FS2002 Pro C4-SST by Nick Pike.
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n.pike@blueyonder.co.uk
for comments and suggestions, including constructive critism.
September 2002.
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BE SURE TO READ THE INSTALL SECTION FOR CORRECT OPERATION.
The C4-SST is a concept design (fictional) aircraft manufactured by British Aerospace and operated by International Air Taxis. The engines are fan jet, by-pass type unlike the Concorde.
It carries 10 passengers in idle luxury plus 2 flight crew and 2 attendants at a cruising speed of Mach 2.0 at a criusing height of 66-68 000 feet (optimum range height). Being an air taxi, the aircraft has short take off and landing capabilities.
Some of the features include,
1) Seperate lighting switches for adjustable landing lights and navigation lights, these types having illuminated lenses. Also taxi, strobe, beacon and logo lights.
2) Ailerons, elevators and elevons. Two stage rudder.
3) Deployable Canards. Not eye candy. Aerodynamically operational for landing. Can also be used for shorter take offs.
4) Deployable animated passenger steps, illuminated at night. Will only deploy at zero ground speed when using the panel gauge. Best not to use the spoiler key, as this will deploy in flight and the aircraft will crash.
5) Transparent passenger windows, illuminated at night.
6) Fully animated Pilot (best seen with DVC) and partially animated Copilot. Animated yokes and rudder pedals.
7) Landing gear with locking struts stowed in wing mounted gear pods.
8) Variable engine inlet door position with speed and variable area nozzles with engine power.
9) Rotating wheels. Steering nose wheel.
10) Afterburners.
11) Animated exhausts. Realistic smoke, wing mist and wingtip contrails effects appear with use of the 'I' key.
12) DVC and conventional cockpit surround views.
13) Custom panel with many additional integrated pop-up windows. Mostly CRT with touch screen (mouse) technology. The vast majority of the panel gauges are coded using the new FS2002 XML format (over 130). Automated functions such as auto take off, auto land, auto AP off and auto taxi speed (see details below). Also has working fuel dump gauges.
14) Panel sound set.
To Install:
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Extract (not just drag) the C4SST.zip file properly to your ...\FS2002 folder using WinZip and this will copy the files into the correct folders.
You will then have a new folder ...\FS2002\Aircraft\C4sst. In this folder you will find two files Pnavdata.txt and Prwydata.txt. Move (cut and paste) these files into the main ...\FS2002 folder. Also, find two more files FSSound.dll and FSUIPC.dll (v2.90). Move these to the ...\FS2002\Modules folder. If you already have FSUIPC.dll installed, you can leave the existing file alone, but if you move the supplied file (v2.90), delete the file FSUIPC.ini from the ...\Fs2002\Modules folder and this file will be automatically renewed the next time you start FS2002 and will be correct for this version of FSUIPC.dll. However, any of your previous custom settings will be lost, and FSUIPC will have to be reconfigured. This latest version (v2.90) is probably required to allow operation of the fuel dump gauges.
OR
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Extract all files to a tempory folder, and manually move the files (not the folders) to the same named folders shown under the tempory folder.
Sound.
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Aircraft engine sounds. Goto the ...\FS2002\Aircraft\C4sst\sound folder.
Two options
1) Rename b737_400_sound.cfg to sound.cfg in the C4sst\sound folder to use the default b737_400 sounds.
2) The better option is to copy the Concorde wav files (NOT the sound.cfg file) from FS2000 to the C4sst\sound folder and rename the C4sst_sound.cfg to sound.cfg to utilise Concorde wav files for the 2 engined C4-SST and to use the 5 off custom wav files loaded into the C4sst\sound folder.
Now make this check. In the main Fs2002 folder, locate file Fs2002dw.cfg. Open Fs2002dw.cfg in Notepad. Check to see if these lines are visible.
[OldModules]
Fssound.dll=1
If not, make a backup copy of the file. Add these two lines at the bottom of the file. This will allow Fssound.dll to activate. This will stop an error message at FS2002 startup.
That's it.
Enjoy.
NOTE: My monitor resolution is 1024x768 and I have not had problems with the gauge views. If you have a smaller resolution, you may not be able to see the gauges, especially, I believe, if 640x480.
Note: The sound files for the C4 APU are rather quiet as the APU is situated in the tail and will never be particularly loud. Also, these sounds are additive to the main engine sounds and I did not want the cockpit to be too 'noisy'
To Uninstall the complete aircraft, look in the zip file for file names and paths, and delete the files you wish to remove. Note. The 'Prwydata.txt' and 'Pnavdata.txt' files will have been added in the main FS2002 folder (ie the same place where your 'fs2002.exe' file is located). You may want to keep the FSSound.dll and FSUIPC.dll files in the .....FS2002\Modules folder.
