[X-Plane dead battery workaround]

So let's say you are like me and like to set up the GPS before turning on the engine to save fuel. After fiddling, cup of coffee, and chatterbox with your family, you get ready to turn on your engine. It won't work, the props can't even make rotation. Congrats, you drained your battery and no longer had the volts needed to crank it over.

Worse still, the failure menu shows everything good, and failing low battery and fixing does nothing.

 

The ground services mod has an external gpu, but it is visual only! It will not affect your battery charge. How do you fix?

 

1. Fail your battery voltage high option.

2. Pretend you hooked up the GPU and start engine.

3. Set the battery voltage high to working.

4. Turn on alternator

There you go, quick battery fix without reloading your plane

[My P2 Present to myself: Virtual Cessna World Trip]

I will be starting a world trip in X-plane, flying the Cessna I had been training on and passed my P2 with (Yah!)  I plan to live stream each leg, and hope that the streaming software behaves itself I will use this thread to let you know on my progress, when I am flying each leg ahead of time, so anyone who wants to join, or follow along can! Here is my planned route

 

    Australia to PNG
1    YBAF -> YBRK
2    YBRK -> YPAM
3    YPAM -> YCOE
4    YCOE -> YHID
5    YHID -> AYPY
    
    PNG to Indonesia
6    AYPY -> AYMN
7    AYMN ->    AYTB (TBG)
8    AYTB -> WAYY (WABP)

    Indonesia to Phillipines
9    WAYY -> WASO
10    WASO -> WASS
11    WASS -> WAEK (WAMK)
12    WAEK -> WAMM
13    WAMM -> RPMR

    Phillipines to Taiwain
14    RPMR -> RPVI
15    RPVI -> RPLL
16    RPLL -> RPLI
17    RPLI -> RCKH

    Taiwan -> Japan
18    RCKH -> RCSS
19    RCSS -> ROAH

    Japan -> Russia
20    ROAH -> RJFG
21    RJFG -> RJOY
22    RJOY -> RJSR
23    RJSR -> RJCC
24    RJCC -> UHSS

    Russia to USA
25    UHSS -> UHSH
26    UHSH -> UHMM
27    UHMM -> UESK
28    UESK -> UHMK
29    UHMK -> UHMA
30    UHMA -> UHMD
31    UHMD -> PAOM

    USA to Canada
32    PAOM -> PAFA
33    PAFA -> CYXQ

    Canada to Greenland
34    CYXQ -> CYQH
35    CYQH -> CYZF
36    CYZF -> CYBK
37    CYBK -> CYZS
38    CYZS -> CYFB
39    CYFB -> BGGH
    
    Greenland to Iceland
40    BGGH -> BGKK
41    BGKK -> BIKF

    Iceland to Faroe Islands
42    BIKF -> EKVG

    Faroe Islands to UK
43    EKVG -> EGPD

    UK to Italy
44    EGPD -> EGMD
45    EGMD -> LIMW

    Italy to Greece
46    LIMW -> LIAF
47    LIAF -> LIBR
48    LIBR -> LGKF

    Greece to Egypt
49    LGKF -> LGSA
50    LGSA -> HEMM

    Egypt to Saudi Arabia
51    HEMM -> HETB
52    HETB -> OEMA

    Saudi Arabia to UAE
53    OEMA -> OERK
54    OERK -> OTHH
    
    UAE to Pakistan
55    OTHH -> OPKC

    Pakistan to India
56    OPKC -> VAAH

    India to Bangladesh
57    VAAH -> VAJB
58    VAJB ->    VERC
59    VERC -> VECC
60    VECC -> VGEG

    Bangladesh to Myanmar
61    VGEG -> VYYY

    Myanmar to Thailand
62    VYYY -> VTBD

    Thailand to Indonesia
63    VTBD -> VTSP
64    VTSP -> WITT

    Indonesia to Australia
65    WITT -> WIME
66    WIME -> WIJJ
67    WIJJ -> WIRR
68    WIRR -> WARR
69    WARR -> WATK
70    WATK -> WATT
71    WATT -> YPDN

    Australia to Home
72    YPDN -> YTST
73    YTST -> YCIN
74    YCIN -> YBRM
75    YBRM -> YNWN
76    YNWN -> YMOG
77    YMOG -> YPJT
78    YPJT -> YESP
79    YESP -> YFRT
80    YFRT -> YCDU
81    YCDU -> YPPF
82    YPPF -> YMMB
83    YMMB -> YCBG
84    YCBG -> YBNS
85    YBNS -> YSCB
86    YSCB -> YSSY
87    YSSY -> YBAF

I expect it to take at minimum 3 months to get to that point   See you all in the air!

