A Flight Sim Enthusiast's Notebook
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Posting Old Photos 5: Vampire Jet Fighter during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic out of boredom, I decided to restore some old photos.
Next, here are a few shots of the de Havilland Vampire from the 2018 Air Tattoo.
Two-seater
The de Havilland Vampire was the second jet fighter to be manufactured by the Royal Air Force during World War II (the first being the Gloster Meteor). Notably, it was the world's first jet fighter to land on an aircraft carrier. It had various derivative versions, including fighter-bombers and night fighters. In addition to being used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, it was exported to numerous countries.
The Vampire fighter was equipped with a single H-1 jet engine produced by the British company de Havilland. Similar to the Mosquito, the cockpit was constructed of wood. Four 20mm cannons were installed under the nose. Both the cockpit and the engine were mounted in the central nacelle. The engine intakes were located in the root laminations of the left and right wings. This design made both the air intake and jet exhaust very short, minimizing thrust loss.
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Posting Old Photos Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic Part 4: Mustang Light Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I tried not to go out. Since I was bored, I spent my time at home restoring old photos. Here are a few photos of the German Air Force’s OV-10-338-8 Bronco from the 2018 Air Tattoo.
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Posting Old Photos During the COVID-19 Pandemic 3: Wildcat Helicopter
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been trying to stay at home as much as possible. To kill the boredom, I’ve been spending my time restoring old photos.
Here are a few shots of the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat from the 2018 Air Tattoo.
It is quite surprising that there is very little Chinese information about this aircraft online.. -
Posting Old Photos 2 During the COVID-19 Pandemic: V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor Aircraft
Stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic with nothing to do, I’ve been restoring some old photos to pass the time. Here are a few shots of the V-22 Osprey from the 2018 Air Tattoo.
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Throwback Photo under the COVID-19 Pandemic 1: Lancer Strategic Bomber
Stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and bored, I’ve been spending my time restoring old photos. First up are a few shots of the B-1B Lancer from the 2018 Air Tattoo.
Here is a summary from Wikipedia:
The B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy strategic bomber used by the United States Air Force. It was developed by North American Aviation (later merged with Rockwell, which was then acquired by Boeing) in the 1970s, first flew in 1974, and entered service in 1985.
The aircraft’s most prominent feature is its variable-sweep wing configuration. When fully extended, the wingspan reaches 41.78 meters; at maximum sweep, it is 23.84 meters. The variable-sweep wing is a solution designed to reconcile conflicting requirements, such as high-speed flight, low wind gust loads, long endurance, and excellent takeoff and landing performance. Thanks to this design, the B-1 can take off for combat missions from civil airports with shorter Runways; dispersing the fleet in advance avoids total destruction from an enemy preemptive strike on air bases.
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X-Plane 11.50 Rendering Engine Upgrade, Significantly Improved Performance
Great news, X-Plane 11.50 Release Notes X-Plane 11.50 rendering engine abandons OpenGL for an upgrade, Using Vulkan on Windows and Linux, and Metal on Mac, I did a quick test and found a huge performance boost, highly recommend all players upgrade immediately to experience it.
The test version is 11.50b1, which is Beta1.
The messages above still show OpenGL wording.
Then open the graphics settings, Tested on a 2018 MacBook Pro, a laptop with average specs, So I didn’t dare to turn the effects up too high.
Check “Use Metal Driver for faster rendering”, then restart X-Plane.
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Haneda New Approach Route
Three years ago, I introduced future changes to the Arrival and Departure Runways at Haneda Airport, which means that during southerly winds, aircraft will execute an ILS final approach over the center of Tokyo, a significant change from the current approach from the sea.
After several years of preparation, the new routes will be officially implemented starting this March, and test flights have already begun. (By the way, starting March 14, Haneda International Terminal will be renamed to Haneda Terminal 3.)
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Airport Photography over the Sea, Part 2
It has been three and a half years since the last time I went spotting at sea for Haneda Airport from Tokyo Bay. Taking advantage of the good weather, I joined a similar activity again, and the results were quite satisfying.