Summary.
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This is a lengthy document, but I advise you read it for a full understanding of the aircraft parameters. However, I shall give brief instructions here.
1) Landing. Fuel levels should be no more than 25%. Use the fuel dump gauge on the fuel management panel. Canards and gear provide drag to control speed for landing (max speed available about 180 kts). The Canards also provide lift. Without this lift, the aircraft will drop into the ground. Aim for 120 kts when landing. Try auto land and observe how the aircraft performs.
2) Auto Land (AFL button). Set radios with rwyinfo gauge. DME signal required. All normal Autopilot functions are on. Center joystick for best results. Line up as good as possible. Speed and height at say 400 kts and 10 000 feet and about 30 miles out, click AFL. Sit back and watch as everything is automated. You will be left on autotaxi at 15 kts on the runway. Click on autotaxi (on throttles gauge) to turn off or set taxi speed in the IAS window.
3) Takeoff. Canards not required. Pax steps up (use gauge). Use Left or Right brakes for fine steer control. Rotate about 130 kts. Afterburners not required (A/B on throttle gauge). Press the 'I' key for some nice auto smoke features.
4 ) Auto takeoff (ATO button). The aircraft should be in the default state, with engines on idle and the parking brake on. Select the required MACH speed, altitude ( note the minimum height that can be set shown in the tooltip) and heading in the AP windows. Click ATO. The aircraft will end up at the chosen height, speed, heading, and the ATO will auto off. Normal AP functions will be active.
5) Abort Takeoff. For manual or auto takeoff. Set RTO (Rejected Takeoff) on the Autobrake. As the speed increases, this blue gauge will flash. Click this gauge before rotating, and the aircraft will come to a full stop with all related functions switched off.
View auto takeoff and landing in the spot plane view, with the auto smoke on (press the 'I' key) for some nice effects like realisic engine smoke, wing tip contrails on turns and higher G manouvers and wing top mist with AoA and below 5000 feet.
There are many features on this panel. Hover the mouse over all areas and look for tooltips. These label the functions and provide useful information where required. Click away and see what the many functions do. Don't ask me how to use the FMC, it's there for those who know how to use it. The airport charts feature is just for Bristol airport (EGGD), and I will not support this feature for adding further airports. If you have an understanding of XML code, you can add charts of your choice.
Flight and General Instructions.
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***A good general rule of thumb when using FS2002 is to start the flight sim with the default Cessna selected as this seems to set the sim up properly, and then select the C4-SST under British Aerospace. Also, if any views or pop-up windows look strange, or you change from say windowed to full-screen view, again select the Cessna and then return to this aircraft***.
***If using any of the auto features, including AP, it is a good idea to have your joystick set to neutral elevator and aileron. You can see the joystick positions in the appropriate trim gauges, and the joystick positions should be set to zero.***
There are no flaps or spoilers on this aircraft type as such, but the animated canards use the flap function and the animated steps use the spoiler function. It's best to use the panel gauges to operate the canards and steps. Do not deploy the steps with the spoiler key when the aircraft is moving. These will only deploy using the gauge when the aircraft is stationary.
NOTE: Autotrim is FOR MANUAL FLIGHT ONLY. It is automatically unavailable when using AutoPilot.
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The vast majority of the gauges are in XML format and allow for a complex panel but with a very small file size, allowing for much faster download. XML format also allows for great flexability of gauge design. All gauges have tooltips by way of identification and supplying useful information. Most can be altered using the mousewheel.
One or two of these gauges are of an experimental nature, and although fully tested may give problems. Feedback is always welcome. Some experimentation by the flier first may prove useful when understanding the inner working of these more complex gauges.
Flight Instructions.
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Setting the speed too high at too low an altitude will make the aircraft unstable. This is true for any aircraft. You can experiment, but after take off, hold the speed to say Mach 1.0 up to 25 000 feet, and then set speed for Mach 2.0 and apply the afterburners. Cruise between 66-68 000 feet with the aftrburners off. Also, a general rule at higher speeds is that the less fuel you have on board, the altitude can be lower for stable flight.
Pushback is achieved by clicking the Push gauge (with the engines running, apparently), and when rolling in reverse, key 1 or 2 for left or right tail swing respectively (see 'Issues' section regarding smoke auto off). The nose wheel will turn according to the swing direction.
For takeoff, rotate at approximately 120 kts. Afterburners are not required for takeoff, but can be used to reduce the acceleration time to Mach 2.0. Short clicks on the left or right brakes can steer the aircraft when rolling along the runway.
