The Next Challenge...

[Melo965]

12 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I'm sure an RAAF repaint would be just a matter of moments for an FS Chipmunk. 

 

I am going to give the RAAF repaint a try.  It will probably be LOTS of moments though.  Getting reference information about appropriate RAAF insignia.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 hours ago, taoftedal said:

with a copy of 'Stick and Rudder' at my side.

A "MUST" for any sim or real pilot's library!

[ViperPilot2]

Flew the first Leg of the proposed B & H/AOPA Route as laid out by defaid; Jandakot (YPJT) to Katanning (YKNG) in the Bell 427 helicopter. Took about an hour at 135 KIAS; don't have a Timer installed! 

 

Default FS9 Scenery, and the terrain was more populated than I thought it would be for the Location! A Grass strip awaited me at Katanning. it was short but looks as it's long enough to drop a 172 in. At 1,000' AGL I almost overflew it!

 

Overall, a very leisurely and enjoyable whirlybout, if I may say so meself...

 

Just a Test Flight; I needed to see if I could fly a Helo for an Hour straight. The verdict is a resounding YES! 

 

Unbelievably, Ambient Sound really makes a difference for the Immersion factor. I've been Simming without for a while for I didnt have a good set of Headphones. Found a USB pair with a boom MIC at the Value Village for $3 and like, wow!

 

Now, time to peek into the esky and see what tucker's lying about. A Sanger, Chips and Fizzy Pop, perhaps?

 

Helicopters are back on the List...

 

 

vp² 

[jgf]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

see if I could fly a Helo for an Hour straight.

 

Ah, if only.  At best my concentration is good for perhaps thirty minutes before my flight resembles a yo-yo.  But I keep trying.

 

[ViperPilot2]

38 minutes ago, jgf said:

 

Ah, if only.  At best my concentration is good for perhaps thirty minutes before my flight resembles a yo-yo.  But I keep trying.

 

 

In the R66 Thread it was either yourself or PP who suggested taking an old Joystick with an External centering Spring and compressing it to create free play, which I did. I also Super Glued the Spring to its receptacles on the bottom of the Joystick and the centering Ring so it wouldn't shift. After adjusting the Joystick Sensitivity in all three axes I have a Joystick I can fly Helicopters with comfortably and much easier, without the Wrist fatigue and soreness I was experiencing before. I can also get away with flying Fixed Wing; I flew the Airbasil Mini using it. 

[Bossspecops]

A helo beats even a Lysander for proper STOL flying of course. 

 

I'm still working on a repaint for that S-51 Dragonfly I first flew aboard back on the 50s. LOTS of detail work on that model though..... 

[taoftedal]

8 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Default FS9 Scenery, and the terrain was more populated than I thought it would be for the Location! ... Overall, very leisurely and enjoyable ...

 

Agree ... did the same yesterday and was surprised also.  If the scenery is anything close to reality I've much to learn about that great land ... and low and slow may just be the best way to do it!

[TomPenDragon]

17 hours ago, defaid said:

I didn't really think of it as a tutorial. We all do more with our sims than kiosk-mode but we very rarely cover flight planning or fuel calculation, weather, balancing loads, repainting or whatever else in our narratives. It was more of a behind-the-scenes flight report, although there might be some useful thoughts embedded somewhere in there.

Don't sell yourself short - that's a superb piece of writing there!

[TomPenDragon]

17 hours ago, jgf said:

Well, at KORD the gauges told me I was perfectly lined up on 35R, but what I saw ahead of me was the airport slightly to the right of my path;  FSNAV showed I was about 20deg off from the runway and my current course would take me over the SW corner of the airport.  Kill the AP and take her in manually.

 

At Toronto the gauges again said I was perfectly lined up for landing, but my view was the runway was to the north;  FSNAV showed I was on course but about a half mile south of the runway.  Again, kill the AP, swing north then back west to the same course, and land manually.

 

This isn't a bug with the Citation X, it occurs with any aircraft with ILS and at many, not all, airports.  Not a major issue with smaller aircraft, but a C-5 or a WWI bomber is a definite go-around.

