A Flight Sim Enthusiast's Notebook
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On Creating Flight Plans in Flight Simulation
Reader Sam Sun asked a question about flight planning in the guestbook, so I will provide a brief summary below.
First, I must declare that I fly under VFR 99% of the time in X-Plane and never make a plan. Since I am not flying IFR, I do not file a plan with the system; I just go wherever I please.
Sometimes, to test a new version or to practice ATC for a bit of realism, I will occasionally file a plan, but I generally find it troublesome and lacking in fun.
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X-Plane 10.50 RC3 and Los Angeles Airport
Seeing the official release of X-Plane 10.50r3 is Out, I estimate that the official version of 10.50 will be released soon.
I checked the Release Notes and found that there are no major changes, just some minor bug fixes.
So I upgraded to r3 and continued test flying near Los Angeles for over an hour. The operation was very stable, and I didn’t find any issues.
I think the autogen effects in 10.50 are quite nice. I circled around at an altitude of 1000 feet over Los Angeles International Airport.
The details of the scenery are very realistic, -
Cathay Pacific's Boeing 747-400 is About to Retire
I saw this press release: Cathay Pacific Retires “Jumbo” Jetliner; Final Flight is CX543 from Tokyo (Haneda) to Hong Kong on October 1st
Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 747-400 is set to retire within the year. The final 747-400 will operate flight CX543 from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Hong Kong on October 1st.
Currently, Cathay Pacific only possesses the last three 744s, with registration numbers B-HKT, B-HUI, and B-HUJ, which are used for routes to Haneda, Narita, and Taipei.
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Commemorating the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Flying to Rio de Janeiro
Yesterday, the much-anticipated 2016 Summer Olympic Games officially opened. After watching the stunning Opening Ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium, I got the idea to fly around Rio de Janeiro in X-Plane (and upgraded to 10.50r1 while I was at it).
I happened to see a video on YouTube titled “Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont (SDU) Approach runway 02,” which claims it is “One of the most difficult landing approach in the world. NDB V RWY 20 procedure + circle to land on runway 02R.” Alright then, off to Santos Dumont Airport we go.
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China Aeronautical Charts EAIP Updated to 201610
Some friends asked why the new Runway at Wuhan wasn’t added; of course, you can’t see it if the charts haven’t been updated. So I spent a few hours upgrading all files to the October 2016 version,
Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) and Airport Charts of China
Feel free to use them.
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Forward: X-Plane Scenery Development Recent Updates on ZBAA
Looking forward to this Beijing Capital International Airport scenery currently under development by ShaneMontoya. Keep it up, author! [X-Plane Scenery Development] Recent updates on ZBAA
This is a photo taken in the winter of 2010 before landing on Runway 01. You can see the iconic dragon scale and dragon spine design on the roof of Terminal 3.
Hope to experience this magnificent architecture in the flight simulator soon as well. -
JA602A Special Livery Before and After
JA602A is a Boeing 767-300 passenger aircraft, which entered service in January 1998, making it 18 years old.
This aircraft was originally just an ordinary aircraft with a standard livery,
but fortunately, it was selected in 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of All Nippon Airways (ANA) as the “ANA Mohican Jet”,
flying around Japan for three and a half years with a vintage livery from 20 years ago.
This year, JA602A was sold by ANA to its subsidiary Air Do (formerly Hokkaido International Airlines),
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Open Boeing 787 APU Intake Door In Flight
Continuing from the previous post Comparison of APU Inlet Doors, let’s continue discussing the APU.
In a set of photos I took in the autumn of 2012 showing a 787 before and during takeoff, I discovered that the APU inlet door was actually open!
Common knowledge tells us that the APU is the Auxiliary Power Unit, used to supply power to the aircraft while on the ground. After the engines are started, the APU is turned off, and consequently, the APU inlet door is closed, as introduced in the Comparison of APU Air Inlet Doors.
