Pilotedge: a new online network, beta has started

[Keith Smith]

Hi everyone,

I'm launching a new venture called Pilotedge. It's an online network that allows you to hook up your sim to network of online controllers and other pilots.  Other networks exist already, as many of you know, but this one does have some key differences.

This network is the first of its kind to offer guaranteed ATC coverage and quality during its daily operating hours, and is specifically aimed at real world pilots and discerning sim pilots.

All of the details are covered on the site, but very briefly, here are the highlights:

- real world frequency usage. If you're at a towered airport, you can dial the DEL/GND/TWR frequency and talk to ATC, regardless of the staffing configuration at the time.  You will only hear other pilots on that same frequency, even if a single controller is handling multiple airports.

- events scheduled daily

- designed to be used at home as well as in commercial environments (flight schools, sim centers, etc)

- high fidelity multiplayer architecture sends updates 5 times per second, includes control surface deflections and light settings.  This allows you to do formation flying and watch takeoffs and landings with accurate movement (similar to NetFlight in that regard)

- guaranteed ATC presence and quality during published operating hours (5hrs/day during beta, 15hrs/day once we're live)

- limited coverage area, California, Reno, Las Vegas. This is a good thing, results in higher traffic density

- no text.  VOICE CTAF (non-towered airports of if tower is closed) on the published frequencies, practice those non-towered operations.  Radio is range-limited based on altitude of transmitter/receiver

- automated VFR traffic (200+ airplanes) fly around 24/7, providing nice level of background traffic, seen by all pilots and ATC (so you'll hear about them from ATC if you get flight following or are IFR).

The network will eventually be subscription-based, but is available at no charge during beta testing.  EDIT: A frequent flier program has been implemented to allow qualifying pilots who fly at least a certain number of hours per month to fly for free.

Again, the network is aimed primarily at real world pilots, but we certainly welcome simulator enthusiasts who are comfortable with basic procedures and can interact with ATC.

VATSIM's ZLA Pilot Cert program will also be available on this network, allowing simulator pilots with some basic knowledge to take their flying to the next level in a structured online training environment with no written tests, but lots of practical online flying!

The beta is actually launching today, with ATC coverage starting up at 4pm pst each day and winding down at 9pm. The software is available for X-Plane 9.41+ and is Windows only for the short term. Mac build is coming next, with FS9/X support coming soon, too.

The focus airports are listed on the Beta page for today, but I'll be moving them to the home page in the near future, too.

This network is not necessarily for everyone. If the prospect of needing to review charts, worry about the airspace that you're in, or complying with ATC instructions is not interesting/fun/enjoyable, then it's likely that this is not a good fit for you.  For simple multiplayer flying, there are other (free) solutions that work perfectly fine.  This network is for those who are trying to replicate a real world experience either because they enjoy it, or because they're a real world pilot who is training, or otherwise maintaining their proficiency.

Any questions, feel free to ask here, but I would encourage you to read through the site first, I've tried to answer as many questions as possible in the FAQ's, and have provided detailed information about what we're trying to build, and what it can be used for.

Keith

[Cameron]

Hi, Keith,

Welcome aboard. Sounds like a very ambitious project, and if it works out, much better than Vatsim! It'll be interesting to watch this develop!

On behalf of myself and the other mods here, welcome to X-Pilot!

[Keith Smith]

Thanks Cameron, I appreciate the warm welcome and the opportunity to spread the word about it.  We're incredibly excited about it and feel strongly that it can make a difference for pilots of all types.

I wouldn't say it's better than VATSIM in all regards...but for the specific markets that it was designed for, I think it is the first of its kind. 

The system was actually demonstrated at the 2010 AOPA Summit in Long Beach, CA, running on top of Precision Flight Control's MFD system (5x52" screens, 8 machines, motion, full panel, real Garmin 430W, the list goes on).  People were completely and utterly blown away.

