Takeoff & landing in Paro (VQPH) with SimA software

[Maurice]

I have just uploaded a video I made of a flight in Paro, Bhutan. The takeoff is on Rwy 33 and the landing on Rwy 16. The flight was done with the new Paro scenery available on SimMarket:
http://secure.simmarket.com/thai-creation-kuzu-zangpo-bhutan-paro-intl-vqpr-fsx.phtml 

The FSX mesh needs to be replaced for that area and you can find FS9 mesh in avsim (file name is fs_him_01.zip). It seems to work OK on FSX.

This is a very challenging approach to runway 15 but it is much easier with the new scenery ((almost impossible with FSX default scenery). Landing on Rwy 33 is a bit more difficult since the river disappears not far from the airport, so finding a route in the valley is much more difficult although the SimA terrain does help as well.

Anyway, here is the link if you are interested. The video is rather shaky at times but this is what you get when you try to film & fly at the same time. Just imagine my sim is a full motion sim with lots of turbulence 

Paro-Bhutan- Take off rwy 33, land rwy 15.mts

I will also be posting another video, this time landing on Rwy 33 when I'm finished editing it.

Maurice

[MLeavy737]

Maurice,
  That is just awesome! I liked it! Nice flyin skillz . Are you the same guy who is always bitching about their visual setup?? Maybe thats someone else lol.. Whole thing looks great!

Mike L

[tennyson]

Hey Maurice,

Nice vid, mate. Great to see some video of a cockpit that's functional.

It's easy to think that everybody here is in some sort of building stage and never actually ever flying their investments...


That landing at Paro was great, I wasn't sure you were going to pull her up, but there was heaps of strip left.

Thanx for showing,


Frank Cooper

[N737AG]

Great video Maurice.

Awesome visuals you have there. And still you keep on looking for improvements ? I don't understand.

Keep on flying my friend


Axel

[Maurice]

Mike & Axel,

I guess I will need to show you the visuals flaws in person to convince you they are far from perfect, so when are you coming over? 

And Frank, stopping was not a problem, figuring out the route to take was the biggest challenge. I have no idea how real planes navigate the valley but from looking at real landings in Paro, I think mine comes reasonably close to the way they do it. At any rate, this was a lot of fun and very stressful at the same time. What you did not see were a couple of crashes before I got the hang of it

Maurice

[Maurice]

One more video landing on runway 33. This is a VOR DME cloud break procedure and I think that means take a dive & follow the valley whenever you can see where you are going  .

I had made a previous video where I followed the procedure without deviating from the radial and that was a disaster since there is about a 6,000 ft drop in only 5.7 miles which makes the landing a dive bomber run where you clip several trees in the process (at least with FSX). The FSX payware scenery was not yet available at that time.

The new FSX scenery only shows the river as you get much closer to the airport but in real life, the river is visible for much longer which would make following the valley somewhat easier I would think.

The filming was done from the FSX instant replay so you don't hear the altitude callouts in the video. One more video to follow of the same landing but filmed from different viewpoints & angles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lBybAzbkLA

Maurice

[fordgt40]

Maurice

Impressive flying indeed. I have previously seen a youtube actual approach and yours was very close 
If my visuals are as good as yours, I will be happy.

See why you needed the new SA terrain function

David

[Maurice]

Last 2 videos. The first one is taken outside the simulator and shows the surround visuals. The second one is taken at different angles inside the simulator. As you can plainly see, nobody was flying the plane.   

Paro, Bhutan landing

Landing in Paro, Bhutan

Hope you enjoyed the videos. Now, quit wasting time watching videos and get back to building your sim or installing miniature gauges

Maurice

[N737AG]

Well, here you have it my friends : a deliberate attempt by Mau to induce serious heart problems in many of us 

Very nice Maurice. Thank you

Axel

[Maurice]

There are many videos on youtube about real landings in Paro, but this is one of the best as you hear an instructor guiding a pilot to a landing on Rwy 15. It shows the actual approach path and the altitude & rate of descent instructions. Well worth watching if you intend to try this one day

Paro Bhutan VQPR runway 15 landing

And here is one with FSX with really good explanations about the approach procedure that closely matches the real deal

Paro Airport (VQPR) - Briefing and Approach

Maurice

[jackpilot]

miniature what...?

