leeflet

I like United-Virtual - but for some of the reasons that may turn off others. While anyone can join, the route selection is limited and aircraft type is as well (narrow-body "trainers"). For more complete access to aircraft and routes, a check ride is required (practice, practice, and practice a "canned route" - then record it... and if you think it's up to par - submit). Those rides are graded very similar to the grading regimen I had in USN flight school. A very thorough critique is given and while it is accurate and respectful, there is no cheap, unearned praise. Beyond the main check ride, there are advanced check rides one can take for type ratings, but those are completely optional and not required for type if the pilot decides to qualify by hours instead (a slower but certainly less-stressful way to go). Coming into flight sim from real-world aviation (mil, com - and general as a CFII), I do appreciate the more professional, disciplined and standardized approach they take. The resources and training material are very comprehensive as well. I'd be interested to know if there are similar approaches out there with other VAs. I have flown for AlaskaVA, OneWorld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam virtual airlines as well. But of those, I find that United-Virtual is the best for me - but quite possibly for the same reason that it may not be best for others.

C:Users[user Name]AppDataRoamingHiFiAS2012OptionsFSXOptions.cfg

Driftdown, one thing I noticed in those spot images posted here is that the cloud cover perspective is from an oblique angle. From that perspective it is hard to see the "holes" in the overcast below. The breaks in overcast - in my situation at least - are immediately around and below the aircraft (while looking out towards the horizon gives me a perspective similar to the images posted here).Setting MaximumCloudLayers = 20 in FSXOptions.cfg and CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=12 in FSX.cfg did not resolve the issue for me.Maybe it's because I'm just a little delirious from the flu (yuck) but do I understand correctly that PREVENTING cloud redraws MAINTAINS the overcast? I got a little lost in your wording - sorry...

This is definitely one of the strangest threads I've read in the AVSIM forums, culminating with Ronnie throwing a tantrum of obscenities and calling everyone babies... ?Joe Pa had an opportunity to save those boys from a monster that he knew - despite reporting him to the university administration - likely still preyed upon them for years afterwards. Those among us who have survived similar childhood sexual abuse would find the idea of honoring such a "flawed hero" as curious as it is disturbing.

I fly a lot around Lake Ponchartrain and New Orleans. The Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain are both generally brown, muddy waters. Using the default graphics with AS2012, Lake Ponchartrain looks like the turquois waters around Key West, so I figured it was not treated as "inland" but rather "tropical" water by AS (probably - I assume - because FSX classifies it as such). No problem - I merely customized the theme and recolored my selected tropical water choice. It worked - to a point. It appears that the water changes from my recolored brown to the AS2012's turquois blue about 5.2 NM from the airport - making me think that the custom-colored graphics have a limited range before the default AS2012 graphics kick in. I tried redefining the application range for wx but the brown water changes to blue at the same point regardless.Interestingly, I recolored the inland waters to a greenish-brown, but the Mississippi River shows up as purplish, and maintains that color well beyond the range at which the tropical water fails to maintain it's recolorization. In fact, as far as I know, if I recolor the inland waters, there is no limited diameter to the application of the recoloring, unlike the tropical.Is there a work-around to this? It seems like I need to be better educated about how the graphics work?

Well, that was an incredibly awesome video. It was a religious experience to watch.I'm in awe now of what my FSX experience could be like. Could you comment on (1) the incredible realistic textures (is it all REX?), (2) where you got the detailed ground handling animations from, and (3) why - after all those animated add-ons - your frame rates are still better than frame rates in real life?LeeF

We use the Garmin stand-alone G1000 glass cockpit simulator software as a procedure trainer for actual flights in G1000-equipped 172S and 182T Nav III aircraft. It would be awesome to have this product interface with FSX. Obviously the default G1000 is woefully inadequate.In our search for a solution, we remain impressed - yet unsold - with the MindStar product. Despite impressive fidelity, there are several issues. It is missing the AUX page groups (an essential part of our set-up routines), lack of North Up/Track Up switching, map declutter configuration and map cursor functionality. And the navigation database does not appear upgradable.It also appears that it was last updated January 2007 - almost 5 years ago - and so seems abandoned or shelved.That said, the MindStar was certainly on the right track - very detailed and it's frustrating that it was "almost" there as a viable FS9/FSX trainer.Is anyone aware of a product that has picked up where MindStar left off?LeeF

Fun video to watch, but a bit challenging to judge the landing without a cockpit panel view.showing set-up, approach speeds, flap settings, etc. Looks like you may have been hanging a bit deeper on the backside of the power curve than necessary from the (apparent) high AOA, but I didn't see a tail strike. Especially being a night landing makes it even tougher to see from the perspectives you provide.