The following is a full explanation regarding landing, but basically, deploy the canards and gear (somewhat obviously), set speed to 120 kts and have no more than about 30% fuel. 25% is more ideal.
The canards are an important addition for flight control and are fully operational (not just eye candy) and are fitted to give additional lift for landing and provide drag for landing speed control. These allow the aircraft to land with a fairly flat (small nose up) attitude giving a conventional landing characteristic, unlike Concorde, for example, that has a high AoA. Landing without these is virtually impossible. Also, fuel levels are important for landing. It is difficult to land with too much fuel on board, and ILS approach will be impaired. It is more realistic to land with no more than about 30% fuel and 25% is more ideal.
Their deployment time is set to 30 seconds. They alter the flight characteristics and the relatively long deployment time gives the elevator trim time to react, whilst keeping the attitude reasonably constant. The deployment time can be changed in the Aircraft.cfg file under flaps extending-time=30 but at say, 10 seconds, will push the nose up and then down while the trim corrects the attitude. At shorter time intervals, this attitude change can be controlled manually. They work in conjuction with the gear drag to control landing speeds. With both deployed, the Max speed available will be about 180 kts. Landing speed should be set to 120 kts on autopilot.
The canards also allow for shorter take-offs, but the drag effect of these will restrict speed shortly after takeoff so stow as soon as posible.
Landing an ILS Approach.
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Center joystick for best results.
Set ILS frequency on Nav 1 radio. A quick way is to use the rwy info gauge. Enter the ICAO abbreviation for the airport and double click the runway you want to land on. This will set the radios. Set the speed on the AP to about 160 kts and deploy the canards. Then deploy the gear. Set altitude to 3000 feet above the airport elevation to intercept the glideslope from below (definitely NOT from above - standard FS2002 procedure). Select approach button when HSI indicates you are receiving ILS signals (solid magenta bar first then magenta bug). A reassuring, self levelling slight bank indicates that the aircraft has locked onto ILS. Attempt to be fairly well lined up with the runway before you activate ILS. Reset speed to 140 kts before the ILS glide slope takes control, and then when under this control, reset speed to 120 kts for landing. As John Whiting says, "Don't be shooting landings with a gazillion gallons of fuel onboard"! If the AoA looks too high on finals, then there is probably too much fuel (weight) on board. 70 000 pounds is the approximate maximum landing weight. Use the 25% fuel dump gauge on the fuel management panel to set an ideal landing weight.
The canards and gear are designed to produce drag for landing speeds, therefore the maximum speeds with these deployed will be about 180 kts.
Autoland Control.
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Select AFL in the auto pilot panel section about 30 miles out, where you should be at about 400 kts and 10 000 feet. You can, however, select this function after the localiser shows (solid magenta bar) but before a DME distance of 16 miles. This autoland feature will automatically control ALL necessary landing functions including canards, gear, heights, speeds and autobrake and leave you in auto taxi at a taxi speed of 15 knots (which can be adjusted in the IAS window on the auto pilot). The auto taxi speed can be turned off by clicking in the appropriate area off the throttle gauge.
Autoland holds ILS down to the runway for a smooth landing, turns off the AP and sets reverse thrust. At approximately 15 kts, the autobrakes and remaining AP features are switched off.
Without auto taxi speed, and with the throttles set to idle, the aircraft speed would continue to increase. This is because of the power rating of the engines for Mach 2 flight. If auto taxi speed is not required, some reverse thrust is required to bleed off some forward thrust to hold ground speed. This would be about -27% throttle setting. Manual adjustments of taxi speed can be made with the 'plus' / 'minus' feature under the mouse steer gauge.
You can turn autoland off at any time and normal ILS takes control, with the aircraft most probably landing short (standard FS2002 feature).
If the airport does not support DME, 2 of the functions will not work. You can still use this feature, but you need to lower the gear yourself, and set speed to 140 knots as you approach the point where the ILS glide slope takes over.
NOTE: This gauge is optimised for 'normal' glide slope angles. Some airports have increased angles if the approach is restricted. This will cause a harder landing, and therefore a manual landing may be preferred.
Autotakeoff Control.
