Concorde & "Cruise Climb"

[S Foster 1]

Hi,Following on from the release of the excellent Koch Concorde for FS2004, would there be anyway to introduce into the next version of Radar Contact an option for Concorde to enable "Cruise Climb"?I realise that Concorde has been grounded for good but i'm sure she will live on in the Flight Simulation world as she was so unique and that many people would love to keep her flying.As Concorde flew higher than conventional aircraft she didn't have the standard constraints of having to do Step Climbs and maintain altitude seperation with other aircraft and just drifted higher as her weight decreased.In the current version of Radar Contact I guess you can get around being nagged at for altitude busts by increasing the "Altitude Deviation" setting.I'm not sure what the minimum rate of climb has to be before you get nagged for not climbing fast enough though, but I have found that in Concorde it's not totally predictable when she will climb a bit higher or just sit at level flight for awhile before drifting higher again so just setting a higher cruising level is also difficult.I was wondering if in the next version of RC there could be an additional button or something you could set which would supress altitude warnings and let you slowly just climb up to around FL600 without having to worry about being pulled into the office for a chat with Bill Stevens from FSDO upon landing!Many thanks,Steve.

[PeteP 2]

What a good suggestion. Unfortunately, it would need more than just the altitude "watchdog" being switched off to get RC to cope properly with Concorde. Subsonic cruise, transonic acceleration, supersonic cruise and cruise climb phases all had special requirements that would have to be included in RC plus new phraseology, higher speed limits and so on.All these are well within jd's capabilities, though. I guess it just depends on whether he has the time (or inclination) to do it especially with all the other new features in V4!Pete

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Steve,Interesting discussion. I've flown Concorde (the free French one) with RC and have overcome the altitude problem by filing an initial altitude of FL280 (the optimum sub-sonic altitude) and then requesting higher altitudes later on when the aircraft can (legally) fly super-sonic. Sadly, this is all theoretical now :-(In fact once at FL280 I usually request FL510 and even climbing at 100fpm later in the flight does not incur a telling off.Should you wish to go higher than FL510 once at that altitude you can continue to request higher of course and RC will correctly calculate the descent point.My only issue is maintaining 250kts or less when below 10,000ft but we're working on JD regarding that rule ;-)Cheers,

[S Foster 1]

Ray,Glad to see i've stired up some debate on this.In the past I used the old FS2000 one in FS2004 (with a few modifications) and did exactly what you did set the initial filed FL as 260 which took me from LHR to the "Accel" point and then requested higher and went from there.With the new Koch Concorde (and I assume the one that PSS have in the pipeline) Cruise Climb is effectively modeled and because it just drifts up a bit at a time you would be forever requesting new flight levels when you saw it starting to move, before you got told off for busting your altitude or not climbing fast enough as I have seen it sit midway between FL's for awhile before continuing its climb.I've always thought that those involved in RC have done whatever possible to try and satisfy the users needs. And am already full of praise for what they have achieved to make our hobby more enjoyable.I hope that JD may have the opportunity to look into what has been suggested and who knows it may be possible. I have already e-mailed Doug and pleaded the case for having "Speedbird Concorde" added for ATC calls in the next version.Regards,Steve.

[janosch 0]

Hi,>250kts or less when below 10,000ft but we're working on JD regarding that rule ;-)Great to hear this! Seems i'm going to buy v4 ;-)janosch

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Hi Steve,On the subject of cruise climb I think RC is fairly tolerant of climb rates. I think 100 fpm will keep it happy but I take your point that if you do level off then RC will probably nag you.You shouldn't need to keep asking for new flight levels. Once Concorde was above FL410 it pretty much had the airspace to itself. It's going to take JD some times to make any changes should he decide to so. In the meantime try filing FL260 and then request FL510 (or higher if conditions are okay) and see how you get on.I'd love to have "Speedbird Concorde" available in the airline choice. That may be a future possibility depending on how development of v4 goes. Some interesting things are being trialled at the moment.Please let us know how you get on with RC in your flights. I for one would be very interested. Can you point me to this new Concorde please?

[S Foster 1]

Hi Ray,The "new" FS Concorde is quite complex, so as yet I haven't actually completed a flight in it across the "pond" or down to Barbados, have just been spending my time doing circuits and the occasion jaunt out round the Bristol Channel and back to get used to things.There are a few minor issues with it, but having read various posts on the BA Virtual forum and here on Avsim the author is going to release a "patch" soon. Although I think patch is too strong a word, I would prefer minor tweak because I think it's excellent as it is.It is only currently available from Game, I have included the web link below, and at the moment it also comes with a Concorde DVD as well and all for

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Hi Steve,Many thanks for the links. I've had many chats with Andrew in the past on the subject of Concorde and it comes as no surprise that he's heavily involved in this project. His knowledge of that wonderful aircraft is unsurpassed in the FS community.I'll think seriously about buying it despite it being available only in Game. I have two commercial offerings on Concorde so a third is not a necessity. I'll keep an eye on the messages to see how things progress.In the meantime enjoy your flights and I hope they work okay with Radar Contact.