747 Flight Simulator ==================== Operating Instructions ---------------------- This program produces a true simulation of the flight characteristics of a Jumbo-jet, giving both an accurate "pilot's view" of the runway and a realistic portrayal of the flight deck instrument panels. Your joysticks become the control-column and throttle levers through which you can learn to master the "art" of handling a big jet. Selected keyboard keys are used to operate such devices as Flaps, Slats, Spoilers, Thrust Reversers, Landing Gear and more. Starting The Simulation ----------------------- On start-up, the program executes several initialisation and graphics building routines, during which some prompts will appear on the screen. You will be asked to enter the amount of fuel and number of passengers your simulated flight will carry. This enables the "gross aircraft weight" to be calculated, a factor which has considerable effect on the handling and performance of the 747. When prompted for 'start-option', you may select "ready-for-takeoff" or "landing approach". The latter will set the aircraft on a randomly selected but appropriate flight path some miles from the airport. Your Air-speed will be 200-300 knots and the aircraft will be "clean" (no Flaps, Slats or Spoilers in use and Gear raised). Your altitude will be approximately correct for the distance to go to the airport, so by maintaining a steady rate of descent of 800-1000 feet per minute you can achieve a correct approach for landing. Of course, you will need to lower the Landing Gear and use other devices to slow your airspeed and yet maintain a steady descent. Throttles should be at or near minimum throughout most of the approach but should be increased briefly if your "sink" rate becomes too high. Generally speaking, Throttles control Airspeed and Airspeed controls "Life" produced. Use of them provides the best method of exercising fine control over the rate of climb and descent (vertical speed). The "Ready for takeoff" option places the aircraft on the ground at the end of the runway. Set the Flaps and Slats to the takeoff position, open the throttles and you will quickly build up speed. At between 140 and 180 knots you pull back the control column and will soon be airborne. Raise the Gear, stabilise your rate of climb at 100 to 200 feet per minute, depending on take-off weight, and then start to ease back the Throttle. As your airspeed increases you can gradually retract the Flaps and Slats and, at the desired altitude, throttle back gently to achieve level flight. Don't let the engines run at full power for too long as this will result in overheat and a potential engine fire. Theory Of Flight ---------------- When an aircraft leaves the ground, it does so because it has managed to produce a greater lifting force, through its wings, than its own weight (which varies depending on the payload and fuel carried). This force, known as LIFT, is created by the wings alone, the propulsion from its engine or engines serves only to drive the machine forwards. The propulsion force is called THRUST. When he aircraft travels through the air at a sufficient speed, the wings, due to their aerofoil (or curved) shape, disturb the air causing it to travel (fairly smoothly) over the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. The wings slice through the air at a slightly raised angle (angle of attack), which forces the air travelling above the wind (taking the longer route) to travel faster than that travelling below the wind. The effect thus produced is that the air molecules in the upper air-flow have, for a short time, more room to fill, become more spaced out and therefore have a lower pressure than their counterparts below the wing. The difference in air pressure above and below the wing is not great but taken over hundreds of square feet of wing area it is sufficient to produce the LIFT required. All of this LIFT producing business only takes place when the speed of the wing travelling through the air is high enough (when this is not the case, the smooth air-flows break up and LIFT is lost causing the wing to STALL). Also critical is the angle of attack which must be within a set range of a few degrees. If too low, no LIFT is produced. If too high, the air-flows are again disturbed and the wings STALL. To achieve the required air-speed for flight the aircraft must be propelled forwards. This is done, in the case of the 747 by its four huge turbo-fan engines suspended two beneath each wing. Each of the four engines develops over 50,000 pounds of thrust which is produced largely by the giant fans at the front of the engine. Turbo-fan engines are something of a cross between propellor engines and 'pure' jet engines. The former produce THRUST by rotating their propellor (this acts in the same way as a wind, producing its LIFT horizontally instead of vertically), while pure jets produced all their THRUST in the exhaust emissions from the rear of the engine. A turbo-fan uses a jet engine to drive the huge fan up front, but the air passing through the fan then mostly bypasses the jet engine which only takes enough of the intake to provide internal compression. The energy produced by the jet is then transmitted up to drive the fan, leaving very little as final emission at the nozzle. All the THRUST energy is applied to pushing the aircraft forwards and is absorbed in overcoming the opposing resistance called DRAG. The DRAG force is the net air resistance against the wings and body of the aircraft as it moves forward through the