FSBreak - The Flight Simulator Podcast

Hosted by Eric McClintock, Danton Berube, Brendan Farmer, Mark Stewart, Cam, Ausin Meyer, and Mathijs Kok.

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So while trying out the Pacific Northwest scenery, all of the hosts forgot that we had a show to do this week... ;) 

Well, only kidding a little bit... This episode is a combination of two of the best moments we have had on the show so far. If you had asked me almost 1 year ago that we would have a weekly show to this date after the shut down of ACES I would have laughed and predicted we would have gone no more than a month. But so much has come out of it, and it has only made the space more interesting and more competitive. Especially when you look at sims like X-Plane, Aerosoft's new "AFS2012", and the recent "Cascase Game Foundry". But for the time being, we have developers truly pushing the boundaries of the MSFS engine, with upcoming scenery from Orbx, and addons once thought impossible like A2A Simulation's Piper Cub... I realize now this isn't the end, this is just the beginning!

Hosted by Eric McClintock, Danton Berube, Brendan Farmer, and Mark Stewart.

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That's right, as Danton alluded to on the forum. We're happy to announce that the folks over at Orbx Simulations has graciously allowed us to have access to exclusive media copies of their newest FTX Pacific Northwest Blue scenery. We will be previewing it over the coming weeks! But for the time being, enjoy these screen shots and video from their product page:

That's right! You have the change of winning One of Two free copies of FTX's PNW Scenery on DVD once it is released! Just visit our forum, in and in the FSBreak forum tell us in 25 words or less...

"I love flying in the Pacific Northwest because..."

And that is it! Whoever comes up with the best and most creative reason will be picked to win a copy!

Listen to this week's episode for a full review, including an in cockpit recording!

Check back shortly for the entire written review!

Videos:

Want to learn more about the Piper Cub? Check out the website here.

Sorry for the delay everyone, you can find the PDF download for the $100 Hamburger Flight HERE.

Steve was even nice enough to put together an audio clip explaining the flight, you can listen below, or download here.

Be sure to share your shots in the forum, here are some of Stevo's shots from X-Plane!

A HUGE thanks to everyone who entered our mission design contest! Everyone did a great job and we got a lot of creative ideas. Unfortunately we had to pick only two winners, and they are...

Faris Hassan, and his Tuscan Night mission for First place. And Kev Middleton and his Twister Mission for a close second. Great job everyone! First place gets to choose two items from the Aerosoft online store, and second place gets to choose one item from the Aerosoft online store. We're also submitting both mission ideas to Thorsten Reichert, who has created plenty of mission packs such as African Airstrip Adventures, for FSX for consideration for actually programming the missions.

We decided to share all of the entries we have received because many are great ideas for flights as they are, and would make great starting points for some $100 Hamburger Flights! You can view them all here, they are all in PDF format for easy printing:

First Place: Tuscan Night from Faris Hassan

Mission 90210 From Dave

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Mark: Snow Dog Tours

Eric: Gazelle.com - Sell, Donate, or Recycle old electronics without having to deal with the hassle of listing them on an auction website.

Brenden: VATSIM Chart Finter

Hosted by Eric McClintock, Danton Berube, and Brendan Farmer.

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 It was a blast meeting up with everyone who showed at the Avsim.com Social event in Chicago this weekend. This episode was recorded with Eric and Danton, and Brendan joining as usual over Skype!

Here are just a couple shots...

A shot with many of the folks at the Fancon Event

Danton and the setup at the hotel for recording the episode

Cirrus SR-22 & It's Glass Cockpit

Hi

In the last FSBreak podcast there was a discussion about using a three monitor setup, using the Matrox Triplehead2Go adapter, versus using a single large screen, like a big LCD TV. I'd like to take the opportunity to recommend the Triplehead solution.

Here is a picture of my monitor setup:

it's three Samsung 22 inch widescreen monitors running FSX in 5040 x 1050 resolution. I set it up recently, and I've been having a fantastic time using it. Just in terms of immersion, it really adds a lot to the flightsimming experience. Add to that having the Virtual cockpit really scaled up, so you can see all the gauges clearly, and the panoramic view of the scenery, it's really something special.

