If you wish you can use our POLL which is located here...

http://www.fsflyingschool.com/forum/FindPost3199.aspx

Keep in mind that some features are very simple to add and could be in the product within a matter of a month or so, if they are simple enough.

Think of the power that lies in your hands!

At the same time, remember that larger features, or complete changes to the way things are done, may take many months to implement and if too large, may not be feasible.

You might be thinking "I wish it would monitor that gauge..." or "It should warn me if I am doing this..."
That sort of logic is usually pretty easy to add.

Or... you might have something bigger in mind such as "I wish it worked with helicopters..." or "Make the instructor more aware of what other traffic is doing..."
These would be bigger projects...

So - please let us know what you may have been thinking about - if you don't tell us - we sure won't know...

It's our policy to release new features from time to time at no extra cost to existing FSFS2009 customers. Our actions speak loudly here as we did 10 additional releases for FSFS Classic over a period of 18 months, including adding support for FSX at no charge.

(Note - we already have seveal items on the drawing board based on previous input from sim-pilots, but please just cut loose and let us know what you'd like to see)

Thanks for your time!

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


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FS Instant Approach for Microsoft Flight Simulator
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Fuel: FSFS to read the flightplan distance, and estimated fuelusage, and compare to the actual fuel in the tanks, and make suggestions to add or take out.

Distance: FSFS to tell the pilot that he is now - say 100 or 50 miles from the destination, and its time to begin the descend.

Taxiing: FSFS to monitor if you use the correct assigned taxiway(s) and scold if not....

Just to begin with.

Regards
Ole Andreasen, Denmark

1. Broaden the number of instructors from 5 to 8, with the following changes: have 4 females and 4 males. Make 2 of each sex in their 20s-35s agewise, and one in her late 40s and the final one (of a given sex) approaching 60. Augment the "virtual personality" of each instructor. In real flight training instructors might relate a 2-4 minute story about a classic way students might make errors or mess up [example: student has trouble keeping plane closely lined up with center line of runway. He may be heavy handed on the yoke and overcorrecting. Another help would be to have him focus his eyes far down the runway, which has a way of getting the mind to stop overcorrecting so much. This could be incorporated into a little anecdote or story. Other stories might just be funny...such as a student doing touch & gos but having to do 3 consecutive go arounds before landing once! Embarrassing!!]. IMPORTANT: EACH INSTRUCTOR SHOULD, LIKE THE PILOTS, HAVE A LITTLE PHOTO OF THEIR FACE. THE IDEA IS TO MAKE EACH INSTRUCTOR SEEM MORE LIKE A REAL PERSON WITH REAL PERSONALITY TRAITS IN ADDITION TO A DISTINCT VOICE. MAKE SURE ONE INSTRUCTOR IS FROM THE U.K. AND ANOTHER IS FROM AUSTRALIA, AND A THIRD WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE SUCH AS FROM INDIA OR JAPAN.

2. Expand on the way instructors ask students pertinent facts about a flight in progress: such as, how many more nautical miles before we reach our destination. Or, what is the ICAO code for Los Angeles International (any pilot should know KLAX, and FSFS should correct students who answer LAX insisting they type the 'K'. This conditions students to think globally....not all airports are in America!!). And any question asked should give the student a good number of seconds in which to type in an answer, maybe the answer can show up in a special box that he or she can backspace over typos and then hit ENTER to "reply" to the instructor's query.

3. In keeping with each instructor having their own distinct personality: one or two (say, one of each sex, perhaps the more generally attractive ones) should be real PERFECTIONISTS who take a lot more to please and who grade harder. Another couple of instructors can be EASY ones...who let a little bit more get by and who have a slightly larger tolerance for being off of centerline, etc etc. The bulk of instructors should be hard but not too hard, being sure to compliment a student verbally, not just in the logbook. A verbal compliment "That was a well done turn, nice and gradual..." or, "Good Landing, right on centerline!". Mixing compliments with criticisms keeps students from giving up on flying far more effectively than criticisms only. And the idea of the logbook of student performance is sensational (with the graphs of areas in need of improvement, etc), although hearing something AT THE TIME THE INCIDENT OCCURS is totally different and far more potently remembered.

4. GIVE EACH INSTUCTOR A REALISTIC AND REGULAR NAME, not something intended to be funny like Miss Aviatrix. If I were to really sign up for flight lessons, I would expect a name such as Mr. Ron Hartman. You can have certain instuctors ask to be addressed as "Ron" and others like "Mr. Hartman." This is in keeping with having FSFS AS REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE in the simulation of a student in the left seat with an instructor copilot.

5. BACKGROUND HUMOR: this is a superb idea executed very irritatingly. Hearing a kid in a whiny voice keep asking "are we *their* yet?" or other irritations will get checked on once, and kept off forevermore. If you fine and creative people are the caliber of individual I know you are, you should eliminate ALL IRRITATIONS and add in HUMOR that is original and entertaining and large enough to keep the box left checked on before it is checked off from the student hearing all the jokes before, too soon. Humor need not just be jokes. Plenty of anecdotes are amusing and very real (magazines such as AOPA or Flying are filled with them, as are their websites (from experience I can vouch for AOPA....it has a superb library of real-life pilot dilemmas and stories).

