Navigraph

Post surgery update/P3D support

by

In last month’s blog post, we covered the heartbeat of Talking flight monitor and what it will take to address existing bugs and to do an in-place upgrade of the entire system. This week, we will update everyone on my surgery and provide some important news about supporting P3D and Navigraph.

 

Surgery update

 

Surgery went well. The doctor wants me off my feet for at least four weeks. This means I can do light weight activities inside. He put a limit on how long I can be on my feet, including how long I can sit at a desk during the day. As a result, I had limited time with my laptop, until my wife found a workaround. Now, I can “sit at my desk” as long as possible. This still means limited times because sitting on the couch with my feet up on my desk chair stresses out my back after a while. At least it is as many times during the day as I want. Doing flights is easy because I can be at my desk until autopilot takes over, then move to the couch. I will keep everyone updated on the next stage of recovery with the next blog post.

 

Navigraph support

 

Talking flight monitor is now added to the Navigraph HUB. Anyone with a subscription should be able to add the current cycle. This is only for the source builds though. If you would like to build from source to test bleeding edge code, follow the directions found at Building TFM from source. We are currently adding support for the database, so no new features will arrive until this is finished and tested.

 

P3D support

 

P3D 6 was released sometime last month. Some significant changes were made to improve the P3D framework and scenery. However, these changes broke support for the PMDG line of aircraft. In other words, PMDG aircraft do not work in P3d6. PMDG announced that after trying to add support for P3D 6, they had deeper problems than just changing some installer files. In the same announcement, they stated that revisiting this problem wouldn’t happen until the 777 and 747 were added to MSFS. This puts the timeframe sometime in mid or late 2024. As reported in the announcement, PMDG most likely won’t continue support for P3D if the changes require too many resources or too much time. Since MSFS arrived on the scene, the market share for P3D 4 and later has significantly declined. Even though more addons and scenery exist for P3D than MSFS, more addons are being altered or newly developed for MSFS. This brings us to Talking flight monitor’s placement in the market.

Talking flight monitor strives to support as many simulators as possible. However, we are also limited in time and resources. Since market value of P3D is declining in favor of MSFS, and PMDG doesn’t support P3d 6, we are not supporting P3D 6 nor continuing new development on P3D 5. Any new development in Talking flight monitor will be focused on MSFS. Keep the following in mind.

 

  • When features are identical in both simulators, we will support P3D5 and earlier.
  • If Talking flight monitor works in P3D6, it is at your own risk.
  • As long as the PMDG SDKs are the same or close to the same, we will support the P3D versions.
  • When the PMDG SDKs are drastically different, the MSFS versions take priority.
  • Navigraph support is independent of a simulator, so works in both P3D and MSFS.
  • We will not support Aerosoft products.
  • We do not support FS2Crew or similar products.
  • We do not support the PMDG DC6, TS4xxx, or similar aircraft.
  • Support for Osobo aircraft requires an evaluation.

Again, we will do our best to keep P3D5 and earlier support going. However, we can’t make promises to the effect. We hope everyone understands our decision to back off on P3D support. In the event PMDG does support P3D 6, we will reassess the situation.

 

Flight sim expo/TFM updates

by

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 747 week 3 roundup

by

Welcome to week 3 of the PMDG 747 rebuild series. This week has given us some ups and downs. However, we made it through the week with some interesting changes to TFM. So, read on for some fun and potentially not so fun updates.

 

Changing the blog series name

 

Since we started the blog series on the PMDG 737, we have introduced new features and bug fixes not related directly to the 737. It is the same with the 747. We are introducing new features and fixing bugs not directly related to the 747. Keep in mind, we are still working on the 747. We are also working on things not related to PMDG aircraft. Given this, we are thinking of changing the series name to “TFM updates, week X” or something similar. If you have any other ideas, feel free to drop us a line on the contact form on the website.

 

What happened to Navigraph?

 

Some users might have seen the GitHub commits mentioning the removal of the Navigraph support in TFM. This is true. Navigraph has taken forever to get back to us about adding Navigraph support to TFM. Since they are taking forever and we aren’t using it anyways, we removed support for it. In the event we are able to make use of it, we will add it back into TFM.

