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Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:33 am
by silentpilot
Hi.

I am hearing impaired, profoundly deaf. But I love to fly and I guess the flight simulation is the closest I can fly 737 without FAA license.

The question is if anyone here know where I can get add or or instruction to turn on what you might call tracking arrow. An arrow or line where you see out front to follow after to your designation?

For example, if I want to fly from Denver to Los Angeles, I could fly my plane and follow an arrow or faded line to Los Angeles and land on right runway.  Of course I won't hear ATC telling which runway number land on. :-)

Happy Flying,
Erik Diamond

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:10 am
by commoner
Hi S-P...welcome to our world ;D ....go to the "Learning Centre" and click the Navigation Section...there you will find another section on "Using the Visual Flight Path..this is maybe what you are looking for.........The GPS will also give you a "line" to fly by from one airfield to another and you will also find a section on using that fine aid to navigation......Also look in Settings ..AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL and you can select to Show ATC Text, so no excuses for using the wrong runways  ;)

Anything else or anything not clear then just post again..lots of great guys here wanting to help...happy flying..Commoner... ;)

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:09 pm
by silentpilot
Learning center within FS2004 software?

Erik

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:49 pm
by commoner
Yes ..all that stuff is in the Sim...from the selection screen....commoner..you must have seen that screen eh Erik? ;)

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:49 pm
by RollerBall
hi silentpilot, welcome to SimV.

Don't worry, you will not be disadvantaged at all by your problem. You will just have to learn to fly IFR or VFR using your navaids.

Go to the learning centre and learn how to use the flight planner. This couples to the GPS and you can then fly the route automatically or follow the line on the GPS manually.

But you will have to monitor the visual ATC messages to get the most satisfaction.

This will be challenging but far from impossible - but surely that's part of the fun.

Good luck - don't be afraid to ask if you have ANY problems  ;)

PS

After the GPS you'll be ready to learn about VORs but leave those until you've got the principles sorted. Also NDBs (ADF) which you don't need to bother too much about at this stage as they are only for short-range use, when you can see the field visually in most cases.

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:04 pm
by silentpilot
Great guys, thanks! I will practice, practice, and practice.

Erik

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:17 pm
by MattNW
In addition. If you forget the last thing ATC has said or miss the text in the ATC window you can pull up the kneeboard and click on the ATC button (the one with the picture of a headset) and the ATC instructions for your entire flight will be written there.

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:18 pm
by beaky
Hi silentpilot- commoner's right (as usual); there's tutorial info. there that will explain a lot about tools like the Visual Flight Path. But if you feel maybe that the Visual Flight Path is a bit like cheating, when you create a flight, use the software to make a flight plan from one airport to another (it's very simple). Once you do that,and start flying that flight plan, any time you click on "Map" while flying, you'll see that line, and your airplane in relation to it, on the map. In real life, that's exactly what a pilot has on  the simplest VFR flight: a map with a line drawn on it (of course, in real life, the pilot has to look around and compare the view with the map; you could eventually get the hang of doing it that way). Of course, if you're flying big jets, you should be on an IFR flight plan and be using any number of navaids like VORs and GPS- they'll point the way also. AND... planes like the 737 have a Flight Director which, once you tell it where you want to go, will show a little arrow on the panel's display if you need to turn to stay on course (I'm assuming you don't want to use the autopilot?). And yes, don't forget that all radio communication can be shown as text, so you'll easily be able to talk to and listen to ATC (you get multiple choices for replies, in text form).  Good luck! :)

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:56 pm
by silentpilot
Cool. Thank guys.

I can see that in my sims., starting to play with it.  Not bad.

Its sort of having a 'closed caption for the hearing impaired" on the screen, LOL

Erik

Re: Flight guide arrow?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:27 am
by beaky
Cool. Thank guys.

I can see that in my sims., starting to play with it.  Not bad.

Its sort of having a 'closed caption for the hearing impaired" on the screen, LOL

Erik


Excellent! You can resize or move that box, too, so it's not always in the way. With that, the only thing missing for you is the same thing I miss- being able to use "the seat of your pants" to tell what the airplane is doing. Having more time flying RL aircraft than sim aircraft, I find myself at a disadvantage without that very sensitive and reliable instrument...maybe I can get a force-feedback chair... :D
Anyway, have fun, and don't hesitate to come here for help. There are many very knowledgable simmers haunting these threads.