Found this when starting the FSLabs Control Center...

[Ray Proudfoot]

9 minutes ago, Will Fibich said:

1. Does the calculator give you an accel and decel point, regardless of route?

I don't think it can since it won't know where the coastline is (if applicable). If you've used CPS-X you'll know the accel point has to be entered by the user.

At the other end the decel point depends on whether the airport is on the coast (KJFK) or further inland (KIAD) so again, you'll need to work out the decel point yourself to ensure you're subsonic 55-70nm before landfall.

[Will Fibich]

8 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don't think it can since it won't know where the coastline is (if applicable). If you've used CPS-X you'll know the accel point has to be entered by the user.

At the other end the decel point depends on whether the airport is on the coast (KJFK) or further inland (KIAD) so again, you'll need to work out the decel point yourself to ensure you're subsonic 55-70nm before landfall.

That's what I'm figuring as well. Unfortunately I couldn't reference CPS as I never got it to work, but that does seem like a huge challenge to get geographical detections and such. 

[Ray Proudfoot]

5 minutes ago, Will Fibich said:

That's what I'm figuring as well. Unfortunately I couldn't reference CPS as I never got it to work, but that does seem like a huge challenge to get geographical detections and such. 

It worked best with Active Sky as a weather source. The default was not  reliable. I don't know what type of flight calculator Andrew is going to supply with this new version but I will measure it against  CPS-X which was pretty good.

Unlike  subsonic aircraft systems we still need to use our brains with Concorde.

[Andrew Wilson]

Right - and a lot of the routes did go supersonic over land (Toronto, Bahrain, Singapore, Jeddah). So it’s best to let the user define the supersonic/subsonic segments of any custom routes they wish to build.

I’ve got quite a few hard copies of flight briefings here - I was very lucky to have some of the crews collect them for me in the years before they stopped flying. They’re an invaluable resource now!

[Will Fibich]

Just now, Ray Proudfoot said:

Unlike  subsonic aircraft systems we still need to use our brains with Concorde.

Best part about her! No funny business, you're working for the whole flight

[Will Fibich]

9 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Right - and a lot of the routes did go supersonic over land (Toronto, Bahrain, Singapore, Jeddah). So it’s best to let the user define the supersonic/subsonic segments of any custom routes they wish to build.

The real routes have those points defined automatically by default based on how they did it back then, right?

 

10 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

I’ve got quite a few hard copies of flight briefings here - I was very lucky to have some of the crews collect them for me in the years before they stopped flying. They’re an invaluable resource now!

Really wish I could get my hands on one of those. Are you all basing the Concorde planning tools' briefing on those, or are they a bit of a mix of other briefing layouts/custom?

Sorry for the plethora of questions you're getting, hahaha...Hope you're not too bugged by me yet

[Ray Proudfoot]

6 minutes ago, Will Fibich said:

Best part about her! No funny business, you're working for the whole flight

Especially if you manage the fuel too!

[Andrew Wilson]

9 minutes ago, Will Fibich said:

The real routes have those points defined automatically by default based on how they did it back then, right?

Right - we've built all of the scheduled routes for you. Plus around 30-40 of the most popular charter flights and even some of the engineering routes they flew. I know some of the guys are looking at putting together some of the world tours.

11 minutes ago, Will Fibich said:

Are you all basing the Concorde planning tools' briefing on those, or are they a bit of a mix of other briefing layouts/custom?

It's all based entirely on the real briefings the crews took on board the aircraft. To the letter. 

[Ray Proudfoot]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Right - we've built all of the scheduled routes for you. Plus around 30-40 of the most popular charter flights and even some of the engineering routes they flew.

Can we add our own routes? I have my own favourites I’d like to continue with. And can it accept XML files for payload and fuel produced by CPS-X like the existing one can?

I appreciate you’ve designed a whole new system but without being able to see it it’s hard to judge against what I already know and works for me.

[Will Fibich]

27 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Right - we've built all of the scheduled routes for you. Plus around 30-40 of the most popular charter flights and even some of the engineering routes they flew. I know some of the guys are looking at putting together some of the world tours.

