Worst Places to be a Pilot

 I just saw this on youtube, and I'm hooked..


Slight note : The way some of these pilots are treated (essentially living in luxury in one of the vids), I'm not sure if that title holds up well....... but of course it's most dangerous places to be flying that's for sure..

Air Traffic Flying Around Storms Near a Busy Airport

What happens when thunderstorms hit the world's busiest airports, how the planes fly around storms and go into holding patterns can be seen clearly.

Boeing's 787-9 Dreamliner & Airbus 350 Performance at Farnborough

Boeing's "Rehearsal" video That climb was 45 degrees, holding it for about 5 seconds and then a negative-G back to level. That, for an airliner is very impressive. And the 60 degree bank! For most airliners 60 degrees would most definitely upset the turn. Another maneuver is the touch n' go with a banking climb, which was eventually banned! Airbus 350 doing the "combat climb". The steep climbout is way shorter, and it turned to its right. No negative-Gs.

The Walker

 The Walker is sort of an add-on for FlightGear that allows a "person" to get in and out of the aircraft and walk about. Hence the "Walker" name. The latest version of Walker has some options, mainly to add accessories such as a flight helmet and shades, or change gender or theme (mechanic, pilot, flightsuit etc.).

Standing on the runway of KSFO watching a B777 takeoff, and fly around like a fighter jet.

  To install the Walker, download it from here and simply unzip the Archive to your fgdata/Aircraft/Generic Folder.

  To add the Walker to your Aircraft (you must do this),  replace the Entry at the top of your -set file with this line:

< propertylist include="Aircraft/Human/Include/walker-include.xml" >

The Keys "a", "A" and "s" have their normal Binding when not in Walk View or Walker Orbit View.


Walker Movement
The Walker gets out by clicking on the "Walker" Menu option "Get Walker out". The direction of movement is controlled with the mouse. He runs forward with the "w" key , backwards with the "s" key. Lateral movement is carried out with the "a" key to the left and the "d " button to the right. Run with "A" . In the Walker Menu you can change Gender and Outfit, and create custom Animations and Poses.

 When I edited it into the C172p, pressing "s" just turns the engine once. As in, it goes "hek" and then stops dead instead of "hekhekhekhekhek". But if I toggle the Walker outside, then pressing s does start the engine, and you get the hilarious view of the plane starting up and then running away from you.

Apparently this is an issue with the C172P only, other planes did not have this problem. The only way to start the plane is to toggle the Walker outside, ie. start from the outside of the plane, like one of those biplanes. Be sure parking brakes are on!!

Cessna 182RG Dusk Flight off of KOAK

Cessna 182RG Low Light Flight off of KOAK

  The Cessna 182RG in Flightgear is an old model, (as in, from the older versions) and it shows, if only in the cockpit. The interior & cockpit is a bit on the sparse side, but most of the instruments are there, it's flyable and very usable. Be warned that the 182 fixed-gear version has some problems in its FDM. In short, the RG is a better, and actually for me, a joy to fly with.

  To download the RG, you will also need to download the fixed gear version so they would work. It took me quite a while to figure this out...

Some fun buzzing the Golden Gate bridge

High altitude (about 12,000ft) over the Carribeans.

Random FlightGear Screenshots

Cessna 182RG Skimming the waters under the Golden Gate Bridge 

Cessna 182RG - Somewhere over the Carribeans 

Saab JA-37 Viggen - Finally able to fly it. Turns out with keyboard, return to centre doesn't work. Once I use the mouse, problem solved.

A great landing with the F-16

Approaching Bonny Doon Village. I was actually too low for the approach.

Approaching Bonny Doon Village. Very low. Illusions with horizon, bent and lopsided runway.

Saab JA-37 Viggen (Flightgear Jet Testing)

I've been a test pilot for the Saaba JA-37 Viggen lately. The plane is made by Anders Lejczak (3D model & textures) and Nikolai V. Chr. (Aerodynamics, animations, sound, effects, HUD, coding), and can be downloaded here. 

Now have to bear in mind this plane is under development, and I probably don't make a good test pilot.

