Flying Flight Simulator

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Flying Flight Simulator

Sky-High Adventure with the Macintosh, Amiga, & Atari ST

by Charles Gulick

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Preface

Introduction

1. Flying for Real

2. Call a Taxi

3. Take It Off and Fly It

4. On the Money

5. Something to Bite Into

6. Hot Shot

7. Contact

8. Regards to Broadway

9. Position Is Everything

10. Asking Directions

11. Seattle Nocturne

12. Abridgement

13. High Rolling

14. MDW to LGA, PDQ

15. The War Is Over

16. A Model Airplane

17. Turnabout

18. New Horizons

19. Advanced R/C: The 182-S

20. Smashing Party

21. Stunt-flying the 182-S

22. All Together Now

23. Solo

Appendixes

A. Typical Cruise Altitude (MSL) Power Settings and Airspeeds

B. Flight Checklist

C. Flight Controls

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D. Macintosh Flight Settings

E. Area Charts

Glossary

Back Matter

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FLYING FLIGHT

SIMULATOR

Sky-H igh Adventure with the Macintosh, Amiga, & AtariST

CHARLES GULICK

PUBLISHED BY

Microsoft Press

A Division of Microsoft Corporation16011 NE 36th Way, Box 97017, Redmond, Washington 98073-9717

Copyright 1987 by Charles Gulick

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any

form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Gulick, Charles.

Flying flight simulator.1. Flight simulators. 2. AirplanesPilotingData processing.

3. Macintosh (Computer) 4. Amiga (Computer) 5. Atari ST computers.

I. Title.

TL712.5.G854 1987 629.132'52'078 87-18569ISBN 1-55615-102-0

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MLML 8 9 0 9 8 7

Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Harper & Row.

Distributed to the book trade in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd.

Distributed to the book trade outside the United States and Canada by Penguin Books Ltd.

Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

Penguin Books Australia Ltd., Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

Penguin Books N.Z. Ltd., 182190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

British Cataloging in Publication Data available

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Acquisitions Editor: Claudette Moore

Project Editor: Marie Doyle

Technical Editors: Roger Shanafelt, Bob Combs

Amigais a trademark of Commodore Business Systems, Incorporated. Appleis a registered

trademark of Apple Computer, Incorporated and Macintoshis a trademark licensed to AppleComputer, Incorporated. Atariis a registered trademark of Atari, Incorporated. IBMis a

registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoftis a registered

trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Flight Simulator is produced by Microsoft Corporation;copyright 1984 by Bruce Artwick. Flight Simulator II is produced by SubLOGIC Corporation;

copyright 1984 by Bruce Artwick.

PREFACE

When I finished writing this book, I thought it might be interesting to go back and fly an earlierversion of Flight Simulatorspecifically, the version for the IBM PC. I'd been flying FlightSimulator II on the Amiga for many hundreds of hours and hadn't touched its predecessor for

many months.

I had to fiddle with some cables to get my IBM-compatible hooked to my Amiga monitor and to

route the audio so that I could hear the engine. That wasn't too difficult. Then, I realized I'dforgotten how to boot the earlier Flight Simulator. Did I need to boot DOS first? And how did I

switch from the main program to the San Francisco STAR Scenery Disk?

Finally, I had Flight Simulator on the screen, and I looked at it as if I'd never seen it before. I had

written four books on flying this airplane, and I hadn't the foggiest idea where to begin. I couldn'tremember where the throttle or flaps were, how to take views, what keys controlled the ailerons

and elevators, or anything else. I was simply an utter novice.

Even more incredible was what I saw on the screen. I figured something had to be wrong with

the color or focus or contrast or something. And the engine sound was ridiculous: a crazy littlebuzz that sounded nothing like an engine. Was this the simulator that had enthralled me, even

nourished me, for thousands of hours?

I got the airplane into the air, and I was in for more shocks. The Cessna didn't seem to be flying,

but acted as if it were being jerked spasmodically through the air. The controls responded

sluggishly, and I over-controlled like the worst amateur.

I paused the simulation and checked the manual on how to boot the San Francisco STAR

Scenery Disk. That disk, when it was originally released, was the most upscale of all. I wascertain that it would restore my enthusiasm and my confidence. The old thrill would come back.

But with San Francisco on the screen, I finally realized that an era was gone forever. I was

flyingor rather being dragged in a kind of twitching agonyover an ancient illusion. The

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wheels of progress had ground my beautiful Flight Simulator of old into a blob of fuzzy

unreality. The magic was gone. I could believe in nothing on the landscape below or on the

instrument panel in front of me.

But I didn't want to abandon this ancient and lost reverie of an airplane, not in midflight. I turned

toward Runway 9L at Oakland. I was alone, but I spoke aloud as I escorted the decrepit, creakingairplane to what I feared might be its last landing (although it wasn't), and the words I intoned,

over and over, were, unbelievableunbelievable and again unbelievable.

Unbelievable how far Flight Simulator has come in barely a handful of years. If you flew the

earlier versions, with or without me in the right-hand seat, and if you are now blessed with an

Amiga, Atari ST, or Macintosh and the applicable new version of Flight Simulator, you knowwhat I'm saying. If, on the other hand, the current simulator version is the first you've ever flown,

know that you are privileged beyond your wildest imaginings. You have in your possession the

most sophisticated microcomputer simulation on earth. It is worth at least ten times and perhaps

a hundred times what you paid for it. It is more valuable than all the other simulationsand

games, too, including arcade gamestaken together.

Don't be misled. Flight Simulator has its share of crazy bugs: overcast skies that are greeninstead of gray when you fly in them; an exasperating hum that suddenly destroys your illusions

(at least, on the Amiga; the problem seems to go away if you boot with Kickstart version 1.2);

airports that are on the documentation charts but not in the simulator world; an artificial horizongauge that consistently (in some versions) reads wrong; the ludicrous reliability feature that, at

any setting lower than 100%, invariably results in an engine that won't get you off the ground;

and many other bugs. But it is still an incredibly beautiful simulation to fly and to watch. The

bugs will be taken care of in time, perhaps by the time you read this. But the beauty is there now,as I write. The beauty and the believabilitya believability that, by contrast, makes the earlier

simulations seem strange, archaic, and almost purposeless.

My intent here is not to downgrade the superb quality of the earlier simulators. If the new Flight

Simulator were somehow to be wiped out of existence, I would certainly go back and fly the

earlier version. And I'm sure that once again I'd become entranced, as are the hundreds ofthousands of devotees who are flying it now. Everything is relative after all.

Meanwhile, I invite you to experience with me the magnificent achievement of the newest Flight

Simulator. And while you do so, be mindful that a single individualdesigner Bruce Artwick

is to thank for the miracles you will see on your screen. Not that he works alone. He has a

talented team working with him nowadays. But he stands alone as the original creator of theprogram and of the amazing 3-D graphics techniques that drive it. I have never met nor spoken

with Bruce Artwick. But I thank him for the inestimable pleasure, thrill, and challenge his

accomplishments have afforded me day in and day out (and many long nights too) during the

years of Flight Simulator. His work is proof that a single individual can still turn the worldaround.

And now, for your enjoyment, Bruce Artwick's latest version of that world.

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INTRODUCTION

NOTE: This book is written for users of SubLOGIC Corporation's Flight Simulator II (for theCommodore Amiga and the Atari ST) and Microsoft Corporation's Flight Simulator (for the

Apple Macintosh). Throughout the book, for simplicity, these three products are referred to, as a

group, as Flight Simulator.

Flying Flight Simulator, the third book in the Microsoft Press Flight Simulator Co-Pilot Series, is

specific to the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST versions of Flight Simulator produced bySubLOGIC Corporation and to the Macintosh version of Flight Simulator produced by Microsoft

Corp. The book is designed for moment-to-moment use while you fly the itineraries and modes

described. All the instruction you need to handle both the Cessna 182 and the Gates Learjet 25Gin a professional way and to gain a new appreciation of the beauty and challenge of the

simulation is in this book.

This latest in the line of remarkable Flight Simulator programs created by Bruce Artwick

beginning in 1981-82 encompasses the same geographic areas as the earlier versions, but a newsectionSan Franciscohas been added, with the San Francisco Bay Area as a primary feature.