There are some things to think about. The monitors have to run the same resolution. Mine are running 1680 x 1050, and that requires a monitor that supports 57hz screen refresh rate. While LCD monitors are very inexpensive at the moment, the adapter itself isn't cheap. I've heard that the new range of Eyefinity graphics cards from ATI will be able to do something similar, without using an adapter.

On the widescreen gaming forum website, there is a section with lots of information on triplehead gaming:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience.

Pharis

Congratulations to everyone who did the hamburger flight on Vatsim this weekend. I wish I could have been by my computer Saturday to join you.

I was able to carve out some FS time today however, and I just finished putting together a functional trim wheel.

It ain't pretty, but it works great, and it's very cheap to throw together--maybe even free, depending on what you've got kicking around the house.

Supplies:

To get this contraption functioning like a trim wheel, all you need to do is check the"use your mouse wheel as a trim wheel" function in the miscellaneous section of a registered copy of FSUIPC. If you don't have a registered copy of FSUIPC, you can download the free "RealTrim" module (http://code.google.com/p/fscode/wiki/RealTrim) and enable "mouse wheel as trim wheel" under the "modules" menu inside the sim.

The only glitch I had testing the trim wheel for the first time was that the trim wheel in the VC was turning in the opposite direction I was turning my coffee can lid. I solved this by installing a free program called "X-Mouse Button Control" (http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/XMouseButtonControl.htm), which includes an option for inverting mouse wheel scrolling.

Like I say, it may not be much to look at, but it really does work great, and having a trim wheel adds a lot to the simming experience. So if you've got an extra mouse, some other junk, and about 15 minutes to slap it together, give it a try.

I have only recently happened upon the podcast but I LOVE IT. I am an avid Uncontrolled Airspace listener and you guys fill that niche for the Flightsim world.

I noticed that lately you guys have been "coming of age" on VATSIM...good for you! Your life is almost complete. I highly suggest taking a look at FSEconomy.com and would love to see a review of your crew's thoughts of it. Basically FSEconomy adds the ability to own, maintain, and operate aircraft, and FBOs within flightsim (FS9, FSX, X-Plane).

The best part is that it is another layer that you can add to your flightsim experience, just like VATSIM. Best of all, it is 100% free.

Here is a little blurb that I hope piques your interest:

FSEconomy is a realistic economical environment for General Aviation flight simmers! You are a "pilot for hire", and you will use various aircraft to fly passengers and/or cargo (sometimes called "jobs" or "assignments") that are scattered throughout the flight simulator world. FSE does not simulate a "scheduled airline" type of environment, thus all available assignments appear randomly, and are destined to other random airpots. As an FSE pilot, you must choose the best available aircraft for the job given the assignment and revenue. You must either rent an aircraft or use one that you own. You can choose a career on your own or you can form a group of several pilots. Groups can collectively own an aircraft and share it amongst themselves to create a realistic business income. You can also rent your aircraft to other FSEconomy pilots and earn virtual money. In addition to aircraft, FSE players can choose to jump into the business world of FBO ownership. FBOs (or Fixed-Base Operator) sell fuel, provide aircraft maintenance services, sell avionics, and can operate a small passenger terminal.

FSEconomy consists of a website and a small software program that interacts with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 (FS8), 2004 (FS9), FSX or X-Plane 9. The website is where you find assignments, rent, buy, sell, and maintain your aircraft, manage your bank account, and join or start groups. The software program (called the 'Agent' or 'Client') is what is used to connect your Flight Simulator environment with the FSE database. It will detect that you have the correct aircraft at the correct airport, calculate the proper aircraft weight* to match the job, verify the assignment to be flown, adjust the fuel quantity in your aircraft to match what the database says it has onboard, and finally, log the results after the flight.

(* Weight adjustment is optional but it will make the experience more lifelike based on your assignment. If you have 4 passengers to take on a flight then it will tell you what the aircraft weight should be to simulate those 4 passengers. This really helps you learn the difference weight makes, especially on the smaller planes.)

FSEconomy has limitations of duplicating real life. Some compromises have to be made to allow comfortable interaction with Flight Simulator. The scope of FS Economy is:

• Buying/Renting Aircraft • Buying goods • Aircraft maintenance • Landing fees • Fuel Cost • Paid assignments • Forming and managing flight groups • Building / owning an airport fuel and maintenance facility (FBO)

I hope you consider checking out the site as well as considering it for a review.

