Is there a desire to have a HUD for any plane?

[MarkRWatney]

I made a post in the SimConnect forum and it hasn’t had any responses. So, I will ask my questions here, too.

Is there a need by the users to have a HUD that can be used in any airplane? Basic takeoff and landing information. Nothing more, nothing less.

I made another Flight Information program and it became bloatware. My bad.

Is it worth my time creating this tool?

Below is a screen print of what I have put together so far (TBM-930 dash):

Fields of Information:
Heading Bug
Gear Up/Down
IAS
TRQ% or RPM or N1%
Radio Altimeter (The difference between the plane and the ground)
Flap Degrees
Elevator Trim

Yes, this will be free-ware. But it will take about 20 to 80 hours of my time. I am working at getting SimConnect procedure calls prototyped using the PureBasic language and this will take me longer. But in the long run, more PureBasic developers could start using PureBasic and SimConnect together. It’s a great multi-platform (Win/Mac/Lin) desktop programming language!

[MarkRWatney]

I’ve been talking via email with “The Corporate Pilot Dad”, learning more about what HUD displays have on them. He pointed me towards this “Liner and Fighter” webpage to understand more what HUDs in airplanes do and how they are used.

Look at Tim Morgans comments at the top: What do all the symbols and markings on aircraft HUD screens mean? - Quora

In the meantime, I played around with being able to draw text and lines in my testing program and had good success. So, PB is capable of drawing lines and symbols similar to what a hud has on it.

Now gathering the data from Simconnect, and being able to modify the line placements of the watermark, FPM, steering cue, yada, yada, yada, in real-time, is a whole other story. I would have to dig through the SimConnect variables to see if everything is there or can be calculated. Having all the symbology of a 737NG would be a “very big project” undertaking.

I know that the sim can pass me data at about 15ms bandwidth (about 66Hz), but I do not know how moving lines around on the HUD would look. I would need to try experimenting with that, using a timer and a random line generator that could emulate how smoothly moving lines, at 15ms would look.

Thoughts? Can it be done, or it has been tried and failed by others using this sim or a different sim?

[ArcanePython931]

Don’t like the first two images. Even more blocking the view. The bottom one shows in interesting option, looking sideways while keeping important data in view. I’d like a tourist mode too: what about a configurable HUD-like front view without a cockpit and dashboard select the instruments and minify them (?)

You’re talking real life HUD’s. Headup displays, in a helmet. You’d need a separate glass rendering… I feel it’s not realistic for any aircraft. It depends on facilities for specific, very modern aircraft. You won’t find real life HUD’s for use in a propellor airplane I suppose… Military airplane from the 50’s until now… The first civil application of the technology was introduced in 1993 by Boeing.

[MarkRWatney]

Ummm… The third/bottom image is from the cockpit of a real-life Boeing 737NG.

Actually, HUD are in some of the larger airliners and some large jets (Gulfstream 550) plus fighters.

If you don’t like either the first or second image, then that’s cool! That will be what the end result will kind of look like. Thanks for the extensive reply though.