Keith Smith

Will test and let you know

Verified I can receive the ATIS on either radio by selecting the VHF1/2 switches appropriately. The generic XP panel must be doing something different in terms of datarefs, because the PilotEdge plugin is detecting that you'd like to xmit on COM2 when using the generic panel. Again, I think the XP panel is probably setting more datarefs or using slightly different values. I'll debug it further and find out. This is not a bug with the JS31, as such, I just need to find out how it's setting those values. Any chance the VHF1/2/PA selector (presumably the TX selecting) will become active, as it was in the CRJ? My issue right now is that if someone selects to receive on VHF1 _and_ VHF2, it's not clear which one should be considered to be the TX radio (which is why if you have a system that allows both to be selected, I think you need the option to pick a TX radio, such as the VHF1/2/PA knob just below those switches).

I'm able to squawk 9999. Anyone else see an issue with that?

Thanks guys, I tried it briefly with one switch at a time prior to my first post and didn't see the result I was expecting. I will delve more deeply and let you know what I discover. I will also check the manual. Can't wait to dive into this airplane tonight.

I just downloaded the aircraft, very excited about it. I'll be flying it online on PilotEdge and really need to have working Com1/2 selector, like the CRJ-200 had. Is there a provision for selecting the COM radio (should manipulate the same datarefs that the standard xplane audio panel will manipulate?). I see the VHF1/2 selector on the panel, but one of them is inop, and the other doesn't appear to have the effect that I thought it would.

Figured it was time to let my hair down a little bit on PilotEdge. You'll hear ATC in the background, but we don't have to interact with them at all on this, it's all about staying with the Hornets on the MTR. Gotta love the XP10 clouds during the enroute phase at 12,500ft just after takeoff. Seeing the sunset interact with the clouds like that was something I'd only read about until now. Good times!!

Please excuse the takeoff, I am honestly not sure how I let it get into that state, otherwise, it all goes well.

Been waiting for 2 years to buy a system capable of running X-Plane 10 and doing HD video capture (with DXTORY) at the same time. The day finally came on Black Friday when I could purchase all of the components and assemble the system. I have a CRJ-200 video that I need to edit and post, but here's a quick video of 2 laps of the pattern in the stock Baron at Bakersfield Meadows airport (KBFL), flying on PilotEdge for our ATC and traffic. Suggest 1080p fullscreen for this one!

Cessna, this is true. I should have stated that it was a declination issue, rather than strictly a magnetic variation issue. Philipp, I'm glad you have a solution for the 777. It seems to me, though, that this is not a file format issue, but one of data interpretation in the CRJ200 code, no? Even if you don't have specific declination info for each VOR, could you not apply the derived magnetic variation from X-Plane, and use that in lieu of the declination? At least that way, it'll only be a few degrees off, rather than whatever the difference betwee the declination and true heading is. When the aircraft is being flown in an online environment, it's not fun being queried by the controller, "SKW4305.....what are you doing?" I suppose I can just edit the procedures as I come across them for now. For a more robust solution, if you'd like to expand the navaid DB to include an OPTION for declination, I'd be happy to enter the data in that file as I run across these situations.

I'd like some clarification on whether headings and radials are interpreted to be in true or magnetic degrees in the FMS procedure database that's included with the CRJ. The reason I ask is because the PEBLE3 SID out of KSAN is not being flown correctly. The procedure calls for a right turn to heading 290 until crossing the OCN R-170, then heading 315 to intercept the MZB 393 radial to MELDY, then PEBLE. I noticed the 315 heading was entered in the KSAN.xml file as 305 (if memory serves), otherwise, the radial appeared to be correct. However, even after correcting the 315 heading in the database, I noticed that it was turning PRIOR to the OCN R-170 radial. When I looked closely, I noticed it was turning at approximately the 155 radial (15 degrees off, which matches the magnetic variation for the area). So, when I updated the OCN 170 radial to 185 (the TRUE heading, rather than magnetic), AND updated then 113 radial (reciprocal of 293) to read 128, it flew the procedure PERFECTLY. Here's the updated snippet for the procedure, updating the revision to PEBLE4. It covers everything up to PEBLE intersection:

Yep, engine is fine. I just noticed the abscence of the aural alarms when I fired it up compared to the experience on the Mac the night before, so it was fresh in my mind. I wondered how many other sounds I was missing, but if that's it...no biggie.