Pilots who are familiar with the earlier simulators will recognize the upscale scenic design of theBay Area as very much like that in the San Francisco STAR Scenery Disk. However, this

simulator is quite different from earlier versions. The Cessna 182 handles differently and flies

more realistically than in the earlier simulations, and the high-performance Gates Learjet offers awhole new flying challenge. Dramatic new viewing features appear for the first time, and among

the most notable of these features is a spot plane and a powerfulcontrol tower view.

Thus, this entirely new book is called for because it was not sufficient simply to rework material

from my earlier books, which were specific to the IBM, Apple, C-64, and Atari simulations:

Flight Simulator Co-PilotandRunway USA, published by Microsoft Press; 40 Great FlightSimulator Adventuresand 40 More Great Flight Simulator Adventures, published by Compute!Books.

For best results, you should make the flights presented in this book in the order of their

appearance. The instruction content is presented progressively, as it is in actual flight instruction.

At the outset you will establish some new default parameters that enhance realism and speedthe updating of the simulation, resulting in a smoother sensation of flight. You will learn how to

maneuver the aircraft on the ground, take it off, fly it from point to point, and land it by reference

both to your cockpit instruments and your out-the-windshield view. You will learn precision

techniques for climbs, turns, descents, and straight and level flight at varying speeds andaltitudes. You will learn how to use on-board radio equipment to navigate anywhere in the

simulator world. You will become expert at controlling both the Cessna 182 and the Gates

Learjet in every flight configuration, and you'll be able to fly them in a professional manner,

even in darkness. Your sense of accomplishment will grow with every page of the book that youread.

As your flying capability increases, so will your fun. Early on in the book, you'll be seeing some

of the great sights on the ground below youSan Francisco and its hills and

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waterfrontManhattan and the Statue of Libertythe blaze of light that is Seattle at night.

You'll fly treacherous mountain passesmake thrilling high-speed approaches in your jettake

off and land breathtakingly close to the Golden Gate Bridge, and much more.

You'll fly from Los Angeles to San Franciscoeven make a daring dead reckoning flight from

Chicago to New York. And you'll fly in the World War I zone in your fully equipped Cessna182, long after the war is over.

At the last, you'll learn how to simulate the thrills of R/C, or radio-controlled flying. You'll watchyour special 182-S model aloft as you control it from the ground, putting it through stalls,

loops, aileron rolls, inverted flight, Immelmans, spins, wingovers, chandelles, Lazy 8s, and the

Split-Sall based on the solid flying experience you gain in the earlier chapters.

Flying Flight Simulatorpromises to enhance your enjoyment of the simulator beyond anything

you can imagine so that simulator flying may well become for youas it is for me andthousands of other enthusiastsyour primary hobby.

So, lay the pressures of the day aside, pack a lunch, climb into the left seat, and let's go flying.

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Chapter 1

FLYING FOR REAL

NOTE: Before you begin this first session, format a blank disk. You will be saving flight

situations on it.

You have no doubt already experimented with Flight Simulator. But pretend you're climbing

aboard for the first time, and set up and fly the Cessna 182 and the Gates Lear-jet in the manner I

describe. When you finish the book, you'll have some very high standards against which tocompare your earlier techniques. You'll also have a solid basis for improving on them and for

applying the new principles you'll learn here. Fair enough?

First, we'll set some defaults you may not have used before. Our purpose is to achieve the

maximum in realism. In fact, throughout this book and in all your flying, you can and should

think of these aircraft as real in every respect. Flight Simulator isn't a game, but a highlyrealistic simulation of actual flight, in fine and expensive aircraft. Let's leave hacking around and

crashing to the amateurs.

If your simulator is already on screen and you're not looking at Runway 27R at Oakland, click on

SITUATION in the menu bar, followed by SELECT PRERECORDED, then OAKLAND 27R.

Then pause the simulation. If you haven't yet booted, do so now. Pause as soon as your enginestarts and the runway is in front of you.

Note the location, on your windshield, of the orientation markerthe T-shape where yourwindshield and your instrument panel meet. Choose some visual reference, on your panel or in

the menu bar at the top of the display, that is in the same vertical plane as the marker. This point

defines the longitudinal center of the aircraft for you, so freeze it in your memory. You're going

to remove the orientation marker, as well as other purely graphic features that slow down thesimulation and interfere with the realism of the outside world.

Now, if flying the Mac, open SIM, and if flying Amiga or Atari, open FILE in the menu bar, then

select and turn off ORIENT MARKER.

Open VIEW in the Mac or open FILE again in Amiga/Atari, move the cursor to TITLE BARS or

to TITLES ON WINDOWS, and turn off that feature.

Open SIM (for simulation factors), choose AUTO COORD, and turn off that option. Now you'll

have independent control of ailerons and rudder, you can steer with the nosewheel while on the

ground, and in the air you can make small directional adjustments using rudder only, withoutbanking the aircrafta big help on landing approaches.

Again in SIM, choose REALISM. The solid boxes indicate realism factors that are enabled. Tofly with maximum realism, enable all the following: ENGINE, GYRO DRIFT, CRASH

DETECT, FAST THROTTLE, INSTR LIGHTS, BAROM DRIFT, and LIGHT BURN.

Now why do I omit ELEV TRIM from our realism agenda?

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Because you can trim your elevator more precisely, for more realistic and more consistent

results, with the elevator control itself. In the simulator you cannot feel elevator pressures as you

can in actual aircraft. Pilots use elevator trim to bleed off or relax control pressures, forexample, backward pressure (usually referred to simply as back pressure). They may hold back

pressure on the control yoke to climb at a given rate. Pilots also use takeoff trim, a setting that

adds lift to get the aircraft airborne faster, and they trim for straight and level after they reach adesired cruising altitude. To get the desired result, they apply such trimming very gradually, infine increments. But the simulator elevator trim control is coarse compared with the real thing,

and it doesn't yield the precision we want. In its place, I'll show you how to use the elevator

control as a trim control, which it simulates nicely.

While we're here in the REALISM window, let's contemplate the other options and what they

mean.

ENGINE, when enabled, lets you start up and shut down the engine realistically, using the

magneto switches. If your engine runs endlessly, how can you shut down and go into the pilot

shop for coffee or park the airplane overnight?

ELEV TRIM I've already touched on.

GYRO DRIFT has to do with the nature of the heading indicator, or Directional Gyro. (I'll usethe latter terminology and frequently abbreviate it to DG.) Over time, the directional gyro driftsand thus provides accurate information only if it is regularly trued to agree with the compass.

We'll let it drift realistically. Trueing it regularly will become one of the good habits you'll

acquire as you fly this book.

CRASH DETECT. Of course. Real crashed aircraft do not bounce back into the air and fly again.

Crashing the simulated aircraft should be as distasteful to you as crashing the real thing. So, nobounceback.

FAST THROTTLE, when enabled, forces you to handle the throttle intelligently. If you don't,

your engine may quit just when you need it the most. You'll learn how to handle it intelligently.

INSTR LIGHTS, with realism enabled, lets younot some unseen forcecontrol your panel

lights. You can use the mouse or the L key (a toggle switch). Turning off the lights in the

daytime will become part of your regular pre-flight check routine.

BAROM DRIFT, like GYRO DRIFT, must be compensated for by trueing the altimeter, which

works by virtue of a barometric device. Trueing the altimeter will also become a regular habit.

LIGHT BURN refers to the bulbs in your panel lights, which can occasionally burn out.

And that's that for realism. Close the window.

The changes you've made to the simulator defaults thus far are those you'll use throughout all

normal flying. After you start saving situations, as you will, you'll save these new settings with

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them. So you'll rarely have to go back and do this job again. (In the latter stages of this book,

however, we'll make major changes; but by then you'll be ready for them.)

Because you may associate Oakland's Runway 27R (the R stands for Right, there being a 27L at

Oakland too) with the possibly questionable flying habits you've acquired in the past, we're going

to make our first flight from a different airport.

Select NAV from the menu bar, and then choose POSITION SET. Put the aircraft at NORTH

16845.335 and EAST 16596.8650. Opposite ALT, simply type 0.0. (The simulator will

determine the correct altitude.) Put the tower at NORTH 16846.000, EAST 16597.0000, andALT 660.0. (The remaining digits for ALT don't matter.) If you're flying the Mac, note that some

digits after the decimal point may change when you press return. Just let it happen. (In all

versions, it's a good idea to reenter POSITION SET and make sure the tower altitude took. The

simulator often misinterprets what you've entered.)

