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 January 21, 2016 For FlightGear version 3.6.0 2 Contents 1 Preface9 1.1 Condensed Reading......................... 10 1.2 Instructions For the Truly Impatient................ 10 1.3 Further Reading........................... 11 I Installation 13 2 Want to have a free flight? Take FlightGear! 15 2.1 Yet Another Flight Simulator?................... 15 2.2 System Requirements........................ 18 2.3 Choosing A Version......................... 19 2.4 Flight Dynamics Models...................... 20 2.5 About This Guide.......................... 21 3 Preflight: Installing FlightGear 23 3.1 Installing scenery.......................... 23 3.1.1 MS Windows Vista/7.................... 24 3.1.2 Mac OS X......................... 24 3.1.3 FG_SCENERY....................... 25 3.1.4 Fetch Scenery as you fly.................. 25 3.1.5 Creating your own Scenery................. 26 3.2 Installing aircraft.......................... 26 3.3 Installing documentation...................... 26 II Flying with FlightGear 29 4 Takeoff: How to start the program 31 4.1 Launching the simulator...................... 31 4.2 Launching from the command line................. 34 4.2.1 FG_ROOT......................... 35 4.2.2 FG_SCENERY....................... 35 4.2.3 Launching the simulator under Windows......... 35 3 4 CONTENTS 4.2.4 Launching the simulator under Unix/Linux........ 35 4.2.5 Launching the simulator under Mac OS X......... 36 4.3 Command line parameters..................... 37 4.3.1 General Options...................... 37 4.3.2 Features........................... 38 4.3.3 Sound............................ 38 4.3.4 Aircraft........................... 39 4.3.5 Flight model........................ 39 4.3.6 Initial Position and Orientation............... 40 4.3.7 Environment Options.................... 41 4.3.8 Rendering Options..................... 42 4.3.9 HUD Options........................ 44 4.3.10 Aircraft System Options.................. 45 4.3.11 Time Options........................ 45 4.3.12 Network Options...................... 46 4.3.13 Route/Waypoint Options.................. 46 4.3.14 IO Options......................... 46 4.3.15 Debugging options..................... 48 4.4 Joystick support........................... 48 5 In-flight: All about instruments, keystrokes and menus 51 5.1 Starting the engine......................... 51 5.1.1 Piston Aircraft....................... 51 5.1.2 Turboprop Aircraft..................... 52 5.1.3 Jet Aircraft......................... 52 5.2 Keyboard controls.......................... 52 5.2.1 Aircraft controls...................... 52 5.2.2 Simulator controls..................... 53 5.2.3 Autopilot controls..................... 54 5.3 Mouse-controlled actions...................... 55 5.3.1 Normal mode........................ 55 5.3.2 Control mode........................ 55 5.3.3 View mode......................... 56 5.4 Menu entries............................ 56 5.5 The Instrument Panel........................ 61 5.6 The Head Up Display........................ 62 6 Features 65 6.1 Multiplayer............................. 65 6.1.1 Quick Start......................... 65 6.1.2 Other Methods....................... 65 6.1.3 Troubleshooting...................... 66 6.2 Aircraft Carrier........................... 67 6.2.1 Starting on the Carrier................... 68 CONTENTS 5 6.2.2 Launching from the Catapult................ 68 6.2.3 Finding the Carrier - TACAN............... 68 6.2.4 Landing on the Carrier................... 69 6.3 Atlas................................. 69 6.4 Multiple Displays.......................... 70 6.5 Multiple Computer......................... 70 6.5.1 Setup............................ 70 6.5.2 Basic Configuration.................... 70 6.5.3 Advanced Configuration.................. 71 6.6 Recording and Playback...................... 71 6.7 Text to Speech with Festival.................... 72 6.7.1 Installing the Festival system................ 72 6.7.2 Running FlightGear with Voice Support.......... 72 6.7.3 Troubleshooting...................... 73 6.7.4 Installing more voices................... 73 6.8 Air-Air Refuelling......................... 74 6.8.1 Setup............................ 75 6.8.2 Multiplayer Refueling................... 76 III Tutorials 77 7 Tutorials 79 7.1 In-flight Tutorials.......................... 79 7.1.1 Cessna 172P tutorials.................... 80 7.2 FlightGear Tutorials......................... 80 7.3 Other Tutorials........................... 80 8 A Basic Flight Simulator Tutorial 83 8.1 Foreword.............................. 83 8.2 Starting Up............................. 84 8.2.1 MS Windows........................ 