New to FlightGear: Difference between revisions

One of the most frequent questions novice pilots ask about any flight sim, but more so to FlightGear, is "why is my aircraft turning left all the time?" Although it could be due to wind gusts crossing the runway, it is more likely due to the increased realism FlightGear provides. In a certain other flight simulator, some settings are turned down to make the aircraft easier to fly. This reduces effects such as propeller torque and p-factor, which may be the cause of the tendency to turn to the left (to figure out which effect, you may read more in [[Understanding Propeller Torque and P-Factor]]).

Despite marketing slogans to the contrary, some flight simulators are aimed at a casual game player market, and ship with their "realism" turned down. The realism is always turned up in FlightGear.

FlightGear offers a great deal of realism, which may be confusing to first time pilots.

* Compass Turning Error: A compass, when subjected to the forces of flight, tends to turn in the opposite direction for a brief period before settling on the correct heading. This is not a malfunction.

* The Vertical Speed Indicator is also subject to error.

* The Horizontal Situation Indicator is driven by a gyroscope (that is why it's sometimes called a Directional Gyroscope), which is subject to a phenomenon called gyro drift. For a number of reasons, the gyro will drift from its current heading and must be periodically (about every 15 minutes) calibrated to agree with the magnetic compass heading.

 

=== Flying using navigational aids and the autopilot ===

To make this very clear for new users: Some aircraft require you to use the [[autopilot]] available from the Autopilot menu, which is the original FlightGear autopilot. This is a '''generic''' autopilot and as such, many aircraft come with their own '''specific''' autopilot, frequently a model of the real life one. '''For aircraft that provide their own autopilot in the cockpit, you must use the autopilot controls available in the virtual cockpit'''. This means clicking on the instrument panel in the virtual cockpit. The Autopilot menu will be grayed out and unavailable when the aircraft supplies its own autopilot (generally).

 

FlightGear, as of version 0.9.9, comes with a "built-in" autopilot. The Autopilot dialog accessible from the FlightGear toolbar in the main FlightGear window does not work with all aircraft. It only works with aircraft that either

* do not specify an autopilot

* use the default autopilot. When an aircraft does not specify an autopilot, the default is used.

For aircraft that supply their own autopilot, you must use the autopilot controls in the 2D or virtual cockpit. The Cessna comes with a KAP140 autopilot in its virtual cockpit. You cannot use the Autopilot dialog with this aircraft. It has no effect. You must use the autopilot device in the panel.

For help with navigation see [[Understanding Navigation]].

When you first start FlightGear, whether from the command line or the graphical interface, you may wonder how to determine what airports are available. FGRun displays a list of airports, but you will not see details such as tower or [[ILS]] frequencies. You will not find a map showing [[VOR]]s and their frequencies. Short of finding an actual sectional map for the area you wish to fly, what can you do?

[http://maps.google.com Google Maps] and the [[MPMap|FlightGear Online Map for multiplayers]] are both good resources as well as the FlightGear [http://fgfs.i-net.hu/modules/fgplanner/ Community Flight Planner].