A Flight Sim Enthusiast's Notebook
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Installation and Testing of GMAP FOR X-PLANE 2.0 New Version
A long time ago, I wrote an article introducing the plugin: Google Map Display GMAP FOR X-PLANE (FREE MOVING MAP). However, since this plugin has been updated, the installation method is now significantly different from before, so here is a brief record of how to use the new version.
First, download the communication plugin Network Pack X-Plane Plugin 1.1. Click the link for Network Pack X-Plane Plugin 1.1 to get the download package. After unzipping, you will find a directory named FSWidgetsGMap. Move this directory to the X-Plane plugins directory: X-Plane/Resources/plugins. The path will look like this: X-Plane/Resources/plugins/FSWidgetsGMap.
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FlightGear 3.7 Nightly Build Testing
I am currently using FlightGear version V3.4 Stable. I’ve been waiting for V3.6, but it has been迟迟不来. So I went to the official website and checked http://wiki.flightgear.org/Portal:Developer. It says Next release: 3.6 (-69 days from now). I still have to wait for over two months.
Left with no choice, I went to http://download.flightgear.org/builds/nightly/ to download 3.7 and give it a try. I found it runs quite smoothly. The c172p (detailed) I installed previously couldn’t work on 3.4, but it’s actually quite good on the 3.7 test build. The aerodynamics feel more realistic than before.
Just a small recommendation.
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Visiting the 737NG Simulator at LUXURY FLIGHT
I’ve known about this simulation shop, LUXURY FLIGHT, for a few years, but since it was originally located in Saitama, it was a bit far, so I never went. Recently, it moved to be near Haneda, making transportation much more convenient. So, I took advantage of a morning to go there and practice flying the 737NG for an hour.
There are two simulators at LUXURY FLIGHT: one is a 737NG, and the other is a Beechcraft Baron B58. I signed up for the free seminar about the Baron held earlier this month.
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Another Look at the R2-D2 Special Livery Takeoff
Following up on the previous post Shooting the inaugural passenger flight of the ANA Star Wars livery 787-9.
Yesterday morning, I went to another nearby flight simulation shop, LUXURY FLIGHT. I flew the 737NG for an hour; I will summarize that experience slowly over the weekend. After finishing, I rushed to Haneda Airport Terminal 2, because on this day, the R2-D2 special livery aircraft began its domestic passenger operations. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to shoot the takeoff of flight ANA555 in the afternoon.
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Filming the First Passenger Flight of ANA's Star Wars Livery 787-9
Ever since ANA announced the Star Wars Project, I have been looking forward to capturing this much-anticipated aircraft. Yesterday, I finally achieved my goal.
On Saturday, the R2-D2 aircraft conducted its maiden flight with passengers at Haneda Airport. This aircraft features a livery modeled after the famous robot R2-D2 from Star Wars, and it is said that the painting work at the Boeing factory took twice as long as usual. The purpose of this flight was to provide an aerial tour for lottery-selected tourists. The route was a departure from Tokyo Haneda Airport, passing over Mount Fuji, Lake Biwa, Kyoto, and other areas, then returning via Nagoya and Izu to Haneda. Since the route was similar to the A350 flight last year, I bet again on a departure from Runway 05 and a landing on 34L, setting the photography location at Ukishima Park.
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Free X-Plane Flight Plan Creation Tool: Flight Plan Converter
The Flight Plan Converter is a compact web tool that converts data retrieved from FlightAware, RouteFinder, and SkyVector into the fms format used by X-Plane.
The usage is very simple and requires no detailed explanation; just watch this 3-minute video to understand.
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A Look at Various Home Cockpit Hardware for Flight Simulation 1
I usually only have time to play flight simulation on weekends. Most of the time, I fly small aircraft like the C172, and only occasionally fly airliners.
After all, there are too many things to control in a large aircraft. I generally use X-Camera to preset several views, such as the forward view, Upper Panel View, CDU View, etc. I use the Joystick to switch viewpoints, but I still need to click around with the mouse, which lacks a sense of realism.
