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LOL you're cool. WHY? If we had this "feature" you would ask for a save module that saves the last position, and if we had even this you'd ask for a statistics sheet where you can read wich position is the most often used one...

Honestly, is it something really needed?

This time I must quote myself. I misunderstood you Emanuel. Of yourse you can drag it where ever you want. Just as I explained in an earlier post. I thought you were asking for some predefines positions. Sorry. I read to fast.

Bests Joachim

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Cool idea. I'm wondering if i can turn the GPS into every direction i want to or if there are only preselected positions.

Oh and by the way, can you tell me the range of the dimona you make please?

Regards

Emi

It's a motorglider, so any range is likely to be more related to the endurance of the pilot and the availability of thermals and the ability to make use of tailwinds than theoretical fuel tank range. And with such a limited variance between stall speed and cruise speed, range is less important than endurance - those tailwinds and headwinds have a disproportionate effect y'see?

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Yes, sure, and what do you think how long you can fly? In the ASK21 of my local glider club i have been flying for 13 hours in summer, do you think that would be also possible in a (real) dimona? (I'm saying a "real dimona" because nobody would stay at his computer just to get from one simulated town to another with a dimona when the flight would take 13 hours^^)

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It's a motorglider, so any range is likely to be more related to the endurance of the pilot and the availability of thermals and the ability to make use of tailwinds than theoretical fuel tank range. And with such a limited variance between stall speed and cruise speed, range is less important than endurance - those tailwinds and headwinds have a disproportionate effect y'see?

Theoretically youre right, but this is also for "normal" planes. The Dimona stalls at below 80kph. The cruise speed is at about 160kph. The difference is not that small. We are talking about powered flight, and the Dimona is a normal motorplane here.

Yes, sure, and what do you think how long you can fly? In the ASK21 of my local glider club i have been flying for 13 hours in summer, do you think that would be also possible in a (real) dimona? (I'm saying a "real dimona" because nobody would stay at his computer just to get from one simulated town to another with a dimona when the flight would take 13 hours^^)

13hours K21 is as insane as 13 hours Dimona (lol), wich is of course possible. And don't say nobody will do it. There are guys who fly nonstop from Frankfurth to New York in realime in FSX, so why no long glider flight? It is not as boring as heavy metal.

Let me explain one general thing:

The Dimona is a motorplane. The Dimona is a glider.

Sounds strange, but it is like that. Normally you fly it like a normal a bit slower motor plane. No difference here. Even the landing is most often performed motorplane like, because you're faster and do not disturb the following traffic.

BUT You can and are allowed to switch the engine off in flight as well.

If you've ever flowen a real glider, you must get used to it, because it feels bad first, but if you're a motor pilot, it is just GREAT. In FSX it is challenging for both types of pilots, because real glider pilots get the next challenge to do a real cross countryflight engine off, and motorplanes can smell into gliding.

Cheers Joachim

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And lets not forget the one thing you will be able to do in a Dimona you can't do in either a powered aircraft (except the very lightest) or a glider - Power Assisted Soaring.

I have very limited time in MG's (A few fun hours in a Stemme) but the concept of Total Energy against speed (time) over distance is really nice `twist` on both powered and gliding flight which I practised after getting caught in a really strong updraught in a Katana in the South of France and marvelling at the increase in height with a decrease in power, then being able to exchange that height for distance without opening the throttle. I wanted to actually see if it was possible in a better-suited craft.

In this form of flying you set engine power and rpm to merely maintain speed and height, then use the balance of energy provided by soaring/thermalling to improve energy management, or conversion. One of the advantages is the loss of prop drag as the thrust vector is positive about the central axis, but power can be substantially reduced, increasing fuel efficiency as additional energy comes from the skill in manipulatibng the environment, not the throttle lever, and the substantial reduction in noise. Another is the ability to power through sink quicker than in a pure glider.

Although this appears to be a relatively new concept (it's `birth` as a recognised branch of aviating wasn't until the early Noughties) it has some sophisticated history in, of all things, military flying, as the covert surveillance aircraft the Schweizer SA2-37A and B from the Vietnam era and later the twin-boom Schweizer RU-38 dedicated covert surveillance machine use a patrol configuration along very similar lines.

SSSssssssssssh! :ph34r:

im4.jpg

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Yeah, this idea is ok, and you actually do this all the time in a motorglider but in a very limited way. In that way you do it in any other plane as well. In fact it is not very efficient in the dimona, because the damned constant speed prop eats much energy if you fly faster than iut wants you to fly. So basicly every time you gain energy and push it away.

This is a great advantage on final approaches, because you can push the plane into the prop without getting much faster, but a disadvantage when you intend to fly in Simons way.

It is more or less an either - or thing. Something in between is not much fun.

Bests Joachim

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I have very limited time in MG's (A few fun hours in a Stemme)…

But you have to consider that there is a huge difference between a Stemme and a Dimona! You can "really" soar in a Stemme S10 with a glide ratio of about 1:50 (1:38 for the S6 with retractable gear) while the Dimona has about 1:27.