Not hearing any of the custom sounds (such as the announciators when the master is first switched on). Here's the log, not the OpenAL NULL initialization error.

Disregard, appears to be pilot error...possibly I wasn't supplying full power in some of the tests and wasn't having any luck getting them lit up. I'm almost positive that in earlier tests, I had full electrical power...but it's working now at least.

Some more updates on PilotEdge: - Linux client has been tested and will be released in the next week or so - 3 pricing models available: $4.95/mth and $2/hr, or $19.95/mth unlimited, or $179/year unlimited. - streamlined trial process, no credit card required for signup. - audio recordings of each day's interactions are available at http://pilotedge.net/audio We'll be demonstrating at EAA AirVenture (Oshkosh) next week (July 23-29) at the Precision Flight Controls booth and connection-permitting, there will also be PilotEdge demos at the Fly This Sim booth, showing several models of the TouchTrainer.

It may help to understand what's going on when you run a multi-machine installation in X-Plane. What you're doing is running multiple, independent installations of X-Plane at the same time, where the master computer is kindly sending a bunch of information about the state of the aircraft to the various slaves (the external visuals). As was eluded to by Chris K in his post, for this to work properly, you're going to have to make sure that the aircraft folders are perfectly in sync, that the versions of X-Plane are the same, and that you have the same scenery available (if you expect to see the same thing across each machine, that is).

We're adding Fri-Sun support for the Oakland ARTCC (SFO, OAK, SJC, MRY, RNO, FAT, etc) starting today. The specifics are described on our coverage area page. This will expand to full time coverage in the future. If anyone's been waiting to do the famous LAX-SFO roundtrips, this would be the time. We've also added pilot/ATC audio recording capabilities, see http://pilotedge.net/audio for more info.

It'd definitely taken longer than I thought, but we did indeed managed to get PilotEdge launched to the public. We opened the doors today with 15x7 staffing of the Los Angeles ARTCC. Norcal will be added in a couple of months. The web site is been completely rebuilt, too. The first 150 signups are receiving a 20% discount on their monthly subscription in an effort to start building a body of traffic. We know it's going to take some time, but we'd like to reward those who come on board early on.

Sky Blue Radio is hosting an FS InFocus show in 40 mins from now (6p/9e) for 2 hours to talk about PilotEdge. If anyone has read about the network and is curious about learning more, feel free to head over there and listen in. Listeners can call in live with questions and comments.

Update: the launch date has been set for Oct 1. As of today, the free beta program is expanding from 2 days/wk (Wed and Sun nights) to 7 nights week (6pm-9pm PDT). This is to provide ample time for the newly hired controllers to go through our required training program.

We are pleased to announce that PilotEdge will complete the beta testing phase and will launch on Oct 1.

+1 on Chandler's Pipers. I haven't tried some of the more modern, high-end payware aircraft, but based on everything I've read, the handling of Chandler's planes are second to none. At the end of the day, what could possibly be more important than that? I used his Piper Warrior for several hundred hours to become a r/w instrument-rated pilot. I also used the Saratoga to increase my workload, so that when I flew a 172 in the real world, things would be that much easier. As it turned out, I eventually stepped into a very high performance aircraft (faster than the Saratoga, in fact), so I'm very grateful that I spent the time in his higher end airplanes, too. There is absolutely no way that I would have reached my current level of proficiency were it not for his aircraft. Keith

Thanks, Phil. If you're not connected to PilotEdge, then the plugin really isn't doing a whole lot. It finds a bunch of datarefs during its initialization, but that's about it. The fact that Xplane crashes at a random time after the sim starts, but PRIOR to connecting to the network is interesting, too. It sounds like it's surviving the initialization of the sim and then dying at some random point after that. Given that the PE plugin isn't doing anything at run time (if you're not connected), the crash is likely happening in one of the CRJ plugins. Are you able to get some kind of a crash log?