The commercial interest in this is already very real, and very significant.  Part of their interest, however, is predicated on the fact that there are lots of other planes flying around. We need a mix of traffic (heavy metal, bizjets and GA). I suspect the r/w pilots will bring the bulk of the GA traffic, while the discerning sim pilots that we're trying to reach will help with the heavy metal and bizjet/turboprop variety of traffic.

Lastly, as things settle down, I'd be interested in helping promote some of the high quality payware manufacturers, too.

[Cameron]

Hi, Keith,

I've heard a bit about this over time in various places. Mike told me about how things ran in LGB, and it sounded like a good running gig.

People traditionally fly VATSIM in the SFOLAX "arena" most of the time simply due to the controlled airspace, and I can see people paying into something like this if controllers are promised at all times. I'm sure it'll take off in the manner you're looking for it to, but I'm also hoping it extends a little beyond that and becomes a welcome alternative to said free networks (cost or not).

I'll definitely check in from time to time to see how things progress!

[RealScenery]

Hi Keith,

Congratulations on this new ATC system. This should be great for real pilots or serious simmers! I spent a lot of time on the site and also the forums. Nice to see that there are a lot of forum posts already considered this is the opening day of beta! Best of luck getting this going. Looks like you're off to a great start!

For those interested, I've posted links to some of the videos that are on the PilotEdge forums. They are fun to watch and give a good overview of what the environment is like.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Here is another video of PilotEdge in the Precision Flight Controls booth at the AOPA Summit in Long Beach, CA.

[MaidenFan]

Cool man. You might have me sold!!

[Jack Skieczius]

This is very interesting. I have always toyed with the idea myself for what if we had a payed VATsim type system. So i will definitely be watching this one.

[Keith Smith]

Great to hear.  Don't just watch, though, come fly

[Dhruv]

Here is another video of PilotEdge in the Precision Flight Controls booth at the AOPA Summit in Long Beach, CA.

Oh lord you had to dig that out! For those of you who didn't make the connection based on the captions, that's yours truly in the left seat of the Baron sim.

[steven winslow]

Please hurry with the Mac capability!  Watched the videos and would love to join in.

[Keith Smith]

I have an appointment at the Apple Store today, going to pick up a dev box.  This will also serve as a slave machine for master/slave testing.  There are still some issues, apparently, in multi-machine configurations.

I'll also be adjusting the squelch level in the voice code down to 0, since we're using PTT.  Apparently some of the controllers' transmissions are cutting in and out because of the default squelch level in the voice library. It's configured for hands-free use by default, but since we're using PTT, we can remove the concept of squelch altogether.

Looking forward to another crack at it tonight. It's definitely more interesting with more pilots, though, so if you can make it, please do.  The focus airports have changed (and will do so on a daily basis), check the beta page for info.

[Jack Skieczius]

Ok Keith, you have sold me. i just installed the plugin and hopefully will be online tonight to check out Pilotedge. Looking forward to seeing how it works.

[Keith Smith]

Ok Keith, you have sold me. i just installed the plugin and hopefully will be online tonight to check out Pilotedge. Looking forward to seeing how it works.

Great to hear, see you tonight. If you have any problem, use the contact feature on the site, I will monitor my email while controlling.

Leaving mall with macbook pro now.

[Keith Smith]

Apologies for posting so much here, but in case there are people who know each other, feel free to jump on the network outside of beta hours, too...the server itself is up 24x7.  The voice CTAF works at all times, just like a normal radio.  Show up at a field with a buddy, dial the published CTAF and make the calls on the radio.  Ask him to turn his landing light on/off and you'll see the change reflected immediately.

I should also point out, if you're a VATSIM pilot and you have an extensive CSL library, feel free to make use of it with Pilotedge...the underlying rendering system for the planes is the same, and uses those same CSL files.  Have a look inside "VSPro Resources" and you'll see a structure that looks very similar to what you're used to from XSB.  I did dial down the lights a little bit, though...they were far too bright/big in XSB.

[Jack Skieczius]

Tonight was great on Pilotedge, did some formation flying with like 5 other guys. lots of fun.

