Flight Simulators
 

Does anyone know of a good 767 flight simulator?

I'm not after a generic commercial flight sim, but one that replicates all the appropriate button pushing and switch flicking so that you can practice real procedures at home.

I've seen one for the 744 (supposedly written by a Lufthansa 744 skipper) and I was very impressed. Just wondering if there is a similar one around for the 767.

I assume you're refering to desktop simulators like FS98 (or FS 2000) but more realistic in terms of systems that are simulated. There's a new sim out called Fly!. It's a new program that is said to be the best so far in "normal" desktop sims. Haven't tried it my self yet so can't really comment. There's a commercial add on for this flight sim for the 757.

Follow these links:
Fly! homepage
http://www.iflytri.com/

and for the add-on
http://www.precisionmanuals.com/

Cosmo

Fly! is v.good with the Precision Manuals 757 add-on. I think they are planning 767/777 later.
Took me nearly 1/2hr to get the damn thing started! I think nearly all switches/dials/knobs/panels & buttons etc, modelled.
There's 111 pages of procedures in the manual.
Let me know if want examples...

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'I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend, to the death, your right to say it' - Voltaire

[This message has been edited by jfe117 (edited 11 January 2000).]

Suggest you go to www.avsim.com >>>>Better yet Eric Ernst's own site www.flightsim.com/efpanels/

Look in file library for panels and download Eric Ernst's 767 panel. It was developed to replicate the 76 so has o/head panel and all the switches on the panel work.

Make sure you download the manuals, they are large but give you the correct procedures. Best set up in FS98. While your there get a good 767 from Project Freeware.

You can practice IFR on this one.

[This message has been edited by InFinRetirement (edited 11 January 2000).]

Magoo

For my money (and this may be the one you were referring to) is a 747-400 sim called PS1. http://www.aerowinx.com

For the price I don't think you can beat it. I am not a pilot but I know several who used it to assist with conversion to glass cockpit/FMC etc. There is a new version planned for release in a few months that has enhanced features such as TCAS,company options for engine configs etc.
There is one planned for the 73 and 76 but I think that's a couple of years off.

The Void

Time to move this over to the computing forum.

------------------
Regards from the Towers

[email protected]

Thanks voidster,
PS1 from aerowinx is the 744 version I have seen. I am looking for a 767 version that has the same functionality.

The Wonderful World of Flight Sim...
 

Hi all,

Well, after months of effort I now have my own machine at home. This weekend I managed to get my old copy of FS '98 and joystick from my little bro. Sorted. I'll be getting 2000 Pro and a decent flight stick with buttons/rudder/throttle etc. for my birthday in a couple of weeks.

Thing is, I was wondering if any of you knew where I could get some charts of the internet. I'm going to try a short flight from A to B doing it the right way, but cannot as of yet due to the lack of charts with navaids etc.. If anyone could help, I'd be chuffed.

Also, does anybody know how to fly around busy airports with other traffic? There is the option to turn traffic on but I haven't seen anyone. Where are they??!!

All the best,

Bluenose

Bluenose,
hit the flightsim webring where you will find a huge list of amateur sites with all types of downloads to choose from.
For nav, download FS Navigator which is a great utility with world radio navaids,flightplanning, etc..
Also you can find SIDs and STARs for the major airports around the world,usually in PDF format:you just have to hunt around.
Happy surfing and flying!

PC Software Flight Simulators
 

Hi all

Didn't know whether to put this topic here, or in the computers/internet section: Apologies if it's in the wrong place!

I've got the Microsoft 98 flight simulator - just the basic, with no add-ons.

Trouble is, I can't really get control over it just using the keyboard. I've heard that you can attach a joystick, and 'rudder' pedals to it, but my computer is a few years old now. It only has 64 mb of memory, a 2gb hard disk drive, and a celeron processor.

Saying that, it is configured for optimum use, and moves along at a reasonable rate.

Do any of you ladies/gents out there use this add on software? If so, is it any good?

any answers appreciated

ariel

MS Flight Simulator 98 should run fairly well on your system even though it is getting on a bit.

