Games PC FLY User Manual

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Fly!

Pilot Handbook

Written by

Peter Lert

Original Illustrations by

Technical Documentation by

Peter Carpenter

Greg Kramer

©1999 Gathering of Developers I, Ltd. All rights reserved. The software and related manual for this product are copyrighted. They may not be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems, placed on the Internet or World Wide Web, or transcribed in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recorded or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher. The software and related manual are licensed to You pursuant to the terms and conditions of that certain Limited Software Warranty and License Agreement contained in the software and the accompanying written manuals.

FLY!, the FLY! logo, Terminal Reality and the Terminal Reality logo are trademarks of Terminal Reality Inc. Gathering of Developers and the Gathering of Developers logo are trademarks of Gathering of Developers I, Ltd. Cessna Skyhawk 172R is a trademark of The Cessna Aircraft Company. Raytheon Hawker 800XP and Beech King Air 200 are trademarks of Raytheon Aircraft. Piper Malibu Mirage and Navajo Chieftain are trademarks of The New Piper Aircraft, Inc. Bendix/King KLN 89 is a trademark of AlliedSignal, Inc. Windows, Window 98, Windows95, Windows NT and DirectX are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand names, product names, and characters mentioned in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

User manual produced and printed by Mars Publishing Company.

Printed in the United States of America.

Table of Contents

Quick Start Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Simulation Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Keyboard Controls & Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Flight Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Cessna 172R – Introduction and Tour . . . . . . . . . 69

Cessna 172R – Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Cessna 172R - Intermediate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Cessna 172R - Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Radionavigation Made Simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Radio Flyer - Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Piper Malibu Mirage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Radio Flyer - Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Piper Navajo Chieftain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Beech King Air B200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Hawker 800XP JET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

AlliedSignal KLN-89 GPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

www.marspub.com Edwin E. Steussy, Publisher. Amy Yancey, Coordinator.

Dedicated to Captain Daniel A. Combs, retired USAir.

In Loving Memory of Vernon Temple, who was a source of strength, humor and faith to all of us fortunate enough to have known him.

4

Quick Start Reference

Everyone loves to jump right into the pilot’s chair and try a quick flight before changing any options or settings. Still, even the most experienced user will need to tend to a few details before giving into their enthusiasm. If you read nothing else, follow the steps here before continuing.

All Pilots

Configure your graphics options (p. 10).

Setup your sound options (p.12).

Choose and configure your controls (p. 14).

Establish your Auto-Save options (p. 18).

Select Realism elements (p. 19).

Novice Pilots

Once you have done all of the above, proceed to the Fly New view and pick a pre-set scenario (p. 31).

Experienced and Advanced Pilots

Since you will probably want to tinker with the simulation’s more advanced options, give some attention to these items.

Confirm your Cockpit Options (p. 16).

Tune your Radios (optional — p. 17).

Choose your Logbook Options (optional - p. 19).

Tweak your Airplane Options (see Airplane, p. 21).

Jump into your Flight Planner (p. 32)

5

Simulation

Simulation

Simulation Interface

Welcome to the most realistic general aviation flight simulator ever developed for the personal computer. No need, however, to crow too much about the things that make Fly! special — since you are reading this manual, you’ve already been convinced!

This reference guide is divided into two primary sections. The first section covers the configuration and user interface issues underlying this simulation: menus, options, and simulation controls. The second section - Flight Instruction - leaves these nuts- and-bolts procedures behind and immerses you entirely in the flight simulation aspects of Fly! The information detailed in both of these sections are equally essential to your enjoyment of this product, but are outlined separately to reinforce the central premise in Fly! — once you are in the virtual cockpit, you are in a plane and every effort is made to then free you of thoughts of video card configurations and key definitions.

Fly! can be played on computers running either Microsoft Windows or Apple’s MacOS. Throughout this manual, most statements will refer to both versions. In the rare occasions when your choice of operating system requires specific attention, however, we will refer to the appropriate information for both platforms.

Finally, we realize that not every virtual pilot wants the same level of simulation. Some will want to spend time tinkering with every control, lever, and option, getting every ounce out of Fly!’s realism. Others, however, will not want to quibble with fuel mixture, load, or wing icing, rather craving the thrill of flight and the beauty of the scenery. No matter which kind of pilot you are (or even if you’re somewhere in between), you will find your desired experience in Fly! with only a few changes to some essential options.

Starting the Simulation

Once installed, locate and open Fly!’s folder and doubleclick on Fly!’s icon (“FLY.EXE” in Windows or “FLY!” in MacOS) to launch the program. The first time you run the program, you will be taken directly to the Intro Screen and primary menu bar. Many users will be content to start Fly! through this welcome screen, but it is possible to customize which of the interface screens will greet you when you launch the program in the future (see Graphics Options, p.10).

6

Interface

Once you have completed setup and configuration of your video card, sound card, and input devices, you can proceed to Fly Now! or the Flight Planner views to prepare a flight. Once you select and begin a flight, the simulation will start and you can begin interacting with the plane and your environment.

There are some basic interface items to be aware of while in simulation mode.

The mouse is “active” at all times, but will automatically hide itself after 5 seconds of inactivity. Whenever you wish to manipulate a cockpit item, or use the mouse to control a window or other feature, simply move the mouse and the cursor will appear. To hide the cursor, simply stop using the mouse and it will disappear after 5 seconds.

Any windows you open will operate like normal windows in your other applications. You can click in a window to activate it, click at the top of the window or in its title bar to drag and move the window, click in the lower right corner to resize the window (if it has a size box), and click in the upper corner to close the window (if it has a close box.) The “main” visual area is also treated as a window – although you will not see a “border” or title bar, you can still click on the sides or bottom right corner to click and resize the main area. Clicking on the top will allow you to drag the main window to a new location. The cursor will change to indicate when moving or resizing is a valid option.

All windows remember the last location, size, and state they were in when you exit and re-enter the simulation. You can rearrange the size and location of the primary “window” and any secondary windows, and they will automatically return to those positions the next time you use Fly!

If you are running Fly! in full screen mode, you can press the Space Bar to access the primary menu bar. The primary menu bar will give you access to all available settings dialogs and secondary windows (see Primary Menu Bar, p. 9)

To exit the simulation and return to the primary Fly! interface screens, press the Escape key.

7

Simulation

Intro Screen

Simulation

Fly Now!

Links to the Fly Now View (p. 31). This is the quick and easy way to get right into the air and is ideal for novice or inexperienced pilots.

Flight Planner

Links to the Flight Planner View (p. 32). The starting point for more experienced and expert pilots, this option allows the pilot to establish a customized flight plan, choose and configure any available aircraft, and modify the weather environment for the flight plan.

Multi-player

Links to Fly!’s multi-player system. Consult the separate Multi-Player Guide for details.

Support

If you have access to the Internet, this links to the web site for Fly! support. This page also provides news and updates for Fly!, as well as links to other Fly! and Terminal Reality related web sites.

Navigation Icon Bar

The Navigation Icon Bar appears on all preflight views in Fly! Each button allows you to get

where you want to go quickly and easily.

(Microsoft Windows only) Minimizes Fly! from view allowing you to access your operating system’s Desktop.

X (Microsoft Windows only) Quits Fly! Note that unless you activate the “Ask Before Exiting” option in Options - Auto-Save, hitting this button will quit Fly! without asking you to confirm your choice.

Back (All Platforms) Takes you to the previous screen. Note that pressing Back does not erase any changes you made before pressing Back.

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Primary Menu Bar

The primary menu bar appears at the top of the screen, sporting an array of drop-down menus. Some Menu Bar selections and even some menus will not be available at all times; if an item is faded, or “grayed-out,” it is currently unavailable. The simulation’s menus are: Apple (MacOS only), File, Options, View, Windows and Help.

File Menu

Load Scenario

File Menu

 

Brings up a file box for loading predefined or favorite scenarios and resuming saved flights. Available pre-flight and during simulation.

Save Scenario

You can save your flights at any time. This comes in handy if you want to preserve a flight in progress to resume at a later time. Save Scenario will replace the contents of the last saved scenario of the same name – if you do not wish to lose your previous saved scenario, use the Save Scenario As function to select a new name.

Save Scenario As

Allows you to save your scenario under another name. This is otherwise functionally identical to Save Scenario.

Scenario Description

Read a scenario’s description if the author (you or someone else) entered one when they saved their scenario.

Page Setup

This menu selection, as it does normally in your operating system, allows you to configure your printer before printing.

Print

The Flight Planner view allows optional printed output of flight plan related information. This menu selection sends output to the printer.

Exit (Microsoft Windows) / Quit (MacOS)

9

Simulation

Simulation

Options

While it is important to understand these various options (especially if you are getting unsatisfactory performance), you can jump right into the sky with the default options. We do not, however, recommend it.

Quick starters can simply head for their plane once they have defined their Graphics, Sound, and Control options, but all pilots will benefit from understanding the following information.

Graphics

These options tell Fly! which graphic effects to generate, as well as what video hardware is installed in your machine. Whether you have 3D hardware installed or not, you will want to review the options in this box before you step into the cockpit for

the first time. The performance and frame rates of Fly! can be impacted most significantly by manipulating selections in this dialog.

Video Card

Use this pop-up menu to identify the brand and type of video card you have installed in your computer. Fly! will automatically configure visual effects based on the published capabilities of the video card. If you do not have a 3D accelerator card installed, select Software Only. If you have a 3D accelerator installed but it is not listed here, you can select DirectX5 Compatible, DirectX6 Compatible, or 3Dfx Glide Compatible for defaults.