Because:

...I kept crashing it.

Testing is done at KOAK, and embarrassingly, I never really left the airport compound and poked three holes in the area.

So, a little about the plane, for the brave souls who would like to try it out. First off, I wasn't able to control it with a keyboard, I'm sure others have better luck doing so, but the developer did recommend it would be better with a joystick. It requires a long runway, and afterburner takeoffs are recommended.

Being in development there are some minor issues with it, such as afterburner sound stuttering and all, hoping that it would eventually be fixed.

UPDATE : 30th May 2014 - I found the reason why I can't fly it. With a keyboard, the "5" key to reset all controls to center is not there, and because there is also no standard HUD I am not aware the plane controls doesn't reset when I hit "5" on the numeric pad. This explains why the plane is unflyable, as I kept thinking I had reset the controls. (It didn't help that the jet gave impressions that the center key was pressed when I do so mid-turn). Once I found out, and flew with a mouse, the plane was actually completely flyable. I contacted the author of the FDM about this and he said it's been fixed in a new version. I will try it out and blog about it. 


Model :

While the FDM is being sorted out (I'm confident it will be), I will talk about the model. It's a nice model, with nice livery, you have two sets of livery with it, one is the standard gray (I can not remember the names of the liveries!) and the other has a nice camouflage scheme that I quite like. The HUD is standard, showing altitude, attitude indicator and angle of attack, but I can not say how accurate this is to the real jet though, because I hardly know about Saab JA-37 Viggens. The cockpit is a bit sparse at the moment, but all the necessary items for flying are there to use, and with the radar screen(?) in the middle like all jet fighters should have.

Crashing :

I feel I should write about crashing it because I am already an expert. I don't know how others fly it with a keyboard, but I can't, and the jet seemingly won't respond to my key commands. So I just lose control and crash into the ground. The crash not only have an explosion sound effect, it also has the pilot gasping his last breaths. Hmm. Becaue I am an expert at crashing the plane, I came to dread hearing it .  My last few flights, when losing control and about to crash, I just pause and quickly reset it. Didn't want to hear another pilot getting killed :) .

Tired, Confused and a Citation Bravo

So what a night, yesterday.

I was tired from work. And had about 2 hours before sleep to tinker around with some of the planes I downloaded for Flightgear.  One of them is the Cessna Citation Bravo.

At first I tried the Saab JA-37 Viggen. It is a fighter jet that is in development, and honestly, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it to fly properly (with the keyboard). I will download an update and see if that fixes the problem.

Once that is out of the way, I tried the Cessna Citation Bravo. I think the jet flew rather nicely, very nicely modeled on the outside, and nice cockpit on the inside. Perhaps a combination of fatigue and distractions from reading more about the airplane in the FG wiki, but I wasn't able to land it properly at KSFO, had 2 go arounds. Also, having to chat with the ATC while all this is going on, makes it quite busy.

It wasn't today actually I realized that I should have used the spoilers. And again, the importance of checklists, I suppose..

On the second go around I noticed an F-14 coming up behind me so I aborted the landing and spent the rest of the time just watching what it was trying to do. Sure enough it looks like it was trying to get a shot of me, and at that point I was really tired and just went straight to bed.

Don't fly fatigued :)

What about the Citation Bravo? It's excellent. I feel that it's as good as the Citation X that came with Flightgear, and that it's FDM is slightly on the simpler side (but then again, I've never flown at Citation Bravo). Nicely done, would recommend.

Swapping Out Generic Glider Model for Multiplayer

The default Blue/Yellow glider, used in multiplayer for unavailable aircraft.

 In Flightgear multiplayer, users whose plane models that you don't have will show up in the world as a generic blue & yellow glider to indicate that other players are there, with a plane model that you do not have. These gliders will represent the direction, and pose of the multiplayer planes in real time.

 There are several problems I have with that.. for one thing, it detracts ever-so-slightly from t he multiplayer experience - imagine if ATC asks for you to look out for traffic nearby, and you see this blue-yellow low polygon thing zipping, or hovering through the air. Certainly not visual candy.