If you want to improve the performance of the game I suggest upgrading the memory to 128mb (cost you about £30-£40)

..or you could go out and buy a decent graphics accelerator card that uses up to date rendering and refreshing technology. (Will cost you anywhere from £50-£400)

On a final note MS Flight Sim 98 is not a flight Sim until you've bought a joystick - it is simply a must. Go out and part with some serious cash and do it properly.

A force feedback joystick would be a great add-on but a standard flight joystick with a throttle control is just fine.

Rudder pedals I don't know about - never used them or tried them so its unchartered territory for me.

Try www.cclcomputers.co.uk

they are a decent company who offer goods at extremely competitive prices. They are based in Bradford but will deliver all over the UK. You can even buy online.

Hope this helps

You don't need rudder pedals I have a "Logitech Wingman extreme" joystick which has a twist grip rudder built in, throttle also buttons for undercarrage & flaps, cost £35

flight sims?
 

Sorry gents was going to post this on the thread about how sad flight simmers are ,but that thread has closed, just came across this,

By Matthew Barrows
Bee Staff Writer
(Published May 29, 2001)

Two years ago, a 24-year-old U.S. Navy ensign from Maryland named Herb Lacy stunned his flight instructors when he earned a near-perfect score the first time he flew a plane.
Lacy's secret: a computer game.

He had familiarized himself with the Navy's T-34C training aircraft by logging nearly 50 hours on a game by Microsoft called Flight Simulator.

The Navy was so impressed with Lacy's preparation that the game the ensign picked up for about $50 is now part of the training regimen for young pilots at the naval air station in Corpus Christi, Texas.

As the Navy discovered, video and computer games aren't just kids' stuff anymore.

The technology is more sophisticated, the images more lifelike, and games once limited to the playroom are finding their way into the classroom, the medical training room and police proving grounds.

Ask California State University, Sacramento, senior Chris Barnett about the potential of video-game technology, and he'll tell you the sky's the limit.

For his final computer science project this spring, Barnett and three other students linked Microsoft's Flight Simulator with realistic cockpit controls from LAS, a Cameron Park company that designs flight-training devices.

Barnett said Flight Simulator usually is played with a computer keyboard, but its value for pilots soars when paired with actual controls -- in his case, controls for a Boeing 737.

"A pilot isn't going to be flying the plane with a keyboard," Barnett said. "So we had to figure out how to connect Flight Simulator with LAS hardware. We were basically the middleman."

The project earned the four students top grades in their class, and job offers from simulation-software companies are starting to pile up.

For Barnett, there was an added bonus:

"I've always wanted to get my pilot's license," he said. "In order to fly the Flight Simulator for the project, I really had to get familiar with the controls."

Patrick Lyons, of LAS, said aviation enthusiasts, flight schools and airlines are interested in flight simulation because the real thing has grown so expensive.

"Fuel prices make practice flying cost $150 to $200 an hour," he said. "Simulation is a much cheaper way to weed out pilots. For a fraction of the cost, you can cover the same type of training on the ground."

From takeoff to landing, flight-simulation software available today also has become remarkably realistic.

The latest version of Flight Simulator -- due this winter -- allows aspiring pilots to fly into thousands of airports worldwide, includes chatter from air-traffic-control operators and has details right down to glare off the chrome of the engine.

"The amount of detail is stunning," said Darryl Saunders, a Microsoft product manager and a pilot with 25 years of experience. "You're going to be able to understand how the whole process works from beginning to end."

Sorry if this has been posted before, it just seemed pertinent to that thread.
There semed to be a awful lot of hostility to a harmless pastime like flight sims. ;)



[This message has been edited by tony draper (edited 29 May 2001).]

Flight Sims
 

Can anyone recomend a good flight sim for day to day IFR handling. Main reasom being that at work it's usually AP and GNSS at 1000'. I tried a bit of NDB tracking the other day and was all over the airway. Useful to have a bit of currency for the OPC/LPC

I have heard x-plane is an excellent IFR simulator. Very good flight models and very smooth on most machines.

Elite also do some IFR sims.

Try flightsim.com for some reviews and info

Hope this is some help

I can definitely recommend x-plane. Some of the best flight models and nav data to be found and numerous upgrades/addons available from the 'net.

