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The big news this time round if you haven't yet heard is the announcement from Dovetail Games of the ‘early release’ of Flight Sim World, their FSX replacement simulator on STEAM. They are promoting it as a flight simulator ‘for the next ten years’ with features such as DX11 graphics with ambient occlusion and 64 bit programming. It comes with Orbx generated scenery for the whole world and seven single and twin engined light aircraft.

DTG press release “.....Flight Sim World will provide players with an unprecedented level of realism and detail. Its officially licensed GA aircraft will be the most authentic and detailed in-sim representations on the market, faithfully replicating their real world counterparts, with every gauge and switch fully operational.

Not only do these aircraft look like the real thing, but they also interact with the environment in an accurate way. A combination of atmospheric effects and advanced behind-the-scenes mechanics, result in a remarkably unique home simulation experience. Watch the raindrops race across your windscreen in stormy weather, while the physics engine challenges you with true-to-life aircraft behavior, including edge-of-envelope spins and stalls.

Whether you want to plan a peaceful flight somewhere sunny or test your skills with tricky situations fraught with bad weather and engine failures, the comprehensive Flight Planner gives you full control over weather, location and time of day, also allowing you to add random events that will make your time in the air even more challenging. For those who want to focus more on content creation, also included with Flight Sim World is the Pro Mission Editor, which is a professional tool which allows players to create more complex missions.
- See more at: http://www.dovetailgames.com/news/2017/may/4/flight-sim-world-bringing-the-skies-to-life#sthash.URArYoVy.dpuf”

Judging from the pre-release videos it looks very nice but will it be an FSX beater? On Steam it is receiving mixed reviews with a few reporting it runs badly. That said it is in 'early release' so maybe that's to be expected. I haven’t bought FSW but from what I’ve seen on YouTube videos it is just FSX with a graphical interface! Unfortunately DTG appear to be follwing the same marketing strategy they have used on other software franchises they have bought but that might not sit well with the flight sim community. For starters it is not going to be FSUIPC compatible and DTG are not listening to their prospective audience. They have a penchant for producing 'glossy' programs to entice you in and then launch tons of DLC (Down Loadable Content) at you - such as the big jets.
 “Why are you so negative?” I hear you shouting at the screen, well the problem is DTG’s approach to marketing - any 3rd party add-on software such as from Just Flight, UK2000, Aerosoft, PMDG, etc must be sold through the DTG channel on Steam and it must be at the same price as on their own websites. Steam however take a big chunk of that money and DTG take another slice of the cake meaning developers have to massively inflate their prices to survive (passing costs on to you) or accept smaller returns and therefore have less to invest in the next project resulting in diminishing returns. Either way sales will decline and your wallet will feel the difference. What you will see is DTG ’get rich quick’ making their own and selling 3rd-party add-ons while ‘updating’ the core sim every year and ignoring the old bugs (because it's too time consuming and there's no profit in it). “How do I know that?” (I can still hear you!) - I wish I could say I had a super-power that allowed me see into the future but alas I’m just looking over DTG’s past record - it has happened several times before, DTG have a history of buying popular games with a large fanbase and then milking them. It may also spell the end of many online retailers and websites that host files for free (Flightsim.com, Avsim.com etc) rely on those sales to pay for the hosting - ie all those freeware files. I hope my fears are unfounded, fingers crossed! In the meantime if you buy FSW now you will get seven ‘detailed default’ light aircraft and the option to buy as many add-on aircraft as you can afford later! See the video section for a review of the sim.
I’m stepping off my soapbox now and waiting for Prepared v4! Other simulators are available :)

For more information and PMDG’s response to FSW carry on reading and as always you'll find the usual fare here - best screenshot, real-world aviation news, fleet updates, competition and humour (well I thought they were funny).
Newshound aka Mark UKD171

“Ignorance is strange. It picks up confidence as it goes along.”
 Unknown

A few screenshots of the TDS Boeing 737-700.

