mate Ian
July 20, 201213 yr Author Sorry to hear that. Pilots can have thousands of hour, proper training yet things can happen which can lead to accidents. It all can start with something small and can and lead to something big. For example a pilot may not have had enough sleep and in the cockpit a small mistake can lead to another mistake which then can lead to a accident. Being a student pilot I've read about things like pilots getting into imc conditions and believing in what their senses tell them and not relying on their instruments. I couldn't understand why a pilot would not trust his instruments. I guess it's hard to understand unless you would be in that situation, which I hope I won't be. I often tell myself if I were to get caught in IMC first thing I'm going to tell myself is trust my instruments and not my senses, then turn the plane around and get out of it. Again I'm very sorry to hear that about your freind.
July 20, 201213 yr You're right in saying it's almost always a combination of things that cause an accident. Pilots make errors and face problems every day, any of which could be fatal but are corrected in time and in most cases, routinely and without any fuss. But sometimes a bunch of things happen in tandem and set up a sequence of events in which things get out of control. That's what happened in this case. Overloaded plane not known for a stellar performance, sudden squall at night right after take off, landing light glare, newly promoted captain and very inexperienced first officer. (Who was my friend - we have both graduated from flight school together and it was his first job). The airline was also new and in an undeveloped area where there was little supervision and a tendency to just "wing it." (I won't identify the airline as they are now a well respected company, but in the beginning it was pretty "MIckey Mouse" as we used to say. But it was a very long time ago and is just filed away in my brain as one of those things you learn from.
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