Check out

www.x-plane.com - Home page
www.x-plane.org - User group with downloads, hints,tips atl.

Hope this helps,
VTOL

Flitepro works for me. Together with Sim charts its excellent trainer. Only three aircraft to chose from. Must have a joystick, preferably a yoke. You need to tweak the sensitivities to get control semi-realistic. Adequate demo can be found at;

www.flitepro.com

Flight sim forum? No chance mate!
 

Alrighty, after an incorrect posting of topic on Nostalga, here's the run-down:. .. .I posted suggesting a flight sim forum might be a good idea on PPruNe, considering their potential usefulness in training, route planning, gaining experience in not-too-plentiful aircraft makes etc.. .. .The ever-clearway-pointing PPruNe Pop then posted:. . </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"> Be assured that Danny will not subscribe to a flightsim forum. There are plenty of sim sites that you can go to and, therefore, PPRuNe will not serve it's readers by offering one more. However much they may interest some, which is a small majority.. .. . </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">And I said that was OK by me, but if hypothetically, there WAS one, it'd be populated only by those serious about aviation, either having or training for a money-earning living from aviation.. .. .Well, to continue on, I'd just like to ask, is there any flight sim place out there only for the serious aviator, and not just spotty teenagers with no interest in getting a job in aviation?

Not sure.. .. .The ever over-subscribed flightsim.com does seem to have the odd article by pilots comparing some product or route flown with their "real" experiences, however.. .. .Although I don't think it has a forum like this one.

<a href="http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi" target="_blank">http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi</a>. .. .<a href="http://aerowinx.de/forum.cgi" target="_blank">http://aerowinx.de/forum.cgi</a>. .. .<a href="http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi" target="_blank">http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi</a>

PC Flight Simulators
 

Guys,

What is the general view on PC based flight sims as training aids? How can I make the most of some like MS Flight Sim throughout my training?

Any recommendations for software that can be a real aid?

Thanks in advance,
Kef.

The acutal flying is nothing like it which I am sure you guessed.

But can be quite helpful with Radio Navigation,
VORs and ADF.

Well assuming the frequencies are correct and the beacons are in the correct place :)

You guessed right :) For sure the flying it self is not real. But the procedural aspects must be identical? I think I am actually asking if it is possible to develop the right habits in a similar functioning yet completely different environemt that is a PC based flight sim.

Have any IR holders actually found this kind of home practice useful or just a distraction?

I used it a lot early on while doing my PPL, and found it very useful. However, later on in the the PPL process I also found I was getting rather casual about crashing, and severly limited its use after that. Has anyone else experienced this?

Don't know about the crashing bit, but I used a PC flight sim around the time I first flew in the circuit, and it really messed up my landing technique. Stopped using the sim and it was fine again, and I soloed pretty soon afterwards. The home computer ones are good for a bit of fun I guess, but shouldn't be used too seriously...

I used FS2000 when I was doing my IR to help learn the local procedures, and found it helped quite a lot. You have to try to be fairly disciplined in terms of identifying all beacons and such like.

It's absolutely nothing like flying, so using it to practice aircraft handling is pointless, but you fly can IFR procedures from the actual plates, so it's as real as you want it to be.

The beacons all seem to be in the right places, but some of the morse idents are wrong, but that's good practice too.

I can only speak from the instructional viewpoint: In the mid 80's, when the IBM P.C.was relatively new, I was ground instructing far from the U.K's shores. I had a colleague who had no flying experience but was involved with teaching our (military) students all about computers. We were not allowed to fly there, but he started to get interested so I lent him a copy of the old FS2 for the IBM P.C. He practiced assiduously every lunchtime and after about six months, when on leave I suggested he try the real thing. Within about five minutes of airborne experience in a C152 he was able to fly it like he had had about 3 or four hours of instruction. Then, in another fully equipped aircraft, he demonstrated that flying V.O.R.radials was no problem and we finished the detail by him flying an ILS down to 200 feet with no interference of any kind from me!

A few years later the I.M.C. syllabus was upgraded to include ILS and ADF approaches and increased to 15 hours training to cope. I always found that with 15 hours training students could only just get up to the standard required. However if, when they started, you suggested that they got a flight sim program for their computer, their standard in 15 hours training approached that of the I.R.