6. TOTAL ENGINE FAILURE IN A VARIETY OF CONTEXTS: since no one's life is actually on the line here, the emergency of TOTAL ENGINE FAILURE can occur many times. The reason for many times is the challenge of picking out and executing landings without the benefit of an airport...e.g. on an Interstate Highway, in a farmer's field, 40 seconds after takeoff, etc etc. True failure for this exercise is crashing into a forest, or into the vertical side of a building or obstructing object (such as a radio antenna tower). Crashes that allow the aircraft to stop in stages over a length of 30 or more feet usually impart less than 9 G's to the pilot's body, which is often considered the cutoff between death and survival with injury. CFIT type crashes, Controlled Flight Into Terrain, are generally totally fatal since the angle with the terrain rarely allows for a skid-producing stop over a distance of 30 or more feet. Common exampes would be descents into the ocean, or "landings" onto the side of a mountain.

7. PRACTICING STALLS AND SIMPLE AEROBATIC MANEUVERS: no one will die if a stall results in a fatal spin and crash landing. The same goes for aerobatic procudures that, in real life, would have a risk of fatality. In fact, stalls that evolve into spins are excellent emergencies to practice, since, if you have some altitude, many spins can be gotten out of, returning the aircraft to level and stable flight. A final maneuver that comes to my own mind is FLYING VERY LOW SO AS TO AVOID RADAR DETECTION. E.g. maximum altitude: 100' msl. In real life one can kill oneself practicing this. In the simulator you aren't even reincarnated....you don't die to begin with!

8. Prerequisite scores before being allowed to fly Circuits: I like the idea of requiring a minimum score before being allowed to fly a pattern, but feel a LANDING SCORE OF 80 is too steep. A landing score of 70 is fairer. Many flight schools concentrate on flying patterns around the home airport as one of the primary methods of logging student airtime. An overall FLIGHT SCORE OF 80 seems Ok.

9. Humorous chiding -or- reassurance of improvement in the future: recommended for flights, landings, or students displaing really terrible, low scores. This is both good for his or her soul, and an insurance that they will probably return rather than give up in shame. One should have several *ways* to do this since a human student is especially attentive to single, rote ways a machine would respond. Once identified as such, the "realism" of the student/instuctor relationship gets trashed. I.e. don't get afraid the "response database" might grow too large. Your FSFS prog. is relatively quite small to begin with. It is both a surprise and a high compliment you guys have done so much with so little, so to speak. But large datasets are infinitely more preferable than repetition of a small set of replies to a given type of scenario. Such narrow ways of responding take the "human" out of the "virtual flight instructor." The really GREAT programs always leave room for doubt making the student wonder if the instructor was just a program, or instead a ghost-human typing away in reply..........

10. In the AIRCRAFT section in the FLAP SETTINGS box, it is unclear how to input the max. speed where it is still safe to  deploy the first setting of the flaps (from NO FLAPS to, say, FLAPS 1, or FLAPS 10 degrees, etc.). Also, if the aircraft has, say, 3 flap positions plus NO flaps, that would occupy 4 lines. What does one do for lines 5-9? Furthermore, using "88888" and "88.8" is confusing and requires extra work erasing away the unused lines with 8s in them. Would blank boxes work better?

11. ENGINE PARAMETERS: Manifold pressure, propeller RPM, oil temperature (for each engine), carburator gauges, etc., all sample engine realtime operation, and are found more often on twin or 4-engine aircraft, although single (often turbo) propellor planes such as the Pilatus PC-12 also employ them. ESPECIALLY DURING CRUISING FLIGHT AND TO ECONOMIZE ON ONBOARD FUEL, RPM vs. Manifold Pressure tradeoffs are often required, as is the leaning of the mixture on many aircraft in order to economize on fuel and obtain max. engine performance for a given pressure altitude, must be attained. Instead of a checkbox in the AIRCRAFT section "Monitor Engines  ( )" I think it should be a given that the FSFS instructor *always* monitors the engines as well as the leaning of the fuel mixture during all levels of flight. And it is often CRITICALLY IMPERATIVE for the pilot to notice abberant OIL TEMPS as SOON AS POSSIBLE since this may be the only timely clue for a SEVERE ENGINE FAILURE situation requiring nursing the engine all the way to a total loss of engine power. Abnormal OIL TEMPS just before takeoff should be placed before a student to test if she notices it, and if not, a severe scolding would be appropriate, given along with a lecture as to why this is so important to notice at this time.

12. Aircraft Lights: since use of a plane's external lights is FAA regulation (i.e. federal law), all FSFS students should be totally proper to employ lights in complience with the FAA. An instructor's monitoring of the student's use of his lights SHOULD BE MANDITORY not OPTIONAL! The only optional aspect would be how bright the instruments and dome lights are to be lit (at night).

