Twitch TV stream is live now. And there is a URL here. Some screenies …
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This one was fun: a viewer request flight from Grand Canyon West to Sedona. We get to learn about VOR navigation and dead reckoning, do forward-slip on final, and there’s even a guest appearance from my favorite co-pilot. A great flight. Thanks for watching!
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This in my inbox today:
Dear REX Customer –
You are personally invited to join us for a Major “Unveiling” of a new product this Saturday, October 29th at 19Z (11am PDT).
You may watch the unveiling of our new product at: https://www.twitch.tv/adxlive
This new product will revolutionize your experience within Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X, FSX:Steam and Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Sincerely,
Reed Stough
Managing Partner
REX GAME STUDIOS, LLC.Could it be Sky Force 3D? If it lives up to this promo, we can only hope, and I’ll be watching.
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I’ve had requests to make tutorials, so with this video I’m starting a new “Simmer Tutorials” playlist at YouTube that I hope will help simmers bring more real-world procedures to their flight simulation. I know bringing more real-world process to my own simming has been one of the things I’ve enjoyed most as I’ve done my own flight training, and I hope these videos will do the same for other simmers who aren’t actually working toward their Private Pilot ticket.
This first video is about flying a basic traffic pattern, and I hope it’s of interest to simmers looking to make more realistic VFR landings in their sims. Of course, NONE of this should be considered actual flight instruction, and my intention is that these videos are by a simmer, for simmers. With that said, thanks for watching.
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This short quiz on runway lights and signage at BoldMethod is good for simmers wanting to know a bit more about what some of those lights and stripes mean. (I went five for six, personally.)
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Tom has released a gauge set for the Carenado CT210M. They should work great with that plane, and I suspect they will work with other aircraft as well as they probably use SIMCONNECT variables. I’m going to try the manifold pressure gauge in the Cardinal 177. Get them here.
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Over on the AVSIM Home Cockpit Builders forum I found a great home cockpit project going on in Europe. You may see it here. It’s really great work, and I look forward to seeing it come together. The tops of plastic cups for the bezels – brilliant!
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So why the decision to sell some of the replaced Saitek gear? First, so it can find a good home. I’ve heard from many readers and YouTube viewers that On The Glideslope has inspired folks to build their own sims, and I hope this gear can help some on that journey. But there’s another reason, and it’s to underwrite the cost of some new gear I’ve purchased for the sim that I hope will arrive in the next few weeks. When it does it’s going to require a panel rebuild, so I’m looking forward to that next step in the sim journey. I won’t tip all the details quite yet, but here’s a glimpse … -
I have a number of pieces of Saitek gear that I’ve replaced over the past year, and I’d like to offer them for sale to regular readers of this blog before I take them to eBay. Here they are, and all are in great condition unless I have stated otherwise. In each case I’ll sell them for what I paid for them, and for those that I bought as a package I’ll have a fair price based on the current market. Email me at ontheglideslope at gmail dot com if you have interest, and thanks.
Cessna Yoke + throttle quadrant (great condition): $235 + shipping
Pro Flight Yoke
(sticks just a little but works great – YOKE ONLY, NO THROTTLE QUADRANT): $129 + shipping
Pro Rudder Pedals – two sets: $214 each + shipping
(average of what I paid and current price as one set was part of a bundle)
Pro Flight Headset (fits standard audio PC jacks): $50 + shipping
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Don’t Let The Good Looks Fool You Conditions for today’s lesson looked relatively benign, but don’t be fooled by the appearances.
While our winds on the field were 300 @ 6 knots, we quickly learned on takeoff that at about 200 feet they were cranking much, much stronger. I’m not sure how strong, but at 3,000 they were about 39 knots. This means we had a wind shear environment, and it made for some interesting flying. So much so that while the plane was bucking around on climb I told the instructor to take the plane. Once we made our crosswind turn, though, the air was a bit more stable if very windy and I asked to fly us in. Here’s the pattern and wind vectors.
My instinct at the numbers was to make an early turn to base, in part because I knew the headwind was going to push us away from the field, but mostly because I wanted a high approach with more cushion for a go-around. In a conversation afterward with the owner of the flight school he said this instinct was a good one: that a sudden downward shear, or a sudden drop in windspeed on an airplane trimmed for a true airspeed with a cranking headwind, would mean “sink” – and sink on short final is not good. He described it as “sobering … it’s like a dragon living in the basement that at any time can stick up it’s claw and get you.” I wasn’t afraid flying this pattern, and actually thought it was a great experience to have (especially with my instructor at my side). But it’s a reminder that wind can be just as troublesome as the clouds, and we correctly made the decision to head back to the barn after this one loop.
Our plan was to practice performance takeoffs and landings (short field and soft field). No way we were going to do this today, so down to the sim I shall go …
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