CDs – another review – more features in the works

We’ve started producing CDs for those customers who are not comfortable with downloaded software or just prefer something they can hold in their hand. In order to start off with a bang, we’ve offered a promotional price and free airmail shipping to anywhere in the world.

In other news, we’re about to be reviewed in print, in a language other than English for the first time; this is most exciting! I look forward to hearing the response.

Development continues at a feverish pace, with emergency procedures next up. The instructor will be watching the pilot’s use of the radio and transponder to make sure appropriate actions are taken when bits start to fall off the plane…

The instructors, despite being unnerved by all the failures occurring in those awful aircraft the pilot insists on flying, will soon become even more helpful by announcing which specific runway’s ILS we’re tuned to: it all helps.

The program itself will become easier to use with the introduction of pop-up tool tips for all buttons and fields. When the pilot lets the mouse hover over the control, a tool tip will explain what it does. This will help folks understand the program better and encourage them to try out new features.

Things to come…

Hmmm – been a while… busy, busy…

What’s new? Well, we’ve been corresponding with museums, clubs, schools and such as we figure FSFlyingSchool would be of great use to aviation related places of interest and in teaching a whole host of skills, via the exciting conduit of simulated aviation.

We got a great review over on the splendid Aussie site at www.SimNewz.com

Good on ya, Mates!

Lots of new features are working their way into the system – not released yet, but coming soon.

The most I dare say is, let me see… 

The failures system has been expanded yet again. We have added loads more for the pilot to worry about up there – will keep everyone on their toes.

Pilots are going to need to operate their lights correctly if they want to keep those instructors happy – and you know what they’re like…

The keen eyes of the instructor will be looking for pre-flight checks, so we’ll all have to brush up on them.

The instructor is going to have a lot more to say about the flight plan during the trip, so we’ll be encouraging everyone to load one into FSFlyingSchool to get the most out of the experience.

OK – that’s all I dare say for now or MrSmith will be after my blood!

In other news, somebody just figured the best way to declare a missed approach is to pop the current flight mode back from ‘landing’ to ‘cruise’ and that’s it – you’re all set.

Gotta go –

Another version hits the runways (OR) What’s wrong with that switch?!

We got version 1.5 out today. This breaks new ground with random erroneous behaviour (REB) in the operation of aircraft panel switches. The existing random and “loose wire” failures systems have been beefed up to make more trouble for the pilot who was just getting used to a bit of piece and quiet on those long haul flights…

Problems requiring detection and resolution now include: Pitot heat; autopilot master; battery; alternator; avionics and NAV/GPS switches. What we’re really trying to model is the potential that the switch, or the circuitry immediately behind it, is somehow faulty and may require a good jiggle to get it working again.
Those darned ground crew…

We also introduced an additional (new) log book, using the traditional real world aviation format of one ‘line’ per flight. This brings in lots of data not available in previous versions, such as hours flown at night or under IFR, and “block time” for Virtual Airline buffs. You can print it too – suitable for framing…
We’re looking into making it possible to export it as data for submission to some of the popular Virtual Airlines.

Air Crash Investigation

I’ve been watching the new series of Air Crash Investigation on TV. What a great documentary series it is. It covers tragic events of course, but it also shows the amazing amounts of effort that go into making air travel as safe as it can be. For the virtual pilot it also offers a wealth of detail on how aircraft, airport and ATC systems work and of course, when pilot error is involved, what not to do.

In fact, one of the things I find FSFlyingSchool helps bring to the simulation, with its random and loose wire failures, is the ever present danger of overlooking something simple which has gone wrong, especially if the instructor has been configured so as not to draw the pilot’s attention to failures. This can lead to some scary situations and when under stress, (not like a real flight, but at least you want to get that bird down safely), even simulator pilots can take the wrong emergency actions which makes a bad situation worse.

I mention this because in my earlier simming days I once had a fuel tank problem in a heavy and, duh, decided that the thing to do was apply maximum power and trim the rudder to compensate. In other words I had confused loss of a tank’s fuel with loss of an engine. This did a great job of making a bad situation considerably worse, but it’s just the sort of thing that can happen when you panic. Yes – this is why we have emergency procedures…