Cheers, ~Jason

I live in England and have been interested in aviation for 40 years, which I guess makes me one of your more mature listeners! I have been flight simming for 9 years and have recently started to learn to fly for real, thus fulfilling a life long ambition. I have listened to your podcasts from the beginning and find they add another dimension to my hobby. I find the mix of flight sim and real world flying matches my interests.

I have recently returned from a holiday in western Canada and was fortunate to have a flight in a de Havilland Beaver floatplane from Victoria Harbour. I have since reproduced the flight in FSX with the freeware scenery of Victoria which was referred to in a recent $100 hamburger flight. This proved a reasonable likeness to the actual flight, although I missed the reality of the radio transmissions, particularly the call from the pilot that he was going around as there was a fishing vessel in his way!- I don't often hear that at my local flying club!

I have a number of points which may be of interest-

1) I have recently bought the PMDG MD11. In the manual it refers to the defrag application from O&O. I downloaded a trial version of the programme and found that after using it, frame rates were dramatically improved- the standard Windows XP application does not have this effect. I am now considering buying the full version. I don't believe that you have discussed defragging on your show, but I have read a number of times that a regular defrag is necessary to keep FSX running smoothly.

2) Some time ago, one of your contributors talked about the imminent release of Captigame, an application for capturing video from games. I note from the Captigame website that the last news is dated April this year. Do you have any further information- is it still a goer?

3) On a recent episode, Mark mentioned the live atc website. You may be interested to know that there is an application called FS Chatter Live, available on flightsim.com, which acts as an interface between fsx and liveatc. I guess the advantage of this is that there is no need to open an internet browser, which on my machine drags down the frame rates. I note that it is shareware at a cost of $10 but am trialling the free demo version.

In conclusion, keep up the good work. I note that the shows are getting longer, but I guess you can't have too much of a good thing. However, as I tend to listen to podcasts in the car (I travel a lot with my job), I find myself hoping that I am held up on my way to clients- a reversal of my normal philosophy!

Regards

David

Can you guys recommend a good yoke to use on a MacPro? Did look at the new saitek Pro Flight yoke but it's windows only.

BTW, I truly enjoyed the show after the swarm event.

Thanks, Jerry

I enjoy yous show very much but only "stumbled" upon it a few weeks ago. When I go to the archives the several earliest shows that tried to listen to were all linked to episode 26. if you find some time could you remedy that situation?

Thanks so much,

Charles

Eric: USA Sectional Charts

Danton: A2A Sim3D Light Redux

Brendan: Paint.NET for FS Repaints

Hosted by Eric McClintock, Danton Berube, Brendan Farmer, and Mark Stewart.

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Announced on Aerosoft forums on October 1st:

Gentlemen, I will make this a short and sweet post.

Last weekend we had a lot of meetings regarding the new possible simulator to be done by Aerosoft. Now first of all I got to state that we are NOT yet ready to say that there will be one. But I can say that the probability is a lot larger now. From 50% last week to 80% now. We are currently investing officially money in this project.

We are currently using the unofficial name Aerosoft Flight Simulator 2012. A brilliant name if I say so myself, we got our name (Aerosoft) in it, we got what we intend to do (Flight Simulator) in the name and we even got the release year in it. I do not expect this name to be used for the release btw, but for now lets call it AFS2012, okay?

Okay, not exactly brand new. But we just wanted to talk about the new Simulation4U section at Aerosoft. What are your thoughts?

Danton and Eric are also thinking about going... If you are going, let us know!

Our tech team has been hard at work since the commencement of the AVSIM restoration to bring the website back to its previous state. We are happy to announce that as of today, our Library upload capability has been restored.

Your uploads will go through the same process as before, approved and edited by the Library Managers ans then placed on our electronic shelves for your access. Thanks to all of our Library users for their patience. Let the uploads begin....

http://avsim.com

We highly recommend downloading the full document here, you will find screenshots and sectionals!

If you flew the two previous $100 Hamburger flights (Lost in Traffic, and the ZLA Swarm Event) you should now be a master of your COM radios and your Transponder. In this flight were going to learn how to use your NAV radios to navigate the airways using VORs.

