Roger Mazengarb

Best wishes for a very merry Christmas from down under to all Flyers. Hope the New Year brings good health and happiness to you all.

I agree that you should know the various systems of measurement BUT also when and where to use what system. All systems are equally valid and until a truely unified system is adopted then we all (pilot or maintenance) should be comfortable with the various units. In Australia for example Qantas purchase fuel from oil companies bowsers by the litre. The uploaded fuel volume is converted to mass (kg.) Fuel temp (Celcius) must be known for the conversion. You don't have to any conversion. There are pages and pages of conversions charts already done. The Boeing fuel quantity indicating system is a capacitance sytem that measures mass (Kg). This type of system is far superior to a float variable resistance sytem that measures volume. Volume changes with temperature whereas mass is a constant and mass also indictes the amount of heat energy contained in a fuel which allows an accurate time/distance calculation. Uploading fuel by volume can be a minefield. The US. gallon and Imp. gallon are totally different units which aslo translates down to quarts and pints. And then we have litres. Depending on the country of origin as to whether US, Imperial or SI units are used. Aviation regulating bodies demand the capacity of a tank is displayed at/near the filler cap. The dipstick on the cap of the Pratt and Whitney JT-3D is graduated not in the capacity of the tank but in the number of US quarts required to fill the tank. ... ie how empty the tanK is not how full the tank is. Your NASA referenc and B747 fuel upload error are examples of human error and illustrates the need for a universal system. Until a universal system is agreed AND implemented by ALL, it is imperitive, for the safety of aircraft operations, that we have a good fundamental understanding of all systems in use. I hope so too .... an emotive icon would have helped Yep its obvious to me now, from the following posts....... :friends:

wow.................. :Hypnotized: :Hypnotized:

G'day Ken, Very important information please email or PM me. Roger Mazengarb

This is not the right forum to be announcing such drastic proposed changes to be carried out in a clandestine way. There is a forum specically for informing simmers of changes to the Avsim forums. Perhaps that should be the first victim as it's obviously being by-passed with the leaking of this info into the MS Flight forum. The good thing about Avsim is that it has catered for all simmers of all types and not just the popular masses. A sad day indeed if such a proposal is enacted.

G'Day all, Would anybody happen to have a copy of the TRI plug-in converter for converting models produced in 3dMax into the format required by the fly editor. They were once available in the Library I think but like most of our files have disappeared into cyberspace. Thanks Cheers, Roger

G'day Ken, Email on way hope you have the same email address.

G'day Ken, You've got the wrong idea! Sorry I re-read my post and I can see I gave the wrong impression. This Beech 18H is a 100% Fly! II aircraft only. I still have a lot of files to modify but I get my kicks out of making aircraft and we have all the necessary tools needed. X-plane is just a casual distraction and still needs a few tools to be developed for the casual user. I'm just trying X-plane as a sim to see what it's like whilst awaiting the release of FlyLegacy, which I believe will really raise the benchmark for flight simulation. Jean hinted that he was thinking of making FlyLegacy compatible with aircraft made in the popular freeware programs Google Sketchup or Blender. That would certainly enable a lot of hobbyists to participate. 3dmax (costs an arm and a leg) was always an anchor or barrier to producing aircraft for Fly! II and TrueSpace requires a converter (Chris Wallace to the rescue). Give me a couple months.

G'day all, Been having a go with X-plane 10. Not bad but nowhere near as user friendly as Fly! II for modifying scenery or aircraft. The aircraft is slowly progressing nicely ....

G'day Ben, Yes that is what I did. I'm flying over an accurate detailed roadmap but as you say there are only a few buildings. That doesn't overly worry me. Eventually I'll model the major buildings and add them in myself - when I learn how. Where are the trains coming from?? X-Plane or OSM2XP? The big drawback I have is that Botany Bay has farmland and forest texture - should be water! See the pic below. Taking off from runway 16R there should be 5 Km of water before crossing the Kurnell peninsular. Is there any program that allows the user to modifiy the coastline??? Thanks for your help. Dry as a bone Botany Bay.

Like you I have just installed X-plane and am very happy with the sim. You can download OSM2XP and use this program to convert streetmap files and introduce them into X-Plane. I have just done the whole of Australia (well as much of it as is covered by streetmap - sustantial number of tiles had no *.dsf file created). I think the results, whilst not perfect are a definite improvement on the standard scenery. X-Plane depicts Botany Bay as farmland NOT water. Unfortunately OSM2XP doesn't correct this fault. Have a read up about OSM2XP and see if it's for you.

