When you make the check rides required the way it works is you can have all the career you want, except you can't fly an airplane until you prove to the Chief Pilot's office you can handle it.  So yeah, in that sense, until you are cleared to fly something you can't really get any time in.

Most people simply don't bother with the check ride, since you have to turn it on to see it.  The original concept was max realism, but ultimately we do this hobby for fun and even if someone skips the check rides if they really can't fly the airplane it'll show up pretty quick in the scores.

 

The nice thing about it is they can't can you, even if they might want to

 

Dutch

 

Yes, that's logical. Check-rides are not mandatory because of the scoring system. If you fly it bad, you'll end up with really bad scoring, and the airline will complain pretty soon, if you have luck.

I'm sorry to contradict ( ), Travis, but this is an enormous upgrade! 

 

Structural icing for every aircraft, runway braking degradation, without paying for even more addons (as far as braking efficiency is concerned ...).

 

I've noticed two small, purely cosmetic issues so far:

• the mouse over the external FCDU (*.exe) is always a pointer, and never a hand/finger, even when hovering over a key (it's functional, though)
• some of the new weather-related messages don't fit into a single text line, so they get truncated at both ends

Thanks a lot for continuously updating FS Captain; the latest "feature pack" really boosts my motivation for simming once more!

 

 

Thank you for your kind words Oliver!

 

We've noted your issues and if there's time we'll try to get them into a new build soon. (Maybe not this week, as it's "a short week" over here.)

 

 

P.S.: My destination's significant wx reads "Beware active frost on surfaces" - yes!!!    

 

Oh, you're one of those, eh?  A daredevil??  B)

 

I can't tell you how many aircraft both Dutch and I lost in the first few weeks of the month... all in the name of "research" of course.

 

Tell me, have you tried taking off with an "extreme" level of ice on your surfaces yet?  If not, and you plan to try to do so, please check the braking conditions on your runways beforehand.

One of the lower-priority "professional aviation" features that I still hope to be able to work into FSCaptain one day would be a simulated CAT II checkride that users (who choose to) would have to pass in order to be able to have the ability to request a release from a "minimums too low at your destination" situation.

 

So on a day that had good visual conditions at your destination, you'd declare that you want to attempt a CAT II checkride.  Then you would perform an ILS landing down to the DH you desire (let's say 50 ft.) and as long as you then make a smooth landing / rollout, that would then be your personal "qualified minimum."  For the next year or thereabouts you could request release down to that level.  If the minimum conditions at a destination were below your qualified minimum, you would not gain an automatic release.

 

It used to be the biggest impediment to implementing that was many of the complex aircraft didn't use the MSFS autopilot system and so we wouldn't know if you really were under autopilot.  With our interface system now, that's not an issue.  It's... who uses checkrides?  :lol:

 

It may take a new (and possibly competitive) scoring system to make such effort worthwhile.  Under a scheme like that, the more difficult you make your job at your airline, the more "points / moolah / prestige" you would gather.  And that's only if users were trying to compete with one another.  But is that our audience???

 

Anyway, take what I just wrote with a grain of salt.  It's only musings at this point....

(...) Tell me, have you tried taking off with an "extreme" level of ice on your surfaces yet?  If not, and you plan to try to do so, please check the braking conditions on your runways beforehand.

 

 

Thanks for your suggestion, Travis; that will be one of my very next departure attempts (a feature-jam-packed and action-packed - rejected - takeoff ).

 

I've just returned from a flight in the PMDG B777 with icing conditions during descent and approach. I set the lower DU to 'AIR' and the FCDU to 'INFO' and just watched what happened on the screens: Ice build-up (ice weight increasing) - at some point the EAI kicked in (ice weight still increasing) - WAI triggered automatically (ice weight decreasing and vanishing). EAI/WAI disengaged and a couple of seconds later it started all over again.

 

Admittingly, I felt more like a 'passenger on the flightdeck' due to the high level of automation, but it was impressive to watch ...   B)

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Just tried the takeoff - looks like different braking conditions for different portions of the runway are modelled?!? I witnessed something like icy/fair/icy again during the RTO; am I right about that?   :good:

Edited November 26, 201312 yr by olli4740

 

 

Just tried the takeoff - looks like different braking conditions for different portions of the runway are modelled?!? I witnessed something like icy/fair/icy again during the RTO; am I right about that?  

Oliver,

 

I wouldn't think it was done yet, but I have handed off to Dutch the ability to parse METARs that contain runway-specific condition/braking reports.  However if that's implemented, then it might be possible if you passed a crossing runway to have the runway condition "flicker."

 

Btw, 1.5.0 Beta 2 has been uploaded.  There's an annoying bug with the extrernal ACARS (of my making  ) that's been corrected, plus now this installer should be P3D2-ready.  I've just received my new 840 Evo SSD, so I hope to be "prepared" by this weekend!

 

And also for interested non-users, Dutch made a new "full install 1.5.0 Beta 2" version so it's easier than ever to sample FSCaptain!  

 

(Literally. I was initially just another customer like everyone else.  But now I can say that Dutch is so open to good ideas, that if you try FSCaptain and see something that only needs a little change to make it into what you want - I suggest that you dive right in!  We're open for suggestions to make things better for everyone.)