This week's topic covers FS-MP.com, a web-site/community dedicated to providing a "realistic yet relaxed " multiplayer environment for people who want to fly online with others. Their goal is to provide a reliable server for everyone whether you are looking to fly with realistic air traffic control, or are just looking for a place to fly together with others without having to worry about being bothered by people who revel in making trouble by disrupting others online.  On its servers you can fly anywhere in the world in the company of others, but, given the relatively small number of controllers currently available at any one time, air traffic control operations are centered around the tri-airport Washington D.C. area.  But that area is expanding as we speak, first north to NY and Boston, then south if the demand exists, and during some special events, other airports also will be staffed with controllers.

In short, FS-MP offers:

• Robust servers available 24/7 which can handle hundreds of users at once
• Standardized and published charts, radio frequencies, and procedures
• Flight school organization and volunteers who can help novice pilots learn how to fly using the shared cockpit functionality of FSX
• A (required, depending on experience) Air Traffic Control school to help those who want to try their hand at controlling traffic learn the ropes.
• Regular fly-ins and other events to attract lots of users to fly at once
• A place for Virtual Airlines and other groups (i.e. Blue Angels, Red Bull Racing, Aerobatic teams to work and play.
• A heavily trafficked forum system for general discussion, training and other questions, event organization, and more.
• A Teamspeak server setup for off network discussions between controllers and pilots and other uses.
• Policies and tools to make sure nobody interferes with your experience online.
• On the front page are links to a list of everyone who is online and a live map showing where they are.
    ( Map / Online List ).

As a member of the FS-MP community, you'll have full access to all these features, whether you are flying within or outside of the air traffic control network when you log on to their servers.

Logging online to fly with realistic air traffic control can be intimidating to somebody who's never done it before, but I assure you that this site was developed to help people who've never flown with air traffic control before.  As noted, there are tools to help you learn what you need to know to work with controllers, and the controllers are all courteous and helpful so you don't need to worry about being arrested if you make a mistake.  If you are confused, just say so and they'll help guide you.  The goal of the developers of the site was to develop a server system with realistic air traffic control but that was accessible to everyone.  And remember, you don't have to create a flight plan and fly under air traffic control if you don't want to. if you'd rather just test the waters, there's no stopping you from logging in at an uncontrolled airport and either listening in or just flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) with no interaction with the controllers.

One of the problems with the current FSX multiplayer system is security.  As configured by default, sessions are wide open, and susceptible to incursions by "undesirables".  FS-MP is password protected and actively policed to avoid this.  For instance, there was a problem in the beginning where somebody, with a password, was jumping into people's planes using shared cockpit and messing with people's controls, totally confusing the pilot about what was going on.  There are now controls in place on the FS-MP server to eradicate this.

To avoid connection problems currently plaguing the Gamespy servers used by default, users connect directly to the FS-MP servers through the Local network (LAN) choice in the "Connection Options" menu.   Since this change was implemented, connection issues have almost disappeared completely.

One of the things that I really enjoy about the site are the events they regularly sponsor.  For instance, on the Sunday before the annual EAA Air Venture event at OshKOSH, one of the largest airshow/fly-in events in the U.S. every year, started, FS-MP sponsored a fly-in using the same approach procedure that are used for the real fly-in.  For over 3 hours over 60 people were in the air at the same time on the servers, all approaching and landing at KOSH.  Mike Singer at Microsoft wrote a great story about it on FSInsider.

All of this work is being done on a volunteer basis headed up by Geoff, who has so far provided all the hardware and software out of his own pocket.  Eventually, there may be a small yearly or monthly membership fee (on the order of $5), but currently all these resources have been developed and provided as a free service.  Of course any donations are welcome.

Typically, the gauge is marked to show important speeds required to fly the plane.  A red line/tic mark near the end of the gauge range signifies V_NE, the never exceed speed.  Flying at a speed greater than this speed will likely cause structural damage to the plane, and, depending on your realism settings, Flight Simulator will end your flight if your speed exceeds this value.  The red mark is preceded by a yellow band which represents a caution area between V_NO, the maximum structural cruise speed, and V_NE.  Try to stay out of this speed regime as even a small wind gust can bring you beyond V_NE from here and cause damage.  A green arc will extend from V_S1, the flaps up/gear up stall speed of the plane, to V_NO.  The green arc represents the "safe" region of speed for continued structural integrity of the airplane while performing approved maneuvers.  A white band runs from V_S0, the flaps extended stall speed, to V_FE, the maximum flaps extend speed to let the pilot know the safe speed within which the flaps can be extended.  Extend the flaps at a speed beyond this range and you will likely damage them. 

