eudoniga

Gulp ! And - provided that I find such database, and format it in a convenient layout - I guess the Lua language would then be able toi open it, do the search and come up with the suitable ICAO ... Can you please address me to the library where such functions are performed, so that I can try to learn how to use 'em ? Thanks in advance, E.

Ciao from Italy, Mr. Pete ... Though I succeeded in writing a lua script that logs every takeoff and landing time, I am short of ideas about how to log the Icao code of the field where t/o and landing are performed. Need your help on this ! thanks and very best regards, Eugenio

On the ground, the real Cirrus uses just only toe brakes for steering: the rudder does nothing to the front wheel, in fact the latter may spin freely ... I bought the Eaglesoft version, and that allows you to use the pedals too for steering; but I saw that in the most recent Carenado version you really have to steer with the brakes, and nothing else. (I guess they made it so that the rudder is disabled when on ground). I know that if I used automated rudder control, I could permanently use the pedals for the differential toe brakes ... But I'd like to keep the rudder separated, when airborne. Therefore I think I need to play with the lua plugins to obtain what you suggested. I won't come back soon, I'll try to progress as much as I can by myself, so that I won't abuse of your kindness. Best regards, Eugenio.

Hello mr. Pete ! I have one old CH pedals set (with a game port adapter for USB), and it may only use one set of axis at a time: pedals or brakes. There's a hard switch to commute. Now I'd like to set things up so that I leave the hardware switch set on the "pedals" position, but - when on the ground - the pedals should produce a breaking action, instead, as if brakes were pressed. By the way I'd love to simulate a Cirrus SR-22, and even the real thing uses differential brakes for taxing and the takeoff roll ... Any suggestion about how do to that ? Thanks and best regards, Eugenio.

Thanks for letting us use your home jumpseat, mr. Dowson ... Glad to feel those same sensations when friends gather: that's what home cockpits were built for ... Hard work until you taxi to the active, then you allow yourself "how about the kids ? And your wife ?" Back to chatting during the cruise, maybe some coffee if you aren't already short of miles before the TOD ... Holding your breath until you feel the touchdown ... Et voilà: on blocks exactly when you were supposed to get there ! :razz:

I see. With no big search, I had found a passage from a book I bougth, Mike Ray's B737 Checkride procedures manual, deals with flight controls among the "DURING TAXI" stuff (p. 147), saying "... both pilots should 'get on the controls' while the Captain moves them gently, through their full range of movement." So - maybe - one thing is what airlines suggest (or command) to their crews for a variety of reasons, including ... the sake of tyres (which is good), and another thing is what can materially be done with the a/c (which is neither necessarily bad to the machine nor dangerous for people). Good for me, I can write - and follow - my own company checklist ! :ph34r: As for the manoeuvering angles, I found useful info (in the same sense you were told) from Bill Bulfer's 737 Flight Deck Companion (p. 130), confirming that tiller's full travel is 78° and overrides pedal input, whilst pedals' full travel (on the ground) is 7°. A similar contribution taken from an airliners.net forum thread, also about some mechanical details: "... hydraulic power is used as the "muscle" for nosewheel steering, with commanded inputs from the tiller or rudder pedals either mechanically (cable) or "by wire". The linking/mixing of the tiller/rudder controls to the hydraulic metering valve (which ports pressure to either left or right actuators) is such that they input with different ratios: ballpark figures here as A/C differ;... full tiller input will usually steer the nosewheel approx 78 degrees from the centerline - or - Full rudder input will move the nosewheels somewhere around 7 to 8 degrees from centerline". But - as you said - FS is another deal ! :roll: Thanks for helping, I will post the final impressions about your new improvements, which may well become the new "state of the art" in this field ... ;) Brgds, Eugenio.