Thai Airways Boeing 747-400, this type is becoming increasingly rare. <img src=https://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/1/1/8/5815811.jpg?v=v444724ab677>
ANA’s 2020 Olympics Special Livery. Front lighting. Blue sky background. Side-top view. A perfect aviation photo. <img src=https://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/7/6/5/5815567.jpg?v=v4d6ea61e207>
While these photos may not look particularly special at first glance, actually shooting aircraft in the sky from low ground, 99.9% of the time you get the belly, not the full side of the fuselage, and it is usually backlit. This is a location understood only by an extremely niche group, yielding a result akin to close-up aerial photography.
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Boarding ANA Star Wars Livery Jet 4 (C-3PO)
It was quite a few years ago that I photographed the ANA Star Wars livery Jet 4, C3PO, but I never had the opportunity to fly on it. This time, taking advantage of a trip from Osaka back to Tokyo, I made a point to book the C3PO flight, fulfilling a wish of many years.
Before boarding, naturally, I first checked out the view from the observation deck at Osaka Itami Airport.
I didn’t bring my DSLR camera; being able to capture such results with just a small Sony Cyber-shot isn’t bad at all. -
Shopping with the Garmin D2 Delta PX Titanium Aviator Watch and Garmin Pay
Saw on the Garmin Japan official website that Japan Net Bank starts supporting Garmin Pay, I happened to have an account and VISA card with this bank, so I immediately set it up and tested it out with a purchase.
Launched the Garmin Connect App on my iPhone, found the Garmin Pay settings page,
selected VISA, entered the card number and expiration date; the setup was very simple.
After filling in the details, a confirmation email was sent to the Japan Net Bank email address. The screen looked like this:
Once confirmed, the VISA card setup is complete.
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The Holdout at Narita Airport: Higashihime Shrine
This is the most unique shrine in the world, built right at the approach end of Runway 34R at Narita Airport, yet it is not managed by the airport. Aircraft pass overhead at a height of 15 meters/50 feet, which looks spectacular from the ground. But if you have taken a flight to Narita Airport and felt that it takes a long time to taxi after landing, You should remember this famous “holdout,” as it forces aircraft to make a large detour to return to the terminal.
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Airport at Dusk
The weather forecast called for cloudy skies—not exactly an ideal day for photography—but I still grabbed my camera and headed out to try my luck. After all, it had been nearly a year since I last photographed the night view at Tokyo International Airport’s (Haneda) Terminal 1.
It turned out to be a slightly eerie sunset. After the sun went down, in the dark of night, a ray of afterglow illuminated both Mount Fuji and the airport terminal, yielding an unexpected harvest.
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Max Planes-Viewing Aircraft via ADS-B on MacOS
I introduced Mac OS X ADS-B decoding software 5 years ago, At that time, there wasn’t any particularly good software on Mac, so I didn’t continue using it. Today, I discovered a pretty decent piece of software called Max Planes. After testing it, I felt it works quite well, So here is an introduction.
Watch planes on macOS, save recordings, watch replays and share them with friends. All without the internet. Use a USB RTL-SDR or "DTB Tuner" to see nearby planes.
Installation instructions are as follows 1 Download Max Planes from the App Store
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Test Flight at Beijing Daxing International Airport with X-Plane 11.40
X-Plane 11.40 has been out for a while. I’ve been too busy to introduce it recently, but today I can finally perform the upgrade.
According to the X-Plane 11.40 Release Notes, this version mainly focuses on improvements to the experimental flight model,
X-Plane 11.40 is a major update with changes to the experimental flight model, including seaplane handling, stalling, and prop wash improvements.
Therefore, the impact on general users is not too significant. Additionally, 3D scenery for several Chinese airports has been added, such as: Qionghai Boao Airport ZJQH Weifang Nanyuan International Airport ZSWF Chengdu Taiping Temple Airport ZUDS.
It turns out we are already at Beta 9; it looks like we are close to entering the stable version phase.
Joystick calibration is required after every update.