 

PMDG 747 changes

 

Since we have been working in other areas of TFM, the 747 hasn’t gotten much attention. There are a few things to mention.

 

  • The Overhead Maint/Electrical panel buttons now work.
  • Added the Overhead Maint/Fuel panel, described below.

Overhead Maint/Fuel panel

 

This panel is self explanatory. It only has two buttons listed below.

 

ALT+S – Scavenge pump. Press SPACE or ENTER to toggle.

ALT+R – RSV 2-3 transfer. Press SPACE or ENTER to toggle.

 

While looking through the SDK, there are some controls or entire panels that have write-only controls on them. This means we can provide a setting, but can’t read the setting. These controls and panels aren’t much use to BVI pilots, so we will leave them out of TFM until PMDG can provide an outlet for reading the existing setting of these controls and panels. In the Overhead Maint panel, the following panels are left out of TFM until further notice.

 

  • EEC
  • EMU (748 only)
  • APU startup source (748 only)

Weather changes

 

Since we are working on other things along with the PMDG aircraft, we decided to start putting weather tracking into TFM. Adding weather is nice because we can add a few things at a time until the weather services are exhausted. Here are the weather events added this week. The below are added to the request wind command which will be renamed in a future release.

 

  • Visibility in knotts.
  • Turbulence level, none, moderate, severe, or extreme.
  • Precipitation level, none, light, moderate, heavy, very heavy.
  • Precipitation type, none, rain, snow, or hail.

We also added the ability for TFM to automatically announce when the aircraft enters/exits a cloud. The precipitation level/type will get added in a future release.

 

Bug fixes for this week

 

  • The PMDG 737 now only displays its own heading box. Previously, it would display the heading window for freeware aircraft instead of its own.
  • The rebuild database button in TFM’s airports database settings is now ‘build database’. Previously, it had the confusing name ‘rebuild database’.
  • The build database will only display if either P3D or MSFS is loaded into a cockpit. Previously, it would be displayed even if there were no simulators loaded. Pressing the build database button without a loaded simulator forced TFM to crash.

 

Other changes

 

  • Read instrumentation now works. Press right bracket (]), then SHIFT+M to toggle it on and off.
  • When using ‘Where am I?’ right bracket (]), then SHIFT+C while on a runway will now give the runway distance in feet.

 

What about the 737 comms panels?

 

We are still working on the comms/audio panels. There is a sequence of events we have to figure out to make the microphones and receivers change frequency type. We will keep everyone updated as things move along.

 

 

PMDG 737 rebuild series week 16: Glare shield updates, MCP boxes, installer, and test panels

by

In week 15 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series, we covered the warnings segment of the glare shield, the new 22.9.1 preview build, upcoming Navigraph support, and potential areas of need such as comms and navigation panels. This week, we will focus on the MCP (autopilot). The TFM installer will make a brief appearance as well.

 

The MCP/autopilot

 

In the current builds of TFM, the MCP is split into major segments such as speed, vertical speed, heading, and altitude. You can access these segments by pressing various keys on the keyboard. For example, left bracket ([), then SHIFT+S brings up the MCP speed controls. In the MCP speed box, you will find various controls related to speed. Most of them relate to the autopilot speed controls, but not always is this the case. In the new MCP boxes, you will find more controls, especially the speed box. Before we get into the controls found on the MCP boxes, I will let everyone know that some features of the MCP/autopilot is not yet finished. We still have to connect the MCP to the glare shield, then validate that the altitude, vertical speed, and heading boxes work as expected. Now, on with the features of the MCP and its controls.

 

Speed box

 

The speed box controls horizontal speed. You can set indicated airspeed, mach speed, and more in the speed box. A few new additions to the PMDG 737 MCP speed controls include the autobrake, speed brake, and spoilers A and B. Below are the keyboard shortcuts for the speed box controls. To use the speed box, while TFM is running, press left bracket ([), then SHIFT+S.

 

Controls:

ALT+E – Speed entry field. Enter speed and press ENTER to change.

ALT+I – Intervene button. Turns speed intervene on/off.

ALT+C – Change over button. Changes between mach and indicated air speed.

ALT+U – Autothrottle button. Turns autothrottle on/off.

