I've recently been having a blast flying training scenarios in FSiPanel. It's a feature that I didn't even really realize existed when I bought FSiPanel and discovered almost accidentally while exploring the UI, so I thought I'd give a heads up.

I always thought of FSiPanel as a tool for practicing approaches, and that's certainly one its primary purposes and what I bought it for. But the Advanced Edition also includes training scenarios. Some of these start at the beginning of a STAR and conclude in a landing, some of them are entire flights. Many of the scenarios include failures, but some are just interesting A-to-B flights.

Think of these scenarios as the kind of thing an airline pilot would be presented with when they go into the sim for recurrent training. They include scripted but convincing pre-recorded ATC (similar to the way a sim instructor would be playing the role of ATC) and a custom weather preset for each training scenario. On PMDG, Fenix, and Maddog, FSIPanel does the complete cockpit setup for you if you wish (including programming the FMC), so you can just hop in and go.

To give an impression, I'll describe some of the scenarios I've flown to date (all of them in the Fenix, but I believe most or all of them can also be used with other aircraft):

• The "rainy day in Manchester" scenario starts on a STAR into Manchester, with a beautiful weather preset that has you between layers. On a pretext, the scenario has you doing a raw data VOR/DME, but you'll go around at the MDA without seeing the runway. ATC vectors you around for another approach, this time a CAT III ILS. Even the taxi-in after that is challenging in the low visibility. (If the weather is so bad, why did we bother with a VOR/DME in the first place? I'll just chalk that up to "artistic license".) This scenario doesn't contain any failures, but it challenged me with a number of things I rarely do otherwise: raw data VOR/DME, a go-around, and an autoland.
• The "takeoff training in Geneva" scenario is interesting in the sense that it will give you a failure, but it's a different random failure every time, and the point at which the failure occurs is also random (before / after V1 or during the climbout). You merely specify whether you want to allow easy, moderate, or difficult failures. This means that you'll truly be surprised by the failure, and you can run the scenario multiple times and experience a whole spectrum of failures. Again, the weather preset is beautifully done, with the mountains around Geneva just poking out of the low-lying cloud.
• There's a "Bremen to Frankfurt" scenario that presents you with a mechanical failure on climbout. You end up diverting, and the failure itself has some implications for the way you do the approach. I won't say more to avoid ruining the scenario for others, but again this scenario challenged me to push the boundaries of what I usually do in the sim.

I have several addons that simulate failures, but I've never really used them much because I'm frankly too lazy or not imaginative enough to set up realistic scenarios for myself. And, of course, setting the scenario up yourself removes the element of surprise.

The FSiPanel dev has been adding new scenarios over time, and the FSiPanel YouTube channel has videos of some of the scenarios if you'd like to get a better impression of what they're like. As it happens, they're doing a livestream at 2000 UTC today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odUZwt-QGIY

I should add that I'm not affiliated with FSiPanel in any way; just a happy customer who paid full price and got a feature I didn't even realize I was buying.

Edited March 9, 20242 yr by martinboehme

100% agreed, excellent and smart tool for practicing.
 

And when you are Gatwick I might even control you 🙂

Indeed , there is also a snapshot function(load/save) which should work with with Fenix , PMDG and Maddog. Havent tried it though.

Also possible to use the software only for landing rates analyse.

Michael Moe 

1 hour ago, FlightSimToday said:

And when you are Gatwick I might even control you 🙂

Then I know what I'm going to fly next! 

53 minutes ago, martinboehme said:

Then I know what I'm going to fly next! 

I'm Gatwick Tower

80% of my flights with PMDGs 737aircraft, I'm doing with FSiPanel. It's a wonderful tool.

Yes, can’t fly without it now !

Seems JP will be showcasing a new scenario feature in his live today. He hinted something about having choice that can alter how the scenario will develop.

Pierre

I have just recently stumbled upon the FSiPanel 2020 for MSFS program. I love it. I am a recently retired airline pilot, and flight simulation has become my new hobby. I also make videos, and FSiPanel has become my "go to" program for content creation. The developer, JP Garraio, is so responsive to your questions. The FSiPanel Discord channel is also fantastic. I've made a dozen videos using this program, and JP has used several as a YouTube link on the affiliated scenario. JP is an airline captain, and he is now starting to do live streams. Anyway, I just wanted to pop in here and sing the praises of FSiPanel 2020 for MSFS. Great work Captain Garraio!

 

Does it work with FBW A32NX?

1 hour ago, RobJC said:

Does it work with FBW A32NX?

Works with the aircraft listed below, though the Fenix A320, Leonardo MD-80 and PMDG 737 are the best integrated aircraft with advanced failures and training scenarios specifically for these three.     

Quote

Supported aircraft:

Airliners — Airbus A320 NEO, FlyByWire A320 NEO, Headwind A330-900, Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, Leonardo Maddog MD82, Aerosoft CRJ 550/700/900/1000, PMDG Boeing 737-600/700/800, Just Flight BAE 146, Fenix A320, iniBuilds A310-300, FlightSim Studio E175, Just Flight Fokker 28

BizJets – Cessna Citation CJ4, Cessna Citation Longitude     

Propellers – Aviat Pitts Special S2S, Beechcraft Bonanza G36, Cessna 152, Cessna 172 Skyhawk (G1000), Cub Crafter X Cub, Diamond DA40NG, Diamond DA62, EXTRA 330LT, Flight Design CTLS, ICON A5, JMB VL-3, Robin Cap10, Robin DR400/100 Cadet, Zlin Savage Cub, Beechcraft Baron G58, Cessna 152 Aerobat, Cessna 172 Skyhawk, Diamond DA40 TDI, Diamond DV20, Cirrus SR22, Pipistrel Virus SW121, Zlin Shock Ultra, A2A Piper Comanche

Turboprops – Beechcraft King Air 350i, Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX, Daher TBM 930

 

2 hours ago, F737MAX said:

Works with the aircraft listed below, though the Fenix A320, Leonardo MD-80 and PMDG 737 are the best integrated aircraft with advanced failures and training scenarios specifically for these three.     

 

Thank you. That just about covers the aircraft I use! 

20 hours ago, FatherTime said:

I've made a dozen videos using this program, and JP has used several as a YouTube link on the affiliated scenario.

Very cool - which scenarios are these? Can you post a link to your channel? 

52 minutes ago, martinboehme said:

Very cool - which scenarios are these? Can you post a link to your channel? 

Searching for "Father Time Pilot" on YouTube gave me this: https://www.youtube.com/@FatherTime1958

It has a lot of FSiPanel videos so I am guessing it is correct.

Although the UI look as from the day before yesterday (like my profile photo), it seems to be a handy tool.

If someone would be so kind, is it possible to:

• alter existing scenarios and save them under a new name?
• create user defined scenarios?
• start scenarios at arbitrary airports?
• start at an arbitrary SID or STAR at a user defined altitude, with user defined aircraft parameters?
• create user defined weather presets?