Things a Core Flight Training Sim should have!
Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:41 pm
Hi LM,
Thank you for V4.2 I am enjoying P3D so far and thank you for continuing to improve the platform, I have a couple of items that I believe should be core to any training flight simulator so that students can practice at home or at flight school when weather conditions might otherwise inhibit flight time. Thank you for fixing most of the UTC and time-zones issues that were inherited from FSX. you are getting there still a few issues but kudos to you for doing it and also labelling the time UTC much better!
I understand you are expanding the PDK to encourage developers to expand the ecosystem I get that but there are also KEY features that should be included in the sim that are present even in some entertainment versions!
Things that should be CORE to the simulator:
1) Realistic Fluid Flight Dynamics for all aircraft and helicopters. I realise you are looking at helicopter flight dynamics now and this is great but again things like ground friction for grass and asphalt should be different and both feel the same like taxiing through tar! When I am in my Piper PA28 taking off from EGHO Asphalt runway the plane eases away for takeoff and through the turns. When I am at EGHO and on the grass taxiway and on the grass runway it is hard work turning. Once it caught me unawares and I had to use a lot of throttle just to turn and move the aircraft!! This is not simulated in P3D at all. Things like drag and lift calculations also need to be looked at as they give an unrealistic aircraft behaviour. Please Please LOCKHEED look at this as developers shouldn't have to hack and programme outside the sim to bypass key features just to get it to work. I think its great you have a slightly more advanced PDK but surely the flight dynamics and modelling should be the strongest part so at least developers with an updated PDK can simulate aircraft accurately for training purposes in all phases of flight! Fly by wire is also key to be simulated correctly all parameters. I know FSL and PMDG develop outside but they still run into limitations that I would value you help these developers by fixing and updating the FDM and Physics! PMDG for there latest aircraft had again to hack a kind of workaround with the ground taxi (and its far from perfect to give realistic braking behaviour etc..) because of a legacy FSX bug that is STILL present i.e ground friction it is too much please address!!
2) ATC should be updated and conform to real world behaviour from both VFR and IFR standpoints we shouldn't have to pay a third party to fix something that should be a core part of any flight simulator! Even your entertainment competitors realise this and are doing something about it. Phraseology and things like SID and STAR waypoint handling as well as handling emergencies would be great. Things which mimic a basic tower with correct VFR phraseology to correctly practice for PPL exams. ATC is still lacking in P3D we have a 2006 ATC product in 2018 not great for training! Readbacks of real altimeter information and requesting taxi and ATC looking at which runway based on the winds etc...
3) Correct Navaids, VORS and Waypoints as well as updated ILS and Airport information runway numbers etc.. I know you are looking at this be good for V4 hint hint but to be still working on a 2006 database is totally unrealistic. I also realise there is a cost to this so perhaps you could update it every 4 years. Pilots need to know there bearings and trying to practice with over 10 year old out of date information doesn't help.
4) Real Weather effects on the aircraft/airframe. When I am flying circuits the wind can really throw the PA28 around on final when coming down to 1500 feet for example so you really have to concentrate on keeping on the centre line to land. At present it really is like on rails default weather in P3D doesn't effect the flying of the aircraft and we all know that all weather has different effects on the airframe whether its ice, rain or wind. Please can you look at this LM. Perhaps rain or ice could impair vision and you as a pilot in training should know how to deal with such things but the main thrust was to simulate proper weather conditions and its effect on actual flight behaviour. Also if the runway is wet then this should reflect the ground handling, braking distance etc... compared to a dry runway.
5) Sloped runways, not all runways are flat! perhaps a suggestion could be like what you have done with the default airport you start at in P3D. When you showcased Speedtrees you had an example of that at the default airport, perhaps you could implement a Sloped runway at the default airport to give just one example of a sloped runway and then expand the PDK to allow developers to accurately develop a range of sloped (not flat) runways. That would be ok.
This is just a handful of things that I think would improve the training platform that is Prepar3d! To an acceptable level of training and the bare minimum that people training require. We all need to know how to interact with ATC proficiently when training both from a PPL basis as well as Commercial viewpoint, Realistic aircraft flight physics so we can at least practice when the weather is not great and experience real weather effects on the aircraft makes it at least more believable and obviously every approach is not flat.
6) A Plausible world at least so we know in the world if we are flying over China for example that it is indeed China.Also linked to point 3.
7) LM shouldn't be afraid to implement these in point releases as already stated by Beau you should be breaking compatibility with legacy ASM development as its over 10 years old and we need to make advances and for some of the points I have listed will need an overhaul of the engine which the community would welcome I am sure as long as it improves the above. I am sure this is not the first time you have heard this. An entertainment product in version 10 for one of its point releases made the jump from 32bit to 64bit big move for a point release but yet the community embraced it because it improved the platform.
Now I would like to make a small list of things that don't need to be so much concentrated on and are definitely developers domain:
1) Scenery is definitely a developer thing and the PDK needs to be expanded to offer performance and developers can make great scenery even photo-real non blurry scenery! A plausible world is all we ask. It is after all a flight simulator NOT a scenery simulator.
2) AI this is definitely a developer thing again a PDK to allow better control and a way for AI to land on sloped runways would be great!
3) Aircraft a developer thing but coupled with a more powerful PDK should allow a wide range of aircraft to be accurately developed in system depth and flight dynamic accuracy.
4) Weather textures definitely a developer thing that can be enhanced by the PDK
5) Missions - again a developer thing.
I am trying to be constructive and hope that is taken in that light as I want this to be the best training platform but find that entertainment products are catching up and if not careful will soon overtake.
