Michael, how did the iFMS project come about?

About 15 years ago now, when I was still living in Belgium (I live in Australia now), I had my own company and was involved in a project with DHL.

At the time DHL's central European hub was located in Brussels, and they operated Boeing 757-200's out of Brussels international airport.

The purpose of the project was to build a Boeing 757 simulator for procedure training (not actual flight training of course).

This would save them a lot of money as they normally had to hire a fully functional Level-D simulator from CAE, to perform training that actually does not focus on the "flying" but more on running through checklists (in emergency procedures, for example). At the time, the sim at CAE cost 4000 euros for a two hour session, this is a lot of money to spend especially when you're not using the sim for actual flight training.

We had a set-up of seven touch screens - three in front of the pilots on which to project the main instrument panel, two in the middle to project the pedestal console and two above the pilots to project the overhead panel. The outside view was just projected on a wall in front of the panel touch screens with a data projector. To model the outside world we just connected our set-up to MS Flight Simulator and used their model.

Most of the cockpit could be modelled on the touch screens using a program called Quest3D, however, complex systems like the FMC (flight management computer), HSI (horizontal situation indicator) and ADI (attitude direction indicator) could not. This is where I got involved.

At the time I was developing software for the flight simulation community (in my spare time) and was quite well known in the community, so this is how DHL found me.

I was initially asked to write the interface between Quest3D and MS Flight Simulator but later on they also engaged me to develop the FMC, HSI, ADI screens and the MCP module (autopilot). I built these in C++.

Unfortunately the project was never completed for various reasons. A little later I moved to Australia and completely lost contact with the people at DHL.

I still had all the software I developed for them but was never able to fully implement it and integrate it with the Quest3D simulator model.

The software was close to completion though and very accurate in simulating the real thing.

The idea came to me a bit later to port the software to my windows mobile PocketPC. I had just gotten my private pilot's license at the time so I had lost a bit of interest in flight simming back then. Hence I focused on building the software for use in real-world flying, so I would be able to use the power of a Boeing style flight computer in the small airplanes I fly and navigate like the commercial airliners do.

It took me about two years (in my spare time) to complete the software and get it running on my PocketPC, however, in the meantime smart phones were on the rise and Windows PocketPC's had completely disappeared off the market so again I was left with a software package I could not sell.

I did fly quite often with the app myself though, as you can see from these photographs.

Anyway, I soon bought myself an iPhone and an iPad, and it did not take long for me to decide to port my software to iOS.

What software did you use for the port?

I used a software library called "Marmalade" which allowed me to just re-use my C++ code rather than re-write the software in Objective-C, and more importantly, it also allowed me to deploy the software to various other platforms like Android without having to re-write a single letter of code, which I soon did as well.

How has iFMS evolved since its initial development?

Version 1 of iFMS only had the FMC and NAV displays available, and it had a built-in LNAV & VNAV engine which could control the aircraft to fly the programmed route.

This was great by itself, given that there are many standard, free and payware wonderful aircraft available for Microsoft FS and X-Plane, but a lot of them lack a realistic NAV display and flight management computer (the two go hand-in-hand really).

With my DHL cockpit building background I have always been interested in software (like Project Magenta) people use to make realistic home cockpits and I realised that with iFMS 1, I was actually not far away from having something similar that other people could use at home. Most people own at least one Android/iOS tablet and a phone these days. What needed to be added was a PFD (Primary Flight Display), EICAS (Engine Information) displays and the ability to have multiple devices connected to a single simulator. So I started developing again.

It took me a few years to build this extension; I had started another aviation-related project that was taking up quite a bit of my time as well.

Anyway, last month I finally released version 2.0 of the app and I have had great response so far.

What are the standout features of iFMS?

iFMS v2 really allows people to build a realistic home cockpit on a small budget, the app itself is available for less than $20 (depending on your region) and these days you can pick up a second hand tablet very cheaply, that will run iFMS.

Typically such a home cockpit could consist of a 10" tablet in landscape mode, situated in front of you, displaying the PFD & NAV display, a second tablet next to that, in portrait mode, displaying the Primary & Secondary EICAS, and finally a smaller tablet/phone next to you displaying the FMC in portrait mode.

Of course you could go further and do it with five devices or more so you can separate the PFD/NAV and two EICAS displays." (this guy has really gone one step further with eight tablets!)

Is iFMS compatible with all aircraft?

Yes, the great thing about iFMS is the fact that it can be configured for use with almost any aircraft.

The app comes with eight standard aircraft configuration files, including all the popular Boeing aircraft, but it is very easy for the users to build their own aircraft configuration files. On the web site you can find a few example aircraft along with a tutorial on how to create your own.

Some customers have shared with me their own creations, ranging from Airbus aircraft to Lear jets, to MD-80's etc. One customer even built an aircraft file for an AW139 helicopter. Of course I'm happy to share these with anybody interested, and to assist if anybody needs help creating their own aircraft configuration file.

One question I often get asked is whether my app will work with PMDG add-on aircraft. By that people usually mean whether the FMC in iFMS will sync with the one present in PMDG aircraft.

The answer to that is no.

Generally it is not advised to use iFMS in combination with aircraft that already have a complex FMC system of their own, such as PMDG or Level-D aircraft. The FMC's won't sync and it tends to lead to conflicts with both trying to control the MCP to fly the aircraft.

iFMS contains a complete FMC with LNAV/VNAV system on its own, and it is therefore much more useful in combination with standard/add-on aircraft that don't already have these systems included, like the default 737-800 in FSX for example.

If you're after a way of programming the FMC already present in aircraft such as PMDG aircraft, you might want to have a look at apps like "VirtualCDU", "AirFMC" or "TabletFMC". These apps are not an FMC on their own, like the one iFMS contains, but they provide you with a "portal" to program the FMC of add-ons like PMDG, Level-D etc. from your tablet/phone. This is actually a very different thing altogether.

What does the future hold for iFMS?

I am already working on a minor upgrade to modernise the FMC. For example, the one currently present in iFMS is based on the older ones found on the 757-200. Newer versions of the FMC have a single VNAV button rather than a CLB/CRZ/DES button. This makes room for a "NAV RAD" and "ATC" button to allow setting the aircraft's communications and nav radios from the FMC.

I'd also like to have a few different versions of the PFD. Currently I only have the "square style" found in the later Boeing aircraft, some people are interested in also having the older "rounded" version. This will be available in a later release.

Many people ask me whether I will ever build an Airbus version. The answer to that question is maybe someday.

Michael De Feyter
www.ifms-fs.com