FlightGear Newsletter October 2018

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October 2018

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.

In the hangar

Updated aircraft

• Improvements to the aerodynamics of the custom Bombardier Q400 by it0uchpods
• The pushback system of the 787-9 has been fixed. Anti-ice switch bug and autopilot updates will be next.

Mirage 2000-5

Thanks to the work Necolatis did on the f16, the generic weapons systems is now on the mirage 2000 and this allows more realistic weapons. Harball made 3D models for real french loads such as the Exocet, AS30L, or AS37 martel. He also is improving the MICA missiles (EM and IR). Furthermore, FLIR is now available with the "PDLCT" and following the process, we can snipe a ground target and fire GPS/laser guided stuff at it.. (Thanks onox for the stabiliazation!)

Thanks to itouchpods, we have a new FBW on the aircraft. This is like a +300% improves than what I did with the sas before. FBW tunning is a science. He also tuned the autopilot and we reworked the terrain following AP, and this is awesome: We can fly, in AP at 600 kts at 300 feet above ground. Necolatis made a wonderful video on that:

There is some improvements on rain on the cockpit (thanks Hardball), ALS fog, ice and the mirror (Thanks Vic65) and afew things in the cockpit. Rudolf worked on the tacan on the right console. The Ejection seat, done by Necolatis on the F16 and Viggen is now on the mirage as well (Ctrl-e 3 times, as F6 is actually taken by the FLIR) And they implemented more stuff (radar update : radiating target will show up only when anti radiation missile are selected), the bugs found by vanosten have been corrected, and you can now choose to follow real or mag heading etc. You can follow development at the forums.

F-16

F-16 in dusk

The F-16 got an upgrade:

• Now has stores and 50+ liveries.
• Added dogfight scenario.
• Overhauled DED panel and added pages to it.
• Added dragchute.
• Added ejection seat.
• Overhauled HUD.
• Improvements and features to FBW system.
• Better radar.
• More MFD pages.
• Lots of other fixes and improvements.

Pipistrel Panthera

Pipistrel Panthera by Hardba11

Pipistrel Panthera as of early October

User Hardba11 (Nico) is working on a Pipistrel Panthera. Alhough this aircraft is just a few months old (first release in June) it already looks quite advanced and is great to fly. This month, two new versions have been released.

• choice of 2 fdm : yasim and jsbsim
• instruments improvments
• clickable gear, flaps
• clickable inhg button on altimeter
• an animated slip skid ball on the attitude indicator
• the attitude indicator made in nasal+canvas (as the real one is a lcd screen)
• the screen of glass cockpit by D-ECHO
• a lightweight glass cockpit
• improve lightweight left glass cockpit : added horizontal situation indicator
• added lightweight right screen with engine gauges (canva+nasal)
• added rudder and stick
• improved cockpit textures
• added missing switches
• clickables some buttons, switches and levers
• instruments light and floodlight

See also Pipistrel Panthera.

Hughes MD-500E

The FGUK teym released version 2.0 of their Hughes MD-500E. Next to a complete rework of the exterior they animated the front doors, updated rotor particle effect and livery specific levels of fuselage reflection. At the panel (which is now vibrating in flight) has all instruments working and allows radio navigation. They added ALS Glass effects, cockpit shadow and animated sticks, pedals and collective. The reworked FDM includes an emergency floating system. Now there is the full manual start up possible. You can download their helicopter at FGUK.eu.

Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel

FGUK released Version 2.5 of the Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel. They made some minor FDM tweaks mostly affecting tail authority and added an optional emergency Floatation system. A number of path and case issues that were affecting non windows versions got fixed. On the main switch panel are all indicator lights working on active switches. There are livery specific fuselage reflection effects and a FLIR view is available on FLIR equipped payloads. Download the Eurocopter at FGUK.eu.

IDG A32X

• flaps/slats connected to hydraulics with slow extension if there is any hydraulic or electric failure
• addition of variants
• Improvements to the weights allowing more realistic payload

See also IDG-A32X.

IDG MD-11X

• New variants
  
• flaps/slats connected to hydraulics
• AFS was overreacting, should be much more reliable now
• reworked LSAS and RCWS systems
• fixed the autoland system to lower nose gear gently
• ALS lights by legoboyvdlp

See also IDG-MD-11X.

