QRH for weekend flyers in Europe incoming! 🎻

Every 2.5 C colder than ISA means 1% error between your altimeter and true altitude. Thus ISA-10 =4% error (ISA-20 = 8% etc)

Also in EU we have notoriously low TAs (some as low as 3.000 ft) which means in order to get a proper terrain clearance calculation - for example VFR night - you must also factor in any hPa deviation <1013. With all these additions things can escalate quite quickly. I'll show how:

Quote

Scenario: you want to fly easterly over a mountain  (peak altitude 2.034 ft) local QNH is 973 hPa, temp is ISA-20. VFR night condition.

• Start with 2.034 ft
• Add terrain clearance : 1.000 ft
• Add QNH adjustment due to using 1013 reference = 40 hPa /1.200 ft
• TOTAL: 4 234 ft
• Now, add temp correction to above: 8% (338,72 = 340 ft)
• LOWEST PERMITED ALTITUDE = 4 574 ft (again, above transition altitude, so we must select a valid VFR flightlevel)
• Semi-circular rule dictates that FL55 is the closest option for eastward magnetic track

So there you have it. You will fly FL55 in order to legally cross peak terrain of 2.034 ft

I will def purchase XP12 on day one. It looks extremely promising. 

[ Throws away code for a work-in-progress FlyWithLua-based load manager using user-defined stations to move XP's CoG ]

But seriously, it's great to see those extended default capabilities as they greatly reduce the need for third party code.

7 hours ago, jon b said:

All very interesting I’m sure, but what about the choice of dramatic stirring music that’s to be played while XP12 is loading? All good sims need a dramatic piece of music while loading … apparently/annoyingly 😉

OMG !!! How could I have missed that? 😅 The second most important thing for a flight simulator (waaay before flight modeling) ... However, I searched on youtube for "MSFS 2020 music" and I must admit, it's quite relaxing. I might use it for falling asleep.

Austin's PDF on the upcoming X-Plane 12 details some of the features the LR team and he in particular, have been investing in.

Austin is a terribly honest and pragmatic person, and I admire him for that, and I do like the way he talks and jokes about stuff, always in good mood, positive, focused / objective, practical. As a very active mind he of course has to share his brain processing power among a myriad of tasks and subjects / activities, but it appears X-Plane 12 has occupied a good deal of it lately !

I was happy with what I read about the "new" flight model and weather model features. Some of it I thought already made part of X-Plane's FDE, some like the "Microburst" effect had been present in former versions of X-Plane. Maybe up to X-Plane 8 ( ? ) there was a "Microburst" checkbox in the weather menu, and by that time it did make a difference compared to the available flight simulation platforms, with maybe only Flight Unlimited modelling it when near Cb !

I look fwd to try X-Plane 12. It's going to be a 1st day buy for me, just as MSFS was. In the end none of the sims has ever made me feel better, flight dynamics wise, than the sensation of flight and control provided by DCS World or, even better IMO IL2 Great Battles, but some aircraft are simply a delight to fly in X-Plane, as well as in FSX, P3D and now MSFS.

Weather for soaring will get improved, and the same is happening in MSFS land which already announced a "soaring pack" with enhanced weather and glider simulation.

All in all, this is terrible times for an uninstaller 😞  2022 is shapping up as a "Year Terribilis" for the character. For the time being I have MSFS and IL2 installed. P3D is missing a license ( I am saving for XP12, and although each costs around $10, this ammount every month is expensive... ).

I look forward for great add-ons on both platforms, but honestly I have better hopes regarding XP12 because it's base, the kind of detail that has long been available for aircraft modelling, and now also the new weather modeliing features concur to make it a very intersting platform to explore.

There is just one thing I dislike abut any platform... Setting a time horizon for it's "life"... That's probably one of the most tempting features in DCS World and IL-2, and now also in MSFS although ASOBO / MS speak about a 10 yr commitment to the development of that platform. Austin OTOH mentions 4 yrs regarding the support for more precise World Declinaton data - I and Alexis have contacted him sometime ago regarding the idea of making the MD database editable / updatable, and a few emails were exchanged. By the end we got the idea that it would not make it's way to the new features in XP12, but apparently they changed their decision and will now include a "dynamic" World Magnetic Declination algorithm valid for a period of 4 years. This makes me think XP12's time horizon is... 4 yrs ?  I hate to think that way 😕

Kudos to XP12 !  May 2022 be, again like some before, become the Year of the Flightsims and a virtual flight Paradise for simmers 🙂 !!!

Edited December 19, 20214 yr by jcomm
Typos... as usual...

53 minutes ago, jcomm said:

This makes me think XP12's time horizon is... 4 yrs ?  I hate to think that way

How is the longevity and accuracy of the magnetic variation database on the other platforms you like to use (DCS, IL2, MSFS, P3D)? I honestly would like to know, maybe there is a cue here for Laminar to take?

