i have envisioned the G42 as sometthing that should be possible within the next 30 years or so.... none of the concepts used here are "far-fetched" or "whimsical".... there's no handwavium or unobtainium anywhere in the Starliner's contruction - the materials it's supposed to be made of are based upon realistic projections of current and emerging technologies of present day (we're already in the future, did you know?)
if something more urgent was at stake, or we had a war going on in space, i reckon a G42-similar vessel could be available within the upcoming decade....
stupid humans, they only put out their best when others are doing their worst :facepalm:
as for the cockpit, indeed, many many analog switchas aren't something one would expect to encounter in a futuristic cockpit.... or would it?
while usquanigo makes a good point, i can't help but to remember why the most modern M1A1 tanks have no automatic loading mechanism on that main gun.... it all comes down to one word - RELIABILITY
i guess the US military decided it was more reliable to have a single well-trained soldier loading shells by hand that it would be to depend on some contraption with hundreds of moving parts :hmm:
so although it would be possible to have the flight computer handle pretty much all aspects of the flight, it makes sense not to, sometimes.... which is why i imagine there would be a handful of switches in that cockpit....
it`s not a car... there's no point in having it's inner workings encapsulated beyond the pilot's concern, being that anyone qualified enough to be entrusted with a multi-billion dollar spaceplane wwould not have problems sorting out one or two less-than-automated proceedures....
this discussion goes on and on... it has dragged itself for many pages in the XR1 vs DGIV thread (which started with a simple "which one should i get first" post)....
somewhere in this very thread (some million pages back) someone posted a picture of the new airbus A380 cockpit - not surprisignly, even with the most advanced in Fly-by-Wire and avionics equipment, there are still as many switches and knobs as you can count in that cockpit
but don't worry - i too think the space shuttle has the most "OMG what the hell is going on here?!" type of cockpit - so rest assured it won't come to THAT :lol:
---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------
the little display in front of you is the master MCP (Mode Control Panel) -- it's where you control the autopilot - notice the wheel-shaped buttons - those are for prograde (up) retrograde (down) normal+ (left) and normal- (right) - the one to the side is for level horizon and the middle one is a redundancy for killrot - which is maily triggered by the "pinky switch" on the flight stick (i figure since i'm making this ship, i might as well model it matching my X52 setup, right? :lol
also, notice that it reads SAS ONLN in blue - that's the indicator for the FBW stability program being active.... (you will be able to turn it off at a later stage - although i think it's just a bad idea to do so unless you have an emergency)
that panel isn't fully functional (or functional at all) at the moment.... it's one of the items in my infinitely long "todo list" :tiphat:
there is a plenitude of gauges and displays that still need to be coded - the throttle position indicator is one of them....
and uhh, no the airbrakes should not be open the whole time (not widely at least) - it is normal for them to split a bit even without command, as the FBW system makes corrections - but if they're open all the way, then you're flying with the spoiler out
they are controlled by the "retro" axis... it is possible that i have them reversed.... try closing down the retro throttle and see if that helps :hmm:
have you mapped that to any joystick axis?
if something more urgent was at stake, or we had a war going on in space, i reckon a G42-similar vessel could be available within the upcoming decade....
stupid humans, they only put out their best when others are doing their worst :facepalm:
as for the cockpit, indeed, many many analog switchas aren't something one would expect to encounter in a futuristic cockpit.... or would it?
while usquanigo makes a good point, i can't help but to remember why the most modern M1A1 tanks have no automatic loading mechanism on that main gun.... it all comes down to one word - RELIABILITY
i guess the US military decided it was more reliable to have a single well-trained soldier loading shells by hand that it would be to depend on some contraption with hundreds of moving parts :hmm:
so although it would be possible to have the flight computer handle pretty much all aspects of the flight, it makes sense not to, sometimes.... which is why i imagine there would be a handful of switches in that cockpit....
it`s not a car... there's no point in having it's inner workings encapsulated beyond the pilot's concern, being that anyone qualified enough to be entrusted with a multi-billion dollar spaceplane wwould not have problems sorting out one or two less-than-automated proceedures....
this discussion goes on and on... it has dragged itself for many pages in the XR1 vs DGIV thread (which started with a simple "which one should i get first" post)....
somewhere in this very thread (some million pages back) someone posted a picture of the new airbus A380 cockpit - not surprisignly, even with the most advanced in Fly-by-Wire and avionics equipment, there are still as many switches and knobs as you can count in that cockpit
but don't worry - i too think the space shuttle has the most "OMG what the hell is going on here?!" type of cockpit - so rest assured it won't come to THAT :lol:
---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------
the little display in front of you is the master MCP (Mode Control Panel) -- it's where you control the autopilot - notice the wheel-shaped buttons - those are for prograde (up) retrograde (down) normal+ (left) and normal- (right) - the one to the side is for level horizon and the middle one is a redundancy for killrot - which is maily triggered by the "pinky switch" on the flight stick (i figure since i'm making this ship, i might as well model it matching my X52 setup, right? :lol
also, notice that it reads SAS ONLN in blue - that's the indicator for the FBW stability program being active.... (you will be able to turn it off at a later stage - although i think it's just a bad idea to do so unless you have an emergency)
that panel isn't fully functional (or functional at all) at the moment.... it's one of the items in my infinitely long "todo list" :tiphat:
there is a plenitude of gauges and displays that still need to be coded - the throttle position indicator is one of them....
and uhh, no the airbrakes should not be open the whole time (not widely at least) - it is normal for them to split a bit even without command, as the FBW system makes corrections - but if they're open all the way, then you're flying with the spoiler out
they are controlled by the "retro" axis... it is possible that i have them reversed.... try closing down the retro throttle and see if that helps :hmm:
have you mapped that to any joystick axis?
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