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(Virtual) Air Crash Investigation


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For many years I have been wondering why –in the scope of flight simulation- there is not some kind of addon which can really explain me the reasons why I have wrecked or ditched or belly-landed, or failed in any way.

It is up to me to find it out and many times my plane freezes in the air and the FS doesn’t explain to me what did I do wrong!

Sometimes an engine bursts in flames –and I am not talking of a programmed failure- and I’ll never know why that happened. Was it that I oversighted a rising temperature in the engine? Were RPMs overspeeding? inadvertently did I go through a flock of birds? Had it happened in real world, IF I survive, I’ll later know what happened; if it was my fault or not, right after the aeronautical authorities define the causes that gave rise to the accident. In Flight Simulation, as far as I know, if the oversight isn’t evident, there is no way to learn about it, and the worst; to learn to avoid it.

So, what if there was a simple addon that could be called, say, “NTSB Agent” , “Air Crash Investigation” or something like that, to review all the steps that led to a virtual accident and being able to elaborate a clear report –graphics included- establishing the causes and contributing factors that favored the wreckage?

I guess, the PC is a real data recorder...it records any input you make before an accident, since the plane appears on your screen, beginning with the configuration it has right in that moment. It is perfectly imaginable performing an analysis of all that stuff.

Think about! It would be quite helpful not only to all simmers, specially for the newcomers, but ALSO for real pilots training difficult approaches or new routes.

I’ll send this letter to those FS developers I, myself, consider the best in the FSX/P3D and in XP ranges:

  • Aerosoft
  • Milviz
  • A2A
  • Rex
  • OrbX
  • JustFlight

And to some popular forums in Flight Simulations, in the spirit of awakening undertakers all around.

So, let’s see who dares to take the challenge!


Paul

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I saw your post last night and gave some time to consider it before responding.

 

I understand what you're looking for, and on the surface I really like the idea!

 

However, the vast majority of flight sim aircraft do not model failures, and the vast majority of flight simmers do not switch on failures even if the aircraft they use has them available (that's not speculation, we've looked into how popular failure modeling is for many, many years).

 

Mathijs is correct in that any product for aircraft that does model failures would have to be written specifically for that aircraft and the developer would need to have access and understand the code for that aircraft or at least provide a SDK that includes detailed failure information.  In fact, a developer may well have to modify their existing code and an SDK to provide this type of information (which is a LOT of extra work for a developer, especially when they wouldn't likely be compensated for it).  As such, developing software to provide detailed failure information is something that each aircraft developer would have do.

 

Thankfully, there is at least one aircraft developer that has done this somewhat, though it's likely not the level you're seeking. The aircraft I'm speaking of is the Leonardo MaddogX.

 

Again, it's a pretty neat idea, but not something I believe would have widespread appeal in the community and it would be best for each aircraft developer to implement.

 

Thanks for writing in! 

 

My very best wishes.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Deputy Sheriffs

The concept I will agree is an interesting one, but as mentioned by both Mathijs and Dave will require some additional work on the back-end which will cause additional development time which may be a wasted effort in that most simmers do not want to be bothered by nuances of system failures in flight.  Granted there are many complex aircraft available that would have this capability of providing some sort of initiated failure log......BUT......

The majority of the failures that are encountered on a flight deck can be addressed with the QRH and will allow the crew to get the aircraft to the final destination, suitable airport or even returning to the field with the most critical part being having to declare an emergency to gain priority handling to the field.  Most crashes which initially have some sort of failure are usually the result of human error due to not following or not executing proper procedures.

The most probable way for one to get a feel for what may have transpired prior to the crash would be to pull data normally written to the FDR, and listen to the CVR if one is available.  In the SIM CVR capability is practically unavailable unless the flight is being recorded via a stream or there would have to a recording tool running alongside this program.  FDR acquisition can be a very tedious feat as the real aircraft FDR records several thousand variables based on the parameters chosen to be recorded.  There is at least one aircraft that I know of but there could be others as well that will be able to provide FDR data, and even has the capability of using real world data depending on the format to recreate events.  This feature may not be an attraction to most simmers as it is not a cheap feature and more of an "option" for the TRAINING Editions for that given aircraft.

This tool you think/speak of would be advantageous more so if it pulled common parameters from all aircraft within the simulation platform and provided the most likely reason for the crash, but again the key question is - would it be worth the development time.  Virtual airlines may see some benefit to keep a tab on how their pilots are flying their routes and flying by the company SOPs.

 

Cheers

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