13. PREMATURE FLYING "BASE" IN AIRPORT CIRCUITS: I am --not-- yet an expert in flying a tight pattern, but it really struck me that my instructor was ordering me to turn left onto BASE well before I was far enough away from the runway I would be landing on to set up a proper FINAL APPROACH AND ILS GLIDESLOPE DETERMINATION. I was thus given in my opinion way too low a score for behaving SAFELY in giving myself a long enough FINAL APPROACH. My instructor also frowned upon my use of the first flap setting (in a Flight1 Cessna 172R) when my choice of flap deployment, just prior to wanting to bank left onto BASE and simultaneously slow down the aircraft and start my descent during BASE, so I would finally turn onto FINAL APPROACH at an appropriate altitude and airspeed. Only during FINAL APPROACH was my instructor Ok with my use of flaps in any way, while doing Circuits. [Note: the training lessons section of FS2004 advocates the use of the 1st flap setting just before turning onto BASE as I described above].

WELL!   Those are all the ideas I have for the moment.  I may have more later. Feel free to contact me by email if desired:   lylastar@optonline.net

--Dan Ray

Thanks for the points - they are all interesting and some of them not too hard to introduce. We are looking at them and will keep everyone posted.

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


FSFlyingSchool 2023 for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FSFlyingSchool 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11
FS Instant Approach 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11 (Windows)
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2020 Prepar3D v 5
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2019 FSX, FSX-SE, FS2004
FSFlyingSchool USA for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Approach 2019 for X-Plane 11 (Mac)
FS Instant Approach for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Help for FSX, FS2004


Winner of 5 consecutive PC Pilot Magazine 'Classic Product' Awards

Fly like the Pros with X-Plane, Flight Simulator and Prepar3D!

If you wish to unsubscribe simply reply to email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT line.

Many thanks for your comments and ideas. What a remarkable body of work! It is a pleasure to read a piece which takes many different aspects into consideration, from flight training to software user interface and more.

We are working through your points even as I write...

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


FSFlyingSchool 2023 for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FSFlyingSchool 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11
FS Instant Approach 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11 (Windows)
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2020 Prepar3D v 5
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2019 FSX, FSX-SE, FS2004
FSFlyingSchool USA for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Approach 2019 for X-Plane 11 (Mac)
FS Instant Approach for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Help for FSX, FS2004


Winner of 5 consecutive PC Pilot Magazine 'Classic Product' Awards

Fly like the Pros with X-Plane, Flight Simulator and Prepar3D!

If you wish to unsubscribe simply reply to email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT line.

I would find very interesting the helicopter support which would also be value adding to the program but I understand it's a difficult task.

But I think that would be simpler and very appreciated from not native english speaking the possibility to read  what the instructor says.

regards

Calama

We are very close to having a German version available. No date yet, but we will let everyone know via the forum.

Have you seen the German Quick Reference document available on our web site?

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


FSFlyingSchool 2023 for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FSFlyingSchool 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11
FS Instant Approach 2023 for X-Plane 12 & 11 (Windows)
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2020 Prepar3D v 5
FSFlyingSchool PRO 2019 FSX, FSX-SE, FS2004
FSFlyingSchool USA for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Approach 2019 for X-Plane 11 (Mac)
FS Instant Approach for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Help for FSX, FS2004


Winner of 5 consecutive PC Pilot Magazine 'Classic Product' Awards

Fly like the Pros with X-Plane, Flight Simulator and Prepar3D!

If you wish to unsubscribe simply reply to email with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT line.

So I would like registration emails to be sent by autoresponder, especially when payed for by paypal, or other instant payment methods. I downloaded 2009 and bought from fsflyingschool.com direct.

I love the program it looks absoloutely fantastic, and gives plenty of detailed points explanations. great for the improvement perfectionist, the manual is excellent and lists all the areas you can score on. levels of annaylis of different aspects of flight is phenomanel.

FlyingSchool is the only flight instruction program out there for FS9/FSX, if there is another, I cant see how it can match this. I'm looking forward to learning to fly in my local area, and trying to perfect my scores. I iamagine i will be an avid FSflightschool fan for many years to come. ThanQ for re-invigorating my FSX obssesion.

Would love to see...

Helicopter support

Combat and Aerobatics--

Interaction with missions and lessons, so that all flying time can be analysed with mission and lesson objectives being instructed upon.

shhh, its therapy.

I recieved it . With in the 24 hrs specified, actually within 18 hrs. I'm already on the score board.

Would be easier if we could locate our position in the score boards, flicking through loads of high scores gets a bit tedious. Especially when you're a newbie like me.

Position 70ish for Cessna 172

And FSFS2009 does work with the lessons, haven't tried missions yet, but my lessons have been analyzed. It was doing the lessons that enabled me to submit scores, and soon hopefully my landing and flight scores will be good enough to do circuits.

Big big big thankQ to you guys for, excellent software, excellent support and my current elation at my flying abilities. LOL

shhh, its therapy.