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APU Air Inlet Door Comparison
Following up on the previous post Observing the details of various intake and exhaust ports on the Boeing 737-800 tail, I thought the shape of the 737’s APU intake was quite unique, so I checked the photos I had on hand to see the shapes of other models.
The APU intakes of the Boeing 767, 777, and 787 are all located at the bottom of the vertical stabilizer (tail fin), above the right side of the tail cone, but there are slight differences. The 767’s position is slightly forward,
while the 777 and 787 are positioned towards the rear of the vertical stabilizer.
The position of the Boeing 747’s APU intake is roughly the same, but the difference is that the opening faces inward into the fuselage, rather than opening outwards.
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Observing Details of Various Intake and Exhaust Vents on the Boeing 737-800 Tail
I was looking back at photos from last week at Haneda Airport and noticed there are many small openings on the tail of the Boeing 737-800, and I didn’t know what most of them were for.
So I marked them with small circles in the photo and consulted an expert, Mr. @dreamliner, and got the following answers.1 Tail White Position Light Strobe Light 2 APU Compartment/Oil Cooling Air Inlet APU Cooling Air Inlet 3 APU Exhaust Outlet APU Exhaust Outlet 4 APU Access Panel 5 APU Compartment Combustible Liquid Drain 6 APU Compartment Combustible/Non-combustible Liquid Drain APU Shroud & Hydraulic Drain 7 Green Tail Skid, preventing tail strikes Tail Skid 8 APU Air Inlet APU Air Inlet Door 9 Aft Galley/Lavatory Waste Water Drain Mast Aft Heated Water Drain Mast 10 Galley Exhaust Outlet 11 Emergency Light (e.g., after emergency slide deployment) 12 Positive Pressure Relief Valve (Cabin pressurization emergency regulation, exhausts air from cabin, two in total. Not clearly visible in the photo, but there is actually another one below the outflow valve) Pressure Relief Valves 13 Outflow Valve (Cabin pressurization regulation) Outflow Valve 14 Negative Pressure Relief Valve (Cabin pressurization emergency regulation, draws air into cabin from outside) Negative Pressure Relief Valve
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X-Plane 10.50 Beta 6
X-Plane 10.50 Beta 6 Released, mostly bug fixes, I flew for 30 minutes after downloading and didn’t notice any major changes, Haneda Airport is still bare..
Checked the release notes, couldn’t find any clues either, So I might as well move my base to the US, that’s the best way to fully enjoy the 10.50 AUTOGEN Scenery effects.
So I set up base at KSMO Santa Monica Municipal Airport next to Los Angeles,
The AutoGen effects look decent, but I can’t set the display settings too high,
Barely keeping the framerate between 10-15 FPS. -
Waypoints Named After Cars and Food
Thanks to a reminder from my friend Ming (in the comments), I just realized that there are actually some interesting waypoints named after car brands.
On SkyVector, you can easily find:
PRIUS (Toyota Prius),
LEXUS (Toyota Lexus),
CHERY (A discontinued Nissan model),
BUICK (GM Buick),
ACORD (Honda Accord),
MAZDA (Mazda),
FREED (Honda FREED),
DODGE (Chrysler Dodge),
SOARA (Toyota Soarer).They are distributed around the perimeter of the main island of Okinawa. It feels like the aviation authorities intentionally used car brands to define the waypoints in this region.
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TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 Accident Investigation Concluded
It has been nearly a year since the release of the Factual Data Report on the TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 Accident. The Aviation Safety Council has published an extremely detailed Final Report. After spending over an hour reading through it, here are some excerpts of new facts.
The accident was attributed to numerous factors, ultimately causing the aircraft to lose control due to a Stall.
During the initial Climb phase after takeoff, an intermittent circuit discontinuity occurred within the No. 2 engine’s Auto Feather Unit (AFU), which initiated the Automatic Takeoff Power Control System (ATPCS) procedure, resulting in an uncommanded auto-feather of the No. 2 engine propeller.