Now, press RETURN and close the window.

Things look a little weird? Just unpause (I'll use that term freely in this book), and the scenewill right itself.

Then, pause again.

To get a better idea of your relationship to your surroundings, choose VIEW and SET SPOT

PLANE. Note the five boxes associated with the spot plane symbol. Obviously, you can have the

spot plane in only one of these five positions at a time. For your immediate purpose, you wantthe spot plane (you can also think of it as a chase plane) behind you. So, click on that box.

Then, for TRANSITION, select FAST. This gives you an immediate view off the tail of your

aircraft, rather than a view that sweeps around and finally settles behind you.

Click on the appropriate arrows to set the spot plane distance to 200 feet and the altitude to 20feet. Leave everything else as it is and close the window.

Now, let's find out what we did: Press the S key.

Presto! There you are, on the ramp at Greater Kankakee Airport, Kankakee, Illinois. That's the

operations and pilot shop on the left. And ahead, a little to your right, is the taxiway leading toRunway 4/22. You can even discern the center line out there.

Press your map select/deselect key and see the whole airport design (zoom in a little on theMacintosh). The runway off to the right is 16/34. Zoom closer, and the taxiway is clearly

delineated. When you start moving, you're going to taxi a little to your right, turn right at the first

intersection, and then taxi parallel to 4/22 to reach Runway 22. But more on that later.

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Deselect the map, and let's set some realistic weather conditions.

Choose ENVIRO and make it springtime. Again in ENVIRO, access WINDS and set the surfacewinds (AGL means Above Ground Level; MSL, Mean Sea Level) to a depth of 3000 feet,

direction 205 degrees, and speed 6 knots.

Now, exit the window. What you've done is create a weather report or, more precisely, a wind

report. The weather today is clear. Now we'll get this weather report in official language from the

tower here at Kankakee. Get out your Chicago Area Chart and find out on what frequency thetower transmits. Greater Kankakee Airport is near the center of the chart, about 15 miles west of

the Illinois/Indiana border. Control Tower is abbreviated CT on the chart (on some airports it's

ATIS, for Automatic Terminal Information Service), and following the abbreviation is thefrequency. On some charts, the numbers 62551 appear just below the tower frequency. These

tell us the elevation of the airport625 feet MSLand the length of the longest runway in

hundreds of feet; in the case of Kankakee, the longest runway, which is 4/22, is 5100 feet.

Find the COM, for COMmunications receiver, on the right side of your instrument panel. You'lltune it to the Kankakee tower frequency, 123.0. To change the number to the left of the decimal

point, put the mouse arrow on the first or third digit and click. Clicking on the first digit sets thenext lower frequency, and clicking on the third digit sets the next higher frequency, in steps of 1

megahertz from 118 to 135. The digits to the right of the decimal point represent fractional

frequencies from 0.00 to 0.95 in steps of 50 kilo-hertz (0.05 megahertz). Clicking on the firstdigit lowers the value, and clicking on the second raises it. Set the frequency now to 123.0.

The tower's weather and runway information stays on screen long enough for you to check it. Itwill turn off eventually, or you can turn it off by clicking in the box at the upper left of the

window. To repeat or update the report, simply change one digit temporarily and then change

back to the correct frequency.

Clear the tower information if it hasn't self-cleared, and unpause the simulation now so that I can

show you how to stop and start your engine.

Find the numeral 1 key on the upper left of your keyboard and, watching the MAGS or

MAGNETOS switch indicator on the lower right side of your instrument panel, press the 1 keyslowly three times. The switch cycles through BOTH, RGT (for Right), LFT (for Left), and

finally to OFF, and the engine shuts down.

The magnetos (you have two of them) supply the high voltages necessary for the aircraft's spark

plugs. They combine the functions of the coil and the distributor in an automotive engine. The

engine runs on one magneto, either left or right, but we normally operate with the switch set to

BOTH. I'll show you how to start your engine when you're ready to taxi.

Now, I want to discuss controlling the aircraft. In the Amiga and Atari versions, you have theoption of a keypad yoke (Mac users haven't this alternative), and I strongly recommend using it.

In my experience, pressing keys instead of moving the mouse yields much finer and faster

control. So if you are flying on the Amiga or Atari, use the mouse only in CURS (cursor) mode,

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to perform operations you can't do any other way. Those operations have to do mostly with

navigating and viewing. One day soon, when you're trying to control rudder, elevator, throttle,

and aileron almost simultaneouslyfor instance, on a landing approach at 130 knots in yourLearjet, when every fraction of a second countsyou'll thank me for steering you to the keypad

yoke. On the Mac, use the mouse to get as close as possible to the procedures I describe

immediately below (you do have keyboard rudder control) and throughout this book.

The essentials of physical control of the aircraft are embodied in five fingersthree on your

right hand and two on your left. The first three fingers of your right hand will give you instantand precise control of elevator pressures (which control aircraft pitch, that is, nose up or down),

elevator trim (used to obviate the need for continually holding elevator pressures), left and right

ailerons (movable surfaces on the trailing edge of each wing, used to roll the aircraft and thus

bank and turn it), aileron and rudder neutralizing, exacting throttle control, andon thegroundeven your brakes. Three fingers, and all that control. We'll get to the left-hand functions

in a moment.

Amigans and Atarians, place the first three fingers of your right hand now on the 4, 5, and 6 keysof the numeric keypad. (Let the palm of your right hand rest gently on the bottom rim of the

keyboard or on the edge of your flight deskwhatever feels comfortable and natural.) You'venow assumed the basic control yoke position. Remember those wordsbasic control yoke

positionand what they mean: the first three fingers of your right hand on the 4, 5, and 6 keys of

the numeric keypad.

Your first and third fingers, in this basic yoke position, control your left and right ailerons,

respectively. The middle finger neutralizes whatever aileron pressure you've applied.

When, henceforth, I say something like Apply a little pressure to get into a left turn or Start a

left turn or Turn left to a heading of two three zero degrees, I want you to press the leftaileron keythe 4 keyabout five times. This is the equivalent ofin an actual aircraftapplying sufficient left aileron pressure to roll the aircraft to the left and start a left bank (a lateral

tilting with the left wing low and the right wing high), and consequently a left turn. It's also

loosely analogous to applying leftward pressure on a car steering wheel to start a left turn. But Iprovide that poor analogy only to familiarize you with the general idea; an aircraft yoke (or

stick or control column) is not the same asan automobile steering wheel. You don't steer an

airplane (except on the ground, and then you do so with the nosewheel).

Five strokes of the right aileron keythe 6 keynets the same result, but this time to the right.

To stop the bank at the desired angle and thus control the aircraft's rate of turn, you neutralize

your ailerons. This is done by pressing the 5 key once, using the logical fingeryour middle

one.

To level the airplane, once you have rolled, banked, and turned it so that it is heading where you

want to go, you apply opposite aileron. That's the term for aileron in the opposite direction of aturn. For example, if you apply left aileron pressure to start withneutralize when you have the

desired degree of banklet the turn continue untilthe aircraft is pointed where you want it to

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gothen apply opposite (right) aileron to roll out of the turnand neutralize again as the

wings come levelyou've completed a turn. And even though student pilots practice turns

throughout their training, it's easier to do than describe, as you'll see.

So the first three fingers of the right hand, in the basic control yoke positionover the 4, 5, and

6 keyscontrol the ailerons and thus control the combined rolling, banking, and turning of theaircraft. In the Macintosh simulation, the same result is achieved by moving the mouse to the left

or right and then moving it in the opposite direction to neutralize.

Try applying some left and/or right aileron now, and try neutralizing. You can watch the aileron

position indicator, the horizontal gauge that forms the top of the I shape on the left side of your

instrument panel, to see the result. When you finish, center the control.

Two additional keys, the 2 and 8 keys, complete the simulated yoke (though not everything we

control from the basic control yoke position). Both are operated with the middle finger (but don'tpress either key just now) by pivoting it backward to press the 2 key and forward to press the 8

key. Pressure on the 2 key simulates back pressure on the yoke, or pulling back on the stick(though pulling is too strong a term for normal maneuvers). Pressure on the 8 key simulates

the release of back pressure on the yoke (and, very rare in flying, actual forward pressure on theyoke). You can think ofpressure on the 8 key as neutralizing back pressure applied with the 2

key. Forward and rearward mouse movement with the Mac applies the same sort of pressures. In

an actual aircraft, the yoke or stick is designed to return to a neutral position when pressureapplied to it is released, somewhat as a steering wheel finds its default position when let go.