At the risk of sounding a bit simple-minded, I really can't help but ask - have you considered that it may have nothing at all to do with the hardware?In my case, CTD issues turned out to be as simple as having an NGX default flight (something apparently you cannot do). I luckily figured that out before starting the process of uninstall/reinstall.

Thanks, Art - the scenery was freeware anyways, so I just switched to Glenn Johnson's FSX New Orleans scenery and added a few items (his FSX is nowhere near the masterpiece that his FS9 KMSY is). The parking and gates are actually more accurate than Alpha India, so for a very fledgling and not-so-committed scenery designer, it seems a better platform to modify.

I think I figured it out. Turns out the parking radii for the gates was set to other than the standard default radius in the library object. Once I reset the parking radius, the mesh between jetway and cabin door is perfect! BUT - my buildings have disappeared and there remains just a field of jetways. No errors in compiling were given, so I now have to figure that out (hints are very welcome)....

Thanks, Scott - I went ahead and rebuilt a flight from scratch, selecting KMSY and Gate D5 for a completely fresh start. Same issue. Moved down to Gate D1 (a smaller gate.) The exact same jetway interface anomaly occurs there as well. I substituted the default 737 (vs my PMDG) and the Level-D - in both cases the jetway aligns just ahead of the front door in the same exact manner as the PMDG (I retracted and redeployed the jetway in all those cases). Moving/slewing the aircraft to align with the jetway, then retracting and redeploying the jetway results in the same deviations. Finally, to establish that this was indeed the scenery and not the airplane(s), I set my 737NGX at a totally different airport (KSEA), and the jetway interface was normal. So it definitely is something with the scenery. It's a strange problem, and I'm just climbing the learning curve with ADE (the program used to design the KMSY scenery). The fact that the jetway interfaces in the same relative position to the door in 3 different models makes me think that perhaps the entire airport reference is askew? Is that possible?

I am grateful to have found this thread - was having the exact same problem and was beginning to suspect the condition of my disc. FreeCommander worked like a charm - can be found here.

First, I am an end user, not a designer (although I am considering dabbling). Here is my question. In FSX, I installed the wonderfully executed Alpha India Group AFCAD scenery for New Orleans airport (download aig_kmsy_new_orleans_armstrong_fsx_default.zip in the FSX -> AFCAD File Section). The aircraft that I typically use (the PMDG 737-NGX) has not changed. However, now the jetways miss the hatch and dock against the aircraft too far forward and at an angle (the best way to describe it is that once the jetways are fully deployed, I need to slew the aircraft forward a few feet and yaw the heading a few degrees counterclockwise in order to align it properly. I had always thought that the fully deployed jetway had interfaced at a specific spot on the aircraft fuselage based on parameters delineated in the aircraft.cfg file. However, seeing that this misalignment is scenery-specific, I am reluctant to modify the aircraft.cfg file. Is there an AFCAD-level fix for this? Can I edit the bgl?

Hi Johan - Loading it the way I suggested will preload the FSX ATC, essentially having ATC "assign" the SID as you mentioned. This is as close to realism as I can manage with FSX. In my real-life flying this is not the case (at least in the US). ATC directs the transition from enroute to approach, often modifying the STAR to accommodate their own requirements for separation and spacing. Agree. Default ATC does a poor job of AI separation, although FS AI Approach Traffic Manager does an acceptable job in reducing conflicts (in my experience). That really is an issue only in congested corridors, however, so I still believe the FSX ATC to be useful. I have yet to try VATSIM - my only hesitation being the "manning" issue. Can I really fly a completely controlled flight of my choosing from ground control at the departure airport to ground control at the arrival base?