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Cost Index CI cost index
In visiting JFlight’s A320 BFPT flight simulator, it was mentioned that the Cost Index (CI) was set to 20 at the time. I wondered what this value typically is during actual flight, so I consulted two professionals. Their answers are as follows.
A Boeing 737 pilot told me it is generally at 35, and according to Cruise speed requirements, the higher the speed, the larger the CI. Senior L told me that their company’s narrow-body aircraft range from 20 to 50, while wide-body aircraft are slightly higher, and international routes are higher than domestic routes. Additionally, this value is calculated by the company’s operations department based on the relationship between fuel costs and time costs. When piloting, the flight crew enters this result into the FMC via the CDU (MCDU).
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The Powerful Tool X-Plane Control Pad App is Finally Released
Great news!! The long-awaited <a href=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/x-plane-control-pad/id961801382?mt=8>X-Plane Control Pad is finally released. You can now use an iPhone or iPad to directly control X-Plane, and it is free!
In the past, when visiting pilot simulator training sessions or doing my own simulator practice, I always saw a console like this. The instructor could directly change the flight location, payload and Center of Gravity (CG), weather, system failures, and many other settings on it, used for training pilots under various special conditions.
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Damage to Yonaguni VOR by Typhoon No. 21
Yonaguni Island, located at the westernmost tip of the Yaeyama Islands in the Ryukyu Islands, is the westernmost island of Japan, only 111 kilometers away from Su’ao Port in Yilan, Taiwan, and is also the foreign island closest to the main island of Taiwan.
Yesterday, Typhoon No. 21 hit Okinawa, Japan, and Taiwan. According to the announcement by the Japan Meteorological Agency, Yonaguni Island recorded a gust of 81.1 meters per second at 15:41, marking the fourth strongest record in Japanese history.
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A Visit to JFlight's A320 BFPT Flight Simulator
After returning from the Anabatic Simulation C172 simulator experience in Kyoto, I planned to visit other flight simulation shops near Tokyo. The other day, I went to Yokohama Sakuragicho to watch the movie “The Assassin” with a friend. After leaving the cinema, I remembered there was an A320 shop nearby, so I decided to drop in.
The shop is called JFlight, established late last year, open for less than a year.
Upon entering, you can see Owner B’s commemorative certificate for flying a PA28 in Hawaii hanging on the wall.
I have one myself, though I don’t know where I put it, but the owner is definitely an aviation fan, no doubt about it. -
Filming Vietnam Airlines A350-900 Takeoff
Following the previous post, the moment of departure has arrived. Below is a record of the series of processes from pushback to takeoff.
At 9:15 AM, cargo loading was complete, and ground crew began closing the cargo doors.
At 9:18 AM, two maintenance staff entered the cockpit with the loadsheet (weight and balance). The Captain and First Officer verified the data together.
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Capturing Vietnam Airlines A350-900: Ground Operations
Since first seeing the A350 last November, this eye-catching latest passenger jet has completed various tests and gradually entered commercial operation. To date, Airbus has delivered a total of 5 aircraft to Qatar Airways, Vietnam Airlines, and Finnair, but I haven’t had the chance to see one with my own eyes until now. Fortunately, on September 20th, Vietnam Airlines finally put the A350-900 into service on the Narita-Ho Chi Minh VN300/VN301 flight. Since it was a Sunday, I couldn’t miss such a great photo opportunity.
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Reopening of Hiroshima Airport RWY10 Category III ILS
The Category IIIB Instrument Landing System (CAT IIIB) for Runway 10 (RWY10) at Hiroshima Airport, which was damaged due to the landing accident of flight OZ162 on April 14, has been fully recommissioned starting today after 5 months of repair work.
The airport reopened on April 17 following the accident, but the ILS remained unusable. After the aircraft was removed on April 25, the operating conditions for the runway required an RVR of 1600 meters or more, which affected many flights during adverse weather conditions.
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Hawaiian Airlines In-flight Safety Video
Following up on the previous notes, I’d like to continue writing about the joys of flying. For instance, watching the safety video on board is actually quite interesting.