MiG-21 development by PINTO

Currently live on master:

MiG-21

• The FDM has been greatly improved.
• The engine now surges with overspeed or over AoA, or with incorrect cone position (cone systems at 50% complete).
• Integrated ground controlled intercept over AI using OPRF assets.
• Smoke and contrails are prettier.
• The ARU (pitch limiter) is based on real values.
• Autostart is now available
• Multiple bug fixes

Coming soon (live on the dev branch):

• Weapon systems are nearing completion
• Pylon heating, addition of 12 new functional switches related to weapons
• Working IFF systems, IFF channel selector
• It is possible to jettison all stores, as well as perform a missile emergency release
• Checklists (HUGE thanks to Kokos for this)
• Drag due to stores
• Randomized startup states for several gauges and instruments, including fuel and INS
• Multiple bug fixes
• Reworked radar screen 3D
• Launcher rails based on selected payloads
• Chaff/Flare launcher 3D (and prep for the JATO units)
• Tutorial videos for the weapons systems

In addition, there are 5 new liveries thanks to Spectre Find out more at the forums.

737-800 Development

There have been many improvements to the 737-800 by Gabriel Hernandez

• Add warning and vspeed systems
• Improvements to the engine fire handles, optimization of the engien fire code
• Added autopush v1.0-rc
• New liveries
• JSB hydraulics system
• Improved fuel system, and other small things.

AI

The AI team makes FlightGear more realistic, colorful and lively every month. This month they updated UPS Traffic and Fleet as well as Cargolux. You can support the important development of Interactive Traffic and contribute at the FlightGear AI forums.

Scenery corner

Airports

AGGH Honiara International Airport
Catalanoic has developed the international airport of Honiara (AGGH), formerly known as Henderson Field, is an airport on Guadalcanal Island in the nation of Solomon Islands. It is the only international airport in the country and is located 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the capital Honiara.

Community news

Scripting in FlightGear

The advantage of using Nasal

Did you ever wonder why FlightGear has Nasal imlemented? There are many modern scripting languages out there, like Phyton or Javascript. And looking at performance c++ may be the best choice. So why we invented our own language? Hooray posted a great answer to the forum, bringing up performance, usability and historical reasons. Take a few minutes and read his post to the FlightGear Forums.

The Amazing FlightGear xml code

User sim compared FlightGears joystick xml code to other simulators:

The ability to write your own xml codes for your joystick in Flightgear really is streets ahead of other flight simulators and repays your effort tenfold when you take to the skies! — sim

Read the full post at the FlightGear Forums

FlightGear on YouTube

What intel graphics can archive - A flight without graphics card

2 Lynx and a Wildcat went on a trip from France to Belgium and were joined by a Tiger

OSM2city is AWESOME!

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

Upcoming events

World's Challenging Approaches

User V12 has planned "World's Challenging Approaches - 10. This time the event takes place at LPMA "Madeira - Runway on the poles" (Santa Cruz, Portugal) Take off is on Saturday, November, 17th. 2018, 1600Z at LXGB (Gibraltar) with Airliners similar to B737, A320 or Concorde. Wikipedia wrote:

The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. (...) In 2000, the runway was extended to 2,781 m (9,124 ft). As landfill was not a realistic option, the extension was built on a platform, partly over the ocean, supported by 180 columns, each about 70 m (230 ft) tall. — Wikipedia.org

Visit the forums to learn more about the Event.

FlightGear events

FSWeekend

FSweekend 2018

Each year, a number of FlightGear people get together to display FlightGear at FSWeekend FSWeekend at the Aviodrome Aviodrome in The Netherlands. This year FSweekend 2018 takes place on 3 and 4 November and we will be demonstrating a number of different exhibits:

• James will be bringing his 737 cockpit, which includes a pilot side panel and central console.
• Isaac and Stuart are building a Lockheed Super Constellation cockpit with 8 screens and a projector. We've created a simple scenario where visitors will be able to land the Connie at Lelystad airport, where Aviodrome is located. Our booth will be located underneath the Aviodrom's own Super Constellation, so visitors can relate directly to what they are doing!
• Michael will be demonstrating ATC-pie, and we will run a couple of longer demonstrations with both the 737 and Connie under ATC control.
• Finally, Durk may be doing some talks about FlightGear within a 747!

Contributing

Translators needed

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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 October 2018 is Launch Day by GinGin

If you want to participate in the screenshot contest of November, 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 edition of November.

Thanks for reading FlightGear Newsletter October 2018!

References