Pilotedge: a new online network, beta has started

[samen]

Its your choice after all. It will still be a wonderful network even without Heavys. Good Luck and excited to see all future updates

[Keith Smith]

Thank you. The heavies are coming, I promise

[captaind172]

Are there plans to cover the US eventually?  I guess it would depend on how popular is became.

[Keith Smith]

Believe it or not, the answer is 'probably not', counter-intuitive as it might seem.  Read the WHERE page on the site for the reasoning behind this.

[woweezowee]

Really a promising project. But because my flights are done within FSEconomy, and our airports are in Washington, BC, and some in europe, it seems that I'm one of those who won't be able to use it. But I wish you luck with it!

[Keith Smith]

Thanks for the encouragement. You're right, if you are going to do all of your flying outside of the coverage, it won't be as useful for you. You could do the flights at those airports and use the radio, even without ATC, but if there's no hope of any ATC coverage, it's probably a stretch to think that it would be worth the subscription for you.  If you ever have the opportunity to relocate to another airport in FSE, I hope you'll consider it.  GA flights absolutely shine on this network, it's a real blast.

In other news, there is now a Map showing the location of other pilots, similar to the technology used on the xflightserver, with a couple of small changes. 

Tutorials, a getting started guide, and a 'things to see' list are coming soon!

[steven winslow]

edit

[Keith Smith]

Weather permitting (winter storm here), I plan on controlling from the office tonight, and streaming live video/audio from the scope.  One of the pilots, Philip Wyatt, will be doing live video/audio from his cockpit, too.  The pages with the video will be added to the site shortly before the beta begins at 5pm PST tonight.

They will then be available for review for 4-7 days after the event for anyone that didn't catch the live broadcast (this is how the streaming site, justin.tv, works).

There is a chat room on the streaming site, so feel free to ask questions in real time, and we'll do our best to answer.

Keith

[Keith Smith]

Just to clarify, while the beta is currently 3x4 (Wed/Fri/Sun 5-9p PST), the network itself is open 24x7.  We simply guarantee full ATC during the published hours, that's all. 

The network is open 24x7, the voice system works 24x7, and the drones operate 24x7. 

You can fly anywhere in the world with a friend, tune the radio to the same frequency, and you will hear each other over the radio (if you are close by).

[ChrisVon]

Keith,

    I read the "Where" section of your sight, and fully understand the reasonings why the coverage locations are limited. It's also a good idea. I also agree with the idea of practicing in an area unfamiliar to the pilot. But have you and your organization considered the idea of "Scheduled Coverage Areas". Basically what I mean is, covering the areas you cover already on say Mondays and Tuesdays, another area on Wednesday and Thursdays, so on and so forth. And if you have more areas than days in the week, then utilize a schedule that works on a simple "rotation", where you cover area "ABC" for a few days, area "XYZ" for a few days, area "123" for a few days, etc, etc., then back to area "ABC", and the cycle starts all over again.

    Just a thought. It may not be feasible. I will say that I will more than likely subscribe to this service. After becoming "disappointed" with other online networks, this will be a welcome alternative.

Chris

[Keith Smith]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Indeed the idea of rotating our coverage area has crossed my mind. The work involved, however, in being fully prepared to work an area is substantial, and more than most people might realize.

In the short term, I would simply suggest that ppl organize VFR fly-outs to any part of the country that they enjoy. We had a group of 10-15 aircraft take part in a coast to coast VFR flight on VATSIM a few years ago, one 600nm leg per week on the same day and time each week. It was a great success and we all had a good time, all without any ATC (we went from non-towered field to non-towered field).

I realize that's not quite what you're suggesting, but it might be a reasonable compromise.

Nothing is set in stone...my goal is to get it launched and successful with a healthy level of traffic in norcal/socal. If there is sufficient demand and traffic to open another facility, then I am open to having that happen, so long as it doesn't run the company into the ground.

If you have any other questions, comments, or suggestions, then please keep 'em comin', good or bad.

[Keith Smith]

Something a little different, here's a view from the ATC side, including all transmissions and a little commentary to explain roughly what's going on: http://www.justin.tv/pilotedge/b/278958056

This is the arrival sequence of 5 airplanes into San Diego, amidst a set of 3 separate formation departures (military) out of Miramar.

