PILOTS NOTES

Constellation Professional
PILOTS NOTES
Expansion for Flight Simulator X

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 AIRCRAFT & LIVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CONSTELLATION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 AIRCRAFT EXTERIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 COCKPIT & INSTRUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 FLYING THE CONSTELLATION The Basics . . . . . . . 31 FLYING THE CONSTELLATION London to Zurich . . 44 COPYRIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 SOFTWARE PIRACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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INTRODUCTION

Few aircraft can justly be called truly iconic, but the Lockheed Constellation is surely one of them. From its earliest conception as the XC-69, Lockheeds first four-engined design evolved through a steady process of improvement and innovation to become the Super Gs and Starliners of the 1960s, and was responsible for introducing true long-distance intercontinental travel to the masses. The Connie was a true aviation pioneer and won a place in the hearts of all pilots who flew these great airliners, the passengers they carried and the airlines who operated them. NOTE: This manual covers all the models and variations that are available in Constellation Professional as well as in the two optional Upgrade packs, therefore some parts of this manual may not apply to the package that you have.

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AIRCRAFT & LIVERIES Constellation Professional

C-69 Military Transport Prototype
Military Green Prototype C-69 finished in olive green drab over grey - first flew from Burbank field on January 9th,1943

Later all-alloy finish 79 - a standard finish C-69 of the USAAF

C-69/L-049A
Lockheed factory livery, pre-delivery (TWA striping on the tail) Second prototype C-69 converted for Howard Hughes promotional tours

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L-049A First production type

BOAC Baltimore BOAC G-AHEN Baltimore L-049

BOAC Baltimore with Speed Pack Baltimore with the optional Speed Pack slung under the fuselage

TWA Trans World Airlines NC90831 Star of Switzerland L-049 flown by TWA

TWA Trans World Airlines with Speed Pack The same machine carrying the Speed Pack

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PAN AM American Clipper Pan American World Airways NC85520 Clipper America a famous Pan American L-049 which established regular transatlantic flights between New York and London

PAN AM American Clipper Pan American World Airways with Speed Pack American Clipper carries the Speed Pack on another transatlantic trip

AOA American Overseas Airlines American Overseas Airlines NC90922 Flagship Copenhagen. AOA were early adopters of the L-049 series

AOA - American Overseas Airlines with Speed Pack NC90922 fitted with Speed Pack

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Upgrade Pack A (sold separately)

L-1049H Super Constellation (round nose, square windows, stretched fuselage cargo door)
Lufthansa Sabena Flying Tigers Irish International

L-749
Air France Air France with Speed Pack Eastern Airlines Eastern Airlines with Speed Pack Royal Air Maroc Royal Air Maroc with Speed Pack

Upgrade Pack B (sold separately)

L-1049G Super Constellation (radar nose and wing tanks added)
Qantas Varig KLM Air Ceylon

EC-121-K
USAAF USN x 3 versions

C-121-J
Blue Angels MAT Phoenix Antarctic

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CONSTELLATION HISTORY
The story begins with the XC-69 prototype, originally offered as Lockheeds response to a request from the US Military for a fast four-engined transport/bomber which was capable of exceeding the operational speeds of existing single-engined fighters of the day. The all-metal fuselage had a circular cross-section, and an efficient aerofoil shape gave the aircraft its characteristic and graceful dolphin profile. The design was configured for 55 passengers with baggage and three to four aircrew. All the cabin areas were pressurised for operations up to 30,000 feet. All-metal wings utilised the same aerofoil section as Lockheeds tremendously successful P-38 Lightning twin-engined fighter. Fowler flaps created a massive increase in wing area when deployed and, for increased stability, required the installation of a third, central fin and rudder combination which was to give the Constellation its hallmark tail. Rudders and ailerons were fabric-covered, but otherwise the airframe was skinned in flush-riveted alloy, providing a very smooth streamlined design. The airframe sat on a huge tricycle undercarriage, the main struts of which retracted into wells in the inboard nacelles. The nose leg of a Constellation was extremely long and required a complex set of sliding and conventional doors to cover it. An often unnoticed feature of the design was a retractable tail skid to avoid tail strike on take-off and landing. Four massive 2,200hp Wright R-3350-35 Cyclone engines driving Hamilton feathering props provided the power required to get the aircraft to its operating speed of 280mph at 23,000 feet, and the Constellation had a top speed of 329mph at 16,000 feet enough to outrun most of the faster piston-engined fighters of the day. Just before the USA entered the Second World War, and even before the prototype had flown, TWA and Pan American Airways placed substantial orders for the aircraft. After Pearl Harbor, however, the USAAF requisitioned these and they were converted to transports. The design did have its teething troubles but found favour with many influential names in the aviation world, including Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes. Hughes was instrumental in having the design consolidated and improved, with the signature central tailfin and rudder being added to the tail empennage and more powerful power plants, resulting in higher maximum and cruise speeds. Hughes used a second prototype in promotional tours for TWA and he was to break many speed records with this machine. When the USA entered WWII in 1942, Lockheeds new design had already been well tested and plans were in place for the construction of civilian passenger types, designated L049, as specified by major airlines. Conscious of the need for fast transports, however, the Military immediately requisitioned many of these L049 models already on the production line for conversion to military transports. Re-designated C-69, the Constellation first took to the air in fighting colours on January 9th, 1943. Only the prototype C-69 was painted in the traditional drab green-over-grey paint scheme. Production units were usually finished in polished alloy.

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An extremely advanced machine for the period, the Constellation boasted many technological innovations, including de-icing boots fitted to all leading edges of the flying surfaces and controlled from the cockpit. A separate Flight Engineer was required to look after the C-69s complex systems and he had his own control panel, duplicate engine controls and a full suite of electrical controls. Thanks to these and other innovations, the C-69 was a very successful transport aircraft and proved to be faster than the current Japanese fighters of the time! C-69 42-84659 in polished alloy the standard scheme for C-69s in military service. Note how Lockheed was allowed to add the company logo to the airframe livery. This was a concession brokered between the USAAF and Lockheed when requisitioning civilian aircraft production. In fact, Pan American Airways were contracted to operate and service C-69s on behalf of the military. Many great names in aviation were to fly the Constellation, including Orville Wright. In fact, the last flight he ever made was in a Constellation. It was Howard Hughes, however, who was to blaze the trail for this aircraft in his record breaking transatlantic and transcontinental flights. This C-69 second prototype was used by Howard Hughes on promotional tours for TWA and also to break many records. The livery was a combination of factory and TWA colours at this point in the machines life.

Variations on the theme produced versions with cargo doors and different window configurations, various power plants and a host of different systems. The military C-69 series quickly became flying test beds for a wide range of civilian types which Lockheed had planned for happier times once the war was over.