I've noticed this, and always thought I was just rubbish at flying instrument approaches.  Drop out of the clouds, needles perfectly centered, and where's the friggin' runway?  I'm taking the CX from Cuernavaca to KLGA this morning, will fly an instrument approach and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the tip on the Terravue gauge!

[jgf]

21 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

There were some .bgl's and a couple .bmp's that are supposed to go into the "Static Objects Library" in the RWY12 Folder, which I do not have (I've got the Entire RWY12 Library Installed). Also, there's Landclass that in my previous experiences tends to lock up my Sim and/or enables a CTD on this Laptop.. Hence, I'm sticking with Default FS9.

 

If the files do not overwrite anything you already have, they are safe.  LC files should be in their own folder, with no texture folder (from what I've read, when the LC files are in any scenery folder with a corresponding texture folder FS constantly seeks nonexistent textures for them, this eventually causes lockups or CTDs).

[jgf]

8 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

Drop out of the clouds, needles perfectly centered, and where's the friggin' runway?

 

Makes night flying a miserable experience.

[jgf]

21 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

and the AP (think I have it, or something very similar)?

 

BTW, if anyone questions replacing the default AP with that one, here is a real Citation with a very similar AP.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

7 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

After adjusting the Joystick Sensitivity in all three axes I have a Joystick I can fly Helicopters with comfortably and much easier, without the Wrist fatigue and soreness I was experiencing before.

Glad this helped. Helicopters opens up a whole new set of aircraft options. The S-51 I flew for the Rt 66 rally is one of the smoothest and stable helicopters I've flown in FSX.

[TomPenDragon]

2 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

I'm taking the CX from Cuernavaca to KLGA this morning, will fly an instrument approach and see what happens

What happened was that, 23 miles from RBV and 65 from KLGA, I tried tuning the ATIS and the sim died.  Oh, well...

[ScottishMike]

I decided to join the crazy crew in Toronto.

 

First decision what aircraft? Home airport is Edinburgh Scotland so 2900 nm. to Toronto Canada.

As I didn't have much time I wanted to do it in one hop, that reduced the choice especially as I wanted to do it in a business jet not a commercial airliner.

I had the following possibilities:

 

Bombardier 600/604 range 4000 nm.

Bombardier Challenger 800 3120 nm. range a bit tight!

Bombardier Global Express 6800 nm. range but not the nicest model (Ex AI)

Cessna Citation X 3300nm. range but already used by others.

Dassault Falcon 50 3200 nm. again a bit tight for range.

Dassault Falcon 900 and 7X, a bit big and ostentatious for one person.

Embraer Legacy 600 3200 nm. range a bit tight again if I encountered strong westerlies.

All Gulfstreams bar the I and 100 possible.

 

I decided to go with the Gulfstream III, a bit old but still capable and comfortable for one plus crew.

 

Gulfstream III, on the apron at the general aviation terminal Edinburgh Airport. It is only about 25miles from home.

Full fuel and flight plan filed. ATC have accepted a direct GPS routing.

 

Powered up and on push-back. One click of flaps and some up trim. We are cleared to Rwy 240. Weather scattered cloud and no wind, the Gods are smiling on us.

 

 

Taxing to Rwy 240. Not too much other traffick this morning. Departure time 10:00 local 09:00 GMT.

 

Waiting at Rwy 240 for take-off clearance. We are cleared to 8000' on Rwy heading.

 

Lined up and ready to go.

 

Goodby Edinburgh.

 

Following our flight plan, 38,000' Mach 0.8 and just south of Iceland heading to skirt south of Greenland. I have rules for time compression:

1) Take-off and landing at normal speed.

2) Once established on steady climb and direction I can go to 4X speed.

3) Once at steady cruise can go to 16X speed.

4) Steady descent at maximum 4X speed.

5) As soon as destination is within radio distance go to normal speed.

6) NEVER go in or out of autopilot except at normal speed.

 

Labrador CANADA in sight. Still have 65% fuel. Weather still good! Mach 0.8 is translating to 460 Kts ground speed. All systems OK.

 

Toronto some 200nm. away. I will initiate a gentle descent with ATC approval.