Do you have a screen shot you are proud of? Please send it in and share it with us.
To enter in the next e-magazine send your entries to Newshound: mark[at]planecrazy.me.uk 

Don't worry about editing pictures, sending them as a full size bmp is best and I’ll edit them for Directions

UKDirect Air Taxi Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.The model is by Carenado and is the older FS2004 model but I flew it here in P3D v3.4

Flying somewhere over north Devon with Orbx England scenery.

UKDirect Airbus A350-900. The model is by FSPainter and includes a virtual cockpit and Rolls Royce Trent soundset. FSX &  P3D v3.4

 

Boeing

During 2016 Boeing produced 748 aircraft and attained orders for 668 reducing the backlog to 5,715! During the first quarter of 2017 Boeing conducted maiden flights of model variants such as the stretched 787-10 Dreamliner and MAX-9 737 variant and on 9th Apr 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Boeing 737.

MAX flights suspended after concern about LEAP-1B LPT.
Boeing had suspended all MAX flying after CFM notified them about a "quality concern" in the low pressure turbine discs of Leap-1B engines in May.
The problem was discovered during a quality inspection by CFM of an engine in a factory, in the low pressure turbine (LPT) discs. CFM has double or triple sourced 80% of the LEAP engine’s outsourced components, and has two LPT suppliers. Only one supplier’s LPTs are at issue.

The LEAP-1B features 3D-wove, composite fan blades and fan case and ceramic matrix composites in the second-stage high-pressure turbine shrouds. The LPT has titanium-aluminide blades. The LEAP-1A flown on the A320 NEO is unaffected because the low pressure turbine disc is different design and made by a different supplier. Boeing has flown more than 2,000h on the 27K LEAP-1B 737 Max 8 and has not detected any problems with the LPT discs.

Within several days Boeing had resumed some 737 Max flight activities with approval from regulatory agencies. The FAA has now certified the 737 MAX 8 and the first MAX is due to be delivered to Batik Air Malaysia to commence services on 18 May 2017.

Airbus

Airbus had a record year in 2016 producing 688 aircraft to 82 customers, 53 up on 2015, including 66 A330s, 49 A350s and 28 A380s. The rest (545) were for the A320 Family. The order book backlog has grown to 6,874 following 731 orders (607 A320 Family and 124 widebodies).
This year so far Airbus have conducted a few maiden flights of their own model variants such as the A350-1000, A330-900neo and A319neo. The Airbus A350 family has so far received 841 firm commitments from 45 customers.

Airbus UK’s facility at Filton, Bristol is expanding with the addition of a new wing development and test centre. The Wing Integration Centre will research and develop new materials, manufacturing and assembly techniques as well as cutting edge technology for wings, fuel systems and landing gear for the next generation of aircraft.

Any other business

The forcible removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight was a “mistake of epic proportions”, the airline’s chief executive Oscar Munoz has admitted to US politicians.  Mr Dao was waiting to fly from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, on 9 April when the airline decided it needed four seats on his flight for Republic Airline crew members needed to work on a United Express flight in Louisville the next morning.

When Mr Dao and his wife were selected for bumping, he refused to leave and was then dragged off the flight, suffering injuries that his attorney has said included lost teeth, a broken nose and a concussion.

Video of the incident sparked withering criticism and mockery of United online and in the media.
Mr Munoz initially blamed Mr Dao, but later said he was horrified by the event and called it a failure on United’s part.

United reached a settlement with Dao and issued new policies designed to prevent customer-service failures. The airline and lawyers for Dao have declined to disclose financial terms of the settlement.

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Embraer flew the first E195-E2 prototype on March 29th, being the largest of the next generation E2 family carrying up to 146 passengers and is expected to enter service in 2019. The service entry date for the E175 E2 has been delayed until 2021 due to strong sales of the current E175.

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Manchester Airport has become the first UK airport to achieve a carbon neutral status. After investing more than £7.5m it has cut emissions from 72,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2006 to zero.
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Lockheed Martin have displayed their latest member of the C-130J Super Hercules. The ninth version of the Super Hercules is a commercial freighter and goes by the catchy name of LM-100J and is expected to have its maiden flight soon.

