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.

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.

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).

John Deakin's articles are absolutely fantastic. I remember coming across them and reading the articles on engine management end to end...several times. It's criminal that this material is not taught during basic pilot training. The mixture was always somewhat of a mystery to me...now I fly with confidence knowing that I'm getting the best economy that I can, and not harming the engine (real world, although I try to carry that over in the sim)

XSB connects to a voice room that is specified in the controller's ATIS when you join a controller's frequency. If you got to a frequency on which there is no controller (ie, 122.80), it will not join a voice room. This is why there is no voice unicom capability in XSB. FSInn (msfs) lets you join an arbitrary voice room. However, that's still not a simulation of unicom, because there is no range limitation, unless you join a 'regional' unicom voice room, ie. "Australia_12280" XSB operates with the expectation that it will receive position reports every 5 seconds. It is possible to do limited formation flying, as long as you're not doing a lot of aggressive maneuvering. Straight and level works fine. Bear in mind, XSB interpolates the position of aircraft between known points (by running 5 seconds delayed, if I understand it correctly). Hence, the animation of aircraft, frame by frame, should be quite smooth. Full disclosure: I am the founder of PilotEdge... PilotEdge has a radio system that is not 'voice room' based (it does use voice rooms on a 3rd party voice server under the covers, but that is largely irrelevant). You can tune to ANY frequency, and if your buddy tunes to the same frequency AND he is nearby, then you will hear eachother on the radio. If you're both on the ground, 10nm away, then you won't be able to hear each other. As you takeoff and climb a few hundred feet, you'll soon hear each other on the radio. Regarding position updates, PE sends data every 3 seconds for distant target or 5 times PER seconds for nearby targets. It also sends light settings (landing, strobe, position, beacon), an engine setting and flight control settings (flaps, spoilers, aileron, elevator, rudder). We'll eventually use a new OBJv8 CSL format which will allow multiplayer aircraft to have animated controls. Right now, we simply show the change in light settings (a very handy feature, I have to tell ya). We have done 5-ship formations at 500-600kts at low level on published military training routes (VR-1257 and VR-1256 in southern california, starting near SMX, heading to PMD, PSP and eventually JLI VOR if anyone is interested in trying it out). 3 of the aircraft were recorded drones, 2 of us were live. The fidelity of the playback was such that it wasn't possible to tell who was live and who was a drone. Small aside, for anyone who enjoys formation-flying, this is the network for you, even if you NEVER say a word to ATC. We have 200+ aircraft flying around 24/7 (we can record more at any time) doing everything from pattern work in GA singles, air work in light twins and singles, GA VFR cross countries, helicopter air tours around Catalina, glider flights launched off a winch (using ridge lift to stay aloft for about 30 minutes before heading back to the airport), bizjet ferry flights and, of course, a boatload of interesting military activity on military training routes and in special use airspace. I hope to ramp up the staffing from part time (3 days a week, 4 hours a day) to full time in a few weeks from now.

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

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!

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.

The buildings and textures in V9 were very different in Europe vs the States, I have to imagine the same will be true for V10. I wouldn't expect perfectly regional depictions, but I'm sure that at least the urban settings will look quite different.

Finally, The argument between real, 3d-scenery and photo-realistic scenery is going to be put to bed.

Thank you. The heavies are coming, I promise

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.

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.

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.

The Mac client has just been made available for download.

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.

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

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.

KGCN rwy 3, straight out, drop into the Canyon, join the river with a left turn. F4 Phantom, full fuel, no weapons/tanks, low burner setting (the high burner is ridiculous). Glad you liked it! I fly with a 32" Sharp Aquos screen, full screen with HUD, 1920x1080. It was the first thing I did when I got the new monitor, and I'm only barely kidding when I say it changed my life

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Good deal, Steve, The 'new network' (I'll make the post shortly, I was just swamped yesterday) has drones flying around 24/7, as you know. Coincidentally, two of the drones are an F/A-18 and an F-14 blasting through the canyon in formation. So, now you can fly with 'em any time Keith