Flightsim. II

FLIGHT NOTES - 2


NEWS.

The big news this month is that we have a new scenery disk.
Scenery disk 9 covers Chicago,Illinois - St.Louis,Missouri and
Cincinnati, Ohio. It is said to be the best of the disks so far
and Chicago now features another six buildings to those included
on the simulator program disk. There are masses of airports. Next
time around I hope to include a full review.

According to a product leaflet that I have received from
subLOGIC another disk is due on 15th September (this is being
written on 9th Sept.) but don't hold your breath. It appears that
we are last in the pecking order with the PC being first, then the
Amiga and ourselves following. The Amiga sells better in the USA
than our beloved ST. Scenery disk 12, when it arrives, will
will contain New England, Halifax, Montreal & New York.


DID YOU KNOW?

That the first Cessna Skylane was built in 1956 and, with
various modifications, production continued until 1985.

Nearly 22,000 were sold but less than 2,100 were your very
latest RGII model with retractable gear and a turbocharged Avco
Lycoming 235 hp six cylinder engine fitted with a constant speed
propellor.

Wing span is 35'10" and length 28'8". Empty weight 1845 lbs
and maximum take-off weight is 3100 lbs. Max speed 215 mph at
20,000 feet (the certified ceiling) and the range is 1,186 miles
at 10,000 feet. This includes a 45 minute fuel reserve.

You could, therefore, fly your Cessna for five hours at one
sitting but I guess that you are unlikely to do that. Maybe when
you have more scenery disks?

Finally, we can take three passengers and, if we fit the
optional rear jump seat, a couple of children. Come on, what's
holding you back?

BOOKS FOR USE WITH FLIGHT SIMULATOR II.

Flight Sim. II is a marvellous program but to get the best
from it you need help and particularly with handling the aircraft.
Fortunately you are well taken care of for Microsoft Press (a
division of the Microsoft Corporation) have published three books
all written by Charles Gulick. He is a qualified pilot and
therefore knows what he is writing about, moreover he has a nice
light style with touches of humour. You always feel that you want
to read more. These books are:_

Flying Flight Simulator UK £7.95 USA $9.95

Runway USA " "

Flight Simulator Co-Pilot " "

They were written with the Atari ST in mind so buy them all
if you can for I don't think you'll regret it. In case of
difficulty these books can be obtained directly from Penguin Books
Ltd. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England.

Charles Gulick also wrote "40 Great Flight Simulator
Adventures" and "40 More Great...." before the days of the ST but
they are still just as valid. Some of the instructions that have
to be entered via the editor on the earlier Atari's are not under-
stood by folk like myself unfamiliar with those machines, eg.
"Change Slew to 1 for this mode" but in the main there are not any
problems. These two books are published by Compute! Publications
Inc. PO Box 5406, Greensboro, North Carolina 27403, USA.

Compute! also publish three more books for the simulator:-

Flying on Instruments with Flight Simulator (Jonathan M.Stern)

Learning to fly with Flight Simulator (John Rafferty)

Flight Simulator Adventures (Florance, Halfhill & Nelson)

Books published by Compute! often become unavailable in the
UK, maybe because stockists allow themselves to run out. At any
rate I have waited four or five months for some of these titles so
check before you order. Mine were obtained from Page 6, P.O. Box
54, Stafford, ST16 1DR. The first title is £9.95 and the other two
are £12.95 each. More about the contents next time around.

If anyone knows of any more useful books for use with Flight
Simulator then please let me know.

HOW GOOD A PILOT ARE YOU?

OK so you got your pilot's licence and think that you're a
big shot now, but cash is short and you need a job. You see a
small advertisement by Statarian Airways of Kankakee who need a
pilot for their shuttle service to Chicago. Their offices at the
airport are just twelve miles away so you decide to call and find
out more.

The old guy that runs the show has had plenty of experience;
he looks you up and down and seems unimpressed with your record
(he would be, would'nt he?) but agrees to give you a trial with
him sitting beside you.

You have to make a return trip to Chicago (Meigs) within the
space of one hour. He tells you that there is no time to spare for
going round again if you overshoot or for hanging about whilst on
the ground. You feel your palms go sweaty. He goes on to say that
with this service passengers and baggage are disembarked and new
ones embarked in under ten minutes - total! Can you do it? We
shall see.

While you cool off let me tell you that Kankakee is an Indian
word meaning wolf-land for the Mohicans were hereabouts and they
named it so. You hope that you will turn out to be a brave, and
not get taken by the wolves.

Get set.

From the NAV menu select POSITION SET and enter:-

N. 16845.432 E. 16596.780 Altitude 0

From the VIEW menu select SET SPOT PLANE and click on rear
view, distance 200 ft. altitude 20 ft. and transition fast.

Press S and you will see that you are near the terminal and
there is a taxiway ahead and slightly to the right of you.

Switch engine off and set clock to 08.50

-----------------

Experienced armchair (or other) pilots can skip the rest and
try their luck using subLOGIC's Chicago area chart and
on-screen information from control towers. For those that
would like more detail and some help please read on.

-----------------
MAP.

Highway and other information has been obtained from the
Gousha/Chek-Chart Road Map of Illinois (15 miles to the inch). It
also has larger scale maps of Chicago and vincinity (4.5 miles to
the inch) and a street plan of central Chicago which pinpoints
the two buildings you will see when flying, ie.the Sears Tower
(the tallest building in the world) and the John Hancock Centre.
It also shows the runway at Meigs. From this map you judge that
Chicago is about 55 miles from Kankakee. This map is also useful
for the new scenery disk 9 as it includes St.Louis, Missouri.

