Software
The primary concept of a home cockpit simulator is to have all the main instrumentation there in front of you displayed in a manner that real pilots also use. Main instrumentation can be defined as the Electronic Flight Information System (commonly known as the EFIS). Conventionally the flight deck consists of the six main flight instruments in front of the captain and the first officer’s seat and the engine indications in the center console of flight deck. The six main flight instruments are now all displayed on the Primary Flight Display or PFD. Additional navigation instrumentation is displayed on the Navigation Display or ND. All the engine indications and critical warnings are all displayed on the Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System display (EICAS) or Engine / Warning Display (E/WD) with Airbusses. The two software’s I use retrieve the majority of the information from the flight simulator through a plugin and then display it on the respective display unit. The following software I use for my Electronic Flight Instrumentation System:
- Primary Flight Display (PFD) => xHSI or vasFMC
- Navigation Display (ND) => xHSI or vasFMC
- Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) => vasFMC or vasFMC
- System Display => vasFMC
Due to the lack of a third computer monitor my EICAS is currently on the same display as the ND, similar to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner set-up. Once I get another computer monitor I will position the EICAS in the correct position in the middle of the center console and add standby instrumentation found between the ND and the EICAS.
External display units with the PFD, ND and EICAS is the first step to your home cockpit. Very simple to do, and gives a lot more pleasure!
vasFMC
I discovered vasFMC quite a while ago and its a very powerful software. It is a software that works for X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator and is subsequently also available for windows, mac and linux. It has a MCDU (Airbus FMC), PFD, ND, E/WD, SD and an Airbus style FCU panel. It has a fully integrated flight management system and will completely take control of your simulator. Very nice if your simulator or aircraft model has a badly modeled autopilot and flight management system.
vasFMC’s latest version, version 2.1, allows you to (x-plane only) turn off vasFMC’s flight guidance capabilities giving X-Plane’s autopilot the upperhand. At the same time you can use vasFMC’s displays and MCDU to continue programming your flight with high precision and in airbus style.
This gives me the opportunity to take advantage of QPAC’s custom FCU and Fly-By-Wire opening a wider range of possibilities when it comes to hardware integration.
vasFMC 2.1 takes Airbus Instrumentation to a new level with added functionalitiy, amazing graphics, and new hardware compatibility options.
xHSI
xHSI is a Java based application that draws a Boeing style navigation display for special use within X-Plane. It is seamlessly integrated with the software I use for the autopilot and flight management system (detailed below). The latest version now also includes a PFD, EICAS, EFB and annunciator panel. It subsequently does not intervene with what X-Plane does so easily becomes a hardware oriented flyer’s friend.
xHSI does not intervene with X-Plane whilst providing you high resolution and authentic Boeing Instrumentation.
EADT x737 Model
The aircraft model I use within the X-Plane Flight Simulator is the Boeing 737-800 BBJ2 model built my Benedikt Stratmann of the European Aircraft Development Team (EADT). They dub their project the x737 and their model is the most realistic and advanced Boeing 737NG model for X-Plane. It is also freeware. The model has an incredibly realistic flight model and a 100% authentic autopilot. It also features several fully programmed systems such as the electrical and fuel systems. It works perfectly with the software I use for the flight management system (detailed below).
It’s hard to get more authentic or realistic than the x737. Hardware support is outstanding.
QPAC A320 Model
QPAC is the EADT for Airbus. Whilst the x737 is the most authentic 737, this A320 definitely wins the award for most authentic A320. Its Fly-By-Wire system is very realistic and its got complete instrumentation and system modelling. You can control most of the FCU datarefs/functions by joystick inputs allowing for easy hardware integration although I haven’t fully tested this feature yet.
UFMC and x737FMC
For the FMC/CDU I use the x737FMC programmed by Javier Cortes. It’s a software package that has an extremely realistic 737NG flight management computer that not only is controllable using the official 737NG FCOM but also works perfectly with the x737 aircraft model explained before. It’s therefore a beautiful addition to my home cockpit.
X-Plane Flight Simulator
The flight simulator I use is of course the most realistic desktop flight simulator: X-Plane. Running on mac, windows and linux and with a growing community I look forward to the release of X-Plane 10.
