Sean's Sim Blog http://ta4ksim.com Home of TA-4k Sim NZ6258 Tue, 13 Dec 2022 08:31:45 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 http://ta4ksim.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cropped-Logo512-1-32x32.png Sean's Sim Blog http://ta4ksim.com 32 32 183106741 Video Meeting Backgrounds http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/29/video-meeting-backgrounds/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/29/video-meeting-backgrounds/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2022 21:10:20 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3497 I decided to make some fun meeting backgrounds.. to use in Zoom or Teams meetings… it was all while sitting on a plane with no-one around… I’ve used a couple of these, and had people on the call convinced I was actually on a plane… funny!

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New Instructor/Operator Station http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/15/new-instructor-operator-station/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/15/new-instructor-operator-station/#respond Tue, 15 Nov 2022 03:16:17 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3493 For a long time I had been messing around with a PC on the workbench as an “Operator” station, and with a little spare time over the past weekend I finally moved the displays and PC into it’s more permanent home in the ManCave.
The idea/concept is to use this setup as an operators station for all 3 sims, as it is not *that* common that I will have all 3 running at the same time.

Test setup running Instructor Station

The monitors are mounted on left-over parts from monitor mounting arms we use at work, this makes them movable to the users preference. The lower screen is a 15″ industrial touchscreen, and is connected to a KVM switch to give access to multiple PC’s

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WARNING: Plane Spotting… http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/02/warning-plane-spotting/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/11/02/warning-plane-spotting/#respond Wed, 02 Nov 2022 02:47:35 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3453 Over the past couple of months I have been travelling *A LOT* and along the way have taken a few aeroplane photos… so I thought (with proper warnings) I’d post a selection of them here for your viewing pleasure.

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AKA Handbag: Kiwi Aviation Blog http://ta4ksim.com/2022/10/15/aka-handbag-kiwi-aviation-blog/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/10/15/aka-handbag-kiwi-aviation-blog/#respond Fri, 14 Oct 2022 22:48:09 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3446 Longtime friend, flight simmer, FU24 Fletcher owner, modeller and all round aviation enthusiast Zac Yates has started a blog about his adventures in aviation; The AKA Handbag blog.

Zac is a great writer and has turned his writing skills to what’s is probably his favourite subject!

Check it out at www.akahandbag.blogspot.com

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History Miami Visit http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/28/history-miami-visit/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/28/history-miami-visit/#respond Tue, 27 Sep 2022 23:10:32 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3378 During a recent trip to Miami I had a little time off and went to the History Miami Museum in downtown Miami. Loads of relly interesting stuff to see, and in the context of this blog; lots of Pan Am related displays.

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737 Operations http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/737-operations/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/737-operations/#respond Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:22:43 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3372 Over the past couple of months I’ve been flying the sim a ,new, and fine tuning they way it operates. I have a PC set up to act a success an EFB, which I can access from an old iPad in the cockpit. I amusing a combination of apps and web tool so to help operate the sim. Primarily I use SimBrief and Navigraph Charts, to create, then display the route being flown. SimBrief also output still my plan directly to the CDU in the cockpit, meaning it shows as a company route. The same route can also be imported into FShub as the active flight plan.

In the sim I have real-world weather running so I can use real METAR reports, whichever will reflect the weather synced to the sim.

Other cool stuff has been added to P3D, including REX4 and 5, and the ORBX global base and vector plus HD building the tree packages, which makes P3D look much better.

I have weather and terrain displaying in the Nav display, although the weather is not too reliable (yet)…

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Instructor/Operator Station? http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/instructor-operator-station/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/instructor-operator-station/#respond Mon, 26 Sep 2022 03:46:45 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3368 I have often pondered whether my sim actually needed an Instructor or Operators Station. My primary use of the sim doesn’t need many functions normally associated with an Instructor Station, but some functions could Ben quite useful.

During a recent sale I purchased a 1 year licence for Louis Gordo’s Instructor Station, which I’ve used before on a couple of GA sim sim we built at work. It has many of the functions that I couldn’t use, and it’s is cheap. But still, I’m not sure I would use it enough to justify the subscription price. I had an idea for creating a modular Operator “suite” of tools, with a configurable launcher to achieve what’s I was after.

