Flight sim expo

Flight sim expo/TFM updates

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Welcome back! Last time we covered the new PMDG 737 cockpit panels window and our intent to list all converted panels in each update. During our time off, we went to Flight sim expo and had a great time. There is a little to cover, so let’s get started!

 

Flight sim expo

 

Flight sim expo was a great experience, and we plan on doing it again next year. The museum staff and expo volunteers did an excellent job helping out and accommodating us as blind visitors. We took a look at several exhibitors and have things to report.

 

Navigraph support

 

One of our main stops was the Navigraph booth. Everyone there had great things to say about Talking flight monitor. We had the time to explain what Talking flight monitor did for the BVI pilots community, which was one of the problems they had when we applied for access to the Navigraph database. As a result of talking to them in person, we are ever so close to getting access. At this time, I am in conversation with their CEO on where to save the nav data when it is available. He also pointed out that since FMS data manager is going away at the end of this year, and since it is not accessible for us, they are going to include us in the Navigraph HUB. We will keep everyone up to date on this matter when something new comes around.

 

Fly by wire A320N support

 

A new development came out of visiting Fly by wire’s booth. After talking to

their head developer, we discovered that we could support the A320N and the A388 when it is released. This would require pilots to make use of a helper utility called sim bridge. It comes with the A320N and is the mode in which we would access the FMC. The Fly by wire SDK is complete and well documented. The only thing we are waiting on is access to the EFB. Without it, it is impossible to set your Sim Brief user ID and access settings.

 

Beyond ATC

 

The Beyond ATC booth had a few things in store for us as well. After talking to the lead developer about accessibility problems BVI pilots ad with ATC software in the past, he was interested in making Beyond ATC completely accessible for assistive technology. We will see what is in store for us when it is released.

 

Talking flight monitor presentation

 

Our presentation went better than expected. I don’t know the final count on attendance, but we had a few key people present. Among them were the Navigraph CEO with two other managers, some active-duty pilots, some retired pilots, and some interested hobbyists. You can access the presentations from expo by accessing your flight sim expo account or waiting until the no-share clause of our agreement is no longer valid. Once this done, anyone can watch them on YouTube for free.

 

Talking flight monitor’s 3rd anniversary event

 

Talking flight monitor is now three years hold! Happy birthday TFM! This year’s event will take us from George Bush International (KIAH) to Toronto (CYYZ) on September 2, 2023. This is the first Saturday in September. Everyone should start parking at KIAH between 11:30AM and 12:00PM EST. We hope to have everyone off the ground no later than 1:00PM EST. This is a Vatsim event, but is not required for those who don’t want to use Vatsim as their ATC. For those who want to watch the event streamed live, we will stream it live from our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@talkingflightmonitor).

 

Development down time

 

I am having surgery on August 2, 2023. There will be at least a week of down time for initial recovery, so there will be no development progress during this time. I will reevaluate my recovery progress after the first week to see if resuming work is possible. I will keep everyone updated on my progress. My problem is not serious or critical, so I will remain stable through the recovery time. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers – I hate general anesthetic!

 

 

Talking flight monitor updates

 

Now, on to Talking flight monitor updates. July has been busy, so not much in terms of development has happened. We do have a new jump to runway, jump to gate, and destination runway dialog available. We will cover jump to gate and destination runway. Jump to runway has no new features at this time.

 

Jump to gate

 

Jump to gate is a dialog where pilots can enter an airport code and get a list of gates and ramps available at the given airport. In the current release of Talking flight monitor, pilots have to sift through gates and ramps to find a suitable gate or ramp to park. In the new version, pilots have the ability to narrow down the list of interested gates or ramps, making it easier to find one to use.

 

Destination runway

 

Destination runway is a feature that gives pilots the ability to track ILS landings with heading and altitudes instead of percentages. In the current release, pilots enter their destination airport code, choose an ILS runway and press OK. When the ILS becomes active, Talking flight monitor will start reporting ILS tracking information in heading and altitude values. In the event the system crashes or restarts, pilots have to choose their destination runway once again. This could cause problems on descent or on final approach. In the new version, pilots still enter their destination airport code and choose an available runway. However, we expanded the list of runways to include ILS and LOC only approaches. New in the destination runway dialog is a checkbox allowing the pilot to save their current destination runway for future use. When checked, the system will save the chosen airport and runway. We also included a new key command ‘destination runway info’. To access this new feature, press right bracket (]), then the letter N on the keyboard. This will announce information about the current destination runway. Now, there are safety nets in place if the system crashes or the pilot is forced to restart.

 

We don’t have a release date for the new Talking flight monitor, but we will keep everyone updated as we make progress. We hope to see you in the next blog post. Happy flying, and if you need anything, send us a contact us form on the website.