FMC wants me follow a STAR, but the ATC wants me turn away from where the plan is? It won't let me fly a star? RC is a better option but still a bit flakey (at least in my experience). But, you CAN use FSX ATC for SIDS/STARS. Go to SimRoutes.com, generate a route of your choosing, then download it as both an FSX flight plan AND a PMDG flight plan. When downloading the former, you'll have to edit the cruise altitude into it (or do that with the flight planner edit function in FSX once you load it). Then just load the flight plan in FSX ATC and load the PMDG version by invoking it in the FMC. This method works because SimRoutes breaks down the departure and arrival procedures into their basic component waypoints, essentially loading the SID and/or STAR into FSX in a point-to-point fashion. FSX doesn't know it's a SID, but it is, never-the-less. The beauty of this method is: 1) It ensures that your FMC-programmed route is precisiely the same - at least in LNAV - to the flight plan "filed" with ATC. 2) It loads the flight plan into the FMC in a pseudo-ACARS style, so you aren't keying in each waypoint - saves time, effort AND is more realistic 3) You can cut and paste route into SimRoutes from FlightAware. Just paste the route into the route box, and pick the corresponding SID and STAR from the drop-down menus, then delete the SID and STAR names from the pasted text in the route box - essentially leaving only the enroute segment with it's defining beginning and endpoints (which are precisely defined as the SID and STAR transitions). Secondly, when the plane approaches t/d and passes t/d how come the FMC didn't follow the decent plan? But even if it did ATC would tell me I'm below my altitude? It kept maintaining cruise ?? The FMC will not just automatically start descending the plane at TD - you need to preset the MCP altitude and step it down yourself (A warning will flash - RESET MCP ALT, which is the FMC reminding you of this). The other issue is a known idiosyncrasy of the FSX ATC - they tend to be late in descending the large jets. Either request lower (a pain and just a further departure from realism), or go to something like RC. In fact that was the very reason I moved to RC. I'm struggling with calculating decent points and getting to certain levels at certain time The FMC will really do this for you, in conjunction with ATC (when they're not lazy in letting you down). Just remember to slow down as you enter the approach segment (RC will often ask you to slow down if you select restrictions in the setup, while the FSX ATC doesn't care). I could make a guess that you are entering the approach corridor at cruise speed (FAST) and because ATC hasn't directed you to descend, you are HIGH. Fast and high will put you in a situation where you are perpetually trying to hit those target altitudes and missing.

So the concorde is transgendered? This is so confusing...

Nice - I like the way the transitions work with the music, and the way some of the sequences work with the various moods of musical passages. I Soundhounded the soundtrack: Clunniemus (a radio edit version) by Marc Van Linden (on Dream Dance, Vol 18).

I'm serving that chicken dish to the passengers on my virtual airline.

Well I certainly don't want to do anything illegal, but on the other hand, instrument departure procedures don't seem like sensitive information. Perhaps a verbal description of the departure would suffice? I did a poor job of editing my original post, but suspect most folks know that when I wrote oin FkuightAware I meant to say on FlightAware

I was oin FkuightAware looking at routes between Juneau (PAJN) and Seattle (KSEA) and came across the following route: MARMN3 SNETT MICZI YYJ JAWBN3 So I went to download the appropriate charts from the FAA site, but found there is no published departure procedure name even close to the contraction MARMN. A bit more research leads me to believe this departure is strictly a company profile. Does anyone know where I could Alaska Airline-specific charts such as the MARMN SID out of Juneau? Thanks LeeF