Now, look again at the 4, 5, 6, 2, and 8 keys on your numeric keypad. These keys form a plussign. You'll use other keys on the keypad for other controls, but these five keys are the control

yoke, or simply the yoke. Andone more timeyour right hand is in the basic control yoke

position when your first three fingers are poised on the 4, 5, and 6 keys, ready to apply andneutralize aileron pressures or to apply elevator pressures (middle finger) on the adjacent 2 and 8keys.

Just as your middle finger pivots to apply elevator pressures, the third finger of your right hand

pivots to control your throttle, which controls your engine speed and, as you will see, your

altitude. (In the Mac version, you hold down the mouse button and move the mouseforward/backward for more/less throttle.) The third finger pivots forward to the 9 key to increase

throttle and backward to the 3 key to decrease throttle. You can try the throttle controls, although

while your engine is off you won't experience much. But do watch the throttle position indicator,

the thin gauge labeled TH to the right of all the round instruments. You'll see the indicator moveup when you add to your throttle setting (9 key) and move down when you back it off (3 key).

Remember where the throttle position indicator is, because you'll use it shortly after we get

airborne. When you finish experimenting, be sure your throttle is all the way back (indicator at

the bottom of the gauge).

Your first finger does the least work, unless you make an inordinate number of left turns. Besidesleft aileron, it operates only your brakes, which are effective only on the ground. The brake

pedal is the 1 key, for which your first finger pivots backward. Try it, and you'll see the

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BRAKES message on your display. Brake application and release in the Mac simulation is

accomplished (with the mouse button depressed) by left and right mouse movement,

respectively. The 7 key does absolutely nothing, so you can forget about it.

Most of the time you're in the airplane, from the moment you begin to taxi until you shut down at

the end of a flight, your right hand will be in the yoke position. If you do something else withyour right hand, for instance with the mouse, return to the yoke position when you're finished.

When you're driving a car, you usually have your hands on the steering wheel. When you're

flying your Cessna or Lear, you'll usually have your hand on the yoke.

Your left hand will assume most of the other keyboard, or console, duties, such as selecting

windows, taking views, and so on.

But your left hand performs several critical functions. The first is, on the ground, steering your

nosewheel and, in the air, operating your rudder pedals. You do both these jobs with the < and >keys, which provide, respectively, left rudder (and left nosewheel) and right rudder (and right

nosewheel). The lowercase of these keys gives you the comma and period, but it's easier in adirectional sense to think of the < and > as left and right arrows designating left and right pedal.

You don't have to use keyboard SHIFT to operate the rudder pedals or to perform any otherfunction in the simulator world. The rudder pedals are most conveniently operated by the first

two fingers of your left hand, leaving your right hand at the basic yoke control position, or at-

ready with the mouse. The rudder position indicator is the horizontal gauge that forms the bottomof the I-shaped group of indicators.

And here's another nice control feature in the Amiga and Atari versions: To neutralize yourrudder, and on the ground your nosewheel, you use the same 5 key (basic yoke position) that

neutralizes your ailerons. You can think of that 5 key as the neutralizer, because that's what it

is for nosewheel, rudder, and aileron. Practice several strokes of left and/or right rudder now,watching the indicator. Neutralize when you're finished. In the Mac, neutralize using the mouseand watching your indicators. The indicators are particularly important since you must neutralize

aileron with the mouse and rudder with the < and > keys. (If you find it easier to fly with AUTO

COORD enabled, by all means do so, but be aware that independent rudder makes smalldirectional changesfor instance on a landing approachthat much easier.)

Two other important physical controls typically exercised with your left hand are the landing

gear and the flaps.

You toggle the landing gear with the U key. One press of the key picks up (retracts) your gear.The next press drops (extends) it. Just think of U for both Up and Down. The landing gear

position indicator, labeled GEAR, is on the right side of your instrument panel, at the bottom.

(Don'ttry it now!)

Your flaps, whichlike your aileronsare movable control surfaces on the trailing edges of

your wings, have five positions, namely 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 degrees. Flaps assist us in takeoffs,slowflight, and landing approaches by varying the aircraft's lift-to-drag ratio. The flaps are

retracted and extended by the [ and ] keys (left and right bracket/brace keys). Logically enough,

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the leftmost of these keys provides less flaps and the rightmost more flaps. You can try these

keys now, watching the flaps position indicator to the right of the gear position indicator. When

the needle is all the way up, that's zero degrees. All the way down is 40 degrees. On takeoff,you'll use 10 degrees of flaps, and I'll tell you when to dump them, which means return them to

zero degrees, as we climb. For now, zero them.

Before we taxi out and take off (I'm as eager as you are), I have to acquaint you with at least

those instruments you need to get the airplane into the air, climb to an altitude, cruise a while,

and land again. You have some command now of the physical controls, but you need to be

familiar with four of the instruments on your panel to execute this first flight properly. They arethe airspeed indicator, the altimeter, the Vertical Speed Indicator (or VSI), and what we're going

to call the elevator trim indicator.

All these instruments are on the left side of your instrument panel.

The airspeed indicator is at the top left. In the Cessna it is labeled KNOTS. Knots are read asnautical miles per hour. A nautical mile is about 1.15 statute m iles (6076 feet). The airspeed

indicator reads directly in knots. It indicates our speed through the air (not, in the Cessna, our

true airspeed nor our speed over the ground) by measuring the pressure of the relative windagainst the wings. Think of the whole reading as, for example, 70 KIAS, in which KIAS stands

for Knots Indicated AirSpeed. We need this instrument to determine when to rotate on takeoff,

that is, when our wings have sufficient lift to become airborne. And we need it to determine

aircraft performance in cruise, slow-flight, landing approaches, and other flight operations.Incidentally, 70 KIAS is the speed at which you'll rotate the Cessna on your takeoff run.

The altimeter (ALT) is the second instrument to the right of the airspeed indicator. The shorter

needle on the altimeter points to our altitude in thousands of feet. The longer needle points to our

altitude in hundreds of feet.

The altimeter at present indicates about 625 feet. We need the altimeter, obviously, to determine

our altitude at any given moment. It is also, in the simulator, a sensitive indicator as to whether

we are climbing, flying level, or descending. It is more sensitive, actually, than the nextinstrument we'll look at, which tells us our specific vertical speed.

Directly below the altimeter is the VSI. It will tell us our rate of climb (needle on the UP side) or

rate of descent (needle on the DOWN side) in hundreds of feet per minute, or fpm. When theneedle is at zero, we'll be neither climbing nor descending, so of course it's at zero now. As we

climb or descend, the altimeter will show an increase or decrease in altitude. In the Amiga/Atariversions, the altimeter will actually record very small increments of climb or descent that are not

sufficient to move the VSI needle. So, you'll want to pay close attention to the altimeter as you

fly.

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The last instrument we'll need for this first flight is more a gauge than an instrument. It's the

vertical gauge in the I-shaped group just to the left of the VSI. In the Flight Simulator manual,

this is called the elevator position indicator. But our flying technique will not require, nor doesan actual aircraft, an elevator position indicator. For practical purposes, always think of the

elevator as at rest, unless and until we apply back pressure, which we'll typically neutralize

with the same amount of forward pressure when appropriate. If you've watched someone pilotan aircraft (or done it yourself), you know that hands off flying, in respect to the yoke, is verynormal for short periods of time (for instance, while eating a sandwich). This is because the pilot

has trimmed the elevator for the configuration the aircraft is in, for example, straight and level

flight at a particular altitude or a climb at a particular VSI rate.

I said earlier that we would use the elevator itself as an elevator trim control, which it simulates

very wellmore precisely than the elevator trim provided in the simulation. It follows that thisgauge you're looking at becomes, instead of an elevator position indicator, our elevator trim

indicator. And we will set our trim to suit our flying configuration, using the same keys (or

mouse movements) we use to apply elevator pressures.

