Post by Dutch Owen on Dec 14, 2013 12:54:06 GMT -5
The last few weeks (or even days) have been good for those of us who like to simulate this experience with as much authenticity as practical. Specifically, for us Captains who fly for airlines that use the Acme Dispatch system, we have (or will soon if you haven't tried the beta yet) a full simulation of winter icing. As for everyone, Active Sky Next brings a whole new (for me at least) level of realism to turbulence and visibility that makes FSX a whole new sim experience. I'll tell you this tale, from about an hour ago.
Today is the day for a test flight in the new MilViz 737-200 V2, to see if the ISG nav system will work reliably in it, and to see if the pressure system has been fixed so that FSCaptain can use it on the interface. So, a test flight of about an hour at FL300 into KATL Atlanta Hartsfield is on order.
It's rainy at ATL today, 500 foot overcast. No problem, that's 100 feet above the standard Acme minimums and I don't have a problem with it. Solid overcast over the airport, but I'm used to that, right? Temps mean there's a possibility of ice but probability is low.
The climb and cruise was normal (that's a phrase you often see in accident reports isn't it?) except both test failed -- ISG won't reliably drive the MV732 heading bug and nothing I could do would make it reliable, and the pressurization system is better in that it initially appears to work but actually doesn't, not like a 737-200, and not like anything we can use in FSCaptain if we don't want our PAX to asphyxiate with busted eardrums. But I'm not here to talk about that.
Cleared down to 4000 and it's gray down there. I'm using ASN, something I've done a couple of times but it's brand new to me. Not in a jet in a solid overcast. We enter the cloud and visibility is zero. Not the sorta zero but I can still sense the outlines of the ground, and see clouds rolling past of FSX past. Inside a grayish ping pong ball zero, with nothing moving outside. No visual reference whatsoever. On instruments is on instruments.
Hey, that's what the ILS is for, right? But, did I say nothing moving? We're on the localizer and about 5 miles from the glipeslope alive when bang, bang. Bang...shudder...lurch...bang, bang. The needles are lurching around. This is not your father's turbulence. Not the gentle rocking and occasionally chop of FSX being nice about it. This will get your attention, especially if you have AccuFeel to render the sounds of things bouncing around the cockpit (at least that's what the symphony of groans, bangs and squeaks sound like!)
The Sperry 77 flights for control, but there isn't much. But it's not continuous. There are short periods of relative calm and we think we're through it then bang, bang, bang lurch shudder again and we're 10 degrees off the centerline and 200 feet high. And can see nothing, nothing nothing but we're approaching the glideslope alive point and I'm wondering if there's any way I can land this jet in this turb, if indeed we come out anywhere near the runway with all this buffeting.
It's not rocking like we're used to; it's rocking, and bucking, and sudden lurches. It feels exactly like strong turbulence on final, if you've ever experienced that on a real flight. It's scary, if not terrifying to be the responsible one on the pointy end.
Suddenly, it gets worse. I'm at Vref, sort of, but suddenly the stick shaker rattles, like a series of sudden sharp bursts of machine-gun fire. It feels like we're under fire. I spool up the engines to get a margin above vref and the bursts stop. I should have had that margin, but, well, I've never really needed it before. That's what realism is all about. Consequences.
We tip over on the glideslope and about 500 feet down the shaking and rattling slowly dies off and the air becomes smoother. I realize my pulse rate is pretty high. The autopilot is trying to get us back on the beam, but the turb knocked us off. PLus, now we're too fast because of that margin I'd shot in, so I need to slow us down fast. It's hard to slow an airplane, a heavy fast one, down fast.
And we can still see nothing, still inside a ping pong ball. But at least we're just having a little light chop now!
I'm used to FSX and its sort of friendly way of handling an "overcast" where you can really see through it and see the rabbit pulsing down there from a couple miles up, then gradually acquire the runway environment in plenty of time to adjust.
Here, nothing at the 1000 foot call. Nothing at the 500 foot call. I mean nothing but the sound of the rain beating on the windshield (how I miss the FS9 rain effects!) and a blank wall of light gray. Is this really KATL or am I headed for a cornfield?
Suddenly, at about 300 feet, the entire airport, partly shrouded in misty rain, pops into view. I mean pops! Wow I have never seen anything like that in FSX or FS9. I'm slightly to the right and a little low. Very little time for adjustment but I keep steady and work us over for a smooth landing on 26L.
It's only headed for the gate that I realize I'm sweating. Actually sweating slightly in front of the screen and keyboard.