 

PMDG 737 cockpit window, panels list

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Welcome back to this week’s blog post. There is a lot in store for this week, so let’s get started. We put some heavy work into the PMDG 737 cockpit window, and got some panels converted. We will take a look below.

 

Tracking panel progress

 

It isn’t easy keeping track of panels and their progress when they are scattered over several blog posts. So, from now on, each blog post will list all of the completed cockpit panels, even if they were mentioned in previous posts. This will make it easier for everyone to keep track of a single list. Here are the finished panels at this point.

 

  • Overhead: ADIRU.
  • Overhead: CVR (formerly flight recorder).
  • Overhead: Dome lights.
  • Overhead: EEC.
  • Overhead: Gear.
  • Overhead: Oxygen.
  • MCP box: Altitude.
  • MCP box: Heading.
  • MCP box: Speed.
  • MCP box: Nav aids (formerly navigation or flight controls).
  • MCP box: Vertical speed.
  • CDU/FMC.
  • Transponder window.
  • Trim window.

 

PMDG 737 cockpit window

 

We spent a lot of time working on the PMDG 737 cockpit window and came up with some features that make the cockpit panels easier to use. Here is a list of them. Watch the video to see a demo of them at work.

 

  • Search for panels by keyword (F2)
  • Focus the panels tree (F3).
  • Clear search results (F4).
  • Factory reset panels (F5) [see below].
  • Rearrange panels (CONTROL+UP/CONTROL+DOWN).
  • Sort ascending or descending (Panels tree context menu).
  • Save layout (Close the window or panels tree context menu).

 

We look forward to seeing you for the next blog post. Don’t forget to register for FlightSim expo going on later this month in Houston TX USA. We hope to see you there!

TFM rebuild, new user interface

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It has been a while since we last posted. We have been quite busy getting some fun and interesting things done with TFM. The big news: A new user interface! The rest of the blog post will explain.

 

Upgrading to dotnet 7.0

 

TFM currently uses dotnet framework 4.8, which is fairly old. The concern is when Microsoft discontinues support for dotnet 4.8, TFM will no longer get security fixes and critical bug fixes in its underlying libraries. Some time after that, TFM may no longer be safe to use from a security standpoint. Considering this, it would benefit us to upgrade TFM to dotnet 7.0. It is the newest .net framework, is more secure, implements current programming practices, and is generally faster than .net 4.8. We recommend anyone who uses or is interested in TFM, install the dotnet 7.0 runtime.

 

A new user interface

 

Along with the dotnet 7.0 upgrade, we are switching out TFM’s current user interface elements for new ones. As a result, you will notice a few things.

 

  • We have to back track through TFM and rebuild its UI, so new features are currently on hold.
  • The current preview is no longer supported. When we get significant portions of the new TFM done, we will release preview builds as before.
  • Portions of the new TFM are the same as the current version, and other portions are significantly different than before.
  • Any bugs reported on the official and preview builds are held for historical sake, and won’t be fixed in 23.3 releases. They will be carried over to the new TFM, provided they are present going forward.

 

Users should see a significant increase in speed, less errors and bugs, and more stability from the new user interface. We are also increasing TFM’s accessibility with assistive technology such as screen readers, braille displays, and magnifiers.

 

What’s new?

 

There are limitless possibilities with the new user interface elements we are now using. The below list outlines some new features in the new user interface.

 

  • It is generally faster than the old one.
  • If a control has a key command, it can be clearly labeled.
  • Generally, we can fix long standing bugs in the old TFM.
  • New features are easier to build, and will take less time.
  • TFM won’t be as resource intense as the old one.

 

We aren’t putting any deadline on the conversion. We ask everyone be patient and wait until we say that the new user interface is safe to use.

 

New TFM features

 

As already mentioned, TFM can bring you new features with the new dotnet upgrade and user interface rebuild. Here are some of the new features we are working on.

 

FMC new features

 

  • Faster performance. The new FMC is roughly 3 times faster than the old one.
  • Increased refresh rate from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • The caret remains at its current location in the display after an auto refresh.
  • Includes an indicator that displays the current line select keys in use. A = alternate; d = default.
  • Change line select key sets on the fly with CTRL+L while working in the FMC.
  • All controls have clearly labeled names and key commands.
  • Pressing ENTER now types the scratchpad text into the FMC.
  • Pressing the clear button clears the TFM and PMDG scratchpad. When the scratchpad is cleared, TFM announces that it is now clear.
  • The font size increases or decreases as the FMC window size changes.

In general, you will see some of the following new features.

 

  • Controls in a window, especially small ones, will resize as the window resizes.
  • New controls such as a toggle button. Instead of using the words ‘on’ or ‘off’ for on/off controls, TFM can now use the pressed state of a toggle button to indicate the on/off state of an aircraft switch. An example is auto throttle. If TFM announces ‘auto throttle button pressed,’ it means auto throttle is turned on. Otherwise, it is turned off. This eliminates the old indicators which were bulky and time consuming to use.
  • TFM can now indicate the state of an aircraft switch with color. If the switch is on (toggle button pressed), it changes the background color to green and the text on the button to white. This makes it easier for sighted users to spot turned on switches.