Towards the end, there's a few zoomed out shots, showing a lot of VFR targets on the scopes. These are the VFR 'drones' (recorded flights) that add a lot of flavor to the network.

If anyone has any questions about what they see on the video, just holler.  Sorry the pilot voices are so quiet, this was recorded on my laptop with a pretty sub-optimal configuration. The responses are, by and large, just perfect readbacks of the instructions that were given, so you're not missing too much. If you turn it up loud enough, though, you can hear 'em.

I'm adding some additional training/orientation material to the site. Once that and the FS9/X client is done (gotta have it for the retail market), I'll pull out all of the stops, in terms of getting the word out, and then traffic should increase dramatically.  We'll also ramp up the staffing prior to that, too, moving to our 7 day/wk schedule.

[tkyler]

hello Keith....really cool work you're doing here.  I was wondering how the network handles voice in relation to x-plane's com frequencies.  IIRC, xsquawkbox only used COM1 for voice transmissions.  The reason this is relevant is that the MU-2 uses a transmitter switch to swap between COM1 and COM2 in reality, there is no 'swap' or STBY frequency in the MU-2's setup.  So for VATSIM usage, I manage the com1/com2 frequencies 'behind the scenes' with the plugin so that you're always transmitting on COM1 for VATSIM.  Is pilotedge similar?

[Keith Smith]

Thanks, I'm glad that you like what we're up to. We're just scratching the surface of what's possible with the platform right now, but even in these early days, the difference between flying/controlling here compared to other networks is like night and day....and I LIKE those other networks!

To your specific question, as you may know, r/w aircraft generally have separate switches to allow you to HEAR com1 and/or com2, and other switches to TRANSMIT on com1 or com2.  These functions operate independently.

X-Plane's stock instrumentation, though, only has a single, generic com1/com2 selector. What that selector should DO is entirely up to the plugin developer when it comes to how it affects radio transmission/reception.

As things stand today, we only support the operation of the com1 radio, period.  com2 can be used to pick up X-Plane's internal ATIS (we don't override that), but it's not possible to hear PilotEdge ATC transmissions on com2 or make any transmissions on com2.  This will change in the future.  

Given X-Plane's current instrumentation limitation, we will likely treat the com1/2 selector as a TRANSMIT selector, and have com1/2 reception 'always on'.  Users with a PFC-branded audio panel will be treated to a fully functioning audio panel, in the future.  This mostly applies to commercial users, though.

Incidentally, many of the older radios don't have a standby/staging frequency. In fact, if you watch one of the

on YT and look carefully at the panel that I'm using, you'll notice there's no stdby freqs.  It's not too hard to work with, you simply can't set up in advance, that's all.

Edit: my mistake, you can effectively use the com2 radio as a staging area for com1 with the current setup, that is true.

[tkyler]

Excellent...that's what I expected.  For my users, I want them to be able to use the com selector to flip between com1 and com2, using each opposite com for staging the next frequency.  This is how we did it in the real MU2 and I want users to get that same experience.  It's no problem managing the coms behind the scenes in the plugin to always transmit on com1 for pilotedge.

[Keith Smith]

Thus far, the 'focus flights' (held 3 times each week) have been relatively serious and traditional. Tomorrow, however, we're going to let loose and enjoy the network's ability to function as a fun, interactive environment for pilots.  We're hosting a group flight through the Grand Canyon, along the river.  This is a flight which many pilots have probably done many times by themselves. 

It's something else, though, to do it with:

- an online environment that shows other pilots

- high speed updates (5 times/sec) from other traffic

- a working radio

- AND...pre-recorded traffic that everyone sees, in the form of 4 F/A-18's that come thundering through at 600kts just above the water....every 5 minutes.

If anyone has been thinking of giving this network a try, but perceived it as being a little too serious for them, and wasn't wild about ATC interaction, this would be the time to try it out.  We're starting out at KGCN (a towered airport, but all you need to do is tune the ground frequency (121.90), call for taxi to the active, call tower when holding short (119.00), and then once you leave the airspace, they cut you loose.

