There I was happily perched at FL380, enjoying the scenery over western Africa, returning northbound on a continuing round-the-world flight in my newly purchased 767-300. I had just spent a few days down in Cape Horn, South America, Rio, and a few other exotic locals. I actually was not on board the flight deck. You see, I was on autopilot, the best one I've ever used by the way, and gave total trust in its functionality. I never dreamed since installing a new copy of FS2000, that I would have any further problems. As I watched TV upstairs with my wife, I heard in the background, the aural horn of an autopilot kickoff. I think. Or, was it worse?
As I raced downstairs to my office (cockpit), leaving my wife behind to fend for herself. It could not have been worse. The roar of the wind was far louder than I have ever heard it before. The view out the cockpit window was of earth, not the normal half and half. Earth was rotating. Earth was getting bigger. Faster. I had to do something. The airspeed was at 880. That's right. 880. Was this how the EgyptAir captain felt right before that horrific tragedy? I immediately cut the power, autopilot, extended speedbrakes. It was too late. My last thoughts before a sim death were focused on the altimeter. 3000. Then blackness. No time to even hear the implosion as 300,000 pounds of airliner impacted the ground at over 900 mph. No time to even hit the un-allowed pause key. I was going to use it. I wanted to see what was wrong. What happened to my doomed flight. The SimNTSB will never know. Or will they?
You see, I now know. This is not the first time this has happened. It strangely never happens when I am seated at the controls or nearby, but only far, far away from them. Sometimes asleep at night. Only to find the horror of a situation mode reset the next morning. Again, what was it? What I am going to tell you will save your life. Actually it won't really, because it's a bug, another flaw in FS2000. You cannot do anything about it, but one thing. Fly as quickly as you can to another weather zone. Another METAR might just save you.
Do you fly with real weather enabled? I do. I do love the built-in weather maker that I prompt for real weather before each and every flight. Generally, it works well. However, there is a glitch. And, it's a doozy. See, after the crash, I went to the nearest airport and placed my 767 on the runway in hopes of testing my idea. Sitting on the runway in Mauritania where my flight went down, I noticed the altimeter and airspeed gauges looked odd. The altimeter read 00000. Hmmm. I was at around 2000 feet MSL. The pressure in the box was of weird numbers I have never seen before. Was it MB or IN? I went to the weather menu to find out. AAAAHHHH! The pressure was 560 inches of mercury! 530 inches more than normally found on earth!! Well, well. This is just what I have seen before. Some areas in the world have screwy surface observations. If you happen to hit any one of them while enroute somewhere, you are doomed. The physics of the airplane cannot handle such erroneous pressure changes. I may have even seen -560. In any event, I tried flying. With full power, and an indicated airspeed of well over stall (200 kts or so) she would not climb. I could not even hold altitude at 250 kts. I impacted the desert at more than 500 fpm, 220 kts+, lightly loaded with maximum thrust. Well well. Now, the mystery is put to rest. I was cruising at FL380, some M.82 when encountering this pressure phenomena. The airplane will start a gradual descent on its own, autopilot trying to hold altitude and speed. Eventually the pitch up deck angle will cause a stall, followed by eventual roll over, spiral and spin. Even if I were able to pull her out, it would take 300 kts just to stay level! You're doomed!
A similar thing happened to me in San Jose, California. So, it can happen in the "big cities" too. I was flying a DC10 into the airport when the altimeter started winding up and then down...winding up and down...rapidly, with such a visual dance, it would give vertigo to anyone. Meanwhile the vertical speed seemed normal. Yet, I could not outpower my descent rate. Even with full engines screaming, that DC10 plowed into a hillside just east of the airport, killing all simmies on board and more in their houses. Even the "B" key didn't help. The Earth's pressure was out of this world, and that meant all aircraft must not fly anymore.
So, now you know the story. You have been warned. And, I know that someone out there must have encountered the same deadly confusion, unwinding and winding altimeters and sudden lack of performance. Your only hope would be to either reset the altimeter in the weather menu to a normal one on earth, or fly "fast" to another airport with a new weather METAR.
Well Microsoft, another bug of yours kills thousands. Thank goodness, when Train-Sim comes out and I get fully addicted, I will never have to reset an altimeter again, and plunge towards earth at 900 mph!