Thanks Andrew, sounds awesome

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Ray,
Yes you can build your own routes. This title is not compatible with CPS-X as the entire weight and balance model has been overhauled to have it match real world figures. Take a payload distribution from any of the real Concorde airframes (they were all slightly different) and when applied to our simulation (using the same airframe) it will result in the same Zero Fuel CG. The airframes in both fleets have been configured individually. This had to be done to get the fuel balancing correct which ties into the fuel planning.

[Ray Proudfoot]

Thanks Andrew. I’ll miss using CPS-X as it remains a fine piece of work. But time moves on I suppose and what you describe sounds excellent.

[AdrianSmith]

10 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Especially if you manage the fuel too!

and the pressurisation 

[Milton Kuser]

This definitely sounds a big improvement in performance and systems.  I for one, cannot wait!

[Craig Baillie]

6 minutes ago, Milton Kuser said:

This definitely sounds a big improvement in performance and systems.  I for one, cannot wait!

Sadly though we all have to wait .

[Michele Benedetti]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:45 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

Right - and a lot of the routes did go supersonic over land (Toronto, Bahrain, Singapore, Jeddah). So it’s best to let the user define the supersonic/subsonic segments of any custom routes they wish to build.

I’ve got quite a few hard copies of flight briefings here - I was very lucky to have some of the crews collect them for me in the years before they stopped flying. They’re an invaluable resource now!

Hi Andrew!

Thank you for this insight, this is something that I never quite liked about Concorde X. In this new version, will there be a better management of the deceleration point? For example, I think it would be extremely useful to be able to define the decel point based on the distance from the coastline (generally speaking, the distance of the aircraft from a given point) because otherwise I always mess things up with my calculations and end up passing the decel point or decelerating before it comes.  Anyway, thank you!

[Andrew Wilson]

Hi Michele, 

14 hours ago, Michele Benedetti said:

In this new version, will there be a better management of the deceleration point?

Yes - actually both acceleration and deceleration procedures are now simulated correctly. When the new virtual cockpit is ready to show off, I'll make some videos showing how the acceleration and deceleration procedures now work. 

[Michele Benedetti]

8 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Michele, 

Yes - actually both acceleration and deceleration procedures are now simulated correctly. When the new virtual cockpit is ready to show off, I'll make some videos showing how the acceleration and deceleration procedures now work. 

Thank you Andrew, once more, I'm looking forward to see it!!!

[Will Fibich]

9 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Hi Michele, 

Yes - actually both acceleration and deceleration procedures are now simulated correctly. When the new virtual cockpit is ready to show off, I'll make some videos showing how the acceleration and deceleration procedures now work. 

sounds great Andrew! You guys at FSL plan to make a tutorial series before/after release? 

[Will Fibich]

Pleasant surprise today! AC sure looking nice suiting the old colors...

[Trevor Hannant]

How has the testing being going?  Have things, from a systems and "numbers" perspective now moved to a more "finessing" workload or are there still systems needing some more in-depth work?

[Robert Sutherland]

This is very exciting and it's pleasing to be able to join the discussion. Having watched some of the videos of the 'other' Concorde for MSFS, I am sure this will be a significantly more realistic version. Can't wait! 

[Andrew Wilson]

11 hours ago, Trevor Hannant said:

How has the testing being going?  Have things, from a systems and "numbers" perspective now moved to a more "finessing" workload or are there still systems needing some more in-depth work?

Hi Trevor, 

From a numbers perspective, I think we're there. Work on the new visual models continues - whilst we also work on the new virtual crew system. There is a awful lot going on in this version - it is very challenging to fly it without some aid, especially on the light weight charters where everything happens significantly more quickly. We've got a really good system in place now that makes the whole experience very easy to manage and adds an extra layer of immersion and authenticity. There is going to be a significant amount of re-learning required - a high-weight departure takes a great deal of care and precision to fly correctly. With Heathrow on the easterlies last week we spent some time testing 09R departures - you really need to follow the correct pitch/bank attitudes to get the aircraft through the right turn. Any excess in pitch or bank will see your airspeed decaying rapidly. The same goes for a Canarsie climb - it's an intense 90 seconds to get the aircraft out of Jamaica Bay and clearing the height restrictions. Concorde-X, among other titles, was more forgiving. This one isn't. 