G'day Ben, I'm a complete newbie to X-plane and over the weekend installed the program X-Plane 10 along with all seven scenery DVD's. That was an epic at 90 minutes a disc. I have downloaded all the openscenery files and also installed OSM2XP. I found a file for Australia at a website to load into osm2xp and build a series of dsf files produced in the earthnavdata folder. Do I now simply place these files in the custom scenery file folder of X-plane and do I have to use ALL the navdata folders or can I be selective and just use the areas I'm interested in. Unfortunately Botany Bay is shown as landfil by the supplied DVD's. Will osm2xp correct this? Congratulations on producing such a brilliant program as osm2xp.

The original Fly! simulator had the Cessna Skyhawk 172 and Piper Navajo aircraft in it. Strangely when FlY! II was released the same aircraft were called the Flyhawk and Kodiak for legal reasons.

Hi Rob, I remember you from way back in the Fly! series when you did a lot of great flight modeling with the v88 series. I don't know much about flight handling in sims but in Fly! II with the few aircraft I've made I have found there to be usually an excess of momentum that I had to curb with the <MINE> tag just to get the aircraft to behave itself and remain stationery with a dark cockpit. once flying simply trim the values of <MINE> and fiddle with a heap of variables in the *.wng file until I think the control about each axis feels about right. " feels about right " - not a very exact science. There is no way of objectively quantifying flight dynamics which is why I am bemused by the arguments that rage on in the forums about sim A versus sim B.

The freeware Paris scenery at that site is for X-plane 9.50. Is that fully compatible with X-plane 10 ? To to OP I apologise for going off topic.

G'day Pascal, Forgive me for asking about uploading files. I was just trying to get some of the old guard flyers to reupload any files they might have. If you didn't upload then forget it. I have just ordered X-plane10 discs. Awaiting their arrival. I figured I would try Xplane whilst waiting for FlyLegacy to be finalised into a final public release. I have the alpha release of FlyLegacy and it appears to be very good. It's really amazing what a great job a few dedicated people have managed to produce. I have also got MS FSX but it is still in it's original cellophane shrinkwrap! I bought it several years ago when first released but following the forum I saw so many reports of CTD's that I never bothered to open it let alone install it. Fly! II is still my mainstay flight sim. Have you appplied the final patch (240) to your installation of Fly! II. That may account for your perceived improved performance. I haven't seen or heard from Ken Salter for a long time. I guess he just drifted away to other pursuits. Quite understandable as the changing circumstances of a growing family affects ones priorities. I vaguely remember him posting in the MS FSX forum but that would have been a long time ago. In a couple of weeks you may see me posting in the Xplane forum seeking help on getting the program up and running. :drinks:

Not strictly true! ICAO (and that only covers commercial aviation) only uses a very few imperial measurements. Off the top of my head An even simpler solution - Why not learn both! Why not learn imperial and metric systems of measurement.

Encouraging to see FlyLegacy is not unheard of on this forumTo the best of my Knowledge FlyLegacy is still only an alpha release.(a work in progress) I have it on my computer and if all goes to plan then YES I will upgrade my selection when FlyLegacy is officially released..For the present it remains Fly! II

A bit of sanity at last. Flight dynamics is really a SUBJECTIVE feeling that each individual will have sometimes wildly differing opinions on how a particular simulation truthfully simulates flight.I went back to the place of my previous employment. They had just installed a Aus$400,000 Kingair/Seneca simulator. A BIG 180 degree wrap around screen fed by 5 overhead projectors. A fiberglass cockpit with two pilot seals, dual controls (yoke and rudder) and center console for engine controls, elev trim, flaps and landing gear. The instrument panel was two led flat screen monitors with a mask with cut-outs for the instruments overlayed in front. By having interchangeable masks the panel could be either Kingair or Seneca. The whole thing is fully approved by CASA for pilot training. "would I like a go?" I got in and was quickly all fired up and taxi-ing. Turned onto the runway centerline. Hurtling down the runway and came time to ease back.. ease back... ease back (##### who left the flight control locks in??) Eventually the yoke started moving and we were climbing. "positive rate.. gear up" I turned to the boss and said "geez that took some force on the yoke - is that real" He replied "it had better be - force feedback was a $40,000 option!!!!". Being only used to the light centering spring on the Saitek yoke I will never get into an argument on the Avsim forums about fidelity of control and flight dynamics.Scenery was only modeled for about 5miles around the airport and was nothing spectacular. BUT the immersion factor was huge. I think it the peripheral vision plus the depth. The screen is about 10 ft in front of you. Eventually (about 5 mins.) it was time to land . I turned and lined up with the runway. Getting used to the load on the yoke. throttled back to 100 Kts, Flaps.. gear down and flew a strictly visual approach . Over the piano keys throttles to idle and just eased back on the yoke to let the aircraft settle onto the centerline.When I finally got out of the seat I was stoked. I felt like I had actually flown an aircraft.A feeling that I have never had with ANY desktop flight sim. "I want one" "I want one"I have a new found admiration of home cockpit builders and what they are trying to achieveAn even better simulation than what can be achieved with a desktop computer.Now if only I can convince the wife we should take out a second mortgage on the house.