ALT+L – N1 set selector button. Changes N1 modes between 2, 1, both, or auto.

ALT+N – N1 button. Turns N1 on/off.

ALT+S – Speed button. Turns speed hold on/off.

ALT+A – Spoiler A button. Turns spoiler A on/off.

ALT+B – Spoiler B button. Turns spoiler B on/off.

ALT+K – Speed brake. Use the following keys while the speed brake has focus.

  • O – Off
  • A – Armed
  • H – 50% deployed.
  • F – Flight detent. Never exceed this in flight, especially descent.
  • U – 100% deployed.
  • Minus (-) – Decrease by small amount.
  • Plus (+) – Increase by small amount.

 

ALT+T – Autobrake. Use the following keys while autobrake has focus.

  • R – RTO.
  • -O – Off
  • – D – Disarm
  • 1 – Autobrake 1.
  • 2 – Autobrake 2.
  • 3 – Autobrake 3.

 

Indicators:

ALT+1 – Overspeed

ALT+2 – Underspeed.

ALT+3 – Autothrottle

ALT+4 – N1.

ALT+5 – Speed hold.

ALT+6 – Speed brake armed.

ALT+7 – Speed brake extended.

ALT+8 – Do not arm speed brake.

ALT+9 – Autobrake disarm.

 

Heading box

 

The MCP heading is self-explanatory, so we will go over the keyboard shortcuts below. To open the MCP heading box: While TFM is running, press left bracket ([), then SHIFT+H.

 

ALT+E – Heading entry. Type a new heading and press ENTER.

ALT+H – Heading select button. Turns on/off heading select.

ALT+L – Lnav button. Turns LNav on/off.

ALT+1 – Heading select indicator. Indicates if heading select is on/off.

 

Vertical speed box

 

You can open the vertical speed box while TFM is open by pressing left bracket ([), then SHIFT+V. The keyboard shortcuts are below.

 

ALT+E – Vertical speed entry. Enter speed then press ENTER.

ALT+V – Vertical speed button. Turns vertical speed mode on/off.

ALT+1 – Vertical speed light. Indicates if vertical speed mode is on/off.

 

Altitude box

 

We don’t have the keyboard shortcuts for the new altitude box yet. The next blog post in the PMDG 737 rebuild series will cover them.

 

New installer

 

TFM is going to start using a new installer in preparation for Navigraph support. Not only will the new installer satisfy some Navigraph technical requirements, it is easier to use. As it stands, the next preview build will use the new installer.

 

Testing the PMDG 737 systems

 

We have the ability to implement 737 system tests into TFM. The consequence of doing so would scatter system tests all over the panels, making it difficult to track down. Once the panels are complete, we are going to create a tests panel that holds all of the system tests. This way they are easy to find.

 

In this post we covered most of the MCP/autopilot segments. We introduced you to their keyboard shortcuts, new features, and explained that some controls on the MCP boxes aren’t always related to the MCP. Next week, we will cover the remaining parts of the MCP, answer any questions that might arise, and look forward to the forward panel. If you wish to contact us, feel free to fill out the form on the contact us page. We will get back with you as soon as possible. If you want to report a bug or submit a new feature request, press right bracket (]), then CONTROL+SHIFT+I while TFM is running. Make sure you fill out the bug report form as accurately as possible. We will see you next week.

PMDG 737 rebuild series, week 15: TFM preview released, glare shield progress, and Navigraph support

by

In week 14 of our PMDG 737 rebuild series, we discussed the air systems panel and other life issues that left us behind schedule by 4 weeks. In week 15, we will cover the release of TFM 22.9.1 preview, the upcoming glare shield, and some exciting news everyone has been waiting for a long time to hear.

 

TFM 22.9.1 preview

 

During week 14, we originally thought the air systems panel would be the only topic covered. Unexpected plans had us releasing TFM 22.9.1 earlier than expected. It turns out that the bottom overhead was easier to finish than originally planned. The bottom overhead contains the engines and lights panels. We will cover each one below.

 

Engines panel

 

The engines panel is fairly simple with a limited number of controls. The keyboard shortcuts are below. NOTE: for ease of use, we moved the fuel control switches from the control stand to the engines panel.

 

Alt+A – APU start selector.