Startup Screen

This pop-up menu allows you to pick what screen you will see by default when launching Fly! in the future. You may choose between the Intro, Fly Now, Flight Planner, or Multi-Player Views. If you always go to one of these areas when launching Fly!, you will find it convenient to save your favorite as the simulation’s start-up screen.

Scenery Detail

Increases or decreases the amount of graphic detail in Fly!’s 3D scenery. The levels of detail are: None, Sparse (includes only major buildings), Normal (shows secondary landmarks, and well known Points Of Interest), and Complex (displays all of the above plus generic buildings for added realism). Lower this detail to increase system performance.

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Airport Detail

Increases or decreases the level of graphic detail in Fly!’s airport runways. Lower this detail to increase system performance.

Shadows

Specify which objects cast shadows onto the ground scenery. The available selections are: None, Aircraft Only, and Aircraft and Buildings. Turning off building shadows by selecting Aircraft Only can significantly improve frame rates in areas of high building concentration.

Checkboxes

Detail Tiles: Check this box to experience enhanced ground detail around major airports. This requires considerable processor power and video RAM. Turn off this feature to increase system performance.

Lens Flare: Check this box to enable colorful lens flare effects projected from the sun. Turn off this feature to increase system performance.

Environment Mapping: This feature maps reflections of the sky, clouds and ground onto the exterior of your aircraft resulting in a more life-like look. Turn off this feature to increase system performance.

Auto Full Screen: If selected, this feature causes the simulation to open in full-screen mode by default. If unchecked, the simulation will open in a window. Note that any 3D accelerator hardware you have installed will not be used unless you are running in full screen mode. By activating Auto Full Screen, you ensure your hardware will always be used by default. Running in software only modes will result in significantly slower performance.

Terrain Visibility

This slider alters the maximum distance you can see from your aircraft. Beyond this maximum distance, terrain will be shrouded by haze. The setting ranges from 10 to 20 miles. Note that this setting limits the Visibility setting in Environment—no matter how high you set that slider, you will not be able to see beyond the distance specified here.

Texture Cache Size

Slider changes the size of the simulation’s Texture Cache. This cache blocks off a chunk of your available RAM for pre-load- ing of textures to speed rendering. The larger you set this cache, the fewer “pauses” you will experience due to disk accesses during flight. You are limited in this setting by the amount of available RAM in your computer. Values range from 8MB to 32MB. You should be careful not to set this value too high if your machine has a too little RAM installed.

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Simulation

Simulation

Sound

These options allow you to define the sound hardware and specifications for your system. Sound is a significant element in an effective simulation, so the higher you can move these settings, the deeper your immersion in the flight experience. Keep in mind that higher sound settings will slow system per-

formance, so be prepared to lower them to remedy any stuttering or slow frame rates.

Sound Device

This pop-up menu allows you to select which sound hardware will be used to produce Fly!’s sound effects.

Quality

Quality settings range from 8-bit to 16-bit on this pop-up menu. Reduce this setting to improve system performance.

Speaker Setup

Pop-up menu establishes whether your system supports Mono, Stereo, or Surround sound.

Checkboxes

These options allow you to adjust the kinds of sound effects you will hear. Using these options can impact sound card and system performance. Deactivate some or all of these checkboxes to increase system performance.

Setup Sounds: Mood-setting background sounds that play while in the simulation’s set-up menus. Click this box to activate or deactivate these sounds.

ATC Sounds: Air Traffic Controller chatter plays while you are seated in your cockpit. Click this box to activate or deactivate these sounds. Turning off this option will not disable the scrolling ATC text displays, allowing you to still receive critical ATC information without audio output.

Engine Sounds: While in flight, your engine emits the satisfying, familiar hum of a plane in flight. Click this box to activate or deactivate engine startup, idle, propeller, or shutdown sounds.

Aircraft Sounds: Besides engine sounds, each aircraft also produces a range of other sound effects, including flaps, tire noise, stall horn, and gear horn. Check this item to enable or disable these sounds.

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Cockpit Sounds: While in the cockpit view, a variety of sound effects are used to reproduce in-cockpit atmosphere. Effects include switches, marker beacon signals, ground noise, gyroscopes, and audible alarms. Check this item to enable or disable these sounds.

Environmental Sounds: This check box controls the audio for wind, rain, and thunder. Enable or disable as desired.

Volume Control

With this slider, you can increase or reduce the relative volume of all sound effects. The Left and Right indicators show the sound output levels of each speaker attached to your system.

Radio

The Radio related checkboxes control the use of LiveMic™, a feature that allows you to use voice communication with other players when participating in multiplayer over the Internet. You must have a microphone attached to your computer, as well as a sound card that supports microphone input.

Full Duplex: Allows you to talk and listen simultaneously when using two-way radio transmission. Requires a full duplex-capable sound card (see your sound card’s manual to find out if yours is full duplexcompatible).

Compression: Toggles Radio compression on and off. Use compression if attempting to use two-way radio transmission over dial-up Internet connections. If you are playing over a LAN, you probably don’t need to turn compression on; sound quality will be clearer without compression.

Amplification: Amplifies incoming two-way microphone audio.

Mute

Negates all volume controls.

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Simulation

Simulation

Controls

This dialog may be used to customize the simulation’s default keyboard and button assignments to suit your personal style and preference.

The key list shows the name of the simulation function in the left column, the currently defined keystroke

in the center column, and the currently defined joystick or controller button assignment in the right column. Any listed function can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut, or to a button on a joystick or other input device.

Key Assignments

The various keyboard and button commands are divided into sets for greater organization. Select from each of the following to find the commands you wish to customize (For more information on all these controls and their default key assignments, Controls & Shortcuts, p. 41)

Menu Keys: Controls for the simulation’s general interface and menus. Global Keys: Universal keys available regardless of aircraft being used. Camera Keys: Controls for the movement and placement of cameras. Airplane Keys: Controls for movement of your airplane and systems.

Slew Keys: Controls for placement of aircraft in Slew Mode. (p. 50).

Redefine Key

When you click on an item in the Assignments list, its currently assigned key appears in this text entry box. If you want to change the key assignment, input it here. Be sure, however, not to use a key already assigned to another function. To assign a button to a function, simply select the function in the Key Assignments list, then press the button on your controller.

Clear: Pressing this button clears the assigned keyboard shortcut and controller button.

Load Set/Save Set

User-defined key configuration sets can be saved for later use by pressing Save Set and can be recalled with the Load Set button. Fly! ships with a collection of pre-configured key configuration sets that match other competing flight products, to allow easier learning for users already familiar with these products.

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Restore Defaults

Resets all keyboard/button assignments to their original defaults.

Null Zone

This slider allows you to increase the realism of the simulation by creating a “null zone” on your input device. This zone, a percentage of your device’s range of motion, creates a region around the controller’s central point in which it will not respond. The higher the percentage, the farther the device must be used before the aircraft will respond. Null zone has no effect if you are using the keyboard or a gamepad as your primary input device.

Setup Controls

Click this button to open the Setup Controls dialog, which is used to select which joystick or input devices should control the various axes for the aircraft.

- For Microsoft Windows users:

This dialog box allows you to define what, if any, input devices you intend to use with Fly! Input is divided between General controls, Throttle, Mixture and Propeller. Click the area you wish to edit, which will then display the available axis inputs.

For each axis listed, choose the input device you want to control that axis from the appropriate combo box. Once the input device is selected, you can choose which axis on that device is used to control the aricraft axis. Make this selection from the appropriate combo box on the right. This allows complete customization of the input controls for FLY!

X-Axis: Select which input device will control the X-axis of the aircraft. The X-axis controls left-to-right banking of the aircraft through the ailerons.

Y Axis: Select which input device will control the Y-axis of the aircraft. The Y-axis controls the nose up-nose down pitch of the aircraft through the elevator.

Rudder: Select which input device will control the Rudder of the aircraft. The rudder controls left-to-right yaw.

Throttle: Select which input device will control the Throttle of the aircraft.

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Simulation

Simulation

Left Toe Brake: Select which input device will control the left toe brake in the aircraft. Certain rudder pedal input devices may not support this functionality.

Right Toe Brake: Select which input device will control the right toe brake in the aircraft. Certain rudder pedal input devices may not support this functionality.

Trim: Select which input device controls the aircraft’s Elevator Trim.

Open Control Panel: Clicking this button opens the Microsoft Windows joystick control panel to test and calibrate your input devices.

Engine Controls: Clicking the Throttle, Mixture and Propeller buttons allows selection of input devices for each of these functions. You can assign the same input axis to control multiple engines, or specify separate input axes for each engine.

- For Apple MacOS users:

This dialog box allows you to define what, if any, input devices you intend to use with Fly! This is the standard MacOS InputSprocket configuration dialog, allowing you to configure and assign functionality to each input device.

Click on an input device listed in the left column to display the programmable functions for that device. Click on the icons to open a pop-up menu allowing you to choose which function that axis should map to. You should only use this dialog to assign device axis input for Fly! For buttons and point of view configuration, use the Controls dialog to establish button assignments as desired.

Cockpit Options

These options dictate how the cockpit view and gauge detail will be presented in the simulation.

Gauge Detail

Dictates the level of detail (frames of animation on needles, compasses, etc.) presented on the cockpits’ array of dials and indicators. Normal, coarse, and minimal. Lower this setting to increase system performance, particularly if you are running short of RAM.

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Stretch Main Window

When active, this feature creates a realistic change of perspective when you scroll around the cockpit—the landscape seen through your window will stretch as your perspective changes. You may see a small performance increase when this feature is on.

Cockpit Window Full Width

Normally, if you resize your window while using a camera other than cockpit, you will see the same resizing when you return to your cockpit. When you activate this feature, your cockpit will always be full-screen width.