Come on Ping Pong - a little bit of honesty mate. :( The RV-6A in MS Flight is a bought and paid for Add-on separate from the MS Flight program.THE default aircraft for MS Flight is that pathetic excuse for an aircraft the ICON A5 :( The best default aircraft I can think of is the Cessna 172 in the Fly! II simulator. Beautifully modelled, accurate detailed cockpit and handles great. For my money "If reality had a patent" Terminal Reality would own it..

G'day Ken,Great to hear from you. It's more than a sad day to see so much valuable information no longer available. Newbies will come to Avsim looking in the library for files and not finding them will simply melt away never to be heard from. A few of the more adventurous outgoing types may post into the forum but most won't. At least you may see the post and offer help. I also have the patches for Fly! II but not for Fly! Unfortunately many of the tools and development programs are also lost.Btw I have now got a working copy of "terrashape". For people living in the southern hemisphere where no USGDS (satelite data) is available terrashape enables users to extract shape files which can then be modified in a Cad program and be used by "terrascene" to produce custom rendered scenery. Also "Ground type Transform" and "Fly! Graphics" by Elrond Elvish."Roger - Looks like another great plane to bring back! Have to admit I'm still stymied at trying to get my 3D panel built (TS6), much less getting the Lear's panel done. (much less the one I was working on for the Cessna 750). Work has kept me way too busy as of late to enjoy much of anything."Beechcraft Super H 18 I just love the charisma of the golden age of aviation. Showing my age I guess. Modern aircraft just leave me cold. Re your panel (TS6) - Does TS6 refer to TrueSpace 6 or some aircraft type?. If it does, why are you using TS6??? Does Chris Wallace's 3Sd to S3d converter work on that version?? If you haven't already I strongly suggest you make a very basic model (block fuselage and wings with a propellor to check out motion conversion). When you say Stymied just exactly where are you stuck?I'm using TS 4.3 for all my modeling work as I have a few plugins and Chris Wallace's converter that all work with this version.I've been retired now for 8 years and am enjoying every minute of it. I have revisited both my workplaces recently. Our apprentice re-union group did a tour of Qantas A380 in the hangar. Crawled all over it inside and out. Thank god I'm not working on those monsters. Got into the cockpit left hand seat for about 30 seconds (aircraft was still being worked on and time was at a premium) but I got a few photos. Everything is fully computerised.The other place I visited the boss (ex) said "come and see our new toy" . A new flight simulator (Kingair/Seneca) 180 degree wrap around screen with 5 overhead projectors. I had a ball.So retirement is great, I'm keeping healthy (at the moment) and enjoying life.Keep in touch.

Hi 0rcair, When you say 3D views do you mean plan-side elevation-front orthographic views to add as a background in your modeling program?? You have chosen a relatively late model aircraft and yes it is hard to find good scale drawings. Even aircraft manufacturers manuals are not always spot on regarding accuracy of scale. They are for instructional purposes and strict scale is not essential.Most modeling programs allow for the final scale relationships of lenght/span/height to be "tweaked" once the model is finished. This is necessary because sometimes funny things happen to scale when a model is imported into a flight sim.What detail that may be missing from drawings you might be able to pick up from photographs.Good luck with your model. (that's a long 100 seat fuselage :( )

Hi Mike,at the end of it's production life the manufacturer claimed this aircraft type had the longest continuous production run of ANY aircraft type. 32 years uninterupted. An enviable record that may possibly still be valid today. off the top of my head I can't recall a modern aircraft that can make a claim to beat that.Forum activity is low but not surprising. All of Fly! and much of Fly! II data has mysteriously disappeared into the ether of cyberspace. Not even the manufacturers patches including Richards "unofficial" final patch are held in the library anymore.I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Fly! II - still the best clouds of any sim.Blue skies

Hi Pascal,Long time between drinks mate. Do you still sim with Fly! II and more importantly have you still got any copies of any programs that you once uploaded to the Avsim Fly! II library. If you have would you be able to re-upload them. Then library for Fly! II has been absolutely decimated and the librarians will only allow the original authors to re-upload files..I trust you are keeping well.Keep in contact.

Thanks Al for taking the time to reply to my post.Whatever was I thinking? I must have had a "senior moment" last night when I made the post. :( I had done a bit of research over at X-plane .org but didn't notice any reference to plane maker. After your reply I went back to double check my thinking on the subject and lo and behold sure enough they state it is on the installation dics. Thanks for the links to the videos. I will have to study them carefully to see how it's done. It can't be that hard :-) :(