29 minutes ago, DC1973 said:

It's fully modeled, honest! 🙂 The orange markers move dynamically with Mach, and the fuel transfer system is used to move the CG balance, with the marker following. The manual advises to keep the white marker within the Mach markers. Into The Blue simply didn't use the system and said they'd have to learn it first, which is fair enough. The review was I think pretty fair and he flew it really well.

I didn't want to wreck somebody's 4 hour flight because they didn't properly balance the fuel, however. So, Concorde will still make it across the pond with the CG out of whack, but it will be less efficient as a result. I think he landed with 15 T of fuel aboard. He could have made it there with 25 T at best efficiency, had he balanced the fuel better.

Sorry! I was just looking at the CG gauge on the main panel. 15T on landing is spot on. 👍

20 minutes ago, MarkW said:

£27.99 / $39.99 / €34.95 

Woops! Even more of a bargain.

Here's what the Indicated Air Speed gauge looks like on my 32-bit Concorde. Downsized a 4K monitor to 1920*1080 to avoid running out of VAS. You guys don't know how lucky you are!

Vmo indicator clearly visible and rises as the aircraft climbs.

Hello again Ray and thanks a lot for dedicating your time to me. And don't worry about not having MSFS, It is your experience what is helping us and I have been following you for several days.

I will replay by parts if you don't mind. 

 

42 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Starting with the transonic climb phase. At FL280, 394kts, Mach 0.97 the Air Speed Indicator should be just below the Vmo indicator at 400kts. 60,000ft is dialled up, auto-throttles off and pitch up whilst moving all four throttle levers fully forward was the procedure executed by all crew.

Reheats applied in pairs - outer then inner. As the IAS rises you need to pitch up to keep IAS just below the Tmo indicator. If you don't have one how are you judging whether you're exceeding Vmo or not? Is that modelled?

After passing Mach 1 MAX CLB / MAX CRS mode is engaged. With throttles at max the idea is to keep the IAS just below Vmo by pitching the nose up or down accordingly. Can you program that? If not then VERT SPD mode is probably the next best option. The only option really but ideally you need to pitch the nose up.

That remained the mode all the way through the flight until it was time to slow down and go down. Remember, the throttles stayed at max throught supersonic flight.

At Mach 2 MAX CRS was engaged and speed then became the priority. If Mach 2 could not be maintained (maybe the ISA was too warm) the aircraft would pitch down to maintain Mach 2. Remember there's nothing else up there above FL430 so this didn't matter. Speed remained the priority. It was quite normal for the aircraft to climb and descend but the overall trend was upwards as fuel was burnt off and the aircraft became lighter.

Of course if the ISA was high or the temp on the nose went above 127C an overspeed warning was sounded. You would have to reduce thrust and slow down. Is that modelled?

You see Ray, one thing is that it is not modeled in the gauge and another thing is that it cannot be monitored from the developer mode or from other tools that we have, but yes, it does not exceed the VMO of 400 knots according to the Flight envelope (it maintains that speed), up to 36000ft, once it reaches that tropopause altitude it makes a second climb up to 60000ft gradually increasing speed up to 540knots which is when it automatically transitions to max cruise and holds mach 2.04 (which is the conversion from 540IAS to mach 2.04. What I wanted to emphasize to you is that it does not do it through a Vertical speed mode, but rather "Flight level change", in which it maintains this speed by making corrections in Vertical Speed, hence the pitch changes. 

In fact, if you look at the into the blue video, the plane couldn't climb to 60000ft because currently in MSFS in live weather mode AGL is being used to measure temperature instead of MSL, which means that while at 15 degrees ISA the temperature is -56C at that altitude, he was probably getting -51 (I know because I have reproduced it) while in a normal presset with the temperature at -56.5C, the plane scales perfectly at 60000ft without reheat and gets 2.04 without problem

57 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Of course if the ISA was high or the temp on the nose went above 127C an overspeed warning was sounded. You would have to reduce thrust and slow down. Is that modelled?

is modeled, MAX CRUISE is coded as a MACH HOLD at 2.04 with the condition of not exceeding 127C of fuselage temperature and reducing speed if necessary (what is not modeled is structural damage due to total excess temperature, it is something that is not supported).