I often fly a Scheibe SF-25C and when I find thermal updraft I slowly reduce the throttle and then when I'm still climbing in idle I switch off the engine to save money rolleyes.gif. But thermal soaring in a SF-25 is rather exhausting compared to thermal soaring in a real glider like a SZD-51-1 (the other airplane I fly), but for a beginner (I got my license last summer) it is a ver good opportunity to get hours when I'm not able to directly find updraft when I start with the winch. And half an hour flying with a motorglider is much more fun than five three-minute-flights from the winch. I think this is similar with a Dimona.

Also if you want to fly from A to B (not too far because you fly rather slowly) a TMG is a good possibility because it's very cheap and it is easier to get the necessary license.

(sorry for my English, not that good…blush.gif)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys :-)

A little update on the GPS:

Here you can see the normal moving map screen with your own little plane, speed, distance to waypoint, time to waypoint, and the pointer. In standard map operation you See airports, VORs, NDBs, Intersections, airspaces and water.

If you press the GOTO button, you'l be prompted to a mask where you can choose your destination airport, VOR, NDB or int by code. You'll see a list of possible facillities in the spell'n find section.

Once you pressed ENTER you'll get back to the moving map, where a line appeared, and a pointer points you to your waypoint. You'll see a distance and the estimated time, you'll need to get there.

If you press NRST (nearest) you can choose waypoints directly around you.

When pressing MENU you can choose what is displayed in the map

And here you can see chaos

The map is able to handle many things as you can see. It is a bit zoomed out using the IN and OUT butons.

Best regards. Joachim

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New feature added to the GPS.

By pressing the cursor button in any direction, you'll get into a free direct to mode in wich you can coose your destination directly in the map. The plane symbol disappears and a headingline with a circle marking the destination appears.

Once done, press enter and you can use the goto fuction as usual. :)

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Oh, really a cool thing. I'm really looking forward to this flyer. I'm sure it will fit my hangar very well.

Eine Frage muss ich aber doch nochmal stellen (sry, ich weiß nicht wie ich das auf Englisch sagen soll):

Das GPS sieht mir immernoch ein bisschen zu eckig aus. Wäre es nicht möglich das noch ein bisschen abzurunden an den Ecken?

Ausserdem erscheint mir die Textur auf dem GPS noch zu unscharf. Das kann man aber doch bestimmt noch ein bisschen nachbessern, wie es auch bei den anderen Texturen in der Dimona der Fall ist, oder?

One other question: Do you still need some Beta testers? I have some real glider flying experience and i have also flown the motorglider in my gliderclub. I'm sure i could help you a little.

Regards

Emi

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Mir gefällt es so auch noch nicht so ganz, da hast du schon recht.. Allerdings ist es nicht gerade wenig Arbeit, das Ding neu zu machen, und Arbeit hab ich im Moment mehr als genug. Aber ich denke darüber nach...

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Alles klar danke, weil so scheint mir das einfach noch ein bisschen zu sehr nach einfach nur ein paar Polygonen auszusehen. Das nimmt ein bisschen den Realismus, findest du nicht auch?

Und lass dir nur Zeit, hauptsache das Resultat wird gut. Da bin ich dann auch ganz klar bereit dann vielleicht noch eine Woche länger zu warten bis ich die Dimona fliegen kann.

Ich geb ja auch zu dass ich eigendlich keine Ahnung von programmieren habe, aber die gesamten Funktionen müsstest du doch nicht nochmal machen, oder? Den eigendlichen Bildschirm könntest du doch übernehme, oder? Dann wäre es wenigstens nicht ganz so viel arbeit:blush:

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? Warum denn die Map auch? Ist die nicht nur eine 2D Textur deren Position relativ zum GPS angegeben wird und die alle Bewegungen des GPS selbst mitmacht? Wenn es so wäre müsste man doch eigendlich nichts daran ändern, oder?

(Im Informatik Unterricht in meiner Schule lernen wir das jedenfalls so. Ob das allerdigs dem entspricht was du da machst weiß ich natürlich nicht^_^)

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Achso ^_^

Na dann... würde ich sagen dass es sich lohnen würde. Weil die Textur kahm mir schon die ganze Zeit etwas unscharf vor.

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Garmin.jpg

Also ich würde das so lassen... wie man auf diesem Foto sieht, ist es wirklich so eckig. :rolleyes: (zumindest auf der einen Seite ^_^ )

Gruß,

Philip

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Es geht und auch mehr um die Rundung der Kanten. Die bestehen momentan aus einer edge, nicht aus mehreren um es rund zu gestalten. Wie gesagt ich werde es mir zumindest mal ansehehen, sollte es nötig sein, eine neue map extra nur dafür zu erstellen, tu ich dies nicht, aus Performancegründen. Jede Map mehr macht es langsamer.

Kommt Zeit, -kommt Rat ;-)

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Yesterday I flew in nice thermal conditions and during time several bugs appeared...

Are you kidding me????? :o :o :o

These previews keep getting better and better!!!! :wub: :wub: :wub:

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lol,

that was a good one.

In the first seconds i really beleaved that your product is still very buggy :lol: :lol: :lol:

Will there be an option to enable/disable them?

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