For now I will use Louis Gordo’s and assess whether it is worth messing around writing something just to suit my own needs.

IOS and Navigraph Charts app on my “Operator” PC
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New Seat for the 737 http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/new-seat-for-the-737/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/new-seat-for-the-737/#respond Mon, 26 Sep 2022 03:30:32 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3363 Thanks to Trevor for his generosity the 737 now has an incredible replica IPECO seat. Trevor drew up the seat from a sample one we had at work, and built the 2 for his sim. They have working height and backrest adjustment, working armrests and are fitted with real aircraft cushions, armrest Coversheets and headrest. Trevor’s attention to detail is incredible, and the seats are an absolute credit to his workmanship!

In return for his work I am working through getting his sim “Fred” integrated with ProSim. There will be a post coming soon about Fred, and Trevor’s journey in building a sim from a real cockpit.

Even the smoke goggle bag is real…

Real parts combined with Trevor’s workmanship make for a pretty convincing replica

Once I return from my current trip I *will* be getting it in to the sim, and working on a good method of mounting it to the floor. With my narrow pedestal I should be able to get away with straight rails, but time will tell.

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Oops! http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/oops/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/26/oops/#respond Mon, 26 Sep 2022 02:56:36 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3364 Thursday night, I headed out to the hangar… (or garage, depending on who you ask) with the intention of moving my new IPECO replica seat (more on that in a post coming soon) into the 737 sim. Well, after a couple of hours work I had upgraded my web server with more RAM and another hard drive (for storage and regular backups)… but the seat was still sitting outside the sim…. Next day I set up a partitioning tool to clean, partition and format the new drive. And that is where it all went horrribly wrong. Not only did it *not* partition or format the new drive, it somehow screwed up the C: drive so that it would no longer boot! Panic inside, followed by loads of googling and trying various options to repair the drive… none of which worked!

Fast forward a couple of days for stress and head scratching and I have it back up and running again, with no data loss! So… lesson learned, backup strategy will be added to the server to save me a lot of stress and tears in the future when I next do something really dumb!!

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Southern Air Charter http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/19/southern-air-charter/ http://ta4ksim.com/2022/09/19/southern-air-charter/#respond Mon, 19 Sep 2022 07:31:15 +0000 http://ta4ksim.com/?p=3288

For a very long time I have thought about building a ‘Virtual Airline’ which suits my particular type of flying. I even got as far as downloading and installing a couple of VA Software suites, complete with semi-working ACARS integration, but I was never quite happy with the results. Basically I was looking for something which would run basically automatically, meaning I wouldn’t have to deal with ‘running’ the airline, rather I could enjoy flying for it, and let the airline run itself in the background.
The idea of my airline went into recess for quite some time until, thanks to the Navigraph anuual survey, I found FSHub.io ‘Home of the Landing Rate Monitor’, which literally changed my simming life!

FSHub is a website centred around real-time flight tracking and logging. Using a light-weight client LRM or ‘Landing Rate Monitor’, FSHub provides a real-time GPS display, and even a simulated cabin crew!

One of the really cool feature-sets of FSHub is the in-built Virtiual Airline support. Users can create their own VA in a matter of a few mouse clicks! The best part, for me at least, was the high level of automation of the day-to-day tasks involved in managing a VA, those tasks I didn’t want to *have* to do.

FSHub offers an easy interface for tasks like approving new pilots, and even customisation of the VA’s web presence on FSHub. Pilots joining the VA get access to a custom ‘Crew Portal’ providing quick links to loads of useful tools and statistics.

SimBrief integration means syncing flightplans from SimBrief to FSHub takes only a couple of mouseclicks, then your SimBrief flightplan is available in the online GPS tool as well as on the global radar display when anyone clicks on your aircraft.

Southern Air Charter is alive, it is a very very simple VA, offering nothing terribly unique, but I hope it is fun little venture… and if you feel so inclined feel free to join our rag-tag team 😉

SCX Boeing 737-500 modelling the very monochrome SCX Livery
SCX Boeing 737-800 (Default FSX 737, converted to P3Dv4) on descent to Whidbey Island NAS, Washington State, USA
SCX even has trucks! Kenworth W900 in American Truck Simulator
Even my nautical adventures have incorporated SCX, Southern Shipping’s ‘MV Captain John Matchett’
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