What is a VOR? (VHF Omnidirectional Range)

 The VHF Omnidirectional Range navigation system, VOR, was probably the most significant aviation invention other than the jet engine. With it, a pilot can simply, accurately, and without ambiguity navigate from Point A to Point B.

 The widespread introduction of VORs began in the early 1950s and 50 years later it remains the primary navigation system in the overwhelming majority of aircraft.

 The basic principle of operation of the VOR is very simple: the VOR facility transmits two signals at the same time. One signal is constant in all directions, while the other is rotated about the station. The airborne equipment receives both signals, looks (electronically) at the difference between the two signals, and interprets the result as a radial from the station.

 The GPS, Global Positioning System, is making inroads onto the navigation scene and offers a flexibility unavailable with either NDB or VOR systems. However, it is supplementing these systems, not replacing them.

What is a DME? (Distance Measuring Equipment)

In short, VORs allow you to navigate to a specific location, from anywhere as long as you are in range. DME’s tell you how far away you are from a particular VOR Point.

The positives are pretty obvious over Dead Reckoning. Since a VOR transmits in ALL DIRECTIONS you can navigate to a specific geographic point from any direction. You are no longer relying on specific headings, and correcting your headings when you are off course. A DME is helpful, but not needed as we will learn in our flight.

A basic tutorial on how to tune to a VOR and navigate…

NAV Radio

VORs are activated by entering the provided frequency into your Navigation radio (In this case, NAV 1 is just right of COMM 1, and NAV 2 right below NAV 1). The Navigation radios are activated  by clicking the “Nav 1” or “Nav 2” buttons.

After tuning either of the NAV radios to a valid frequency, you will hear a Morse Code tone with the VOR’s station ID. These codes can be found on the sectional chart for that particular VOR.

It is a great idea to tune the frequencies you will need while on the ground.

Omni Bearing Selector (OBS)

­­

Here is an example of a tuned OBS. In this case the VOR is facing 12 o’clock in front of my airport. This can face any direction, as long as the arrow is straight:

You will follow the OBS similar to how you would follow your heading indicator.  You may need to keep on tuning the OBS while in flight, since your orientation may change. The goal is to keep the arrow straight.

In this case, we are 12.1nm from the VOR we are tracking. If the frequency does not have DME capabilities, you will not see any information here. 

Our Flight

Cruise Altitude: 5,000-6,000ft

Aircraft: A Single/Double Prop Aircraft that you know well

Weather: Real World Weather (15 Minutes)

-Depart: KVNY Runway 16R (Or Active Runway)

-Fly EAST, POMONA (POM) VOR/DME – Frequency 110.4

-RIVERSIDE (RAL) VOR – Frequency 112.4

-Fly through Banning Pass (Slightly North after passing RIVERSIDE VOR) while tuning to PALM SPRINGS (PSP) VOR/DME– Frequency 115.5

-Land: KPSP Active Runway

Flight Notes

1. Watch what happens when you get close to the POM VOR. You will notice that as you get closer, you will be fine tuning it more and more. Since you’re nearly on top of the VOR station, it will get very touchy when you are near it. At some point you will need to give up on fine-tuning the OBS knob and pass the VOR, I found the cutoff distance around 1.5nm or so away. When you pass the VOR, you will see your arrow flip, as the VOR is now behind you.

Remember this behavior because the second VOR (RAL) does NOT support DME, so you will need to use the sensitivity of the OBS Arrow to determine how close you are to the VOR, and when you have passed it.

2. Through the Banning Pass, you will need to adjust your altitude as needed.

3. Near the PSP VOR in real life there are many Wind Turbines. If you look up the sectional, you will see the highest windmill is 1980ft MS

Sectionals

However, here is one that you can use just to make sure you have the right idea when making your own. I’ve covered up the Headings that SkyVector puts in with their flight planning tool, as navigating using just headings would make this learning exercise worthless! This burger flight is designed to introduce you to the Nav Radios, the OBS, and the DME on your aircraft, and how to navigate using VORs, and how a VOR acts differently from a VOR/DME.

Share your results in the forums!!

Product Information:

Click for more information on the Discus Glider X from Aerosoft.

Written review by Eric:

Introduction

We are not extremely knowledgeable in Gliders, so we are all entering the Discus with fairly clean slates when it comes to how a glider acts, and how it should fly.