 

Scattered cloud over Toronto, winds calm. Clearance down to 5000'

 

Toronto city center on far left. Have clearance to land Rwy 080 left pattern which is surprising as it will take me very close to Toronto Pearson Intl. and all it's heavy traffic.

 

On final Rwy 080. This plane handles much more like a big heavy then I was expecting.

 

I am high and this plane although responding like a heavy, likes to float and does not loose speed easily.

I floated above the runway and had to do a go-around. Next attempt I will have to be lower and slower.

 

Toronto Pearson ahead for the second time.

 

Second attempt at Rwy 080.

 

Reverse thrust, spoilers (they are big, are they that size in real life?), full flaps and brakes all at maximum. STOOOOPPP.... I did! just.

 

Time to admire the Toronto skyline as I taxi to parking.

 

Now to find the rest of the crazies. probably downtown drunk somewhere.

[PhrogPhlyer]

8 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

23 miles from RBV and 65 from KLGA

I'm definitely lost at this point.

RBV is the Robbinsville VOR in NJ ( a few miles from my house and home field N87.

"Auntie Em, it's a twister..."

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

12 minutes ago, ScottishMike said:

GREAT looking Gulfstream. And yes, they are correctly sized reversers. Same as on the Lear 61.

Which model is the GIII? I may have missed it in the previous responses.

[TomPenDragon]

5 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

'm definitely lost at this point.

RBV is the Robbinsville VOR in NJ ( a few miles from my house and home field N87.

"Auntie Em, it's a twister..."

Sorry if the distances are off - didn't check them particularly carefully, was on descent into KLGA when I flipped over to COM 2, 125.95, and everything went black - frustrating, after 1,900 miles!

[PhrogPhlyer]

Just now, TomPenDragon said:

everything went black - frustrating

Totally understand, and yes... losing everything is always frustrating.

 

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Glad this helped. Helicopters opens up a whole new set of aircraft options. The S-51 I flew for the Rt 66 rally is one of the smoothest and stable helicopters I've flown in FSX.

 

I hold you totally responsible for sending me down this bloody Gopher hole... 

 

Now if there was a way to separate the Throttle and Collective controls... !

 

 

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, jgf said:

 

If the files do not overwrite anything you already have, they are safe.  LC files should be in their own folder, with no texture folder (from what I've read, when the LC files are in any scenery folder with a corresponding texture folder FS constantly seeks nonexistent textures for them, this eventually causes lockups or CTDs).

 

Yeah, I need to re-read the provided Instructions and figure it out... 

[PhrogPhlyer]

8 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Now if there was a way to separate the Throttle and Collective controls...

Realistically, don't worry about it.

Most helicopters, even many older recips, had some form of linked governor to increase power with collective increase.

This can be duplicated on some sim helos using prop and power. You just have to see the instructions for the specific model.

[ViperPilot2]

7 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Realistically, don't worry about it.

Most helicopters, even many older recips, had some form of linked governor to increase power with collective increase.

This can be duplicated on some sim helos using prop and power. You just have to see the instructions for the specific model.

 

Yep... I don't. Set Power just under the Yellow Band (80%), and leave it there until the Landing phase.

 

I know there's a Helicopter Trim Gauge; I downloaded it but cannot for the life of me figure out how it works!

 

However, I'm finding that I don't really need Trim when flying a Helo, only with Fixed Wing.

 

The whole deal feels and looks like it's right, so I'm stickin' with it. 

[ViperPilot2]

 

For JMSR... Beech D18 Flight Training Video for your Companions, the "Nunns"... 

[jgf]

4 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

rules for time compression

 

I rarely use more than 4X, at that level FS is still processing ATC, AI, terrain, etc.  Higher than 4X and the player's aircraft is all that's processed;  coming out of a higher level always entails a minute of the system trying to catch up with all the things it hasn't been processing during that time ...just asking for instability.  On very long flights, where no input is needed for hours, I may go to 8X or 16X.

 

Oddly my longest flight ever was done in real time - 6500 miles, from Gatwick to Narita in a C133, over 22 hours.   (Started as a flight to Moscow, but I was making dinner and doing laundry, checking flight progress occasionally;  overflew Moscow.  So set Tokyo as destination, linked AP to GPS and went to bed;  next morning was 400 miles due north of Narita.)