Scroll with Mouse

Allows you to scan your instruments by moving your mouse pointer to the edges of the screen. If you choose to disable this option, you must use the Shift + Arrow Keys to look around your cockpit (p. 41).

Tune Radios

Your radios are your navigational and communications lifeline when you are high in the sky. Use this dialog to select a radio and tune by keyboard. The frequency you enter will always be set as the “active” fre-

quency for the selected radio. You always have the option of tuning the radios directly in-flight by directly manipulating the radio with the mouse from the cockpit view. For more on using your radios, see Radios, p. 44.

Select Radio

Pop-up menu allows you to choose from the available radios installed in the currently selected airplane. Radios differ across different aircraft, so carefully browse this list to find the exact component you are wanting to tune.

Frequencies

Enter the frequency to set as the active frequency for the selected radio. Fractional frequencies may be entered, but if a frequency is entered that is outside the tuning range of the selected radio, the change will have no effect.

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Simulation

Simulation

Auto Save

This set of options allows you to define which of your settings will be automatically saved between sessions. The next time you launch Fly! these settings will load by default, speeding your return to flight. Each of these checkboxes

can be toggled to indicate which data you want saved automatically when you exit Fly!.

Flight Plan

Preserves departure and arrival airports and times, userdefined waypoints, and flight paths.

Environment

Saves all environmental settings for clouds, wind, weather, visibility, etc.

Simulation State

Saves the state of the simulation when you exit. You can resume your flights in progress without saving manually.

Aircraft

Remembers the last selected aircraft.

Fuel

Preserves settings for fuel loadout for each fuel tank. Only active if Aircraft has been selected.

Weight

Saves preferences for weight loadout for each passenger, pilot, and cargo slot. Only active if Aircraft has been selected.

Ask Before Exiting

Select this check box if you want to be prompted before exiting Fly!

Logbook

Real-world pilots log every hour they spend in the air or on simulators to demonstrate how much in-flight experience they have. The same mechanism is

available in Fly! Every moment in flight can be recorded so you can trace your history and impress your friends.

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Flight Entries

This list contains a history of each flight you have taken in Fly! Each entry displays the date and time of flight, the aircraft in use, and the flight duration.

New Log Book

Create a new log book. You will be asked to specify a location on your hard disk to save the new log book file.

Open Log Book

Opens an existing log book. The last log book you open before leaving this dialog will be considered the “active” log book.

Details

Click the Details button to see complete details of the flight entry currently selected in the Flight Entries list.

Realism

Fly! offers unprecedented realism in a flight simulator, but many beginning pilots may find these features cumbersome when learning to fly. Review the following realism elements to decide what level of realism you expect from the simulation.

Detect Collisions

Activating this option makes all structures (i.e. buildings, bridges, towers, and other aircraft) solid. With the feature enabled, these structures can be hit by your plane. Deactivating it allows you to pass through these structures.

Battery Drain

Normally, your battery is drained by the use of electronic devices, reducing your power levels over time. When you turn off this feature, your battery will have an infinite charge.

Dynamic Scenery

Turning this feature on allows the simulation to create computer controlled aircraft in the world around you. Turning this feature off can provide performance boost, but will also simplify the situation somewhat—if there are other planes in the air, you must be mindful of their locations and co-exist with them during take-offs and landings.

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Simulation

Simulation

Icing

Cold weather and high moisture levels can cause ice to form on your wings, a runway, and aircraft parts, reducing airplane performance. Turning off this feature eliminates the possibility of ice forming. When active, you will experience the effects of icing when conditions are present, but there is no visual indication of ice on the aircraft or outside surfaces.

Accurate Ground Traction

Rain or ice can cause runways to become slick, making takeoffs and landings difficult. Turning this feature off eliminates this hazard and preserves dry-weather conditions regardless of actual weather.

Gyro Drift

Gyroscopic instruments have a tendency to lose accuracy after extended use. Experienced pilots know how to adjust for this “drift,” but it can be confusing to novices. You can disable this if desired.

Accurate Engine Start

The procedure to set-up and start engines is a lengthy and complicated one. When this option is enabled, pressing the Easy Engine Start key will allow the plane to methodically turn on and activate each aircraft system in order. This can be helpful when learning the startup sequences for each aircraft. When disabled, pressing the Easy Engine Start key will immediately start the aircraft with minimal delay.

Manual Propeller

Pilots often need to adjust propeller RPM, but you can let the computer make these changes if you deselect this feature.

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Airplane

These options encompass the fine tuning necessary to ready a plane for flight. Be sure to adjust these before flight, or leave them at their default settings if you are unsure how to adjust them. Note that these changes only affect the currently selected aircraft, and do not affect all other aircraft. This allows for

distinct input tuning for each aircraft individually.

Trim Sensitivity

Moving this slider makes any adjustments to trim (in other words, each press of the key controlling that adjustment) less significant. As a result, pressing the Elevator Trim Up key would have less effect if Trim Sensitivity is adjusted to the left. If you wish your adjustments to have a more dramatic effect, move this slider to the right. To tie Elevator, Aileron and Rudder Trims together, click the

Lock Settings checkbox.

Control Exponential

This factor dictates how much effect holding the following controls will have. In other words, the longer you hold the adjustment, the faster it adjusts. Moving the slider to the left causes controls to accelerate at a slower rate, moving it to the right causes acceleration to increase. To tie all three settings together, click the

Lock Settings checkbox.

Mute

Mutes all sound. This can also be activated by pressing Control-M in Windows or Command-M in MacOS. Selecting Mute again restores volume to previous levels.

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Simulation

Games PC FLY User Manual

Simulation

View Menu

Cockpit Camera

For most pilots, this will be their primary view of the world. From this view, you can look around your cockpit as freely as if you were there (especially if you have mouse scrolling activated, see Scroll with Mouse, p. 15).

Spot (Chase) Plane Camera

This is a free-motion camera. Activating it immediately transports you outside your plane to watch it in flight. Use the camera control keys to zoom and pan around until you find the view that suits your needs. You can even save your favorite positions to a hot key.

Fly By Camera

This is a stationary camera that observes your plane’s approach, pass-by, and departure. When you go out of range of the camera, it assumes a new position and starts its pan again.

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Directory

Use this tool to jump to any geographical point (airport, navpoint, etc.). The directory is a stripped-down version of the Departure/Arrival Dialog Box (see Flight Planner, p. 32).

Toggle cockpit

When in Cockpit view, use this feature to hide your entire instrument panel from view. When the panel is turned off, you will have a full-screen view of the landscape in front of your aircraft. To maintain your essential controls, you might want to bring up your Mini-Cockpit Window (p. 30).

Intro Screen

Links to the Intro Screen View, (p. 8).

Fly Now!

Links to the Fly Now! View, (p. 31).

Flight Planner

Links to the Flight Planner, (p. 32).

Setup Aircraft

Links to the Setup Aircraft View, (p. 36).

Environment

Links to the Environment View, (p. 38).

Toggle Full Screen

Switches between full-screen, zoomed in-window and desktop in-window modes. Keep in mind that 3D hardware acceleration will not be used when running in windowed modes, resulting in lower frame rates.

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Simulation

Simulation

Windows

This menu contains all of the simulation’s special Windows. These alternative views provide powerful and flexible tools that every pilot should learn to use. For example, you can bring up a sectional map of your current location to find out where you. Or, you can call up a miniature version of your cockpit so you can control your plane while using an external camera. These Windows are:

Secondary Camera Window

This window displays any of the external camera views. For example, if you want to be seated in the pilot’s seat, but still want to watch your plane from the outside, you can bring up this window to view the Spot Plane Camera. You can scroll

through the available camera views as normal by pressing C. When the Secondary Camera Window is the active window, it receives all camera keystrokes. Some 3D accelerator cards do not support this feature.

Map Window

Opens a window displaying your plane centered over a sectional map of your immediate area. With this tool, you can immediately confirm your location or locate nearby navaids, airports, or major terrain features. Fly! ships with sectional charts covering the continental United States.

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You can scroll around the window by holding the Shift Key (turning your mouse pointer into a grabbing hand) and clicking to grab and drag the map. You may also use the camera control keys (i.e. Control + Right Arrow). Double click anywhere on the map to re-center the map on your plane. Finally, you can click and drag to see distance measurements.

Vector Map Window

The Vector Map is a graphic display that illustrates nearby airports, VORs, and NDBs in vector format. The Vector Map is a resizable window that allows viewing up to 150 nautical miles in radius from the air-

plane’s position. In the event that you have no visible navigation aids from the airplane’s view, use the Vector Map to quickly find a reference navaid to guide you on your way. Highlight a navaid in the Vector Map by moving the mouse over the navaid. Doubleclick on a highlighted navaid to open an information window about the corresponding navaid. The Vector Window is one of FLY!’s most flexible tools. Explore the array of features, buttons, and aids freely and frequently.

Control Bar

The Control Bar provides a method to quickly modify the visible navaids in the Vector Map. The Control Bar is located at the bottomleft of the vector map. The Control Bar can be opened or closed. When the Control Bar is closed (collapsed) it displays an arrow pointing to the right. Click on the right arrow to open (extend) the Control Bar. The Control Bar in the open position displays an assortment of buttons. The arrow previously pointing to the right now points to the left. Click on the left arrow to close the Control Bar. The arrow previously pointing to the left now points to the right. The button functions are described below from left to right:

Zoom-In:

Click the Zoom-In button to increase the amount of

 

visible area in the Vector Map while increasing the

 

size of the items visible. Click and hold the Zoom-

 

In button to zoom at an increasing rate. When the

 

Vector Map is at maximum zoom, the Zoom-In but-

 

ton becomes disabled.

