Chip: Special Di Besten Simulation/Chip_Special-Die_besten_Simulationen.iso/FLIEGEN/FS40/RMMFP/FSFPTIPS.HLP

Text File | 1990-10-24 | 15KB | 314 lines

************
*Instruments
The following screens list the basic flight instruments, a description,
and a brief explanation of how they are used.  Please note that these
are my own definitions and someone may take exception to them.  They are
provided only to give you an idea of what each instrument does and how
you can use them.

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON - A mechanical/electrical representation of the
earth's horizon in respect to the aircraft's pitch and attitude.  This
instrument is used to inform the pilot about whether he/she is aimed
above the horizon (usually means climbing), below the horizon (usually
means descending), and if you are level or turning.  If the Horizon is
banked down and to the right, you are in left-hand turn.  If the Horizon
is banked down and to the left, you are in right-hand turn.  The marks
at the top of the dial represent what degree turn you are in.

SLIP/SKID INDICATOR - A tubelike device with a bubble/ball that measures
coordinated flight.  If you are in a coordinated turn, then the ball
will be centered in the tube.  If the ball is outside the tube, then you
are in uncoordinated flight.  Note that in FS, the default is usually
coordinated flight mode.  So, to be able to see how this instrument
works, you need to switch to uncoordinated flight.

AIRSPEED GAUGE - Similar to the speedometer in a car, but measures the
speed of the aircraft in the AIR.  Note that this is not GROUND speed.
Wind for example, can cause you to have an Indicated Air Speed (IAS) of
140 kts, but your ground speed is only 100 kts!  Airspeed is crucial to
keeping your A/C in the air (regardless of ground speed).

ALTIMETER - Barometric pressure based indicator of Altitude above sea
level.  Because this instrument is based on barometric pressure, you
need to be sure and set the pressure (the A key on FS4 for IBM)
periodically during your flights.  Note that the measured altitude is
feet above sea level (MSL), NOT feet above the ground.  Thus if you are
at 750 MSL, and the airport is at 500 MSL, then you are really only 250
feet above the ground!  [By the way, MSL refers to Mean feet above Sea
Level]
RATE OF CLIMB - Indicator of how fast you are descending or climbing.
For the Cessna, the scale is in feet per minute with the major breaks at
every 500 feet per minute.  If the needle points up, you are climbing.
If the needle points down, you are descending.  When you reach cruise
altitude, you want the needle to be level.

GYROSCOPIC HEADING - A compass based on a gyroscope rather than magnetic
fields.  These are used since they react much more quickly to turns and
don't suffer the 'settling' problem of magnetic compasses.  i.e. When
you stop turning, the gyroscopic compass will stop changing immediately
- where as a magnetic compass will take a few seconds to settle down on
the new heading.  This gauge needs to be periodically set during flight
to keep it accurate (with changes in the speed of the gyroscope, small
calibration errors can occur).

OMNI BEARING INDICATOR - Also know as OBI.  This instrument is used to
track VOR stations.  When a VOR station is tuned in on the corresponding
NAV radio, the OBI will come 'alive'.  Turn the OBI (or sometimes
referred to as OBS for Omni-Bearing-Selector) knob (the V key of FS4 for
IBM) until the needle centers.  If the gauge says TO, then you can fly
directly at the VOR by turning to the heading at the top of the display.
If the gauge says FROM, then you can fly directly away from the VOR by
turning to the heading at the top of the display.  The heading at the
bottom of the display is the opposite direction of whatever heading is
showing at the top.

Note: Even if you are not using the OBI to track VOR's, they can be
helpful for pattern flying around an airport.  (Assuming left-hand
pattern) Simply set the OBI to the runway heading and then glance at the
(1) top heading to get the heading for your final leg, and (2) bottom
heading for your downwind heading.  If you have two OBI's, you could set
them to be 90 degrees different from your first OBI.  This would then
give you your crosswind and base headings.

See the section on ILS approaches for more on using the OBI.
*********
*Takeoffs
This is really the easiest part of FS.  Set your flaps to 10 degrees
(one notch) and center your elevators.  Apply full throttle (gradually).
At rotate speed (about 80 kts on the Cessna) pull back on the stick
slowly (about two - three notches up).  If you hear the stall horn, you
pulled back too much.  At 50 feet above ground, retract your gear (if
your A/C allows it).  At 250 feet above the ground, retract your flaps.
Ease back on the stick back into a centered position.  Ease back on the
throttle to get into a 500 feet per minute climb.
*********
*Landings
Landings are the most difficult (yet most exciting) aspect of FS!  Rick
Lee has written an excellent step-by-step guide to landing.  The file
with this script is available on Compuserve, in the Gamer's Forum,
Section number 10.  I highly recommend securing a copy of it!