That said, the new auto-stab system makes this title an absolute joy to hand fly. I don't think any other Concorde title has a working electronic flight control system. It does all the heavy work and allows you to fly the aircraft with a very high level of precision. 

Thanks again for the ATC service on Vatsim the other evening Trevor - always a pleasure to fly through London West when you're controlling 

 

 

[Peng Jia]

So looking for it，my friend and I are discussing this plane everyday，expect to buy 10 after release.

[Markus Burkhard]

On 4/4/2022 at 7:56 PM, Will Fibich said:

sounds great Andrew! You guys at FSL plan to make a tutorial series before/after release? 

Absolutely, new manuals and tutorials will be part of the product.

[Trevor Hannant]

5 hours ago, Andrew Wilson said:

From a numbers perspective, I think we're there. Work on the new visual models continues - whilst we also work on the new virtual crew system. There is a awful lot going on in this version - it is very challenging to fly it without some aid, especially on the light weight charters where everything happens significantly more quickly. We've got a really good system in place now that makes the whole experience very easy to manage and adds an extra layer of immersion and authenticity.

<snip>

Thanks again for the ATC service on Vatsim the other evening Trevor - always a pleasure to fly through London West when you're controlling 

You're welcome - always a pleasure to have you through the sector and to have the banter with you all! 

Virtual Crew System something akin to an automated flight engineer similar to how PMDG have modelled in their DC-6 (i.e. handles some of the tasks that take your eyes away from watching the "flying")?

[John Price]

I was very much hoping for a comprehensive virtual flight engineer - that’s marvellous news. I adore Concorde but I don’t really fancy all that fuel system manipulation to maintain optimum CG. I’d much rather just do the pilots’ job and outsource most of the flight engineer’s work 

[Alex Lund]

Shared cockpit would be awesome to fly with friends. The new Concorde is very important to me, because Concorde is my favorite plane ever. When I was child my dad read me the book about planes and Concorde was one of the planes in the book and I always asked him "could we go some day with that plane please?". Good memories.

[Jack Styles]

This looks incredible! I was too late for the old Concorde so never got the opportunity to fly it, I am however very much looking forward to getting it into the sim. Keep up the good work! 

[Ramón Cutanda]

So glad to have more updates! Any piece of news regarding Concorde is like a Christmas present for me :-)

Here's my little contribution:

1. As far as I know, you could count with your fingers the number of supersonic flights that were carried over land. Even if planned over deserted areas political restrictions would prevent them. My favourite one was Saudi Arabia ban of supersonic flights over the desert because they affected the camel breeding. Thankfully, we don't have any political restriction in our simulations and, every now and then, I plan a supersonic flight over land. For those flights I rely on these two population density maps to make sure I avoid populated areas:

https://luminocity3d.org/WorldPopDen/#5/27.118/15.205

https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org/map/d6568c16c89242a6a9f9f0aaa9a374a6

2. Over the years, I have created and compiled a selection of invented and real-life Concorde flights. Maybe it is a nice time to share them again:

https://simulaciondevuelo.com/world-tours-designed-for-concorde/

I highly recommend you this particular one. The tour includes flight plans in P3D and PFPX formats:

3. A couple of years ago I prepared an 11-hour-long tutorial about how to fly Concorde. I first made a version in my mother tongue, Spanish, and had plans for an English version. But just then we had the news that FSLabs was working on the new 64 bits version. Because creating that kind of detailed tutorial is so intensive and time-consuming, I decided to wait until the new version was released. You can count that, as soon as I feel comfortable enough with the new version, I will create the best and most detail tutorial I am capable of.

4. Most of you will probably know my detailed checklists for Concorde-X. On its due time, you can count that I will review and update them.

Really looking forwards to flying this new and exciting version!

Thank you, FSLabs team.

 

 

[John Price]

I never had v1 of the FSL Concorde Ramón but those look like excellent resources, especially the checklists; very much look forward to using those and thank you for your efforts.