Multi-engine aircraft will have two other marks; a red mark denoting V_mc, the minimum indicated airspeed at which the aircraft can be controlled with an inoperative engine, and a blue line for V_YSE, the speed for best rate of climb with the critical engine inoperative. 

Be very aware of your speed at all times as the plane will likely fall apart at speeds above V_NE, and the plane will fall to the ground at speeds below the critical stall speed.  Many accidents occur because pilots lose focus on their speed during the landing sequence and fall below stall speed with little or no room to recover before they hit the ground.  Always make sure you have enough altitude to recover if your plane were to stall. 

In Flight Simulator always be sure to study the layout of the airspeed indicator before undertaking a flight in a plane (the assumption being that in real life you would be checked out in any plane before attempting to fly it, requiring familiarity with the V speeds of the plane).  A good understanding of the various markings on the gauge will help you fly a plane much more easily.  For instance, the speed at which you can pull back on the "stick" and takeoff can typically be judged as being about 15 or 20  knots higher than V_S0 depending on temperature and pressure of the air.

To help start you off, I've listed a few of the handbooks and pamphlets that are handy for the pilot just beginning their training, or studying for their instrument rating, or even for the experienced pilot brushing up on their skills.  They contain tons of information about how to fly a plane, and the cool thing is that they are all free.  Click on the links below:

Airplane Flying Handbook - A good overview of what you'll learn in pilot training

Aircraft Weight and Balance Handbook

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge - a huge compendium of everything aeronautical, a must read (but not all at once).

Instrument Flying Handbook - This is a very important guide to read, even if you plan on flying in strictly VFR weather. Understanding the concepts in this handbook will make you much more familiar with how to control your airplane no matter what you get hit with.

Instrument Procedures Handbook - A companion document to that above.

Seaplane, Skiplane, and Float/Ski Equipped Helicopter Operations Handbook

Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) - This book contains ALL the rules by which the FAA governs the airways. You will need to study this in preparation for your oral and written tests.

Conducting an effective flight review - Wouldn't it be great if you knew what the teacher was expecting before you took a test. Well, here you go, this is how the FAA expects a flight review to be conducted. If you understand this document, you'll do well at your next flight review.

One of the premier teams developing freeware aircraft is Milton Shupe, Scott Thomas, and the other members of their team.  There are many, many different freeware aircraft available for download, but their aircraft have a life of their own; when you load them up, they make you feel like you are actually sitting in the cockpit.  You can almost smell the environment around you.  Some of this comes from the aircraft they choose to recreate; classic, slightly out of the mainstream planes that you don't typically see on the tarmac everyday.  When you do see one, you know you're looking at something special.  But It's also all the little things they do, a magazine here, a folding table there, moving curtains in the windows that open and shut, very realistic panels.  If you're looking for a plane to download and try, these planes should absolutely be on your short list.

There are developers out there who have developed tens, even hundreds of aircraft.  This is not the case here.  Instead, they have chosen a few planes to produce in great detail, and their painstaking attention to detail has paid off.  The planes they have chosen are

• Spartan Executive
• Beechcraft D-18S
• Howard 500
• A series of Aero Commanders and the Rockwell Shrike
• DeHavilland Canada DH-7 Dash7 (recently upgraded with a full VC)

Milton and Scott have also figured prominently in the design of many other aircraft, such as the recently released Sim-Outhouse A-26 Invader, but these are the aircraft they really call their own.

A quick visit to their home site, flightsimonline.com will show the attention to detail they give to their work.  For instance, if you click on the link to the Howard 500, you'll find images of the real plane, a story about flying the real plane, a history of the plane, specifications, a copy of the Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH), and lots more.  With all  these models, you're not just getting a plane, you're getting an experience.

So, "What is Ultimate Terrain?" you might ask.  Its main purpose is to enhance Flight Simulator so you can actually recognize the land beneath you if you were to fly over it in real life.  While Flight Simulator makes a fair representation of the world, and FSX does a much better job than FS2004 did, it really is fairly simplistic in its coverage and often not very accurate.  The Ultimate Terrain products change all this for the better.  They contain:

• ALL the roads, railway tracks, and major power lines.
• MUCH more accurate coastlines
• MUCH more accurate inland bodies of water, both in their shape and quantity (this is the key feature for me).
• Accurate rivers and streams
• Textures for and accurate placement of beaches (new for FSX), parks, golf courses, graveyards, sports stadiums and more, allowing you to see features you would see in real life in the sim.
• Night lighting of the ground including lighting along roads and at intersections.
• Increased auto  traffic by 10 fold on the roads by adding traffic to roads that are barren in default FSX (this, too, is one of my favorite features of the product)
• Much more accurately represents populated areas (better landclass in "city" areas).

