A Flight Sim Enthusiast's Notebook
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X-Plane Flight Simulator FAQ2: Settings
X-Plane 11 is out now. Please check the latest coverage: Installing and Trying the X-Plane 11 Free Demo and X-Plane Chinese Tutorial!
Q: xplane10 setup method Q: Where are the x-plane settings? Q: How to open the x-plane menu bar Q: x-plane has no menu A: Settings always start from the menu, but you really can’t see the menu when XP starts. However, just move your mouse to the very top of the screen, and the menu will automatically pop up.
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Most Popular Free Addons on x-plane.org in April 2014
Monthly updates here, no need for much explanation.
This month’s aircraft are all rare types, and they are all vintage planes from the 60s. Is everyone getting nostalgic?
1 Learjet 35 Learjet 35 by FlyingPenguin711 <img src=http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&module=display§ion=screenshot&record=236179&id=22218>
2 Sikorsky S58, this is an aircraft designed for XP9 Sikorsky S-58 - H34 For X-Plane 9.70 <img src=http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&module=display§ion=screenshot&record=231110&id=22304>
3 The L-410 twin-engine transport aircraft produced in Czech Republic, also a product for XP9 Let L-410 by ksgy
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X-Plane 10.30 Beta 1 is Getting Closer, Part 2
Following up on yesterday’s report, the new features of X-Plane 10.30 have finally been revealed. Let’s take a look at them one by one:
The new GPS navigation device will definitely be released; it will be easy to add to any aircraft in Plane-Maker or the panel editor
Support for Oculus Rift still has some UI issues, so it might not be released for now
Improvements to cloud rendering, including effects when flying into and out of cloud layers
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X-Plane 10.30 Beta 1 is Getting Closer
According to the official blog, the X-Plane 10.30 Beta 1 will be released soon. Moreover, the announcement was made by the founder Austin. Although he didn’t disclose specific details, I believe it will be available to users within this month. Ben said he will release some details within 24 hours, so let’s stay tuned.
Additionally, Austin highly recommended the Bell 407 Helicopter Addon.
The price is $35, which is a bit expensive, so I can’t bring myself to buy it just yet. -
Personal Hardware Device Setup Memo
With the accumulation of hardware, the settings have also increased, and over time, I’ve even forgotten them myself. Today, taking advantage of a rest day, I will summarize them here for future reference.
Below are the settings for flying a small propeller aircraft. The equipment used includes: Saitek Pro Flight Yoke Saitek Three Level Pro Throttle Quadrant Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Trim Wheel Saitek Pro Flight Radio Panel CH Products Fighterstick USB
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CAAC Officially Releases Electronic Aeronautical Information Publication (eAIP)
Yesterday, I saw the photos of the inaugural flight to Shennongjia Airport posted by a senior pilot. I wanted to create a new airport in X-Plane to simulate takeoffs and landings, but I couldn’t find the airport data anywhere.
However, I accidentally discovered the Electronic Aeronautical Information Publication (eAIP) website officially released by CAAC, which provides access to AIP, AIP AMDT, AIC, SUP, and AIP AMDT download functions.
This is great news. I used to painstakingly compile the China AIP myself. From now on, I can just check the eAIP, which will save a lot of time and effort. Thanks a lot.
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How to create X-Plane flight animation video on Mac
First, you need to download a middleware called Soundflower. This free software allows you to control audio and route it freely between various applications. Soundflower system extension for interapplication audio routing. In other words, it allows you to pass audio as input to an app, or read audio from an app, simply by routing it through Soundflower.
You can download Soundflower from here. The latest version is Soundflower-1.6.6b.dmg. After installation, a Soundflower subdirectory will appear in your Applications folder. The executable file inside is called Soundflowerbed.app. Once you double-click to launch it, the Soundflower icon will appear in the top status bar of Mac OS, as shown below.
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Helicopter Flight Tutorial in Flight Simulator
Note: This article uses U.S.-manufactured single-rotor helicopters as examples, meaning the rotor rotates counter-clockwise. European-manufactured aircraft generally rotate clockwise; to counteract the rotational torque, the operation of the anti-torque pedals (tail rotor) is the opposite of U.S. aircraft.
To practice helicopter flying, I recently bought a joystick CH Products Fighterstick USB,
I also bought a book on helicopter flying basics to cram up on theory. After over a dozen hours of practice, I’ve finally made some progress. Let me explain it step by step.
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X-Plane Flight Simulation Software FAQ Part 1: Installation
X-Plane 11 is now available! Please check out the latest reports: Installing and trying the X-Plane 11 free demo and X-Plane Chinese Tutorials!
Q: What is the difference between X-Plane 10 and Microsoft’s FSX? Which is more fun? Which is more realistic? A: Overall, FSX is a flight game with flight missions and rich Air Traffic Control features, making it slightly more entertainment-oriented. X-Plane can be called a home flight simulator, with very low entertainment value, purely focused on flight. Therefore, its support for terrain, roads, railways, and aerodynamic models is slightly better.
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X-Plane Flight Simulation Software FAQ Plan
Recently, due to the impact of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the flight simulation equipment used by that flight’s captain has become a hot topic. I checked the traffic to this site via search engines over the past month and found that many keywords were about basic usage questions regarding X-Plane.
To help more flight simulation enthusiasts learn to use X-Plane better, I plan to summarize several FAQ posts, divided into Installation, Settings, Basic Operations, Basic Flight, Plugins/Addons, Autopilot, and Flight Planning. These will be released one after another in the coming days. Please stay tuned.
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Latest Information on X-Plane 10.30
X-Plane developer Ben has revealed some news about the new version X-Plane 10.30 on his blog again. There are two main points: improvements to distant visibility, and significant upgrades to navigation instruments for small aircraft.
