New Instructor page: "Touchdown"

[Hardy Heinlin]

Grammar note: here in the USA we'd say "aim for", not "aim at."

"Aim at" sounds like a physical target: aim your rifle at the target, aim your pea shooter at the teacher.

"Aim for" sounds like a goal: let's aim for success, aim for 100% customer satisfaction, aim for 50 fpm.

Agreed.

It all started with the threshold distance item because in that line the user should note that "0" is a bad value. So I started to add recommendations and wrote 1500 ft for the threshold distance. As the touchdown zone aiming point is sort of a target that you want to hit physically, I wrote "aim at ..." :-)

What's your opinion re "recommendations" in general? Is it "game style" or "just practical information" or ...? I see no reason why this should be "game style"; if the info is hidden in tooltips or manuals instead, the info is still the useful info that it is. I think game users are more game-style-phobic than professional users :-)


|-|

[Will]

To me, the recommendations seem like limitations, and those are generally found in the manual. So if you were planning on updating the manual, I'd include them there.

(Example: on the Aerodynamics page, you can make the aircraft very heavy, but there aren't any limitations given on the Aerodynamics page about structural MTOW. At least I don't think there are... I'm not home to check for sure.)

However, people will ask about the recommendations, so putting them where people can find them, such as on the Instructor Page, will give people the information they want.

I do not feel strongly about this either way.

[tango4]

Just one quick opinion of a non professional user:
I do feel it is a good idea to keep this information here because there are lots of different informations that are conveniently put together.
I agree I can find them in a manual but I feel it is really convenient to get them all at a glance. And as a non professional I do fly other sims with different aircraft so you can mix things easily. And if each time I plan using that feature, I know myself,  i'll have to go check agan for the values !

As usual this is just one opinion.

Charles

[Hardy Heinlin]

The Aerodynamics page is an exception because the display of limitations on that page would be too complicated: All the limitations for altitude, speed, stab trim, CG would be dynamic and change permanently. The Touchdown page, on the other hand, provides tips for flight training.


Now with "aim for":

[tango4]

Just to clarify I was only talking about this new touchdown page.
I totally agree with you regarding aerodynamics page.

Charles

[CarlBB]

I'm slightly with Peter - in that I might not always want to see my results !

But on a serious note - Hardy, that looks very good indeed (given I have been doing lots of landing practice in PSX)

Thanks

Carl

[G-CIVA]

I like the idea ... just a couple of thoughts ...

1) Could the status of the Autopilot & Autothrottle be displayed too?

i.e. connected or disconnected perhaps with the altitudes at which they were disconnected at?

2) If an Autoland was performed could this be indicated too?

[Will]

I second the idea of displaying the "automatic flight" status.

[Avi]

What for?
You get your last landing information. Don't you know your A/T and A/P status?

[G-CIVA]

Don't you know your A/T and A/P status?

Of course we do, but others will not.

The reality is that this little tool will be used to claim bragging rights by some in the virtual world, whether we/you/I choose to acknowledge or care about it for that matter.

By clearly indicating the status of the A/P & A/T during the landing phase we can remove some of the 'smoke & mirrors' from the data.

Best

Steve

[Hardy Heinlin]

Ha! :-) Those folks who want to brag with screenshots of this page can also use Photoshop any time :-)

The page is finished now, folks.


Regards,

|-|ardy

[cavaricooper]

Personally, I'm looking for a way to ensure no-one ever sees my page (esp. Peter)... Try as I may I just can't get below -275 consistently on standalone PSX... A bit better with the scenery generator- but LOTS more practice to do!



C

[Avi]

On one hand I can't wait to test myself with this page but on the other hand I fear this page may "break" people.
Most of the time I have good touchdown rates but now there are new things to check.

[G-CIVA]

I am sure the number crunchers will become 'target fixated' ... I agree with the 'aim for' statements.

A manual landing is an entirely visual manoeuvre in the end is it not? ... hence the 'relative ease' when PSX is coupled to a scenery generator with all of its associated visual queues versus PSX in 'standalone mode'.

[Hardy Heinlin]

If you have a large attitude indicator in front of you (not 2 meters away), and you scan this instrument reasonably, then just pull the nose smoothly to ca. 4° shortly before touchdown and ... poooof ... kiss landing. It's so easy ...

Who needs scenery? :-) The one runway is wider than the other; the wider one looks bigger and so you think you are closer to the ground. But you are not. Just listen to the height calls; they are always right.


|-|


One of my favourite situ files: 03 Approach 014 - Casablanca - CAT II manual.situ

[cavaricooper]

Hardy-

Will keep at it!  Headed to Casablanca (for the medicinal waters)

Ta- C

PS- I REALLY hope someone gets THAT reference

[Holger Wende]

Hi Hardy,

This new page is really helpful  - and very challenging of course  - thanks!

The "Deviation from VREF" was something I persoanally really missed quite some time.
The new Touchdown page encourages me to train even harder: More landings, more circuits... following the tutorial videos tips and tricks.
I love PSX!

Regards, Holger

[Hardy Heinlin]

Now available in PSX 10.0.9e:

http://aerowinx.com/board/index.php?topic=3685.0

[Will]

Looks great!

[torrence]

Hardy-

Will keep at it!  Headed to Casablanca (for the medicinal waters)

Ta- C

PS- I REALLY hope someone gets THAT reference

But, Rick, there are no waters in Casablanca!

(Or gambling going on in Rick's place.  So enjoy yourself anyway    )

Cheers,
Torrence (I was misinformed.)

EDIT _ I like the touchdown notes as.  The 'aim for/at' makes it clear these are typical numbers for information, not limits or world records or whatever..
T