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16 JAN 2017  Boeing 747-412F    THY Turkish Airlines TC-MCL   C/n: 32897/1322  First flight: 2003-01-13 (14 years )

A Boeing 747-412F cargo plane was destroyed after impacting terrain near Bishkek-Manas International Airport (FRU). All four crew members and 35 persons on the ground were killed.
Flight TK6491 departed Hong Kong on a cargo service to Istanbul, carrying a load of 85618 kgs. An en route refueling and crew change stop was planned at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Weather at Bishkek was poor with winds from 60°at 1 m/s and a visibility (RVR) of 400m at the beginning of the runway; 350m at the mid-point and 400m at the end of the runway. Vertical visibility was 50 m. Air temperature was -9°C, dew point -10°C, pressure (QNH) was 1023,9 hPa.
The initial descent towards Bishkek was normal. The crew contacted Approach Control at 07:06 hours and were cleared for a descent to FL060 as per TOKPA 1 STAR (Standard terminal arrival route). The aircraft overflew the TOPKA reporting point at 07:11 at FL092 while in descent. According to the approach chart, FL060 or above should be reached when overflying TOKPA.
Shortly afterwards the controller cleared the flight for an ILS approach to runway 26. At 07:12 the controller cleared the crew for further descent to altitude 3400 ft. The aircraft was meanwhile crossing FL074. The crew was busy monitoring the flight altitude and was aware they were higher than the STAR chart.
The localizer was capture at 3600 ft agl. At that time the altitude should have been 1345 ft agl (3400 ft amsl).
At 07:15:21 after the crew confirmed capturing the localizer, the flight was handed over to Tower Control.
At a distance of 1.7 nm the aircraft reached 3400 ft amsl and the ALT HOLD OPER autopilot mode was engaged longitudinally. At that point the flight was already over 400 ft above the glideslope. The glideslope mode was armed (G/S MODE ARM), but the glideslope was not captured.
A glideslope signal was captured at 07:15:52, at that time the aircraft was almost over VOR/DME MANAS at a distance of approximately 1.1 nm from the runway 26 threshold, at an angle of approximately 9°. However, as per the approach chart, the rated glideslope angle is 3°. The aircraft automatically initiated descent with a vertical speed of up to 1425 ft/min.
At 07:16:07, at 3150 ft amsl, AP CAUTION and FMA FAULT 2 events were recorded. These events were continuously recorded almost until the end of the flight. An FMA FAULT 2 means that the autopilot can no longer track the actual glideslope, but will track a constant 3° glide path until a valid glideslope signal is regained or until the crew intervenes by disengaging the autopilot or initiating a go-around.
As the aircraft was descending LAND 3 status degraded to LAND 2, which was confirmed by the crew callout. LAND 2 means that the autopilot flight director system redundancy is reduced to the use of only two of the three autopilots.The EGPWS 'Glideslope' alert was then triggered 5 times.
At 07:17:04 the flight crossed the runway 26 departure end at a height of about 110 ft. Decision height was 99 ft. The FO then called "Minimums" and the captain informed that there was no visual contact and called to go-around.
At 58 ft radar altitude the TOGA switch was pushed and engine power increased. 3.5 seconds after the TOGA switch had been pushed the aircraft hit slightly upsloping terrain and obstacles. The ground speed at the time of impact was 165 kt. The maximum recorded vertical acceleration was 6 g.
Initial impact occurred at a distance of approximately 930 m from the runway 26 departure end. It collided with a concrete airport fence and rolled into a holiday village. The aircraft broke up and spilt fuel caught fire.

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23 FEB 2017  de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8  Flybe   G-JECP   C/n: 4136  First flight: 2006-08-17 (10 years 6 months)

Flybe flight BE1284, a DHC-8-402Q, suffered a landing accident at Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport, the Netherlands.
The aircraft departed Edinburgh, Scotland, on a scheduled passenger service to Amsterdam at 14:21 UTC. About 15:22 UTC the aircraft entered a holding pattern over the North Sea off the western coast of the Netherlands. It left the holding about 15:38 UTC and positioned for an approach to runway 22. The aircraft touched down about 15:54 UTC.
Videos from the occurrence show that, during landing rollout, the right hand main landing gear slowly folded back in. The aircaft came to rest on the runway with the right hand wing tip contacting the ground. The flight crew issued a mayday call after the accident and subsequently issued another mayday call, stating that they were evacuating the aircraft due to smoke in the cabin.

