FSX-MS Sky Simulations DC-9 v2

[Bjoern 1,158]

Well, once I'm done I'll upload everything. Haven't even started with the sounds yet though.

 

 

Anyway, I went into ultra nitpick mode and checked the exterior models against the DC-9 family guide from Airlinercafé*. I found out that the exterior models are basically a DC9-31/32 with varying fuselage length. There's no leading edge and horizontal stabilizer difference for the -10 and no new wing-body-fairing for the -33 to -51. Also no angled reversers for the -51. At least the -10 has the different wingtips and shorter span.

It would have been nice to have all this on the models, but on the other hand, it's understandable as these things really require a very trained eye.

 

Maybe I'll shoot the devs an e-mail at one point with a request for at least the angled reversers.

 

*http://www.airlinercafe.com/page.php?id=396

[Bjoern 1,158]

Still working on improving the aircraft.

 

• So far, all of the cockpit sounds are in. With the exception of some C++ coded gauges, every interactive element in the cockpit now emits sound.
• I've also finished the load/save system, which offers a variety of ways (auto load, timed saves, manual load and save, save with flight save) to save and load cockpit states. These states are specific to each livery, so that you can use multiple save files. There's also a "Cold and Dark" button.
• The airspeed indicator was recoded in XML and made "smart". You won't have to manually handle the speed bugs anymore as this is now done automatically, depending on bug mode (takeoff or landing), aircraft weight and flap setting. Reference data came from the speed tables in the manual*.
• More complete altitude callouts on landing**.

 

My next steps are testing everything in flight and working on crew and GPWS sounds.

One voice sample that is not going not make it so far, however, is the one for takeoff thrust. The EPR gauges used to trigger this call are written in C++ and thus, I can not access the variable used for them. Reverse-engineering the gauges and rewriting them in XML is a bit of a daunting task as the gauges surely use a custom mathematical model (since the FSX default one is junk).

At one point along the line, I'll also implement the slow spool-up for the engines.

 

 

Since I had to dig through the DC-9's XML code for the load/save system, I got a pretty good look at it and I can say that it's quite solid.

 

 

 

*These are missing data for the DC9-21. Does anybody have some tables? My workaround so far is simply taking the speeds for the 9-30 and subtracting 6 knots.

**Did the (later) DC-9s have "minimums" announcements or are these Boeing-specific?

[Bjoern 1,158]

First officer calls are in, spool curves are in and I've adapted an aircraft manager from another project to the DC-9. The manager allows you to set payload, fuel, door and panel state from within the cockpit and automatically distinguishes between models (with exception of the freighters).

 

Need to test all this on longer flights and finish up the readme now.

[ndflieger 55]

Hi Bjoern,

 

Thanks for all your hard work on this project (and your other projects as well)! I purchased the Sky Sim DC9 a few weeks ago when it was on sale. Haven't flown it much yet, looking forward to your tweaks for it.

 

Regards,

Scott

[FlavioSSA 44]

Very nice Bjoern!

[Bjoern 1,158]

Anyone else having a bit of trouble with the autopilot?

 

I can live with the auto-adjusting vertical speed wheel, but the inability to hold altitude during turns, the rather slow autothrottle and - sometimes - missing the glide slope capture is a bit unfortunate.

[vc10man 732]

Anyone else having a bit of trouble with the autopilot?

 

I can live with the auto-adjusting vertical speed wheel, but the inability to hold altitude during turns, the rather slow autothrottle and - sometimes - missing the glide slope capture is a bit unfortunate.

Your observations match mine too.

[Bjoern 1,158]

Good. Still a bit puzzled as the AP logic seems fairly solid. Might need to play with the aircraft.cfg values.

 

Just found out that the self-adjusting pitch wheel is a quirk of the real DC-9. Neat.

[Bjoern 1,158]

Writing the manual for the aircraft manager at the moment. Here's a look at the fuel page.

 

 

The manager is semi-intelligent and will adapt itself to the currently selected model.

[FlavioSSA 44]

Fantastic!

[edpatino 1,976]

Writing the manual for the aircraft manager at the moment. Here's a look at the fuel page.

 

 

The manager is semi-intelligent and will adapt itself to the currently selected model.

 

Super super!. Superbe!. Excelente!. No more to say!.

Eagerly waiting to try all this. Bought this plane (v2) month and a half ago, and have not tried it yet, but once you post all those mods, I'll start to try it for sure.

Cheers and thanks for the contribution, Ed

[regis9 4,034]

This is great, really excited to see that you've put your attention to this aircraft.

[Bjoern 1,158]

I've rewritten a systems gauge and ironed out unfortunate code. Not sure if it was the code but I used to get a flameout when switching off the center tank pumps. I've tried to make the fuel logic a bit more robust. There was a small visual bug in the "fuel used" counters which I've fixed.

 

Most work went into the autopilot though. The huge altitude loss in turns is pretty much fixed. You will still see a bit of a deviation, but this is pretty much within standard limits now. Nothing that you won't see in any of the default aircraft.

 

Although I'm pretty sure that I will receive flak ("too complicated!") for this, I'm revising the speed hold modes for the autopilot to replicate the real ones. IAS and Mach hold is now attained by automatic pitch and manual throttle management, which should keep the cruise portion of the flight interesting.

Funnily enough, the real DC-9 still has an autothrottle, which, however, is limited to use during the approach phase and will stick to whatever Vref was computed for the current configuration.

If you don't believe me:

http://www.hilmerby.com/dc9/autopilot.html

http://www.coolsky.no/blog/dc-9-classic/182-dc-9-autopilot

 

Mach hold mode is a bit awkward to implement and might not work optimally, but other than that, it works really well so far.

[edpatino 1,976]

Hi Bjoern:

Good work indeed!. Please continue to updating us about your progress.

Thanks, Ed

[Bjoern 1,158]

Revised the mach hold code. It works just as well as IAS hold now, albeit a wee bit touchier due to the smaller values involved.

 

I've revised the fuel system in a bid for more realism. The wing tank boost pumps are only required for a successful engine start and no (more) integral part of engine operation. The JT8D can draw fuel on its own just fine when running and the pumps are just an insurance at high RPM.

Switching on the center fuel pumps will push fuel from the center into the wing tanks and thus drain the center tank first.

 

The fuel indicators now have indicators providing the current fuel level in a variety of forms.