Kennair

Just purchased MCE after some extensive testing and I must say I'm loving it. I also use RC4 for offline flying and although RC4 fails to respond quite often, I'm sure this is a foible of RC4 rather than MCE, I also suffer this on occasion using keyboard responses. Never the less having MCE as a co-pilot so I can run through flows and checklists is brilliant and being able to "talk" to RC4 seals the deal for me. I fly a single seat hardware home cockpit and am also a crew member for the Perth Worldflight team flying a full B737-800 where all flights are done with two crew so being able to practice CRM at home is a real boon, and the responses from MCE are exactly like that of our WF co-pilots when using the PMDG checklists. My question relates to operations when flying with hardware panels. What is the correct MCE setting if I want to have full checklist interaction but don't want him to operate any FS panel switches like landing lights etc? It seems he doesn't recognise when I flip a hardware switch, and I suspect his interactions actually interfere with the hardware selections. Thanks for a great program, Ken.

I've had this happen on several flights, first only upon accepting the performance uplink but tonight it crashed upon rejecting it as well. I've turned off the function in the CDU. Ken.

I recently downloaded the latest TSS 777 GE soundset for FSX and find them to be extremely below par! They sound like they've replaced the engines with Volkswagen motors. Have a listen to the youtube demo and you'll hear what I mean. Instead of the characteristic whine as you power down the runway and takeoff you hear this grinding whir instead. Prior to this I've been using either the POSKY sounds but the absolute truest come from PMDG's 747X. If you have this aircraft point your sounds to its soundfile for your particular engine as they have all 3 then you'll hear some fantastic spool up and great takeoff immersion. I thought buying the TSS payware would be a sure thing but not to my ears, but then they were only $15. Perhaps some others have had better experience?Ken.

Good idea JD and maybe I can help with the pronunciation issue. I work for the national television and radio broadcaster in Australia (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and we have a department specifically for correct pronunciation (we're raked over the coals by the public if we get it slightly wrong!). It uses an international standard for scripting pronunciation which may be of use here. It is reproduced below:Capitalised words are accented eg:Australia = os-TRAYL-yuh (NOT uhs-TRAY-yuh OR aws-TRAY-lee-uh OR uhs-TREL-yuh) Accomplish = uh-KUMP-lish Beijing = bay-JING (j as in 'jet', not zh as in 'beige')Pilatus = pil-AH-tusAmir Farid = ah-MEER fah-REED (pianist)Phonetic Legend:Symbol Sounda .. .. .. .. hatah .. .. .. .. artay .. .. .. .. payair . .. .. .. pair, dareaw .. .. .. ..paw, porke .. .. .. .. bestee .. .. .. .. sea, meeer . .. .. .. here, feari .. .. .. .. witigh . .. .. .. tie, myo .. .. .. .. potoh .. .. .. .. oak, so, lowoo .. .. .. .. put, bookooh . .. .. ..too, doow .. .. .. ..now, boughoy .. .. .. .. boy, foilu .. .. .. .. nutur .. .. .. .. fur, bird, learnuh*.. .. .. ..other, aboutooh(uh). .. ..toursh .. .. .. .. shop, surech .. .. .. .. chopzh .. .. .. .. measureg .. .. .. .. getj .. .. .. .. jety .. .. .. .. yetng .. .. .. .. song(ang)**. .. ..vin (in 'vin blanc')(ong)**. .. ..blanc (in 'vin blanc')kh .. .. .. .. loch, Bachth .. .. .. .. thindh .. .. .. .. then * the 'indeterminate' vowel ** nasalised vowelObviously there would need to be a complete list of names compiled using this system and then disseminated to all. Quite a task!Ken.

Hi guys,I would just like to request while new files are being generated for RC5, could you correct the pronunciation of "Pilatus"? This is a very popular turboprop aircraft but is pronounced 3 different ways in RC4, which is fine as I just elect not to use the controllers that say it weirdly. If it could be rectified it would be appreciated.Also if you are after another Aussie voice set, I am more than happy to record them. I am a sound engineer and a past radio presenter so could be of use just to add another accent to the mix.BTW, I love the program and use RC4.3 in FSX via a networked PC with ATC sound channelled to my rear speakers. I'll be buying V5 hot off the press......Fantastic!Ken.www.kennair.com.au