And this was a fairly normal landing in a fairly normal overcast!
It's a whole new world of realism out there. I feel like I've been waiting for this a long time. Later on I'll tell you a few icing stories -- not quite so dramatic, because I try and avoid drama in the air when possible!
Dutch
Today is the day for a test flight in the new MilViz 737-200 V2, to see if the ISG nav system will work reliably in it, and to see if the pressure system has been fixed so that FSCaptain can use it on the interface. So, a test flight of about an hour at FL300 into KATL Atlanta Hartsfield is on order.
It's rainy at ATL today, 500 foot overcast. No problem, that's 100 feet above the standard Acme minimums and I don't have a problem with it. Solid overcast over the airport, but I'm used to that, right? Temps mean there's a possibility of ice but probability is low.
The climb and cruise was normal (that's a phrase you often see in accident reports isn't it?) except both test failed -- ISG won't reliably drive the MV732 heading bug and nothing I could do would make it reliable, and the pressurization system is better in that it initially appears to work but actually doesn't, not like a 737-200, and not like anything we can use in FSCaptain if we don't want our PAX to asphyxiate with busted eardrums. But I'm not here to talk about that.
Cleared down to 4000 and it's gray down there. I'm using ASN, something I've done a couple of times but it's brand new to me. Not in a jet in a solid overcast. We enter the cloud and visibility is zero. Not the sorta zero but I can still sense the outlines of the ground, and see clouds rolling past of FSX past. Inside a grayish ping pong ball zero, with nothing moving outside. No visual reference whatsoever. On instruments is on instruments.
Hey, that's what the ILS is for, right? But, did I say nothing moving? We're on the localizer and about 5 miles from the glipeslope alive when bang, bang. Bang...shudder...lurch...bang, bang. The needles are lurching around. This is not your father's turbulence. Not the gentle rocking and occasionally chop of FSX being nice about it. This will get your attention, especially if you have AccuFeel to render the sounds of things bouncing around the cockpit (at least that's what the symphony of groans, bangs and squeaks sound like!)
The Sperry 77 flights for control, but there isn't much. But it's not continuous. There are short periods of relative calm and we think we're through it then bang, bang, bang lurch shudder again and we're 10 degrees off the centerline and 200 feet high. And can see nothing, nothing nothing but we're approaching the glideslope alive point and I'm wondering if there's any way I can land this jet in this turb, if indeed we come out anywhere near the runway with all this buffeting.
It's not rocking like we're used to; it's rocking, and bucking, and sudden lurches. It feels exactly like strong turbulence on final, if you've ever experienced that on a real flight. It's scary, if not terrifying to be the responsible one on the pointy end.
Suddenly, it gets worse. I'm at Vref, sort of, but suddenly the stick shaker rattles, like a series of sudden sharp bursts of machine-gun fire. It feels like we're under fire. I spool up the engines to get a margin above vref and the bursts stop. I should have had that margin, but, well, I've never really needed it before. That's what realism is all about. Consequences.
We tip over on the glideslope and about 500 feet down the shaking and rattling slowly dies off and the air becomes smoother. I realize my pulse rate is pretty high. The autopilot is trying to get us back on the beam, but the turb knocked us off. PLus, now we're too fast because of that margin I'd shot in, so I need to slow us down fast. It's hard to slow an airplane, a heavy fast one, down fast.
And we can still see nothing, still inside a ping pong ball. But at least we're just having a little light chop now!
I'm used to FSX and its sort of friendly way of handling an "overcast" where you can really see through it and see the rabbit pulsing down there from a couple miles up, then gradually acquire the runway environment in plenty of time to adjust.
Here, nothing at the 1000 foot call. Nothing at the 500 foot call. I mean nothing but the sound of the rain beating on the windshield (how I miss the FS9 rain effects!) and a blank wall of light gray. Is this really KATL or am I headed for a cornfield?
Suddenly, at about 300 feet, the entire airport, partly shrouded in misty rain, pops into view. I mean pops! Wow I have never seen anything like that in FSX or FS9. I'm slightly to the right and a little low. Very little time for adjustment but I keep steady and work us over for a smooth landing on 26L.
It's only headed for the gate that I realize I'm sweating. Actually sweating slightly in front of the screen and keyboard.
And this was a fairly normal landing in a fairly normal overcast!
It's a whole new world of realism out there. I feel like I've been waiting for this a long time. Later on I'll tell you a few icing stories -- not quite so dramatic, because I try and avoid drama in the air when possible!
Dutch