Full details with route maps, suggestions for traffic avoidance, etc, are all HERE.

[tkyler]

I'll be participating and have included a CSL folder of my aircraft for anyone interested.  I'll be flying under N1XS.

Download, unzip and place the xscenery folder in:

Xplane > Resources > Plugins > VSPro Resources > CSL

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/955680/xscenery.zip

[Keith Smith]

The CSL you posted appears to use a V8 OBJ, which is not supported yet.

How was your flight last night?

[tkyler]

The CSL you posted appears to use a V8 OBJ, which is not supported yet.

Ah?  what is the supported format then?  Can't say I've been a CSL guy in the past.

How was your flight last night?

Flight was fine, technology was great and smooth....the chat frequency is very nice.  

A few comments from a newbie perspective:  

I think I anticipated a bit more organization than I experienced...which was my folly.   It's an informal "event" to be sure, but it didn't come across as an event in the sense that it lacked coordination other than a location and a block of time.  After signing on, I listened to conversations and had many internal questions like, Is the canyon run a group run?   Do we all take off together?  Is there a flight lead? ...Will someone "call everybody over" and say, "let's go!"....or is it just a block of time to do what we want?  etc.  After listening a bit more, I gathered that it was just a block of time and we do what we want....so showing up by myself and not being part of any flight, I simply flew the canyon on my own and after leaving KGCN, didn't really see anybody.  If I had shown up with some of my own friends, it would indeed have been more enjoyable.

The VERY GOOD thing about this is that is pretty much mimics reality, which is what pilot edge is all about.  Having confidence that you're in a scenario simulating reality is very important; however, being a event that relaxes "real world" rules.....with at least a partial purpose to attract newbies, I would suggest that newbies be engaged by the more experienced users and welcomed into the group...they really have no idea what to expect.  The forum postings were informative as to "time and place and rules", but I would have welcome a bit of a "what to expect" for new guys walking in the door, either by someone letting me know what's going on over the chat frequency or by a bit more information in the event description.  It's my opinion that welcoming new people during events like these would encourage more people participate on the servers in general....either that or let them know in advance that they're on their own once they sign in, which is fine as long as they know in advance.

Overall, the technical experience was very easy and reliable, the programming is done very very well.   I did some testing of my MU2 radio and transponder programming during regular hours and the ATC was professional and accommodating while testing.  I don't know if you plan to implement audio filters to simulate the unique "sound" of radio comms, but that would be a welcome feature.

[Keith Smith]

The CSL format is the same as VATSIM, which is obj v7.  We're going to use v8 in the future to support animations, and then make that code available to the X-IVAP code base so that it can be used on VATSIM/IVAO/Xflightserver, too.

I completely agree with your assessment of the event. It was not well-organized or structured. The thinking was that people would show up, fly through the Canyon, and then between the drones that pass through every 5 minutes (overtaking just about everyone), in concert with the organic traffic, everyone would get to see _something_.  Beyond that, if people organized into specific groups, then that would be at their discretion.  What I didn't provide, however, was a suggested mechanism for people to use to DO that organizing, such as:

1. suggesting that pilots post their intentions on the Fly with Me forum on the site ahead of time to form a group, or

2. suggesting that pilots meet at GCN at 7pm PST and tune to a discrete frequency to meet up with people and come up with a plan (number of planes to depart at a time, who would lead, type of airplane, speeds, etc), THEN contact ground for taxi as a formation flight.

That said, we did have a large number of pilots on the ramp at GCN at the scheduled start time of 7pm PST (although I saw that others left prior to that).

When we were done having fun with the high speed military jets, we restarted at GCN and all used exactly the same airplane (the stock PA-46 Malibu) and then all flew together into the canyon again.  That was a great experience, and will be one that's easy to recreate, and easy to follow.  

I will definitely use your feedback, as well as my own observations, to make it more structured and new-user-friendly the next time around.

I hope you'll give the network another shot on one of the beta nights (wed/fri/sun) at 7pm pst.  That format is well-understood, pilots show up at the focus airport and pick up an IFR clnc (or depart VFR) from one airport to another. The combination of live traffic and drones makes for an interesting experience, as does the radio chatter, of course.