ALT+1 p Engine #1 group. Contains engine start switch and fuel control switch.

ALT+2 – Engine #2 group – Contains engine start switch and fuel control switch.

ALT+I – Ignition switch.

 

Lights panel

 

The lights panel is also self explanatory. We will list the keyboard shortcuts below.

 

ALT+L – Landing lights group. Contains left/right retractable and left/right fixed landing lights.

ALT+R – Runway turnoff group – Contains left/right runway turnoff lights.

ALT+T – Taxi lights.

ALT+G – Logo lights.

ALT+A – Anti-collision lights (beacon lights).

ALT+W – Wing lights.

ALT+H – Wheel well lights.

ALT+P – Position lights.

 

 

Glare shield

 

The glare shield is not yet complete. However, there are some points we want to cover in this section. They mainly cover the EFIS, MCP, and HGS panels.

 

  • We will not include the EFIS panel in TFM. The EFIS panel has switches we can use. Unfortunately, we can’t get any data from the panel. Since we can’t get feedback from the controls/displays, we are leaving the EFIS out of TFM.
  • The MCP panel will move from the overhead panel to the glare shield. We will discuss more of the MCP panel later.
  • We will not include some of the HGS (headsup) guidance system panel. Some of the controls such as entering a runway, runway length, and landing altitude are not accessible when it comes to output. Most of this panel includes camera still images of the runway and other areas of the airport, which BVI pilots can’t use. However, there are other items we can use. These include the rollout, takeoff, and landing/Autoland indicators that we will put into TFM.

 

The MCP panel

 

The mode control panel (MCP), or auto flight controls normally live on the glare shield. Ever since TFM supported the PMDG 737 MCP, it has been on the overhead panel. As identified by the PMDG 737 SDK, it is supposed to be on the glare shield. So, we will move it to the glare shield. There are some fundamental design flaws in the current MCP panel, making it difficult to use. The new MCP will have the following changes, making it easier to use.

 

  • The speed box will have a speed entry field, speed intervene, speed hold, auto throttle, spoiler A, spoiler B buttons, and a speed brake input field.
  • There will be indicators (lights) on each MCP box that are easy to access.
  • Some controls not normally on the MCP panel will merge with the MCP panel/boxes to facilitate ease of use. Examples include speed brake and spoilers on the speed box.
  • New flight control boxes
    • Navigation (left bracket, SHIFT+N) – Courses and NAV 1+2, tuned VOR readout.
    • Autopilot (left bracket, SHIFT+P) – Flight directors, autopilot controls, bank angle selectors, barometers, etc.
    • The MCP panel in the glare shield will be broken down into different segments. For instance, each focus area of the MCP/flight control boxes will have their own treeview entry under MCP.

 

Since the MCP is segmented and could get complex, we will continue to cover each segment in different blog posts.

 

Focused areas of need

 

We usually maintain that each panel of the PMDG series of aircraft is added to TFM in the order they appear in the SDK, unless otherwise required. In some cases, it is best to do them out of order, and organized in a way that TFM users best understand them.  We will give a brief overview of the comms panel that is coming to TFM soon.

 

Comms panel

 

The comms panels usually consist of mics, receivers, audio transmitters, and a set of frequency types. TFM will layout the comms panels as follows.

The comms panels which you can access with right bracket, SHIFT+C is a generic comms window that helps you change comms frequencies for any type of aircraft. We are building one specific to the PMDG 737. It will include a comms tab that includes com1/2 frequencies, a tab for audio setup, a tab for transponder, and a tab to setup mics/receivers. This may change as requirements change, but this gives a basic layout.

 

Navigraph support

 

We brought this up in previous WhatsApp messages, email list messages, and blog posts. TFM is applying for Navigraph database support. When we first applied a year or so ago, the Navigraph development team told us it would be a fairly long time before they could get to TFM. We are pleased to let everyone know that we are now up in line, and a person from Navigraph is actively working with us to get TFM into the FMS data manager.

There has been a lot of movement this week with TFM development. From TFM 22.9.1 preview, to starting the glare shield and rebuilding the MCP, and finally to working with Navigraph to get TFM enrolled in their system. We have been fairly busy this week. There aren’t any deliverables for week 15, but as we said, progress is key.