There’s always PilotEdge, but I’m not serious enough yet to spend (I think it’s $30+/month for the full package). The coverage is “only” the western half of the continental US, but they do have guaranteed hours. I’m not quite sure how that works out, but I may eventually head that way. It seems like a great product though!
Thought I was going to fly tonight but this week was just too exhausting at work. I need a “no computer night” tonight. I was looking forward to flying all day, but…ugh.
Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll feel better and get up before my wife so I can fly some.
Sure coverage is guaranteed but there is far, far less people using PilotEdge than VATSIM. You also talk to the same controllers a whole lot. Both of these nullifies the advantage PilotEdge holds. While I’ve tried PilotEdge before VATSIM has been my network of choice for the past 12 years. Heck, for the past few years I’ve flown a whole lot in ZLA on VATSIM, it’s easily my top ARTCC flown in on the network.
I’m trying to use a 3rd Party livery with the Islander right now. It is a private livery, and I was hoping ATC would use my registration number. So I left atc_airline and atc_flight_number blank in aircraft.cfg. Also, in MSFS 2020 I did not add a Call Sign or Flight Number. But when I spawned, ATC started calling me “Black Box Flight 21”.
Any way to turn off “Black Box Flight 21” on generic liveries that should be called by their registration number by ATC? It does no appear in the aircraft.cfg for the livery, so where is it coming from, and how do I turn it off? I purchased the Islander through the Market Place.
If these details are empty in the custom livery then it will use the atc id from the main aircraft cfg file I believe. Instead of leaving the details blank in the custom livery cfg, why not just add them in there?
I have atc_id with the registration number, and atc_id_enabled, and left atc_airline and atc_flight_number blank. Here it is below. As it is below, I’m getting called Black Box 21 by ATC…
[fltsim.0]
title=“Britten Norman Islander BN2 G-BCEN”
model=“gbcen”
panel=""
sound=""
texture=“gbcen”
kb_checklists =""
kb_reference =""
description=“The Islander was produced to meet the specific needs of the air taxi companies and the third level and commuter airlines or, indeed, any operator requiring an economical and efficient aircraft with excellent payload capacity over relatively short distances. Detailed analysis of air taxi and third-level airline operations shows that the majority of flights are of 50 to 300 miles. The fundamental design philosophy of the Islander is to bring a new low level of operating cost and the high level of profit”
wip_indicator =1
ui_manufacturer =“Britten Norman”
ui_type =“BN2 Islander”
ui_variation =“G-BCEN”
ui_typerole =“Twin Engine Prop”
ui_createdby =“Paul Fox”
ui_thumbnailfile =""
ui_certified_ceiling =16500
ui_max_range = 800
ui_autonomy =8.5
ui_fuel_burn_rate =-1
atc_id =“G-BCEN”
atc_id_enable =1
atc_airline =""
atc_flight_number =""
atc_heavy =0
atc_parking_types =“ANY”
atc_parking_codes =""
atc_id_color =“0x00000000”
atc_id_font =""
isAirTraffic =0
isUserSelectable =1
icao_airline=""
It’s a private livery, so I don’t want to be called by an airline name or flight number. Anything else I can do?
Thanks!
P.S. I have the Market Place version, which I’m now thinking was a mistake. I think I’m going to have to buy the Islander directly from Black Box so I can perform some surgery Black Box is not an airline that I’m aware of, and it makes me feel like I’m playing a game when I hear it…lol And the whole point of flight simulators is suspension of disbelief, not a reminder you’re playing a game.
A great way to get started is to fly around the area you’re familiar with and just broadcast on Unicom, which is 122.8 on VATSIM. Make position reports, call out your downwind, base, final, call clear of the runway. There will be other pilots around most likely and it gets you into using the radio in a lower stress environment. I fly on Unicom all the time.
Given the VOR heads, the only thing that throws me on the Islander, is flying a DME arc. What would be the best practice, I wonder? I do have a workaround on the Streamdeck, which let’s me put a VOR on the beam but I would love to see how it should be tackled in the aircraft itself. ( I imagine that box 3 comes into play here, but…)
Ok, @Hester40MT this is about the BN2. I hope I don’t get spanked for violating another rule. OH …wait. Hold that thought.
Hey Islander fans! (NOT BRITTEN-NORMAN TRISLANDER FANS) - here’s a relatively short video of me trying to get comfortable with the BN2 again (is it BN-2?) out here in Hawai’i. This is a flight of me going from my “home” airport of PHNG over here on Oʻahu over to PHMK on Molokaʻi. (just under 43 min from start to finish)
Do I fly according to the POH? No, not yet. Is my approach (RNAV lol) and arrival out of spec? Absolutely. Just wanted to show off the beautiful islands out here. Apologies for the first 3/4 of it being just in cockpit view. I used to have some view controls set up on an old joystick until I figured out that it was causing my weird elevator input “bobbing.” Yeah… you gotta unplug it to avoid conflicts with other stuff. Oh, and that’s why that little input monitor is displayed for most of the flight. I was looking for weird spikes and stuff. Didn’t see any!
I’ve since grabbed a BN2 POH (as well as one for the old-timey Bendix / King KAP-140 Autopilot) and I am trying to sharpen up my skills. I know some folks enjoy critiquing flights posted on YT, so …comment away!
Apologies for only remember to start the recording AFTER I started my taxi. lol. I’m still figuring out the whole recording / YT thing, but expect me to bombard the community with useless stuff I enjoy. I also need to figure out how to speed up the cruise portion of the flight. That’s just boring I think I’ll have to use an external editor for that and then upload it to YT.
I’d love to see the TDS GTNxi 750 included as an option in this. It’s no longer dealing with PMS and a modded version of the 750 as the TDS one uses the Garmin Trainer and is fully functional.
Black Box is not an airline that I’m aware of, and it makes me feel like I’m playing a game when I hear it…lol And the whole point of flight simulators is suspension of disbelief, not a reminder you’re playing a game.
I think I’ll have to use an external editor for that and then upload it to YT.