SETTING MORE PARAMETERS.

Some of the following will assist with better control of the
aircraft.

File menu. Deselect Orient marker and Titles On Windows

Sim menu. Deselect Auto Co-ord

Click on Realism and enable everything except
Elevator Trim.

Nav menu. Select Map Display (or press F3) and resize this
window to about one inch square and move it to
the right hand corner just above the instrument
panel.

Set COM to Kankakee Control Tower frequency of 123.0

Compass heading. Should be about 312 degrees.

NAV 1. Set to 111.6

Mouse. Use cursor mode

Engine. If running switch off by using keyboard key 1

Trim. Using the keypad give key 2 five quick then four
slow presses. This is elevator trim for take-off.

Clock. Re-set to 8.50

Situation menu. Select SAVE AND NAME to save you the bother
of doing all this again if you should crash.
I call my file KANKAKEE PARK but you can
choose your own name. Don't forget to SAVE
RAM to disk if you want to keep this file.

You walk around the aircraft checking the control surfaces
and kick the tyres (but wish you had'nt) and the boss bawls that
it's 8.55 and we gotta go man.

Switch on the engine and press keypad 9 three times. Steer
for the taxiway ahead using the rudder pedals (<) and (>) and turn
right at the first intersection. Don't go on the grass or the boss
will mark you down. When you're on the long straight that
parallels the runway you can increase throttle by three more
notches, but start to slow down after you cross the runway ahead
of you. Brake if necessary to do your first left turn heading up
to runway 22. Stop just before the runway and do your pre-flight
check. Set flaps to 10 deg. All OK and you have clearance from the
tower for take-off. Roll onto the runway and straighten up on the
centre line. Now increase throttle smoothly to full power. The
aircraft will take off by itself at about 80 knots but if the end
of the runway looms then press key 2 on the keypad.

As soon as you see your climb indicator start to register
raise gear and then return flaps to normal. Reduce rate of climb
to 500 ft.min by using keys 8 and 3 at the same time turning onto
course 011. Level out at 2000 feet with revs at 2000. You will
cross the River Kankakee at DME 2.O (You did notice that it was
registering 0.2 during your pre-flight check, did'nt you?).

Ahead of you highway 57 is heading straight for Chicago.

When your DME shows 17 you will see Frankfort airport ahead
and to port, but it's still ten miles away. You should pass
between it and the highway which, provided you have strictly
maintained course 011, will be just to your right.

At 09.11 (DME 35) you are nearing highway 80 which goes
east-west and, if you had enough scenery disks, you could turn to
port and follow it all the way to San Francisco.

Further ahead lies highway 55 which goes to within two miles
of Meigs airport. Check your altimeter - are you still at 2000 ft
and flying level at 2000 rpm?

0915 (DME 47) and you can see the skyscrapers on the horizon.
Meigs is a white strip on the coastline over to your right or
perhaps it's the 12th street beach alongside the airport.

Maintain course 011 but switch to COM frequency 121.3 and you
should get Meigs field information telling you that runway 18 is
in use. This is almost the reciprocal of the course you are flying
now.

9.17 (DME 54) Lower gear as you pass the Hancock building.
Use key 2 to keep the nose up but you need to lose some height now
and be at about 1400 ft. when you reach the coast. You know from
the chart that the altitude at Meigs is 592 so click on the
altimeter knob to ensure that you are getting the correct reading
for the current barometric pressure.

As you pass the spit of land that juts out into the sea, DME
60, (watch your map display) and commence a sharp bank to the
right press > and key 6 five times together then centre the
controls after a few seconds. Maintain the turn until you can see
the Sears Tower ahead and Meigs field beyond it. Course should be
about 165/170 degs. Apply 10 deg. of flap.

Pass the building on the seaward side and commence lining up
with the runway. Reduce height at 500 ft.min. to ensure an early
touchdown. Apply further 10 deg. of flap and watch your airspeed.

You should be at 1000 ft. or less as you begin overflying the
stretch of water immediately before the airport. Put carb heat on.
(Key I) and increase flaps to 30 degrees.

As you flare out apply full flap and turn carb heat off.

You should have landed at 09.25 (DME 55). Brake and turn
right off of the runway, then right again and follow the taxiway
to the terminal building. Switch off on arrival, 09.27. Phew!

======

Switch on and commence taxiing 09.33 for take off at 09.35.
Immediately you are airborne, commence a right hand turn onto
course 192. Climb to 2000 ft. and maintain 2000 rpm to cruise at
135/138 knots. Set VOR 1 to 220 - you may need this if you can't
find the airport.

At DME 5 lower gear and get ready for landing - as you cross
the Kankakee river (DME 2) look slightly right for the dark area
that is your home field. You have permission for a direct-in
approach and landing on runway 22.

You landed at 09.53 and were back at the terminal at 09.54.

Well done - you got the job.

A HELPFUL LITTLE BUG.

If you run out of runway at Meigs or don't turn right sharply
enough when clearing it you will find yourself in Lake Michigan.
You wait for the inevitable splintered screen and a return to base
but it does'nt happen. Unbeknown to you your Cessna has now
acquired floats and you can taxi, Catalina like, back onto dry
land where your wheels will again come into play. Don't make a
practice of it though.


SUGGESTIONS/PROBLEMS/NEWS.

All are welcome. Please write to:-


Ken Butler (The Ancient Statarian)
"Three Coins"
10, Greenway.
Middleton-on-Sea,
West Sussex,
PO22 7TJ.
ENGLAND.


See ya. Happy landings.