[VATPAX not working?]

As far as I know, Robert, you only have to do /PAXON once in the remarks section of your flight plan and it is persistent from there (You do not need it every time after that, only /PAXOFF when you want to turn it off. Search recent flights for VHVAL, you will see mine, including the one where I apparently took passangers on my P2 training flight lol.

[NOTICE: VATSIM Oceania ATO closing down]

I want to personally thank Joshua Micallaf and all the members of the VATOCE team. From the point of view of a 0 experience pilot, the P1 and P2 courses proved invaluable in not only getting to know how to fly within VATSIM, but also I learned a LOT about flying the plane in general.  Without the invaluable information provided in those modules, I would feel a lot less confident on flying on the sims.  

The modules were very well put together, easy to follow, and the tests were just on the right level of difficulty for the modules itself.

I am sad to see that VATOCE is shutting down, but if in the future it is reopened, I will be there on the doorstep knocking for the next course.

Thank you again for all your hard work.

[Transmitting on VPilot]

Hi Steven, When I was looking for a client to use, I had skipped over VPilot due to other people having same problems as you are. I use swift instead

However, a few things to look at acquired from other posts for your issue has mostly the same issue.

Make sure that the audio device you want to use is set in VPilot. May seem silly, but I know from experience there can be times where your system has multiple input devices, and you have to make sure the right one is being used by the program.

Go ahead and look at this thread https://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=67632 and see if a solution for you is in there. There is some info on making sure port rules on firewall are set correctly and such.

Hopefully that can get you started until someone with VPilot assistance can help more

[Yet Another Stupid Question :P]

I am sure if I asked a question along the lines of "Where do I check the blinker fluid for the Nav beacons", you would facepalm 

[Yet Another Stupid Question :P]

ahh thanks! makes more sense now!

[Yet Another Stupid Question :P]

What does the OMI on the radio stack mean, and why do they scream at me?

[Landing Lights under 10,000]

thanks for the info. The P2 module for it stated lights on under 10,000 but was not quite sure what that meant if cruising speed was under that lol. 

 

[Landing Lights under 10,000]

I am going over my P2 information to get ready for my P2 flight, and a question I do have is in regards to vehicles flying under 10k, such as the C172:

Landing lights should be on from receiving takeoff clearance to 10,000 feet.

But it is not uncommon to have a C172 with a cruising altitude less than that, especially as the service ceiling is 14,000

So, would a C172 travelling for a few hours at 8,000 feet need to have landing lights the entire time, or is it a case of 10'000 feet or cruise altitude?

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

This is good to know. I will take the magentic variance into consideration when getting ATIS info

 

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

2 minutes ago, James White said:

- Rearward C.O.G to reduce rudder effectiveness

What is C.O.G ?

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

 

4 minutes ago, Greg Barber said:

Wind information is given in DEGREES TRUE, while runway headings are given in DEGREES MAGNETIC.  I'll let you research that one a little bit

Huh, information i had researched suggested printed wind information like on METAR are true, while ATIS, automated weather reports and local information is magnetic. Is this true or not?

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

Something just clicked. I put on my mathematician hat on and looked at it from that point of view.  

Max crosswind is 20% of landing speed... which means that trigonometry tells me that if I see the difference between my GPS heading and Magnetic bearing is more than about 11 degrees ( arctan(0.2) ), then I have surpassed the max crosswind no matter what plane I am flying.

 

Furthermore, I can calculate what my minimum landing speed for the wind conditions has to be by using the landing bearing to the runway, wind direction, and wind speed.

The Cross wind speed would be the absolute value of  Wind speed * Sin(Plane Bearing - Wind Direction)

This gives the speed of the portion of the wind vector perpendicular to flight vector which deflects the planes nose.

this times 5 gives the minimum safe landing speed for the wind.  So for my landing troubles in Sydney with a 290 wind at 26 knots, with the airport runway at a bearing of 155 once lined up to land at 16L would mean the crosswind portion was 18.4 knots, and  my minimum speed would need to be 92 knots.  I would have had to land the Cessna at flaps 10 max if i was forced to make such a landing, but since the crosswind portion was higher than 15, I certainly would want to go to a different nearby airport.

Another click.. Wait, Runway numbers are numbered based on their orientation???  So a quick calculation says that with that wind speed, any Runway numbered 8-14 should be what I was looking for to be flying into the wind and land within specs, with a Runway  11 being the perfect landing runway for conditions.  Mind is blown

[Reading Airspace Charts]

Everyone, you have all been very helpful and patient with my questions. I am sure some of them sound like common sense things I should know   This is a great community for helping people who want more realism to get the hang of it.