 

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

My only experience of flying Concorde is with the FS Labs model but that is as close to the real thing and is considered "reference level". I've not tried using IAS HOLD above the AT1/2 switches. I don't know how it would affect the performance on descent. The advice on the FSL one is to engage the one over on the right of the AFCS.

That again uses pitch mode (without Pitch Mode being engaged on the AFCS) to maintain the speed at the time the command was actioned. You didn't use the IAS indicator over on the left. That is only used for the auto-throttles.

As engine power was reduced, in order to maintain 350kts the nose was pitched down. The more you took power off the greater the descent. Hence why it could descend so quickly.

If you look at the centre console on the pilot's side there is a Autopilot Pitch Switch. The right-most of three dials. It is that the pilot used to adjust pitch manually. Do you have that modelled? If so thenuse that to control pitch. If it isn't modelled tell Asobo it needs it.

I never engaged MACH HOLD. It didn't work on the FSL Concorde but wasn't a problem as the aircraft would stay in MAX CLB / MAX CRS mode throughout.

 

Of course, and there's where the confusion probably is: we have implemented IAS HOLD and MACH HOLD according to the manual and based on autothrotle when ON (which are the left buttons of the AFCS), being fully compatible with MSFS in combination with ALT HOLD, VERT HOLD or PITCH HOLD. 

From what I see, and from your experience I think we agree that the IAS HOLD and MACH HOLD on the right are based on pitch HOLD but with the condition of maintaining a target speed, whether with or without autothrottle. My doubt is if these two commands are based on Flight level change to perform the descent, since if I want to descend at 20000ft at 350 knots Flight Level Change will do it even if the plane applies a vertical speed of -10000ft/min to do so ( as I've seen you mention in another post), but I don't know if it's correct and that's why I didn't want to include it in the release (it's something we're debating right now). 

My question is, have you used modes to maintain a cruise? or with the objective of climbing or descending? or both?

The center console's Autopilot pitch datum system is modeled, and allows you to change the reference pitch, V/S or altitude depending on the vertical mode selected.

 

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I hope that helps. You've done a great job from what I can see.

I thank you very much. It is a living project that we will continue to improve, you have my word. 🙂

Does anyone have a LittleNav performance profile for the Concorde? There's got to be one out there for FSX, P3D or X-Plane.

@Ray ProudfootIf I can't find one, can you help me create one?

Thank you.

Just discovered another video. This one is about engineering:

 

@DJJose - heading down the rabbit hole, see you in a few months....enjoy!  You have to get the ITVV videos, the comments from the Flight Engineer on that program are just incredible for understanding Concorde.

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

You see Ray, one thing is that it is not modeled in the gauge and another thing is that it cannot be monitored from the developer mode or from other tools that we have, but yes, it does not exceed the VMO of 400 knots according to the Flight envelope (it maintains that speed), up to 36000ft, once it reaches that tropopause altitude it makes a second climb up to 60000ft gradually increasing speed up to 540knots which is when it automatically transitions to max cruise and holds mach 2.04

Are you referring to the Tmo indicator? If so that’s a pity since users could use that to monitor their speed ensuring they’re not exceeding Vmo. But using your method of maintaining 400kts up to FL360 and gradually increasing the speed thereafter seems to work well on that video I linked to. Just be aware that FL600 wouldn’t have been achieved on the JFK run as the upper air just wasn’t cold enough. You need an ISA DEV around -12 or more and <20T of fuel.

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

What I wanted to emphasize to you is that it does not do it through a Vertical speed mode, but rather "Flight level change", in which it maintains this speed by making corrections in Vertical Speed, hence the pitch changes. 

Sounds like the best way to do it. 👍

 

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

MAX CRUISE is coded as a MACH HOLD at 2.04 with the condition of not exceeding 127C of fuselage temperature and reducing speed if necessary (what is not modeled is structural damage due to total excess temperature, it is something that is not supported).

Quite right not to model structural damage. Slowing down if 127C is close also a good move. I haven’t come across that very often but I’m using a different weather program in a different simulator. Let’s hope MSFS weather is accurate.

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

From what I see, and from your experience I think we agree that the IAS HOLD and MACH HOLD on the right are based on pitch HOLD but with the condition of maintaining a target speed, whether with or without autothrottle.