Airport operations had been hampered by strong winds during the day. At the time of landing, wind was recorded being from 240 degrees at 31 knots, gusting to 46 knots and the wind direction varying between 210 and 270 degrees.

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08 MAR 2017  McDonnell Douglas MD-83   Ameristar Jet Charter   N786TW   C/n: 53123/1987  First flight:  1992

A McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registration N786TW, suffered a runway excursion following an aborted takeoff from runway 23L at Detroit-Willow Run Airport, Michigan, USA. The aircraft had been chartered by the University of Michigan Basketball team for a flight to a game in Washington, DC.
The aircraft overran the end of the runway, damaged approach lights, went through the perimeter fence and crossed Tyler Road.
It came to rest on grassy terrain, 345 meters past the end of the runway, with the rear fuselage across a ditch. The nose landing gear had collapsed.
Runway 23L is a 7543 ft long runway.

Post-accident examination by the NTSB revealed movement of the control column in the cockpit appeared normal; the control columns were free to move, and the elevator control tabs moved as commanded. However, when investigators tried to move the elevator surfaces by hand, the left elevator moved normally, but the right elevator was jammed in a trailing edge-down position (airplane nose down). Upon further inspection, the right elevator geared tab inboard pushrod linkage was found damaged which restricted movement of the right elevator surface but allowed movement of the control tab. After the damaged components were removed, the elevator could be moved by hand.
Examination of the flight data recorder data indicates that during the taxi and take-off roll, the left elevator moved normally, but the right elevator did not move. During takeoff roll, the left elevator began a large airplane nose-up movement (consistent with rotation) at an airspeed of about 152 knots and continued for five seconds to about 166 knots. There was no change in the airplane pitch attitude during this time. The airplane data then are consistent with the takeoff being rejected. The maximum recorded airspeed was about 173 knots.
Review of previous flight data showed normal movement of both the left and right elevator surfaces. The airplane flew to Ypsilanti two days before the accident.

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29 MAR 2017  Aerospatiale AS355F1 Ecureuil 2 Twin Squirrel   V21 t/a Helicopter Services  G-OHCP   C/n: 5249

Helicopter went missing in the North Wales area. Two Coastguard helicopters deployed for search. Land search underway. Wreckage found the next day onshore: the crash site was in the Rhinog mountains between Harlech and Trawsfynydd, and the bodies of all five people on board had been found. The Squirrel was en route between Luton Airport, Bedfordshire (LTN/EGGP) and Weston, Dublin (EIWT).

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30 APR 2017  Boeing 737-7M2 (WL)  TAAG Angola Airlines  D2-TBF   C/n:34559/2013   First flight: ?

TAAG Angola Airlines flight DT130 suffered a nose landing gear retraction incident after landing at Soyo Airport, Angola.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-700, originated in Luanda about 09:29 UTC. The aircraft landed on runway 24 at Soyo Airport about 10:03 UTC.
A spokesperson for the airline reported that the crew were working the after landing checklist when they inadvertently raised the landing gear handle to the up position.  The ground sensor of the nose landing gear apparently did not function, causing the nose gear to retract.  The aircraft came to rest with the nose contacting the runway surface.

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05 MAY 2017  Shorts 330-200  Air Cargo Carriers  N334AC   C/n: SH.3029  First flight: 1979-05-31 (38 years)

A Shorts 330 cargo plane was destroyed in an accident while landing at Charleston-Yeager Airport, West Virginia, USA. Both crew members suffered fatal injuries.
The aircraft originated from Louisville International Airport, Kentucky at 05:41 hours. The flight was cleared to land on runway 05 Charleston-Yeager Airport and crashed while attempting to land.  An airport spokesman reported that the aircraft touched down hard, after which it went off the left side of the runway. The NTSB reported that the aircraft touched down 340 feet past the runway threshold. The airplane then continued on a 40 degree angle relative to the runway heading over an area of grass. The left hand wing and left hand main gear separated, after which the aircraft fell down a wooded ravine.

