I was doing a back-to-back comparison between XP and some Other Sim to take note of certain potential differences between the two.

Incidentally, the comparison involved heavy icing conditions.

"There's no doubt, this Other Sim looks really good!"- I thought to myself - "Maybe, that's the only one I could use".

Then I opened XP12 and set the same conditions, in order to reproduce the test I was doing.

Well, my test in XP12 did not last long: suddenly, during the takeoff roll, I noticed to my surprise and disconcert that the airspeed reading froze out: I had forgotten to put anti-ice on, and in the conditions I set, the pitot tube clogged up very quickly. Even though I made the same mistake in the Other Sim a few minutes before, it was inconsequential there and went unnoticed.

With a grin on my face, I was suddenly reminded why I like X-Plane so much.

Edited October 31, 20223 yr by Murmur

I suppose that with the new clouds, LR invested quite some time in the weather simulation and the effects on the aircraft and its systems.

I'm surprised the "other sim" didn't simulate the pitot icing though... What were the exact weather settings you used ?

 

And in X-Plane we can actually simulate / experience the various types of pitot-induced errors:

Pitot-Static System Errors – RELENTLESS AVIATION

XP12 malfunctions menu has them all for pitot 1 & 2 dynamic and static ports.

2 hours ago, Murmur said:

Well, my test in XP12 did not last long

I do hope you did the right thing and declared an emergency turned her round, landed, and gave it a thorough deicing...

Similar thing happened to my instructors daughter on her first solo aiui - insect rather than icing, something akin to

https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/eight-ba-and-virgin-jets-at-heathrow-suffered-insect-blockages-in-six-weeks/147291.article

3 hours ago, Bjoern said:

I think XP12's weather engine actually has the potential to make the sky as dangerous of a place as described by Gann.

On the one hand, a lot more emphasis on safety than on the roads.

OTOH, not like you can just stick your hazard lights on and pull over to the side of the road when something goes wrong.

 

 

This type of failure already existed in FS9 and were referred to the accuracy of the aircraft.
On the MD80 Maddog 2006, for example, if the pitot heaters were not activated there were false speed readings.
The accumulation of ice on the front windows was also simulated (complete with a graphic effect of slow ice formation on the glass and loss of visibility).
The ice on the leading edges of the wings was also simulated, and if no action was taken to activate the de-icing systems, there was a risk of an aerodynamic stall.
I know this because it happened to me 2 times to stall with the Maddog because of the ice.
The Maddog for FS9 was (and still is) a masterpiece, superior to Xplane's Rotate MD80.

4 hours ago, Murmur said:

Even though I made the same mistake in the Other Sim a few minutes before, it was inconsequential there and went unnoticed.

There are numerous videos of "the other sim" acting entirely correctly when the pitot tube freezes over....

I wouldn't link one, since this is not the correct forum, but really.....

39 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

There are numerous videos of "the other sim" acting entirely correctly when the pitot tube freezes over....

I wouldn't link one, since this is not the correct forum, but really.....

correctly as in simulating the consequences of icing or as in "everything working correctly regardless of an iced tube"?

 

Well, what planes were you flying? Isn't the implementation plane specific? Was it default or payware? I would assume it is a plane implementation issue and not simulator per se. Not sure you can come to a valid conclusion based on just one plane.

2 hours ago, brinx said:

Isn't the implementation plane specific?

In Xplane no, unless a developer goes over the top and starts simulating things themselves for one reason or another, every aircraft system from the static system, hydraulics, electrical to the enormous variety of flight control surfaces are simulated by xplane, with varying levels of customisation,overrides and failures available, then the developer (or user, if they feel like customising an aircraft for themselves) "plugs in" various 3D objects to that simulation using plane maker.

Edited November 1, 20223 yr by mSparks

I have to test further in MFS.

Ice accretion is surely simulated, but users complained a LOT about it when they found it awful that entering clouds near the -10C "magic T" could be this bad... 

Just as with turbulence and a few other effects, ASOBO tamed it 😕

This being said, I really have to try the pitt tube effects. I don't really know if they're simulated correctly, and just as mSparks I do hope thet they're not addon-dependent - some features should be core features, like wings producing lift and engines producing thrust, wind blowing, ... I don't see the point of actually not simulating such a feature at the core of the simulation cycle.

I didn't have the time to check the new malfunctions before, but this post by Murmur made me go and check it, and indeed it's remarkable the amount of detail on the possible pitot ( multiple pitot ) system failures, but haven't yet had the time to go through the "checklist" and see which effects are reproduced from the different combinations.

Wonder how the meteorological conditions can affect some of these ports, and if there is some kind of bias factor on which ports clog... 

2 hours ago, mSparks said:

In Xplane no, unless a developer goes over the top and starts simulating things themselves for one reason or another, every aircraft system from the static system, hydraulics, electrical to the enormous variety of flight control surfaces are simulated by xplane, with varying levels of customisation,overrides and failures available, then the developer (or user, if they feel like customising an aircraft for themselves) "plugs in" various 3D objects to that simulation using plane maker.

Correct. I already posted some videos (all with stock XP12) which show the extensive failures system. And still more videos to come.

1 hour ago, flying_carpet said:

Correct. I already posted some videos (all with stock XP12) which show the extensive failures system. And still more videos to come.

links please, as I just created a new Generic discussion on the modelling of such effects among the various flight simulation platforms:

PITOT system errors... - Hangar Chat - The AVSIM Community

and would be eager to check that Xp12 correctly models each of the variants 🙂

I guess XP12 doesn't go into the details of Ram and Drain being clogged independently of each other?

Ah! and @mSparks touched a very sensible area! Mosquito clogging, well known to me when a glider is left unflown for a few weeks in the hangar or even worst in it's (insufficiently isolated) trailler...

Edited November 1, 20223 yr by jcomm

Apparently X-Plane does not differentiate between the Ram port and the Drain on the pitot tube, so, some of the failures will have to be modelled by plugin, I guess ...

9 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Ram port and the Drain

not familiar with these terms tbh, do you not mean tube and static ports or are they additional?

Edited November 1, 20223 yr by mSparks