 

There is much more possible than what we can put in a blog post. However, we will keep everyone updated on the current status of the new TFM redesign.

 

Flightsim expo

 

Don’t forget FlightSim expo on June 23-25, 2023. We are presenting on Sunday June 25 at 10:00AM EST. The entire weekend of presentations is streamed live if you register for online access. We hope to see you in person. If not, we will see you online!

 

SimBrief, first officer, and Flight sim expo 2023

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Life has been busy over the past few weeks. Most of it related to TFM. This week’s blog post isn’t going to be very long. However, it has important points to take note of during the next few months. Our main topics this week are concerns about first officer pro/next, SimBrief, and SimFlight Expo in June 2023.

 

What about the PMDG 747?

 

We will continue support for the PMDG 747 series. However, other matters take priority. We will continue the 747 later this spring/summer. See the following sections for the reasons why we postponed the 747 cycle.

 

Concerns about first officer pro/next

 

We aren’t involved with first officer pro/next development. However, we did make some recommendations some time ago on how to make FSO more accessible. Unfortunately, most of those recommendations weren’t implemented, nor plan to be implemented any time soon. This is a cause for concern in the future. To address those concerns, we started working on our own first officer. So far, it is for the PMDG 737. We are starting with manual flows, then will work into auto flows later on. There isn’t a time on when it will be finished, so stay tuned in for future updates. The reasons why we pushed first officer/flows to the top of the list are below.

 

  • Accessibility is an unknown in future first officer updates.
  • It appears that first officer pro/next is expanding into other things, straying away from a first officer addon.
  • First officer seems to progressively get more difficult to understand and use.

 

SimBrief support

 

We are starting support for the popular SimBrief flight planning service found at www.simbrief.com. To support the first officer features in the PMDG 737, we have to move SimBrief support to the top of the list, pushing the PMDG 747 down to the bottom of the to-do list. So far, TFM has support for the basic parts of the navlog in the flight plan. For those who build TFM from source, you can find the navlog by validating your SimBrief user ID (a 6+ digit number) in TFM settings, then pressing right bracket, then CONTROL+SHIFT+B to open the SimBrief flight plan window. Note that the SimBrief flight plan window is under development and will change before it comes out in a preview build.

 

Flight sim expo

 

We are getting ready for Flight Sim Expo in June of 2023. The Expo takes place in Houston Texas, United States from June 23 – 25 2023. We are on the schedule and will give an update on TFM since the last time it was presented at Flight sim expo. For those attending in person, we will be there to meet you face-to-face. We hope to see you there. Updates on presentation time will be announced when we are close to that time.

 

PMDG 737 rebuild series, week 18: Vatsim mode, Flight sim expo 2022, Fall 2022 survey

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It is hard to believe time passes so quickly. However, we are already at week 18 in our PMDG 737 rebuild series. This week, we have been working on the new Vatsim mode mentioned last week. We also are applying to be a presenter/speaker at the 2023 Flight sim expo in Houston Texas. Finally, we want to announce the upcoming fall 2022 survey, explained later. With the exciting news let out of the bag, let’s get started!

 

Vatsim mode

 

Vatsim is a virtual network of people getting together as pilots and air traffic controllers to provide a realistic flying experience in the simulator. We were given a web service that provides traffic and controller data provided by Vatsim. TFM is going to make use of this data, turning it into a Vatsim mode.

So far, the live traffic tab of the TFM radar is working. You can see the callsign, distance to the pilot, altitude, heading, bearing to the listed pilot’s location, their ground speed, and the rank or pilot rating for each person in the list. You can filter out pilots beyond a provided distance, much like a live radar works. For instance, typing ‘600’ in the radar distance box will only list pilots that are 600NM or less from your current location. We plan on adding other features to the radar. Some of the improvements include column sorting, filtering based on a column, and the ability to reorder columns in the lists.

 

Flight sim expo 2023

 

We are applying to be a speaker at Flight sim expo 2023. If approved, at least one of us will make the trip to Houston TX to give the presentation. To anyone who is going, we would like to meet you in person. We will let readers know more when we know the next steps to follow.

 

Fall survey 2022

 

Each year, we put out a survey that asks community members to affirm our direction over the next year. The survey typically asks questions about the direction of existing projects such as the PMDG 737 rebuild series, future plans, and queries users about new projects. This year’s survey will be available after Oct 1 2022, and will end on the last day of November 2022. When it becomes available, we ask everyone take 5-10 minutes and complete it. The answers do help us during the next year.

We will see everyone during week 19 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series. Stay tuned!