Briefly...

(A) SPEED - Slow down by reducing throttle and pulling back on the
stick.  Continue doing this until you have slowed down to a good landing
speed (80-100 kts on the Cessna).

(B) FLAPS - Apply one notch flaps at the beginning of the downwind leg
and one more near the end of the downwind leg, one more notch of flaps
on base, and one more (if needed) on final.

(C) OTHER - Put your gear down as you turn onto the base leg.  Use only
your throttle to adjust you rate of descent!  Practice at a runway where
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) is available.  This way you can judge
your distance and know if you are too high or too low.  At 100 kts, and
a standard 500 feet per minute descent, you should be at 3.3 miles out
when your alt shows 1000 feet above GROUND level (AGL).  You should be
6.7 miles when your alt shows 2000 feet AGL.  Other distances/altitudes:
1.7 @ 500 feet AGL and 5.0 @ 1500 feet AGL.

(D) LANDING - On Final, reduce throttle to bring you in at a 500 feet
per minute descent rate.  You may want to practice landing in a open
field first, to get the hang of descending only (rather than
complicating things by also 1) trying to align with the center of the
runway, and 2) trying to aim for the threshold).  At 20-50 feet above
the runway/ground, start your flare (pull back on the stick *easy*)
while at the same time slowly cutting back on your throttle.  At
touchdown, 1) push your stick back forward, 2) raise flaps,  and 3)
reduce throttle to idle.  Apply brakes to slow down to taxi speed and
turn off at the next runway exit.  All this taxing stuff is near
impossible if you don't have version b of FS4.
***********
*Navigation
Once you have mastered basic flying, the next step is to see if you can
do it late at night or in solid clouds, i.e. when you can't see a thing!
This is Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).  Your bread and butter instrument
is the OBI and NAV radio.  When you tune in a VOR station (see section
on OBI in the INSTRUMENTS tips), you will have a reference point to fly
to, and in conjunction with the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) - the
distance from the VOR.

With two OBI's, you can do triangulation to track where you are without
having to fly directly at a VOR.  To do this, set both OBI's to
different VOR's.  Then tune them in to your A/C, until they both have
needles centered.  Then as you fly, the needles will move.  To know
where you are, center the needles and make note of the headings the
OBI's show.  Then on a map, extend those headings' radials until they
touch.  That point of intersection is where you're at.



Another navigation aide is the Automatic Direction Finder (ADF).  I've
found that this form of aide seems to be used mostly for approaching
airports for landings.  For further info on ADF consult your manual.
***************
*ILS Approaches
As part of IFR flying mentioned in the NAVIGATION tips, Instrument
Landing System (ILS) allows you to bring your plane down in poor
visibility (in fact, if the ILS is accurate enough, you can set it down
with NO visibility - I've done it at SFO with clouds set to 0 AGL!).  To
use, tune your NAV radio to the ILS frequency for the runway you are
landing at.  Now your OBI will have two needles.

The vertical needle tells you if you are left or right of the runway.
As long as the OBI says TO, then 'follow' the needle.  If it is left of
center, then turn left a few degrees and then give your new heading a
chance to catch up to the ILS radial.  Once centered again, turn back to
the correct runway heading.  Repeat the process for the opposite
direction, if the needle is right of center.

The horizontal needle tells you if you are on glideslope (usually a 3
degree angle up from the end of the runway).  This needle works the same
as the vertical one - you have to 'follow' the needle.  If the needle is
above center, then you are too low - Add throttle.  If the needle is
below center, then you are too high - Reduce throttle.  If you keep the
needles centered, then you should touch down right at the threshold of
the runway.  (If you try the clouds set to 0 AGL, I recommend using SFO.
You can check your landing by switching to MAP view and see if you are
on the runway)
*********************
*Scenery worth Noting
An excellent source of scenery disk information is available in a file
called SDREVU.TXT, available on the Compuserve Gamer's Forum, Section
number 10.  As a highlight, the following scenery disks have exceptional
scenery worth noting:

SD-7
----
Government buildings and monuments in Washington D.C.  Note that the
buildings are only visible below 2,500 feet.

St. John's river and downtown Jacksonville, especially at twilight.

NASA facilities at Cape Canaveral (Kennedy Space Center) including the
shuttle, launch towers, vehicle assembly building, and shuttle landing
strip.

Downtown Miami. Florida Keys.  Bahamas.

SD-9
----
Landmark buildings in Chicago.  U. of Illinois.  Custom Flyin scenery
from the two Flyins that have been held on Compuserve.  The Flyin
scenery is available only to those who have participated in the flyins.
Non participants may purchase the scenery by leaving a message
requesting such, in Section 10 of the Compuserve Gamer's forum.

