Give Us A Brake!

[JaneRachel 515]

Morning All,Now, I am not going to go into all the airline configuration options of this amazing NGX for two reasons. Firstly, I am not going to steal RSR's thunder and secondly, there are just way too many customisations for me to list in a simple posting (really!)What I did want to share, though, is that the test crew have been having immense fun braking the aircraft. In most sims, you step on the toe brakes, your aircraft stops, end of story. Things are very different on the NGX. How many of you have actually considered what types of brake pads the airline fits to the aircraft. Well, in the NGX go right ahead and install steel or carbon brakes. Yes, you have the choice, just like the airlines!Is this merely a cosmetic thing? Far from it, as it demonstrates a level of realism never before seen in an FSX jet sim. It goes without saying that Vangelis with his attention to detail has the aircraft stopping using the exact length of runway required by the real aircraft in all conditions of weight, landing speed, weather and atmospheric conditions. That is a given! It is all measured to the centimetre. Impressive as that is, we have all been fascinated by the incredible detail of the energy management and heat dissipation. If you want to find out how carbon or steel heats and cools as you apply and remove braking force then the NGX is a master class! Sure, we have seen brakes getting hot and cooling before in a sim, but I hazard a guess that no-one has seen that height dissipate through other components of the aircraft showing specific properties of a carbon or steel pad. Your brake pads may be starting to cool or have already cooled, but how hot is your brake fluid which can continue to get hotter for a while, affecting brake performance, as your pads cool and heat finds its way through the fluid? That heat has to go somewhere. The old trick of flying low and slow with gear deployed early to lose some heat by airflow cooling works here too! You won't be surprised to hear that is more effective in the snows of Norway than it is in the heat of the Arizona desert where the outside air is much hotter!Speaking of fluids, in a high cycle machine such as the NG, you might also want to make sure that you keep your hydraulic fluid in good order as you conduct regular maintenance on your aircraft (whoops did I mention maintenance and wear and tear!!)What we are seeing is more than a sim of flying the NG, but a sim of the physics of the NG down to the finest little details. This isn't a sim where you might see a component needing replacing because a random number generator hss spat out a magic trigger value. In the NGX all of these components have their characteristics and physics modelled - with reference to Boeing published figures on service life of thousands of components. It also matters how you treat your aircraft. Treat her with respect and fly her well! Your aircraft and those virtual maintenance engineers will thank you!all the bestJR Whittaker

[rosspick 0]

Thanks for that awsome post.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Sounds great Jane. The more we hear about all these little details the more the rest of us cant wait to check it out ourselves. It's amazing the detail this a/c is going to have for a computer based sim. I can only imagine what the team would have come up with if it weren't for some of the limitations of FSX, but even then, it sounds like the got around some of those built in limitations.Thanks for the post.Sean Campbell

[eclipz 14]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to tell us interesting stories/reports like this.I have not yet thanked lasnubes and the others who posted reports/pics... to tank you to them as well, i really appreciate reading you all and knowing a bit more about this aircraft.

[Lenny 5]

if the maintenance and wear & tear bahaves like anything that the A2A Spitfire and the DA Katana have, I'll go nuts! :-)It's really a new added depth, reality, having to take care of an simulated airplane. Fly her by the numbers and you'll be fine, otherwise... . Can't wait!

[Rickie Welsh 27]

Hi, Is this the same Jane Rachel Whittaker who is/was a captain on board the 747-400, if so, this original post can be trusted as accurate. richard welsh.

[JaneRachel 515]

if the maintenance and wear & tear bahaves like anything that the A2A Spitfire and the DA Katana have, I'll go nuts! :-)It's really a new added depth, reality, having to take care of an simulated airplane. Fly her by the numbers and you'll be fine, otherwise... . Can't wait!

hey Lenny,I am not going to compare developer to developer as that is not fair and all are very different aircraft, suffice to say I consider both the Spit and Katana to be fantastic planes too! What I will say though is that I really think you will not be disappointed and blown away by the level of depth you will see.There is a reason that the NGX has taken so long to develop and I am sure the team won't mind me sharing that with you. It's not because they have been working slowly, but because they have just added layer of detail on top of layer of detail. They have spent 7 days a week for the last few years - yes "years" working very long hours to implement some incredible things into this aircraft. If there was ever a testament to a labour of love and passion for perfection, it is embodied in this NG.

[ukflight 11]

And also sometimes known as Andrew I believe. :( In any event a great post and now we have maintenance thrown into the pot (searches for Haynes manual and oil can).