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A quick scan of Constellation variations reveals a bewildering number of designations applied over the years. However, the most commonly operated were:

C-69 military transport

L-049 48-65 seat passenger and freight airliner

L-749 with improved power plants and wheel steering

L-1049 Super Constellation series with stretched fuselages, more headroom in the cockpit and the option of extra wing tanks and weather radar L-1649 Starliner the ultimate expression of the Constellation as a long-distance and luxurious high-performance airliner

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After the War 19 requisitioned C-69s were converted back to civilian passenger use and delivered to TWA and BOAC. TWA ordered further aircraft now designated L-049 and was given priority delivery. BOAC, Pan American, American Airlines and many more airlines were to place orders for L-049s in the years following the War. It was Pan American that carried out inaugural Constellation passenger flights across the Atlantic and established routine flights across the continental USA. Soon other airlines such as BOAC followed suit and, before long, transcontinental flight was a routine offering from most of the worlds major airlines. In 1946 one of Pan Americans Constellations flew from New York to Lisbon, Portugal in 9 hours and 58 minutes. It covered the 3,425 miles at an average speed of no less than 344mph a major achievement for the day. With all this long-distance air activity there was evidently a need to increase the Constellations operating performance, so Lockheeds design team became engaged in a continual upgrade program to improve many aspects of the original design. A number of intermediate steps were incorporated into the original L-049 design and most of the major operators had their aircraft converted. However, the next major development to come from the Lockheed factory was the L-749. The L-749 Constellation series carried extra 565 US gallon fuel tanks in the outer wing sections to give the aircraft a further 1,000 miles of range. The undercarriage was strengthened to cope with the extra weight of the fuel and steering was added to the front wheels, operated from the cockpit, for easier ground handling and to assist with take-off. Some existing airframes were converted to this new standard but new aircraft were delivered to many airlines. Among them was Air France, which took delivery of 14 new machines in 1947 to operate on their intercontinental routes. A separate speed pack was often carried, slung beneath the belly of the fuselage. This pack carried additional luggage and freight and had its own mini undercarriage to make ground handling easier. Pan American flew the first production L-749 on a record breaking round-the-world flight from New York on 17 June, 1947. During this time the Military, most notably the US Navy, adopted the Constellation design as the basis for a whole line of military transport and surveillance aircraft. Basically designated C-121, these improved versions carried VIPs, cargo, troops and sophisticated surveillance equipment in the day-to-day operations of the USN and USAAF for many years. One such aircraft was used as President Eisenhowers personal transport and was christened Columbine. The use of these aircraft as presidential transports gave rise to the term Air Force 1. In the never-ending quest for greater efficiency and profit, airlines were soon calling for increased passenger capacity and faster performance. These and other demands gave birth to the Super Constellations. The first Super Constellations were simply versions of the original L-049 design with a stretched fuselage, which was lengthened by just over 18 feet. Over 550 design alterations were incorporated to convert an L-749 to L-1049 specification. The design was eventually consolidated with more powerful Wright engines, stronger squareshaped glazing in the cabins, and more luxurious cabins. In fact Lockheed invested the huge sum for the time of $1,500,000 in redesigning the new interior. Other improvements included a redesign of the cockpit area with extra headroom and larger cockpit glazing for improved visibility.

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The most important improvement came in the shape of new Turbo-Compound Wright Cyclone engines, each delivering 3,400hp and a cruising speed of 330mph. The later Super G Constellations were equipped with optional wing-tip tanks to increase their range and they also carried primitive early warning weather radar in an extended nose cone. Interior fit-out allowed for many different variations and could include 47 sleeper berths, 63 First Class seats or 97 Tourist Class seats. The interiors were lavishly furnished with timber and soft fabrics, while murals on the cabin walls depicted the excitement of world travel. Among the buyers of Super Gs was QANTAS, Australias national airline, which used the aircraft on scheduled flights to the UK, the United States and East Asia. KLM and Lufthansa also operated Constellations for many years and a beautifully restored example of the KLM L-749 Flying Dutchman performs on the air show circuit today, enthralling crowds with its sheer size and the sound of those massive Wright Cyclones. A final development of the Constellation design resulted in the introduction of the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, which sported a new wing some 27 feet longer than that of the original Constellation and a host of innovative modern enhancements. The Navigator now had his own compartment and the engines were repositioned further from the fuselage to reduce cabin noise levels. Air France used the Starliner on its famous transpolar route to Japan. By the 60s, thanks to the Super Constellation and the Starliner, Lockheed had firmly established the Constellation as the Queen of The Skies. Such was the success of Lockheeds design that almost all of the worlds airlines operated Constellations in one form or another and many passed down through the hands of smaller companies to go on flying thousands of useful miles right into the 1970s. It was the arrival of de Havillands new Comet jet and the ubiquitous Boeing 707 in the late 50s and early 60s that was to topple the Constellations crown, but thats another story

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INSTALLATION
INSTALLING THE DVD-ROM SOFTWARE
Please note: Flight Simulator X must be correctly installed on your PC prior to the installation and use of this software. 1. Close all open programs and applications before installation. Place the DVD-ROM in your DVD drive. 2. If your computer has 'Autorun' enabled the installation program will start. If not, select 'Start' on the Windows taskbar, click on 'Run' and type D:\start.exe in the 'Open' window (where 'D' is the drive letter of your DVD-ROM drive), then press 'OK'. 3. The first screen to appear will ask you to either 'Install in FSX' or 'Install in FS2004' or 'Exit'. Press the appropriate option to continue and follow the on-screen instructions. 4. If the installer is unable to find a valid entry for the selected simulator a warning dialogue will appear telling you to browse manually to the folder where you have installed Flight Simulator. (The default path for Flight Simulator X is C:\program files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X. This path will be correct unless you specified another location when you installed Flight Simulator.) Once the Installation is complete you will see a confirmation window. Click the 'Finish' button to exit the install program and return to Windows. The installation is complete.

DVD-ROM INSTALLATION FAQs

Q. After inserting the disc in my DVD-ROM drive I get asked to insert the correct disc, although I have already inserted it, or an error appears warning that CD/DVD emulation software has been detected. A. This problem occurs because the SafeDisc protection software on the disc is failing to validate. The most common reasons for this are that you have anti-virus software or an active firewall which is interfering with the installation. Please disable all programs running in the background of Windows and try installing again. Important If you have an nVidia nForce 2 motherboard please ensure that you visit www.nvidia.com and install the latest driver; older versions are known to have compatibility problems with SafeDisc. The disc may have been damaged and become unreadable. Please check for any damage to the disc and carefully clean the readable surface. The drive that you are using to load the software may be incompatible with SafeDisc. Please visit the manufacturers website to download any updated drivers/firmware that may be available or, alternatively, try installing using an alternative drive if you have one. If you have any Virtual Drive or Emulation software on your PC then this can prevent the SafeDisc protection software from validating. In order to install the software you must disable the emulator from trying to circumvent SafeDisc. Typical emulation software includes Daemon Tools, CloneCD and Alcohol 120%.