[tkyler]

I hope you'll give the network another shot on one of the beta nights

Oh I definitely will Keith.  The network didn't let down at all.  It's quite new and I understand that fully and am glad to be able to give some feedback.  I think you have a great platform and foundation to build upon and are doing so with each day.  I need to keep trying it out because I'm still fettering out my MU-2 1.5 update features and need to ensure it's viability for online flying.  I definitely understand how tough it can be managing both technical growth and marketing growth.

[Keith Smith]

We're including norcal (SFO/OAK/SJC/RNO/MRY) in the staffing for the beta tonight. The web site will say 'norcal is online' and 'socal is online' for the first time today.  We still have some work to do to polish our procedures for norcal, but we think that people will appreciate the change of scenery for tonight.

The focus flight is LAX-SFO for turbojets, SBA-MRY for turboprops, and SBP-MRY for pistons, with staffing from 5pm-9pm for free flight. The focus flight itself starts at 7pm.

If anyone has been holding back, waiting a wider area of ATC coverage to allow for the famous socal-norcal runs or norcal-socal, this would be a great night to give it a try.

[Keith Smith]

Quick update on the venture, we are getting closer to the full launch, but there's a couple more milestones to go.

In the mean time, we are proceeding with the beta program, 2 nights a week (rather than 3).  Wed is Socal night, while Sun night sees Norcal getting its turn.  (Southern and Northern California).

We also launched the PilotEdge Training Center, which contains the PE version of ZLA's Pilot Certification system from VATSIM. It's now possible to fly on either network and receive credit for the ratings.

[Keith Smith]

Sun, Apr 17 marks the first of many Events to be held on the PE network.  X-US Airways, a new X-Plane based VA, is commemorating the opening of their Las Vegas hub with a PE fly-in from Vegas to LAX.  The event will start at 6pm PDT (9pm EDT), with full staffing for at least 3 hours.

Jets and turboprops are encouraged to fly LAS to LAX (routes are posted on the PE home page, http://www.pilotedge.net).  Pistons are encouraged to fly Palm Springs (PSP) to either SMO, HHR, or LAX. This should generate a nice cluster of arrivals in and around the LAX corridor.

It's a relatively short hop, so pilots can feel free to continue flying after the event, too!

We're hoping that the combination of jet, turboprop, and piston routes will mean that there'll be something for everyone.  This should be a lot of fun, and with luck, will be a great test of our procedures and staffing configuration(s) to see how we handle a step up from the traffic we've been seeing in the betas so far.

If LAS or PSP don't float your boat as departure airports, feel free to simply come online and enjoy the network, fly some ratings from the new PE Training Center, shoot approaches, pattern work, or whatever works for you around Southern California.

If you can't make it until later, that's fine, too...a steady stream would be almost as good as a big surge.

By way of an update, many exciting things are happening internally at PilotEdge. Commercial prospects are popping up at a rapid rate (including some very big names), work has started on the production-grade web site, and progress is finally being made on the MSFS client, which is, of course, the key to large-scale retail adoption.  Work is also progressing on the Facility Engineering & QA side.  We're also seeing a sharp uptick in interest from real world controllers (active duty, and retired).

[Keith Smith]

I posted a tutorial on how to conduct a flight from a non-towered field in to a towered field in THIS THREAD.

PilotEdge is still in beta mode with guaranteed ATC on Wed and Sun evenings (pacific time), with adhoc staffing outside of those hours (we tend to be online mon-fri during east coast business hours (GMT-5)).

If any pilots have been considering flying on the network but are unsure about basic communications and ATC procedures, that tutorial will hopefully provide a simple introduction to what is a very simple VFR flight, about 25 minutes in length.

As a reminder, the network itself is still available 24/7, and the radios work 24/7, anywhere in the world.  That means that if you and a buddy want to try it out and fly at your local airport, you will be able to see and hear each other on the radio (if you're nearby and on the same frequency).  The voice system is NOT dependent on the presence of an air traffic controller.

As it happens, tomorrow's beta night involves F70 and PSP as focus flights (along with two other fields), so it would be a great time to try the tutorial flight to get your feet wet!