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Zoom-Out:

Click the Zoom-Out button to decrease the amount

 

of visible area in the Vector Map while decreasing

 

the size of the items visible. Click and hold the

 

Zoom-Out button to zoom at an increasing rate.

 

When the Vector Map is at minimum zoom, the

 

Zoom-Out button becomes disabled. The maxi-

 

mum zoom out allows a 150 nautical mile visible

 

radius from the airplane.

Maximize/Restore:

Click the Maximize/Restore button to quickly max-

 

imize the Vector Map to full size of the screen or

 

restore it to its previous size. Click the button to

 

maximize the window. Click the button again to

 

restores the window to its previous size.

Airport:

Click the Airport button to enable or disable the

 

display of Airport navaids in the Vector Map. The

 

Airport appears as a yellow vector Airport when in

 

colored graphic mode, or as the appropriate

 

Airport icon when in icon graphic mode. As the

 

Vector Map is zoomed in, the Airport (in colored

 

graphic mode) displays runways. When the Vector

 

Map is close to maximum Zoom-In, runway iden-

 

tifiers are displayed at the ends of the runways,

 

helping you to find the appropriate runway when

 

attempting to land. Double-click an airport to open

 

an Airport Information Window about the corre-

 

sponding airport.

VOR:

Click the VOR button to enable or disable the dis-

 

play of VOR navaids in the Vector Map. The VOR

 

appears as a green vector VOR when in colored

 

graphic mode, or as the appropriate VOR icon

 

when in icon graphic mode. The display of com-

 

pass plates is disabled when VOR navaids are dis-

 

abled. Double-click a VOR to open a Navaid

 

Information Window about the corresponding

 

VOR.

NDB:

Click the NDB button to enable or disable the dis-

 

play of NDB navaids in the Vector Map. The NDB

 

appears as a red vector NDB when in colored

 

graphic mode, or as the appropriate NDB icon

 

when in icon graphic mode. Double-click a NDB to

 

open a Navaid Information Window about the cor-

 

responding NDB.

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Compass Plate:

Click the Compass Plate button to enable or disable

 

the display of compass plates on all VOR navaids.

 

The compass plate is displayed as a green circle

 

with a radius between one and five nautical miles.

 

The compass plate circle is scaled appropriately

 

when the Vector Map is zoomed. A solid green line

 

points from the middle of the circle to magnetic

 

north. Along the perimeter of the circle are marks at

 

intervals of 30º, 10º and 5º. The Bearing To and

 

Radial From are displayed on the perimeter of the

 

circle. Flying the Bearing To directs your plane to the

 

compass plate along an imaginary line from your

 

airplane to the center of the circle. If you get lost

 

while flying, find a nearby compass plate and fly at

 

the Bearing To to resume your flight plan.

Text Labels:

Click the Text Labels button to enable or disable

 

navaid labels. The amount of information in the text

 

label of each navaid type can be set in the Options

 

Screen.

Graphics Mode:

Click the Graphic Mode button to toggle the display

 

of icons or colors for navaids. When displaying

 

icons for navaids, an icon appears in the Vector Map

 

corresponding to the type of navaid. The icons are

 

the same icons found in the Flight Planner, for more

 

information, see Map Icons p.34. When displaying

 

colors for navaids, airports are yellow, VOR navaids

 

are green, and NDB navaids are red.

Cursor Info:

Click the Cursor Information button to display the

 

specified information near the mouse cursor. The

 

exact information displayed near the mouse cursor is

 

set in the Options Screen. The settings include the

 

distance from the airplane to the mouse cursor, the

 

radial from the airplane to the mouse cursor, and the

 

bearing to the mouse cursor from the airplane. All the

 

information is calculated from the center of the air-

 

plane to the tip of the mouse cursor. Click the Cursor

 

Information button again to disable the option.

Options:

Click the Options button to display the Options

 

Screen. The options screen allows you to specify the

 

visuals in the Vector Map. The Vector Map Window

 

resizes to accommodate the Options Screen. The

 

options are described in more detail in Vector Map

 

Options, p.28. Click the Options button again to

 

close the Options Screen and restore the Vector Map

 

Window to its previous size.

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On-Window Text

The Options Screen allows you to selectively display information about your flight. The information is displayed at the top of the Vector Map and is divided into 3 sections. The sections include the top-left, top-middle, and top-right of the Vector Map.

The date and time, air speed and true air speed, altitude and elevation are found in the top-left section of the Vector Map. The time is displayed in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time - Zulu). The air speed is the speed of the airplane without the effects of nature. The true air speed combines the speed of the airplane with the forces of nature (i.e. wind, gravity, etc.) acting on the airplane. The altitude is the height of the airplane relative to sea level. The elevation is the height of the airplane relative to the ground directly beneath it.

The distance of the view area is displayed in the middle section of the Vector Map. The distance is measured from the airplane to the left edge of the Vector Map followed by the distance of the airplane to the top edge of the Vector Map (i.e. 150 nm x 150 nm). For instance, zooming into the Vector Map increases the scale of the Vector Map which decreases the viewable distance.

The longitude and latitude of the airplane is displayed in the top-right section of the Vector Map.

Vector Map Options

Click the Options button on the control bar to display to Vector Map Options Screen. The Options Screen allows you to configure the Vector Map to your taste. All option states are saved when modified. When you return to your Vector Map from session to session, it appears as you left it. The following describes each option found in the Vector Map Options Screen:

Airport:

Toggles the airport visual on and off.

Airport Name:

Toggles the airport name label on and off.

Airport Identifier:

Toggles the airport identifier label on and off.

VOR:

Toggles the VOR visual on and off.

VOR Name:

Toggles the VOR name label on and off.

VOR Identifier:

Toggles the VOR identifier label on and off.

VOR Frequency:

Toggles the VOR frequency label on and off.

NDB:

Toggles the NDB visual on and off.

NDB Name:

Toggles the NDB name on and off.

NDB Identifier:

Toggles the NDB identifier on and off.

NDB Frequency:

Toggles the NDB frequency on and off.

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Text Labels:

Toggles the display of text labels on and off.

Compass Plate:

Toggles the display of compass plates on VOR

 

navaids.

Cursor Info:

Toggles the display of information near the mouse

 

cursor.

Cursor Distance:

Toggles the display of the distance from the airplane

 

to the mouse cursor. The information is displayed

 

near the mouse cursor.

Cursor Bearing To:

Toggles the display of the bearing from the airplane

 

to the mouse cursor. The information is displayed

 

near the mouse cursor.

Cursor Radial

Toggles the display of the radial from the airplane

From:

to the mouse cursor. The information is displayed

 

near the mouse cursor.

Time:

Toggles the display of the time.

Date:

Toggles the display of the date.

Speed:

Toggles the display of the indicated and true air

 

speed of the airplane.

Altitude:

Toggles the display of the altitude of the airplane.

View Distance:

Toggles the display of the visible distance.

Lat/Lon:

Toggles the display of the latitude/longitude of the

 

airplane.

Graphics:

Toggles the display of the navaids to either colors or

 

icons.

Cursor Distance

Toggles the distance measurement used in all dist-

Measurement:

-ances displayed in the Vector Map. These distances

 

include the cursor distance and visible distance of

 

the Vector Map. The measurements are as follows:

 

Feet (ft), Meter (m), Kilometer (km), Statute Mile (mi),

 

Nautical Mile (nm).

Compass Plate

The plus and minus buttons increase and decrease

Size:

the size of the compass plate respectively. The max-

 

imum compass plate size is 5.0 nm. The minimum

 

compass plate size is 1.0 nm.

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Axis Window

Brings up a visual representation of your axis readings and trim tab settings. This window will stay on screen even if you switch to another view. The window has three sets of indicators: the vertical bar represents your elevators, the top your ailerons, and bottom your rudder. White arrows show current posi-

tion of control input (either keyboard or joystick) and orange arrows show current trim settings. The ALT button (on the Axis Window, not on your keyboard) activates Altitude Hold, an autopilot-like setting that maintains your current rate of Altitude change (not your current altitude). The WING button activates the Wing Leveler. AC activates the Auto Coordination (keeps aileron and rudder turns coordinated)—recommended for keyboard users. Finally, TRIM activates auto-trim for the aircraft. However, since this feature will attempt to auto-trim the plane in all circumstances, only turn on when necessary.

Mini Cockpit Window

Whether you want to have access to your controls even when using an external camera or you simply don’t want a full instrument panel blocking your view, you can bring up this window. It contains six essential controls (Airspeed Indicator, Altitude Indicator, Attitude Indicator, CDI, Compass, NAV/COM Radio, Throttle Lever, Propeller Lever, and Mixture Lever) at the bottom of the screen. This window will stay on screen even if you switch to another view.

GPS Window

Brings up a full scale view of the Bendix/King KLN89 GPS radio (when applicable). This allows for easier direct input using the mouse, and also allows

for GPS access when not using the cockpit view. You can optionally open this window by double clicking inside the faceplate of the GPS on the primary cockpit panel.

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Help

This help menu links users with Internet connections directly to a variety of Web Sites which can assist you with troubleshooting and updating Fly! Windows users will also see the “About Fly” menu in this location. Look to these sites for assistance.

Fly! Support Page

Terminal Reality Inc. Home Page

Gathering of Developers Home Page

Fly Now

Fly Now is primarily for novice pilots, allowing them to jump right into the aircraft without having to establish a flight plan, but it is also for the veteran who just wants a quick fix of flight. Whatever the reason, this is the fastest way to get yourself into the air.

Scenario

The scenarios in Fly Now are all predefined, meaning that your plane, weather and load considerations are already established. All you need to do is pick which scenario you desire and take off. Scan this list for the plane and location you wish to fly and click once to highlight it.