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Idea for Building an Airport Observation Deck
Seeing the news from The Beijing News, CAAC: Plans to learn from foreign experience and build a batch of sightseeing facilities at major hub airports,
At present, the CAAC is proceeding to learn from the successful experience of airport observation platforms in developed countries abroad, striving to take the lead in planning, designing, and building a batch of sightseeing facilities in major hub airports nationwide. On one hand, it can reasonably satisfy the demands of the vast number of tourists, allowing them to visit various major hub airports with ease and pleasure; on the other hand, it must also ensure the safe and efficient travel of passengers, giving consideration to both and letting each have its place.
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China's Civil Aviation Undergoes Largest Airspace Adjustment in History, Viewed from Air Routes near Beijing
Seeing yesterday’s news “Chinese civil aviation welcomes the largest airspace adjustment in history”, this is truly a major event, so I have transcribed the details below:
Yesterday morning, China adjusted over 4,000 flight routes, marking the largest airspace adjustment in the history of Chinese civil aviation. Moving forward, the "sky roads" over Beijing have undergone a major update, making the "paths" for air travel "wider and smoother."
At 02:00 yesterday morning, it was established as the effective date for the operational Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) for China’s newly built airport—Daxing International Airport. Consequently, the adjustments involving the new airport Runway, major flight procedure changes, major airspace adjustments, and Airway/route alignment adjustments all came into effect. Nationwide, over 200 Airways and routes were adjusted, and the alignment of over 4,000 flight routes was changed, forming a completely new airspace operational environment. Chinese civil aviation has welcomed the largest airspace adjustment in its history.
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Garmin D2 Delta PX Titanium Aviation Watch Amazon Music Functionality
Noticing that Amazon Music playback was released on Connect IQ, I went ahead and installed it. The music playback functionality on the D2 Delta was introduced in the Garmin D2 Delta PX Titanium Aviation Watch Setup Review, so I won’t cover the basic usage here.
After downloading Amazon Music on Connect IQ, press and hold the top-left “LIGHT” button to launch the music player. Find Amazon Music in the music library, and tap it to see
which indicates you need to visit amazon.com/jp/code via PC to bind the watch device to Amazon Music.
Enter the connection code, and the authorization confirmation screen will appear,
After granting permission, you can see the setup was successful.
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Garmin D2 Delta PX Titanium Aviation Watch Tutorial Video
D2 Delta PX
[Tutorial] D2 Delta PX: Getting Started
[Tutorial] Garmin News: Origin of the D2 Series Name
[Tutorial] Garmin Pilot: Connecting D2 Series Devices with Connext
Garmin Connect IQ Apps Make Their Debut
[Tutorial] Connect IQ: Downloading Watch Faces
[Tutorial] Altimeter & Barometer: Basic Principles & Troubleshooting
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Thoughts on Using the Garmin D2 Delta PX Titanium Aviator Watch
I have been using the D2 Delta PX for over half a year now, so I think it’s time to summarize my thoughts on it.
First of all, the design of the outer bezel has improved significantly compared to the D2 Charlie. The color of the outer ring matches the Watch Face, giving it a more harmonious overall feel. Additionally, the outer ring has a slight slope, which improves the issue of frequently bumping into things when wearing the D2 Charlie.
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Boeing 737-500 Operating Manual and ANA Super Dolphin Livery Retirement
This site shares a special connection with the Boeing 737-500. Years ago, I wrote a long-form series titled “Airline Pilot Secrets — How Pilots Fly Civil Airliners,” which was compiled using the Boeing 737-500 flight manual as a reference.
Nowadays, the Boeing 737 NG series has largely replaced the 737 Classic series (737-300, 737-400, 737-500). Looking at the 737-500 cockpit today evokes a sense of antiquity. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to spot them at airports. For instance, All Nippon Airways (ANA) introduced the type in July 1995 (with a single economy class layout of 126 seats) and applied the “Super Dolphin” special livery. At its peak, the fleet consisted of 25 airframes, but now only 4 remain.