So how will you know when you're applying elevator pressure, as opposed to trimming? First,

I'll tell you which you're doing until you have the concepts firmly in mind. Second, you'llnormally be applying pressure, as opposed to trimming, in only three flight configurations:

takeoff rotation, turns, and final approaches to the runway when landing. You'll experience all

three of these configurations soon. Last, you will learn to trim to precise, known positions for the

basic flight configurations that involve trimming. And there are only four of these. They aretakeoff (trimprior to the takeoff run, not takeoff rotation) and three neutrals: operational

neutral, used for straight and level flight at cruise altitude, as well as for climbs or descents to a

new altitude; slowflight neutral, used to fly at slow speeds (you'll be grateful for this when youfly the Learjet); and approach neutral, used when you drop your gear and extend your flaps prior

to a landing.

No guesswork is involved in the trim settings I've been describing. You'll learn how to trim

precisely and correctly and how to know you've done it before you're very far into this book.

You'll learn one of the four trims right now, because you need it to trim properly for takeoff.

Earlier I asked Amigans and Atarians not to try the elevator control keys to facilitate setting

operational neutral trim (which you'll do now) from the default elevator position provided by the

simulation. (Operational neutral trim isn't takeoff trim, but it is a standard reference trim from

which you can set takeoff trim properly every time you fly.)

Be sure your middle finger is over the 8 key on the yoke. Now press that key twice in quick

succession. Pause, and then press the same key twice more in quick succession.

Pause again, and then repeat the two quick presses for a third and final time. The elevator trim

indicator should now be directly opposite the needle of the VSI, which is at present resting on 0.We'll call this operational neutral (op neutral for short) from now on. It's easy to remember

visually, because the trim indicator is directly opposite 0 VSI.

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But there are actually nine elevator trim positions at which the indicator will be opposite the 0,

because the elevator is micro-adjustable. So, we could refer to a 0.0, 0.1, and so on, up to 0.8. Op

neutral is specifically at 0.0. Confirm that now with one additional press of down elevator whilewatching the trim indicator. The indicator moves a notch below the 0 position. Now, press up

elevator once. The indicator returns to 0.0, operational neutral.

Detail of Macintosh elevator trim for operational neutral (Cessna 182).

In the Mac, set op neutral by dragging the mouse until the elevator trim indicator sits just above

the line opposite DN on the VSI, or just above the second mark below 0 VSI (see detail). Besure to start with the indicator above that position, and drag the mouse slowly forward until theindicator pops to the position just above the second mark. The indicator arrow and the mark

will seem to be joined (at the next lower notch they would be exactly aligned).

Now that you know exactly where op neutral is, you should be able to trim your elevator to that

position no matter what its previous setting and to confirm that it's there. Operational neutral, and

the other two neutrals I'll be covering, are extremely important concepts in all our flying. Theidentical concepts apply to flying the Learjet too, so you need to understand them. With op

neutral, for example, besides flying straight and level at any cruising altitude, you'll be able to

climb or descend at any specific VSI rate you choose, with little or no variation in airspeed and

with no change of elevator position or trim. The other neutral trimsslowflight and approachwill give you similar precision control of your aircraft in those two major aircraft configurations.

Why did we use a series of quick key presses, rather than slow or random strokes, to get to opneutral? Because in the Amiga/Atari version it would have taken us 27 ordinary (slow) strokes to

get there from the simulator default elevator position. We used three sets of two quick presses to

accomplish the same thing. We couldn't use six quick presses either; that would have put us wellbelow op neutral. If you're flying the Mac, notice the dragging between indicator marks and how

the arrow pops into position. Thus your elevator is also micro-adjustable and every small

movement between pops is significant, as you'll see when you fly.

Now, press the Q key (or go into the SITUATION menu and choose SAVE AND NAME), andsave the present situation to RAM (Random Access Memory), naming it RAMP IKK 22/C.

Then, in the same menu, choose SAVE RAM TO DISK so that later you can recall the situationand put yourself right where you are now. In the process, you'll save all the realism settings and

other new defaults you created earlier, and you'll also save your op neutral trim so you won't

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have to reset it each time. Even the present spot plane view will be saved. Then, we'll move right

on to our taxi and take-off procedure. (If you want to turn your computer off after saving to disk

and come back later, that's no problem.)

The title RAMP IKK 22/C tells you where the airplane ison the ramp at Greater Kankakee

(IKK is the real-world airport code for Greater Kankakee)and that Runway 22 is the active,that is, the runway in use at the present time. The/C reminds you that in this situation you are

flying the Cessna 182. (We'll use /L for the Learjet.)

In the next chapter you're going to use the instruments and controls you've begun to learn about

and get this baby in the air.

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Chapter 2

CALL A TAXI

If you're continuing from the previous page, you're still on the ramp at Greater Kankakee

Airport, ready to start your engine and taxi. If not, boot your simulator and load the situation disk

to which you saved RAMP IKK 22 /C in the last chapter. To load the situation disk, click onSITUATION in the menu bar, then click on LOAD RAM FROM DISK, and follow the screen

instructions. When the load is completed, click on RECALL from the same menu (or in

Amiga/Atari just press the R key), and then click in the box opposite the situation you want torecallin this case RAMP IKK 22 /C.

Some aspects of situations are not saved. One of them is engine status. Thus, if you just booted,your engine will be running even though you shut it down when you saved RAMP IKK 22 /C. In

that case, shut it down for a moment now. (The numeral 1 key is the magneto switch for

shutdown.)

Each time you climb in the airplane there's a simple panel preflight checklist to go through:

True the DG: DG is short for directional gyro, the instrument second from the left on the bottom

row of your panel. On the lower left edge of this instrument is a knob marked D. Place the mouse

arrow over the knob and, watching the numbers in the instrument windows, click the mousebutton once. The numbers change. The number in the top window now agrees with the magneticcompass heading, as you'll see if you check your compass (in the top row of instruments on the

right side of your panel). This is what is meant by trueing the DG. The magnetic compass

always gives the true magnetic heading of your aircraft, but when you turn in flight, it takes awhile to settle down. The directional gyro, which needs no settling time, cannot reference the

earth's magnetic field as does the magnetic compass. Because the DG references only its own

internal gyroscope, you have to tell it frequently which way the aircraft is pointing, tocompensate for instrument drift. Clicking on the D knob trues the DG to the magnetic compassheading. If you'll notice, your DG has already drifted a degree or so; you'll have to true it

frequently in flight, particularly when you want to hold a precise heading. In ordinary flying, you

can use the magnetic compass exclusively if you like, when you are assured that it has settleddown, that is, as soon as it's no longer wavering between headings.

In flying, a heading is the magnetic compass direction in which the aircraft is pointed, in

relation to an imaginary 360-degree compass rose with the aircraft positioned at the center of that

rose. A heading is not necessarily the exact direction in which the aircraft is flying, because wind

conditions may be (and often are) such that to move the airplane in a straight line in relation tothe ground you have to crab, or fly somewhat sideways. The crabbing will result automatically

as you correct your heading to fly toward a specific point on the horizon or to track (fly

directly along) a VOR (Very high-frequency Omnidirectional Range) radial to a VOR station.

You'll soon learn about that navigation boon.

True the Altimeter: The altimeter, which you've already met, also needs to be trued. Click on itsknob (marked A) in the same way as you clicked on the D for the directional gyro. Trueing the

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altimeter calibrates it to the current barometric pressure. We'll true it about every half hour on an

extended flight.

Detail of Macintosh elevator setting for operational neutral Cessna 182).

Check Op Neutral:This involves simply adjusting elevator trim to the position describedearlier. In Amiga/Atari op neutral has the indicator directly opposite 0 on the VSI (only for

visual reference; the VSI is in no way connected to elevator trim). Confirm op neutral by onepress of down elevator (8 key). If the trim indicator drops a notch, you were at op neutral before

the press, so press up elevator (2 key) once, reestablishing the desired trim. In the Mac, theindicator should be one notch above the mark which is opposite DN on the VSI (see detail). Inthis case, a notch is a pop of the indicator up or down to a new position.

As you fly and frequently save situations, you'll find you're saving them with op neutral trimalready in place. But always check it anyway.

Carb Heat Off:The status of carburetor heat (the indicator is on the right side of your panel, in

the bottom row, just left of the gear indicator) is very important. Before you begin a flight, carb

heat should be off. This setting is not saved when you save a situation. If you put it on (as you

will) to make a landing and then recall another flight situation, on the ground or in the air, thecarb heat will still be on, and the resultant lower engine speed will materially affect your

aircraft's performance. Before taxiing out for takeoff, be sure carb heat is turned off. On the otherhand, you will save some flight situations in the aira slowflight situation, for examplewhere

you deliberately will have carb heat on. If you recall a situation of that kind, the carb heat may beon or off, depending on its setting in your previous flight. So, you'll need to know, before flying

a new situation, which setting is appropriate. In any slowflight, airport approach, or landing

situation, have the carb heat on. In cruise situations, it should be off. When you recall a situationand the plane does not perform as you'd expect, you'll likely find that the carb heat setting is the

reason; so, correct it.

