Tom's Blog Four

[Tom Goodrick]

I have set up closed circuit courses to fly in FS9 for several flight test situations in caomparing aircraft performance. It is not too hard if you choose the geometry carefully. I usually leave the last leg (returning to the start) open and fly it manually. It usually involves a significant descent at the end. But you can put in a dummy airport for the last one and then edit the plan making the last airport the same as the first so you have a true closed circuit. I usually make it approximately a one-hour or a two-hour circuit for whatever airplanes I am testing. It is the best way I have found to compare two airplanes. Using a preset Wx condition is probably best.

Somehow I missed the fact that you can't have a 2D panel if FSX. That is all I ever use. Now I am certain I will never try FSX. Thanks for the info.

Is there an addon that changes the ATC in FS9 for better realism or for direction to/from more sensible parking places? At the outer boundary of the airport and facing outbound is not very sensible. I'd also like direction to a 10 mile initial fix instead of the usual 20 mile fix.

[louross]

Yes- Radar Contact. Very good. FS ATC has always been worthless as far as real world goes.
lr.

[louross]

I have to agree with Allen concerning fsX vs fs9 scenery. The base fs9 is weak- very generic repeating scenery. However, fsx is the same. I have a freiend who uses fsx, but he is not a rw pilot. The scenery looks better at first, but it's the same everywhere. All the airports are the same. FS9 has tons of very accurate scenery for specific locations- airports and areas.
I've done a lot of flying in (rw) in CO, WY, and NM. I can not identify one mountain in those states in fs9 or fsx. (Maybe, with imagination, at DEN I can say- that's where Mt. Evans is) However, with downloaded mesh/land class for fs9 I can identify mountains all over those states. Also, there is something wrong with the views in fsx. The view from the cockpit to the runway on final approach is not right in fsx. The view of the angle-distance is wrong. Same thing in the mountains looking up at a ridge. I don't really know what the problem is, nor how to explain it corretly.
lr.

[louross]

Boredom.
I go thru that too. Get out of it by majorc hanges in flying styles.

1) Get a typical airliner of the 40's. Download all the scenery and info for the "A-N Ranges." Learn to use that style nav- flying field-field and shooting approaches. Rulr: no gps, no ATC.

2) No money? Go to AVSIM and download the Frolov Dash 8. (best Dash 8 avail for fs) Read all the read-mes and info avail. Learn to fly it- including how to shoot procedure turns, tear drops, dem approaches, enter and depart holding patterens, and circling approaches at night. Again- no gps.

3) No money? Go to AVSIM and download the Tinmouse B732. Study the manuall and approach charts. Learn to fly it- inlcuding all the procedures listed above. Fly into Bhutan- PARO- approach plate avail. If memory serves, fly from the capital in Afghanistan to Islamabad, then depart for the return trip. Plan your approach and departure carefully. Don't forget to download the mesh and other avail scenery for these two flights.

4) Got money? Purchase the Dreamfleet 727. The PMDG 744. The iFly 737NG. The Level D 767.

5) Learn to use Radar Contact with 2, 3, and 4.

[Allen Peterson]

Hi Guys,
There are 2d panels in FSX. but I think the default setting is for the 3d panel. To select the panel, go Views/View Mode/Cockpit and select the panel you want. I think Settings has a way to set the panel default also. A few of the downloads don't have 2d panels, I've had to make my own. The last one I made was for Bud for the Icon.

[Ed Burke]

Thanks for that info Allen, I will try it next time I venture X-wards.
And some aircraft worth a look at, thanks Lou.

[Allan_Lowson]

There you go, I stand corrected on the 2d/VC panels - furthermore after much poking on the wibbly web I found that you switch between them with the A key, instead of cycling through the views (which you still do for all other view changes) with the S key.

One of the setup options is to select which panel view you start with by default with a radio button. Then I struggled with finding out how to switch for those aircraft which do not come with a 2d panel.

Doubtless it is somewhere in the help screens but, being an engineer, these are unread as all problems should be fixable with a hide hammer and a set of Whitworth spanners.

I have also found out how to use repaints for default FS9 DC-3s in FSX via the DCA Norman Hancock panels setup. Norm's setup uses the default FS9 DC-3 model and textures, so you can simply switch in the external texture to a copy of one of the DCA texture sets and off you go.