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If Alcohol 120% is on your PC Start Alcohol 120% and go to the Emulation Options. Select 'Emulation' from the options tree. Uncheck the 'Ignore Media Types' box to turn off the media type emulation. Select Extra Emulation from the options tree. Uncheck the BAD Sectors Emulation to turn off this type of emulation, exit Alcohol 120% and restart the installation.

If CloneCD is on your PC Look on your taskbar at the bottom right of your screen (next to the clock). Locate the CloneCD tray icon, which can be a picture of two CD-ROMs or of a sheep's head. Right-click on the icon and make sure Hide CD-R media is not checked. Restart the installation.

If Daemon Tools is on your PC Right-click on the Daemon Tools icon in the Task Bar. Select the Emulation tab. Deselect SafeDisc.

If you continue to have problems after trying the solutions above please contact the Just Flight Technical Support department at www.justflight.com

Q: When trying to install this software I get an error message that mentions either -6001 or -5001. How do I fix this? A: This error is caused by the InstallShield system leaving some files behind during a previous installation of some other software. Please download and run the ISClear tool (obtainable from the Support page at www.justflight.com). This should solve the problem and you will then be able to install the software.

DOWNLOAD INSTALLATION FAQs

Q. How do I install and unlock the software once I have paid for it? A. Full instructions will appear on screen once you have bought a Download add-on. These will also be sent to you in an email for future reference.

Q. How will I know the product has unlocked correctly? A. A message will appear on screen telling you that the unlocking process has been completed (and how to contact us in the unlikely event that you experience any problems). Please read all instructions and e-mails carefully.

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Q. What happens if I change my PC or need to reinstall the software? A. If you change your computer system or if your licence files are broken (perhaps due to a new installation of Windows or a hard drive malfunction) you will need to unlock the software again. Once you have unlocked the software you can install it as often as you like on the same computer system. Please note: You can only unlock a product three times. If you need to exceed this number of unlocks an administrative fee may be required. In this case please contact our Download Support department at enquiries@justflight.com

UNINSTALLING
To uninstall this software from your PC: Go to the Windows Start menu. Select the Control Panel. In the Control Panel window double-click on 'Add/Remove Programs'. Select and click on the appropriate entry from the list. A dialogue box will appear offering to Modify, Repair or Remove the program. Click on the Remove option and then click Next. A confirmation box will appear asking if you really wish to remove the software. Clicking 'OK' will remove it from your system. Click 'Finish' to end this operation.

Uninstalling or deleting this software in any other way may cause problems when using this program in the future or with your Windows set-up.

WEBSITE UPDATES
Please check the News and Support pages on our website at www.justflight.com for news and updates for this and all our other products.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
To obtain technical support (in English) please visit the Support pages at www.justflight.com. As a Just Flight customer you can obtain free technical support for any Just Flight or Just Trains product. If you dont have Internet access, please write to us at Just Flight Technical Support, 2 Stonehill, Stukeley Meadows, Huntingdon, PE29 6ED, UK.

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ACCESSING THE AIRCRAFT

To access the aircraft in Flight Simulator X Go to FREE FLIGHT / CURRENT AIRCRAFT / CHANGE. The Aircraft Manufacturer is Lockheed. The Publisher is Just Flight and the aircraft type is either Military transport or Commercial airliner. Ensure you tick the Show all variations tick box at the bottom of the page.

AIRCRAFT EXTERIOR
Two different versions are pictured in the following screenshots the L-049 and L-749. The sheer size of this magnificent aeroplane is most noticeable when its on the ground. That massive nose wheel strut measures well over 9 feet from base to pivot.

The twin nose wheels display a marked negative camber (leaning outwards) which is designed to help keep the aircraft straight while accelerating down the runway.

On the L-749, nose steering replaced the free castoring axles used in the earlier C-69 and L-049 series. The horizontal piston rams for the steering gear can be clearly seen above the wheels.

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The size of the nose strut requires a complex combination of conventional undercarriage doors and a sliding panel to completely retract and cover the nose gear. There are two main doors, a door in front of the strut, and a sliding section above this front door.

The nose cone incorporates a landing light behind a perspex window and you will notice an array of different pitot tubes and aerials for the communications radios and ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) gear. On the left side of the forward fuselage is the aircrew access door which opens directly into the rear of the cockpit area. This door has a small porthole which the Flight Engineer uses to check rotation on Number 3, the first engine in the start-up sequence (more on that later).

Overall vision through the multi-pane cockpit windshield was excellent, and many Constellation variants carried a Plexiglas astrodome in the roof of the forward fuselage for the Engineer/Navigator to make star sightings on those lengthy transcontinental flights.

Several different window configurations were employed on Constellations by different operators. As shown here, the most common was with the forward set covering the First Class passenger cabin.

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The front view of the Constellation is dominated by those hugely powerful Wright Cyclone engines housed in their tightly aerodynamic nacelles. The exposed exhaust stacks and big cowl flaps are an indication of the comparatively unrefined nature of aviation of the period. The flames and smoke when the engines were started could be alarming to new air travellers! The huge propellers are fully feathering and extremely efficient. Although four-blade designs were tried on the Constellation, they were considered unnecessary and never used.

The massive main undercarriage is based around a single, extremely robust oleo strut with ladder-frame operating arms and various hydraulic rams to fold the system neatly into its well in the aft section of the inner nacelle. The large main wheels house powerful brakes in the hubs. The single-strut, twinwheel layout is typical of Lockheeds bomber-style approach to landing gear. When you consider the loaded weight of a Constellation can reach 120,000 lbs, these are magnificent pieces of engineering.

The wings echo the classic Lightning fighter shape and use the same aerofoil section as the P-38. In the aft of the wings you see the flaps. Of Fowler design, they extend out and down on hydraulically operated struts and add considerably to the lift capability of the wings, making landings very controllable at lower speeds and aiding with take-off when full loads are on board.

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1 Fuel jettison nozzle At the trailing edge of the wings, just inboard of the ailerons, you can see the fuel jettison nozzles. These dump fuel on command from controls in the cockpit.

The underside of the fuselage is equipped to take a self raising and lowering Speed Pack pod, which could accommodate a further 500kg of baggage and freight.

Moving further back along the fuselage, you cannot fail to notice the elegant, dolphin-like profile of the Constellations airframe. The main passenger door is located in the port side at this point. The height of the airframe is evident here and substantial steps are required to board the aircraft.

The elegant lines swoop down and then up to the massive tail empennage. The three-fin layout is a hallmark of the Constellation design. The central fin and rudder were added to provide increased stability, especially when those powerful Fowler flaps are deployed. Not that the rudders are fabric covered, not metal. Trim tabs are present on all three rudders and the huge elevator. Beneath the tail section of the fuselage is a retractable tail skid to prevent the fuselage striking the ground on take-off or landing when the angle of attack is too great.