Zoom 1.00:Your zoom indicator is on the far right of your instrument panel, halfway down.

Zoom should always be set to 1.00 when you're doing anything critical such as taking off,

making a landing approach, performing special maneuvers, or stunting. Zoom 1.00 gives you thetruest picture of what's happening.

Lights Off:This just reminds you to turn off your panel lights if it's daytime. We don't want thebulbs to burn unnecessarily. The lights indicator is at the bottom right of your panel, and,

logically enough, the L key toggles your panel lights.

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That's your preflight checklist. If you haven't already run through it, do it now so that you're

ready to roll. Here's a recap of the list:

1. True DG

2. True altimeter

3.

Check op neutral4. Carb heat OFF

5. Zoom 1.00

6. Lights OFF

Start your engine (four presses of the 2 key).

When I refer to notches of throttle in what follows, I mean presses of the increase or

decrease throttle keys (the 9 and 3 keys, respectively). Three notches is three presses. In theMac you use the mouse, of course, but you can see and count the notches just as if you were

pressing keys. Similarly, put on or back off, when referring to notches of throttle, meansincrease or decrease, respectively, so many notches. Open your throttle also means increase it

so many notches. Add some power means, of course, increase your throttle setting to suit the

situation, just as take off some power or reduce power means decrease it as required. Cutyour throttle means back it off to zero.

With your right hand in the basic control yoke position or poised on the mouse, and with the firsttwo fingers of your left hand on the rudder pedals (to steer the nosewheel), put on three notches

of throttle to get the aircraft moving.

Practice steering left and right with the nosewheel as you taxi, to get the feel of it. On Amiga and

Atari, remember that you straighten your nosewheel with the 5 key, the center key on the basic

yoke.

Take the ramp that is a little to your right, and then turn right onto the main taxiway to parallel

the runway. Back off your power a notch to slow down before the turn.

If you get fouled up, recall the RAMP IKK 22 /C situation (in Amiga/Atari, press A to get theRECALL list) and start out again, until you get it right.

As you taxi along the main stretch, parallel to Runway 4/22, try out your brakes. They'll stop youmomentarily. Use more or less power to taxi at whatever speed feels comfortable to you. Practicesteering with your nosewheel some more. Take a control tower view of yourself (C key) if you

like, and then return to the spot plane view (S key).

Don't take the first left, or the second, which is Runway 16/34. Taxi all the way to the end, and

then turn left and stop short of the next left, which accesses Runway 22. Cut your throttle and use

your brakes.

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Don't hesitate to practice the foregoing operationtaxiing from the ramp to the holding position

for Runway 22until you get reasonably good at it. The ability to taxi well is almost as

important as the ability to fly well. It will give you great satisfaction to be able to handle theaircraft skillfully on the ground. And the rewards in terms of realism are considerable. Kankakee

is one of the simulator's best airports for taxiing, and you may want to regard it as your home

airport for the Chicago chart area.

As you practice, try using the out-front view (the T key) as well as the spot plane (S) view.

Switch back and forth between them. Use whatever view gives you the best control, or use themin combination. The objective is to get a feel for how much nosewheel (rudder) pedal to use

for a desired result and when to start your turns at a given groundspeed. You'll find that slowing

down for sharp turns will correct matters if you're consistently overshooting.

When you feel satisfied that you're in a good position, stopped short of the final turn onto

Runway 22, save the situation to RAM. (Press the T key so that you have the out-front cockpit

view when you save.) Also save to disk if you plan to quit the simulation for now. Name the

situation HLDNG IKK 22/C. There isn't room to spell out HOLDING,but the title describesthe situation exactly. In aviation terminology you're holding short of Runway 22. IKK, again,

is the airport code for Greater Kankakee.

Having saved this situation, you'll be in excellent position to practice takeoff preparation and the

takeoff itself, without the need for taxiing out from your tiedown position on the IKK ramp.

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Chapter 3

TAKE IT OFF AND FLY IT

Detail of Macintosh elevator trim for takeoff (Cessna 182).

Because you did your preflight check before you started taxiing, your takeoff preparation for thisflight consists merely of two operations: setting takeoff trim and putting on 10 degrees of flaps.

Both operations are standard for all normal takeoffs.

In the Mac, set takeoff trim by slowly dragging the mouse back until the elevator trim indicatorpops to the first mark above 0 VSI (see detail).

In Amiga/Atari (from op neutral), set takeoff trim with five quick presses followed by four slowpresses of up elevator. In the Appendix B Flight Checklist, I use qu, qd, su, and sd to

refer to quick and slow up and down presses of elevator. While we're flying. I refer to quick

ups, slow ups, and so forth to mean the same thing. Phrases such as quick presses orpresses in quick succession mean presses at less than half-second intervals. They don't have to

be extremely rapid, but they should be as quick as is comfortable for you. Count them mentally

as you apply them, and apply them as deliberately as you can count them (without slurring over

them).

Trim for takeoff now if you haven't already. In Amiga/Atari, notice that your trim indicator has

moved one long mark plus a short mark above operation neutral. (A short mark is only a pixel,and you probably can't see it unless you're using an RGB or other high-resolution monitor.)

Take-off trim is important because it gets you airborne at a lower airspeed and, thus, sooner than

if you take off without it.

Extend your flaps to the 10-degree position. The flaps give you some extra lift, which also helps

you get airborne sooner.

And you're ready for takeoff!

Now, follow the procedure I describe as well as you can, and remember that you can recall your

immediate situation and try again, or pause the simulation, as often as you like. Don't expect

perfection. You'll be busy for the first minute or so, trying to remember which key is which andwatching several instruments almost simultaneously. But, believe me, with a bit of practice you'll

soon take off like a proevery time.

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With your right hand in the basic yoke position or poised on the mouse and with your left hand

in position to operate the rudder pedals, open your throttle three notches and move ahead.

Turn onto the runway and steer to line up with the far end of it. Don't be in a rush; you have

plenty of time. Don't worry about staying exactly on the centerline. Point for the far end of the

strip, and then add about five notches of power. Steer with the rudder pedals as you pick upspeed.

When you're satisfied that you are straight in relation to the runway, open your throttle all theway. Continue to steer with the rudder as needed.

As you pick up speed, keep glancing at your airspeed indicator. When the needle is between 60

and 80pointing straight to the rightif flying the Mac, apply rotation pressure with a slight

backward movement of the mouse, not enough to move the indicator; if flying Amiga/Atari, use

two quick presses of up elevator.

When the runway begins to drop away and you know you're airborne, retract your gear (U key)and cancel the rotation pressure with two quick elevator downs or with a slight forwardmovement of the mouse. The trim should still read the same as it did for takeoff.

Wait a second or two, and then zero your flaps.

Watch the tachometer (rpm indication) on the right of your panel, and gradually back off yourthrottle until you have a reading, if flying Amiga/Atari, of 2100 rpm. If flying the Mac, decrease

power until the throttle position indicator is even with the bottom of the frequency numbers in

the NAV 1 radio compartment (see detail). (You'll be indicating about 1750 rpm, but that will

change when you level off.)

Detail of Macintosh throttle setting for 500 fpm climb (Cessna 182).

Now, check your VSI. You want a vertical speed of 500 fpm. You get that by trimming down

not quickly, but with steady, slow, regular presses of the 8 key or, if you're using the mouse, with

small increments of forward pressure.

As you trim, the needle moves down toward the 5 mark on the VSI. If it goes below the 5, you're

trimming a bit too eagerly. Match your down-trimming to the VSI. When the needle movesabove the 500 mark again, apply another notch of downtrim.

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Judge your trimming to control the needle, answering its movements, but don't glue your eyes to

the VSI. You've many notches to trim.

Check your altimeter, which is directly above the VSI. You want a cruise altitude of 2300 feet.

Continue to trim. Now, begin to check the elevator trim indicator. The objective is to trim tooperational neutral while maintaining a 500-fpm climb rate. When you reach cruising altitude,

2300 feet, you'll reduce power to level off.

