McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Development

[TheEagle]

On Linux it would be /home/<user>/.fgfs

[Octal450]

New:
Added avionics sound effects and the cooling fans. When the nose gear lifts off the ground, the cooling system switches to venturi and the fans turn off. You will hear this. When nose gear touch down it turn on again.

This is unless the switch is positioned to FAN, then it stays on all the time. Normal position is VENTURI.

Kind Regards,
Josh

[Octal450]

I have updated the autothrottle algorithm. After studying real life videos I determined that the real autothrottle was not behaving quite like I thought it was before, so I programmed it to intentionally overshoot slightly.

Instead, it seems to be a bit "slow" and takes a moment to finalize the EPR setting. So I've tried to make the control loop match this behavior as I observed it.

Note - it is possible that the autothrottle may not COMPLETELY reach the takeoff EPR before entering clamp (CLMP) at 60kts. I observed this occuring in several real life takeoff videos in the -80 as well. Best advice is to slowly spool up to 1.6 EPR or so manually before engaging ATS. That way ATS can reach takeoff EPR (usually between 1.9 and 2.1) quicker. Allow ATS to assume takeoff EPR as indicated on the TRI and EPR indicators. If the EPR is not reached, Pilot-not-Flying should adjust the power to match the takeoff EPR.

Kind Regards,
Josh

[Octal450]

New:
FMA (TARP) indications now flash for certain modes appearing, such as when EPR TO changes to CLMP, or when a mode conflict forces a change, or when VOR/ILS modes revert if signal is lost.
TARP's now display test for 5 seconds when the christmas tree test is performed
Autopilot aural now plays on DFGS power up
ATS now respects VMO, MMO, and Flap/Slat speed limits - TARP will indicate when this is happening (VMO LIM, MMO LIM, SLAT LIM, FLAP LIM)
Addressed an issue that might cause the THROTTLE light to flash when it shouldn't after landing

Kind Regards,
Josh

[dsky]

Hi,
Go to the joystick configuration, and set the buttons to some random action that you will recognize.

Then open your XML in $FG_HOME\Input\Joysticks
For Windows $FG_HOME is %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\flightgear.org
I don't know where it is on Linux or Mac sorry.

Then find the bindings you set in the joystick configuration, and replace the bindings with this:
...

Hello Josh,

sorry for my late reply, I was able only today to test all this. And it works perfectly as your instructions were.

I repeat that this plane is just a pleasure to use!

Thanks again!

Fabrizio

[Octal450]

Fabrizio - thank you for the kind words and glad I could help.

Any other feedback you have is GREATLY appreciated!

Kind Regards,
Josh

[Octal450]

Hi,
Thanks to Fabrizio, I was alerted that the GO RND modes would cause the plane to bank to some random heading and sometimes nose down before climbing. I was able to reproduce this and found 2 rather large oversights I made when adapting ITAF Core to the MD-80's logic.

Now fixed, now the GO RND laws will work reliably.

Kind Regards,
Josh