Regarding the last feature listed, you might be wondering what "landclass" is.  Landclass is data that describes what "type" of terrain goes where; like, where should city buildings be, where should forests be, where should farmland be. It would take terabytes or perhaps more disk space to duplicate the trees and buildings and parking lots of the world in FSX.  So, FSX approximates the terrain by splitting the land up into a grid of a little more than 1 km square each, and puts a texture representing the type of "land use" dominating that area into each square. For instance, one texture might represent mostly farmland, another might be filled with suburban streets, another could be a deciduous forest. Each texture square has a mask so the textures can smoothly blend with each other from one to the next if, say, a city texture is placed next to a farmland texture. In this way, FSX can represent the landscape using a relatively small amount of data.

I get a lot of questions from people asking about how Ultimate Terrain's landclass compares to and works with the several dedicated landclass products for FSX.  One of the features of Ultimate terrain is that you can choose what landclass you want to use.  Probably one of the best choices is to layer the Ultimate Terrain City landclass on top of the dedicated landclass so that in the cities, Ultimate Terrain's landclass takes precedence, but outside of the cities the dedicated landclass takes precedence.  The assumption is that Ultimate Terrain's city landclass is going to be about as accurate as landclass can be, but less time was spent on the landclass in non-populated areas.  The reason Ultimate Terrain's landclass in populated areas is so good is that, rather than using what can be very outdated landclass maps to determine how to distribute terrain textures, which is what most vendors do, Allen used a special algorithm to determine how to distribute cityscapes based on the density of roadways and other information.  In fact, however, I've been very pleased with Ultimate Terrain's landclass compared to the dedicated landclass products in the areas that I fly, to the point that I don't even use the dedicated products anymore unless I'm flying in mountainous or other unpopulated terrain. 

Since its release, comments about Ultimate Terrain/X have been overwhelmingly positive.  But there have been a few people who have had some issues with the product.  The biggest problem has been that for some people, loading times were increased to as much as 1/2 hour (as opposed to average load times of 30 seconds to 2 minutes).  The culprit in most cases was the user's anti-virus program; Avast in particular seemed to be a big culprit.  Temporarily turning the anti-virus program off while you fly in FSX fixed the problem in just about all cases.  Other people have complained about increases in "the blurries", but, in most situations, reducing the sliders, especially the auto traffic slider, have helped improve things for these users.  But even with the auto traffic slider reduced, with Ultimate Terrain/X there is still way more traffic than is in FSX by default.

In terms of support, Flight 1 and Allen Kriesman maintain a very active forum for any questions or problems you might have.  And if you find any bugs or are looking for enhancements, Allen maintains a set of special tools for reporting issues, with plans for releasing compilations of bug fixes as time goes on.

For this article, I'll be using Mikko Maliniemi's Pitts S-1S Special as an example.  The process looks like this:

• Set up FSX to keep your files organized for easier management
• Check if the panel will work in FSX
• Does the panel have a virtual cockpit?
• Does the panel use any FS98 gauges?
• Install the plane, gauges and effects files
• Modify the aircraft.cfg file appropriately
• Add cameras and other FSX specific lines
• Modify the smoke system if necessary
• Check that all effects files are installed and working
• Edit the panel as necessary
• Replace/remove any FS98 gauges
• Make sure the panel works
• Add a thumbnail to the texture directories

Of course, if you want to learn more about the flight simulation community, you've got to start somewhere.  One of my favorite places to go is Avsim.com.  In fact, to make sure I'm on top of what's going on I visit the site every day.

What's there? 

• A huge library of free downloads - over 100,000 files covering many different flight simulators
• A slew of forums covering many simulators and products
• Reviews of tons of freeware and payware products
• A "Headlines" page highlighting the latest breaking news and the latest uploads to the library.
• An annually sponsored conference that's been growing in size every year, giving users a chance to mingle with developers, see some great presentations, and see all the latest gear.
• Plus lot's more services to help support the community...

All of these services are offered for your use totally for free, supported by an army of volunteers. Of course, donations are welcome, as all this horsepower takes A LOT of money to keep running as smoothly as it does, especially given the expansion of the user community over the last few years.

The file library system speaks for itself, as it is one of the principal upload sites for freeware authors around the world. The forums are immense, a great searchable database for any information or help you need, and if you can't find the information you are looking for by searching, if you post a question, you're almost sure to get an answer from somebody within an hour or two or less.