Category

The category pop-up menu is used to help classify scenarios for easy location. This feature is intended for third-party add-on product expansion. By default, leave the pop-up selected to “<All Scenarios>” or “FLY! Defaults” to view FLY! original scenarios.

Details

This button accesses a description of the scenario.

FLY

Transfers you to the cockpit of your plane to fly the selected scenario—be sure you have chosen the correct scenario before you press this button. Many of the scenarios that ship with Fly! begin with the plane in the air, but some start on the ground, requiring you to take off but allowing you to bypass the engine start-up procedures.

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Flight Planner

The Flight Planner is the interface for more advanced pilots who want to define many of the aspects of their flying experience: route, plane, load, weather, etc. Beginning a flight this way requires substantial experience and knowledge (consult this manual liberally if you have any doubts), but

many options can simply be left in their default position.

• Departing From/Arriving At

Click on these buttons to define your departure airport and time and arrival airport. Note that these dialog boxes are essentially the same with differences noted below.

Search For

Choose the type of facility you wish to search for. When accessing this dialog from the Flight Planner, only Airports can be searched.

Country

Select which country you would like to depart from. Making this choice will bring up a list of available airports in the Airport Detail chart below. Most of the world’s countries are included on this list.

State

If you chose “United States” from the Country pop-up menu, you will next be able to choose your state of departure. This pop-up menu will be unavailable if you have chosen any other country.

Name

If you know the name of your desired airport, you can simply enter it in this text box. If no keystrokes are entered within a second, the search will automatically be executed.

FAA or ICAO ID

If you don’t know the name of your chosen airport, but do know its FAA or ICAO identification code, you may enter that code here. If no keystrokes are entered within a second, the search will automatically be executed.

Favorites

This section allows you to save any search result for quick selection or airport lookup in the future.

Search Sets: Click on this pop-up menu to chose from all favorite sets you have already defined. When you chose an airport on the list, it will appear in the Airport Detail Chart below.

Add Set: This button adds an airport displayed in the Airport Detail Chart to your Favorites list.

Remove Set: This button removes the last selected set (shown in the popup-menu) from your Favorites list.

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• Airport Detail

This chart displays the currently selected airport and many of its details.

Name: Name of the airport.

FAA or ICAO ID: Airport identification code.

Usage: Whether the airport is public or private.

Elev.: Elevation of the airport above or below sea level.

Country: Country in which the airport is located.

State: State in which the airport is located.

• Runway

This box lists the available runways at the selected airport. The line drawing to the right represents the runways and their configuration.

ID

Lists the identification number for each of the selected airport’s runways. As you highlight a runway in this box, the line drawing to the right illuminates to indicate the runway you have chosen.

Size

Indicates the size of each runway in feet.

Details Button

Calls up information on a selected airport including com frequency, name, location, elevation.

Departure Time

Specify your desired departure time here in Departing From dialog box. This time should be entered in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or Zulu time.

• Pointers

These tools located in a vertical stack along the left side of the screen allow you make changes to your flight plan within the map window.

Arrow A pointer for use within the map box. Used to select or view details of items on the map.

Arrow + This tool enables you to add elements to your route. Click on the navigational aids you would like to add to incorporate into your plan.

Arrow – This tool removes elements from flight plan. To use, click on the element you wish to remove.

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Magnifying Glass Allows you to magnify an area of the map by clicking on it. To zoom out, Control+Click with the mouse. The behavior of this tool depends on whether you are looking at a vector display or a map: in map mode, zooming will select the next most detailed map (i.e. clicking on North America on the world map will jump to the map of North America). Note that the “next most detailed map” may not necessarily be a higher scale than the previous map, it may simply cover a smaller area. Use the Detail Map Overlay to see where maps intersect.

Map Icons

The two icons in the lower left corner of the screen indicates which maps you will see in the map window.

Map Overlay: Pressing this button toggles the topographical map on and off.

Detail Map Overlay: Pressing this button toggles a map overlay that indicates the location of detail maps. If an area is shaded in blue, there is a map available for that region.

Current Map: Indicates which map is currently open. Detail Map: Pop-up menu to choose a different map.

Overlays

These map overlays provide useful navigational information by plotting various elements onto the map window. Click on each overlay button to toggle the switch on (illuminated) or

off (shaded).

Latitude Longitude Guide: Overlays longitude and latitude lines on topographical maps only.

Weather: Displays temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Only functions if METAR data has been imported from the Environment screen.

Route Chosen: Overlays your flight route.

Waypoints: Overlays all available waypoints as locations on the map. Represented as triangles.

Airports: Overlays all available airports as locations on the map. Represented as crossed runways or as FAA-defined representation of the runway layout.

Navaids: Overlays all available Navigation Aids (or “NAVAIDS”) as locations on the map. Navaids come in five varieties. The symbol in the left column represents the symbols as they are shown on standard aviation maps and the symbols in the right column are their interface equivalents. The latter are designed to be as similar as possible to their actual counterparts, but there are some small differences:

34

NDB-Concentric circles

NDB with DME-Circles with blue square center

VOR-Hexagon with blue center

VOR with DME-Hexagon with square center

VOR with Vortac-Hexagon with bold edges

Detail Options

Allows you to filter out many of the details brought up by activating the overlays. The number of airports, navaids, etc. can be a bit overwhelming, so this feature can help clear up the clutter of the map view.

______ Detail

This button changes depending on what kind of symbol is most recently clicked upon in the map window. Airports, Navaids, Waypoints, and flight segments can contain details of each specific item which are accessed via this button.

Edit Route

Pressing this button brings up a box listing all airports and waypoints on your route from point A to point B. From here you can select each point individually to change them as you deem fit.

Generate Route

Automatically generate routes by simply specifying the Departure and Arrival Airports. Using this tool, however, overrides any other flight plan information.

Setup Aircraft and Environment

Links to appropriate section (p.36 and 38).

FLY

Initiates the flight plan you have prepared and transports you to the cockpit of your plane to begin startup procedures. Be sure that all of your flight plan settings, including Environment and Setup Aircraft settings are established before pressing this button.

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Setup Aircraft

To choose and configure an aircraft for flight, you must first select the aircraft you wish to fly and then access the aircraft fuel and weight options from this screen.

Types to Display

All aircraft shipped with Fly! are categorized by their engine configurations. This pop-up menu allows you to see all of the available planes (“All Aircraft”) or only aircraft of a specific type (Single-Engine, Multi-Engine, Single-Engine Turbo-Prop, MultiEngine Turbo-Prop, and Jet).

Details

Once you have selected an aircraft, its image appears in the right hand window. Click on the Details button to view selected performance information for the aircraft.

Load Out

Load Out is the weight load and distribution of all things carried by the aircraft including, for example, cargo, pilots, passengers, and fuel. All of these elements can be customized and placed by use of the two Load-Out screens: Fuel and Weight.

Fuel: Fuel Load Out allows you to specify the amount and placement of fuel in your aircraft.

Center of Gravity: These indicators display the balance of the aircraft both front-to-back (“Fore and Aft”) and side-to-side (“Left and Right”). The placement of fuel and weight (see Weight Load Out below) impacts these readings. Ideally, you want to keep the aircraft balance within the green area of the indicator, as close to center as possible. If weight is not evenly distributed, it will impact the aircraft’s flight stability. The dial shows red to indicate serious weight or balance problems.

Fuel Tank Icons: Each aircraft has a number of fuel tanks located around the plane, represented in this screen by ovals with a red fuel symbol. The level of fuel in the tank is indicated by the gold coloring that rises or drops as fuel level is changed.

36

Uniform Fill-On/Off: Activating this feature allows you to fill all tanks in the order they should be filled with one adjustment (on by default) and assures that any changes in fuel level will affect the weight distribution of the craft evenly. If, however, you wish to offset a weight imbalance due to cargo or passenger load, you may do so by turning Uniform Fill off and specifying different fuel levels to offset the weight. When you turn off Uniform Fill, individual fuel level sliders will appear below each tank allowing you to make adjustments independently.

Total Fuel Level: This slider allows you to fill all tanks when Uniform Fill (see above) is on. When Uniform Fill is off, you may not use this slider to fill the tanks, but it will rise and drop as you add fuel to the individual tanks to indicate changes to the aircraft’s total fuel level.

Total Fuel/Max Fuel: Numerically indicates the total fuel loaded onto the aircraft and the maximum amount the plane can hold. Keep in mind that the amount of fuel you can carry is limited not only by these numbers, but by the total weight capacity of your aircraft - it is possible to exceed weight capacity while having less than maximum fuel loaded.

Setup Aircraft: Returns to Setup Aircraft (see above). Load Out Weight: Links to Load Out Weight (see below).

Weight

Center of Gravity: These indicators display the balance of the aircraft both front-to-back (“Fore and Aft”) and side-to-side (“Left and Right”). The placement of fuel and weight (see Fuel Load Out above) impacts these readings. Ideally, you want to keep the aircraft balance within the green area of the indicator, as close to center as possible. If weight is not evenly distributed, it will impact the aircraft’s flight stability. The dial shows red to indicate serious weight or balance problems.

Pilot, Passenger, and Cargo Icons: You can distribute weight in your plane graphically by clicking on pilot seats, passenger seats, or cargo bays to add or remove occupants of those sections. For example, you can click on a chair to add a passenger. Watch the effect placing and removing objects has on the Center of Gravity indicator above and the Total Weight indicator below. Please note that although you may add and remove passengers from the plane, you will only see a single occupant in the 3D aircraft when flying the simulator.