These days flight sim software is much more sophisticated thus I expect that when used for procedural training, even higher standards should be attainable. After all, how do those competitors on the Krypton Factor sometimes manage to fly B737's and so on so faultlessly?!

I used Jep Flite Pro leading up to my IR. Found it very usefull, it helped me become familiar with the prcedures and plates that I was likely to fly during the test. Also, it helped me increase my multi tasking capacity and my ability to look at the 'big picture'. As for using it at PPL level, good fun hooning around the skies trying to do barrel rolls on the ILS and such. Personally I think it would have led me to concentrate too much on the instruments and not fly visually.

I'm rotary.
There is one recent development which may make PC simulators of value in the X-country part of PPL.
There is new add on scenery available for FS 2002 which is actual photographs from 2000'. Not generated but real photos.
Get it from RC simulations.
I wish it had been around when I did my qualifying VC - maybe I would not have got lost.

They're good fun, and can be useful for some things - e.g. when I was doing my stall training I really messed it up first time (incipient spin, yukk) so I went home and nailed the procedure on FS for about a week...following weekend my stall recoverys were perfect :)

However it does lead to both a false sense of security - it really does make a Boeing 737 seem so easy! - and laziness in my case - autopilot on, let the a/c fly itself etc...

However, as has already been said here, more than one instructor has commented on how useful the navaids are & how you can set it up for approaches, holding points & other IFR scenarios.

You should take a look at X-Plane. It's been certified by the FAA for use in some full motion flight simulators, and some smaller aircraft companies use it for testing their designs.

Flight Simulators for Macs?
 

I am planning to buy a new computer that will enable me to practice IFR procedures and would prefer to remain with Mac. Several instructors and DFTEs have recommended this and have suggested Flight Simulator 2002. I recall last year seeing in print that FS2002 would be released in a Mac version, since when nothing seems to have happened. Has anyone heard of a planned release date for the Mac version of FS2002?

As an alternative, I have heard that X-Plane, which is developed on the Mac, is also very good. However, I have not been able to track down a demonstration or a pilot who actually uses it. Is X-Plane as good as FS2002 for practising IFR procedures and does it have all the major airports worldwide, complete with every ILS, VOR, NDB for practicing approaches?

I will appreciate your comments.

Hey,
If you are going for IFR Procedures, got for Fly!II!! Advanced cockpit simulations! www.iflytri.com and if you want a really good 757 or 777 got www.precisionmanuals.com! The 757 and 77 are highly realistic with FMC/Overhead/everything really...
And it works ont he Mac!! Haven't heard of a Mac version of FS2002!!
Regards,
Matthew

realistic flight sim
 

dear all

could anyone help in finding an up to date sofware and ads-up,at the present I have FLY2K and B737-500 ads-up excellent graphics but very hard to use properly...

many thanks..

Forgive the intrusion of a non-pilot. I may be way off here as I don't know what you mean by an 'ads-up' but if you are looking for a replecement for fly2k you could have a look at http://www.x-plane.com and see if that does what you need. You can ask questions about it on the forums here - http://www.x-plane.org

You might like to look at this thread..

Tim

Flight Sims
 

I want to get a copy of Microsoft Flight sim. I would go straight out and buy 2004 but for the fact that i think i may lose out due to my computer. I've got a 1GHz processor (not normally a problem), but i've heard there can be problems running 2004 on a 'slow' system!

Should i just go and get it anyway, or will i find my computer a real hinderance! Upgrading the computer will not really be an option as its a laptop. I'm considering putting a desktop together anyway, what price would i be looking at if i wanted to run flight sim 2004 with no probs at all???

Cheers

Tigg

Tigg,

The CPU is just one step of the equation. Please tell us which motherboard, Video Card, amount of RAM, and Operating System you have.

Take Care,

Richard

Give www.x-plane.com a try.
It'll run on fairly low-spec machines okay (I run it just fine on a ~three year old P3-600 laptop with a 32meg video card) and it flys a lot better than FS.

Think you might find this thread of use.

Tim