On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 11:15:34 +1000, Don Ingram wrote:
Sims are cheap to set up
Details please
my pottering around for the appropriate computer grunt and speed, high end video card, virtual reality headset and a realistic software set up suggested to me this was far from cheap.
Particularly to get control response, controls feedback and more vision than single screen ahead view.
You indeed get what you pay for, no disputing that...
I should have qualified my earlier posting, my intent was closer to Mikes cardboard cut-out than to John Dunkley's 747.
When I returned to gliding a few years ago after a 20 yr hiatus ( currently out again due to work commitments ) I ran SFS on a 700Mhz no-name compact Celeron PC with only minimal 3D acceleration and a M$ force feedback joystick. At times the system would freeze while it loaded a new area of landscape. Not perfect but served the purpose.
One particular hazard which does arise from this simple single screen system however is not reinforcing the need to 'clear' turns. Still better than nothing at all.
I wouldn't recommend it as a way of learning to 'fly a glider' but it did allow me to re-hash a wide range of procedures including launch, cable breaks, lookout, thermal centering, task planning, navigation, circuit planning AND ensuring the U/C is down & locked prior to touch down ;-) The benefit is that the basic information gets 'programmed' in a low stress environment where there are multiple opportunities to mess up & repeat until it is correct, without the cost or damage.
The other advantage here is that multiple students can look on at one instructor while playing out various scenarios. This leverages the instructors time and exposes students to a wider range of issues while enhancing the overall social aspect of the club training environment. This activity particularly can take place when the day is not flyable, eg. before lift, after dark and on rained out days.
Consequently, in my case as a result of the sim, the time spent at the gliding field allowed maximum return for the 10hr round trip in getting there. Actions taken in the cockpit were well reasoned and positive as a result of prior practice and experience gained from 'low cost' failures. In short it was a brief trip from the Blanik back to the Astir and unfortunately a briefer trip into another full on contract which again precluded flying.
$1500 or so buys a fair bit of raw no-name grunt in a PC and LCD monitors are falling rapidly in price so putting together a multi screen windoze box is not a major undertaking. Three screens would give 'reasonable' coverage but I suspect this would start to require some graphics grunt to keep fed.
I am in the process of upgrading the workshop & assembling a basic 3 screen system for CAD work using an AMD64 system with PCIex graphics cards & LCD's so I guess I'll find out soon enough about the level of performance with the current gliding sims on generic hardware.
OLEDS & Microdisplays have been the 'next big thing' for a while and are finally approaching the point where they get out of the stratosphere and appear on consumer DVD's and the like within 18 months. Jaycar currently have LCD TV goggles for $400 but the graphics are very average thru these, on top of this you would still have to implement head tracking. A reasonably priced head mounted display with head tracking is getting tantalizingly close & at an affordable price to cater to the massive games market, consisting of male adolescents spending lots of time wandering about with lots of guns wanting to kill stuff.
The type of full on aircraft simulation system mentioned by Anthony is optimal but my primary concern is simply to get a common system which both individuals and clubs can afford. It may then be possible to build a simple training syllabus around this to allow for a take-home component to assist with the more mundane but necessary parts of training.
Getting a critical mass in terms of system usage would permit working with the simulator program designer would allow the generation of additional flight analysis features to report on more aspects of the flight such a frequency and severity of control inputs.
Well heeled clubs or commercial training organisations may indeed wish to pursue the full simulator ( I'd love one! ) but this goes beyond the intent of my original posting, which was to put together something that is capable of wide spread usage.
Taking data from an actual flight and playing it back thru the sim is another possibility which would allow better analysis for training purposes. This requires further bits to be fitted to the aircraft & is to be the subject of later posting.
I see this as particularly useful when pilots get to the single seater stage as there is no longer an instructor close at hand to analyse performance and offer useful criticism. Perhaps the online gaming facility with "Sailors of the Sky" & soon SFS may provide an avenue for useful structured training in cross country scenarios. This may provide a thin alternative to the advice available to students from the gun pilots in larger clubs. Again, not a substitute but perhaps better than nothing at all.
I do admit that the systems suggested above are nowhere near functional as an aircraft substitute but they support activities which are definitely more fun than sitting on the flight line, bored stupid, thinking about taking up golf or bungee jumping or mowing...
Cheers
Don _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