air. On a 747 DRAG is higher during take-off and landing due to the use of high-lift devices on the wings, and the fact that the undercarriages are lowered. High lift devices are used when the aircraft is travelling slowly to improve the lift producing characteristics of the wings. These are called FLAPS, which protrude outwards and downwards from the rear of the wings, and SLATS, which protrude forwards from the leading edge of the wind. They alone are responsible for the fact that the enormous 747 can use many of the World's airports because they allow the aircraft to land or take-off at lower speeds than expected for its size, so runways need not be as long as they would be otherwise. When a pilot wishes to reduce his air-speed, he may pull back the throttles thereby reducing THRUST, so that the unopposed DRAG force can slow down the aircraft. If further 'speed-braking' is required he will use the 'spoilers' (panels on the upper surface of the wing which hinge upwards into the air-flow, increasing DRAG and spoiling the smooth air-flow – hence their name – and creating a loss of LIFT in the process). Having dealt with the major forces which are responsible for flight, let us now consider the finer controls of the aircraft,. In flight the pilot will need the ability to change the direction (or heading) of the aircraft and also its altitude (or height). A change in direction is effected not by the rudder (which is only use to stabilise the aircraft at the beginning or end of a turn, or, in a strong crosswind, but by banking the aircraft and flying 'up' the turn. This is a difficult concept but imagine it this way. The rudder only slews the aircraft to one side, pointing its nose in a new direction but not affecting the direction of flight. In other words, the aircraft carries on going the same way but slightly crabwise (the correct terminology for crabwise rotation in flying is YAW). To really change direction an aircraft has to use the large forces of LIFT created by the main wings. These forces normally act vertically as explained earlier so to turn we must first bank over to the side in which direction we wish to turn. This causes the LIFT force to act a little in that direction (how much depends on the degree of bank – or ROLL). These large forces can now be used to pull the entire aircraft round towards the direction of turn as if flying upwards. When the ROLL is corrected we have a new direction (or heading). Altitude changes are made by increasing or decreasing the LIFT force thereby causing a climb or descent (vertical speed). As previously described, LIFT varies with air-speed and angle of attack of the wing. It follows then that the pilot can change his vertical speed by adjusting his air-speed (increase or decrease throttle settings), or by changing the angle of attack (known as ATTITUDE). Attitude changes, or PITCH movement, are produced by the operation of the elevators at the back of the tailplane (or horizontal stabilisers). Their action is similar to that of the rudder except that where the rudder swings the nose to either side the elevators raise or lower the aircraft's nose thereby changing its ATTITUDE. A change in ATTITUDE will also mean a change in angle of attack as the winds are fixed to the body and change their ATTITUDE with it. Generally it is good practice to control vertical speed (climb and descent) by controlling air-speed, with the elevators only being used for significant changes in ATTITUDE such as during 'rotate' just as the aircraft is taking-off or holding vertical speed steady. Reading The Instruments ----------------------- To first learn how to read and understand the instrumentation of your 747, start the Simulator using the Cold-Start option and observe the display as you follow this guide. Your screen is packed with what seems like (to a non-flyer) a mass of strange dials and indicators. If you are a non-flyer then just persevere, it may not seem easy but did anyone ever say that for an untrained pilot, jumping into a 747 and flying her away would be easy? The learning and development of handling skills will provide you with hours of fun. We will look at the display in three sections: the overhead instruments, the pilot's view and the main instrument panel, starting with the latter which occupies all of the display below the pilot's view. On the left are the six main flight instruments which are directly in front of the captain in an airliner. These instruments are also repeated in front of the co-pilot but we have neither the room nor the need to show repeats. To the right is the engine instrument console, arranged as four columns (one of each engine) of four small dials. This panel is actually central in the flight deck arrangement between the pilot and co-pilot. The six main flight instruments are the means by which you determine the overall status of the aircraft. We will examine each in turn, top row first, starting on the left. Air Speed Indicator ------------------- This is calibrated in hundredths of knotts, so the '1' means 100 knotts, '2' means 200 knots, etc. In a real aircraft there is an error in this reading at altitude, due to pressure changes but your similar will read a 'true' air speed, as relative to the ground. Artificial Horizon ------------------ The centre instrument of the top row tells you two things. Firstly, the bank or roll of the aircraft and secondly the climb/descend situation. The horizon across the centre of the instrument will tilt left or right just as the real horizon would do if you bank the aircraft. The