You all are awesome and keep up the good work

[Reading Airspace Charts]

 

21 minutes ago, Peter Story said:

If you use something like VATSpy it will show the boundaries for Centre controllers and will show when they are active

 

18 minutes ago, Nicholas Gilbert said:

As for the steps etc, you can look at the VTCs. They're probably the easiest to understand depiction to use. If you're using something like Little NavMap, that may well also depict the steps depending on your sim

Alright, taking that information in (and the VTCs are VERY good at showing the levels, thank you!)... 
Going from Brisbane to Sydney, I would not fall under Melbourne Central until I was practically on top of Sydney.

And if I read everything right:  If, for example, I started in Archerfield, travelling to Sydney, and assuming every position was manned, I would be expecting the hand offs to be 

Archerfield Ground, Archerfield Tower, Brisbane Approach, Brisbane Center, Melbourne Center (when practically in Sydney Airspace), Sydney Approach, Sydney Tower, Sydney Ground

That about right?

[Reading Airspace Charts]

So this question comes up because I have made a few flights, get in range of Melbourne Center and am really unsure if I am in their jurisdiction yet or not. This got me to thinking about the classes of airspace and figuring knowing that will give me a bit of a leg up on knowing what should be going on.

So, If i understand what I have properly,

Class G means no ATC necessary for IFR and VFR,
Class E is no ATC needed for VFR, but needed for IFR
Class D is ATC for VFR and IFR, 
Class C is ATC for VFR and IFR, with VFR treated as if they IFR for separation and communication purposes
Class A is IFR only in full control of ATC

(If I understand this right, Class D VFR manages their own seperation, while Class C has ATC also responsible for seperation?)

So far that makes sense to me.  Looking at the VATPAC Airspace page under Operations, I see this for the Northeast Radar, which is where I primarily fly:


 

Quote

This group covers the airspace north of Sydney, connecting major regional cities of Rockhampton, Mackay, Hamilton Island, Townsville and Cairns. The en route corridor consists of Class C CTA from FL180 to FL600, underlain by Class E CTA from 8500 FT.

Around Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns airports, Class C CTA exists in steps and a Class C CTR exists over the airport. Archerfield Airport in Brisbane is supported by a Class D CTR vertically adjoining Class C CTA.

Around Rockhampton, Mackay and Hamilton Island, Class C CTA exists in steps underlain by Class D CTA. A Class D CTR exists over the airports.

Reading what it says under it, I assume the first TWR icon is for Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns, second one is Archerfield, and the third one is Rockhampton, Mackay and Hamilton Island.

Ok, I can see that. It means for that area if I am flying lower than 8500 ft, I am in Class G except near one of those 7 airports, and ATC communication probably wont happen, unless it is Brisbane Center wanting me to squawk a certain transponder code. 

Question became is how big is the radius of each of those steps, as well as the height? Could I know it just by looking at that diagram? If so I could use that info to quickly know if I was passing into a Class C or D area (if they controlled)

So next step was looking at the local instructions for Brisbane and see if there was any info there. First thing that caught my attention was Gold Coast being labeled as controlled space, but wasnt listed on the Airspace page.  Though it did not say specifically where it would fit, I infer it fits the same profile as Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns given that when Aerodrome Control and Brisbane Approach was down, the Class C under 3500 becomes class G. Beyond figuring that out, there was nothing I could see there to really answer my question...

So now at this point, reaching the limit of trying to find the info myself, and showing what I did to try to find the info:

When looking at the Airspace Diagrams, How wide are each of the different areas, and what is the altitude difference between each of the "Steps"

Also, why the heck does that picture have 4500 higher than 8500? -.-

 

Thanks in advance!

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

Another good thing to know. I was going off of what Simbrief was offering, and also first time i was near sydney was told to follow star. Had to quickly look it up to find out what was meant. Thank goodness i found charts on the ATC assist page

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

44 minutes ago, Nicholas Naumovski said:

 

Knocking out the maximum cross wind, I like it 😎

I blame the Antarctic winds -.- But I certainly have a better appreciation for pilots who do that regularly.  "Ok lets see.. I need to land on that runway, but due to wind.. I have to look out my left window to see it...."

30 minutes ago, Nicholas Gilbert said:

If traffic is light, no harm asking as a Cessna for the most into the wind runway to land on if it's not already being used. No noise abatement to worry about, you can probably turn a short final, short landing roll to vacate, and worst comes to worst and you get denied, you're no worse off than you were before!

 

Technically, cause the cross was more than you can fly in accordance with the 172s max, you could require it anyway.