It is said that Hawaiian Airlines updated its video (Hawaiian Airlines In-Flight Safety Video) starting from August 19th this year, changing the traditional approach of crew members wearing uniforms to demonstrate inside the cabin. The exterior shots for the video were selected at various famous tourist attractions in Hawaii, such as cliffs, beaches, and volcanic lava zones. The scenery is beautiful, which also serves as a tourism promotion, achieving two goals at once. When explaining the safety equipment, company employees wear various ethnic costumes or casual wear, creating a relaxing effect for the audience. I wonder if this helps passengers who get nervous as soon as they board the plane feel better? The video was filmed in 5 languages: English, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, showcasing their emphasis on tourists from Asia.
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Gqrx 20150906 Upgrade
The Gqrx version update adds the long-awaited bookmark feature, making it increasingly convenient to listen to the radio and ATC on the computer.
The specific installation method is as follows:
1 sudo port -v selfupdate 2 sudo port -v upgrade outdated
Encountering a “gnuradio-analog not found” error here, I executed:
3 sudo port install gnuradio
to install gnuradio, and then executed command 2 again.
2 sudo port -v upgrade outdated
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Hardware Setup Notes on 10.40
After upgrading to 10.40RC1, I noticed that quite a few settings have changed, so here is a re-summary. The equipment used includes: Saitek Pro Flight Yoke Saitek Three Level Pro Throttle Quadrant Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedal Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Trim Wheel Saitek Pro Flight Radio Panel Saitek Pro Flight TPM System Saitek Pro Flight Switch Panel PZ55
The configuration method is in the Settings menu.
1 Saitek Pro Flight Yoke Elevator pitch control / pitch: Y-axis telescopic axis moving forward and backward Aileron roll control / roll: X-axis telescopic axis moving left and right Move view up, down, left, right / general/tilt up, tilt down, pan left, pan right: Left 8-way hat switch View zoom / general/zoom in, zoom out: Left A1/A2 buttons Aileron trim / flight_controls/Aileron trim left, Aileron trim right: Right B1/B2 buttons Nav1 OBS / radios/Obs 1 up, Obs 1 down: Right C1/C2 buttons Brakes / flight_controls/Toggle brakes regular effort: Right red D button View switching (2D fwd, 3D fwd, chase mode) / view/fwd with panel, 3D cockpit cmd-look, chase: Mode switch roller (Left, Center, Right) NAV2 HSI / raidos/OBS 2 down: Left red E button
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X-Plane 10.40 RC 1 Release
Since the release of beta 1 on June 12, version 10.40 has gone through a long 3-month testing phase. Today, the RC1 version was finally released, marking that the official release is not far away.
The changes from beta 11 to RC1 are mostly fixes for minor bugs, such as the following ones you might have encountered before: Fixed rudder not animating on Cessna 172 (1822) Fixed user interface for picking plugin-based commands for joystick and keyboard setup (1819) Fixed overly sensitive rudder and nose-wheel steering commands (1820)
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787 Photos Taken at Narita Aerospace Museum
On the 3rd floor of the Aviation Museum at Narita, there is a small observation balcony, with RWY34L right before your eyes. Therefore, it is quite good for close-up shots of aircraft on approach to land, and those waiting for takeoff on the Taxiway. However, there are some downsides: one is that there are many visitors, which easily blocks the view. Another is the backlighting in the afternoon, which inevitably calls for exposure compensation. Of course, in the summer, heat haze is severe, so details of aircraft on the ground are completely obscured.
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First Boeing 747-400 Retired
The Boeing 747-400 with tail number N661US, operated by Delta Air Lines, was officially retired today.
As it was the world's first 747-400, to commemorate its service, it will be preserved at the Delta Flight Museum located in Atlanta after its retirement.N661US will fly its last revenue flight tonight. Check out our story on the iconic bird: https://t.co/CGw3oT9Yub pic.twitter.com/RoppHIJtTG
— AirlineGeeks.com (@AirlineGeeks) September 8, 2015N661US previously bore the number N401PW. As a Boeing test aircraft, it completed the first flight of the 747-400 on April 29, 1988.
Following this, N401PW underwent various tests for a period of 8 months,
and was delivered to the 747-400's launch customer, Northwest Airlines, on January 26, 1989, at which point its registration number was changed to N661US.