Detail of Macintosh elevator trim for operational neutral (Cessna 182).

If your climb rate drops below 500 fpm and hangs there, don't trim up. Add a couple of notchesof power, and you'll see the needle move up again. Continue to trim to hold the climb rate on or

near 500 fpm.

You know how to confirm operational neutral, and you follow the same principle here. In the

Mac, you want that point where the indicator pops down to join the top of the mark oppositeDN, two marks below 0 VSI (see detail). In Amiga/Atari, if the needle is opposite 0 VSI, you

need to downtrim until the needle drops below 0. Then you know where you are. Trim up one

notch and stop trimming.

Detail of Macintosh throttle setting for straight and level flight at cruise altitude (Cessna 182).

You'll be at 2300 feet when the altimeter's short needle is on the 2 and its long needle is on the 3.When you reach that altitude, whether you're at op neutral or not, reduce your power to a readingof 1950 rpm if flying Amiga/Atari. If flying the Mac, decrease power until the throttle position

indicator is even with the bottom of the N in the NAV 2 compartment (see detail). (Such visual

throttle position indications are more useful than rpms in the Mac because engine speed variesconsiderably with the aircraft's altitude.) In all versions, engine speed may fluctuate a bit until

the aircraft is balanced, but it should settle at 1950 rpm in Amiga/Atari and 2000 rpm in the Mac.

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When you're at or near an altitude of 2300 feet and your throttle is at 1950 rpm (Amiga/Atari) or

2000 rpm (Mac), your objective is to control the airplane so that it will fly straight and level.

Straight and level is that configuration in which the aircraft is neither banked nor turning, theelevator is correctly trimmed (in the present case, to operational neutral), and the throttle is at a

power setting that yields a zero reading on your VSI. If you are straight and level with op neutral

elevator trim, your aircraft will fly at its optimum cruising airspeed; in the Cessna this is about134 knots, with the airspeed needle approximately intersecting the 0 of the 140-knot mark.

When you are trimmed to op neutral, your throttle becomes your altitude control. Add a fewnotches of power if you are under your desired 2300-foot cruise altitude. If you are above it,

reduce power a bit, and the aircraft will descend. When you're right on your desired altitude or

within 20 feet of it (one mark on the altimeter), adjust power as required to stay there.

No single throttle setting invariably results in level flight. When I told you where to set your

throttle earlier, I gave you an approximate setting, or, actually, a preliminary setting. As you fly,

you may find that straight and level requires a power increase or decrease. That's all right. If

you're not climbing or descending significantly, the throttle setting is the correct cruise settingfor your altitude and your heading, in this particular season and weather, in this particular part of

the world, and on this specific day. At a higher altitude, you'd need higher power. At loweraltitudes, you'd be straight and level with a lower power setting. Tomorrow, you may need more

or less power even if you duplicate this exact flight pattern. Instead of exact throttle-setting

references, you fly with an exact elevator trim referenceop neutral. Then you use power to get

the result you want. Whether you're flying straight and level, climbing, or descending, yourthrottle is your altitude control.

Now you're going to do a 180 and head back to IKK. Doing a 180 means turning the aircraft180 degrees and heading in the opposite direction.

Your magnetic compass probably reads within a few degrees of 218 now if you were fairly welllined up with the Kankakee runway on takeoff. Whatever it reads, you're going to turn left to a

heading of zero three eight degrees. In ordinary English, that's 38 degrees, of course. Pilots use

the long form when stating headingsto be exact and to be sure we're understood, for instance,when we communicate with a tower. So get used to saying zero three eight or two four five

when you read 038 or 245 in this book.

You remember about aileron pressures and neutralizing to bank and turn the airplane from our

earlier discussion.

One technique I haven't covered in regard to turns: Apply a notch or two of back pressure on the

elevator as you turn (one or two slow key presses or a slight backward movement on the mouse,

not enough to show on the elevator gauge). This prevents loss of altitude that would otherwiseresult. Use whatever pressure is required to hold your altitude; the steeper you turn, the more

pressure you need.

Start a left turn now, with a little back pressure and some left aileron. Then, neutralize when the

horizon splits your screen diagonally.

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As you turn, the bank will tend to become shallow, because the plane wants to right itself.

Respond by adding a little aileron pressure, which forces the wings to stay banked to the degree

you want. Then neutralize.

Keep an eye on your magnetic compass. Remember that you're looking for a heading of 038

degrees.

This is a very shallow bank and thus a slow turn. Later, you'll learn to bank more steeply. For

now, you're honing your precision. You have (I hope!) the aircraft completely under control,making it do exactly what you want in the manner you want. That's precision flying, and it's time

to applaud yourself on your progress.

When the magnetic compass reads 050, apply right aileron pressure to roll out of the turn.

Neutralize when the horizon is straight.

Now, let off the back pressure you used to hold your altitude in the turn. In this case we are

talking about pressure, not trim. In an actual aircraft, you would have applied a little backpressure to the yoke as you turned and then relaxed it when you rolled out. So you're duplicatingwhat really occurs. With regard to trim, you will return to op neutral if you take off as much

pressure as you applied at the start of the turn.

Your compass probably reads below 038 degrees now, which is fine. I want to show you how to

use rudderand rudder onlyto make minor heading changes in flight. If you were using auto-

coordination, you'd have to bank the airplane to add or subtract even a degree or so to yourheading. With rudder control independent of aileron, you simply yaw the nose around a bit.

Rudder alone does the job beautifully.

Use a little rudder now to put the nose on the number you want, 038 degrees. When the compassshows that you're on that heading, neutralize. (If you're flying keypad yoke on the Amiga/Atari,

neutralize with the 5 key; if you're flying the Macintosh, apply as many notches of oppositerudder as you used to institute the heading adjustment.)

Isn't that neat? And think how useful rudder will be when you're on a landing approach: Youwon't need to bank to have fine control over your direction.

You are now headed back toward Greater Kankakee Airport. I'll show you how to point youraircraft exactly to that home airport and how to find out exactly how far away you are moment

by moment.

Pause temporarily (P key) for a few instructions. I don't want you getting to IKK too quickly.

To the right of the center of your instrument panel (in the Mac, at the center of the panel) are twoalmost identical instruments, one above the other. Each has a knob labeled V on its lower left

edge. These are your Omni-Bearing Indicators, or OBIs. Their only difference is that the top one,

OBI 1, has a glideslope feature, used when making an ILS (Instrument Landing System)approach. OBI 1 is associated with your NAV 1 radio, and OBI 2 with your NAV 2 radio.

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The NAV radios are equipped to tune in and identify VOR stations. These stations assist pilots

from one end of the country to the other. VOR stations transmit magnetic course signals, known

as radials, in every direction360 such signals in all. These radials emanate for many miles,like the spokes of a giant wheel. And they converge, of course, like the spokes of a wheel, at the

hub: the VOR station from which they are radiating.

When you tune your NAV 1 or NAV 2 radio to a VOR station, you can use the OBI associated

with that NAV to identify which radials of the particular VOR station you are currently on or

crossing.

You'll do that now.

First, tune NAV 1 to the VOR station that (fortunately at our stage of instruction) is situated on

our home airport, Greater Kankakee. It's called the Kankakee VOR. To tune it, you have to know

its frequency, which you can find in the appropriate box on your chart. I'll give you thefrequency this time so that you can concentrate on what you're doing. It's 111.60.

Tune the NAV radios the same way you tuned the COM radio when you checked on the weatherat IKK. Use the mouse on the first or third digits for the numbers left of the decimal point and on

the first or second digits for the fractional frequencies to the right of the decimal point.

Tune NAV 1 to the Kankakee VOR frequency.

You probably noted some action in the OBI 1 instrument. You'll now use the OBS (for Omni-

Bearing Selector, the knob labeled V on the OBI) to find out on what radial to the Kankakee

VOR station you are currently flying.

The number in the top window of the OBI (you're using OBI 1, remember) indicates magneticcourses to the VOR station. There are, as I mentioned, 360 of them, reading 000 through 359. By

clicking on the left edge of the V on the knob, you access lower numbers; by clicking on theright edge, higher numbers. Your objective is to center the vertical needle with a TO reading on

the OBI dial. In the Mac version, the OBS reads out only the even radials, so if you can't center

the needle exactly you'll know the correct radial is the odd-numbered one in between.