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COCKPIT & INSTRUMENTS

Entering the cockpit, you are met by a bewildering array of controls, instruments, knobs and switches. This may look daunting, but everything is in its logical place. The successful operation of a Constellation is actually quite simple, which is what endeared it to so many of its pilots! Immediately in front of the pilots seat is the main panel. This contains the basic instrumentation for flight and a few navigation aids.

Moving clockwise around the pilots panel from top left: 1 Altimeter 2 Airspeed indicator 3 AHI (artificial horizon indicator) 4 VSI (vertical speed indicator measures rate of climb or descent) 5 Turn and Slip gauge 6 Radio altimeter 7 & 8 Runway course setting gauges 9 & 10 Radio compass and ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) 11 8-day clock 12 OMI lights (Outer, Middle and Inner navigation markers)

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An identical set of instruments is located on the co-pilots panel.

1 Opening pilots window. Use the black knob to open/close 2 Glare shield. Click to lower/raise 3 Sperry autopilot 4 Wiper controls

The windscreen wiper is controlled by switches mounted in a small centrally mounted panel on the top of the glare shield. The co-pilot also has a wiper controlled from here. There is a sun visor above the pilots windscreens which will drop down if clicked, and the pilots quarter window will open, using the black knob on the handle. In the centre at the top of the windscreen is a Sperry autopilot set. This functions on a simple level with a basic heading and altitude setting. It is switched on by pushing the On/Off switch at the gauge or by using the big autopilot locking lever on the centre console.

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The central instrument panel contains gauges to monitor the engine systems and other flying controls. 1 Manifold pressure gauges. These are dual gauges and have needle readings for each pair of engines 2 Tachometers, which measure engine RPM. Again, these are dual needle set-ups. 3 Gyro compass or direction indicator (the gauge which tells you the direction in which you are travelling) 4 Cowl flap indicator (position of the oil radiator cooling flaps for the engine nacelles for each bank) 5 Suction gauge, which measures the airflow generated for operation of the instruments and other vacuum-driven systems 6 Flaps and gear indicator 7 Gear indicator lights (green for down, red for up) and gear safety lights

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Dominating the cockpit is the centrally mounted flight console. This houses the major control levers and wheels for operating the engines and flight surfaces of the aeroplane. It is centrally mounted so that either the pilot or co-pilot can reach it. In some cases they both need access to it at the same time.

1 At the left and right ends of the console are the Trim wheels for elevator trim adjustment. These large wheels are used to apply nose up or down trim and to adjust the hands-off stability of the aeroplane 2 The four main throttle levers 3 Emergency fuel cut-off lever 4 Control for lowering and raising the large Fowler flaps

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1 Locking lever for the autopilot 2 Rudder trimming knob. Turn left or right for the desired trim input 3 Aileron trim adjustment knob 4 Autopilot clutch controls, marked E / R / A (non-functioning in the simulator). To their right are the red and blue levers for undercarriage and parking brake operation

1 Nose wheel steering wheel (L-749 only) 2 Press to hide pilots seat. Switches on the pilots yokes allow the removal of seats for access to various secondary controls and switchgear in panels mounted to the cockpit side walls. In the L-749, The wheel control for nose wheel steering is adjacent to the pilots yoke.

On the pilots side panel we have: 1 Flare arming and release switches (animated but non-functional) 2 Lighting switches covering recognition, landing lights and a special switch to switch the ground crew in and out 3 Controls for the sophisticated de-icing equipment fitted to the Constellation Also down the side panel are banks of switches and controls for communications.

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An identical panel is fitted to the right hand wall of the cockpit for the co-pilots use. 1 Use the switch on the pilots side console or on the co-pilots front panel to show or hide your ground crew dont forget to remove the ground crew before taxiing!

Immediately above the pilots heads are the overhead panels. 1 The front panel contains the communications and navigation radio set. This sets comms and navigation frequencies for use with the ADF gear (more on this later). 2 The centre overhead panel carries a set of engine start controls (magnetos), seat belt and No Smoking light switches (complete with signature sound tone), landing lights and other boost switches (non-functioning) 3 The rearmost overhead panel carries fire control levers for each engine (non-functioning) 4 Fuel dump levers. Great care must be used when operating the fuel dump levers as the tanks can empty very quickly. Do not dump fuel intentionally over populated areas.

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1 Press to show/hide the ground crew 2 Press to show hide the ground stairs vehicle

The co-pilots panel carries an extra pair of switches for displaying the ground crew (visible through the windscreen) and the boarding ladder truck animation (visible in exterior view). Press the [SHIFT] + [E] keys to open/close the passenger door.

Behind the co-pilots seat and mounted to the right rear wall of the cockpit is the Flight Engineers station. This contains all the controls, switches and gauges necessary for operation of the aircraft, from engines to systems and electrics, air conditioning and central fire control.

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To the left of the Engineers station is the electrical panel. 1 At the top of this panel are the trip resets for the generator field relays (non-functional) 2 Voltage selector knobs and ammeters 3 Voltage gauges and inverter switches 4 A ground power switch allows the connection of exterior ground sources and a light glows green when in operation 5 Four generator switches, together with their red warning buttons 6 Master battery switch 7 Cabin light switches 8 Four carburettor anti-icing switches 9 Engine primer switch 10 Engine start switch 11 Engine selector knob. (Standard procedure requires that the Flight Engineer start the engines in sequence on the pilots command.) 12 Fuses and circuit breakers for the aircrafts systems (most of these are non-functional)

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The Flight Engineers station can be divided into four main segments. The top-most panel carries:

1 Switches for lighting 2 Two special switches for switching in/out the ground crew and boarding steps simulations

The main panel below this houses a variety of clearly marked gauges:

3 Outside air temperature 4 Oil cooler flap positions, together with the outlet and inlet temperatures 5 Carburettor air temperatures 6 Oil and fuel contents of the various tanks 7 Hydraulic reservoir state 8 Hydraulic pressure 9 Four warning lights for hydraulic pressure on each engine

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The lower panel contains the engine management instruments. Top row 1 Fuel flow meters and warning lights 2 Engine performance gauges 3 8-day clock 4 Pitch indicator repeater 5 Warning lights for left and right bank generators Second row 6 Cylinder head temperature 7 Tachometers 8 Propeller sync gauge (animated but not accurate in this simulation) 9 Engine oil pressures and warning lights 10 Airspeed indicator 11 Four warning lights for propeller pitch/feathering Third row 12 Cowl flap position indicators 13 Engine manifold pressure gauges 14 Supercharger rear bearing temperatures (non-functional) 15 Fuel pressures and warning lights

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The Flight Engineers desk is fitted with a quadrant that duplicates the engine controls found on the centre console. Under normal conditions, the Engineer is responsible for engine start and maintenance, on orders from the Captain.