Correct But auto-throttle would always be Off. I can only speak for IAS HOLD as I’ve never used MACH HOLD but the same logic seems safe.

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

My doubt is if these two commands are based on Flight level change to perform the descent, since if I want to descend at 20000ft at 350 knots Flight Level Change will do it even if the plane applies a vertical speed of -10000ft/min to do so ( as I've seen you mention in another post), but I don't know if it's correct and that's why I didn't want to include it in the release (it's something we're debating right now).

The vertical speed in that mode will be determined by the amount of thrust being applied. The initial reduction was from 105% N2 to 94% N2. That simply brought the speed down from around 430kts to 350kts. The aircraft maintained whatever altitude it was at when the throttles were retarded.

As you further reduce thrust at pre-determined speeds the same IAS (350kts) needs to be maintained.

My understanding of Flight Level Change ( in a Boeing) is that it will chase the speed you set in the MCP. Since the speed is fixed (350Kts) in Concorde the vertical speed needs to vary depending on the amount of thrust.

At Mach 1.5 it’s reduced from 94% to 77%. You should manually reduce thrust and watch the vertical speed increase to maintain 350Kts. That’s the rule. Hopefully you can code for that.

1 hour ago, CodenameJack477 said:

My question is, have you used modes to maintain a cruise? or with the objective of climbing or descending? or both?

Remember Concorde never really cruised. FL600 was rarely achieved. Only around the tropics. At higher latitudes it carried on drifting up (maybe just 50fpm) until the decel point. Unlike any other aircraft. 😉

MAX CLB / MAX CRS had a speed priority of M2.02. If it needed to descend slightly to maintain that it would. I’m not sure how FL Change can cope with that. It needs Pitch Mode to make those fine adjustments. Hence why that mode is critical for Concorde.

1 hour ago, DJJose said:

Does anyone have a LittleNav performance profile for the Concorde? There's got to be one out there for FSX, P3D or X-Plane.

@Ray ProudfootIf I can't find one, can you help me create one?

Thank you.

I have no knowledge of profiles in LNM. I know the rules for flying Concorde, that’s all.

3 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

I do like this guys output.  Isn’t he an Airbus pilot irl or did I dream that?

Into The Blue is far and away the best reviewer in my opinion if you like a bit of depth and professionalism in your reviews.   He deserves way more subscribers!    ..and yes, he's an Airbus pilot.

 

Edited April 1, 20224 yr by The Moose

Thanks for taking the time with all the help and advice @Ray Proudfoot 

I'll be adding more detail over time. I didn't want to overload newcomers too soon with heavily cluttered instruments, as important as they are for truly accurate aviation. Once Concorde settles in and the foundation is solid, I can start adding in more features while keeping it useable for casual fans. I think I already mentioned that it'll remain open-source at third-party stores, so the potential detail levels are essentially limitless for suitably inspired modders once the last few controls are added.

For all the critics of the AFCS and window frame textures, they're being upgraded with the first update. I quite liked them, but a glance at my reference photos does show that Concorde wasn't quite that beaten up so, fair enough, changed they shall be. They're not low-res, it's just the material type I selected for them.

 

2 hours ago, MarkW said:

@DJJose - heading down the rabbit hole, see you in a few months....enjoy!  You have to get the ITVV videos, the comments from the Flight Engineer on that program are just incredible for understanding Concorde.

Na. I know what I'm getting myself into. 😀

This guy is IMO is the best!

 

Edited April 1, 20224 yr by DJJose

2 hours ago, The Moose said:

Into The Blue is far and away the best reviewer in my opinion if you like a bit of depth and professionalism in your reviews.   He deserves way more subscribers!    ..and yes, he's an Airbus pilot.

 

Yes, he is definitely the best and very helpful! Unfortunately, subscriber count does not parallel quality content in the majority of cases when it comes to YouTube!

Edited April 1, 20224 yr by Doering

1 hour ago, Doering said:

Yes, he is definitely the best and very helpful! Unfortunately, subscriber count does not parallel quality content in the majority of cases when it comes to YouTube!

The best thing to help him is to subscribe to his channel and like each video you find helpful or interesting. I know I'm teaching people what they already know but finding quality You Tubers is rare amongst all the dross. He does benefit financially from subscriptions and 'likes'.

really enjoyed the video.