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Name, Type, Weight: These fields act as both an alternative way to insert people and cargo into your plane and as a means of modifying items already placed. To place a new object, choose its Name (i.e. Co-Pilot, Left Rear Passenger) and Type (Pilot, Passenger, Cargo or none) and specify its weight. To change an already placed object, select its position from the Name pop-up menu or highlight it by pointing at it and make any changes in these boxes. Most often, you will want to raise or lower the weight of objects to balance out the weight load. Keep in mind that the pilot (you) cannot be removed from the plane.

Total Weight/Max Weight: Numerically indicates the total weight currently loaded on your aircraft (including fuel) and the maximum weight your aircraft can carry. Note that you cannot exceed the maximum amount and that heavier loads will affect airplane performance. The dial shows red to indicate serious weight or balance problems

Setup Aircraft: Returns to Setup Aircraft (see above).

Load Out Fuel: Links to Load Out Fuel (see above).

Flight Planner: Links to Flight Planner (p. 32).

Environment: Links to Environment View (p.38).

FLY: Takes you to the cockpit of your plane. Be sure all settings in this section as well as Environment and Flight Planner are to your liking before embarking on your journey.

Environment

Ever wanted to control the weather? With the Environment interface, you can. Keep in mind that these settings will be established worldwide and will not change no matter how long or where you fly. For greater realism, however, you can allow Environmental settings to

be established with real weather data by activating the METAR feature, described below.

Options

These sliders allow you to alter various weather attributes, each of which can dramatically impact on aircraft performance.

Visibility: Visibility is the distance the pilot can see from the cockpit - the higher the visibility, the farther the pilot can see. As visibility decreases, objects in the distance will be shrouded in haze if they are

38

beyond your maximum visibility range. Visibility settings range from 0 to 20 miles. This setting can affect system performance but will have no effect on aircraft performance. Note that this setting is limited by the Maximum Visibility setting in the Graphics Options dialog (p. 11).

Temperature: External temperature can have profound effects on your airplane. Cold temperatures increase the chance of icing. Hot temperatures, on the other hand, render the air less dense and less able to support a plane in flight. Temperatures range from -50°F to 120°F.

Pressure: Indicates the outside barometric pressure at sea level. Pressure can impact the accuracy of altitude readings - if pressure is high, actual altitude will be lower than is shown on instruments. If, for example, you land at an airport that is at a different elevation than your airport of origin, you will have to adjust the Kollsman window on altimeter from the primary cockpit panel. This is particularly important in IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flight. Pressure settings range from 28.0 Hg to 31.0 Hg.

Wind

Few things have more impact on flying than wind. Wind affects speed adjustments, fuel efficiency, and take off and landing directions. You can manually set the direction of the wind by clicking on any point within the compass.

Variable Wind Direction: Click in this box to randomize the direction of the wind for greater realism. Activating this feature overrides any settings made on the Wind Direction dial. The dial sets the predominant wind direction. Selecting variable winds allows the wind to “blow” from more than one direction but it still maintains the predominant direction.

Average Speed: Slider establishes the average wind speed in the simulation. Wind will change speed constantly, occasionally rising above or below this average, but this figure represents the general steady airspeed. Speeds range from 0 MPH to 50 MPH.

Gust Speed: You can set the peak level for wind gusts with this slider, establishing the maximum spikes for wind effect.

Clouds

You can set the cloud count at three layers of atmosphere with these text boxes and pop-up menus. Cloud layers can be set to your preference (in feet) and cloud density can range from Few to Scattered to Broken to Overcast. To activate these features, first click on the Sun icon to the left of each layer to activate clouds at that level. You may then set cloud density and altitude manually in the pop-up menu and text box respectively.

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Simulation

Show Backdrop

Activating this checkbox will introduce a photographic background of distant clouds and horizon into the simulation. This alone has no effect on weather conditions, but is simply a visual option to enhance the “out the window” view.

Precipitation

Use the Precipitation pop-up menu to select the type of precipitation you desire: Clear (or None), Rain, or Snow. Precipitation can obscure vision, alter airplane performance, and increase take off and landing hazards.

Intensity

Precipitation intensity can be defined using this pop-up menu and can be set to Light, Medium, or Heavy. The more intense the precipitation, the greater the impact on the simulation. As a note, to introduce Thunderstorms into the environment, set Rain as the precipitation type and Heavy as the intensity.

Import METAR

To create more realistic weather conditions, you can add real-world weather by importing weather reports based on the the National Weather Service “METAR” files. Each METAR file describes latest weather observations from one of thousands of reporting stations around the world.

When you fly within 140 miles of one of these stations, the weather will change to reflect the actual weather in that region and if you are within the range of more than one station, the weather will be interpolated from all nearby stations. If, finally, you fly out of range of any stations, the weather settings will revert to your manually defined Environmental settings.

Pressing the Import METAR button brings up a file box allowing you to choose which METAR files to import. Locate and open the METAR file you wish to import. Once you import a new METAR file, and previously imported METAR data will be lost.

METAR files can be obtained from a number of sources. A few come installed with your copy of Fly!. If you desire other files, they can also be obtained from various sites on the Internet including those of NOAA (the National Oceanographic and Aeronautics Administration) and many popular flight simulation Web sites.

Clear METAR

Clears METAR settings and reverts to your manually defined Environmental settings.

You may also link to Setup Aircraft, Flight Planner and FLY.

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Keyboard Controls &

Shortcuts

System Controls

Pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P Access Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Space Bar Toggle Full Screen Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Enter Exit to User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Escape Mute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Windows: Control + M

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MacOS: Command + M Graphic Options Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + F2 Sound Options Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + F3 Control Options Dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + F4 Saving Screen Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Tab Displaying frame rate and status information . . . . . . . . . . . . Tab

Cockpit Controls

Scrolling Cockpit Views

If you have Scroll with Mouse selected in Options - Cockpit, you may simply move the mouse pointer to the edges of the screen to scroll in the desired direction. Or you may use any of the following keyboard commands.

Scroll Cockpit Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Up Arrow Scroll Cockpit Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Down Arrow Scroll Cockpit Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Right Arrow Scroll Cockpit Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Left Arrow Head Pitch/Seat Adjust Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] Head Pitch/Seat Adjust Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + ] Home Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Home

41

Simulation

Simulation

Manipulating Cockpit Instruments

You can adjust any of the usable cockpit instruments with your mouse pointer. Note that Radios have special mouse interaction features (p. 44).

Buttons: Buttons are pressed by clicking on them.

Levers: Levers are pulled by grabbing them with a click-and-hold followed by movement in the direction of your choice.

Dials: Dials are turned to the left by Left-Clicking in Windows and Single-Clicking in MacOS and turned to the right by RightClicking in Windows and Control-Clicking in MacOS.

Pedals: Cannot be manipulated with mouse.

Popup Gauge Information: Point at any usable gauge on your control panel to get not only the identity of the gauge, but also the current reading for that gauge. Gauge labels will automatically appear after holding the mouse over the gauge for one second.

Airplane Controls

The following keyboard controls are used to pilot your aircraft in the simulation. Keep in mind that many of these controls can also be affected by input devices (i.e. Joysticks or Flight Yokes) or manual adjustment of cockpit controls (see Cockpit Controls, above).

Ailerons

Aileron Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Right Arrow

Aileron Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Left Arrow

Auto-Landing Feature

Land at the most suitable runway at nearest airport. Takes over all functions and performs landing with no input from the pilot.

Auto-Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z

Auto-Land Abort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z + Shift

Brakes

Ground Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B

Parking Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + B

Center Controls

Center Aileron & Rudder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 5 Center Ailerons, Elevator, & Rudder. . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Num 5

42

Elevator

Elevator Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Down Arrow

Elevator Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Up Arrow

Elevator Trim Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 1

Elevator Trim Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 7

Engines

Using this feature will automatically perform system and engine startup. If you have turned on “Accurate Engine Start” in Realism (p. 20), you will have to wait while the computer performs each of the startup steps in sequence. If not, the engine will start up instantly.

Easy Engine Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E

Flaps

Retract Flaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F

Extend Flaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F

Fuel

Mixture Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Num 3

Mixture Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Num 9

Gear

Up/Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G

Force Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + G

Heat

Carburetor Heat On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H

Pitot Heat On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + H

Miscellaneous Controls

IFR Hood On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + I Only available in the cockpit view. Turns off all 3D drawing outside window. Essentially, allows for blind flying under IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) by pulling a blinding hood over the cock-

pit window.

Prop Pitch Decrease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Num 1

Prop Pitch Increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Num 7

Rudder Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num . (period)

Rudder Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 0

Throttle Maximum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Num 9

Throttle Minimum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + Num 3

Throttle Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 9

Throttle Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 3

43

Simulation

Simulation

Avionics Controls

Radios

A number of radios are available to assist you in navigation and communication, including ADF, COM, NAV, GPS, and transponder radios. For details on the operation of these devices, see Radio Flyer in the Flight Instruction section.

Tuning: As with all cockpit dials, you can point at the dials with your mouse pointer and turn them left and right with a Left-Click and Right-

Click (Windows) or a Click and Control-Click (MacOS). You can also click directly on the LED numbers on the radio to tune them up and down.

Autopilot: Autopilot allows you to relinquish the controls to the tender mercies of your aircraft’s automated piloting system. Engage this system by toggling it on (disengage with the same button). Once the system is engaged, you can instruct the Autopilot to maintain either your altitude rate-of-change, your heading, or both. Note that this is not a “real-world” autopilot (that system is covered in the Pilot’s Manual) and is available on all planes, regardless of whether the actual plane is equipped with an autopilot.

Autopilot Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Autopilot Altitude Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + A Autopilot Heading Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + A

Lights

Navigation Lights, Strobe, and Beacon Lights. . . . . . Control + L Landing and Taxi Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + L Panel Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L Turns on and off the instrument panel lights in planes where illumination is not automatic. The default aircraft in Fly! all have full-time running instrument panel lights that do not have to be manually turned on (though primary aircraft power must be on). You cannot turn lights off in these aircraft, but you can adjust them through the various cockpit light controls available in the cockpit

panels.