From left to right across the quadrant: 1 Propeller pitch levers 2 Engine throttles 3 Superchargers (non-functional) 4 Engine mixture levers 5 Fuel tank selectors

Below the levers are sets of switches and minor controls. From left to right: 6 Carburettor air heat switches 7 Cowl flap switches 8 Four propeller feathering controls 9 Auxiliary air vent switch 10 Switches for the fuel pumps 11 Switches for the oil cooler flaps

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The crew entry door is adjacent to the Flight Engineers desk and is fitted with a porthole for inspecting the Number 3 engine. This is the lead engine when starting and propeller revolutions (indicated by the illusion of six blades) are called when starting is underway.

1 Use the porthole for inspecting the Number 3 engine

The back wall of the cockpit contains engine fire control panels and switches, gauges and warning lights for the air conditioning and cabin pressurisation equipment. Please note that although most of these are animated, they are non-functional in the simulator.

Directly opposite the Flight Engineers desk is the radio station. All communication and navigation radios are positioned here, together with circuit breakers and other electrical items relevant to the radio sets. (In the simulation, only the pilots overhead radios are used.)

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FLYING THE CONSTELLATION The Basics

Start-up procedures (cold, dark cockpit)
Although a complex and advanced aeroplane for its day, the Lockheed Constellation is quite straightforward to operate, and with care and diligence can be flown by a competent pilot with relative ease. We will start with all electrics off and all systems shut down. Ensure that this is the case with your simulator before beginning this tutorial. Also, for the maximum reward, we suggest that the settings of your FSX simulator are set at least to Medium and preferably to Hard. Navigate to the virtual cockpit view and, in the default pilots view, navigate to the rear of the centre console and check that the parking brake lever is down and set.

1 Parking brake 2 Landing gear lever

Also, check that the undercarriage gear lever is down and locked. The indicators in the centre main panel should be green. 1 Three greens

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For effect only, switch on Ground crew and Ground cart and check in exterior view that they are showing. The ground crew stands in front of your aircraft with hand raised to indicate Start 3.

1 Switch for Ground crew

Using the view key usually [A] cycle through the internal views to the Flight Engineers view. 1. On the electrical panel, next to the Flight Engineers panel, turn the master battery switch to On.

1 Battery master switch

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2. Switch on the inverter switches. 1 Inverters

4. Switch all four generator switches to On.

1 Generators

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5. Switch cowl flaps to open for Number 3 engine.

1 Engine 2 cowl flaps

6. Move propeller levers to full/100%.

1 Engine 3 propeller lever 2 Light will dim

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7. Move all fuel tank levers and shut-off valves to Open. 1 Fuel tank levers open

8. Ensure mixture levers are set to cut. If not, pull them back to their lowest position. (This is in readiness for the next process priming and turning over the engines. 1 Mixture levers cut

Switch the engine selector switch to Number 3. Click through the sequence until the mouse label says Switch to engine 3 then click once more. You should now have selected the desired engine.

1 Select engine 3

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Engage the starter and watch for propeller rotation through the porthole in the crew door. 1 Starter for engine 3

Switch to the pilots view and navigate to the overhead panels set in the cockpit roof. On the centre panel, switch the magnetos for engine Number 3 to Both. 1 Number 3 set to Both

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1. Switch on the auxiliary fuel pump for engine 3. 1 Auxiliary fuel pump 3

2. Press the primer switch (with engine selector set to 3) twice. 1 Primer switch

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3. Move the mixture lever for engine 3 to full rich. 1 Engine 3 mixture lever set to full rich

4. Open the throttle lever for engine 3 about 6%. 1 Throttle lever for engine 3 set to about 6%

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5. Engage the Starter switch. 1 Starter switch

6. Monitor instruments and watch for warning lights.

7. Turn off the auxiliary fuel pump at the switch.

1 Auxiliary fuel pump switch

Repeat the above procedure for the three remaining engines in the sequence: 412 Once all engines are started and running smoothly, return the throttles to idle and monitor oil pressures and temperatures. All needles should be settled and steady at similar readings before you continue.

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Taxi, take-off and climb

1. Close main door ([Shift]-[Enter]). 2. Switch off ground cart and ground crew before taxiing. (If you forget, they will disappear once airborne!) 3. Set cowl flaps to 40%. 4. Set a little nose down trim to counteract the lift of flaps. We suggest around -7% 1 Elevator trim control

5. Set flaps to take-off position two notches on the lever. 1 Flaps to take-off position

Taxi to the runway using small throttle settings and rudder control to steer. Alternatively, use throttles and brakes to steer. In the L-749, there is a nose wheel steering wheel to the left of the pilots yoke. Use extreme caution as it is VERY sensitive! On reaching the runway, and after clearance, switch all fuel pumps on. Open the throttles to maximum and release the brakes. The aircraft will roll forward slowly but pick up speed quite quickly as the big radials begins to bite.

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V1 comes at around 90 KIAS (Knots Indicated Air Speed) and V2 (Rotate) at around 100-110 KIAS. Hold the aircraft straight with the rudders as you commit to take-off. Pull gently back on the stick and the nose wheel will unstick. Wait a few more seconds to allow the wings and flaps to develop maximum lift and then gently pull further back to unstick the main gear. As the aeroplane lifts off, apply a little nose-down pressure on the yoke to prevent stalling and allow the aircraft to accelerate and gain height. 1. Raise undercarriage check three red lights. In the exterior view, check tail skid retraction. 2. Establish a climb rate of 500ft per minute, adjusting elevator trim accordingly. 1 500 feet per minute at 142 KIAS

3. Accelerate to 142 KIAS. 4. Raise flaps. 5. Adjust power to 42 manifold pressure and 2,300 RPM 1 42 manifold pressure and 2,300 RPM.

6. At 1,000ft into the climb, adjust manifold pressure to 35 and 2,300 RPM. 7. Up to 9,000 feet of altitude, adjust the propeller pitch to give 152 KIAS and close the cowl flaps to 30%. 8. Above 9,000 feet, adjust manifold pressure to 33 at 2,300 RPM and maintain 152 KIAS with propeller pitch. 9. At 21,000 feet, adjust mixture and propeller pitch to give 142 KIAS.

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Cruise
For maximum cruise speed: Level off and adjust cowl flaps to maintain temperatures in the operating range Adjust manifold pressure to 31 and RPM to 2,300

For a fast cruise: Reduce manifold pressure to 28, maintain 1,800 RPM and close cowl flaps

For economical cruise: Reduce manifold pressure to 25 and maintain1,800 RPM

For maximum range: Reduce manifold pressure to 22 and maintain 1,600 RPM

Descent, approach and land

1. Above 20,000ft, reduce airspeed to 210 KIAS. 2. Below 20,000ft, do not exceed 236 KIAS. 3. Mixture levers to AUTO RICH.