84 8.2.2 Linux and other unices................... 85 8.2.3 In the dark?......................... 86 8.3 The First Challenge - Flying Straight................ 86 8.4 Basic Turns............................. 93 8.5 Taxiing on the ground........................ 94 8.5.1 Airspeed.......................... 95 8.6 Advanced Turns........................... 97 8.7 A Bit of Wieheisterology...................... 99 8.7.1 Engine control....................... 99 8.7.2 Wings and speed...................... 102 8.7.3 The flaps.......................... 104 8.7.4 The stall........................... 105 6 CONTENTS 8.7.5 The trim........................... 106 8.7.6 What direction am I flying?................ 107 8.7.7 A look around the panel.................. 108 8.8 Let’s Fly............................... 111 8.8.1 A realistic take off..................... 111 8.8.2 Landing........................... 112 8.8.3 Engine Shutdown...................... 114 8.8.4 Aborted Landing...................... 115 8.9 Dealing with the Wind....................... 115 8.9.1 Crosswind Take Off.................... 117 8.9.2 Crosswind Landing..................... 118 8.9.3 Taxiing in the Wind..................... 118 8.10 The autopilot............................ 119 8.11 What Next?............................. 120 8.12 Thanks................................ 121 8.13 Flying Other Aircraft........................ 121 8.13.1 How to land the Cherokee Warrior II............ 122 8.13.2 How to take off and land the Piper J3 Cub......... 123 8.13.3 How to take off and land a jet............... 124 8.13.4 How to take off and land the P-51D Mustang....... 128 8.13.5 How to take off and land the B-52 Stratofortress..... 129 9 A Cross Country Flight Tutorial 131 9.1 Introduction............................. 131 9.1.1 Disclaimer and Thanks................... 131 9.2 Flight Planning........................... 132 9.3 Getting Up............................. 134 9.3.1 Pre-Flight.......................... 134 9.3.2 ATIS............................ 134 9.3.3 Radios........................... 135 9.3.4 Altimeter and Compass................... 137 9.3.5 Take-Off.......................... 138 9.4 Cruising............................... 138 9.4.1 The Autopilot........................ 138 9.4.2 Navigation......................... 139 9.4.3 Mixture........................... 140 9.5 Getting Down............................ 141 9.5.1 Air Traffic Control..................... 141 9.5.2 The Traffic Pattern..................... 142 9.5.3 Approach.......................... 144 9.5.4 VASI............................ 145 9.5.5 Go Around......................... 146 9.5.6 Clearing the Runway.................... 146 CONTENTS 7 10 An IFR Cross Country Flight Tutorial 147 10.1 Introduction............................. 147 10.1.1 Disclaimers......................... 148 10.2 Before Takeoff........................... 148 10.2.1 Flight Planning....................... 148 10.2.2 VHF Omnidirectional Range................ 149 10.2.3 How High Are We Really?................. 152 10.3 Takeoff............................... 153 10.4 In the Air.............................. 153 10.4.1 George I.......................... 153 10.4.2 MISON Impossible..................... 154 10.4.3 George II.......................... 156 10.4.4 Staying the Course..................... 157 10.4.5 Yet More Cross-Checks.................. 157 10.5 Getting Down............................ 158 10.5.1 Instrument Approach Procedures.............. 159 10.5.2 Nondirectional Beacons.................. 161 10.5.3 Procedure Turn....................... 163 10.5.4 Chasing the Needle..................... 164 10.5.5 FOOTO Time........................ 165 10.5.6 George III.......................... 166 10.5.7 ILS Landings........................ 166 10.5.8 Intercepting the Localizer................. 167 10.5.9 Intercepting the Glide Slope................ 168 10.5.10 Touchdown, Almost.................... 169 10.5.11 A Confession........................ 169 10.5.12 Touchdown, Not...................... 170 10.5.13 Touchdown......................... 170 10.6 Epilogue............................... 171 11 A Helicopter Tutorial 175 11.1 Preface............................... 175 11.2 Getting started............................ 176 11.3 Lift-Off............................... 177 11.4 In the air............................... 177 11.5 Back to Earth I........................... 178 11.6 Back to Earth II........................... 178 IV Appendices 181 A Missed approach: If anything refuses to work 183 A.1 FlightGear Problem Reports.................... 183 A.2 General problems.......................... 184 8 CONTENTS A.3 Potential problems under Linux..................