short horizontal line in the centre of the instrument is fixed and acts as a standard against which you measure the bank and climb/descent. If you are descending the horizon will rise above the little line (which will change colour to avoid getting lost) and if you are climbing the horizon drops down well below the little line. Compass ------- This instrument shows the compass heading in degrees of the aircraft. The three digit number in large characters at the top of the instrument is the heading and ranges from zero (North) all the way round to 359 degrees (almost North again). Each is 90 degrees, South is 180 degrees and West is 270 degrees. The runway of your Simulator is aligned North/South and the direction for take-off is North, therefore the initial value for a Cold Start is zero degrees. At the bottom of the Compass is another reading in small digits. This is also in degrees but represents the direction of the runway from your present position. Regardless of your own actual heading, this reading gives you the direction in which you should be flying if you want to go straight to the runway. Of course, to make a landing, you need to align your aircraft with the runway so flying directly to the threshold would not be advisable. Instead, you must take a heading which allows you to line up with the runway some 10 miles or more from the threshold. Now to the bottom row of instruments, starting on the left with: Vertical Speed Indicator ------------------------ This instrument (also known as the Rate of Climb and Descent Indicator) reads, in thousands of feet per minute, the rate at which you are climbing or descending. It has nothing to do with your airspeed, but purely your change in altitude. When in level flight (altitude constant) the needle points left to zero. If you start to climb the needle starts to turn clockwise toward the upper 'one'. On reaching the first digit you have a reading of 1,000 feet per minute of climb. Conversely a descent is indicated when the needle turns anticlockwise through the lower half of the instrument. The maximum readings are 3,000 f.p.m. climb and 3,000 f.p.m. descent. The needle will not rotate beyond these points. Altimeter --------- There are two needles on this instrument which operate in a manner not unlike a regular clock. One revolution of the long needle represents 1000 feet. One revolution of the small needle represents 10,000 feet,. When you fly above 10,000 feet, the small rectangle at the bottom left of the altimeter shows 10, above 20,000 it shows 20, etc. So if the rectangle contains 10, the short needle is between 7 and 8, and the long needle is on 5, your altitude is 17,5000 feet (10,000 + 7,000 + 500). Rate Of Turn Indicator ---------------------- The sixth flight instrument shows the rate at which you are turning, and operates in a similar manner to the Vertical Speed Indicator. This time the needle points downwards to zero when you are flying straight. If you turn to the left, the needle moves to the left indicating the number of degrees per second that your heading is changing by. For turns to the right the needle moves to the right in a similar fashion. That concludes the description of the main flight instruments which you must learn to scan quickly and frequently, just as a pilot does (when autopilot is not going the job for him). If you concentrate too much on one or two instruments, things will probably start to happen on the others that you should be aware of, and which if unchecked will lead to a missed landing or some other problem. Now moving to the right hand side of the display. Here there are engine instruments and indicators relating to the use of FLAPS, SLATS, SPOILERS, WHEEL BRAKES, ELEVATOR TRIM, THRUST REVERSERS and LANDING GEAR. Engine Instruments ------------------ The sixteen small dials arranged in four columns of four apply to the four 747 engines. The first column is engine 1, the second is engine 2, etc. The top row give the fuel flow rate for each engine. These will normally be the same for each engine that is running and zero for those that are not. Note that these tiny instruments are not calibrated with digits as the larger flight instruments, this is not possible on the scale we are dealing with here. The readings of each instrument on this panel are 'relative' with minimum on the left, rotating clockwise to maximum at the bottom. The second row indicates engine revolutions. The third row, engine efficiency (or power generated), and the bottom rows gives engine temperate. This last set are the ones to check most frequently because if you keep the engines at full throttle for too long they will overheat. This is the case when the needles point downwards. You may choose to disregard the indication but sooner or later an engine failure or fire will occur. The prescribed action is as follows: If all the engines are hot then reduce the throttle. If just one is hot then it is probably a faulty and should be shut down. This is where the fun starts. Although a 747, like all other airlines, is designed to cope with an engine out, it obviously becomes much more difficult to handle the airplane, especially during take-off. The section on controls will tell you how to shutdown engines (and restart them). When an overheated engine has been allowed to cool, you may try restarting it, but there is no guarantee that the problem will not reoccur. Reverse Thrust Indicators ------------------------- Above each column of engine instrument dials is a rectangular indicator of which is black (or off) for