[Will Fibich]

18 hours ago, Ramón Cutanda said:

So glad to have more updates! Any piece of news regarding Concorde is like a Christmas present for me :-)

Here's my little contribution:

1. As far as I know, you could count with your fingers the number of supersonic flights that were carried over land. Even if planned over deserted areas political restrictions would prevent them. My favourite one was Saudi Arabia ban of supersonic flights over the desert because they affected the camel breeding. Thankfully, we don't have any political restriction in our simulations and, every now and then, I plan a supersonic flight over land. For those flights I rely on these two population density maps to make sure I avoid populated areas:

https://luminocity3d.org/WorldPopDen/#5/27.118/15.205

https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org/map/d6568c16c89242a6a9f9f0aaa9a374a6

2. Over the years, I have created and compiled a selection of invented and real-life Concorde flights. Maybe it is a nice time to share them again:

https://simulaciondevuelo.com/world-tours-designed-for-concorde/

I highly recommend you this particular one. The tour includes flight plans in P3D and PFPX formats:

3. A couple of years ago I prepared an 11-hour-long tutorial about how to fly Concorde. I first made a version in my mother tongue, Spanish, and had plans for an English version. But just then we had the news that FSLabs was working on the new 64 bits version. Because creating that kind of detailed tutorial is so intensive and time-consuming, I decided to wait until the new version was released. You can count that, as soon as I feel comfortable enough with the new version, I will create the best and most detail tutorial I am capable of.

4. Most of you will probably know my detailed checklists for Concorde-X. On its due time, you can count that I will review and update them.

Really looking forwards to flying this new and exciting version!

Thank you, FSLabs team.

 

 

Hey Ramon, glad to see you here. Thanks so much for all your contributions over the years! Definitely helped me a ton when I was first starting out. Glad to see you'll be continuing the tutorials.

[Will Fibich]

A quick question about the new virtual crew system:

Can you have it automatically perform certain checklists? For example, let's say you're taxiing out of terminal 4 going to 27L- a quick taxi. You've got to do the taxi check, which is quite a hefty one, all while taxiing and talking to ATC in the span of a 3-4 minute taxi. Can you just set it up and have the FE take over the taxi checklist like they would it real life? 

[Andrew Wilson]

Yes

[Will Fibich]

1 hour ago, Andrew Wilson said:

Yes

What a fantastic help that will be, thanks!

[Will Fibich]

On 4/17/2022 at 4:49 PM, Andrew Wilson said:

Yes

Is it also possible to command an engine start?

[Andrew Wilson]

9 hours ago, Will Fibich said:

Is it also possible to command an engine start?

We are simulating the entire flight, from the first line of the Safety Checklist before power up to the last line on the Engineer's Leaving Panel Checklist. This includes the different engine starting procedures used at various departure points, ex base/into base procedures and the entire boarding and refueling process. It's a similar experience to that which our A320 customers are familiar with - only we've taken this further. 

[Ray Proudfoot]

Andrew, I hope you’re not making this so complicated that the procedures used in the 32-bit version will become unusable because so much more needs to be done.

I have the VFE doing all the tasks assigned to him with the exception of fuel management. I trust that side of things will remain. And shortcuts like Ctrl+I to setup the INSs will remain.

And at the risk of repeating myself some indication when it will be available would be appreciated. The planned delivery day of 2021 stretched into this year and we are now 4 months into it with still no mention of a release date.

[Craig Baillie]

11 minutes ago, Andrew Wilson said:

We are simulating the entire flight, from the first line of the Safety Checklist before power up to the last line on the Engineer's Leaving Panel Checklist. This includes the different engine starting procedures used at various departure points, ex base/into base procedures and the entire boarding and refueling process. It's a similar experience to that which our A320 customers are familiar with - only we've taken this further. 

[Andrew Wilson]

Andrew, I hope you’re not making this so complicated that the procedures used in the 32-bit version will become unusable because so much more needs to be done.
I have the VFE doing all the tasks assigned to him with the exception of fuel management. I trust that side of things will remain. And shortcuts like Ctrl+I to setup the INSs will remain.

