GOTHQ Get Out The Hangar Queens Boeing 727-100 / CIVA INS

Bearhedge · September 15, 2020, 5:35am

@PaulRix recently noted about the impending Xmas trek ahead of us. Now, I purchased the beautiful FlyJSim Boeing 727-100 earlier in the year, together with the 3D CIVA INS addon – however I am yet to take her to the skies. So I’ve decided that this year she will be my Christmas ride!

While it would be fun to learn as I go, in the past treks I’ve found myself to be a bit rushed on the journey – trying to incorporate flight planning elements into the experience etc. but too often succumbing to simply using the GPS direct route to find the way.

Hence, I’m going to give myself a little head start this year and take some time to learn the 727 and CIVA INS before the fun starts.

We also haven’t had a Get Out the Hangar Queens for a little while…so hopefully nobody minds too much if I unofficially declare this September a GOTHQ Boeing 727-100 month!

I don’t suspect we’ll see similar participation levels as DCS modules, given only a portion of the members play civilian sims and only some will have the module…but who knows, I know a few people have flown treks in the bird before and might be keen to refresh their memory. Regardless, the thread will serve as an AAR diary / place for questions for me.

Excited hordes of Mudspikers queuing to join the GOTHQ 727 month festivities

Bearhedge · September 15, 2020, 9:37am

Hookay, deep breath. I’m clutching Chuck’s guide in my trembling little hands…let’s do this.

The cockpit is a little intimidating, but it’s not an Mi-8, is it? The Hip’s cockpit flows are a hellish concoction created by soviet engineers on a vodka and pickled cucumber diet…and I’ve still managed to contort my brain into a shape where they now make sense.

Surely the capitalist Boeing designers had a more reasonable approach regarding sensible workloads for a 3-man crew. I guess I’ll find out.

One thing I haven’t yet worked out…all these gadgets and things, where’s the armament panel? There’s lots of colourful buttons but none of them show any indication of delivering any boom or brrrt whatsoever.

TheAlmightySnark · September 15, 2020, 9:48am

Don’t worry, you’ll do fine Bearhedge! The CIVA is a joy to work with! The 727 on XP-10 has a fuel bug, not sure if that is also on the XP11 version?

Bearhedge · September 15, 2020, 10:32am

I haven’t heard of a fuel bug…hopefully they’ve fixed it!

Got her up and running…took me most of the evening, though! Haha. Time to hit the sack and do more soon.

Fridge · September 15, 2020, 11:15am

Nope! That’s awesome! I don’t have it but I am excited to read about it and maybe even pick it up!

smokinhole · September 15, 2020, 1:54pm

Study that panel well, particularly proper care and feeding of the electrical system. Quick question to test your knew knowledge: Regarding the 727, which is the non-essential bus?

The bus that takes the co-pilot to the airport! Har har har.

Bearhedge · September 16, 2020, 4:29am

Haha, I like it!

I found an interesting website, which looks quite old however seems like a potentially good resource for background info.

https://www.boeing-727.com/index.htm

I’ve just been skimming through but so far I’ve found a rather in-depth explanation of the electrical system and some tips on how to reduce loads in the event of a generator failure:

https://www.boeing-727.com/Data/systems/infoelect.html

https://www.boeing-727.com/Data/avionics/electrical%20loading.html

The module comes with a persistent wear and tear system and fairly detailed faults including generator faults…so knowing how to manage them may well come in handy.

Bearhedge · September 17, 2020, 11:17am

Another cold start done with spinny bits spinning and most of the orange lights off…interesting to look at the level of detail after doing a bit of reading on the above site.

The makers of the module have drawn the line on the detail at the circuit breakers (not included), which is probably fair enough and for my benefit…but you do notice a few things, which you conveniently don’t have to worry about.

One quite neat thing I had no idea about is…there’s a fair amount of detailed youtube videos on 727 cockpit operations etc. It’s quite cool to read the guides and then watch it done IRL. I guess civilian pilots can be a bit less hush hush about how everything works.

smokinhole · September 17, 2020, 1:41pm

I challenge you to find a “hush hush” airline pilot.

Bearhedge · September 17, 2020, 11:09pm

Now I’m just messing around…a planeful of fatties and their luggage puts the poor landing gear under a bit of pressure That squat stance at MTOW looks like you don’t want to go over any speed bumps on the way to the runway or you’ll scrape the belly!

Another cold start and some taxiing practice for the first time. This bird is the largest aircraft I’ve ever tried to learn by some margin. Interestingly, I left TrackIR off for the startup…it’s a lot easier to use the snap views for the various seats and panels rather than trying to crank one’s head around awkwardly.

jenrick · September 18, 2020, 12:18am

I fixed it for you

Bearhedge · September 20, 2020, 10:15am

After another cold start, I sorted out the key and axis binds for a few things tonight.