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Autotakeoff or short autotakeoff are achieved by selecting the appropriate buttons in auto pilot panel section. The aircraft should be in the default state, with engines on idle and the parking brake on. Select the required MACH speed, altitude ( note the minimum height that can be set shown in the tooltip and is calculated according to the airport elevation) and heading in the AP windows. Select the autotakeoff or short autotakeoff button and the brakes will switch off, the aircraft will roll, take off, stow the gear and turn to the required heading. As speed and altitude increase, the vertical speed will increase. As the altitude approaches the chosen value, the vertical speed will reduce, and the aircraft will settle to the chosen speed and altitude and the auto function will terminate leaving the aircraft in normal AP mode. You can turn auto off at any time, and re-adjust the AP settings if required. For the short autotakeoff, the canards will deploy first before the aircraft rolls, and are stowed at the same time as the gear stows following take off.
Abort Takeoff.
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In manual takeoff mode, if the RTO (Rejected Takeoff) is set on the Autobrake, at speeds greater than 80 kts, cut the throttles and the Autobrake activates.
The Abort Takeoff gauge can automate this function. When ready for takeoff, set RTO on the Autobrake. When rolling, the Abort Takeoff gauge will flash. At any speed, clicking this gauge activates Max Auto brakes on the autobrakes and fully reverses the engines. At 10 kts, the brakes release, the engines go to idle amd the parking brake is applied bringing the aircraft to a full stop. This gauge can also be used in Auto Takeoff mode if RTO set. Activating the Abort gauge will automatically turn off Auto Takeoff and the auto stop routine will operate.
Auto AP off.
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As a general rule, when flying AP, make sure the joystick is centred. The elevator and aileron trim gauges show the joystick position with digital number readouts and these can be used to aid centering. With the 'Auto AP Off' switched on, any joystick movement more than 20° angle in any direction will automatically switch off all AP functions. This is also true if auto take-off or auto landing are switched on. If the joystick is first moved to greater than 20°, and then the 'Auto AP Off' is switched on, any function involving AP functions will not work. If 'Auto AP Off' is switched off, all AP functions are avaiable as normal and will not be affected with joystick movement. This can be a useful function when landing on ILS, but not using the autoland function. This allows you to take over for manual landing without having to frantically start clicking off AP functions.
Smoke and Effects Gauge.
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Pressing the keyboard 'I' key switches on the automatic smoke and effects gauge, and a grey 'S' icon will show in the top right hand area of panel. Read the Issues section regarding a couple of bugs. Switching this gauge on will,
1) Turn on the engine smoke that looks look engine exhaust fumes when the aircraft is stationary, which will 'stretch' out when the aircraft moves.
2) Turn on the winglet tip contrails automatically when a climb produces 1G or more or when the heading rate (turning) exceeds a certain value.
3) Turn on the wing top fog/mist automatically when the aircraft angle of attack is greater than 6° and below 5000 feet.
Additional Panel Notes
======================
I'm not going to give details on all gauges because of the quantity. All gauges have tooltips, some with extra information where required, so the user should be able to work out what a gauge is and how to use it.
You can change the aircraft ID and Flight Number on the panel by changing the values in the aircraft.cfg thus,
atc_id=G-PIKE
atc_flight_number=IAT10
Unfortunately, the ID number will not change on the aircraft exterior view. This is an FSDS aircraft.
The HSI has a built in relative wind direction needle and speed value which only shows when there is any wind.
The decision height gauge is adjustable.
The 'i' icon button brings up an information panel that should help with gauge positions and additional notes.
The autotrim is auto off and not available when the AP is on, as AP adjusts the trim when in AP flight.
The pushback moves the aircraft rearwards. When moving rearwards, hit the '1' keyboard key for tail left and '2' for right. Click on pushback again to stop. There are no sounds with pushback.
With the radio panel open, you can click on the appropriate memory field to memorise frequency. Click on this again to set frequency in the appropriate radio. Click on the appropriate clear area to clear the frequency from memory. A number of frequencies can be stored. The 'E' icon on the radio will set the emergency communication frequency.
The AP windows (speed, altitude, heading and VS) can be zeroed by clicking in the left hand end of the windows.
The altitude value can be increased or decreased in steps of 100 or 1000 according to the '+' area clicked in the selector gauge.
The view can be panned by clicking on the appropriate areas on the general aircraft information gauge (positioned in the top right corner of the panel) which shows the simplified picture of the aircraft.
Timer/Alarm. You can click for Local or Zulu time mode, and also for Stop watch type timer which can be started, stopped and reset back to zero. To set the time alarm (Local or Zulu), set the required alarm time in the alarm window, and click the bell icon. You can leave the clock displaying or close it. If closed, for example, when the alarm time is reached, the clock will redisplay and an additional flashing warning will display and an alarm sound will play. To switch off the alarm, click on the bell icon again. The alarm numbers will show green if the alarm set time numbers are ahead of the clock time, and yellow if equal to or behind the clock time. For timer alarm, set the required elapsed time in the alarm window, start the timer and click the bell icon to activate the alarm. Again, the clock can be left displayed or closed. Actually, the bell icon can be clicked before setting or after. It does not matter when as it works by comparing the alarm setting with the time or timer numbers.