[Sean]

I finally found the time to sit and watch your videos. Don't you ever, ever, EVER whinge about your visuals to us again. You talk about us being perfectionists! If you are unhappy with that, then, well, I don't know what to say.

Sure, go ahead and improve them, things are constantly getting better, but I don't think you have any grounds for complaint with what you've got at the moment.

I also love the way you have your sound setup. It comes across great in the videos. I just wish I could experience it in person. Your sim is an inspiration to us who are yet to get airborne (well, me anyway).

Keep posting vids, it gets me in the mood. 

Thanks Maurice.

Sean

[XOrionFE]

Wow,  those are all great videos Mau!

I have to try that in mine.   And agree with others, very inspiring.   Get your visuals back they way they were and leave them!   They look fine.

Scott

[Maurice]

I finally found the time to sit and watch your videos. Don't you ever, ever, EVER whinge about your visuals to us again. You talk about us being perfectionists! If you are unhappy with that, then, well, I don't know what to say.

Sean

OK Sean, I have to set something straight here. I hardly ever complained about my visuals anymore and certainly not for a long time. WHAT??? you say!

Well, let me explain; although it sounds like a complaint about the visuals, it is actually a complaint about the way FSX handles the visuals, or more precisely how FSX screws up the visuals because it does not take advantage of current technology.

So, when I say visuals, I really mean FSX and who does not complain about their love/hate relationship with FSX?  What bothers me are the occasional stuttering, the white flashes or the black patches that show up briefly now & then. These rarely show up in my videos because I was not filming at the time or because I edited some of them out.

Granted, they are not really that bad, but they happen. And also, at busy airports (Paro is not one of them), there is jerkiness especially while taxiing & turning. This again is not a visuals problem but an FSX problem.

So, no, I am not complaining about my visuals. If I could afford 3 high end PCs, I could probably resolve some of these issues but not all of them. The real answer is 3 high end PCs with XPlane but that is never going to happen for me if I value my marriage 

There, I said it...I love my visuals. I'm just not crazy about the way FSX screws them up. Can I go on complaining now? 

Maurice

[Maurice]

Oh yes, one final note. Anybody who does not like reading about all my complaints can simply ignore all my posts. Simple isn't it? 

Maurice

[Sean]

Point taken! 

[Maurice]

Point taken! 

Trust me Sean, once your visuals are finished and you get past the initial WOW factor, you too will start to notice the 'imperfections'. That is pure human nature to want more & better otherwise we would all still be living in the stone age 

Maurice

[blueskydriver]

Hey Maurice,

The one thing that I find strange is the black and white flashes you're still getting. I know they may happen, but I had those before and it was to do with either the FSX tweaks or your weather add-on. White flashing at the top of the screen when at altitude or not is caused by Active Sky (any version) or REX Weather loadings, but you can adjust for that to make it stop.

As for the tweaks, I know they will cause white and black polygonal shape flashes. I cannot at the moment tell you which one it is, but if you email a copy of your FSX.cfg, your aircraft.cfg, and your settings in Active Sky if you're using it; the last one might need to be screen shots, but wait on that for now, as I am not at the house. Instead, I will send you my settings of Active Sky tonight... In the mean time, email the other settings, as I know this can be fixed.

John

[Maurice]

I do use ActiveSky John, but I get the flashes even without it. I'm sure however that my FSX.cfg settings are not optimal as I have messed with those for longer than I can remember. I also know the worse tweak that creates a lot of artefacts and that is the Usepools=0 tweak.
But without it, the frame rates decline so it's a question of what is worse...lower fps or more artefacts and I still don't know which is worse.

But I'll send you my files anyway. Maybe you can spot something I missed.

Thanks,
Maurice