The Flightgear Manual
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The FlightGear Manual Michael Basler, Martin Spott, Stuart Buchanan, Jon Berndt, Bernhard Buckel, Cameron Moore, Curt Olson, Dave Perry, Michael Selig, Darrell Walisser, and others The FlightGear Manual February 22, 2010 For FlightGear version 2.0.0 2 Contents 0.1 Condensed Reading.........................6 0.2 Instructions For the Truly Impatient................6 0.3 Further Reading...........................6 I Installation9 1 Want to have a free flight? Take FlightGear! 11 1.1 Yet Another Flight Simulator?................... 11 1.2 System Requirements........................ 14 1.3 Choosing A Version......................... 15 1.4 Flight Dynamics Models...................... 16 1.5 About This Guide.......................... 16 2 Preflight: Installing FlightGear 19 2.1 Installing scenery.......................... 19 2.1.1 MS Windows Vista/7.................... 20 2.1.2 Mac OS X......................... 20 2.1.3 FG_SCENERY....................... 20 2.1.4 Fetch Scenery as you fly.................. 21 2.1.5 Creating your own Scenery................. 22 2.2 Installing aircraft.......................... 22 2.3 Installing documentation...................... 22 II Flying with FlightGear 25 3 Takeoff: How to start the program 27 3.1 Environment Variables....................... 27 3.1.1 FG_ROOT......................... 27 3.1.2 FG_SCENERY....................... 27 3.1.3 Environment Variables on Windows and Mac OS X.... 27 3.2 Launching the simulator under Unix/Linux............ 28 3.3 Launching the simulator under Windows.............. 29 3.3.1 Launching from the command line............. 30 3 4 CONTENTS 3.4 Launching the simulator under Mac OS X............. 30 3.4.1 Selecting an aircraft and an airport............. 31 3.4.2 Enabling on-the-fly scenery downloading......... 31 3.4.3 Enabling Navigation Map (Atlas)............. 31 3.4.4 Launching FlightGear - the simulator........... 31 3.4.5 Advanced Features..................... 32 3.4.6 Launching from the command line............. 36 3.5 Command line parameters..................... 37 3.5.1 General Options...................... 37 3.5.2 Features........................... 38 3.5.3 Sound............................ 38 3.5.4 Aircraft........................... 39 3.5.5 Flight model........................ 39 3.5.6 Initial Position and Orientation............... 40 3.5.7 Environment Options.................... 41 3.5.8 Rendering Options..................... 42 3.5.9 HUD Options........................ 44 3.5.10 Aircraft System Options.................. 44 3.5.11 Time Options........................ 45 3.5.12 Network Options...................... 45 3.5.13 Route/Waypoint Options.................. 46 3.5.14 IO Options......................... 46 3.5.15 Debugging options..................... 47 3.6 Joystick support........................... 48 3.6.1 Built-in joystick support.................. 48 3.6.2 Joystick support via .fgfsrc entries............. 55 4 In-flight: All about instruments, keystrokes and menus 57 4.1 Starting the engine......................... 57 4.1.1 Piston Aircraft....................... 57 4.1.2 Turboprop Aircraft..................... 58 4.1.3 Jet Aircraft......................... 58 4.2 Keyboard controls.......................... 58 4.2.1 Aircraft controls...................... 58 4.2.2 Simulator controls..................... 59 4.2.3 Autopilot controls..................... 60 4.3 Mouse-controlled actions...................... 61 4.3.1 Normal mode........................ 61 4.3.2 Control mode........................ 62 4.3.3 View mode......................... 62 4.4 Menu entries............................ 62 4.5 The Instrument Panel........................ 67 4.6 The Head Up Display........................ 68 CONTENTS 5 5 Features 69 5.1 Multiplayer............................. 69 5.1.1 Quick Start......................... 69 5.1.2 Troubleshooting...................... 70 5.2 Aircraft Carrier........................... 71 5.2.1 Starting on the Carrier................... 71 5.2.2 Launching from the Catapult................ 72 5.2.3 Finding the Carrier - TACAN............... 72 5.2.4 Landing on the Carrier................... 73 5.3 Atlas................................. 73 5.4 Multiple Displays.......................... 74 5.5 Multiple Computer......................... 74 5.5.1 Setup............................ 74 5.5.2 Basic Configuration.................... 74 5.5.3 Advanced Configuration.................. 75 5.6 Recording and Playback...................... 75 5.7 Text to Speech with Festival.................... 76 5.7.1 Installing the Festival system................ 76 5.7.2 Running FlightGear with Voice Support.......... 76 5.7.3 Troubleshooting...................... 77 5.7.4 Installing more voices................... 