Interesting, isn't it ? I lately watched a VHS of a simmer friend, it was about a 737 old generation, and - being usually interested in the 737 procedures - I noticed the pilots checked the yokes and the rudders on their way to the runway ... and it was taped on video ... :mrgreen: Obviously I can't tell you if anything "mechanical" changed from those a/Cs to the 737NG. Will try to enquire more, it has become ... intriguing ! :cool: As always, thanks for your dedication and neverending attitude about perfecting FSUIPC. Rgds, Eu

WOW, this is super !!! Will try it a.s.a.p. and report back. Me ? A virtual B737-700, sir. And on the 737 Flight Manual (Continental Airlines version), Rev 11/15/02 #41, sec. 3 - Page 91, I read: "The Captain will: while holding the tiller securely, smoothly and slowly displace the rudder full travel in each direction, verifying full travel and freedom of movement. Ensure that the rudder pedals return to the neutral position and that no abnormal nosewheeling steering pressures are noted, unless required by a single engine taxi situation." Also I got mention about testing the flight controls after a/c moves off from a former B737NG Ryanair pilot, now flying the triple seven with Emirates. To a simple simmer, that was quite enough to imitate ... wasn't it ? Brgds, Eugenio

Well, I obviously have no direct experience to suggest you how fast the blend should grow properly and progressively from 10 kts on to simulate a real liner response ... I'm happy with the 0 % of rudder control below 10 kts, for the reasons I've already told you. No problem with the "old way" that you want to maintain for positive values of the param ... I didn't lose you at all ! ;-) brgds (and thanks again), Eu

Okay, tested version 3.999y2. It did feel different, but - if I was allowed to chose - I'd go radically for 0 % of rudder control with speed < 10 kts: at least, this would truly be my "-60" option ... As for the positive values, they could be coupled to the actual new blending logic, the "old" one being abandonable. IMHO. Brgds, Eu

Roger, wilco. In fact I'm ready to have all axes and buttons in FSUIPC ... but how do I operate to "disable FS controllers completely" ? Regards, Eu

Okay, I did a few sessions, and made sure that - MaxSteerSpeed was set to -60 - all joystick assignments were removed and their axis sent to FSUIPC - all relevant axis were properly calibrated within FSUIPC I also played a bit with the "Slope" function, values from 5 to 10, for the rudder. In my very very humble opinion, I do still get too much rudder control at low speeds, in fact I could zig-zag with the rudder even taxiing below 10 kts. Possibly, that 10 % alone under 30 kts is sufficient to react to full depression of the pedals on both sides, and make the a/c veer sensibly. Maybe you want to wait for some feedback from the professionals, I might be doing something wrong, even if I don't know what it is ... Thanks for keeping us FS9ers upgraded, though !!! Brgds, EU p.s. I noticed - from session to session - that is was enough for all other devices, but the CH pedals, to clear any axis assignment within FS9 at the first time. Those pedals, don't know why, show up again every time I run FS9, so I must always go first and remove their "self-assignment" to the rudder and the brakes. What's going on ?

Will double check and report back. Best regards, Eu

Second session, this time at the home cockpit with FS9 and the (old) PMDG 737-700. The a/c seemed to feel somehow lighter, so the ruddel pedals proved to be more effective even at low speeds. Taxing at 8 knots, I needed to be very fast in pressing the pedals full down left then full down right, if i didn't want to see the nose deviating from its course ... so here I'd rather find a way to lower the steering action produced by the rudder. During the flight controls check, I watched the lower eicas screen, and noticed that - in order to inhibit the rudder from the steering action - its whole movement is limited. The same I saw from outside view. Therefore airline simmers will take advantage from this modification, in the sense that their taxiing won't resemble a drunk pilot manoeuvre; they shall be happy by checking the flawless movement of the yoke and pedals, but won't have to rely too much on what they see from the flt control display ... Yours the final word, sir.

Okay, back from the testing activity with ver. 4.859e (which I could d/l before the link was dead). It feels much better now, I tested it with the default B738. By the way, I got confirmation from one B737NG pilot and also from the B737 flight manual that flight controls may also be tested during taxi. Therefore I waited until I was taxing at 10-15 kts max (15 being the speed limit within apron perimeter) to see what was the behaviour like. I tested the rudder at full extension, and I could see no veering of the a/c, which - IMHO - is good and real. As for the "old" algorhytm, I tested it with the B737-700 I have at the home cockpit, but there was really much too rudder influence at low speed ... I will now test version 3.999y there, but I feel it will work okay also with FS9. Will give you final confirmation a.s.a.p. Bye for now and again many many thanks ! Eugenio.

