After getting tired of always manually adjusting the camera settings, I’m in the process of setting up custom default cockpit views for all of the aircraft I fly on a regular basis. I know how to do it, so I don’t need any help in that regard. What I’m looking for help on, is determining what the most “realistic” default view for certain aircraft is.
Does anyone know of any resource that provides pictures, or videos, etc…of Pilot POV in different aircraft cockpits? I know I can I look on YouTube obviously…but usually the camera’s are set above or to the side of the pilots actual view.
The general rule of thumb in real life is approx. 50%-50% split of your field of view between primary flight instruments and outside world. The reason is that you should not be drawn towards one or the other when you are doing your regular scans and should keep balanced focus.
You should adjust your seat front-back and height accordingly.
Some aircraft (like the A320 in the sim) have three balls in the vertical column between the two windows - you should adjust seat height so that all three balls are in line.
Personally I have set three custom views in every aircraft I regularly fly - Normal view as described above, overhead (where applicable) and focus-down on instruments & FMC. I have assigned those to controller buttons for quick move from one to the other.
@FakeWayne8
IRL you simply want to achieve a useful cutoff angle (the angle between the horizontal and the point you can see runway over the nose of the aircraft) which should be at least 10deg if possible, but the view to important instruments shouldn’t be blocked.
Most flightsim aircraft have there POV way too low. This often results in way too high approach speeds because people can’t see the runway otherwise during the approach, let alone during the flare.
I’m using a ~30% zoomed view to achieve the correct sensation of speed (and a nice peripheral vision during the flare)
This has the additional advantage that I can keep all important instruments in view without the need to turn my head.
These are e.g. the numbers I’m using for the TBM in the cameras.cfg.
Thanks for this advice. I’m not a pilot IRL, so I don’t have any experience of actually sitting in a cockpit. But one of the first things that seemed “off” to me, was the zoom. I think the default was set to 50%? I’ve since set mine to 35 and find this much more comfortable peripherally.
As for the height…I would agree. Most of the aircraft I’ve flown seem to have their default POV set far too low. I’ve adjusted them to be more comfortable to me, allowing what I think would be a more realistic view of the nose / runway. Whether or not I have it actually set “true to life” is another thing. But I can certainly fine tune using your 10deg advice.
For this is it would be necessary that the 3D cockpit is a 100% perfect replica of the real aircraft.
Since not even the glareshield panel has the correct shape in the sim, I wouldn’t rely on that
Interestingly IRL many pilots don’t care about this indicator.