Regarding distant visibility, the 64-bit version will display 12 DSFs (Distribution Scenery Format) simultaneously instead of the current 6. This will significantly improve the cockpit view during high-altitude flight.
Regarding navigation instruments, this is a truly major update. A large number of features have been added to the existing Garmin 430, making it very close to the actual flight navigation equipment. This is really something to look forward to. Specifically, the current version of the 430 only has the function to fly directly to a specified Waypoint. In 10.30, it will support:
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Most Popular Free Addons on x-plane.org in March 2014
March isn’t even over yet, but the Best of the Month results are already out. So, let me introduce them to you. This month’s aircraft are all rare types, which makes them quite precious.
Best Aircraft
1 Twin Otter DHC-6 Twin Otter by Pedrovl <img src=http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&module=display§ion=screenshot&record=233444&id=21912>
2 Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel_G This one was originally a payware addon, but was later acquired by x-plane.org and released to users for free. <img src=http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&module=display§ion=screenshot&record=220229&id=21842>
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Most Popular Free Addons on x-plane.org in February 2014
The monthly “Most Popular Plugins” feature on x-plane.org took a brief hiatus, but today we’re bringing it back, starting with the February list.
Best Aircraft 1 ILYUSHIN-IL-96-400 by Ramzzess This IL-96 was originally a payware plugin with decent quality. It was later acquired by x-plane.org and released for free to users, so definitely show your support for this one.
2 Douglas DC-9-30 (unfinished) by roger2009 According to the author’s description, this is an unfinished product, but it was still selected as “Best of the Month.” It looks like the completion level is actually quite good.
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Marking Practice Traffic Pattern with OverlayEditor
OverlayEditor is a free X-Plane addon tool that can be used to create Scenery plugins. You can use it to place various buildings on the map, acting like a construction worker to build your own dedicated airports and other Scenery.
Here, I do not intend to introduce how to create exquisite plugins, but rather from the perspective of practicing rectangular patterns (i.e., practicing traffic patterns), I will introduce how to use OverlayEditor to help improve your flight techniques.
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Alpilotx.net Terrain Scenery Plugin
This blog has previously recommended the excellent New Zealand Pro Scenery, developed by the famous alpilotx.net. Recently, another product developed by alpilotx.net (author Andras Fabian), the HD Mesh Scenery V2 freeware Scenery, won the 2013 Freeware Addon of the Year Award by flusinews.de.
If you don’t mind the large file size, you might consider installing it to try it out. The download link is at http://download.isdg.com.au/downloads/xp10_hd_mesh_v2/, I only tested the installation of two files for Asia, xp10_hd_mesh_v2_+40+020-asia.zip and xp10_hd_mesh_v2_+60-170-asia.zip , and felt that they are indeed slightly more detailed than the default X-Plane Scenery, with better texture quality. It is worth installing.
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ACARS Message Types
Here, the ACARS message types are listed simply for future reference convenience; there is no additional information. Apologies.
_j No info to transmit. Polled mode ¹ _DEL General response, Demand mode; no information to transmit¹ 00 HJK Emergency situation report 2S Weather request 2U Weather 4M Cargo information 51 Ground GMT request response 52 AGM Ground UTC request 54 Aircrew initiated voice contact request 57 AEP Alternate aircrew initiated posit. rpt. 5D TIS ATIS request 5P Temporary suspension of ACARS 5R AEP Aircraft initiated position report 5U WXR Weather request 5Y ETA Revision to previous ETA 5Z AGM Airline designated downlink 7A ENG Aircraft initiated engine data 7B ABM Aircraft initiated misc.message 80-9 Aircraft addressed downlinks
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Investigation of ACARS Message Format
I looked up the ACARS data format online and found very limited information. I did manage to find a few helpful links and finally gained a very preliminary understanding of the format. It is too tedious to explain it all here, so I will provide the URLs below; if you are interested, please study them yourself. However, the ACARS message format seems to be customized by each manufacturer. Without internal documentation, it is basically impossible to fully decode it.
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Methods for Individuals to Receive ACARS Signals
This week, due to the Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappearance (crash) incident, everyone knows that through the ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System), the ground can receive a lot of flight data information from the aircraft.
This site has also mentioned ACARS several times in the “Airliner Cockpit Exploration” series, such as Section 1.8 Pre-flight Procedures and Cockpit Interior, Section 2.1 5 Minutes Before Departure, Section 5.1 Descent Preparation, etc. This technology has been quite commonly used in daily airline flights.
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# Secrets of Airliner Flying 6.10 Shutdown Procedure
Once the aircraft has come to a complete stop, the flight crew initiates the final shutdown procedure, starting with setting the Parking Brake.
The Captain fully depresses the toe brakes at the front of the rudder pedals while simultaneously pulling up the Parking Brake handle located at the lower left behind the control stand. The red Parking Brake warning light to the right of the handle then illuminates, confirming that the brake is set, allowing the Captain to remove their feet from the rudder pedals.
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Useful Information on the Civil Aviation Flight Personnel Management Platform Website pilots.caac.gov.cn
The Flight Standards Office of the Aviation Safety Technical Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China operates the Civil Aviation Flight Personnel Management Platform website, which contains a lot of excellent materials. Below is a summary of hyperlinks to content of personal interest.
Domestic Pilot Schools (CCAR-141) and Approved Foreign Pilot Schools List of Training Organizations (CCAR-61) Aircraft Type Ratings and Training Requirements Aircraft Pilot, Flight Instructor, and Ground Instructor License Theory Examinations Private Pilot License Theory Examination Syllabus Recommended Aviation Books Extended Reading List Recommended Aviation Books Training Textbooks Recommended Aviation Books General Knowledge