"Good, better, best ... never let it rest !", thanks mr. Dowson for generosity and dedication. I am more than honored by your request, for testing purposes I've got these two scenarios available: - FS9 still solidly running at the base of my 737NG home cockpit. The tiller is under construction, but I can connect one extra joystick for our purpose and steer with the R axis as the tiller. - FSX installed on a desktop machine with one X-box style controller and a couple old joysticks (so that I can split rudder from tiller control). - FSUIPC registered on both. Just tell me where/how to download the modified version, and I will begin with FSX. Then, if you are satisfied with the results, I'd be glad to see you overcome your reluctancy and make this little present for the good ole FS9 people like me ... :oops: Regards, Eu

Roger, wilco. I am simply looking for a balance where simulating the rudder check during low speed taxi does not lead the a/c to veer off on one side and then the other. For other simmers' benefit, I will report back here about what I shall find as a good working compromise. Thank you very much, mr. Pete, you're the one, true, living SDK for us mortals !!! :cool: Eu.

OK, will check and report back. Thanks ! :-D Eu

No, sir, I guess I understood the point ... But there's something which - I think - should be avoidable. As a passenger watching the wing out of the window, I saw the airline pilots executing the flight controls check; some times before moving off, sometimes when the a/c is already taxing. I was told this check is usually performed by the F/O, without disturb to the steering activity of the Captain, which holds the tiller. With the actual FSUIPC settings, if the Captain is taxiing and steering at - say - 20 kts, and the F/O checks the rudder pedals ... well, they will noticeably zig-zag (I tried it with FS9), and it's not quite realistic. :-D I think this could be avoidable, somehow; that's why I asked. ;-) Best regards, Eu

Sorry about the ironic title ... But it happened to me quite a few times that by inadvertently touching the brake pedal, the parking brake goes off. I was told this is closer to the real thing, where the B737 parking brake is nothing but a locked down brake pedal ... The problem is that the lightest touch of a foot can cause this kind of damage. How do I operate with FSUIPC to avoid such unwanted behavior ? Thanks and best regards, Eugenio. p.s. I have analog brake pedals.

Okay, so easy and fast ... FANTASTIC !!! Just tried with FS9 and two joysticks. Saw how the "blending" action works below 60 kts. I read about the MaxSteerSpeed parameter, but I am now more interested in the opposite concept: how do I set it so that at average taxi speed (let's take 15/20 kts) the rudder is much less effective, and practically almost null at lower speeds (0-10 kts) ? Brgds, Eu

... :shock: See what I meant ? I must have surely missed the part of documentation which describes such FSUIPC capacities !!! You're telling me what I was looking for is already there ... 100 % ... aren't you ? :D Now is when I'd be ready to pay for a second, third, fourth ... registration fee !!! Thanks a lot ... will follow your indications and hope I won't bother you any longer ... but be prepared, anyhow ... Cheers and best regards, Eu

Dear mr. Dowson, lately I took the time to re-read a good part of FSUIPC documentation, including some parts of the SDK ... I wish I had enough knowledge to benefit from this simple reading to understand how I could solve one problem, but it's not so. I hope you won't regret to dedicate a few passages to clear out this subject, which deals with connecting to the server pc (the "flying" machine) three devices which control (in FS9) the same axis, that's the rudder. I am not aware if FS9 has a dedicate axis assignment for the tiller, so that one part of the problem is already taken care of by FS. Therefore I would like to know - apart from hardware solutions (thinking about a USB switch), what could be managed via software. I know that there is one offset dedicated to flag the on ground/airborne status. That's what I'd use to inhibit the tiller device or the rudder device, but I don't know how. Then there's the double CH pedal set ... I do have a hardware USB switch, but would love to know if there's a "soft" way to serve only one set at a time, and that's the one where the flying pilot is manoeuvering with his feet ... May you suggest some path ? Thanks a lot for your patience and dedication. Eugenio.

Harmless = not dangerous to be changed the way I wished Okay, understood, your statement is clear and final ... Alas ! ;-)

How did I prove it ? Well, I took the other way round ... I saw that - through FS9's menu - one isn't allowed to input a flight number longer than 5 chars (which become six after the final zero that terminates the string), as well as I found that eight chars is the max allowed string lenght for the A/C registration tail number and it's accommodated a few bytes far from the ATC flight number. A read-only offset ? Too bad !!! I thought it was a harmless one ... To any other home cockpit builder who eventually reads this topic: if you ever find a quicker way to set ATC flight number (instead of accessing FS' menu), can you please tell it here ? Thanks mr. Dowson, always three greens to everybody ...