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Follow-up Report on Korean Air Flight KE2708 Engine Fire
Three weeks ago, I wrote about a Korean Air flight aborting takeoff due to an engine fire at Tokyo Haneda Airport, where I also became a victim, and took photos of relevant personnel checking the engine. I assumed the investigation would take a long time, but surprisingly, the Japan Transport Safety Board released an inspection report yesterday regarding airframe HL7534. Through a teardown investigation of the engine, it was discovered that damage had occurred to the turbine disk; debris detached and penetrated the engine cowling.
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A Glimpse of Fukuoka Airport (RJFF)
ANA Flight NH245 Trip Report mentioned a business trip to Fukuoka. Actually, after disembarking, I still managed to squeeze in some time to look around the airport. Where did I go? Naturally, the rooftop observation deck.
The airport map is shown below. The Domestic Terminal is at the top of the map, which is east of the Runway, and the International Terminal is at the bottom, which is west of the Runway. It is worth noting that Fukuoka Airport only has a single north-south Runway 16/34.
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First Impressions of X-Plane 10.50 beta1
Seeing the announcement “X-Plane 10.50 Beta 1 Is Here (And Only Slightly On Fire)” on the official blog, I immediately upgraded. Regarding this version, “A look at the new features of X-Plane 10.50” was introduced previously.
Upon launching, I saw the 10.50b1 identifier as expected,
and the loading screen has changed slightly.My impression is that there are still quite a few bugs. For example, the sky above RJTT airport was empty, with nothing but the Runway; X-Plane would crash abnormally after enabling the high-altitude wind function; The AUTO GEN performance is mediocre; a trip to Las Vegas looked like a vast grassland with countless yurts on it; For the two built-in aircraft, King-Air and Baron, only the left engine was functional, etc. It looks like we’ll have to wait a version or two for the new features to become stable and usable.
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X-Plane 11 !!!
X-Plane 11 has been released, please check out the latest report Installing and Trying the X-Plane 11 Free Demo!
At FlightSimCon 2016, Laminar Research announced the news about X-Plane 11. Please watch the video below for details, although no one knows exactly when it will be released.
The video also includes a demo of version 10.50 beta, which will be released this week. The features of this version were previously summarized here.
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Airport Shot from the Sea
I stumbled upon a promotional poster from a travel agency,
advertising a boat tour to view Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) from the sea, specifically within Tokyo Bay.
I had never experienced photographing aircraft from this angle before, so I signed up immediately.On the day of the event, we gathered at the International Terminal. There were about 30 participants in total. It looked like most were aviation enthusiasts; half of them were carrying DSLRs with telephoto lenses—everyone came well-prepared. We walked west from the airport for 15 minutes to reach the boarding point.
I didn’t realize there was such a pier tucked away in the Tama River. -
Trip Report: All Nippon Airways Flight NH245
It has been 10 years since my last business trip to Fukuoka. So, even though there weren’t many highlights, I’ll summarize the flight log for this flight, NH245.
Flight NH245 Tokyo Haneda Airport - Fukuoka Airport
METAR: RJTT 242339Z 18017G28KT 8000 FEW015 BKN/// 22/19 Q1014 RMK 1CU015 A2995 South wind, wind wasn’t too small, visibility not good, cloudy/overcast, weather very unsuitable for taking photos. Deeply regret why I booked a right-side window…
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Flight Simulation Enthusiasts' Gathering FS Party in TOKYO 2016
Yesterday, I attended a gathering for flight simulation enthusiasts—FS Party—and decided to document it briefly.
FS Party is an event that has been running for 20 years, where Microsoft Flight Simulator enthusiasts from all over Japan gather annually. They bring their own computers and flight simulation equipment, set up a Local Area Network (LAN), and conduct group flying sessions.
I have never used Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I have always been out of touch with this event. However, invited by Mr. Y from Anabatic Simulation, I decided to go and join in the fun.