I will remember that. Biggest things is still a bit nervous about making a mistake and sounding silly.  

And still learning what is the right thing to do. Today, flying to Sydney again (Made the landing! though was not pretty!), and making announcements on UNICOM, I noticed that there was a passenger jet heading to Sydney as well on the exact same heading, which is not unreasonable as probably was using same STAR I was (that was a new thing I learned!), and it was descending at a rate and distance where I calculated it would intercept me. I was flying at 8,000 as I was aiming for the lowest altitude allowed for MEPIL according to the STAR.

Realistically, I would not know he was there unless ATC told me, and in real life an ATC would have.  So did the only thing I could think of... soon as I passed MEPIL, announced on UNICOM a descent to 4000, pulled the engine back and did a 700 feet/second descent using autopilot and watching my speed.  He passed me with about a 2000 feet clearance.  After passing, send him a UNICOM message to verify what runway he was using and I just did a circuit till he was clear.

Dont know if it was the right thing to do, but it did make the most sense.

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

the experience was wonderful, and the flight was IFR, and it started in the day, but it was night by the time I reached Sydney. And yes, i was using the autopilot quite a lot, expecially on the long stretches and in Sydney space to help keep to what ATC was asking for.

I ended up going back today with X-plane not connected to VATSIM to try the sydney approach again.. and again.. and again... and found out that 24 knot crosswinds in a cessna is not easilly managed.  

I managed to make some successful landings  usigt autopilot to assist with keeping going the right direction even with the wind, flaps 20, and slowed myself as much as possible before touching down to keep from being weathervane'd into the water -.-

I am certainly enjoying the experience

[Question on Flaps]

I realize the question hwill change depending on vehicle, so for now will ask about the Skyhawk:

I know that the flaps allow you to move slower without stalling, and i have been practicing my landings with full flaps.

is full flap landings needed though? I noticed in windy conditions, I have a lot more trouble landing with full flaps.

How does one decide the proper flap setting?

[My First Long Flight, and what I learned:]

So last night, I flew in X-Plane from Archerfield near Brisbane, and attempted to fly go Sydney after a sightseeing flight to Stanthorpe. (Spoiler alert, I did not make it)

A few things I learned in this trip..

1. Arriving in a city where a scheduled event is taking place means very very busy airspace. It was a fun, if not butterfly inducing, experience for my first flight involving actual ATC

2. Lining up for final approach is not the best time to realize your magnetic heading instrumentation has drifted.

3. Turbulence off of larger airplanes is a real thing! My poor Skyhawk was shaking like a leaf!

4. Nothing wrong with calling in a missed approach. I was NOT lined up properly, and was having control issues. Pumped throttle back to full and got out of the way. Decided to not try Sydney again and requested divertion to Woolongong

5. Flying at night can be so disorientating

and finally

6. If the airport is supposed to be in front of you, but all you see is black, better to climb back up and get your bearings again. This part I failed, and was so disorientated that, even though I saw the airport to my left, I assumed it could not be it because instruments said it should be in front of me. Dont know what happened at the end, but the plane suddenly went full 90 degree bank and went right to the ground.  Oh well.

Thank you to Melbourne Center, Sydney Approach, and Sydney Tower who did very well with a very inexperienced pilot.  VH-VAL salutes you 

[Thank you!]

These Pilot Training Modules are fantastic!  Working on getting my hours up for P2 exam, and I was able to today finish a flight without using autopilot the entire way. Itw as a short loop flight from Archerfield to Wellington Point then back to Archerfield to land, and it was not the prettiest of flights, but I took off, flew the route, and landed without needing AP assistance. It felt wonderful!

But my goodness it can get busy!

Not a perfect flight, I forgot some of my checklists, and I forgot one UNICOM message, but just with the information provided in P1 and P2 modules, I learned a LOT on how to use the instruments, how to navigate, and proper speeds for landings and such.

Again, thank you so much for having those available!

[VATSIM weather on X-Plane]

You are absolutely right. When i clicked the download link from python it defaulted to downloading the 32 bit one. I had to look in the downloads area for the 64 bit one.

I had scoured google and wasn't finding much info on it, but that fixed it! Thank you. Now to play around and make sure it is actually reading proper info

[VATSIM weather on X-Plane]

reloaded it again from scratch, verified python is indeed installed, Different errors but still..

D:\Steam/steamapps/common/X-Plane 11/Resources/plugins/PythonInterface/64/win.xpl : Error Code = 126 : The specified module could not be found.
D:\Steam/steamapps/common/X-Plane 11/Resources/plugins/PythonInterface/win.xpl : Error Code = 193 : %1 is not a valid Win32 application.