Wow - I don't know what happened to the coding of my earlier post. Here goes again.... My proven1 method of simulating an actual commercial airline flight 1 I fly side-by-side with the real-time track on Flight Aware and am almost always incomplete lateral and vertical navigation sync until vectoring begins in the approach segment 1) Find a flight you want to simulate eg. Alaska Airlines flight 300, KSEA - KSFO - from their web site, I can glean aircraft make/model (737-800), pax loads (seating chart offered on the site), departure and expected arrival gates, and estimated push time 2) Find the flight in FlightAware eg. FlightAware tells me again about the gates and estimated push time, but also gives me the actual filed route and altitude: HAROB4 ERAVE Q1 PYE at 37,000 3) Generate the basic route in SimRoute.com (free online service) and paste the route in the route box. Look for the SIDs and STARs and incorporate them... eg. HAROB4 ERAVE Q1 PYE tells me that the SID is the HAROB4 departure. SimRoutes has the HAROB3 (close enough) with ERAVE being the transition point to the enroute segment. PYE is a VOR that serves as an entry to either the GOLDEN GATE or PYE arrivals (I can see that from the drop-down menu choices for the STARs). Looking at other flights going into SFO in Flight Aware, I suspect I will be directed onto the PYE STAR and so I will use that. So I pick the HAROB3 SID and PYE1 STAR in the drop down menu and delete those references from the route box (you can leave the transition points) - so the route box only says ERAVE Q1 PYE, or alternatively just Q1.4) Select the appropriate aircraft in SimRoutes, then download flight plans to both PMDG and FSX. In the FSX flight plan, edit it to include the altitude. No editing is necessary for the PMDG flight plan. By downloading the flight plan in both formats, you are ensuring that the FMC profile is in agreement with ATC (whether it be the default FSX ATC or Radar Contact). 5) Open ASA/ASE and go to the Briefing section, then import the flight plan, edit the True Airspeed (mine defaults to 120) and note the average winds aloft. Use ASE to invoke FSX (or if you use an external frame limiter, invoke FSX with that after filing the brief in ASE) 6) In the main FSX Free Flight menu, select the appropriate aircraft and edit it to show the flight number, select the airport and use the drop down to select the gate, and load the FSX flight plan. When the plan asks if you want to move to the departure airport, say NO. It will place you ate the end of the departure runway and we have already elected instead to be at the gate. 7) Once at the gate, start powering up, bring the jetway up to the door and open the door and cargo hatches. Once at the appropriate point in the checklist to program the FMC, set your position and in the ROUTE section type KSEAKSFO. Don't worry yet about the departure runway. The route will load automatically. Listen to the ATIS for the active runway and incorporate that in the departure procedure. You can put in your best guess for arrival runway at your destination (Flight Aware will clearly show the runways in use), but keep in mind that can change especially with longer flights. I sometimes keep that open in the FMC and program it while airborne. 8) If the actual flight is on time, push from the gate at that time. With 50 - 60% commercial air traffic, I am usually airborne after taxiing, waiting and release within a few minutes of the actual flight. Almost all my flights have been pretty accurate with the real counterparts. The beauty of this is that while I use a lot of different resources to bring the information together, most of the resources are free (except ASA/ASE). I did not discuss fuel planning, and of course don't have the actual numbers for cargo. But it's as close as I can get for now. For fuel planning - until I decide on something like TopCat - I am doing well with Milan Puta's B737 Fuel Planner (version 1.5a).I'd love to hear a discussion about SimRoutes vs. VRoutes. I am hesitant to move to VRoutes because I don't see where one can create their own flight plan - it seems (at least from the web site) that all the routes - while voluminous - are pre-configured and not amenable to editing (Is that true????). SimRoutes, while it's database is showing signs of age, is still quite usable and accurate, and it allows the flexibility to copy and paste directly from actual filed flight plans.LeeF