The Terrain follow gauge does not really suit this aircraft type, but I added it for some additional fun. When set, the aircraft attempts to follow the terrain topography at a fixed radio height. This would be better suited to a fast military jet for low level flight. Set the required radio height in the altitude window, and switch on the TF gauge. The AP should be on for speed, heading, altitude (and VS), that is, normal AP operation. The set height should not be less than approximately 500 feet. The way FS2002 operates is not perfect for this, and the height will vary by a few hundred feet. Also, FS2002 cannot read ground heights in front of the aircraft. Occasionally you will come across ground that is very steep (i.e. high hills) and the aicraft cannot climb fast enough to clear the obstacle and would crash into it. When the ground clearance is less than 200 feet, slew will automatically switch on and the aircraft will rise vertically to the ground clearance set and then switch slew off automatically to continue flying and clear the high ground. If one attempt is not enough, it will repeat the process until clearance is achieved. There is not much point in using this for moutainous areas. The gauge can also be used for a quick launch, that is, set the height in the altitude window when on the ground, and the other required perameters in the AP, switch on and the aircraft will rise vertically in slew mode until the required radio height is achieved and then fly on normally. Works better with minimal fuel (weight). All just a bit of fun really.
General Ramble.
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I could write a lot more on this aircraft, but I think part of the fun is finding out for yourself. Initial impressions are that this is a complex aircraft. It really does not have to be. You can fly it quite easily first off, and some practise with the canards will complete the learning process. I designed the panel for ease of use with everything you need just a mouse click away and hopefully easy to read.
Issues
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The XML gauges do not illuminate conventionally on the DVC view at night. The landing and taxi lights in the cockpit view have been added using an effects file, and do not raise or lower. To do this, open the new view window ( '[' ). If anyone knows how to cure these details with FSDS aircraft, then please let me know.
When starting this aircraft or when using flight reset, you will hear various panel noises. This is normal, and just allow a few seconds for everything to settle down.
The pushback gauge does not work if the smoke is on (this is an FS2002 bug), however, the pushback gauge will automatically switch the smoke gauge off while in use, and switch the smoke gauge back on when pushback is clicked again to switch off. If the smoke gauge is off prior to pushback, then this is not an issue. An 'S' icon shows in the top right hand area of panel if smoke is on. If any gauges missbehave, try switching the smoke off, but I have not seen any more.
Credits.
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Arne Bartels for a lot of help with the XML coded gauges, for supplying code for several gauges and for the fuel dump gauge compiling files. Also for bothering to explain how a lot of this code works. Many thanks Arne, you've been a massive help.
Chuck Dome for the code to the autotrim gauge and for producing the custom radio audio panel. Many thanks Chuck.
Ernie Alston for producing the custom Runway Info gauge and for producing such a useful gauge anyway. Well done Ernie.
Bill Morad for the custom gauge to produce a sound set for this aircraft. A very clever method of using FS variables in XML code to call up wav files. Thanks Bill, and thanks for your prompt and enthusiastic attention.
Tony D'AMBROSIO for the use of the FMC gauge.
Eric Marciano and Jorge Salas for the AI aircraft radar gauge.
Vladimir Sokolov for xml advice.
TIM ADAMS for being the chief test pilot, crash dummy and tyre kicker, flying many, many hours with this aircraft and giving very reliable feedback. Also for his generous enthusiasm and support. This project would have been far more difficult without this help. Many thanks Tim, and I look forward to working together on future projects (Mach 5.0 private aircraft?, who knows).
Matthias Lieberecht for general panel advice.
Pete Dowson for the useful FSUIPC package.
Daniel Steiner for the useful FSSound.dll file.
John Whiting for initial help with this aircraft.
Mark Hubbard for initial help with this aircraft.
Mike Crosthwaite for SDLedit (superb).
FPDA for the callout gauge.
If I have left anyone out, my apologies, and thanks.
Legalities.
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This aircraft package is supplied as Freeware and the associated copyright details apply.
No financial gain should be made with it and it must not be used on a CD compilation.
No modification for distribution without the permission of the author.
Ask permission for use of any component of this aircraft package, including any XML coding.
This aircraft package is not to be loaded to a fee paying server or site for access.
Use at your own risk. I am in no way responsible for anything that happens to you, your software or your hardware equipment as a result of using these files.