>In my experience, setting WideViewAspect=true changes the>field of view in both 2D and 3D to be wider, but does not>rectify panel distortion in 2D. It is most likely that those>saying 2D panel distortion is not an issue have just grown>used to the look of slightly oval gauges - the pixels of a 2D>panel designed for a 4:3 screen must spread out more>horizontally than vertically when displayed on a widescreen>monitor. Try looking at a 2D panel on a TH2G system - it gets>extremely stretched across three monitors horizontally but is>the same as on one screen vertically.>>GaryThat's correct. Most aircraft models are designed with 4:3 panels in mind when seen in 2D view. If you use a widescreen monitor you need to remake the panel in a photo editor to conform to the resolution of your widescreen, then add the gauges by editing the panel.cfg file or FSPanel Studio (highly recommended), set the new resolution in FS Hardware settings and enjoy more panel information than you had before. Or as previously suggested, get use to oval gauges!Ken.http://www.kennair.com.auhttp://www.kennair.com.au/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

The TH2GO will work fine in dual head mode. I had it running this way until I could get hold of a third monitor. The instructions indicate what to do but basically just connect one monitor to the Centre output (this acts as the main screen while the system is booting up) then the second monitor to either of the Left or Right outputs.Kenhttp://www.kennair.com.auhttp://www.kennair.com.au/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

Here's an intersting website from a 737 builder in Hobart Tasmania who is setting up multi-projectors for outside viewing using a TH2GO. His testing has revealed interesting information that might be useful to others (like me), in particular the use of undocked screens on the TH2GO. Have a look and see if it's useful.http://www.insitesolutions.com.au/737proje...als_develop.htmKen.http://www.kennair.comhttp://www.kennair.com/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

Jim (jagabom),Really no matter what your system, if you want to fly with 3 monitors and minimise the hit on your system, get a Triple Head 2 Go. There are other options as already pointed out here, and the Matrox is an added expense, but it will give you a great ride once installed. Plus you can use the other vid outputs to drive more monitors for instrument views at the same time.Ken :)http://www.kennair.comhttp://www.kennair.com/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

I've been flying FS9 & FSX with its folders compressed for about a year now on advice from somewhere? My below par system increased performance slightly afterward so a must for me. Perhaps this will help others trying to squeeze every bit of longevity out of their aging systems before taking the upgrade plunge!Ken.http://www.kennair.comhttp://www.kennair.com/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

For what it's worth, I've been using UD for about 12 months and have had no issue with it. Mind you I use XP not Vista but my below par system found an extra 10-20 FPS after using it. I recommend always updating to the latest version (happens about every couple of months) and doing as Al says, select 100%. Make sure to use it regularly and particularly after installing or removing software. Remember the Consolidate option can take many hours to complete depending on your hard drives size and mess!! I have two hard drives with UD setup with different options on each one.I simply followed the tutorial for optimising UD for a Flight Sim PC and it did the trick. I haven't used any other third party defragger so can't comment on comparisons.Kenhttp://www.kennair.comhttp://www.kennair.com/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

I concur with everything Jim said and I too use nVidia, however I beleive ATI have rectified some of their incompatibilites with Matrox.Given the minimal price difference, and the greater flexibility, I'm not sure why you would be considering the Dual Head. If you want you can use the Triple head in Dual head mode, but the three outputs will give you the greatest view as Jim highlighted.I have two video cards with the TH2GO on one and 2x17" LCD's on the other and works great. The other advantage is that the TH2GO with 3 screens has a much less impact on PC performance than using two screens on separate outputs. The system sees the Matrox as one just screen.Regards,Ken.http://www.kennair.comhttp://www.kennair.com/Images/avatars/b200pil.jpg

Hi Terry,I use FS Panel Studio to do this sort of thing as it takes the headache out of panel editing/creating, however if you don't have this, you'll need to manually create a new window and insert the Autopilot for your particular aircraft into this new window. This is all contained in the panel.cfg file within your aircraft folder. Make a backup of your original cfg first, then give it a go. Make the new window the next number up from the highest that already exists, find the autopilot gauge details in one of the other window entries (probably window0 or 1) and copy it into your new window. You'll have to fiddle with the screen placement numbers associated with the guage as they will be putting it into the screen position for the original window. The numbers you'll see correspond with the pixel position for the gauge. I'm sorry I can't remember how to decipher these as using FS Panel Studio you don't need to worry about it. Of course once you've got the new window created, within FS, select it from the Instrument view menu, undock it, and move it wherever you like.No doubt there will be other gurus who can answer more questions regarding panel editing. There are also many tutorials on how to do this within the FS community. Google it :)Good luck,Ken.www.kennair.com