  You can actually change the model from the generic blue and yellow glider to whatever model you like.

In the preferences file "preferences.xml

< default-model type="string">Models/Geometry/glider.ac

You can search in the Models folder for an .ac file that you may fancy, for example, replace it with Models/Aircraft/rafale.ac, and all the mp aircraft will show Rafales, improving the experience.

 Personally, there's still something that bugs me and that is, helicopters. If you change the model to a Rafale for example, and one takes off vertically, it also makes it off somewhat. Also, if there is an ATC in the area, they are also represented by these models on top of the tower, then you have a Rafale, or whatever fixed wing aircraft hovering on top of the tower, which looks odd.

 My personal preference is to use the UH-60 helicopter;

change the code from

< default-model type="string">Models/Geometry/glider.ac

to

< default-model type="string">Models/H-60.xml

and you get a UH-60 model, complete with running engines and spinning rotor, and this bumps up the realism a little bit more. In multiplayer, you will have these UH-60s zipping around in the air, hovering or just making those slow movements for those users who use helos, and they will look (almost) totally authentic. The only difference is that some of them take off like a plane down the runway but otherwise, you have a UH-60 hovering over a tower (ATC), it looks totally fine and believable!

Don't remember what aircraft this was supposed to be.

This is supposed to be an Airbus 330-300, an aircraft I haven't downloaded.

A "Clipper". Over MP, it's a UH-60.

Old 1960s Boeing 707 Promo Video

Old 1960s B707 promo video. Seems so relaxed and carefree, those days.

Flightgear Plane Download : 787-8

  I downloaded the 787-8 manually from work and after some difficulty, installed it on my computer at home with a USB drive. Loaded up for a test flight, in its Boeing Dreamliner livery, what a beauty.

  First "test" is to pushback, taxi out into an empty spot, and look through all the cockpit systems, test out the flaps, spoilers, thrust reverse, engine, aileron and rudder. Looks great. Position it on the runway, check flaps, brakes on, throttle up, release brakes, roll down the runway. Awesome. The animations are very nice, the nosewheels turn, on rotation the rear wheels angle upwards.

  Unlike the FG 777, the FG 787 is doesn't jump off the runway with ease, and seems to require a little bit longer runway than the Triple Seven. However, it does get off into the air nicely, and once in the air flies smooth and easy.

  A short round trip in the air and got back in for a landing. I set the autobrakes setting to "2", and lined up nicely with the runway with surprising ease, checked the speed and it's about 140knots. Seemed like my best approache so far, every is right. HOWEVER, upon touch down (a little long, thanks to my flare that kept it in the air for a little bit longer) about a few feet from the runway numbers I activated the thrust reverse, spoilers, added some power, waited for a bit and......

  Wait.... it's not stopping. OK, add more thrust. Brakes. Slowing, but still not stopping.. brake, brake, end of runway is fast approaching... in that panic I activated the parking brakes... but the plane went off the end of the runway.

  So imagine, the 787-8, with the nose poking into scenery just off the runway, and the tail still within airport boundary, slightly nose down position (runway elevation is slightly higher). How embarrassing.

  To save from the situation I thrust reversed out back onto the runway, which must've looked real funny to any bystanders.

  It seems to fly very although obviously I have never flown a 787 IRL (or any aircraft in real life, for that matter), but I'm may have screwed up the approach. Perhaps I let the speed increase during the approach, resulting in my overshoot.

 Comparisons: From what I could see, the 787 has the advanced stuff (such as Electronic Flightbags, Fly-by-Wire, etc.), and a great failure management system but then again I have to get familiar with the plane more to provided a better summary.

Download it here

A lone puffy cloud in the empty cloudless sky...