[Keith Smith]

Mac client should be ready in a day or two, too.

[YYZatcboy]

Good to know. Thanks Keith.

[Jack Skieczius]

Wooo Hoooo!

alright, that was faster then i had thought. Grats

[Keith Smith]

We're resuming our 3 day/wk beta program this Wednesday, with a spotlight on the Santa Barbara and Chino airports.  Pilots are encouraged to fly SBA-CNO (or vice versa) between 5pm and 9pm PST.

Pistons should file KWANG CMA VNY V186 PDZ @ 5k.

Turboprops/jets should file HENER FIM V186 V264 POM V197 PDZ @ 11k.

Enroute charts and approach plates are available at skyvector.com (awesome site if you've never used it).

If any pilots are interested in trying this but are a little hesitant about working with ATC, feel free post any questions you have here, I'm happy to help. A simple alternative would be to fly from SBA to CNO under VFR, too, giving you more leeway with routing and altitudes.

There are a gaggle of F/A-18's that depart out of Pt Magu (NTD) every 30 mins or so (6 of them, in fact), if you're lucky, you'll catch a view of them if you're hugging the coast under VFR!  Those Hornets depart in spectacular fashion, it's worth seeing!  Their arrival back at NTD is equally exciting, too.

[Keith Smith]

The Mac client has just been made available for download.

[Keith Smith]

Tonight's focus route is KSEE (where we left off after the last focus flight) to KCMA.  IFR routes for the flight are posted on the front page of http://pilotedge.net.  Suggested start time for the focus route is 0300z (7pm pst).

If you're thinking of trying it, please feel free to join in. If IFR isn't your thing, you are absolutely welcome to go VFR....all traffic is welcome.

[samen]

Hey Keith, I tried Pilot Edge and I have to say that it is wonderful. Although I hope we might get some heavy drones now and then. Other than that its wonderful. Are you planning to implement a Text based communications system in the future?

[Keith Smith]

Hey Keith, I tried Pilot Edge and I have to say that it is wonderful. Although I hope we might get some heavy drones now and then. Other than that its wonderful. Are you planning to implement a Text based communications system in the future?

Glad you liked it.  Text based communications will not be supported on the network, this is an intentional choice and part of the design.

Heavy drones are tricky, unless we're talking about short VFR ferry flights in C17's out of military fields, perhaps. I'm not looking to have large streams of heavy drones in and out of LAX.  If you get a chance, check out the Drones page on the site and you'll see the thinking behind them, and why they need to stay out of that kind of airspace.

Have you had a chance to fly with ATC yet? Right now we're only online 3 days a week (except for random, adhoc staffing). Once we ramp up, though, it'll be a 7-day/week operation.

[samen]

I havent flown with ATC yet but I will be looking forward to it. What I meant by Heavy drones was B744s etc but they would be just flying around like the current drones are. Perhaps not even landing or Taking off

[Keith Smith]

I understand the suggestion, but I'd like to have relatively realistic traffic flows in the system.  Right now we have a lot of GA singles and twins doing exactly what they do in that part of the world, short and long cross countries, and some air work in the practice areas.  We also have some short corporate hops, ferrying the planes from one airport to another. There's also quite a bit of military activity in the form of cross country flights between bases, exercises in the MOAs and restricted areas, and even some flights along published military training routes.

In my experience, you simply don't see 747's flying around VFR.  It would be neat to see, granted, but not at the expense of taking away from the hard work that has been done to build a relatively realistic level of 'background noise' in the form of plausible VFR traffic.

I am looking forward to building up a flow of real, live traffic once we release the fs9/x client. This is likely to draw a lot of heavy metal pilots who currently fly on other online networks today, at which point, we should start seeing traffic in/out of the majors. That's the last piece of the traffic puzzle.

I've also worked fairly hard to ensure that the drones originate and terminate at an airport (all but 5-6 of the 200+ drones do this). Having planes appear and disappear in mid-air somewhat takes away from the suspension of disbelief, but again, I definitely know where you're coming from, and have considered it myself.