Where Is Your Wright Flyer Now?

[Jim Robinson 122]

Well, where is it? Are you saying you walked away and left it in FS9? What's up with that? :smile:

 

Seriously, how many virtual hours have been logged in the Wright Flyer? Maybe 10 collectively amongst us all? How'd you like to be the poor sucker that modeled this thing? Surely they didn't think something that would barely maintain flight 6' off the ground would be hugely popular with flight simmers? I mean I understand the whole "Century Of Flight" thing, but what on earth were they thinking?

 

Well OK, after seeing all the "Where is your [insert popular payware aircraft name here] now?" threads I decided it was time for the highly underated Wright Flyer to have it's day in the sun too, and mine's over Thompson Island just out of Bar Harbor struggling to maintain 200' AGL - but not in FS9 and not without some tweaks to make the silly thing flyable. It is a rather nice model though for it's day and I can't say I didn't enjoy this little exercise. Here are a few screens:

 

 

 

"DONT SINK!"

 

 

 

 

 

Remember this? I think this is the first time I've ever had it out of the box. ...and now I see from reading through the literature that apparently I missed out on my $10 rebate for upgrading from FS2002 Pro, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

Not that anyone probably cares but if you were interested in porting the Wright Flyer into FSX here's what I did:

 

-Copy the Wright_Flyer folder from Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft into SimObjects\Airplanes

-Notepad the aircraft.cfg and change:

 

[piston_engine]

power_scalar = 1.0

 

to:

 

[piston_engine]

power_scalar = 1.5

 

 

For all that blistering performance you'll need more than a quart of fuel so change:

 

[fuel]

Center1 = 1.4, -3.2, 1.6, 0.25, 0.0

 

to:

 

[fuel]

Center1 = 1.4, -3.2, 1.6, 5.0, 0.0

 

 

...and since the extra fuel adds some weight I decided to put Orville on a diet (yeah, this makes him anorexic, but...), change:

 

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]

station_load.0 = "145.0, 0.0, -0.09, -1.9, Pilot"

 

to:

 

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]

station_load.0 = "115.0, 0.0, -0.09, -1.9, Pilot"

 

 

That should do it, don't expect much and you won't be disappointed :smile:

 

 

Jim

[HLJames 2,568]

Great work...screenshots....and a spectacular sky theme!

 

HLJAMES

[Nick M 106]

Super post Jim. Yes, my patience was tested by the Wright Flyer back in its day. (I mean when FS9 was released - not 1903!) I may just have to give your suggestion a try...

 

Cheers,

Nick

[woodhick 504]

If nothing else, I have to applaud your efforts and your ability to have a little fun instead of the usual London/Hong Kong flights and the latest avionics so many are hung up on in today's flight sim world.

 

BTW, fine series of shots too.

[Nick M 106]

London to Hong Kong in the Wright Flyer with just a map and stopwatch - now there's a challenge! Might need a boat to help out with the first bit...

[~Craig~ 10]

Ha ha, I did smile when I saw the thread title :smile:

 

Nice pics, and indeed .......... why not!

[hychewright 46]

I still have mine as well! Great pictures and story line. However, mine is still in the tin box that I'll never get rid of.

 

Cheers

 

Lamar Wright

[Jim Robinson 122]

Hey thanks guys for the nice comments, yeah it was kinda fun getting this thing going in FSX, at first when I'd just copied the folder it simply would not gain altitude, I don't remember if it was like that in FS9 but it wasn't much fun, lol. With the mods above it's still pretty docile, I think it would do about 30 kias straight & level and probably climbs at about 100 fpm. I tried to give it more horsepower but I think I blew the engine, she quit about 30' in the air and I couldn't get it running again until I loaded another airplane and then switched back.

 

It sure didn't look that good in FS9 as I recall. I wonder if Wilbur and Orville ever considered that their creation would one day be rendered in DX10? :smile:

 

Thanks again, and Lamar, what a fitting avatar you have!

[Phantom88 3,287]

Great Shots,Great Memories.