Lonely

Weight, load and distribution experimentaion (Flightgear Cessna 172)

After the eventful flight

 I experimented with the Cessna 172 KOAK to KHAF empty, then load it up with passengers and cargo, and then back to KOAK. The flight to KHAF was fine, but at KHAF I think I loaded up too much passengers and cargo and on takeoff it was barely flying. Using autopilot when loaded is disastrous, as it flew fine.... until it turned into the wind, then all it wants to do is just stall the aircraft, and I spent something like nearly 2 minutes just hovering in the air at less than 60knots with the stall warning siren blaring mucking with the AP until I finally decided to just get rid of AP and flew it manually. And it didn't fly well with that weight until but I committed to get back to KOAK, taxi back to the apron and shut down and offload the cargo and (green faced) passengers. After that, just watching other flights for a while before I quit FG.

First serious flight I've been experimenting with weight, cargo and load. Now I really the kinds of effect it has on everything.

Going Supersonic CitationX

Supersonic! Mach 1

Simulation freezes when I open Route Manager. Resizing the window fixed it, but this happened.

Ghostplane!

Random images of recent flights around San Francisco in Flightgear

Just some screenshots of random flights past few days. I gotten the hang of the CitationX, but the Seneca seemingly trying to fight me all the time, especially during take off and landing. Interestingly, several times one of the engine didn't startup as expected, I have to choke it or something to get it to startup. So naturally I didn't notice that one failed to start the first time (right engine) and took off with a single engine, resulting in yawing, stalling and going into the drink. Subsequent flights I actually checked to see that both engines start up.

Didn't help there was some wind and turbulance on that day too.

Shiny Cupholders! Important equipment in the Citation X

Approaching KSFO - Speedbrake on

Missed approach - go around, pilot sucks

  

Citation X cockpit, at KSFO

A failed takeoff ended in the drink (Piper PA34-200T Seneca II)

Seems all's well at cruise

...and a failed landing

My Flight Sim History, Part 1

When I was about 5 years old, bashing away at my father's Apple ][ , my father booted up a copy of Bruce Artwick's original flight simulator for me to have fun with. At that time, with the primitive graphics and wireframe outlines, I only recognized the runway and amused myself looking at the dials on the instruments watching them spin round and round. After a succesful take off in to oblivion (the map was only so large) and not knowing where the airport was I remembered typing in "A-I-R-P-O-R-T" to see if the computer got what I was trying to say. Of course, it didn't.. and that was it. I was having more fun with other games, namely, Hard Hat Mack, SeaFox, BreakOut and some sort of PacMan clone (I do not remember what it was called, but it sure wasn't PacMan), amongst plenty others.

Then we got a 286 computer. In 1990s, it came with Windows 3.0, which was state of the art. The 286 had been around for much earlier, but it was only after the price went down that we could get one. And there it was, among the dozens of games I got, was a diskette labeled "Flight Simulator 3.0".

That familiar startup screen - Runway 36, Meigs Field.

Flight Simulator 3.0. I actually (tried) learning VOR navigation with this one.

FS3 was what really got me hooked. The first FS, well yeah that was fun too, but it was the wrong time, I was about 5, it was on an Apple ][, and it's more like a novelty. FS3 was light years ahead in comparison. It had 640x480 graphics, it had nice vector graphics, it had color, it had buildings, and it had a whole world of airports to explore (north America). I also had manual for FS3, which I read it over and over the pages became so worn. I treasured that manual; I still have it today.

I cannot recall how many hours I put into FS3, even choosing it over other games of the time because my fascination with flight and planes are so strong. Eventually I figured out that there are other places besides Chicago Meigs Field, and make use of the airports list to explore places. I practiced takeoffs and landings, I show it off to many of my poor friends, whom, many of them was disinterested with my toying around with a computer plane that doesn't shoot missiles and things. I did get convert a few friends who eventually became simheads. At that time my passion for planes are going overdrive too, everything is airplane themed about my life, including a shirt and cap that my mother bought and sowed on various badges telling me that it was a pilot uniform. Although it had a shuttle on it. And I loved it.