<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 18px;">My <strong><span style="color: #FF0000"><em>proven</em></span></strong>¹method of simulating an actual flight</span></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 280px;">¹<span style="font-size: 12px;"><em>I fly side-by-side with the real-time track on Flight Aware and am almost always in</em></span><span style="font-size: 12px;"><em> complete</em></span></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 280px;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><em> lateral and vertical navigation sync until vectoring begins in the approach segment</em></span></p><p class="bbc_indent"> </p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 40px;">1) Find a flight you want to simulate<br /></p><br /><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 80px;"><em>eg. Alaska Airlines flight 300, KSEA - KSFO - from their web site, I can glean aircraft make/model (737-800), pax loads (seating chart offered on the site), departure and expected arrival gates, and estimated push time</em></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 80px;"> </p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 40px;">2) Find the flight in FlightAware<br /><br /></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 80px;"><em>eg. FlightAware tells me again about the gates and estimated push time, but also gives me the actual filed route and altitude: HAROB4 ERAVE Q1 PYE at 37,000</em><br /></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 40px;"><br />3) Generate the basic route in SimRoute.com (free online service) and paste the route in the route box. Look for the SIDs and STARs and incorporate them...<br /><br /></p><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 80px;"><em>eg. HAROB4 ERAVE Q1 PYE tells me that the SID is the HAROB4 departure. SimRoutes has the HAROB3 (close enough) with ERAVE being the transition point to the enroute segment. PYE is a VOR that serves as an entry to either the GOLDEN GATE or PYE arrivals (I can see that from the dropdown choices for the STARs). Looking at other flights going into SFO in Flight Aware, I suspect I will be directed onto the PYE STAR and so I will use that. So I pick the HAROB3 SID and PYE1 STAR in the drop down menu and delete those references from the route box (you can leave the transition points) - so the route box only says ERAVE Q1 PYE, or alternatively just Q1.</em><br /></p><br /><p class="bbc_indent" style="margin-left: 40px;"><br />4) Select the appropriate aircraft in SimRoutes, then download flight plans to both PMDG and FSX. In the FSX flight plan, edit it to include the altitude. No editing is necessary for the PMDG flight plan. By downloading the flight plan in both formats, you are ensuring that the FMC profile is in agreement with ATC (whether it be the default FSX ATC or Radar Contact).<br /><br />5) Open ASA/ASE and go to the Briefing section, then import the flight plan, edit the True Airspeed (mine defaults to 120) and note the average winds aloft. Use ASE to invoke FSX (or if you use an external frame limiter, invoke FSX with that after filing the brief in ASE)<br /><br />6) In the main FSX Free Flight menu, select the appropriate aircraft and edit it to show the flight number, select the airport and use the drop down to select the gate, and load the FSX flight plan. When the plan asks if you want to move to the departure airport, say NO. It will place you ate the end of the departure runway and we have already elected instead to be at the gate.<br /><br />7) Once at the gate, start powering up, bring the jetway up to the door and open the door and cargo hatches. Once at the appropriate point in the checklist to program the FMC, set your position and in the ROUTE section type KSEAKSFO. Don't worry yet about the departure runway. The route will load automatically. Listen to the ATIS for the active runway and incorporate that in the departure procedure. You can put in your best guess for arrival runway at your destination (Flight Aware will clearly show the runways in use), but keep in mind that can change especially with longer flights. I sometimes keep that open in the FMC and program it while airborne.<br /><br />8) If the actual flight is on time, push from the gate at that time. With 50 - 60% commercial air traffic, I am usually airborne after taxiing, waiting and release within a few minutes of the actual flight.<br /><br />Almost all my flights have been pretty accurate with the real counterparts. The beauty of this is that while I use a lot of different resources to bring the information together, most of the resources are free (except ASA/ASE). I did not discuss fuel planning, and of course don't have the actual numbers for cargo. But it's as close as I can get for now. For fuel planning - until I decide on something like TopCat - I am doing well with Milan Puta's B737 Fuel Planner (version 1.5a).<br /><br />I'd love to hear a discussion about SimRoutes vs. VRoutes. I am hesitant to move to VRoutes because I don't see where one can create their own flight plan - it <u><em>seems</em></u> (at least from the web site) that all the routes - while voluminous - are pre-configured and not amenable to editing (Is that true????). SimRoutes, while it's database is showing signs of age, is still quite usable and accurate, and it allows the flexibility to copy and paste directly from actual filed flight plans.<br /><br />LeeF</p>

Hi, Roger - I think you are continuing a discussion we were having in this post: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/348649-trying-to-manually-fly-vnav-via-the-fd-is-tough-because/page__view__findpost__p__2110118 A very common problem with the Saitek yoke - and it sounds like the exact same symptoms with the CH yoke - is that the roll axis (aileron) calibration is incorrect. You never mentioned if you actually looked at the calibration to see if the axis was indeed centered. The solution is to recalibrate once in FSX and the AC is not moving (eg. at the gate or stopped on a taxiway). A quick-and-dirty way to do this (at least it works with the Saitek) is to simply unplug the USB connection to the PC and reconnect it (again with the AC stationary). LeeF

I have the same problem with the Saitek - it needs to be recalibrated every time the PC is rebooted. It's a common problem. The easiest way to deal with it it to disconnect then reconnect the USB connection after FSX is up and running. Try it and see if that re-centers things.