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2020 LTS Keflavik news post draft: Difference between revisions
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Searching Wizard Island trip experience
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====Add more here...==== | ====Add more here...==== | ||
== | ===Trip experience posts=== | ||
====After release: Current release philosophy==== | ====Searching Wizard Island trip==== | ||
Wow, what a ride | |||
[https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=38528&start=45#p381482 Posted by: benih] | |||
[[File:Fgfs-20210212201500-wiz1.jpg|thumb|Arriving at the Island]] | |||
I'm glad I survived this.... but read yourself: | |||
I just tried the [[Suggested Flights#Searching%20Wizard%20Island|Searching Wizard Island trip]] from the suggested flights page. I used real weather which was a little turbulent at times with lots of clouds forming at about 8000ft but otherwise fine and only slow winds. A little chilly maybe, but more to that soon. | |||
The entire trip took about 50 minutes. After the pre-flight inspection, I started with my Cessna 182S and all was nice. The woods are really impressive and that's really a nice (but remote) place. | |||
Following the radial was easy and soon I faced some mountains, behind the beautiful lake with the island therein. | |||
Temperature was about freezing level and all systems were good. I took a round around the crater but then suddenly I noticed my airspeed doing weird things. And I lost some altitude, despite I was sure that I was nicely leveled and trimmed... | |||
Whats going on? Why are my wings so white??? | |||
[[File:Fgfs-20210212203048-wiz2.jpg|thumb|Trying to escape]] | |||
Suddenly I had a really serious problem! Obviously the moisture above the water did create icing on my plane and I slowly lost airspeed. The Pitot tube was obviously frozen, and I supposed also that the static ports where frozen. So while trying to maintain altitude and regain speed I readjusted the motor to max power, which helped me to at least not drop into the water; and I pulled the alt-static port knob to regain static pressure, and some time after that the airspeed indicator (ASI), Altimeter and vertical-speed indicator (VSI) got back to live. As I reestablished somewhat control of the flight, I realized that I will probably not get enough lift to cross the lakes ridges. Weather data suggested that at the lake there should be some wind coming from 330, so I figured that I may try to use ridge lift at the southwest side. Luckily that worked and I was able to gain about 300ft per minute, and I figured that I will get enough altitude to cross the lower ridges in the northeast. | |||
Then another problem: A routine control of the gauges revealed that my Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) is over limits due to the air intake clogged with ice. I promptly reduced engine power and added lots of mixture in order to try to cool the cylinders down. That worked without engine failure... Phew! | |||
Finally crossing the ridge made me sigh inside and I hoped that the remainder of the route will bring me into warmer air - the vague trip description in the wiki said the target airport is about 3300ft, so I had plenty of room to go down. Consequently I tried to stay near the ground - but not too low! And I constantly monitored the CHT gauge which was always near 500°F for the rest of the trip - that's at the red mark. | |||
This was really a gamble, because I did not know the route and the terrain - I just hoped that there will not be another ridge, but I was disappointed. | |||
So I tried to get enough power and established a small ascend - just enough to cross the treeline at the lowest part of the ridge. My backup plan was to just slowly fly circles until I get enough height, but I made it at the first attempt (150ft above ground level [AGL]...). | |||
[[File:Fgfs-20210212204503-wiz3.jpg|thumb|Airfield in sight! Thank god!]] | |||
From that on I just followed the valley down. Last time I noticed I was about 61 nautical mile (NM) away from the Klamath Falls VORTAC, but shortly before crossing the ridge the signal went unstable and ceased. | |||
I really needed the airport NOW. What did I know? I knew that the airfield is a grass strip and should be about 71 NM away from the VORTAC (thus about 10 NM from my position), and I flew about 80-90 knots, giving me roughly 5-8 minutes until I should be in the vicinity of the field. I also knew that I had wood everywhere, so I really need to take care not to get too close to the ground. I also knew the rough direction of the target since I tried to follow the radial closely until the point when the signal vanished - my conclusion was that the airfield must be somewhere in front of me, before the next far mountains, but nothing to see yet. | |||
I held my eyes simultaneously at the gauges to not overheat or get a problem with the flight parameters, and also on the outside. Woods, everywhere woods. Suddenly (the 10 minutes were long over, at least in my feeling [clock told otherwise, tough]) behind a hill - what is that? That looks like a clearing!? It is a clearing. Is that a road? Hmm, please let it be the airfield! Yes, its probably an airfield!!!! And - quickly recheck - the orientation looks good also! That must be it! | |||
[[File:Fgfs-20210212205212-wiz4.jpg|thumb|No Wizard to be found]] | |||
I corrected my course in order to fly nearly over the field, to be able to see the windsock. That was a little gusty, but no strong winds, and nearly aligned with the runway, so at least no crosswind landing in this circumstances. | |||
The approach was smooth and then I was able to land - its not that easy with the tall trees (and the C182S' damage by trees simulation) right in front of the runway, but it is really long enough for the C182S. | |||
Finally I made it out alive.... Cool what FlightGear can surprise you with nowadays. It was about 3°C there and the snow already sublimated and melted a little. Ah, b.t.w.: the Wizard was not on the island, or I didn't find him. | |||
==FlightGear Project news posts== | |||
==== After release: Current release philosophy==== | |||
Currently placeholder text. For publishing a longer time after the improvement posts. | Currently placeholder text. For publishing a longer time after the improvement posts. | ||
As of 2018.3 LTS, Flightgear has transitioned two release types: | As of 2018.3 LTS, Flightgear has transitioned two release types: | ||
# Long Term Stable (LTS) releases suitable for most users with a new featured airport | # Long Term Stable (LTS) releases suitable for most users with a new featured airport | ||
# Development preview releases | #Development preview releases | ||
There will be ''point releases'' containing bugfixes and minor updates for both release types. For example, 2018.3.6 was the 6th bugfix point release for the 2018.3 LTS - it was released in August 2020. | There will be ''point releases'' containing bugfixes and minor updates for both release types. For example, 2018.3.6 was the 6th bugfix point release for the 2018.3 LTS - it was released in August 2020. | ||
LTS releases will have bugfixes ported and the build maintained for longer. Development preview builds will be less stable, receive less testing, and are a bit more of a construction site where large structural changes are made to lay the foundations for the future. Some aircraft may not work on development releases. Power users can run multiple installs of Flightgear [ | LTS releases will have bugfixes ported and the build maintained for longer. Development preview builds will be less stable, receive less testing, and are a bit more of a construction site where large structural changes are made to lay the foundations for the future. Some aircraft may not work on development releases. Power users can run multiple installs of Flightgear [[:en:$FG_HOME#Power_Users|in parallel]]. | ||
There are minor improvements planned to the launcher UI in 2020.3 point releases. There are a lot of big changes already underway and planned after 2020.3 LTS, so if you are curious keep an eye on future development previews leading to the next LTS. | There are minor improvements planned to the launcher UI in 2020.3 point releases. There are a lot of big changes already underway and planned after 2020.3 LTS, so if you are curious keep an eye on future development previews leading to the next LTS. | ||
====After release: Project status==== | ==== After release: Project status==== | ||
More appropriate for another post a while after the release. This should provide a situation report for people that may be interested in contributing. | More appropriate for another post a while after the release. This should provide a situation report for people that may be interested in contributing. | ||
Items: WS 3.0, Compositor, OSM2City world build/tech improvements, in-sim UI replacement work, infrastructure for regular world builds, Australia shapefile revamp etc. etc. | Items: WS 3.0, Compositor, OSM2City world build/tech improvements, in-sim UI replacement work, infrastructure for regular world builds, Australia shapefile revamp etc. etc. | ||