And yeah...60$ every 4 years is a lot of money! If you play X-Plane for 30 minutes every day, this amounts to 8.1 cents for each hour! Highway robbery! These guys pretend to be the good guys, but instead all they want is our money, I tell you!

No Mag Var properly modelled in either DCS or IL2, but very acceptble in the other civil flightsims, and up-2-date.

But I am not complaining regarding that particular feature - it's actually going to get updated ! I just didn't like to read that "4 yr" period mention...

I like to think of platforms as continuously updated, even if I have to pay along the ride...

Aspects of XP12 already tempting:

.) Scenery is not streamed ! I prefer that to the MSFS model, which I have with Bing and Photogrammetry disabled - the less dependency on the Net the Best for me...

.) The new FM refinements - XP12 is going to be quite ahead of the competition in this department, as it has actually been since ever...

.) The new Weather refinements, including the new thermals model, although thermals IRL do not stop at cloud base ... but stilll ... Hope they are affected by the winds too, that would be great ! The consideration of temperature effects on pressure is great to have too, provided it get's properly modeled...

.) Having dynamic Magnetic Declination updated along a period of time;

.) The new ATC refinements;

.) The new graphics - from what I've been able to preview in the few available pictures, they really look Great !

 

Edited December 19, 20214 yr by jcomm

15 hours ago, uwespeed said:

OMG !!! How could I have missed that? 😅 The second most important thing for a flight simulator (waaay before flight modeling) ... However, I searched on youtube for "MSFS 2020 music" and I must admit, it's quite relaxing. I might use it for falling asleep.

Hi Uwespeed, long time, glad to see you back in action . Whenever my partner hears the startup music (and since it's part of my job, it's a lot) she always says it reminds her of the Emirates airline music on the safety videos they show. I actually quite like it and also the theme tune from MS Century of Flight that you can swap it to.. some nostalgia. 

4 hours ago, jcomm said:

Austin's PDF on the upcoming X-Plane 12 details some of the features the LR team and he in particular, have been investing in.

This flew past me. Is there a link?

2 hours ago, Bjoern said:

This flew past me. Is there a link?

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/258043-amazing-article-with-austin-detailing-x-plane-12-changes-and-back-story/

Nice to see Austin's passion for aviation and flight simulation relighted !!!

Some of the items are really encouraging for someone looking forward for this new version of X-Plane to get back in the track of innovation and detail when it comes to modelling some of the features simmers want to see replicated in a flight simulator.

I was particularly impressed by the references to "soaring weather", although I hope Austin leaves the system open for 3pds to do their own magic. From his description the system looks promissing, but for instance thermal lift doesn't end at the cloud base... quite on the contrary at times ...

Also, it wold be great if, based on model / GRIB data, a weather injection program could go deeper in the simulation of soaring weather and allow for convergence to be modeled, as well as gravitic waves. That would be revolutionary for the general purpose simulation platforms because although both Silent Wings and Condorsoaring model waves, they do it in a rather simplistic / canned way, and neither models convergence.

For me, IRL, flying in convergece due to sea breeze is one of my preferred ways of going for a task with a long sector correctly placed to be able to profit from such a form of lift ...

Edited December 19, 20214 yr by jcomm

On 12/19/2021 at 3:04 PM, jcomm said:

Also, it wold be great if, based on model / GRIB data, a weather injection program could go deeper in the simulation of soaring weather and allow for convergence to be modeled, as well as gravitic waves. That would be revolutionary for the general purpose simulation platforms because although both Silent Wings and Condorsoaring model waves, they do it in a rather simplistic / canned way, and neither models convergence.

For me, IRL, flying in convergece due to sea breeze is one of my preferred ways of going for a task with a long sector correctly placed to be able to profit from such a form of lift ...

If you can turn that into a simulation model, you can try to sell Austin on the idea. IIRC his attitude is "If you want something implemented or fixed , back it up with a model or equations."

On 12/20/2021 at 12:04 AM, jcomm said:

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/258043-amazing-article-with-austin-detailing-x-plane-12-changes-and-back-story/

Dead link.

All this teasing of new features is cruel! A new form of legalised torture as we wait for the release! Honest to God I can't take it anymore! Just release it for heavens sake!😀

Edited December 23, 20214 yr by jarmstro

1 hour ago, jarmstro said:

All this teasing of new features is cruel! A new form of legalised torture as we wait for the release! Honest to God I can't take it anymore! Just release it for heavens sake!😀

I think its fun... so may people getting hyped up.

Hyped for what? Where is the link / text?

What we have seen so far hasn't answered many questions. Especially regarding how good or bad exactly it will be for: performance, clouds, flight model (wind effects), weather effects, etc.

21 minutes ago, mjrhealth said:

I think its fun... so may people getting hyped up.

Yes but you are content with XP11. Others are not.