If the procedures are different in this version, then it’s because they were missing, or inaccurate in Concorde-X. There is a lot more going on, but I’d argue the workload is significantly less than customers of Concorde-X are familiar with because of the new virtual crew system and planning / in flight aids. In that respect, this new title offers a very different experience.

When I shifted focus back onto Concorde after years on the Airbus - I was amazed how daunting the thought of taking it to New York was with little more than an INS and an out-dated Navlog. The planning and procedures were missing entirely. My main focus on this new Concorde has been to bring it up to par with our other titles - and try to capture how the aircraft was flown, properly. I would encourage customers to approach this new version as just that, a new version - rather than an updated Concorde-X; because you’ll quickly learn that it isn’t. Even the Max Climb / Max Cruise modes were inaccurate in the way they worked.

As for your question on the release. We are making excellent progress on the new virtual cockpit. We are using this title as a test bed for new technologies and methods - so whilst the initial learning process has taken longer than anticipated, we are quickly accelerating our workflows and the results are looking quite spectacular. As I’ve said in recent weeks, once we are a little further along with this, we’ll share some previews.

[Ray Proudfoot]

Hi Andrew,

In 10 years of setting out from Heathrow and other airports to New York I have yet to fail to arrive. Whatever the limitations of the INS system I have yet to encounter them.

It's very difficult to unlearn a process you have been using for a long time especially when you're older and are somewhat set in your ways. The few obvious bugs I have encountered I have been able to work around them to a degree but flying after sunset remains impossible. Bit tricky when all the lights go off after 10 minutes!

What would help us understand the new procedures is a video. I appreciate you're not in a position to make one yet but please, as soon as you are able to, make one that helps us understand how the new Concorde will work. Time marches on and waits for no man.

The initial burst of enthusiasm for the MSFS version has reduced to a trickle. Maybe people have been watching some of the dreadful videos and haven't been able to reach Mach 2 or make it across the pond.

That's why your video is so important. How to fly Concorde properly - in a proper simulator. Keep buggering on!

 

[Troy Kretzul]

Andrew,

Just a huge thank you for the receptiveness in answering all these questions. I did a walk-around of the real bird in NYC a few weeks back, and I spent most of that time thinking about how excited I was to fly the new FSL version.

I know there are nay-sayers with MSFS, but I think in part because I am a real-world heavy driver (i.e. accustomed to a "reference level" product ), my preferred simulation "experience-flow" is starting with a reference level product like you guys offer, and then seeing what we can do about immersion and "feeling there." There's no question in my mind that MSFS is the superior platform for the latter, so it is my hope that we will see the FSL Concorde in MSFS soon after P3D!

Again, thanks for taking the time.

 

Cheers

Troy

 

[Robert Sutherland]

As someone who struggled with the SST Sim Concorde (which I believe you were the developer of, @Andrew Wilson?) and someone who found the prospect of the FSL one a bit too daunting, the opportunity to fly it with a bit more assistance is a gamechanger. Especially if it'll be even more detailed! 

I appreciate the dedication to this craft and the work you guys do to make things as realistic as you can! 

 

[Ray Proudfoot]

41 minutes ago, Troy Kretzul said:

There's no question in my mind that MSFS is the superior platform for the latter,

But with a major drawback making Concorde flights around the world impossible for me.

Asobo will not permit 3rd parties access to the weather engine making historical weather an impossibility. So if I wish to depart LAX to Honolulu at 10:00 my time I’m using the weather at 02:00 local. With P3D and Active Sky I can set the sim to 10:00 LAX for yesterday and get accurate weather.

The alternative is to wait until 6pm my time for the 10:00 LAX weather which is a non-starter for me.

The other obvious drawback to MSFS is the inability to set lat/lon so an INS could not be used. That may change but I’ll never consider MSFS as anything other than low-level simulator where the scenery is stunning.

[Thiago Braun]

Hopefully this will be available on MSFS one day. I fear that, by the time this product is released, there will be very few people left still using P3D, especially now that PMDG is finally unleashing their 737.