Back to the FS3. The sim had one annoying feature in that the planes flew totally unrealistically because of the simplistic flight dynamics. It flew on rails, basically. And the plane will continuously move forwards in flight, no matter what you try to do, even in a stall. It will move slowly, but it will be forwards. The very basic flight dynamics also meant that you will go upwards if you point the nose up, and down if you point the nose down, but not nose up downwards and not nose down upwards, which makes landings totally unrealistic, because with every landing, you slam the nose wheel into the ground. I couldn't figure out how to make planes land like the real-world planes, and bugged my poor father to no end wondering out loud about the problem, which he had no real solution for. This and a box of an older FS2 I found at a computer shop compounded the problem because it had a screenshot of a Cessna in flight at the end of the runway, in a nose up altitude, as if flaring for touch down (it was a box marketing trick, you see, and poor 7 year old me thought that FS2 had that feature.)

"Random failures"

 This morning I had some time, so I started up FlightGear and took off from WBGR and practiced touch-go a little bit with the Citation X. Once in the air about 6000 feet, I was browsing the menus and saw "Random failures".

 Feeling adventurous, I selected it. A menu popped up, asking for failure sequences and time to fail. I selected within 1 minute and some other option I did not bother to look through.

 Must be something I did, because the failures came piling on one after another!! First the electrical system, so all the instrumentation blanked out, including the Master Caution lights. I began turning the aircraft around, did my imaginary emergency calls, and prepare for an emergency landing. As I did so yet another message appeared telling me something failed.

And another.

And yet another.

 I simply did not have time to understand the failures! At one point I saw the message "Engine 3" fail, and thought, huh, CitationX only has two engines... but didn't think much about it - I was on single engined approach.

 Things kept failing. I couldn't even keep track of what, exactly. As I was appraching to fast, I hit the speedbrakes to slow down, and as I was slow enough I retracted it - and guess what? Speedbrake fail! So I increased engine thrust and pulled up - this was when I was about 1500ft agl, and just in front of the runway.

 On FlightGear at WBGR, there is a big tree at the end of the runway. I clipped that tree with my wingtips when I watched the replay later.

 The plane was not properly lined up, and I did some aileron turns to line up, and THAT failed. Fortunately, the last turn was lined up relatively well and I had to use rudder alone to align. Hit the runway - hard- at an angle, wit ha high sinkrate, at just stalling speed (less than 120kts) and probably slapped the wingtip there, used rudder to further align with the runway and hit the brakes.

 Screeched to a halt. Well the CitationX in FG had suspiciously good braking distances but I''ll ignore that for now, that would be a good thing in this situation.

And then, Engine 1 failed. The plane is now dead in the middle of the runway with no power.

Didn't stop there though, things kept failing. Things that I didn't know existed on a plane failed.

Oh, what fun! But I'm probably not going to try Random Failures again.... with the kind of failure I just had, it was probably an onboard fire by the looks of how everything just stopped working completely.



And someone needs to cut down that tree growing in the middle of the landing path...

Pictures soon..

Citation X WBGR > WBGB

I forgot to take screenshots. Here's a beauty shot of a Citation X from FlightGear wiki site.

What's up, internet!

 I have been neglecting this blog lately and for a good reason, I haven't touched FlightGear in a while. Busy with Kerbal Space Program... oh my that was so fun.

 So I learnt yesterday that FlightGear 3 was out and of course I downloaded it immediately.

 First flight I did was with the Citation X, taking off in the early morning (sim time) from WBGR (Miri) and, due to time restraint (it was night and getting late, real time) flew a short distance and landed at WBGB.

 I thought I did pretty well, landing was smooth although I did have to make a few steep turns and the roll & sink rate warning sounded a bit (oops), and did have to make use of the spoilers while in mid-air to slow the plane.

 Random thoughts : The FG3 is far smoother than FG2. And either my skills have improved, or it seems easier to land a Citation X (or it has to do with the smoother simulation).

 Terrain data for WBGR and WBGB is basic. I wished I could make the terrain and contribute scenery data here but I have tried and simply stumped by just how to go about it. Plus, I hardly have time nowadays, but I will figure it out one day.

Dangerous Flights

I have been watching these shows lately. It shows the dangers of ferry-flying and the pilots who do this for a living, some having to fly small planes over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. Fascinating. Sure like most shows there are some dramatization but other than that as an airplane buff it got me hooked on all the peril flying.

Highly recommended.