1 Controlled descent 2 230 Knots 3 Mixtures Auto Rich

4. Open Cowl flaps to 10%. 5. Maintain 2,000 RPM. 6. Gradually reduce manifold pressure and RPM.

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On approach, reduce airspeed to 152 KIAS and drop flaps one notch on the lever (one keystroke on [F7]). Approaching the glide slope, reduce airspeed to 125 KIAS and drop flaps a further notch (another keystroke on [F7]). On attaining the glide slope, adjust airspeed to around 110 KIAS and drop full flaps. Lower the gear and check three green lights. Adjust elevator trim. On approaching the runway threshold, reduce airspeed to 90-95 KIAS and begin flaring the aircraft. Before touchdown, close throttles and allow the aeroplane to settle onto the main gear first.

After landing, open cowl flaps to 100% and raise the flaps. Apply braking to slow the aircraft and steer to taxiway.

Shutdown and secure at parking ramp

1. Close each mixture lever to Cut, in engine sequence 2 1 4 3. 2. Pull all propeller levers to minimums. 3. Close all fuel pumps and tank levers. 4. Switch off all light switches, radios etc. 5. Switch master battery switch to Off. 6. Close all inverters. 7. Ensure parking brake is set and locked. 8. Switch all generator switches to Off. 9. Switch on ground cart. 10. Open main door and check exterior view for steps extension.

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FLYING THE CONSTELLATION London to Zurich

Navigation
One of the most famous routes flown by the Constellation was from London to Sydney, operated by BOAC (later to become British Airways). Before the era of high speed jet travel this journey took five days by Constellation, with seven stops along the route. Needless to say, five days is rather too long for a tutorial, but if you are keen to fly all the legs yourself, the timetable is included at the end of this tutorial. Instead, we shall be flying the first leg of the journey, from London to Zurich. The flight will last around two hours, which will be well spent in familiarising you with this remarkable aircraft. Set up the BOAC Connie at a gate of your choice at London Heathrow EGLL (or London Airport, as it was known during the era of the Connie). For the purposes of this tutorial clear all weather within FSX, and you might also want to temporarily disable any other aircraft traffic, to avoid any weather or aircraft distractions. Using the simulator fuel menu add 60% fuel to all of the tanks. This is more than enough to get to Zurich and leaves fuel to spare should you need to go-around. We will not be using the default FSX ATC for this flight as we will be navigating manually. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open Flight Simulator X Choose the Free Flight tab Click on Load Highlight Just Flight Constellation Tutorial from the list by clicking on it once Choose Fly Now

You should now be at Heathrows gate 1, in a cold and dark Constellation, ready to start our flight to Zurich! If you are used to flying with the Flight Simulator GPS or an FMC (Flight Management Computer) be prepared for something of a surprise. The Connie requires us to navigate to Zurich using traditional navigation methods. This is actually straightforward and quite fascinating, and will provide a solid foundation in navigation. We will be flying VOR (VHF Omni-Directional Radio Beacon) to VOR all the way from the UK until arriving in Zurich. It is therefore appropriate at this juncture to quickly summarise the functionality of VOR beacons. At its simplest, a VOR can be used as a homing beacon; utilising the VOR receiver in the aircraft, the direct track to the beacon can be established. Consider an analogy where the beacon is the hub of a wheel with spokes radiating out at all the compass points around the wheel. The VOR transmits a unique signal along each radial for identification by navigation equipment, so when in range of a VOR we can not only tune our NAV1 radio to the frequency of the VOR, but we can also select one of the radials to provide a specific course into the VOR, essentially travelling along the chosen spoke into the hub of the wheel. Each radial is referenced by its compass orientation 0-359. The course knob adjacent to the VOR receiver in the aircraft allows easy selection of the chosen radial. There is only one caveat all radials are quoted by the compass direction away from the beacon. So if we are directly west of a chosen beacon and fly a 90 degree course to it we are actually tracking the 270 degree radial, as this radial leaves the VOR at a heading of 270 degrees whilst we travel inbound along it at 90 degrees! For our tutorial this will not actually bother us, but it is worth bearing in mind. We can tune the actual compass heading to the VOR and not worry about these VOR reciprocals. We can think of our radial course as the course on which we leave the VOR and this confusion is much simplified. For example, if we continue our hypothetical 90 degree course into the VOR and continue through the VOR, we will leave the VOR on the 90 degree radial after passing directly over the beacon. As we are flying directly through each VOR and not following specific radials from a VOR, we can use the direct compass

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headings technique as described above. We can forget all about reciprocals and leave those for more complex VOR navigation techniques. So for our 90 degree heading to a beacon we can set 90 degrees on the course knob and life is simpler all round! Most VOR beacons also have a device which is referred to as DME - Distance Measuring Equipment. The DME tells us how far we are from the beacon in units of nautical miles. Unfortunately the Connie harks back to an era before the introduction of DME, so we will have to use other methods to discern our position. How, then, do we know the direct course to the beacon? That is best described as we get airborne, so lets prepare the aircraft for departure.

Pre-flight checks and engine start

Throughout this tutorial you will be presented with checklist items for you to follow. They are highlighted in bold text and require you to take a specific action. Flying an airliner is a very ordered affair and involves progressing through series of checklists for each phase of flight. Checklists were introduced as a requirement in the very early days of aviation when it was realised that pilots were sometimes forgetting to perform key functions. Forgetting to deploy the landing gear was one of the more expensive mistakes that were made! So, take your seat in the cockpit of our Connie and we can perform the Pre-Start checklist. Incidentally, there is no formal 2D panel and all of our flying is done from the virtual cockpit. TIP - To navigate around the virtual cockpit, hold down the space bar and alter your viewpoint using the mouse. The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in and out. PARKING BRAKES SET THROTTLE FULLY IDLE MASTER BATTERY ON PANEL LIGHTS ON INVERTERS ON MASTER AVIONICS SWITCH ON LANDING GEAR LEVER CHECK DOWN COWL FLAPS FULLY OPEN FLAPS UP ELEVATOR TRIM SET 5 DEGREES NOSE UP FUEL LOAD CHECK FUEL FLOW CUTOFF ANTI-ICE OFF The cowl flap controls can be found at the base of the Engineers station and are labelled as oil cooling flaps. The cowl flaps are extremely important as they provide cooling to each engine when there is insufficient ram air (air forced into the engine during flight). During ground operations, therefore, it is important to have the flaps fully open to assist in cooling. If you select an external view, you should notice the flaps open immediately behind each propeller.

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TIP - Hold the mouse over the cowl flaps switch for each engine and use the mouse wheel to set the required cowl flaps setting from closed to fully open.

The Master Avionics switch is located on the side window sill, to the left of the Captain's knee and is also available at the First Officer's window position. The battery and inverters are located at the Engineer's station. For an ideal view of this position right-click anywhere on the screen and select the Engineer's viewpoint from the drop-down menu.

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We will not be using any ATC services today so we can concentrate on our own navigation methods, but at this point it is normal to secure a final route clearance followed by clearance to push back from the gate and start the engines. For future reference the radio equipment is located on the overhead panel. For convenience the radio stack is also available as a 2D pop-up panel by pressing the [SHIFT]-[2] key combination. The navigation and communication receivers are tuned using exactly the same method. Clicking on the outer disk of the receiver knob tunes the frequency before the decimal point, and clicking on the centre of the knob tunes the fractional frequency.