Blessings
Duncan
Thank you for V4.2 I am enjoying P3D so far and thank you for continuing to improve the platform, I have a couple of items that I believe should be core to any training flight simulator so that students can practice at home or at flight school when weather conditions might otherwise inhibit flight time. Thank you for fixing most of the UTC and time-zones issues that were inherited from FSX. you are getting there still a few issues but kudos to you for doing it and also labelling the time UTC much better!
I understand you are expanding the PDK to encourage developers to expand the ecosystem I get that but there are also KEY features that should be included in the sim that are present even in some entertainment versions!
Things that should be CORE to the simulator:
1) Realistic Fluid Flight Dynamics for all aircraft and helicopters. I realise you are looking at helicopter flight dynamics now and this is great but again things like ground friction for grass and asphalt should be different and both feel the same like taxiing through tar! When I am in my Piper PA28 taking off from EGHO Asphalt runway the plane eases away for takeoff and through the turns. When I am at EGHO and on the grass taxiway and on the grass runway it is hard work turning. Once it caught me unawares and I had to use a lot of throttle just to turn and move the aircraft!! This is not simulated in P3D at all. Things like drag and lift calculations also need to be looked at as they give an unrealistic aircraft behaviour. Please Please LOCKHEED look at this as developers shouldn't have to hack and programme outside the sim to bypass key features just to get it to work. I think its great you have a slightly more advanced PDK but surely the flight dynamics and modelling should be the strongest part so at least developers with an updated PDK can simulate aircraft accurately for training purposes in all phases of flight! Fly by wire is also key to be simulated correctly all parameters. I know FSL and PMDG develop outside but they still run into limitations that I would value you help these developers by fixing and updating the FDM and Physics! PMDG for there latest aircraft had again to hack a kind of workaround with the ground taxi (and its far from perfect to give realistic braking behaviour etc..) because of a legacy FSX bug that is STILL present i.e ground friction it is too much please address!!
2) ATC should be updated and conform to real world behaviour from both VFR and IFR standpoints we shouldn't have to pay a third party to fix something that should be a core part of any flight simulator! Even your entertainment competitors realise this and are doing something about it. Phraseology and things like SID and STAR waypoint handling as well as handling emergencies would be great. Things which mimic a basic tower with correct VFR phraseology to correctly practice for PPL exams. ATC is still lacking in P3D we have a 2006 ATC product in 2018 not great for training! Readbacks of real altimeter information and requesting taxi and ATC looking at which runway based on the winds etc...
3) Correct Navaids, VORS and Waypoints as well as updated ILS and Airport information runway numbers etc.. I know you are looking at this be good for V4 hint hint but to be still working on a 2006 database is totally unrealistic. I also realise there is a cost to this so perhaps you could update it every 4 years. Pilots need to know there bearings and trying to practice with over 10 year old out of date information doesn't help.
4) Real Weather effects on the aircraft/airframe. When I am flying circuits the wind can really throw the PA28 around on final when coming down to 1500 feet for example so you really have to concentrate on keeping on the centre line to land. At present it really is like on rails default weather in P3D doesn't effect the flying of the aircraft and we all know that all weather has different effects on the airframe whether its ice, rain or wind. Please can you look at this LM. Perhaps rain or ice could impair vision and you as a pilot in training should know how to deal with such things but the main thrust was to simulate proper weather conditions and its effect on actual flight behaviour. Also if the runway is wet then this should reflect the ground handling, braking distance etc... compared to a dry runway.
5) Sloped runways, not all runways are flat! perhaps a suggestion could be like what you have done with the default airport you start at in P3D. When you showcased Speedtrees you had an example of that at the default airport, perhaps you could implement a Sloped runway at the default airport to give just one example of a sloped runway and then expand the PDK to allow developers to accurately develop a range of sloped (not flat) runways. That would be ok.
This is just a handful of things that I think would improve the training platform that is Prepar3d! To an acceptable level of training and the bare minimum that people training require. We all need to know how to interact with ATC proficiently when training both from a PPL basis as well as Commercial viewpoint, Realistic aircraft flight physics so we can at least practice when the weather is not great and experience real weather effects on the aircraft makes it at least more believable and obviously every approach is not flat.
6) A Plausible world at least so we know in the world if we are flying over China for example that it is indeed China.Also linked to point 3.
7) LM shouldn't be afraid to implement these in point releases as already stated by Beau you should be breaking compatibility with legacy ASM development as its over 10 years old and we need to make advances and for some of the points I have listed will need an overhaul of the engine which the community would welcome I am sure as long as it improves the above. I am sure this is not the first time you have heard this. An entertainment product in version 10 for one of its point releases made the jump from 32bit to 64bit big move for a point release but yet the community embraced it because it improved the platform.
Now I would like to make a small list of things that don't need to be so much concentrated on and are definitely developers domain:
1) Scenery is definitely a developer thing and the PDK needs to be expanded to offer performance and developers can make great scenery even photo-real non blurry scenery! A plausible world is all we ask. It is after all a flight simulator NOT a scenery simulator.
2) AI this is definitely a developer thing again a PDK to allow better control and a way for AI to land on sloped runways would be great!
3) Aircraft a developer thing but coupled with a more powerful PDK should allow a wide range of aircraft to be accurately developed in system depth and flight dynamic accuracy.
4) Weather textures definitely a developer thing that can be enhanced by the PDK
5) Missions - again a developer thing.
I am trying to be constructive and hope that is taken in that light as I want this to be the best training platform but find that entertainment products are catching up and if not careful will soon overtake.
Blessings
Duncan