As you would expect from any commercial payware, the installation process was very straightforward. Included is a copy of WinchX, a freeware program that improves FSX’s default winch system. Without WinchX you can not winch any aircraft with an engine, which poses a problem with towing two of the three discus models which have small onboard engines.

WinchX installs automatically after Discus Glider X does, and no additional configuration is needed.

Aerosoft also recommends two additional freeware programs, Cumulus X and Sim Probe which both improve the way FSX calculates thermals. It would have been really nice if Aerosoft were able to include these two programs the same way they did with WinchX – But this could be due to technical or licensing reasons. The install process for these two programs does require some configuration, but everything is outlined in their respective ReadMe files.

The Model

It should go without saying, but don’t expect much from either the BT or the BM motors... It is a glider after all, and the motors are only designed for getting you back to the airport in one piece.

The motors are activated via a switch in the cockpit, and specific instructions must be followed to start the motor. These procedures are outlined in the product manual, and differ between the BT and the BM models.

I found the flight model itself to be truly “as real as it gets”. A lot of attention was put into creating a realistic flight model, which is extremely important in a glider as you are relying on a true to life glide ratio, and control surfaces performing as they should. The Discus Glider X has been flown and real Discus pilots have verified the flight model.

Testing the model, you can tell when the glider is performing well and when it isn’t. If you jerk the rudder left or right, you will almost feel the jerking motion in your chair as the glider violently jerks, and then side slips. It is a similar situation to the Ailerons and other control surfaces.

One thing I would love to do if given the opportunity is to fly this model with a good quality force feedback stick. If force feedback is supported, it will nearly take the amount of realism over the edge... The model behavior is so well, it is a shame that when you feel the aircraft struggling you aren’t able to feel it in your joystick.

The Sound

This model includes more than 100 non standard sounds. Going back to the previous section, when you make hard movements on the control surfaces, in addition to feeling it in the behavior, you can HEAR the glider slipping in the air, and it is all integrated perfectly with the aircraft model.

Considering a glider is designed to be flown without an engine (BT and BM models can obviously be excluded) you aren’t listening to the buzz of an aircraft engine... You’re hearing the wind over the wings, and your rudder, ailerons, and elevator interacting with the air racing by. The combination of the excellent flight model, and the Aerosoft sound system is a perfect match.

The Cockpit

The model (B, BT, or BM) you choose dictates which virtual cockpit layout you get, and which gauges you get. But overall, you get the following gauges with the Glider X:

Without going into each and every gauge, I will just mention that they are all very well modeled, and look realistic in the Virtual Cockpit even zoomed and at high resolutions.

The C4 Competition flight computer can surprisingly be a very complicated instrument; Aerosoft actually includes the actual manuals from the manufacture, which can be followed with this gauge.

The last gauge I will touch on is the compass... I know you’re probably laughing right now, asking Who Cares! It’s a compass... But I think that such a simple instrument is usually overlooked in most payware models, and the one included in the Discus Glider X is phenomenal. The slight movements of the aircraft are reflected in the vertical and horizontal movements of the compass while in flight... And frankly I’ve never seen anything like it in FSX – You really have to see it to appreciate it.

Documentation

Aerosoft provides basic “Getting Started” documentation – Which is about 15 pages of material not counting copyright and title pages. This is well labeled, and has many screenshots, which I found very helpful. Also provided are full flight manuals for the “B” and “BT” models, C4 Competition Flight computer, and WinchX.

However, one item missing altogether in the “Getting Started” documentation is any information on the Water Ballast system. The Flight Manual probably includes information on this – But you will have to find it in the 177 pages. There is also very little information on the C4 Competition computer system in the “Getting Started” documentation, just a paragraph on what the computer is and its basic function. While the full manual IS included, it could be a little overwhelming for new pilots.

There is also a pretty good Easter Egg in the documentation... Nice!

Nitpicking...

Cabin reflections not in sync with what they should be!

Now if I take out the GPS/PDA, the reflection does not show this change:

...Nothing major, but it would add a little extra bit of realism if the reflection textures were refreshed for major changes – Such as the PDA and the pilot (The pilot can be toggled off and on depending on your preference). I don’t expect a different set of reflection textures to be made for every single movement in the VC (Such as moving the throttle or ballast lever), but for major changes like those mentioned above, it would be a nice addition.