Hi Bruce,Yes I flew my nav about a month later on a beautiful sunny day without issue. Passed my PPL sometime later on an equally sunny and uneventful day. Not instrument rated as yet, but on the list.I also tried contacting flightwatch to ammend my flightplan but couldn't raise them due to my low altitude. It was certainly a case of 'up there wishing I was down here'!Ken.http://www.kennair.com

OK, scariest moment for me by far was my final solo nav flight prior to doing my PPL test. It was winter and I took off in marginal weather for an intended 4 hour flight. As I had cancelled the flight several times already due weather, I found myself pushing on with a thick cloud base at 3500 feet. Very quickly the back door was closed! and I was dodging cloud down to 1000ft AGL. After an hour I turned due west back toward my home port sighting the only familiar mountain peak I could see. Had to dodge several low cloud layers during my 30min return to base. Got back on the ground to a very thankful instructor who realised with hindsight he shouldn't have signed me out. Really, really stupid move to press on and one I'm lucky to have learnt from and lived! As my instructor said, you can't buy experience like that.Ken.http://www.kennair.com

Take a look at Tom's Hardware's Spring VGA Sharts for 2007. Very informative for directly comparing the 88 series to the 79 (and all other current cards). Not really much difference between them depending on what graphics configuration you run in FS, which is handy when one is $500 cheaper than the other. In some cases the 79 series comes out on top! Of course the 88 series offers the future proofing when DX10 does have support.http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.htmlKen.http://www.kennair.comSYSTEM: PC1-AMD Athlon XP 3200, 2Gb RAM,NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP, NVidia 6200 128Mb PCI,2x17" LCD's, 3x17" CRT, Triple Head 2 GoPC2-AMD Sempron 2400, 1Gb RAM, ATI 9200 256Mb AGP.

Louie,Yeah sorry, the Real Air is only for FS9. However as I said, the Flight1 model comes a close second and there is an FSX version. I run it in my sim and there is little impact on FPS even with my moderate AMD XP3200 system, so go for it.I also agree with the other poster who advised not looking at the gauges all the time. In my initial training I was continually being told to look outside. This is VFR after all! You need to learn what the attitude of the aircraft looks like relative to the horizon so you should be able to conduct straight and level flight along with all degree turns just by looking at the horizon. Unless you have a full cockpit sim, this is hard to achieve on a screen. As was mentioned, simming is better for learning systems management, emergency procedures and navigation training. Use the real thing to learn how to fly the real thing :)Ken.www.kennair.com

Hi Louie,As a Cessna pilot myself I find the RealAir C172 to be about the most realistic to fly. It's been tweaked by Rob Young from Real Air who is well known for his accurate flight models and was designed for an Australian flight school with the same intentions as you have. And best of all, as has already been mentioned, it's free!! I also own the Flight1 C172 and this comes in a close second, but has far better panel graphics. If you combine the Flight1 panels with the Real Air aircraft config file, you'd feel like your in the real thing. :)Real Air also have a similar aircraft tweak for the default C182 when you advance in your training.Here is the link to the free download:http://www.realairsimulations.com/list_box...?page=downloadsGood luck,Ken.

Yes preliminary testing with the trial version, allbeit with only one extended screen, I see a noticible performance hit. Looks like WideView has got it.Ken.http://www.kennair.comSYSTEM: PC1-AMD Athlon XP 3200, 1Gb RAM,NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP & NVidia 6200 128Mb PCI,2x17" LCD's, 1x20" CRT.FS9 & FSX, IOCards, FSUIPC,PC2-AMD Sempron 2400, 512Mb RAM, ATI 9200 256Mb AGP.ASv6.5, RC4.2/4.3, WideFS.

With the new release of MaxiVista v3 I was wondering if anyone has had experience with it on a multimonitor setup? Looks promising. I've just downloaded and run the demo which works well, however it only supports 1 extended monitor. You have to purchase to get multimonitor support!It's pretty cheap and, unlike WideView, doesn't require FS to be loaded on the network PC. Just drag windows to the network monitors for an extended panel. However what is the FPS hit?Ken.http://www.kennair.comSYSTEM: PC1-AMD Athlon XP 3200, 1Gb RAM,NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP & NVidia 6200 128Mb PCI,2x17" LCD's, 1x20" CRT.FS9 & FSX, IOCards, FSUIPC,PC2-AMD Sempron 2400, 512Mb RAM, ATI 9200 256Mb AGP.ASv6.5, RC4.2/4.3, WideFS.