Let us assume that we have now received our final routing to Zurich. As mentioned above, we will be flying VOR to VOR. The route is as follows:

VOR NAME LYDD BOULOGNE REIMS EPINAL BASLE TRASADINGEN RWY 14 ZURICH ILS

FREQUENCY 114.05 113.80 112.30 113.00 117.45 114.30 108.30

The VORs listed above take us across the English Channel and over France before crossing into Switzerland, close to Basle. Finally we make an ILS approach to runway 14 at Zurich. As Lydd is our first waypoint, enter 114.05 into the NAV1 frequency using the technique described above.

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To make our flying a little easier we will also be using the autopilot. This is located above the centre windshield post or can be accessed by a pop-up using the [SHIFT]-[3] key combination. The autopilot is extremely simple, befitting aircraft of the era, and is accurate to the one fitted in the real Lockheed Constellation. It has two primary modes of operation, heading hold and pitch hold. Firstly we should uncage the pitch bars. The small button on the bottom right of the pitch unit should be pressed, ensuring that the tooltip tells us that the pitch is now uncaged. Failure to do this can cause extreme problems with the autopilot! Using the pitch button on the top right of the pitch unit, set the pitch for 3 degrees nose up. This will be our initial pitch setting when engaging the autopilot. To the left is the heading unit. This unit has two compass tapes. The upper tape highlights the target heading whilst the bottom tape shows the current heading. Ensure that the bottom heading is aligned to the current heading of the aircraft. You can use the [SHIFT]-[Z] key combination to overlay the aircraft heading on screen. The adjustment knob at the base of the heading unit allows for calibration. At the top right of the heading unit is the heading selector the autopilot will track. Set this heading to 093 degrees, which is our runway departure heading today at Heathrow.

AUTOPILOT SET AND CHECKED With that housekeeping completed, we can now start the engines. We will start them in the sequence 1-2-3-4. Each airline had its own specific procedures with regard to the order of engine start and our choice for today was a common technique. In the real world we would ensure that ground staff had given us permission for the start, ensuring that all personnel are clear of the propeller blades. We can assume that we have received this clearance. Also, the engines would normally be started during pushback, but today we will be starting at the gate so you can concentrate on starting the engines without the distraction of moving and positioning the aircraft. Open the throttle slightly before starting the engines, as is the normal procedure with these giant radial engines. PARKING BRAKE SET THROTTLE CRACKED OPEN GENERATORS ON MAGNETOS BOTH PROPELLERS HIGH RPM MIXTURE FULL RICH (FULLY FORWARD) CARBURETTOR AIR COLD ENGINE SELECTOR ENGINE 1 PRIME AS REQUIRED START SWITCH ON

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Repeat the start process for the remaining three engines. The magneto switches can be found on the overhead panel and the remaining engine start controls are at the Engineer's station. ENGINE SELECTOR OFF Congratulations, you have now started all four engines and after a quick tidy-up of the aircraft we will shortly be ready to taxi.

Taxi and take-off

We can now perform the Before Taxi Checklist NAVIGATION LIGHTS ON ALTIMETER SET (THE [B] KEY WILL AUTOMATICALLY CALIBRATE THE ALTIMETER TO LOCAL PRESSURE) INSTRUMENTS CHECKED AIR CONDITIONING MASTERS ON (CAN BE FOUND ON BACK BULKHEAD) RADIOS AND AVIONICS CHECKED/ SET AUTOPILOT SET/OFF We can now release the parking brake and taxi the aircraft to the active runway at Heathrow. Today that is runway 09R. If you are unsure how to direct the aircraft to the runway, utilising the top down view can be a useful orientation tool. During the taxi apply the brakes a couple of times to ensure that braking pressure is normal. To avoid brake overheating, try and taxi using power rather than braking to maintain a safe taxi speed below 20kts. On corners slow the aircraft to 10kts to avoid any potential for tipping over or loss of control. As we are the only aircraft flying today, go ahead and line up for departure on the runway. Apply the parking brake and monitor the engine gauges at idle to ensure that no overheating or other problems are indicated. We can now do a short run-up test. Apply 1,700 RPM of power by adding some throttle. Confirm that all engine instruments still read normally and return the throttle to idle. Return the throttle to 1,700 RPM and adjust the propeller using the propeller controls, reducing propeller RPM slightly and confirming this on the prop gauges. Return the propellers to the fully forward, high RPM position and reduce the throttle to idle again.

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Set the flaps for take-off by adding one notch of flaps. This can be achieved by clicking on the flaps handle in the cockpit or alternatively by pressing the [F7] key. FLAPS TAKE-OFF We can now perform the Before Take-Off checklist. Yes, yet another checklist!

PARKING BRAKE SET FUEL QUANTITY CHECK COWL FLAPS FULLY OPEN THROTTLE IDLE PROPELLERS HIGH RPM MIXTURE AUTO RICH ELEVATOR TRIM 5 UNITS (CAN BE CONFIRMED BY HOLDING THE MOUSE OVER THE TRIM WHEEL IN THE COCKPIT) FLAPS TAKE-OFF FLIGHT CONTROLS CHECKED RADIO/AVIONICS SET LANDING LIGHTS ON CARBURETTOR COLD AIR

Now for the moment we have been waiting for! Our take-off today will be at 100 MPH. Our rejection speed is 80 MPH. The rejection speed, referred to as V1, is the speed at which we are committed to the take-off. Our take-off speed is referred to as Vr. V1 80 MPH Vr 100 MPH Slowly advance the throttles to full power and confirm that the aircraft is accelerating. Keep one hand on the throttle and the other on the yoke (or joystick). Apply slight forward pressure to keep the aircraft firmly on the runway and maintain the centreline using the rudder. At 80 MPH we are committed to take-off so prepare for departure while monitoring instrumentation to ensure that all engines are operating normally. At 100 MPH gently pull back on the yoke and the aircraft should gracefully lift into the air. Ensure that you only apply gentle back pressure to avoid the risk of a tail strike on the runway. With a positive rate of climb established, retract the landing gear.