Time to get that grey matter working!. Email answers to mark “at” planecrazy.me.uk or use the message facility on FS Airlines.  Answers will be posted in the next Directions but if you email me your guesses I will reply straight away (in confidence - so no need to worry about embarrassment).

1>  The following are all about the take-off: What does Vr mean ?
 
a)        Vertical Rotation
b)        Velocity Rotation
c)        Rotation Speed
d)        Virtual Rotation


2>  When should you retract your landing gear?

a)    About 10 seconds after your main gear are off the runway
b)    On positive rate of climb and altitude increasing
c)    When you have reached V2+15
d)    When you have reached at least 200 feet


3>  What is the autopilot function for take-off called?

a)     TO/GA
b)     GA/TO
c)     AP/TO
d)     TO/AP

 

Answers to last Directions quiz:

1. Which airport is not a European airport?
   c)        HECC is the code for Cairo, BIRK - Reykjavik, EGLL London (Heathrow) and LGAV is for Athens.
2. With which 2 letters do airport codes in Brazil start?
   d)    SB.  SA is for Argentina, the other two are made-up.
3. Which is not an ICAO code of a national capital's airport?
   a)    LECB (Barcelona). The others were Amsterdam, Mexico and Washington.

Flightsim News

The following letter was posted by PMDG on the Avsim forum:

The sorts of behaviors that cause me concern...

Captains,

I have been a member of the simulation developer community since 1992, when I began creating freeware scenery using the incredibly primitive methods available to us 25 years ago.  In the quarter century that has followed, the team that is PMDG has worked very hard to push the state-of-the art of desktop simming to new levels and to all points of views I feel that we have succeeded.  I have the sometimes-fun/sometimes-frustrating position of being the visible face of PMDG.  I am very proud of the fact that in most reasonable opinions, users in this community generally give me credit for being up front with what I think of trends and moves within the simming marketplace.

I have always been against paid-beta testing, for example- and I took an incredible amount of criticism for coming out strongly against the trend by warning users to be wary of their investment ten years ago when the paid-beta trend took off.  Five years later, many users were sharing their horror stories and lamenting that perhaps this was indeed a bad trend in our marketplace.  I have tried very hard to be a calm point of view in the community- recognizing the enormous size of our customer base.  I have tried very hard not to criticize other developers- even in the face of no such courtesy from others.  I spend (literally) thousands of dollars a year on products from new developers because I think it is important for all of us in the "old guard" to support new entries to the marketplace because a thriving marketplace is what helps our own companies to grow.

Occasionally, users have tried to pit PMDG vs <some other entity> in a strange "coke v. pepsi" or "godzilla v. mothra" battle that I always find to be supremely strange.  I like our competition- because they help to bring customers into the marketplace with their own products- and ultimately we all wind up sharing in the health and vibrancy of the community.
I don't worry about much in the future of our hobby- except for two things:
1) Someone making a grab to control distribution channels and their associated profit margins.
2) Flagrant dishonesty/concealed motives.

You are going to start hearing me talk about these two topics quite a bit in the coming months, I fear.
Three years ago, PMDG was involved in a conglomeration of well known sim developers who negotiated with Microsoft to acquire the rights to continue developing FSX as a platform.  Late in that process, Dovetail Games appeared on the scene with a better, cleaner plan, and Microsoft rightly chose them as the custodian of their platform's future.
My primary concern then, as it is today, is that Dovetail might ride into a marketplace that has been created by companies like PMDG, Aerosoft, Flight1, JustFlight, SimMarket and dozens upon dozens more- and attempt to make a overreaching money grab by forcing all developers to push our products through THEIR distribution channel.

There are many economic reasons why this will signal the beginning of a decline in product quality and product differentiation, and I can certainly go into that in detail in another thread if anyone is actually interested in the process- but suffice it to say the PRIMARY reason why we have such a broad and active marketplace for flight simulation addons has EVERYTHING to do with how free and open the marketplace is- and how low the barriers to entry are placed for new entrants.