Taking a couple steps back though, this model has been in development for 20 months, and the flight model was completely re- written several times... So if it comes down to putting extra time into the flight model, or the reflections, I would choose the flight model. But it would be a nice change to put in a service pack maybe? If you’ve made it this far though, and you’re interested in the Discus Glider X, don’t let this tiny bug get in the way.

Overall...

After flying the Discus Glider X for a few days, I went back to the default glider included with FSX – The difference is night and day. After flying this model, the default glider feels completely disconnected from the control surface, and the cockpit to be very basic at best.

I would recommend some great scenery to go with it though. A unique experience with a glider is that you have almost a full range of vision. Unlike a small GA aircraft like a C172, you don’t have the engine & prop in your vision, nor do you have the wings or passenger seat. You have uninterrupted vision from the front, side to side, and vertically. If you’re looking to explore a massive scenery expansion (Like Tongass Fjords, Switzerland Pro, Orbx FTX, etc) this glider is perfect to do that. You are able to get lower, slower, and closer than you can with any other aircraft out there.

There are a few small things that in my opinion could be tweaked (Such as the basic documentation and the reflections), and would keep me from giving this a “Perfect” rating... But it is still 99% there.

Pros:

Cons:

System Reviewed on:

Soaring in Australia

Cross Country Innsbruck to Salzburg in Austria Professional X

Salzburg City Scenery in Austria Professional X

Miscellaneous

Eric: VFR Sectional Chart Symbols

Brendan: Carenado Stationair Panel Upgrade

A huge thanks to Bman from the forums for sharing his home cockpit setup with us, check out his entire post here.

Danton is also thinking about using an LCD TV as a monitor for flight simulator, have you tried this, or have anything to say? Let us know!!

Just as a reminder, we are still taking submissions for the mission design contest, find out how to enter here.

Hosted by Eric McClintock, Danton Berube, Brendan Farmer, Jordan Greene, and special guest Thorsten Reichert.

Listen Here:

Download Here (MP3)

To see the winners, click here!

What do you think, were you happy with the results? Let us know in the forums, or by contacting us!

The demo is limited to 10 days of use and includes almost all the features of the full release version.

It won't let you install add-on aircraft and scenery into Air Hauler, use AI pilots or upload your company statistics to the Air Hauler Portal, but otherwise includes almost all the many flexible features which have made the full program such a hit.

Click here for all information.

A huge thanks to Thorsten for spending a little more than an hour with us, he tells us about his background of devloping for Flight Simulator, and the process of creating scenery and mission addons for FS. He has been a part of almost too many addons to name, but a few of them include African Airstrip Adventures, Flight Tales, and Bush Hawk XP!

You can also check out some of Thorsten's Freeware work here, and it has come to out attention that if would like to help with the recent Drought problems that have risen up in Kenya, you can help out by donating to the Kenya Red Cross.

As a side contest, we're announcing the Mission Design/Mission Concept contest!

In this contest, you will do as much as you can twards designing the concept of a mission for FSX. This can include:

You can do as little or as much as you want, but the more complete your mission is the higher chance you have in winning!

Prizes include...

A HUGE thanks to Aerosoft for sponsoring the prizes for this contest!

Contest Deadlines

Also, there is a chance that if you mission is interesting enough, Thorsten may consider coding the mission for you and releasing it as FreeWare!

FOR FULL/UPDATED DETAILS, AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ENTER... Please see this link to our forum!

Eric: The "New to the Show" section at the top of the FSBreak website for my personal picks of episodes to start out with if you're a new listener.

If you are a regular to the forums, you will have seen a chance for a small reward for posting a screnshot of our recent Swarm event. Congradulations to 'FSXHD' and his screenshot of LAX in the Mini-Route!

Good show Sir! I'm really sorry that I couldn't do the ZLA swarm this year. It sounds like I missed a great event.

Anyway, couple of things: you recommended QuteScoop, did you know that is is an offshoot of Dolomynum (for Windows) http://dlnm.net

Also, for SquawkBox users, there is some documentation on the website about the dot commands but for your info, here they are (they are a great time saver)

Cheers Graham