44

Simulation Controls

Cameras

Real-world pilots are only able to see from one vantage point, their seat. While the main point of this simulation is to put you in that position, you have even more power with Fly’s alternate camera views. These cameras (including your cockpit view) offer almost infinite control over your viewing position. Experiment with these cameras and use them in conjunction with windows (see below) to find precisely the view and layout that pleases you.

General Camera Control

Cycle Thru Cameras (i.e., Cockpit, Spot, Fly By, etc.) . . . . . . . C Cockpit Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + C

Moving the Camera

Some of the cameras can be moved and zoomed as you see fit.

Zoom Camera In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + = Zoom Camera In Fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + = Zoom Camera Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + - Zoom Camera Out Fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + - Pan Camera Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Left Arrow Pan Camera Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Right Arrow Pan Camera Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Up Arrow Pan Camera Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Control + Down Arrow

Camera Hot Key Definition

If you are particularly fond of a certain camera angle, you can save it to a hot key for instant access. Simply establish the camera position you want and define the position by pressing Shift and any of F1 through F8. You can then press only the recall key (F1 through F8) to instantly jump to that position.

Define Camera 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F1

Define Camera 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F2

Define Camera 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F3

Define Camera 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F4

Define Camera 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F5

Define Camera 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F6

Define Camera 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F7

Define Camera 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + F8

45

Simulation

Simulation

Recall Hot Key

Activate Defined Camera 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Activate Defined Camera 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

Activate Defined Camera 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3

Activate Defined Camera 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4

Activate Defined Camera 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

Activate Defined Camera 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

Activate Defined Camera 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7

Activate Defined Camera 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8

Window Controls

This collection of mini-windows is among your most useful tools. Use them in conjunction with any of the simulation’s cameras to get the complete picture of your plane and the world around you. Note that these windows can be resized and persist in both size and position even between sessions.

Basic Operation: Generally, windows operate like any other window in your operating system. Open with the keystrokes listed below, move around by grabbing the top or title bar of the window, and close with either a click to the appropriate corner or a key combination.

Secondary Camera View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W

Map View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M

Vector Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + M

Axis Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X

Mini Cockpit Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + X

GPS Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N

46

Air Traffic Control

In the real world, Air Traffic Control (ATC) is available (and sometimes mandatory) to pilots when flying in and around major air traffic areas, and when outside weather conditions prevent

flying by visual reference (Visual Flight Rules, or ‘VFR’ flight). ATC assumes many responsibilities, the most important is to maintain a safe level of separation between a plane and any surrounding planes or terrain. When flying in Instrument Flight Rule (‘IFR’) conditions where visibility may be restricted, it is mandatory that the pilot be in constant communication with ATC.

Fly! offers you the ability to participate with ATC as you choose. This is considered an advanced feature, and may be skipped by beginning pilots if desired. Fly! supports the primary centers of control for ATC: Clearance Delivery, Ground Control, Tower, Departure Control, Arrival Control, and Center. Each of these centers is responsible for a specific area of control for aircraft operations. In addition to establishing and maintaining communications with ATC throughout your flight, you may also hear other computer controlled planes as they interact with ATC. This can occur at any time if a computer aircraft is using an ATC service on the same radio frequency as you.

ATC services are not available at all airports. In some cases, you may only have a subset of the ATC services available. In these cases, it is normal for smaller airports to offer multiple ATC services through the same controller. For example, some airports may have a dedicated frequency and controller for Clearance Delivery, and one for Ground Control. Another airport may have a single frequency that covers Clearance, Ground, and Tower. Regardless of this, Fly! will allow you to choose the “service” you want, even if these are tied to the same frequency. If an airport only offers Unicom (which only provides basic airport information), then you will not see any ATC services listed for the airport, and IFR approaches and departures will not be possible from the airport.

47

Simulation

Simulation

You may activate ATC at any time, regardless of whether you created a flight plan or if you started the simulation from the Fly Now view. To communicate with ATC, press the ATC key (`). You will be prompted with a list of ATC services to communicate with. If your COM radio is already tuned to a valid ATC service, Fly! will bypass this selection window and proceed to your request.

Once you select the ATC service to communicate with, a window will appear with the available requests or responses you can make to ATC. If your COM radio was not already tuned to the ATC service, it will be auto-tuned for you. Press the ‘1’ through ‘0’ key to select the request or response you wish to make. The ATC system will react as appropriate, and will give you verbal instructions on how to proceed.

All ATC communications are echoed to a scrolling text display at the top of your screen. If you have multiple radios tuned to multiple services, you will see a separate text display for each ATC communication you receive. You can turn off the audio portion of ATC communications through the Sound options dialog (see p. 12)

Remember that your radio is your “life-line” to ATC. If you tune your radio away from ATC, or turn off the COM radio audio through the audio panel of the aircraft, you will be blissfully unaware of any demands ATC is making of you. In real life, this could result in serious fines or suspension of your license! Fortunately in Fly! you can choose to ignore ATC if you wish – just remember that there are other planes in the air that are assuming you will follow ATC’s instructions.

The normal “steps” of participating with ATC are as follows:

Tune your COM radio to the ATIS frequency for the airport you are departing. The ATIS frequency is shown on the sectional map, and can also be obtained by double-clicking the airport in the Vector Map window or by using the “Range Finder” feature (see p. 52). ATIS is an automated weather observation system, and you will be required to have this information before contacting Clearance Delivery.

Contact Clearance Delivery. If you created a flight plan in the Flight Planner, you will open your flight plan with Clearance Delivery at this time. Clearance Delivery will also verify that you have the latest ATIS information.

48

Contact Ground Control to receive permission to taxi, as well as directions to the active runway.

Once you reach the active runway for take-off, you will transition to Tower to receive permission to enter the active runway and take off. Once you have taken off, Tower will pass you to Departure Control to vector out of the airport’s airspace safely.

Once out of the airport airspace, Departure Control will have you contact Center to track and assist your flight enroute. If you are travelling across large geographic distances, you may be asked to tune to other Center controllers along the way. Once you near your final destination, Center will hand you off to Approach Control to begin your final descent and entry into the arrival airport’s airspace.

Approach Control will give you “vectors” for your final approach, which are a series of heading changes to safely route you into the traffic pattern and prepare you for landing. Once the active runway is clear, and you are the next aircraft in line to land, Approach Control will pass you to Tower for final clearance to land.

Once Tower is contacted, you will be given final clearance and can make your approach. Once you land, you should clear the active runway as soon as safely possible.

Once you are safely on the ground and at a full stop, you will contact Ground Control to help guide you back to the terminal area of the airport. Once you have reached your destination and have engines off, you can contact Clearance Delivery to close your flight plan.

ATC On/Off Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + `

ATC Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `

ATC Response #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ATC Response #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

ATC Response #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

ATC Response #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ATC Response #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ATC Response #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

ATC Response #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ATC Response #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

ATC Response #9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ATC Response #10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

49

Simulation

Simulation

Slew Controls

Slew Mode allows you to suspend the simulation and manually place the aircraft anywhere and in any position you like. To activate Slew Mode, press S. Once in Slew Mode, the keys listed below will control the

position of the aircraft. Movement in Slew Mode is continuous and cumulative, meaning that the longer you hold a Slew directional key, the faster your craft will move. When you reach the position you want, press Slew Stop to freeze.

Slew Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S

Slew Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Num 5

Slew Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Q

Slew Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A

Slew Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Left Arrow

Slew Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Right Arrow

Slew Backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Down Arrow

Slew Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Up Arrow

Pitch Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert

Pitch Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Delete

Bank Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Home

Bank Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PgUp

Rotate Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . End

Rotate Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PgDn

Changing Time of Day

You may freely change the time of day in Fly! while in-flight. Using these keys adjust the time forward or backward by 30 minutes at a time. Note that this does not affect the simulation – your plane will move at its current speed and continue to fly as expected. Fly! accurately computes the position of the sun, moon (including moon phases) and stars based on the exact month, day, year, and time you have selected and your location on the Earth. Changing time of day will also affect the position and perspective of any ground shadows being cast by aircraft or ground structures.

Time Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T

Time Backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + T

50

Distance Compression

You can shorten long flights by activating the Distance Compression feature. When this feature is armed, it effectively shrinks the ground distance between where you are and where you want to go allowing you to cover more ground in the same amount of time. Here’s what distance compression does not do: it does not speed up time, it does not change the control of your plane or the physics acting upon it. Effectively, it shrinks the world.

Each increase in Distance Compression halves the normal distance. This continues exponentially up to a factor of 1/64th. Distance can not be expanded beyond a 1:1 ratio.

Increase Distance Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D

Decrease Distance Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shift + D

Instant Replay

Any time you wish to review your most recent actions in flight, bring up the Instant Replay tool. Doing so will pause the simulation and open a window containing a strip of buttons like the controls on a VCR. You can Play, Rewind, Fast Forward, or Reverse Play through the last few minutes of flight (based on your frame rate and available memory).

If you press the Play or Reverse Play buttons repeatedly, the rate of play is doubled (up to 8x) each time you press the button. You can slow the replay back to normal speed by pressing stop and hitting play once.

A NOTE and a WARNING: Instant Replay is not only a VCR, it’s a time machine. When you go back in time through its recording of your flight, you are actually transporting the simulation back to that point in time (though any on-screen time display will not change). In other words, were you to run the instant replay back one minute and then deactivate instant replay, you would regain control of your aircraft at that point. This can be useful to re-attempt a failed or missed approach. If you wish to resume your flight from where you were, be sure to fast forward to the latest end of Instant Replay and then exit.

