Simulator speed mode not properly set

[Mark Jansen]

Hi everyone,

 

First of all, thanks for the update!

 

I'm presently testing the simulator. It appears there is an issue with the speed mode in the simulator. First of all: I'm not sure how to set the speed mode (=, <=, => or free) using the tag or the ribbon. Obviously I can change the speed itself, but not the mode. It can be done using the legacy simulator training dialog but it actually does not remember the mode that is selected. For example, if I set the speed to 180 using the legacy dialog box and select = as the speed mode, the mode often directly reverts to another mode. Please give it a try to see what I mean.

 

Is this a bug?

 

Also, I've noticed that speeds on final are unrealistically low. An A319 or A320 does 113 IAS on final, an E145 does 107! I've seen comparable performance on other aircraft. I'm using built-in speeds (aircraft performance in scenario file deleted).

 

Mark Jansen

Dutch VACC

[Martin Jacobsen]

Hello,

 

Seems like I have the same issue, speed mode is stuck in [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igned speed or less. E.g. 160 knots or less, and when I try to select a different mode it just jumps back. Also having some issues with transfering the simulation of an A/C. The pilot who recieves the simulation is unable control the A/C properly. For example the aircraft doesn't stop pushing back where the pilot selected.

 

Martin Jacobsen

CoT Norway

Vatsim Scandinavia

[Eric Bocaneanu 906549]

Hallo Mark & Martin,

 

Your answer lies here: http://www.euroscope.hu/mediawiki/index.php?title=Running_a_simulator_session#Status_Ribbon

[Mark Jansen]

Your answer lies here: http://www.euroscope.hu/mediawiki/index ... tus_Ribbon

 

Allight, I see that the speed can also be controlled by the ribbon but that's only part of the question.

 

What about the wrong speeds on final? And what about the behaviour of the speed mode in the legacy dialog box?

 

Mark Jansen

[Eric Bocaneanu 906549]

Mark,

 

The manual also answers to your question: "[the] obsolete "Simulator (Training) Dialog Box". This was the main way to control the simulation in version 3.1. It has been kept for legacy but some things may not work correctly in it."

 

As for the speed problem, I'll have to check this version but past versions had a right speed on approach. There is also an IAS variability that may impact your speed slightly.

[Mark Jansen]

Hi Eric,

 

The manual also answers to your question: "[the] obsolete "Simulator (Training) Dialog Box". This was the main way to control the simulation in version 3.1. It has been kept for legacy but some things may not work correctly in it."

 

It's unclear to me what your role is (are you a beta tester or part of the project team?) but what you're saying above is a little too easy. As if the ribbon is handy at all. You'll need 3 clicks too many to get where you wanna be and even then there are situations where you don't have the overview. What if you're running an APP scenario only and want to get aircraft airborne? They'll pop up in squawk standby mode on the ground so you can't even see their callsign looking at the radar. How would I even be able to give them a take off command without the overview of the dialog box?

 

Mark Jansen

Instructor & Events Coordinator Dutch VACC

[Eric Bocaneanu 906549]

Mark,

 

I am a bit of both. The concept for the simulator is the ribbon to host all the functions in a structured and intuitive way (not necessarily quick to access) while the tag to have the most used functions. Indeed as of now there is no "speed rule" function available for the tag but most likely almost all of the simulator functions will be available in the tag optionally. For now my recommendation is to keep the STATUS ribbon open so you have quick access to the speed restriction type command so instead of 2 (not 3) clicks you will only need one. The rest of the features needed for radar are available in the tag.

 

So for example for departures which are on Standby (by the way, the auto mode is still there) you can use the Departure list to see departures. You can either select them and go to the ribbon or to make things even easier add the optional "Simulator takeoff" tag command to a departure list element. Then you will just click, then and select Takeoff.

 

I understand there is a bit of a transition but in the end you may find that this is easier to use.

[Martin Jacobsen]

Well, didn't really answer my question. I am pressing the button to change the speed mode, but it just jumps back to the "or less" mode. So I am stuck there and can't change to for example exact speed or the "or more". Also is it possible to transfer the simulation from one pseudo pilot to another? When I did it the recieving pseudo pilot couldn't control the aircraft properly (aircraft doesn't stop pushback and doesn't taxi where they are supposed to).