I fear that this is about to change for the worse- in spite of assurances to the contrary.
After I made my post on Friday regarding the news release from Dovetail regarding their upcoming sim, a user pointed me to an information post in which dovetail address the topic of distribution for 3rd party addons like ours.  In their post, they said:
"In order to market as an official FSW add-on, you will be able to sell your add-ons on your own store as long as it is made available on the Dovetail channels as well."

Last night, I was lying awake pondering this comment, because it was in direct contravention to assurances I was given when PMDG was asked to provide input and ideas and engage in conversation with Dovetail about putting PMDG's products into their steam channel for FSX-Steam Edition.
This afternoon, I went digging into our email archive and my conference call notes- and sure enough, I found a lengthy communication exchange that involved multiple members of the leadership team at Dovetail responding to my direct concerns regarding the rumored requirements that companies like PMDG would only be allowed to sell products for their new platform if we agreed to sell them via their steam channel.  I was assured in no-uncertain terms that this would never be the case, as Dovetail felt that such a move on their part would destroy the ecosystem that has grown and thrived and made the FSX platform and brand so significantly more vibrant today than it was ten years ago when it was launched.

This has me pondering:  What changed?
For a few years, PMDG and Dovetail had an open line of communication.  It was honest, humorous, respectful and at times unpleasantly candid.  But there was never any doubt that we held one another in mutual respect and wanted to see one another succeed.
That communication essentially dried up after PMDG decided not to push our products via Dovetail's steam channel, because we couldn't see the value in surrendering nearly 65% of the revenue earned by our products in order to be present in that channel.  Sure, not all of that cost winds up in Dovetail's pocket- (Steam takes about 30% of each sale, for example) but the bottom line is that companies like PMDG and Aerosoft and our competitors get here by having the ability to reinvest in ourselves and our products.  If our distribution costs become artificially inflated by being forced to use a high cost channel in which we don't control our own destiny- it is only a matter of time before the companies with the kinds of capabilities simmers have come to love vanish from the landscape.

We have been reaching out to Dovetail off-and-on since late last year and those efforts have met with deafening silence.  Perhaps the language chosen to describe Dovetail's position inaccurately appears to constrain developers to their steam channel, when instead they mean to separate community offerings as "official" and "unofficial" in a manner that has yet to be described?  I don't know- but the silence doesn't bode well.  After all- PMDG aren't exactly newcomers to the marketplace.  I sincerely hope that Dovetail hasn't decided to toss aside the value set that has allowed the ecosystem of flight simulation to grow and thrive.  If they have, it will have grave and terrible consequences for the continued growth and product quality of the community.
As I said, I don't like money/power grabs, nor do I like dealing with dishonest brokers.  From where we sit today, it seems we may be dealing with both and that is a very troubling thing indeed.

 

Flightsim Software snippets...

• UK2000 have released Norwich Xtreme airport scenery.  http://www.uk2000scenery.com/newsite/ See the second of Froogles videos below for screenshots.
• Orbx have a half-price sale on all products released before this year, ends 1st June. https://orbxdirect.com/
• Air Hauler 2 is available as an ‘early access’ version. Early Access means that Air Hauler 2 is not yet 100% complete, but is at an advanced stage of development,  meaning that it can be released to everyone who's keen to see what's new and provide their input, if they wish, to help the developer in adding  new features and resolving issues in the final stages of its  development. Buying it as early access also means its cheaper!
  Two Early Access versions are available by Download - for existing owners of Air Hauler (£19.99 / 24.95 euro / $29.99) and for new buyers (£24.99 / 30.95euro / $37.99). Just Flight are adding features specifically for virtual airlines and if there is interest then UKD will support this software. It would be ideal for people who have problems with the FSA client but could even possibly be run side-by-side.
• LOWI Innsbruck Airport - A destination that needs no introduction, Innsbruck is one of the iconic airports of the world, with a jaw-dropping backdrop, heart-stopping approaches and location smack dab in the heart of Europe. Orbx have released scenery of LOWI Innsbruck Airport for Aerofly 2 as well as FSX and P3D.. So 'Project A' was, of course, Aerofly 2!