Hi David,You might get some ideas from my website as I am building a sim based (loosely) on the PC12. I don't think there is any commercial site offering panels specifically for the PC12, they usually stay with the more popular Boeing and Airbus series, so you'll most likely have to resort to self building as indeed I did. One thing you might find valuable is my zip file containing cockpit measurements. This sort of info is very difficult to find but I had the fortune to sit in the cockpit for a couple of hours with a tape measure.I don't know about modelling the AOA as I haven't gone into that much depth. I have just completed the Autopilot controller which talks successfully to the Flight1 model via Opencockpits hardware and FSUIPC. One thing that doesn't work is the Altitude selector, as it seems this is modelled within the Flight1 software itself and not via FS9/X. This is also the case for the Aeroworx Kingair. It does operate the default FS aircraft however.Regards and good luck,Ken :)http://www.kennair.comSYSTEM: PC1-AMD Athlon XP 3200, 1Gb RAM,NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP & NVidia 6200 128Mb PCI,2x17" LCD's, 1x20" CRT.FS9 & FSX, IOCards, FSUIPC,PC2-AMD Sempron 2400, 512Mb RAM, ATI 9200 256Mb AGP.ASv6.5, RC4.2/4.3, WideFS.

Hi Alberto,It sounds like you have a serious system going on. I can highly recommend IOCards to enhance your experience. I know there are other systems equally good out there, but I found the Spanish experience quite simple and very flexible (also quite inexpensive). Once you start using their SIOC programming application you will find that there is nothing beyond your reach as far as recreating the realism. Good luck.Ken.http://www.kennair.comSYSTEM: PC1-AMD Athlon XP 3200, 1Gb RAM,NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP & NVidia 6200 128Mb PCI,2x17" LCD's, 1x20" CRT.FS9 & FSX, IOCards, FSUIPC,PC2-AMD Sempron 2400, 512Mb RAM, ATI 9200 256Mb AGP.ASv6.5, RC4.2/4.3, WideFS.

Dean,There is no option but to shell out some cash by the looks of it. However you might pick up a second-hand PCI card at a computer salvage? CRT's a pretty cheap these days also.The other option, as Ian mentioned, would be to use a second PC. You would need to use something like WideView to run FS on both PC's, which is payware, but you can download a limited time trial version to evaluate. This option would take the load off you single PC and maintain good frame rates. I run anything I can on the second networked PC in order to free up as much as possible on the main.Ian, thanks for info on running NVidia an ATI together. I wasn't aware that was possible, or at least it would cause problems. That should open up the options for cheap second hand hardware for Dean. BTW, how is Tassie? I'm a Perth boy.Ken.

Hi Dean,You'll need to buy a second (probably PCI) video card.My setup uses 3 monitors running off one PC and this is achieved using two video cards. I have an NVidia 6600GT 256Mb AGP card and a 6200 128Mb PCI (the fastest PCI card available). Both have two monitor outputs therefore capable of running 4 monitors, but on my system 4 monitors would grind it to a halt.My system is a much lower spec than yours and I tend to achieve around 10-15 FPS while taxiing on the ground (often with major stutters however!) but once flying it gets up to 18 (where it is locked). Your system should handle it OK, but don't be surprised by the performance drop once you start dragging windows around, regardless of what they are displaying.Unless your PC has two AGP or PCIE ports, I think you will have to buy a similar PCI video card to run the other 2 monitors, and it is advisable to purchase the same platform card, which in your case will be ATI. I'm not sure it's possible to run the NVidia drivers and ATI on the same system.Setup is the same as you have done for the current 2 monitors, plug monitors 3 & 4 into the second video card, setup all the monitors in the ATI Catalyst control panel and undock/drag your required FS windows into the monitors. Once your happy, save your flight so you don't have to go through the process every time you start (you are probably already doing this though!).Happy flying,Ken.http://www.kennair.com"Aviation combines all the elements I love:Science, Freedom, Beauty, Adventure.As a pilot we must be at least proficient in all elements" - Charles Lindbergh.