[Eric Bocaneanu 906549]

Martin, are you using the ribbon to control this or the big window simulator dialog box?

[Gergely Csernak]

In ribbon pressing the speed mode should change the mode in a loop. It seems that the set value is returning immediately to less than. I was reported this by Zsolt as well. This is a bug to be fixed.

[Gergely Csernak]

I was trying to reproduce this issue, but it was not a complete success. The only thing I found was that the internal logic of speed type setting did not work correctly and always set it to "less than". But it occurred only when the speed was free and you set a new speed value. If you set speed type before the actual speed then all worked well for me. Can you confirm this?

I fixed the issue I found. So when the speed is free and you set a speed value, the type is set to "less than" or "greater than" depending on the value itself. I also changed that IAS variation works only more than 2000 feet above the airport. So the speeds on final will always be the one from the performance data.

[Mark Jansen]

Hi Gergely,

 

Thanks. And have you also monitored the final approach speeds apart from the variation? I am able to reproduce that, for example, an A319 always flies a speed of 106 from approx 4 miles final to touchdown (ground speed!). This is way too slow. Normal speeds would probably be around 130-140. Same behaviour for an E145 and other medium sized traffic. I don't believe the internal variation is responsible for such a big gap between the actual and realistic speed.

 

Also, I have a feature request. I would like to be able to cross a waypoint at a specific altitude. For example, when a descent clearance is issued, I would like to be able to cross ARTIP @ FL 100 (or below) / (or above) / (when ready).

 

Aditionally, a more user friendly solution needs to be found for conflict management in radar simulations. It's totally useless to have a conflict or even crash mode. I'm a professional pseudo pilot in the Netherlands and our real world sims do not even have crash option. What's the educational purpose or physically letting aircraft crash in a simulation? The only thing it causes is a lot of discomfort from unintentional behaviour of this feature (like it already does).

 

Finally, as said before, the way to control aircraft by the ribbon might be user-friendly for noob pseudo pilots, it's not speedy enough in a busy scenario. Especially if amending a route is in a different part of the ribbon than changing the speed mode. What works best (fastest) is being able to phsycially enter numbers to control the aircraft combined with macro's. F5 for level change, F6 for speed, F7 cleared approach, F8 heading change. Those are the basic features. It might sound old fashioned controlling aircraft by keyboard but it's the fastest way.

 

Feel free to contact me in case you need more information or are willing to brainstorm. I'm more than willing to help!

 

Mark

[Eric Bocaneanu 906549]

Hi Mark,

 

I believe you can edit the route field to add FIXXX/14000 while running the scenario. It's not ideal and it does not have below/above capability but it should do the trick.

 

The crash detection has been implemented solely for ground simulation where it triggers a crash effect (explosion) in the 3D renderer. It should be extremely difficult to get the exact same altitude and position in the air since the aircraft is only a couple of meters wide. But in any case there have been requests to disable it completely even on the ground and likely to be implemented.

 

As for the Pseudopilot UI: I am not a big believer in using the keyboard. Unless you do something every day it's bound to be forgotten quickly. Sure, it won't hurt to be on option. But I envision the ribbon to be the place to hold everything (not the label as other sims do), the tag to hold the most used items, and I see us adding an on screen window where you can add any item from the ribbon in a single Favorites tab which is always visible and which can be positioned near the area of work. That way you can have speed restriction and pause close but still keep the tag clean and uncluttered. How does that sound?

 

Which software do you work on as pseudopilot? Micronav's BEST or ADACEL by any chance?

[Gergely Csernak]

Thanks. And have you also monitored the final approach speeds apart from the variation? I am able to reproduce that, for example, an A319 always flies a speed of 106 from approx 4 miles final to touchdown (ground speed!). This is way too slow. Normal speeds would probably be around 130-140. Same behaviour for an E145 and other medium sized traffic. I don't believe the internal variation is responsible for such a big gap between the actual and realistic speed.

 

The landing speed is just calculated as 2/3 rd of the performance descend speed. The default performance for A319 looks like this:

PERFLINE:030:200:220:170:0:0:0:2500:1200

 

From this 170*2/3=113. Shall we increase?