FSX-MS A2A L049 Connie Released!

[Alan_A 1,650]

I'm not a technical expert but I believe there are some differences between the 650 and the 750 - for example, the 750 includes a Nav 1 radio and a CDI/OBS switch, whereas the 650 doesn't.  So that may have an impact on how it's implemented in the sim.  But perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I am can confirm or deny.

 

I'd be happy in principle to test your VC but I don't want to overpromise - I'm so slammed with work that I haven't had my flightsim computer on for a couple of weeks, and I've been neglecting tests on a new build of Manfred's C-47, so I'd hate to commit and then not be able to get to yours.  I'll PM my e-mail, but it might be safest for you to try some other volunteers, and look at me as sort of a last resort.  Apologies, but let's see how it plays out.

[pilottj 198]

Hey Alan, the 650 does indeed have those things, be sure to look on the 'Default Nav' page, and not the map page.  The Default Nav page has the CDI, numerical flight data, as well CDI source and OBS buttons.  About the only thing the 650 can't do that the 750 can is display approach charts, other than that they have pretty much the same functionality, albeit a more 'compact' form in the 650.  The default nav page a very useful page (the 750 doesn't have a 'default nav' page, instead superimposing CDI/some numerical data over the map). Personally I like having the raw data, without the distraction of the map, when the map isn't needed. 

 

Cheers

TJ

[scianoir 610]

Thanks but I am confused Alan. The B-377 will follow the gtn 750 line so why cannot the Connie? 

 

 

I usually test all my new add on aircraft to see if they are compatible with the GTN750 and I can confirm that the A2A Connie works perfectly with it providing you use the default autopilot. 

 

Much of the pleasure in flying the Connie, as you know, is using navigation aids of the era (just the VOR and NDB with the Ocean Stations for transatlantic flights) so, apart a couple of flights to test the 750, I have not used the GTN routinely when flying the Connie - there are plenty of more modern aircraft in my hanger where I can use that piece of equipment!

 

Bill

[Alan_A 1,650]

@piltotj - Ah, OK - I've got more experience with the 750, before the Connie I hadn't used the 650 much, so I'm just feeling it out.  

 

@scianoir - is there a way to work around the INOP GPS switch on the 650's housing in the Connie?  Should I perhaps be using the CDI/OBS buttons on the default nav page, now that pilottj has pointed me to them?

 

Re: what tech to use in the Connie, I'm still experimenting, but I'm leaning toward a middle-of-the-road solution - GPS for situational awareness and to handle modern airspace options like RNAV approaches, but the Sperry autopilot instead of the default.  Basically the solution for a restored aircraft flying in the present day.  Though I will say that opting for the default GPS turns the Connie into a very nice regional airliner - one that's a lot faster to set up than the Q400, so that's something.  Though too much tech does kill the atmosphere.

 

In all, again, nice to have options.

[pilottj 198]

Oh yes, options are great.  I find both the 750 and 650 have their pros and cons, it depends on the type of aircraft or type of flying to be done.  

 

Right now I am flying X country in the Civil P-51, it is tracking the GTN650 course just fine.  

 

I do agree tho, too much tech can spoil the atmosphere of the plane, however I do like functionality of flying RNAV approaches, fly Q-routes and so on.  The smaller GPS units like the 650 or 430 tuck away nicely in the vintage cockpits, giving you the functionality for modern airspace, without spoiling the beautiful vintage look with a big TV screen

 

Think of it this way, imagine if you had a beautiful vintage sports car, like an old Corvette or Mustang.  You also want to have an automotive gps and the ability to play satellite radio, CDs, Bluetooth..etc.  You wouldn't want to tear out that beautiful dash just to cram some huge flat screen thing like modern cars have would you?  No, you would find something small and compact that would fit in place of the old radio maybe.  

 

I know some purists would even shudder at that idea, but those cars like the Mustang were designed to be reasonably practical as well as sporty, so if you are going to use a car like that for every day use, you need those capabilities to make it practical in today's world.  

 

Cheers

TJ

[Alan_A 1,650]

Agree completely. And it's not just the sat radio and CDs - I'd want some modern crash protection, too.  I love the charm of old tech but safety matters.  I have a remote connection (my father's business partner's nephew) to United 826, the DC-8 involved in the Staten Island/Park Slope midair.  So the joys of the Ernie Gann era are a little bit lost on me - not thrilled by sweaty macho men blowing through their reporting points and killing hundreds of people.  A personal thing, I get why others feel differently and I'll admit the sound of the TCAS alert does take something away from a '40's cockpit, at least when it comes to atmosphere.  