Phil, Does the crash to desktop happen when you connect to PE, or as soon as X-Plane finishes start up?

Thanks to Cameron for adding a dedicated PilotEdge forum to the system. This way, the discussions won't be confined to a single thread.

Dozer, Always a sincere pleasure to find another person who knows that a radial isn't just found on a tire I, too, learned to fly with VORs alone, and still enjoy it. Truth be told, I have come to really appreciate GPS, but tend to use it as a more accurate form of a VOR, even on RNAV routes. I basically fly (real world, that is), on the 'nav 1' page on the Garmin 430, which shows my desired track, current track, cross track error, bearing to station, etc. It's a hyper sensitive 'VOR', with unchanging sensitivity...but the concept it all the same. The instrumentation displays position relative to a course. Every now and then I swap to the map mode to double check a few things, but to navigate the airplane, I use the technique described above....all backed up with a real VOR on another gauge This is my happy compromise between using VORs and adopting newer technology without becoming a slave to the pretty magenta line. Thank you for your suggestions regarding the program. I spent much of the afternoon on the phone with an associate, running through various models, figuring it was really time to nail down the terms of this frequent flier program, since it's clearly going to be of importance to the price-sensitive sim enthusiast community. So, here's what we settled on. The FF program is a 'thank you' offered to a finite number of users (don't sweat that part too much, we won't be hitting that limit for quite a while, I would think), as an acknowledgment that they are providing a value back to PilotEdge. Note, there will be a time when having additional users participate in the program will not provide value to the venture, and basically represents lost revenue to PE, hence, the need to limit the number of users. All that said, the program itself is simple. The standard subscription fee for PilotEdge will be around $19/mth. Qualifying pilots (ie, those who have completed a certain number of ratings in the Pilot Edge Training Center) who met the hourly requirements in a given month will receive their next month of service free (ie, they will not be charged). If a pilot does not meet the hourly requirements in a given month, they will not receive the credit the following month, hence they will be charged their normal subscription rate in that next month. The initial program was going to be far more complex with all sorts of allowances for a bunch of edge cases that had the potential to make 100% of users happy 100% of the time (well, close to it), but would've been a bear to design, implement and administer. This version is incredibly simple. I think it makes sense if you picture it as an earned credit for a paid service. If you don't earn the credit, absolutely no harm, no foul, you're billed for the service just like any normal user. No surprise or ill-will (I hope). All of this will be spelled out in detail, of course. My goal is to make it easy to understand, and to provide incentive for people who would've otherwise said, "I would love to fly there, a lot, but I just don't want to (or can't comfortably) pay for it." Once the program has reached its goal for PilotEdge (I don't detail those here, they're not particularly relevant in any case), NEW users will not be eligible for the credit. Users who had earned the credit in the past would remain eligible (although I suspect we will reserve the right to completely discontinue the program at our discretion). If I were looking at this as a consumer, I think I'd be satisfied with the choices. I should also note that PE will retain the right to discontinue someone's service. I say that not to dissuade anyone from joining but more to let people know that we are going to do our best to make sure that the 'right' people are flying on the network. Lastly, Dozer, of course you can fly the Comet. That would be awesome. I can't promise that you will be seen as a Comet by other users by default (the day will come, mind you!), but you are absolutely welcome to fly any aircraft you like. Thanks for the feedback so far, keep it coming. Hopefully it's clear that we're trying to make this appealing to a wide variety of people, while still maintaining a standard of quality on the network.