[louross]

OPPPS!
Major snafu.
Sorry.
My post above, point no. 3, has a big error. It isn't to Islamabad. The actual flight is OPRN-OPSD. Here's the route according to fs9: depart OPRN 071* to SNG, 115.9, 85nm. Then fly 014* and 99 DME to BALAL Intersection, which is the 142* bearing to SD, NDB tuned at 247.0. BALAL -SD is 17nm.
The approach is a bit tricky, the departure can be quite interesting. ;D
lr.

[Tom Goodrick]

I will try to get back into sim flying some more. But every time I have said that recently, something comes up to keep me grounded for a while. Health has been ok but not great. Last summer the heart acted up again. It does worst in the hot weather of which there is a lot here in Alabama. Then recently my diabetes flared up. I gained back a little weight which always brings up the glucose count and my doctor has stepped up enforcement of diet and glucose measurement. But knowing the numbers does not help me control the numbers so that is very frustrating. My main activity has been snoozing - morning, afternoon and evening naps! I even downloaded two reference books on diabetes for my Kindle. This works pretty well because my entire library (mostly novels but four reference books now) is always available for review whenever the Kindle is in reach (and charged up).

But, finally, as of last Friday, my Doc came up with a new diagnosis that could clean up a lot of these problems - Vitamin B12 Deficiency Anemia. I have started taking B12 pills which might solve the problem. Hopefully the pills will work and I won't need the B12 shots. If it turns into pernicious anemia then I get the shots for the duration. The symptoms of this deficiency are hand numbness, memory problems and balance problems hinder walking. The funny thing is I have had these symptoms for over 20 years in the background, never very prominent. But a doctor I had over 12 years ago did try to fix these problems with no success. He sent me to nerve specialists for "Carpal Tunnel" because of my affinity for computers and to ear doctors to fix the balance problems. (I found out I have Tinitus - a continuous source of white noise in my head which I can tune out.)

So I am taking B12 pills and hoping to remain awake a larger portion of the day.

[Allan_Lowson]

I'll see your tinitus and raise your carpal tunnel to cubital tunnel syndrome, an irritating but worthwhile side effect of drinking malt from lead crystal tumblers.

Any doubters should half fill a crystal tumbler with a suitable malt, add a drop of water to bring the flavour and nose out, and raise to lips. Repeat until a warm glow and general numbness set in.

I'm not sure how long the tinitus has been developing, after 29 1/2 years SWMBO stopped to draw breath recently and I realised the irritating buzz was still there.........

[Tom Goodrick]

After all that kicking around from Doc to Doc, I wound up in the Huntsville Hospital getting a couple stents installed to keep the arteries open. Thus my wonderful triple bipass of 6 years ago had failed. At least recovery from this procedure is quick and painless. It just took two days. But it has not changed my fatigue at all. And now I have to take a strong blood thinner that also fights to keep my body from rejecting the stent. It just gets more and more complicated. The kind I have is no slouch. It is a PROMUS Element Plus from Boston Scientific, an Everolimus-Eluting Platinum Chromium Coronary Stent System. I do not yet know the full cost. But, today Diane and son Craig drove up to the Tennessee border to buy some lottery tickets. That may be the way we have to pay for the stent system.

[Tom Goodrick]

I am seeing strange crap on text that comes on my screen, either written by me or by other people. Here's an example:

"When adding items to FS9 you have [to] proceed carefully, ready to back up a 'step'. I have avoided adding anything that was not really important to my flying."

Wow. It is even stranger than I thought. The line above was in one of my old Forum statements on a page I looked at today. I copied it and printed it here but the strange thing did not print! What I saw was the word "step" in the sentence above was orange and with a double underline.

Now I see the orange double underline was applied to'closed circuit courses' as redisplayed from the top post in this section that appears below this 'Modify Post" box. !!?

I tried downloading that 7-Zip program a couple days ago but it would not come cleanly by itself. I shut down two different downloads because they insisted on including a bunch of crap. Some files did get through. It was goofy stuff that was supposed to make me happy while I zipped! I am going to try not using those files.

[Joe]

sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/files/7-Zip/9.22/7z922.exe/download

Try this one. It's from Sourceforge, the open source software site. It's been downloaded 1.8 million times.

Sorry to hear you had to get a stent. Hope you're feeling better lately.

[Tom Goodrick]

Thanks. All is going well.

[Ed Burke]

Great Tom, keep it up, Ed