X-Plane 9 Upgrade - Greater Cockpit Detail

The first phase of upgrading the Comet 4C to X-Plane 9 is done. All the underlying data has been changed to the new “cockpit2” and “flightmodel2” types, and, thanks to the new generic instrument feature, there are more gauges than before. Every knob and lever I can find a dataref for is now “live”.



In X-Plane 8, all the gauges one ever needs have to be crammed into the small 2D panel. Essential stuff that really belonged on the co-pilot’s side, or the flight engineers station, had to be in front of the pilot. Now everything is where it should be. There is also a lot more of it, as shown by the auxiliary instrument panels between the main panels and fuselage on both sides.



The inserts for the flight reference card holders (shown blank in the pictures above and below) are now in a separate object file. That sounds extravagant, but I’ve done it for two reasons: first, the resolution has to be high enough to read; secondly, anyone who does want to customise them for each flight can do so more easily. Of course, the cards would have been hand-written. To look really authentic, users could write the information themselves, scan the sheet, and drop it into the file structure.



There is now pipework which supplied fresh air to the pilots via eyeball vents (see above and below). Above the windscreens, there are pipes for the dry air system, which took conditioned air and passed it through silica gel filters before feeding it between the inner and outer layers of glazing.



The fuel cocks function in 3D, using X-Plane 9 manipulators (see below). The low pressure cocks have to be turned on before the high pressure cocks.



The engine start panel also works, and the sequence is much closer to the original in both 2D and 3D. A master switch (see below) energises the panel, and two amber lights glow. The engine selector switch rotates, and a single large starter button engages the starter motor for whichever engine has been selected. Previously, I had to have a separate button for each engine.



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GMM-P (14/05/2009)

Tags: Cockpit