normal flight and bright (or on) when the Thrust Reversers are engaged. Thrust Reversers are mechanical devices which in effect capture the rushing blast of air driven back by the fan of the engine and redirect it out through vents which open in the outer surface of the engine nacelles. When used they can achieve something like 40% reversal of the engines' power (which continues at all times to rotate in the same direction – only the direction of the airflow is changed). Thrust reversers are used to decelerate the aircraft on the runway after landing (or when aborting take-off is necessary). An aircraft can stop without their use by braking but this dramatically reduces the life of expensive tyres (due to using wheel brakes) and can even increase the risk of tyre bursts and wheel fires when brakes overheat. Landing Gear Indicators ----------------------- Above the four Thrust Reverser Indicators are five small Landing Gear Indicators. These are black when the gear is raised and bright when the gear is down. Each one represents an undercarriage unit (the 747 has four main sets and one nose-wheel set). The centre indicator is the nose set and usually changes before the others. It takes some time to hoist away the undercarriages and this is reflected in the simulation. Flaps Indicator --------------- To the right of the engine dials is a long vertical indicator marked zero at the top and 30 at the bottom. This represents the number of degrees that the flaps are extended by. Only used when airspeed is low, the FLAP settings vary depending on the weight of the payload of passengers and fuel, and are usually extended father on landing than on take-off. Between the main flight instrument group and the engine instrument group are four more indicators which look and operate like the FLAPS indicator. We will discuss these in the following sequence, top pair first, left then right, bottom pair last, left then right. Elevator Trim Indicator ----------------------- The elevators affect the attitude (or pitch movement) of the aircraft, and ultimately the vertical speed (climb or descent). In real life it would be a strain on the pilot to have to hold the column back (when climbing) or forwards (when descending), for long periods of time. To eliminate this strain the elevators are fitted with 'trim tabs', the purpose of which is to hold the elevators in a certain position. In our simulation we don't have to exert much force on the joystick and in any case there is no feedback of resistance forces as in an airliner (these are artificially induced because hydraulic systems do the actual work of moving and holding control surfaces). We do use the elevator trim, however but in a slightly different way. Because the joystick only affords us a little movement between full forward and full backward (by comparison with a real column), the range of movement would have to represent considerable change in position of the elevator and this would mean large changes of attitude for only small movements of the joystick. This makes the simulator difficult to use as fine control over the elevators is needed. This problem was solved as follows: The range of movement of the joystick (front to back) represents change in attitude of only about six degrees. To move up or down the full range of about 40 degrees (-20 to +20) you activate the elevator trim. This is by pushing the joystick fully forwards (to reduce attitude) or by pushing it fully back (to increase attitude). When held at one of these extremes the joystick adjusts the elevator trim setting thereby moving the range of its operation down or up. Wheel Brakes ------------ This indicator shows the wheel brakes usage, down = off, up = on, with in-between settings. Be careful about the use of brakes they are fierce when full on. Spoilers (Speed Brakes) ----------------------- The use of spoilers was described earlier. This indicator shows they are extended (up) or retracted (down). Leading Edge Slats ------------------ The use of slats was described earlier. This indicator shows they are extended (up) or retracted (down). In all of the previously described five indicators, the setting of the device(s) referred to is shown by a moving 'handle' such that they have something of the appearance of the actual controls in the 747. Now for the overhead instruments. In the centre, in a rectangle, is a reading which gives the distance (in miles with one decimal place) to the runway. It is calculated as the distance on the ground between your position and the end of the runway (whichever end is closest to you at the time). The runway is 10,000 feet long (almost two miles). Annunciator Panels ------------------ To the left and right are sets of indicators which normally are blank, but they 'light up' when certain things happen. Each one gives its appropriate indication with a letter as follows: F - Flap hydraulic failure (Flaps won't move) D - Slats hydraulic failure (Slats won't move) S - Spoilers hydraulic failure (Spoilers won't move) B - Wheel brake failure (Brakes inoperative) Those to the right are relevant to the engines and show: F - Fire in engine M - Mechanical failure in engine Pilot's View Display -------------------- This part of the simulator display requires little description but an explanation of its function is useful. Some simulator programs make no attempt at the vast amount of trigonometric equations that have to be solved in order to provide this display, not to mention the very tricky graphics involved. It is true to say, however, that this feature