Practice tools

[Jeff H. Snider]

John Pavlick writes:
> Anthony,
>  I haven't had much luck with any of the sims (although I haven't tried the
> Ikarus 3D sim), mostly because it's hard to duplicate pattern flying. What I
> mean is, the view ports don't really provide any good reference points for
> lines, etc. [...]


I know it's really hard to use any of the RC flight simulators to
practice pattern flying.  I have spent a great deal of time working
out what I think is a pretty good way to do just that using RealFlight
G2, with none of the add-ons.

Everything you're about to read here, and all the associated files
and some photos, you can find at:

 http://snider.com/jeff/RealFlight/

I created a field that is as simple as possible, just flat land, a
backdrop for sky, an asphalt runway, and some markers in the sky
showing where the box is.  That was the hard part: I used the red
and white limbo streamers to draw the sides of the box, the center,
the top, and a floor.  This is the key improvement over using one
of the supplied flying fields.  It lets you know where you are in
the box at all times.  You can download the field from that link
above, and put it in your RealFlight Airports directory.  (In "My
Computer", Local Disk C: or D: \ "Program Files" \ RealFlight \
Airports.  How you installed RealFlight may vary.  If you're running
RealFlight when you do this, you need to quit and restart to be
able to load the new field.)

Keeping the field simple helps keep the frame rate high, which for
me is a key element in feeling like I'm controlling a real plane
and not just playing a lame computer game.  Also running the simulator
full-screen, not in a window, really helps (the tab key changes
back and forth between the two modes).

I added a few other features to the field which I don't use very much:
a backstop at 175m, and some markers for various maneuvers.  Turn them
off (or on) with Alt, P for airport, V for item visibility.  The key
ones are Runway and Box.  Everything else is optional or just plain
distracting.

I always fly with the main view in "look at ground" mode, and with
a second view window open in "binocular view".  

To do the first, hit Alt, then V for view, then G for "look at
ground".  This gives you a constant frame of reference for where
your plane is relative to the runway.  This is another big key to
flying pattern in a simulator.  It can make the plane impossibly
small in the main view, which is why I also use the binocular view.

For the binocular view, hit Alt, then V for view, then A for "create
new view".  When that window appears, click the little red ball in
the upper left corner to go to its options.  Click the tab "Viewport"
and select "Binocular View", and click OK to finish.  I keep this
window in the upper left of the main view, and the default size is
pretty good.  After it's set up, if you click on the main view the
green border of the binocular view window will go away leaving just a
constant-size plane in that corner.

The next step is setting up the Advanced Navguides window to show
you important information that you can't otherwise get through a
computer screen.  The one most essential datum is the plane's
distance from the desired flightline.  In my "Pattern Land" field,
the pilot is at X,Y coords 0,0, looking in the direction of positive
X.  I set all my measurements to Metric so I can use meters: Alt
then O for options, then M for miscellaneous, and select Metric.
This makes everything in RealFlight turn metric, which can be
irritating at times.  If you want to use feet instead just multiply
meters by 3.28 to get feet.

Bring up the Advanced Navguides window by hitting 0 (zero).  Then
click on the little red ball in its upper left corner.  This takes
you to a list of things you may want to have the window show.  You
can select what you like, like altitude, airspeed, stick position,
wind speed, and a lot of other things.  The one I think is most
important is "Aircraft: X position of Aircraft".  Scroll down and
select that one so it is highlighted and a check is in the box.  At
the bottom of the window you see Color, Font Size, and two check
boxes.  I make the font size 24.  Bigger is better here for ease
of visibility.  Make the Color red by clicking the color box (starts
out white) and clicking the reddest red you can find (upper left).
Select "Change color when value is between" and put in 125 and 175
(if you've not set RealFlight to be metric, multiply that by 3.28
to get feet).  Finally, make the color box to the right of that
white (it starts out yellow).

What this does is shows your aircraft's distance from the geometrical
plane the pilot is standing in, parallel to the flightline.  When
the distance is within 25m of 150m, the font is white.  When you
get too far out or too far in, it turns red, letting you know you're
not where you ought to be.

Other things I think are good to put in the Advanced Navguides are:
plane heading; the direction the pilot is looking (turns yellow
when the plane is outside the box, 30-150 degrees); and plane
altitude (turns yellow when the plane is below 45m or above 300m).
I also put in fuel remaining, distance to airplane, wind information,
and frames per second of the view (turns red below 30fps).  The
last one is good to reference so you can tune your graphics level
up and down to get near 60fps.  Alt, O for options, G for graphics
options.  Those of you with fast computers can turn everything up
to the max.  Slower computers require compromises.  My $800 laptop
can run this field with all the graphics options at the max at near
60fps except when the plane is very large in the view.  (Some people
will tell you anything over 24fps is unnecessary.  I like to err
on the generous side since I can.)

I created a 2m version of the UltraSport and put a modified engine
in it that runs more or less like the 140DZ.  Install it by saving
the .pln file from that link at the top to your RealFlight \ Planes
directory.  This plane flies somewhat like how my Focus flies, close
enough to practice the basics.  But don't imagine practicing this
way will get you "tuned in" to your plane the way actually burning
fuel does.  It's like flying a friend's plane with his transmitter
and no mixes.  You could use your own transmitter and the RealFlight
cable, so you'd get all the features, switches, and stick feel of
your favorite transmitter, but I don't do that right now.  You could
even take the logical step of putting your monitor up high and
standing in front of it with your neckstrap when you practice, just
like you'd do at the field.  If you're recreating the flying
experience, why sacrifice that simple detail?

I hope this makes sense to those of you who want to try it out.
I'm happy to answer questions and modify the way I'm practicing based
on your good feedback.

 - Jeff Snider
 - jeff at snider.com
 - Northern VA, NSRCA D2
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