1801

I love the sensation of speed of low level flight that not too many sims are able to replicate. FSX comes to mind where a trip down in the weeds at 550 knots is a pretty ho-hum experience.

1802

Okay, hereā€™s a question. Are there any air traffic control sim games out there?

1803

Blood Pressure Medication Simulator '15 is what Iā€™d call it if there was one.

1804

Itā€™s for SCIENCE, okay? Geez.

(Although Iā€™d totally play one of those for fun.)

1805

If I designed a game right now, Iā€™d design Deep Space Network Ops Simulator 2015. Minimum play time: one shift, 10 hours, no pausing.

1806

Free web based one.

http://www.atc-sim.com/

Payware sim made by a former controller

http://www.atcsimulator.com/

Vatsim is about as close as you can get to being a real ATC without leaving your home as itā€™s all done online with FSX and X-Plane users. However you just canā€™t jump in and start controlling. Itā€™s a structured system where youā€™ll have to do some training before they hand you the keys but as a pilot you can jump in with minimal experience. Itā€™s a great way for real life budding pilots to get their ATC phraseology down and not to mention getting over mic fright. .

http://www.vatsim.net/

Hal9000 is a controller that posts here on QT3 and Iā€™m sure heā€™ll answer whatever questions you can throw at him.

1807

Looks like Steam has an ATC game too: http://store.steampowered.com/app/270830/

1808

Holy crap. That looks amazing. And also terrifying.

1809

I was working for OMNI Magazine in 1994 when the USAF was trying to get public opinion rallied for F-22 funding. The USAF called out of the blue. At first I thought it was a friend playing a joke on me. ā€œHow would you like to come down to Tyndall AFB and fly an F-15?ā€

If I ever do get my private pilotā€™s license (I was about to start 12 years ago when I found out my wife was pregnant and postponed it because dad responsibility), I have an official signed-off record that will let me log my first 1.5 hours of stick time as dual in a McDonnell-Douglas F-15D. :)

1810

I wish His Majestyā€™s Personal Flying Club would pull such stunts :-/

1811

I havenā€™t played it, but ā€œPilot Edgeā€ is another service featuring air traffic controllers talking to FSX and X-Plane pilots. My impression is that itā€™s even more serious than Vatsim. Its coverage is limited to areas in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, but it includes several big airports (LAX, SFO, Las Vegas) and lots of smaller ones. The reason for the more limited coverage is that Pilot Edge guarantees youā€™ll have ATC coverage throughout the covered area, during the serviceā€™s hours of operations (8 am to 11 pm PST).

http://www.pilotedge.net/

1812

Falcon 4 BMS ramp start successful.

It took me about 6 tries because I couldnā€™t figure out the UHF radio to talk to the tower. Iā€™ve never felt so relieved to hear the mechanical sound of a computer-generated female voice. The nice thing is I pretty much have the sequence memorized now.

1813

Nice! I was going to get into BMS with a buddy of mine, but neither of us could get either the in-game control mapping screen or the standalone control mapping tool to work.

1814

I remember you said you had some problems. I have an X52 Pro and found a recent thread in the Benchmark Sims forums that provided a Saitek profile and in-game key file that did everything I needed without much fuss.

Itā€™s a little screwy because either the custom key file or BMS has changed some of the default keys that show up in the tutorials. In fact, the most difficult thing so far is reconciling all the manuals. Iā€™m using the binder manual for historical purposes as I work my way through the training missions, then the Allied Force manual (which is mostly still relevant to BMS) for general issues and the BMS manuals for specific things like the new radio system. I think Iā€™ve struggled past the initial learning curve so now itā€™s a matter of studying specific things, such as landing and weapons systems. This is going to be fun.

1815

I also need to learn how airports work.

Funny story. When I couldnā€™t figure out the radio, I decided to try a taxiway start to make sure the radio worked there. I requested takeoff clearance and I was directed to runway 18. I wandered around until I saw the numbers 1-8 on a wide looking strip and thought ā€œoh cool, here it is!ā€ Then I turned to take off and ran into an AI jet who cut me off. We both exploded. Damn Korean drivers.

Once I finally figured out the ramp start, I requested clearance and I was directed to ā€œtaxiway 3-6ā€ or something like that. I thought that was the road I needed to take back to runway 18. I found a sign that said 36-18 so I took that turn.

ā€œPhantom 1-1, clear the runway!ā€

Oops. Apparently they can run planes in either direction. I made my way back and ran into about 15 planes crammed together at the end of the taxiway. I think they were waiting on me. There was an AWACS landing but he was so slow that I decided to scoot out in front of it to take off. Success!

If I was really in the air force, I wouldā€™ve gotten my ass kicked about five different times. :)

1816

Iā€™ve controlled on everything from an MPN-14K with PAR and ASR to (my fave) STARS mosaic displays. Iā€™m (sadly) currently doing tower junkā€¦blech.

That said, it is very hard to simulate ATC without running multiple controllers with multiple ā€œpilots,ā€ at least for radar. You have to have other controllers to interface with. Most fun is a standard approach-assist-arrival setup with some complex airspace so that you have to actually vector, though nominally airspace is set up to be canned.

I hear good things about VATSIM, FWIW. But ATC is so complex and frankly bizarre that I doubt there is much in the way of a fun game, or an accurate one. If you do ever have questions, let me know.

PS-Itā€™s a good career if youā€™re under 31.

1817

You know if the promised faithful remake of old rts homeworld is doing great on steam, perhaps good old flight games Tie-fighter and Falcon should, could, would get budgets for a sweet modern remake as well? :D <dreaming>

1818

Kennedy Approach, PC free download. I played it on the C-64 and loved it. As for newer ones, I donā€™t know.

Edit: But obviously there are. :-P

1819

Iā€™m reading Vipers in the Storm as a companion piece to Falcon 4. (I try to do this with wargames to appreciate the history and simulation behind them.)

I giggle with glee every time I recognize part of the procedure. What fun. I need to try mid-air refueling after reading the account of his 17 hour flight from South Carolina to Dubaiā€¦ and stretch my legs on the way to the bathroom.

1820

The funny thing about jets is they struggle with the same physics as WWI kites, only at much higher speed. In my mind I expected to be able to power out of any situation or retain control authority at any speed and orientation. Obviously it doesnā€™t work like that.

I suppose theyā€™re less likely to shatter in a steep dive. Thatā€™s always nice. The fly-by-wire controls also do a good job preventing deep stalls ā€“ which is kind of annoying when Iā€™m trying to induce one!