places a very heavy load on the limited processing on a Home Computer. In this simulator program must effort has gone into the provision of the pilot's view (because flying without one is just not interesting), but compromises have had to be made in the amount of detail shown, otherwise the program would not have had time to deal with all the complexities of the flight calculations. The display shows, whenever it would logically be in view, the runway edge-lines, which give you the ability to judge your distance and orientation when making an approach to land. It is important to note, however, that this is not the most significant part of the whole display. Even in real life, a 747 pilot spends much of his time scanning the instruments rather than looking at the runway (much of which is below his line of sight due to the high position of the flight deck and the attitude of the aircraft). The Controls ------------ The previous sections have given you some insight into the theory of flight and the information that the simulator presents to you about your flight. It only remains now to describe how the aircraft is controlled. This is achieved by the use of the joysticks and single-character commands through the keyboard. Joysticks --------- One joystick acts as the control column of the 747 and acts in the conventional manner, i.e. left to bank and turn left, right to bank and turn right, forward to lower the nose (for descent) and back to raise the nose (for climbing). This joystick also controls the setting of the elevator trim which is lowered (numerically) or raised by pushing the joystick fully forward or by pulling it fully back. More detail on operating the elevator trim was given in the previous section on instruments. The other joystick is used only as the throttle lever pushing the joystick forward increases fuel flow to the engines and pulling it back reduces fuel flow. This has the effect of increasing or decreasing the revs of each engine running. The left to right movement of this joystick has no effect. Keyboard Controls ----------------- Several of the keyboard keys are used to control various parts of the aircraft as described below. When giving a command via the keyboard, hold down the required key for about one second. The command is acknowledged by a short beep through your monitor speaker. As commands are entered they are stacked for execution in the order they are given. Commands are not executed as fast as they may be given so the appropriate response on the displayed indicators will not appear immediately after the beep. This is intentional as in real life the hydraulic and other systems take time to complete their function. ENGINE START-UP AND SHUT-DOWN The engines are controlled by the keys 1 to 4. When an engine's key is pressed, if the engine is running it will shut down. If it is stopped, it will start-up. You can tell if an engine is running by its fuel-flow gauge, it will be at minimum only if the engine is stopped because even at the lowest throttle setting some fuel is flowing to the engine. EXTEND/RETRACT FLAPS Key F to extend flaps by 5 degrees. Key R to retract flaps by 5 degrees. EXTEND/RETRACT LEADING EDGE SLATS Key D to extend slats, key E to retract slats. EXTEND/RETRACT SPOILERS (SPEED BRAKES) Key S to extend spoilers, key W to retract spoilers LANDING GEAR Key L to lower landing gear. Key O (letter 'O' not zero) to retract landing gear. WHEEL BRAKES Key B to apply wheel brakes. Key N to release wheel brakes. THRUST REVERSERS Key / to engage thrust reversers, key ? (don't forget the SHIFT key) to disengage thrust reversers. ABORT/RESTART Press the Z key to abort the current simulation. This will cause the session start screen to appear again and you may re-select the type of start-up situation you require. TAXI LEFT/RIGHT When on the ground the aircraft can be steered left or right by small amounts by the left joystick (as used for banking and turning when airborne). This is the control to use to steer the aircraft when travelling at high speeds on the runway during take-off or landing. However, when taxiing you may wish to make larger turns, this can be done by use of the ',' and '.' keys for left or right respectively. (These are more easily envisaged as the '<' and '>' above '.' and ',' but the SHIFT key is not required. A single pressing of one of these keys results in a turn through 18 degrees in the appropriate direction. SCREEN COLOUR SELECTION The colours used for foreground and background on the display may be changed to suit your own taste. This may be done by using key A (foreground) or key Q (background). NOTES This program is supplied for use with or without joysticks. When not using Joysticks, the following keys become effective: P – Increase power, - (minus) – Decrease Power Left Arrow – Bank & turn Left, Right Arrow – Bank & Turn Right Up Arrow – Down Elevator (To Descend), Down Arrow – Up Elevator (To Climb) The above use of arrow keys is conventional and represents the movement of a joystick/Control Column. Loading ------- Insert the cassette into your cassette player (ensuring it is rewound to the beginning) and press PLAY. Then load the program by entering the following statements(s), according to the type of computer you have DRAGON: CLOAD (program loads) RUN TANDY C/C: CLOAD (program loads) RUN BBC/ELK@ CHAIN"" (program loads and runs) (BBC/Electron users note that the program may be loaded from cassette without resetting PAGE, and can be saved to diskette by normal SAVE.) Game Credits ------------ (c) 1983 D.A.C.C. LTD