Exiting the Instant Replay window resets the replay buffer and begins a new recording.

Activate Instant Replay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I

51

Simulation

Simulation

Range Finder Feature

While in any camera mode, you can use the Range Finder Feature to identify important structures and landmarks within your field of view.

Once you activate the Range finder, you may point at any object you see on the

ground, the sky, or in the air and you will see a label identifying the object and calculating the distance to it.

You can point to almost anything with this tool. Pointing at a building or structure will display the height of the structure, your current clearance over the structure (to make sure you can clear it from a distance), and the range to the structure. Pointing at an airport or VOR will show you their name and range. You can dou- ble-click on an airport to receive an Airport Information window, which displays runway, localizer, and ATC frequency information. You can double-click on a VOR to receive information about its operating range and frequency. If you are feeling really adventurous, you can find the range to the sun and the moon, or the catalog names of stars in the sky!

Activate Range Finder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /

Web Sites of Interest

http://www.iflytri.com

http://www.terminalreality.com

http://www.godgames.com

Airplane Manufacturers

Cessna C172R:

http://www.cessna.textron.com/

Piper Malibu Mirage and Navajo:

http://www.newpiper.com/

Raytheon Beech Super King Air B200 and Hawker 800XP:

http://www.raytheon.com/rac/

52

Flight Instruction

To Dianne - I’m really married to you, not this

manual.

Author Bio

Peter Lert started flying in sailplanes while a high school student in Switzerland. In the subsequent 35 years, he's amassed some 15,000 flight hours as well as obtaining Airline Transport Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor licenses for aircraft ranging from balloons to jets.

He has worked as an experimental test pilot, aviation journalist, and was Senior Scriptwriter for the Interactive Systems Division of FlightSafety International, the world's largest private provider of full-scale flight simulator training. At present, he lives in the mountains of southwest Colorado and is chief pilot of two multi-engine flight operations (one corporate, one charter).

53

Instruction Flight

Flight Instruction

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the start of what we’re sure will be an exciting, entertaining, and instructive experience. FLY! has been designed to replicate the sights and sounds of flying some of general aviation’s best-known aircraft with unparalleled realism. It goes much farther than that, however. The handling and aerodynamic responses of all the airplanes available have been mathematically duplicated, or “modeled,” with a level of accuracy that approaches (and, in many cases, surpasses) that of full-scale airline and military flight simulation systems. Extremely detailed terrain rendering, based on actual satellite imagery and topographic data, makes the outside view as realistic as possible, while the combination of photorealistic instrument panels and actual working panel controls (i.e., you can simply “grab” the appropriate switch or knob with your mouse) completes the picture and puts you right in the pilot’s seat. (After all - how many real airplanes are controlled from keyboards?)

Want even more realism? FLY! has a very sophisticated weather “engine” to provide weather effects from innocuous fairweather clouds to blinding fog, or the firehose rain of a thunderstorm.

1 Chapter - Fly!

Fly! - Chapter 1

Those features, though, aren’t what we’ll address in this manual. With an interface as realistic as FLY!’s, you don’t need “yet another computer manual” (and, for those of you who want to learn about keyboard shortcuts and other “simulator only” features, those total nerds my esteemed colleagues over at the computer side of the house have provided an excellent one). Instead, what you’re holding is almost entirely a flight manual, written as though I were actually instructing you in the airplane (as I do in real life). In fact, I’ll make almost no mention of keyboard or even mouse commands unless absolutely necessary; since operation of the program is so simple and instinctive, I’ll just say something like “use the prop control to increase the RPM” or “tune the nav radio to 118.5 mHz,” with the assumption that you’ll simply reach out and do it.

This means that it’s very worthwhile for you to take a look through the Simulation Interface (see page 4) now to make sure you’re up to speed on the basic techniques. They’re all simple and self-consistent: you use the same moves to “grab” and operate any switch, knob, or handle on the panel, regardless of its function (or, for that matter, in which airplane it’s installed). Again, this is merely realism - in the real airplane, your hand would work the same way all the time.

A MATTER OF CONTROL:

FLY! supports just about any input device currently available, including both conventional and force-feedback joysticks. That being said, however, I’d personally suggest that you’ll get the most out of FLY! if you use a control yoke: all five of the airplanes modeled in this release have yokes, rather than sticks, in their actual cockpits. Similarly, for single-engine airplanes, a simple throttle (or the one provided on most yokes) will suffice; those fancy multifunction ones, studded with so many buttons and switches they look like a chunk sawed out of a bassoon, are more suited to military flight simulations, and have no counterpart in civil aircraft at this time. (For multi-engine airplanes you’ll most likely be grabbing the screen throttles with your mouse.) Rudder pedals are an excellent idea, particularly if you’re planning serious engine-fail- ure work in the multiengine birds.

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Instruction Flight

Flight Instruction

1 Chapter - Fly!

Yoke vs. Stick

TAKING IT IN SEQUENCE:

We’ve laid this flight manual out in a logical sequence to fit the needs of just about anyone, whether you’re a first-time novice or an experienced pilot (of either flight simulation programs or actual airplanes). If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll find your enjoyment of the program greatly enhanced if you take the time to read the chapters on fundamentals of flight and cockpit basics - it’ll make your subsequent flights much easier. If you have any experience, either real-world or simulated in any of the planes presented, by all means jump right in. Indeed, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try your hand at, say, the Hawker 800XP jet, even if all you’ve ever flown has been a single-engine trainer - just don’t expect to do any better than you would in a similar real-life situation! Sure, you may survive and even have fun - but you’ll be using FLY! more as a game than as the extremely sophisticated flight simulation system it really is. (Of course, all of us like to just play sometimes…and there’s nothing wrong with that.)

The airplanes we’ve chosen are presented in the same progression you’d encounter if you were actually learning to fly and starting a career that could culminate in the airlines or at the pinnacle of corporate aviation. We’ll start out with a basic light single, the Cessna 172R Skyhawk - the airplane, in fact, in which tens of thousands of Americans have earned their Private Pilot license. From there, we’ll move on to the Piper Malibu Mirage, a heavy single (or what the FAA calls a “complex high-performance aircraft”). With its pressurized cabin, turbocharged engine, and advanced avionics, the Mirage is one of the most sophisticated piston-powered single-engine airplanes ever manufactured. If the Skyhawk is “the Plymouth of general aviation,” the Mirage is its Lexus or Mercedes Benz.

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Fly! - Chapter 1

From there, we’ll move on into the fascinating world of multiengine airplanes. We’ll start with a medium piston-powered twin, the Piper Navajo Chieftain. For years a mainstay of both corporate and, in particular, commuter flying, the old “NavaHog” is the airplane on which many of the current generation of airline pilots got their “heavy iron” start. Next will come the classic Beech Super King Air 200 - the epitome of the corporate turboprop, and one that remains not only in production, but in service in both executive and commuter versions worldwide.

Finally, we'll come to a classic midsize business jet: the Raytheon Hawker 800XP. Based on one of the earliest business jet designs, this enduring classic has developed to a luxurious modern corporate cruiser with transcontinental (or even transoceanic) capabilities and a thoroughly up-to-date suite of avionics, including the latest electronic cockpit displays. It's in this aircraft that you'll be introduced to the special worlds of swept-wing aerodynamics and high-speed, high-altitude flight.

Here, then, is FLY! We’re sure it’ll provide you with hours of far more than just entertainment…and now, if you’ll grab your flight cases and move into the classroom at the back of the hangar, we’ll begin our preflight briefing…

Hawker 800XP

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Instruction Flight

Force of Money

Flight Instruction

FUNDAMENTALS OF

AERODYNAMICS

There are a number of different ways to go about learning to fly. One - we might call it “the old school”—is to just sit down in an airplane with an instructor and start flying. Another, however, can make the whole experience much more rewarding: learning a little, before you start flying, about what’s really going on, what really makes your aircraft fly and behave the way it does. That’s the way I try to start out my real-life flying students; and that’s what we’re going to do here.

Rotorcraft

THE WING’S THE THING

All five of the aircraft presented in this release of FLY! have something in common: they’re all fixed-wing airplanes. By this, I don’t mean that they’ve been broken and repaired, but rather that their wings stay decently in one place, rather than the unseemly flailing about we see in rotorcraft. We could say that the wing is really the most important part of any airplane; all the other bits, like powerplants and control surfaces, are really there to aid the wing in fulfilling its purpose: providing lift.

What’s lift? It’s simply the force generated by the wing as it deflects the air through which it’s moving.

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THE BALANCE OF FORCES

Most aeronautics texts teach that there are four forces that act on an airplane in flight, and that they show up in two opposing pairs. One pair is weight, which is pretty obvious, and lift, the force exerted by the wings in holding the airplane up in the air (you’ll find out in a moment that lift does a lot more than that). The other pair is thrust, the force that pulls or pushes the airplane forward through the air, and

which is usually provided by some kind of engine (but not always - look at gliders!), and drag, the opposing force that tries to hold it back. (Actually, all aircraft are supported by a fifth force, invisible but all-pervasive, called money - and that’s the reason we need flight simulators like FLY!)

As long as we’re flying along straight and level, and at a constant speed, all four of these forces are in balance. The weight of the airplane is exactly counteracted by the lift of the wing, so it goes neither up nor down. Its drag, caused partly by the wing’s efforts to keep everything aloft and partly by the effort needed to push the whole airplane forward through the air, is exactly counteracted by the thrust of the powerplant, so it neither speeds up nor slows down. As soon as we try anything even the slightest bit fancy, though - say, a turn, climb, or descent, or, worse yet, some combination of these - things start getting a bit more complex.

The Four Forces

Lift

Drag

Thrust

Weight

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