To familiarize yourself with the OBS, click on either side of the V and run through the entire

cycle. If you hold down the mouse button for a few seconds, the numbers go by quickly. Theneedle will never disappear, but it will pin to one side or the other and then start back toward

center. The reading will cycle through TO, OFF, FROM, and OFF and then back to TO again.

While it's reading TO and starting to move toward the center, release the button and then clickslowly to bring the indicator needle to the exact center of the instrument. When it's centered, thetop window reads out the radial you are on at the moment. The bottom window reads out the

reciprocal, or 180-degree opposite, radial.

Note your compass heading. Does your magnetic heading agree with the radial you're on?

Almost invariably, it won't. What you want to do now is get onand stay onthe radial

indicated in the top window of the OBI. You'll do that by turning to the compass heading that

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agrees with the radial readout. That radial will take you straight to IKK. Say, for example, your

present magnetic heading, as read on your compass, is 038. And the radial readout from

Kankakee VOR, with the OBI needle centered, is 033. Immediately after you unpause, you'llstart a turn to a heading of 033, to fly the radial.

If you're only a few degrees off, as in the example above, use your rudder to yaw the nosearound. If you're far off, use a regular aileron turn to get on the heading you want. Either way,

don't use the numbers in my example; use the numbers on your instrument panel. You're flying

the airplane, not me.

One more bit of advice: When considering the quickest way to get on the new heading you want,

you'll usually turn right to get to a higher number, left to get to a lower number. If you're heading038, as in the example above, you'll turn (or yaw, if you use the rudder) left to 033.

Unpause now, and get on the indicated radial to IKK.

When you're on it, pause the simulation and save your situation to RAM. Use the title VOR TOIKK 22/C. This is an economic way of saying that the situation has you on a VOR radialinbound to IKK for a landing on Runway 22.

If you're continuing, go to the next chapter. If not, save RAM to disk as before. We'll come backto precisely this point in the next chapter, whenever you're ready.

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Chapter 4

ON THE MONEY

I mentioned earlier that some parameters are not saved when you save a situation to RAM or

save RAM to disk. The fact that your engine is shut off isn't savednor is your carb heat setting.

In addition, the program doesn't remember to which frequencies you set your NAVs or yourCOM radio or which radial you cranked in on your OBI.

Thus, when you recall a situation such as the present one, where you are en route to adestination, you have to checkbefore you start flyingthat carb heat is on or off, as

applicable. You must also retune your radios and select your OBI course again.

If you've just booted, recall the situation titled VOR TO IKK 22/C, and then retune your COM

radio to the Kankakee tower frequency, 123.00. While the tower message is on screen, note that

the wind direction and velocity were, happily, part of the save.

Next, retune NAV 1 to 111.60, and then adjust the selector knob (V) on OBI 1 to center theneedle. I have no way of knowing which radial appears in your OBI window now that the needleis centered. It is likely to be somewhere in the low 30s. Normally, you'd go ahead and fly

whatever radial is indicated. But for this instruction, adjust the selector knob for a reading of 033

in the upper display of the OBI.

If you weren't already on 033, the needle moves away from center to the left or right.

Finally, check that carb heat is off.

Ideally, you should now be in the same configuration that you were in at the end of the last

chapter, but this isn't always the case. The simulator often does strange things with altitude whenyou recall a situation. When I saved my own VOR TO IKK 22/C last night, my altitude was

about 2280 feet. When I rebooted this morning, my altitude was 1500 feet. The moral is: Checkyour altitude as well as other critical parameters when you recall an in-flight situation, and

correct any simulator errors that you discover. Otherwise, the aircraft will not perform as you

expect. In fact, you can often trace oddities of performance to such conditions as carb heat oraltitude. When carb heat is onas it is in slow-flight and on landing approachesengine rpm is

significantly lower than when the heat is off. So, for example, if you make a landing (carb heat

on) and then switch to a previously saved in-flight situation where you were straight and level at

about 3500 feet and at cruising airspeed, you'll find yourself in an inappropriate descent, and thewhole flight will go awry. The cure for such a situation is to pause, recall the situation, turn off

the carb heat, and then start flying again.

To correct simulator altitude errors, you have to open the NAV window. Follow along now,

whether or not your altitude is about where it should be (2300 feet), so that you'll learn how to

correct these errors when you need to.

Click on NAV in the menu bar, and then highlight and click on POSITION SETto open the

window of the same name. Now, click on the box next to ALT under AIRCRAFT, type

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2300.0000, and press RETURN. While you're in this window, check ALT under TOWER. You

may recall setting this to 660.0000 before you were on the ramp at IKK. This morning my

reading is 42.8736, so the tower must have crumbled and fallen in a heap overnight. If yourtower ALT is wrong, reset it to 660.0000, and then press RETURN. If the ALT figures now look

okay, close the window.

Before you unpause and start flying VOR TO IKK, read through this short discussion:

In the present situation, you are flying on R033 (or radial 033) toward the VOR station at Greater

Kankakee Airport. You are going to do what we call fly the needle. Flying the needle meanskeeping the OBI needle centered on, in this case, your OBI 1. The center of the instrument,

where the little circle is, represents your Cessna 182. The needle represents R033, because you

selected that radial. You can read out the radial you selected on the window at the top of the

OBI. It reads 033. Flying the needle also means, specifically, turning toward the needle when itis off center. If the needle drifts to the right of center, turn or yaw (use the rudder to rotate the

aircraft's nose) to the right and fly until the needle moves to center again. Conversely, if the

needle drifts to the left, turn or yaw left to center it. The needle itself does not movethat is, theradial represented by the needle doesn't move. You fly toward the radial, get to its center, and

then correct again to fly straight along it, as if along a wheel spoke toward the hub.

Unpause now and start flying the needle.

When the needle stays at center, naturally, you merely flyno turning or yawing needed. (Using

rudder to yaw the aircraft is the best way to make minor heading corrections. Once you're on

R033, rudder should be all you need to stay on it.)

Don't fix your eyes on the OBI needle. Don't fix your eyes on anything as you fly. Instead, scan

your primary instruments on the left side of your panel.

Your airspeed indicator will read about 133 KIAS (the needle covering the 0 of the 140

marking), which is the best all-around cruising speed for your present altitude.

In the Amiga version, the artificial horizon to the right of the altimeter tells you very little unlessits craziness has been corrected by the time you read this. The indicator is missing not only

markings, but the whole point of an artificial horizon, which is to provide a synthetic horizon that

exactly depicts your aircraft's attitude in relation to the real horizon.

Your altimeter should read about 2300. If not, correct it by changing your power setting.

The VSI, directly below the altimeter, should show a zero rate of climb unless you're in theprocess of correcting altitude.

True the directional gyro, which is left of the VSI, so that it agrees with your compass reading.

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The turn-and-bank indicator, left of the DG, will show no bank unless you're using aileron to

correct your heading.

Check the OBI again to track radial 033. How are you doing?

You should scan the instruments in the order described above. Begin with the airspeed indicator,work right to the altimeter, drop down to the VSI, and then work left to the turn coordinator.

Scan the world outside the aircraft too. You'll be watching for IKK to show up somewhere out

there. How far out there? The answer to that is on your instrument panel too. Find the DME (or

Distance Measuring Equipment) reading on the right side of your panel. When you're tuned to aVOR station, as you are now tuned to Kankakee VOR, the DME tells you how far you are from

that station in nautical miles (nm). Isn't that handy?

If all's well, you'll see (except on the monochrome Mac) blue on the landscape ahead. That's theKankakee River.

When your DME shows that you are 8 nm from Kankakee, pause the simulation. If you'realready closer in than that, pause anyway.

IKK should be approximately straight ahead of you and visible on your screen. It's to the right of

the highway, Interstate 57, and on this side of the river.

I'll show you a little trick for spotting runways at a distance, while they're still not too well

defined on the screen. Set the zoom factor to 2.00. It's like using binoculars. Now, you can seethat the black shape on the horizon couldn't be anything but an airport. You can even make out

the taxiways between the strips (runways).

Reset the zoom factor to 1.00.

As soon as you have your destination airport in sight, make the transition from cruise

configuration to slowflight configuration. You want to slow down the aircraftin the Cessnafrom 133 knots to about 100 knots. At slower airspeed youand the folks in the towercan

better cope with traffic conditions, and you'll have more time to think and g