Hi All,
I've been using FlightGear for about 5 months now and as a Software Engineer, I
was interested in how it all worked. Also, during this time I noticed that some
of the aircraft are not full implemented.
I was unsure whether I could actually make a difference but it appears that I
have been able to add functionality to the 737 autopilot that was documented as
needing to be done.
What I’ve done is:
1. Altered
the autopilot panel so it is slightly smaller and slightly to the left so it
fits the autopilot enable and autopilot disable buttons.
2. Altered
the weather-radar.rgb graphic so it is slightly smaller and moved slightly left
so I could fit more of the auotpilot panel in.
3. Implemented
the Vertical Speed Hold button. Added code to 747-autopilotV4.xml and altered
autopilot-panel.xml
4. Altered
the 737-set.xml file. Changed the initial target-speed-kt for the autothrottle
to read 175 which I think is approx. V2+15. Added a setting for initial mach
number (0.67) Before, everytime you switched to mach, it read 0.00 so the
throttles would go to idle. Now it reads 0.67 initially which is the maximum
speed from FL180 to FL240 which is the time to switch to mach mode (I'm lead to
believe).
IMPORTANT NOTE: These changes have been made to version 1.65 NOT 2.00 which is
the latest. However, I downloaded the latest 2.0 version 737 files and I
believe the autopilot files to be identical. So I hope the work I've done has
been worth it. I found the latest release of the Concorde for version 2.0 had major
problems compared to 1.65 that made it an unpleasant experience. And as the
Concorde is my favorite, I'm going to stick with the 1.65 version until I've
got another computer up and running, then put 2.0 it on that and see how it
goes.
What I’d like to ask now is:
- How I can contribute
on a more formal basis.
- Who do I need to
talk to about these changes?
- On an unrelated
topic, has anyone flown the new Concorde 2.0 version? I believe this
version to be far inferior to the 1.65 version. (eg. Vert-Speed
doesn’t work).
- Is there any other information
I can read on how everything works? My Software Engineering
background has allowed me to understand enough to make a some alterations
but some of the config values (Kp, beta, alpha etc.) I do not understand
enough of what they mean.
- Do I need to have a
Unix based machine to do development or can everything be achieved on a
Windows Xp based machine?
I hope I have been able to do something useful for you guys. I’m
between jobs at the moment so I have a bit of time on my hands which I’d
love put towards FlightGear as I’ve become quite addicted to flying. I
look forward to hearing from you.
P.S. Apologies if I’ve forgotten to document something that
you need to know. Let me know and I will supply any information you need.