 

To fly the A2A vintage stuff, I like to do what's done on some of the contemporary historic aircraft, like Fifi or the Breitling Connie - advisory GPS but little if any other automation.  In the A2A Connie, that'd be the GTN plus the Sperry autopilot.

 

But the fact that I use the GTN mainly for advisory purposes means I don't know it in enough depth - as my posts in this thread show.  I'll have to up my game.

[scianoir 610]

 

 

@scianoir - is there a way to work around the INOP GPS switch on the 650's housing in the Connie?  Should I perhaps be using the CDI/OBS buttons on the default nav page, now that pilottj has pointed me to them?

 

I don't have the GTN650 Alan, just the 750. When using the 750 with the Connie, I open the GNS430 that comes with the aircraft and use the NAV/GPS switch on that to set up the 750.

 

Bill

[Alan_A 1,650]

That would work.  I was assuming from the INOP sticker that the 650 can't be set to drive the autopilot.  But if I understand pilottj correctly, you can get it to do that by selecting OBI on the unit's default nav page, then setting the default AP to Nav.  Haven't tried it yet.  Nor have I tried using the 750 - the popup breaks immersion a bit, and also, when I tried it out in the Stratocruiser, it took control of the Nav 1 radio and wouldn't give it up when I uninstalled it - I had to go into the panel.cfg and remove a window it left behind.  Rather than do that surgery again, I'm experimenting with just the 650 for now.

[warbirds 555]

Awaiting your results. 

[Patco Lch 1,465]

I have a remote connection (my father's business partner's nephew) to United 826, the DC-8 involved in the Staten Island/Park Slope midair. So the joys of the Ernie Gann era are a little bit lost on me - not thrilled by sweaty macho men blowing through their reporting points and killing hundreds of people. A personal thing, I get why others feel differently and I'll admit the sound of the TCAS alert does take something away from a '40's cockpit, at least when it comes to atmosphere.

After getting the A2A Connie I had a spell of nostalgia and have gone back and researched that accident. At the time I was nine years old and lived on Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. The TWA Connie fell on Miller Army Airfield about five miles from my house on the Army post. My Dad had to take blankets to the crash site to cover bodies. A couple days after he took my brother and I to the site and I remember the tri tail and a wing was the only part recognizable as a plane. One little boy survived the crash, I believe his last name was Spaatz, and he passed about a day later. So sad.

At the time I didn't know this was to ironically  be the beginning of the end of my career as a controller. You see, some of the controllers who handled those planes were among the founding members of PATCO which led to the 1981 ATC strike and Reagan's mass firings. Sorry if this is off subject but it just brings back memories.

Correction to above. Steven Baltz was the child's name. God rest his soul.

[Alan_A 1,650]

I was just a few months old at the time, so of course I don't have any memory of it.  But there was the family story, and of course just on the face of it, it was such a huge thing in New York history.  Another dimension of it - it was a very bad weekend for the FDNY.  Three days later the USS Constellation caught fire in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a bunch of FDNY units, including Rescue 2 (based in Brooklyn), went straight from the Sterling Place crash site to the burning carrier.  Fifty dead there and over 300 injured.

 

I've spent a lot of time on the Staten Island midair and at the start of my career even wrote a magazine article about it.

 

Some years later I saw the site of the Eastern 66 crash at JFK a few days after it happened.  Tough to take.  Major contributing factor there was that it wasn't yet clearly understood what a microburst was - speaking again of technology, and my take that when it comes to safety, more is better.

Didn't know about the PATCO connection.  Was just talking about the PATCO strike elsewhere (on Facebook) in another context.  Sorry you got caught up in that.

All a bit off topic, yes, but decently well related to old airliners and old tech and such.

@Paul - Will report back but I'm not sure when - hoping for tomorrow if I can finish and ship the piece of writing I've got to do.

 

[Patco Lch 1,465]

Alan, would I be able to find that article on line? I would love to read it.

[Alan_A 1,650]

Doubt it.  It was for a horrific newsstand pulp magazine called Frontpage Disasters that lasted three issues.

 

I did some more respectable work around the same time, so I've mostly repressed the other and I don't have any copies.  I checked online, and the term "Frontpage Disasters" gets you a handful of references about bad website design.

 

I did try to keep it journalistic.  But the basic lesson is, you gotta start somewhere...