Concorde SSTSim released

[chris]

http://www.sstsim.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1194

www.sstsim.com

New Concorde has been announced. Featuring production, pre-production and prototype models.

[Frank N. O.]

What!? New? What's wrong with the old one? And what about the servicepack 3 still not released? Did I waste my money even though I've heard nothing about my purchase for days from anyone.

Points to you Chris for posting something that's a complete surprise :wave:

Frank

[chris]

This includes the existing excellent work, but adds more to it, and allows SSTSim to continue on into the future. :)

[Frank N. O.]

Ah ok, that clears it all up, thanks for the information :)

Frank

[chris]

http://www.sstsim.com/product_images/vort_land.jpg

Look at those beautiful condensation effects. :) In this case, they rush along the leading edge of the wing. As mentioned on the site, the prototype Concordes leave behind a huge plume of smoke behind them. :eek:

Certainly nothing like the production ones which run quite clean. They are a little dirty initially, but once run-up, they burn fairly cleanly with little smoke.

[Frank N. O.]

Awesome :cool:

I just looked at the new site too and saw the file-size :eek: I'm beginning to think this is the biggest most complex add-on aircraft ever for FS, is that correct?

Frank

[chris]

I don't know if it is the biggest or not. But certainly a complex machine.

And the autoland does indeed work well. I've tested it numerous times and it is very trustworthy. It does beautiful landings. It approaches nicely, flares and then disengages the auto-throttles for you and you then reverse the throttles.

[chris]

Release should be sometime today. Keep an eye on http://www.sstsim.com/, and also http://www.flight1.com/.

Another worthwhile purchase:
http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=ITV-BAC-001

This 2 DVD documentary is said to be excellent viewing for SSTSim users, it explains in a lot of detail how this plane is operated. Goes on a flight from London to New York and back to London.

[chris]

http://www.totalnfs.net/cpd/gbsst.jpg

That's my contribution for the screenshots. Concorde 002, registered G-BSST in a replica of the famous promo-shot for the Concorde sales brochure.

[chris]

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=sstsim

[Radical-Al]

question, on the last picture, why does the nose look messed up? where there should be black there isn't on the top part just in front of the windows... or is that just me?

[chris]

The screenshot above is one of the first prototype models, 002. It was the first British built Concorde. The visor actually only has a couple of tiny little windows for forward view. The nose and visor themselves are radically different to the production models, as is the general design of the plane. This following screenshot highlights just how poor the forward view would be with the visor raised:

http://www.sstsim.com/product_images/dev12.jpg

The visor here is lowered, but the nose is raised fully. This is for general flight below 300kts. Above 300kts, the visor would naturally be raised to further streamline the plane.

Unless you mean this picture:
http://www.flight1.com/images/sstsim/sstsim9.jpg

Not sure what you are getting at to be honest. :confused: Maybe you could post a screenshot highlighting what you are talking about?

Here are some more screenshots on the SSTSim forum of 001, the French prototype and the first Concorde:
http://www.sstsim.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1268

Recreation of the iconic first flight. :) If you want to see it yourself on video, get this video:

Thank-you for 27 years of supersonic service (http://www.flightlevel350.com/viewer.php?id=278&skip_pref=yes)

Enjoy watching the famous first take-off. :) And near the end, Mike Bannister demonstrates a take-off in 216. And demonstrates why take-offs in this plane are so exciting.

[Frank N. O.]

Chris I think he's talking about what appears to be a hole in the nose up the inner steep windshield, but upon closer examination I think it looks like the high-speed windshield is lowered down, also on the front, although that must give very poor aerodynamics.

Frank

[chris]

The visor/nose operates in the following stages:

http://www.totalnfs.net/cpd/conc-nose.gif
Diagram illustrates production Concorde nose/visor assembly.

On my screenshot before, the nose is raised, but the visor is still lowered. This is common for 250-270kt cruise flight at lower altitudes below 15,000ft where extended visibility is preferred. Above 25,000ft, speeds are usually much higher (above Mach 0.90) so visor is raised to improve aerodynamics. If Visor/nose is not raised to correct level for the speed, a persistant warble tone is heard from the Master Warning System to alert the crew to the error. This tone may not be cancelled via the audio-inhibit button.

[Frank N. O.]

Thanks for the pictures, very cool and informative :cool:
Btw didn't you edit the post? There's no edit-date in your post but I was sure that text under the drawings wasn't there the first time I looked.

Anyway. at the picture above it looks like there's a gap also in the front of the nose, maybe the visor receeded deeper into the front on the protoype creating a bigger gap? The shadow is quite clear, just a few meters from the tip.

Frank

[chris]

The prototype had a different shaped nose, and a longer, different shaped visor. So it moved slightly differently. It also had an emergency release lever inside the flight-deck.

I did edit my post, but edits by Admins leave no notes. On private message issue you asked about, nothing has changed that I'm aware of.

[Frank N. O.]

I made a drawing.

Edit: Fast reply, thanks for clearing my memory concerns up :) Regarding PM's did you get one from me?

Frank

[chris]

I haven't received any from you in the last 1 or 2 days, no.

You are indeed correct about the Concorde visor.

[Frank N. O.]

Ok thanks, I must've lost track of time, my last was 7 days ago although my mom nearly fell a short while ago and I'm not doing so well so I'll stop posting for the moment until I hopefully regain some of my concentration.