St. Louis Gateway Arch, Busch stadium, downtown, several parks, and
Indianapolis 500 speedway.

Cincinnati Riverfront stadium, downtown, and Bluff on west edge of city.

SD-11
-----
Detroit Ambassador bridge, Renaissance Center, and Tiger stadium.

Downtown Pittsburgh and associated bridges.
Niagara Falls, including the ability to fly down into the canyon up to
the falls!

3-D mountains in Johnstown, PA.

Sailplanes (1) between Toronto, Ontario, and Georgian Bay at 3500 MSL
(coord's 18378N, 19031E).  (2) NE of Toronto, near Lake Ontario at 3500
MSL (coord's 18384N, 19840E).  (3) SE of Buffalo at 3100 MSL (coord's
17722N, 19512E). and (4) S of Elmira, NY at 2600 MSL (coord's 17482N,
20088E).

Hot air balloon at 1400 MSL near Grand Lake in Ohio (coord's 16648N,
17679E).

HAWAII
------
This is truly a must have disk.  Islands are depicted beautifully in
great 3-D detail, including the mountains and volcanos (with red-hot
lava!).  Don't miss the terrific rendition of Pearl Harbor and downtown
Honolulu.  The Arizona memorial is great.  If you fly over it, you can
even see the dark shadow silhouette of the ship's hull in the water
underneath the memorial.

In addition to real-life scenery, the Hawaii SD has a new concept -
Experimental scenery.  Great new exp. depictions include Portals into
tunnels, the pyramids of Egypt, a huge piano!, a just as big kitchen
(your A/C is about the size of a housefly), an area where the horizon is
vertical, skyports, a barkentine ship from the 1690's, a giant
sailplane, a forest of trees, and a huge fortress complete with airport
within - one of the runways has an approach that brings you in through a
hole in the side (sort of like a starship coming into a repair station).

SF STAR
-------
Much of this scenery is now available in the default San Francisco area
of FS4.  Highlights include Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Downtown, SFO
airport, Golden Gate bridge.

EUROPE
------
Some of the great European cities are wonderfully shown in this scenery
disk, especially at dusk (set the time via the FS menus to get to dusk).
Especially noteworthy items include...

London - Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge (which in real life
has a sign that reads "This bridge is NOT for sale!"), Tower of London,
Buckingham Palace, Hyde park with the Serpentine Pond, Post Office
Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Thames river.

Other sites in England - Stonehenge, Chalk figures (Whipsnade Lion,
Uffinton White Horse, Westbury White Horse, and Long Man of Wilmington),
and the Lighthouse beacons along the South England coast.

Paris - Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur Cathedral, Montmartre Hill, Eiffel
Tower, Tour Montpamasse, Concorde Obelisk, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame
Cathedral, Ile St. Louis, Seine River, Bois de Boulogne, Bois de
Vincennes, Jardin du Luxembourg, Place des Invalides, Champ de Mars, and
the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Strasbourg - Rhein river and canals, Jardin Botanique, Orangerie, and
three mountains SW of the city.

Munich - Olympiaturm Tower, Olympic Grounds, Hauptbahnhof, Frauenkirche,
Residenz, Deutsches Museum, Isar River with islands, Theresienwiese beer
garden, Englischer Garten, and Holgarten.

Nurnberg - Fernmeldeturm Tower, Pegnitz River with parks.

Stuttgart - Fernsehturm Tower, Schlossgarten, and it's two adjacent
mountains.

Frankfurt - Fernmeldeturm Tower, Palmengarten, Opera House, Cathedral,
Skyline buildings, Zoologischer Garten, and three mountains NW of the
city.

Moscow - Kremlin wall and park, Red Square, and other parks, rivers, and
lakes.

You can create the infamous flight a pilot made in the recent past
(where he landed a single engine plane right smack down in the middle of
Red Square!).  An airport is located in Helsinki, Finland just for this
purpose.  * Stay low to avoid the radar! *.

JAPAN
-----
This disk covers the area from Osaka to Tokyo.  Highlights include
downtown Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, Palace Grounds, Canal networks, Mt. Fuji
(with snow cap), Shin Kansen bullet train network, and Osakajo Castle.
In addition, mountains-lakes-and waterways look very nice and show great
detail.
DEFAULT FS SCENERY
------------------
Default scenery in FS4 includes the following:

New York - Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, World Trade Center
towers, Central Park, and several bridges.

Chicago - Landmark buildings such as the Sears tower, John Hancock
building, and more.  Located south in Champaign is the U. of Illinois.

Seattle - Don't miss the Space Needle and several mountains!

San Francisco - (See previous screen describing the SF STAR disk).

Southern California - Catalina Island, USS Nimitz conducting flight
operations with F-14 Tomcats, and a beautiful view of San Diego at dusk.
*******