[JaneRachel 515]

Hi, Is this the same Jane Rachel Whittaker who is/was a captain on board the 747-400, if so, this original post can be trusted as accurate. richard welsh.

it is a long time now since I have been at the controls of a real aircraft Richard. These days I seem to spend my life writing about them for various publications and magazines :)

[JaneRachel 515]

And also sometimes known as Andrew I believe. :( In any event a great post and now we have maintenance thrown into the pot (searches for Haynes manual and oil can).

that's a whole different story which I won't go into here about pen names for certain magazines.Speaking of Haynes, I was quite surprised that they do indeed sell a number of aircraft maintenance manuals. I have a couple of them here, unfortunately not for the NG. I do recommend the Bill Bulfer guides for everything FMC though and his cockpit companion.

[Tui737 22]

Great post. You've helped me decide to treat this release like a real aircraft, see my thread on (Patience). I am overwhelmed with the details of this new product, it's almost beyond my comprehension that this can be achieved in a sim. I can't remember being gripped by so much excitement or anticipation with any other sim product.

[MarkW 1,491]

JaneRachel,Nice to hear from you again, was not sure if you were still participating in Flight Sim. Still remember a wonderful Cross the Pond with UPSVAC where I think you flew the first incarnation of the PMDG 737. Hope you are doing well.regards,Mark.

[Spidierox 4]

Morning All,Speaking of fluids, in a high cycle machine such as the NG, you might also want to make sure that you keep your hydraulic fluid in good order as you conduct regular maintenance on your aircraft (whoops did I mention maintenance and wear and tear!!)

Hi,How is regular maintenance build into the NGX? Is that also via a FMC menu?Can you elaborate a bit more if possible.And thanks for the the post.Looking forward to it.

[Wynthorpe 51]

Fantastic insight into braking dynamics of carbon versus steel discs there Jane, thanks very much indeed! This has me even more excited that the visuals etc.Simon

[JaneRachel 515]

Hi,How is regular maintenance build into the NGX? Is that also via a FMC menu?Can you elaborate a bit more if possible.And thanks for the the post.Looking forward to it.

I cannot go into too many details as I know all the special options is something Robert will be discussing with you all. Suffice to say the interface is quite intuitive. There are lots of different ways of experiencing a failure, which can be all user selected to fly the aircraft in the way that suits everyone and their personal styles and requirements. From routine wear and tear to pre-programmed failures and lots of other options. These failures are then mirroed by a number of maintenance options from fixing a failure to routine preventative maintenance and a regular servicing schedule. In practice, it all works very well and is very simple and intuitive to configure. You can take the realism as far as you want to go with many many user options. I cannot think of many (if any!) modern jet sims apart from this NG where you can check a servicing schedule and respond appropriately!This is really the tip of the iceberg of hundreds of options on customising both the aircraft equipment and its usage. As mentioned above, I am being somewhat vague as I know RSR (who will do a much better job than me) will be returning to the topic of customisations with you all. The net effect, is that you can customise the aircraft to mirror the options available on your airline of choice and if you so choose operate the aircraft within the same parameters of those airlines. No more flying for ever and a day without regard to looking after your aircraft and keeping it in good operating order.As you spend time with your aircraft it develops a really unique character that enhances the realism many times over. You know that one part needs replacing, but you are good to go according to the MEL so you can defer it to the next scheduled maintenance or do you want to take her out of service for a quick fix? You really get the sense of the aircraft evolving as you fly her and make the decisions. That sterility you see in other sims has really been washed away in the NGX giving a real sense of a high cycle aircraft and its wear and tear.Parts wear out with the same MTBF (mean time between failure) as the real aircraft. The team spent an awful long time researching component life! If you ignore that X needs servicing and it wears out, you may find component Y and Z start to take the strain and possibly cascade fail, not in a random manner, but following the exact same chain of cause and effect events you would see in the actual NG. For the first time in a jet sim I have a real sense of hundreds of interconnected components all working in harmony and interdependent on each other and the need to keep all those parts in balance. Of course, wear and tear can be switched off whilst you learn the aircraft or if it is not to your taste, but in doing so, you risk not experiencing a whole new way of flying a jet in FSX. With the wear and tear module you are not going to see some random arbitary failure. I hate that in sims - oh look my wing fell off because some random number generator triggered! Any event you experience is directly related to both how you operate the aircraft, care for the aircraft and the operational life of the component. In short, things will wear out or fail for a valid reason, for exactly the same reasons that event might happen on the actual aircraft. You are not flying a database of parts linked to a random number generator but a genuine full physics organic simulation of systems and components and their inter-relationships. their life span, tolerances to abuse and functionality.JR

JaneRachel,Nice to hear from you again, was not sure if you were still participating in Flight Sim. Still remember a wonderful Cross the Pond with UPSVAC where I think you flew the first incarnation of the PMDG 737. Hope you are doing well.regards,Mark.

fantastic memories of that event Mark, but whatever you do, dont share my age as that was quite some time ago :) :)