You enjoy yourself
Frank

[chris]

I'll give you a few autoland tips. The autoland system on Concorde is sophisticated, it will handle crosswinds of up to 12kts, and will even flare the aircraft nicely just before touch-down. It does however require the pilot to feed it the correct information in order for it to work properly. It works in both CAT. II and CAT. III modes.

Say we were to land at Runway 9 Right at London's Heathrow airport. This is in fact a nice runway to land at, it is very long, and it is of Cat.III ILS type. And we'll be approaching from the north-west, using an intercept course of 140 degrees, and we'll be about 30Nm out, and we've got about 18 tonnes of fuel left.

Details:

Heathrow - runway 9R ILS 109.50mhz ILS HDG 093

What we do:

1. You have the aircraft airspeed dialed back to 210kts on the approach using the IAS ACQ, having 1 Auto-throttle on, 1 Flight director on, 1 Auto-pilot on. Have the nose and visor down all the way, lower the landing gear. Have the plane flying at about 3000ft in ALT HOLD mode.

1.a. On the hydraulics/electrical panel, ESS busses split.
1.b. Check Green/Yellow Hydraulic system pressures are correct.
1.c. INS3 serviceable (in NAV or ATT mode)

2. Dial in 093 for both VOR LOC course selectors. Dial in 140 for both heading selectors.

3. Dial in 109.50mhz on both navigation radios.

3.a. Hit the TRK HDG button, hit LAND button.
3.b. Engage 2nd autothrottle, 2nd Flight-director, 2nd autopilot. If 2nd auto-pilot switch latches, your landing is said to be LAND3, if it doesn't, it will be LAND2, conforming to Cat.II ILS requirements.

4. The DME indicators should show the distance to the runway as soon as you get within range.

5. As aircraft nears the glide-slope, the ALT-HOLD will disengage, and the GLIDE will take over to hold the glide-slope, whilst LAND and VOR-LOC remain primed, ready to take-over.

6. As aircraft nears the localiser, TRK HDG mode will disengage, and the VOR LOC will engage, then the LAND will take over from it. The plane will turn onto the runway heading and establish itself on the glideslope. Now the plane is landing itself.

7. Dial the speed back to around 180kts. ALT-ACQ will get that speed for you.

8. Aircraft nears the runway, and will begin to flare.

8.a.1. If there are any problems at all during this phase, if the plane is still not established on the approach, or it is not stable, IMMEDIATELY apply full throttle (hit F4). This will execute a go around - aircraft will abort the landing, pitch upwards, wings will be levelled, aircraft will continue to climb steadily and await your next command.

8.a.2. The red AUTO-LAND light may begin flashing to indicate glideslope/ILS beam deviation below 200ft. In this case, be prepared to execute Go-Around.

8.b. Otherwise, let it continue. You may reverse the inboard engines 20ft above the runway using / key. Don't try to take over with the controls, it will get itself on the runway smoothly.

9. Now, when it touches down, take-over, lower the nose. The auto-throttles will be disengaged for you.
9.a. Throttle back to IDLE (F1)
9.b. Full reverse thrust (F2)
9.c. As aircraft slows below 100kts, use the brakes to slow down more. As it slows to less than 60kts throttle back to IDLE, continue to slow to 20kts or less.

And that's an auto-landing in detail. A little complex at first, but it's very handy at those times when visibility is extremely poor.

When landing in gusty or stormy conditions, I recommend intercepting the ILS glideslope further out, and keeping the approach speed higher (around 190 or 195kts). That will compensate somewhat for wind-shear. The auto-land mode will compensate for the higher speed.

[Frank N. O.]

I just had a nap and that helped. Man that's a long list, it sure does look like the Concorde is nearly a spaceship, more systemswork than manual flying but that's also cool and very interesting, once one learns it that is :D

Frank

[chris]

It's a lot of writing, but it only takes a few moments to set it correctly in the sim.

[chris]

http://www.sstsim.com/repaints.php

Extra paint schemes now available, including my 1970's British Airways pack including:

G-BOAA
G-BOAB
G-BOAC
G-BOAD
G-BOAE
G-BOAF
G-BOAG

They all have the original colour schemes with the blue cheat stripe down the side, and the prominent red tail, along with the Speedbird emblem.

Also available is the famous (but unpractical) Pepsi Concorde - aka Air France Concorde F-BTSD. The paint-scheme was unpractical in real life because the dark colour imposed a speed limitation of not exceeding more than Mach 1.6 for over 20min periods. Even so, the wings were still left white for the reasons of heat. The reason Concordes are always white is simply to do with air-frame heat.

On my machine here, I've also got a few other repaints waiting:
- Braniff International Concorde (in orange/white Braniff colours)
- British Aerospace / Aerospatiale G-BBDG (in final BAE colour scheme)
- Braniff International/British Airways shared Concordes.

It is not well known that Braniff International did fly Concorde, and did indeed have registered the most Concorde aircraft of all airlines at the time. However, these planes were merely borrowed from Air France and British Airways, with the registrations changed to North America. (IE, FBTSD became N94SD, G-BOAC became N81AC, GBOAD became N94AD). This is similar to G-N94AD, the Singapore Airlines Concorde operated jointly with British Airways.

G-N94AD (re-registered from G-BOAD) was the only Concorde to feature a real world airline livery other than Air France or British Airways. It had Singapore Airlines colours on one side, and BA colours on the other side.

Only other strange production Concorde colour schemes were on F-BTSC when it was leased to star in the truly awful Airport '79 disaster movie, and indeed F-BTSD with Pepsi advertising.