From: julian@riacs.edu (Julian E Gomez)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: ELITE review #2 - SHP
Date: 12 Oct 90 03:30:55 GMT
Organization: RIACS, NASA Ames Research Center


ELITE Review, by Steven H. Philipson       September 27, 1990

Introduction

This is a companion article to the review of Elite by Julian Gomez.
I accompanied Julian on the trip to Azuresoft to get a first hand
look at this flight training system.  Julian covered the basics, so I
won't repeat them.  Instead, I'll discuss those things that I found
significant about Elite.

Elite is not a game, so don't expect it to be fun -- it's a serious
system for developing and honing instrument flying skills.  It does
this job well.  It seems to model instrument flight better than any
other personal-computer-based flight simulation program that I've
seen to date, and it is far superior to many dedicated instrument
ground trainers that I've used.  It does have some limitations that I
expected for a simulator based on a personal computer, but these do
not detract from its usefulness.

Julian and I only flew the "high performance" version of the system
as installed on a MAC II cx, so my comments will primarily refer to
its operation and features.

I was very impressed by the fidelity of the system.  The handling and
operating characteristics of the aircraft seem to be modeled very
accurately, and there is excellent attention to detail.  For example,
engine power controls included throttle, prop, and mixture, and these
controls worked as one would expect them to.  Manifold pressure
decreased as the aircraft gained altitude, and the climb rate
decreased, just as it would in an actual aircraft.  RPMs decrease
when the manifold pressure is reduced below about 15 inches, again,
just as it should.

The system contains several area databases.  These include airports
and navaids that make it possible to fly approaches that closely
approximate the real thing.  It is within the capability of the
system to fly a VOR approach with step down fixes from another VOR
with the navaids at separate locations, and none of them on "the
airport".  This contrasts with one desk-top simulator that only has
navaids on "the airport", all of which are co-located.  For example,
the ILS into San Jose reflects the actual ILS, with the VORTAC
located north of the runway showing greater distance than the ILS
distance to the runway threshold.

Elite contains a computer model that calculates aircraft speed,
altitude, and position, and records this data for later review.  This
is a very valuable feature -- one can fly a pattern or approach and
immediately review the flight.   The replay steps through the
positions of the aircraft, enabling the user to see the position at
each time step, thus allowing an evaluation of what was done right,
what was done wrong, and when.  This allows you to not only see
ground track and altitude, but ground speed as well, thus identifying
segments flown too fast or too slow.  Some instrument procedure
trainers have pen-plotters that record the flight path, but these
systems only show the path and cannot be used to review how the
flight progressed.

One area of concern for all computer-graphics display flight
simulation systems is update rate  -- it takes a lot of compute power
for a system to calculate all the flight dynamics AND draw all the
graphics at a satisfactory rate.  Elite updates the instrument
displays about 10 times per second.  This display is not perfectly
smooth, but it is adequate to provide a clear representation of the
instruments, and is fast enough to allow aircraft control with no
update-rate related problems for the pilot.

Visual scene update is accorded a low priority.  This is reasonable,
as the idea is not to look out the window, but to fly by instruments.
The only time that the outside view is important is in judging
whether the runway would have been in sight for transition to a
visual landing. The simple visual display is adequate for this
purpose.  It includes some nice features -- gradual increases in
visibility can be modeled, as well as ragged ceilings.

I was initially concerned with the size and placement of instruments
-- a MAC screen does not have a lot of area, and I was concerned that
the instruments might be too small or poorly placed.  This turned out
to not be a problem;  the instrument placement was reasonable, and
the instruments were of adequate size to be easily interpreted.

The current configuration of instruments on the high performance
aircraft is a little on the fancy side.  For example, many high
performance singles don't have an HSI, and it is desirable to be able
to practice on a panel that is as close as possible to that of the
aircraft that you actually fly.  We were told that there are plans to
construct a variety of panels.  Eventually it will be possible to get
a custom layout, but that won't be available in early releases.

The current flight control is a computer-game joystick.  It is of
high quality for a game control, and is adequate for the task of
flying the simulator.  The Mac mouse is used to control throttle and
other auxiliary functions.  This does take some getting used to, but
it is not a major problem.  The inclusion of a physical throttle
group would be a nice addition.

My overall impression of Elite is that it is an excellent system. It
simulates aircraft performance better than many (if not most) ground
procedures trainers that I've used.  The replay modes and environment
/ equipment failure controls are very valuable, allowing difficult
scenarios to be set-up, flown, and analyzed to maximize learning in
both training and currency.  Elite represents a step forward in
simulation quality for the GA pilot.

The only drawback is price --  Elite is an expensive addition to an
already expensive computer system.  It would take a lot of currency
flying for it to be economical to maintain currency with Elite rather
than through flying a rental simulator or an actual aircraft.  On the
other hand, Elite allows currency flying to be performed in the
convenience of one's home or office without having to buy a dedicated
simulator.  Hopefully the price will come down to the point that
Elite will be readily affordable to those who already have computers
on which to run it.
-- 

"We must grasp the bull by the tail, and look the matter squarely in the face!"

	Julian "a tribble took it" Gomez     julian@riacs.edu