I’m flying the 727 with the TMWH HOTAS, so no triple throttles here. I set up the right throttle axis as the bind for all 3 engines - figured it would be unusual to require individual throttles.

I also set up the “zoom view handle” in the throttle base as the tiller for ground steering - the mouse wheel will hopefully feel natural for zoom in due course. Also set up the bindings for flaps, spoilers and thrust reversers.

I noticed a cool detail in the cockpit today - the seats have FlyJSim logos in them. Neat.

I performed a push back with the thrust reversers, which was quite fun. After that I headed to the runway and performed a few accelerations to 80 kts, followed by full stops with thrust reversers and wheel brakes.

Those went well and I was already on the runway, so I figured I’d keep going and feel the wind a bit!

I guess it was inevitable…but I am getting more and more excited about this aircraft. Watching a few cockpit YT videos definitely got me more in the mood.

The sounds and the feel of the module remind me a little of DCS Viggen…it’s loud in the cockpit, things roar, creak, hum and whir and it feels “raw” in a good way, for the lack of a better word. Before trying out the 727, I probably thought “tubeliner modules” would be quite clinical experiences…all about flying the autopilot and learning to fly the IFR airways etc…which are obviously also part of it, but I’m also starting to “smell the jet fuel” a bit on this one which I hoped I would but didn’t expect; she is starting to feel like a dynamic, manual, loud, old-school jet machine in a romantic way.

After takeoff, I accelerated through the flap speeds, cleaned up at 200kts and flew a few gentle turns above Seattle at 3000 ft and 250kts to get a feel for the trim and the controls.

Sadly, at this point XP decided to pack up and crash…which is unusual. It is getting clear that my CPU (oc’d i5 4690k) is too old for this sim, which was inevitable. I’m getting 30 FPS and the 1080Ti is yawning with nothing to do while the CPU is at near 100% wheezing like the geriatric he is.

TheAlmightySnark · September 20, 2020, 10:29am

Hah same! 2500K OC’d i5… poor CPU is operating on the limits with most modern games.

jenrick · September 20, 2020, 8:33pm

I’ve got a CIVA equipped VC10 in the FSX hanger. I might load her up to commiserate in spirit about INS systems.

Bearhedge · September 20, 2020, 9:44pm

Yeah…XP is definitely CPU heavy. Meanwhile, DCS runs basically just fine at 60 FPS unless there’s a whole lot going on…it’s still CPU-bottlenecked, but seems to achieve twice the framerate. Ah well

Nice! Join the fun. I’ve sort of got a handle of the basic cold start now - I might go for a short cruise flight next, try out the autopilot modes and see if I can get the nose pointed to a CIVA waypoint or two.

Bearhedge · September 20, 2020, 11:15pm

She is fairly easy to land - at least in calm conditions and when light.

I’m still getting my head around the speeds terminology a little, I’ve been flying the approaches and landings at Vref without adding in any of the various components for wind etc…only just read the manoeuvres manual now and realised that’s not exactly safe. Oh well, I’ll know from now on.

NEVO · September 30, 2020, 6:10pm

XMas track is being constantly mentioned. And I have to say that your choice looks great.

So I also started to consider my ride for this year. I will definitely not aim that high. 3-man crew seems like lot of work to me.
Maybe single jetprop could suit me well

Bearhedge · September 30, 2020, 9:54pm

@NEVO The 3-man crew is a bit of work, but it’s not too overwhelming so far - admittedly I’m sure I’m being very loose with all the procedures, but that’s a privilege we have as simmers.

I’ve needed a bit of a break from XP since last week, need to get back to practicing. Nothing about the module, I’m loving it - it’s more the sim itself. It runs okay at 30-ish FPS once it is up and running, but my game is saved on HDD rather than SSD (due to limited SSD space) and the load time with Vulkan is just atrocious…so when I’m busy it’s just easier to load DCS from the SSD and be in the cockpit a couple of minutes from pressing the PC power button.

Feeling slightly frustrated about that…hence the push to learn about PC parts: I need more power and less wait times!

Bearhedge · October 1, 2020, 8:33am

A few shots of recent shenanigans. I’ve done a couple of higher altitude test flights, both of which were “eventful” but ended up back on mother earth safely.

Yeah, I ruined the flaps somewhere along the way…

Suddenly, I felt very sleepy…those A/C packs serve an important function!!

Cold start in the dark was fun:

For some reason, the generator frequency was high after the first start. I “turned it off and turned it back on again” and it fixed itself to normal: