FlightGear Newsletter February 2019
We would like to emphasize that the monthly newsletter can not live without the contributions of FlightGear users and developers. Everyone with a wiki account (free to register) is welcome to contribute to the newsletter. If you know about any FlightGear related news or projects such as for example updated scenery or aircraft, please do feel invited to add such news to the newsletter.
Development news
State Machine Parsing
Stuart has been finding the autopilot state machines absolutely fantastic for building complex autopilot logic for the FG1000. Thanks James!
Stuart has just committed a number of improvements to the state machine loader so that it will check for the correctness of the state machine at loading time and refuse to load incomplete state machines. Previously it would load malformed state machines, and then the sim would crash when it hit invalid states or transitions.
Now it will produce an error message indicating the state machine that is in error and the problem. In combination with Debug->Reload Autopilot this makes building a state machine much faster.
The downside of this is that if you've got an incomplete state machine, FlightGear will now refuse to load it.[1]
In the hangar
Updated aircraft
R22
The Robinson R22 helicopter has been updated by HHS in FGAddon. So the turning direction and position of the tailrotor has been fixed, coefficients of gear adjusted and the new "stiction"-tag added which prevents skidding on the ground in idle. All others values matches the original values given in the Pilot Operating Handbook. Also the shaders on the exterior had been fixed. With the now added replay-system you can watch your flight over and over again. The R22-fdm belongs to the more realistic ones in FlightGear-FGAddon, and had been tested successfully in the past by real pilots like the user "rastafioul" and "ranger8" from the forum. The one who can master a Robinson R22, can master any other helicopter as well.
The Ryan Navion has been updated in FGAddon. Changes include: - re-addition of the KAP140 autopilot, bugfixes to the autopilot - HSI (KI252a) mechanical behavior added - KNS80 display fixed - RMI (KI227) mechanical behavior added - ADF (KR87) display fixed - Transponder (KT70) display fixed - Comm/Nav radio (KX165) behavior fixed - Electrical system fixed - Views fixed - Turn Coordinator fixed - Avionics fixed - Addition of a 'B' model with a 260hp engine
IDG-A32X
it0uchpods has began the FMGC rework, which will make the MCDU function for managing the flightplan. It is still in a testing phase, but is expected to be available shortly for testing. This approach completely removes the Route Manager, in favor of a fully custom designed flightplan management system, which will replace it.
AI
AI traffic
The AI team makes FlightGear more realistic, colorful and lively every month. You can support the important development of Interactive Traffic and contribute at the FlightGear AI forums.
New AI Traffic in February included:
- Binter Canarias
- Lufthansa Cargo
- Canary Fly
- Update to Swiss and Helvetic
Scenery corner
Community news
FlightGear on YouTube
Wiki updates
Cessna 182S
The Cessna 182S is simulated in such a realistic way, that it many novice pilots have a lot of questions. So the article about Cessna 182S had been now extended with a FAQ, which should help to master this aircraft.
FlightGear on Facebook
Since early December 2010, FlightGear has an official Facebook page. If you have a Facebook account please feel free to join the page.
FlightGear on Google+
Since November 2011 there is a FlightGear page on Google+. If you haven't done so already, please add us to your circle and stay up to date on the latest FlightGear news, cool screenshots and release info.
FlightGear on Instagram
In January 2018 the @flightgear_sim Instagram account was brought back to life. If you've got nice screenshots to be featured, feel free to contact the maintainer.
FlightGear on FlightSim.com
Flightgear has also a sub-forum on flightsim.com - just like the commercial flightsims. It is an opportunity to showcase what FG can do, get people curious and answer any questions they may have with regard to the software or the project.
Multiplayer events
Contributing
Translators needed
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The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multilingual, you can start by looking at Help:Translate. |
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Le wiki de FlightGear a toujours besoin d'aide pour être traduit en différentes langues. Si vous êtes intéressé par le rendre multilingue, commencez par lire Help:Traduire. |
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Das FlightGear Wiki benötigt immer noch Hilfe bei der Übersetzung in verschiedene Sprachen. Wenn Du Interesse daran hast, das FlightGear Wiki mehrsprachig zu machen, dann fang mit dem Help:Übersetzen an. |
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De FlightGear Wiki kan nog steed hulp gebruiken bij het vertalen van artikelen. Als je interesse hebt om de wiki meertalig te maken, raden we je aan om een kijkje te nemen bij Help:Vertalen. |
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La wiki de FlightGear todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en Help:Traducir. |
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La wiki de FlightGear encara necessita ajuda per traduir-la a diverses llengües. Si esteu interessat en fer la wiki de FlightGear multilingüe, llavors comenceu a Help:Traduir. |
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A wiki de FlightGear ainda necessita de ajuda para traduzi-la em vários idiomas. Se estás interessado em tornar a wiki de FlightGear multi-lingual, por favor começa em Help:Traduzir. |
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FlightGear 百科仍然需要志愿者将其翻译为各种语言。如果你有兴趣让FlightGear百科支持更多语言, 你可以查看 Help:Translate. |
FlightGear logos
If you want some graphic elements for your FlightGear-related site (such as a hangar or YouTube channel), please feel free to visit FlightGear logos for a repository of logos. And if you have some art skills, please don't hesitate to contribute with your own design creations.
Screenshots
The FlightGear project always needs screenshots, which show features that were added since the last release. These should be of good quality, especially in content and technical image properties. It is therefore recommended to use the best viable filter settings (anti-aliasing, texture sharpening, etc.). More info at Howto:Make nice screenshots.
Screenshot of the Month
FlightGear's Screenshot of the Month February 2019 is Scramble, Scramble by Legoboyvdlp
If you want to participate in the screenshot contest , you can submit your candidate to this forum topic. Be sure to see the first post for participation rules. For purposes of convenience and organization, after all the entries have been submitted, a new forum topic will be started containing all shots in an easy-to-view layout. The voting will then take place there. Once the voting has finished, the best screenshot will be presented in the Newsletter.
Thanks for reading FlightGear Newsletter February 2019!
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