77 5.8 Air-Air Refuelling......................... 78 5.8.1 Setup............................ 79 5.8.2 Multiplayer Refueling................... 80 III Tutorials 81 6 Tutorials 83 6.1 In-flight Tutorials.......................... 83 6.1.1 Cessna 172P tutorials.................... 84 6.2 FlightGear Tutorials......................... 84 6.3 Other Tutorials........................... 84 7 A Basic Flight Simulator Tutorial 87 7.1 Foreword.............................. 87 7.2 Starting Up............................. 88 7.2.1 MS Windows........................ 88 7.2.2 Linux and other unices................... 89 7.2.3 In the dark?......................... 90 7.3 The First Challenge - Flying Straight................ 90 7.4 Basic Turns............................. 97 7.5 Taxiing on the ground........................ 98 7.5.1 Airspeed.......................... 99 6 CONTENTS 7.6 Advanced Turns........................... 102 7.7 A Bit of Wieheisterology...................... 103 7.7.1 Engine control....................... 103 7.7.2 Wings and speed...................... 107 7.7.3 The flaps.......................... 109 7.7.4 The stall........................... 110 7.7.5 The trim........................... 111 7.7.6 What direction am I flying?................ 112 7.7.7 A look around the panel.................. 113 7.8 Let’s Fly............................... 115 7.8.1 A realistic take off..................... 115 7.8.2 Landing........................... 116 7.8.3 Engine Shutdown...................... 119 7.8.4 Aborted Landing...................... 119 7.9 Dealing with the Wind....................... 120 7.9.1 Crosswind Take Off.................... 121 7.9.2 Crosswind Landing..................... 122 7.9.3 Taxiing in the Wind..................... 123 7.10 The autopilot............................ 124 7.11 What Next?............................. 125 7.12 Thanks................................ 125 7.13 Flying Other Aircraft........................ 126 7.13.1 How to land the Cherokee Warrior II............ 126 7.13.2 How to take off and land the Piper J3 Cub......... 127 7.13.3 How to take off and land a jet............... 128 7.13.4 How to take off and land the P-51D Mustang....... 133 7.13.5 How to take off and land the B-52 Stratofortress..... 134 8 A Cross Country Flight Tutorial 137 8.1 Introduction............................. 137 8.1.1 Disclaimer and Thanks................... 137 8.2 Flight Planning........................... 138 8.3 Getting Up............................. 140 8.3.1 Pre-Flight.......................... 140 8.3.2 ATIS............................ 140 8.3.3 Radios........................... 141 8.3.4 Altimeter and Compass................... 143 8.3.5 Take-Off.......................... 144 8.4 Cruising............................... 144 8.4.1 The Autopilot........................ 144 8.4.2 Navigation......................... 145 8.4.3 Mixture........................... 145 8.5 Getting Down............................ 148 8.5.1 Air Traffic Control..................... 148 CONTENTS 7 8.5.2 The Traffic Pattern..................... 149 8.5.3 Approach.......................... 150 8.5.4 VASI............................ 151 8.5.5 Go Around......................... 152 8.5.6 Clearing the Runway.................... 153 9 An IFR Cross Country Flight Tutorial 155 9.1 Introduction............................. 155 9.1.1 Disclaimer......................... 156 9.2 Before Takeoff........................... 156 9.2.1 Flight Planning....................... 156 9.2.2 VHF Omnidirectional Range................ 157 9.2.3 Takeoff........................... 161 9.3 In the Air.............................. 161 9.3.1 George I.......................... 161 9.3.2 MISON Impossible..................... 162 9.3.3 George II.......................... 164 9.3.4 Staying the Course..................... 165 9.3.5 Yet More Cross-Checks.................. 165 9.4 Getting Down............................ 166 9.4.1 Instrument Approach Procedures.............. 167 9.4.2 Nondirectional Beacons.................. 167 9.4.3 Procedure Turn....................... 171 9.4.4 Chasing the Needle..................... 172 9.4.5 FOOTO Time........................ 173 9.4.6 George III.......................... 174 9.4.7 ILS Landings........................ 174 9.4.8 Intercepting the Localizer................. 175 9.4.9 Intercepting the Glide Slope................ 176 9.4.10 Touchdown, Almost.................... 177 9.4.11 A Confession........................ 177 9.4.12 Touchdown, Not...................... 177 9.4.13 Touchdown......................... 178 9.5 Epilogue............................... 180 10 A Helicopter Tutorial 183 10.1 Preface............................... 183 10.2 Getting started............................ 184 10.3 Lift-Off............................... 185 10.4 In the air..............................