Shared Cockpit on PilotEdge

Keith Smith · April 11, 2014

PilotEdge is pleased to announce support for shared cockpit connections. Users of the SmartCoPilot plugin can now connect to PilotEdge as pilot and co-pilot with both pilots being able to see other traffic as well as being able to use the radios.

Attached is a smartcopilot.cfg file for the stock X-Plane 10 Baron based on the sample Baron config file on the smartcopilot site. This file version adds support for syncing of both pitot heats, the ice light, and the com1/2 transmit selection (it was only syncing the RX portion, not the TX portion, which is a separate dataref). Note: the attached file has a .txt extension (to allow it to be attached). You need to remove the .txt extension, it should have a .cfg extension only.

SmartCoPilot allows either pilot to manipulate any of the buttons/switches in the cockpit (regardless of who 'has control'). The primary flight controls are manipulated by only a single person, but the responsibility can be shifted from pilot to another with 2 clicks (a request from the guy not flying, followed by a release from the pilot flying). It's a very powerful tool for CRM training, traditional instructor/student training or general entertainment.

Add real time ATC into the mix and it's about as close to real flying as I've ever seen in a sim.

Here's a twitch.tv video showing the system in action. This was the first live stream of a shared cockpit flight on PilotEdge). The guy on the webcam (Catstrator) is pilot not flying, he's handling the gear, flaps and radios. The pilot flying (who you can hear in the background on the Skype call, much quieter) has the primary flight controls and the HSI/CDI for NAV1/2 since they're a bit far for the co-pilot to reach. The flight is a hop from SMO to CRQ for the ILS RWY 24. I suggest forwarding the video to the 2 min mark (the second time we call for clnc, it was very busy and it was missed the first time) then watching from there with the audio turned up loud to be able to hear the skype call and the ATC.

The filed route is the published preferred route: SMO SMO125R V64 V363 DANAH V23 OCN.

The cleared route is "fly runway heading until crossing LAX R-315, then turn right heading 250 without delay, vectors SMO VOR, then as filed."

Here's how to use Shared Cockpit on PilotEdge with X-Plane

1. set up your shared cockpit connection X-Plane (using the SmartCoPilot plugin)
2. 1st pilot should connect to PilotEdge with standard callsign, eg. N123AB
3. 2nd pilot should connect to PilotEdge with same callsign, but with a @ suffix, eg. N123AB@

Nobody will physically see N123AB@ (on the scope or out the window). N123AB@ will not be able to see N123AB sitting on top of them (that's a good thing).

Neither pilot will hear each other on the radio, but they'll hear everything else.

Either party can talk on the radio. It's assumed that you'll be using a VOIP system such as Skype or voice-activated Teamspeak to communicate with each other in real time throughout the flight. Do NOT do a radio check by transmitting on the radio and expect to hear what your co-pilot just said.

I highly recommend giving this a try (with or without PilotEdge), it's really amazing stuff. The only downside is that you have to know how to set up peer to peer networking (ie, port forwarding and opening up the firewall) to get the shared cockpit working. Once you do, though, the process of flying together on PilotEdge is very straight forward as a crew.

smartcopilot.cfg.txt

Edited March 23, 2020 by Keith Smith
fixed plugin link