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Climb and cruise

At 1,500ft retract the flaps, switch the autopilot to On and reduce power to around 90%. Our aim now is to accelerate to 150 MPH, which is our ideal climb speed. Once 150MPH has been achieved, hold this speed by adjusting the aircraft pitch. Use the pitch controller of the autopilot to achieve this. FLAPS UP TIP - Place the mouse over the pitch knob of the autopilot and use the mouse wheel to adjust the pitch as desired. Winding the mouse wheel down towards you will raise the nose whilst winding the mouse wheel forward will lower the nose. This is an easy way to use the mouse as an electric trim switch for the autopilot! You may have to make regular pitch adjustments to maintain the 150 MPH target climb speed. If the speed decays, lower the nose; if the aircraft is accelerating it is simply a matter of raising the nose to reduce speed. We can now start to track towards the VOR. Look carefully at the VOR instrument in the cockpit. There should be two crosshairs, one vertical and one horizontal. The horizontal cross hair will be marked as OFF as this is for ILS glideslope guidance which we shall use later. The vertical cross hair, when centred, indicates that the aircraft is on course towards the tuned VOR. Turn the course knob until the vertical cross hair the CDI (Course Deviation Indicator) centres. This is an extremely simple way of finding the direct track to the VOR. Adjust the autopilot heading to the same heading as the course indicator to keep the CDI centred. We are now flying a direct track to the LYDD VOR. If the CDI moves off centre, adjust the autopilot heading a couple of degrees to the left if the CDI moves left, and to the right if the CDI moves right. Keep adjusting as necessary to keep the CDI centred and the aircraft will fly towards the VOR. Be careful only to make small heading changes to keep the CDI centred and you will avoid snaking through the air in S turns! You should now be heading out towards the coast and to LYDD. Had we chosen to simulate weather for this journey we would have had to take into account wind drift, which could blow the aircraft off the VOR course. TIP - As confirmation that you are on the correct course, your CDI should be centred with the course indicating a south-easterly direction. Confirm that your heading is in the south-east quadrant of the compass as you pass through each VOR, progressively heading south-easterly towards Zurich. Above 6,000ft we would normally adjust to standard pressure on the altimeter (the adjustment knob is on the bottom left of the altimeter gauge and the tooltip can be used to confirm the pressure). However, as we did not use any weather in the simulator the standard pressure is already calibrated by default when we calibrated at the gate. We can now start to close the cowl flaps as we enter colder air and the aircraft is moving at a high enough velocity to force cold air into the engines. For the climb, close the cowl flaps to around 50%. As you pass through 10,000ft, turn off the landing lights and lower the nose to accelerate to 200 MPH for our final segment climb. Level off the aircraft at 13,000ft. Allow the aircraft to fully accelerate to our final cruise speed and close the cowl flaps completely.

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You will need to lower the propeller RPM at this point to bring them out of the red if they are indicated as such on the engine gauges. We can now perform the Cruise checklist. AUTOPILOT HEADING AND PITCH SET AND ON ENGINE INSTRUMENTS CHECKED NAVIGATION INTEGRITY CONFIRMED After that frenetic activity we can now relax a little for the cruise, but we still have the task of tracking each VOR. We should now be approaching LYDD. Without the benefit of DME how do we know when we have reached the VOR? The answer is simple as we approach the VOR the CDI will suddenly veer dramatically away from centre and fully deflect. This is the signal that we are crossing the VOR and are ready to tune to the next VOR of the course. When this happens, tune Boulogne VOR and re-centre the CDI to establish a direct course using the techniques that we have already discussed. Continue to do this as you pass each VOR of the journey. All the required frequencies are listed with the flight plan above. In the real aircraft we would have the services of a navigator, but we have the next best thing. If you wish to double check your position, select the Flight Simulator map option and the aircraft position will be displayed, rather akin to a navigation plot by a skilled navigator! If you wish to be really professional, you can tune another VOR onto NAV2 and find the direct course. If you were then to plot on a map the intersection of the radial of the route VOR and the radial of the secondary VOR, you will have triangulated your exact position without use of DME where both radials meet!

Descent and landing

At the BASLE VOR it is time to start our descent. Reduce the throttle to around 25%, allowing the speed to decrease to approximately 190 MPH. Adjust the pitch controller of the autopilot to start a descent towards 6,000ft, which is our target altitude as we turn east towards the Trasadingen VOR. We are turning east to line ourselves up for the final approach into Zurich. You will have to carefully monitor your rate of descent to avoid the high ground that crosses the path of the aircraft.

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At Trasadingen VOR, using the heading mode of the autopilot, turn south on a course of 180 degrees. We are now on a track to intercept the runway centreline. Tune NAV1 to 108.30. You have now tuned the ILS for runway 14 at Zurich. Continue your descent to 3,000ft. The ILS utilises the CDI in exactly the same manner as a VOR. Tune a course of 136 degrees on the course knob. This is the course we wish to follow to align with the runway. As the CDI needle moves towards the centre, disengage the autopilot and turn left to centre the CDI. You should see the airport and the runway at about 40 degrees to your left as you begin the turn to line up on the final approach course. Keep the CDI centred, as this is now giving us the direct course to the runway centreline. The horizontal bar of the gauge should now be active. This is the glideslope. If the bar is above the centre position you are below the glideslope to the runway and should wait for the glideslope indicator to move down to centre. If the bar is below the centre line you are too high and should descend. Slow to 160 MPH and deploy the first notch of flaps. Now deploy the landing gear and open the cowl flaps. FLAPS DEPLOYED LANDING GEAR DOWN COWL FLAPS OPEN The aim is to keep both the vertical and horizontal bars centred. This will ensure that you are on both the appropriate descent path for the airport and aligned with the runway. You can expect to be descending at around 700ft per minute. As the runway environment comes into sight, deploy the final stage of flaps and reduce the speed to 110 MPH, our final landing speed. Continue to monitor the instruments carefully but also use the view from the window as a visual check of the final approach course. At 50ft above the runway, gentle reduce the throttle to idle and raise the nose a couple of degrees for the flare. Only raise the nose slightly to avoid any risk of floating along the runway. As the main gear connects with the runway gently lower the nose wheel to the ground and apply braking. Use the reversers as necessary to slow the aircraft to 10kts in preparation for runway departure. Once clear of the runway, raise the flaps and stow the reversers and taxi in to a parking space of your choice at the terminal. We can confirm the Taxi checkist. FLAPS UP COWL FLAPS OPEN REVERSERS STOWED

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At the gate you should shut down the engines by closing both the throttle and mixture levers to idle/cutoff. We can now go ahead and perform the final checklist to shut down the aircraft. PARKING BRAKE SET THROTTLE IDLE AUTOPILOT OFF MASTER AVIONICS SWITCH OFF NAVIGATION LIGHTS OFF FUEL FLOW/ MIXTURE CUTOFF MAGNETOS OFF BEACON OFF INVERTERS OFF PANEL LIGHTING OFF COWL FLAPS CLOSE GENERATOR SWITCHES OFF BATTERY SWITCH OFF Welcome to Zurich, and congratulations on both operating the amazing Lockheed Constellation and navigating by hand across Europe! If you wish to continue the flight to Sydney, the actual BOAC timetable is detailed below.

Airport
London Zurich Beirut Beirut Karachi Calcutta Singapore Singapore Jakarta Darwin Sydney

Arrive
1200 2130 2030 0530 1545 1030 2000 0700 Day 5

Depart
0930 Day 1 1300 NIGHT STOP 0945 Day 2 2300 0645 Day 3 NIGHT STOP 0800 Day 4 1130 2245

COPYRIGHT
2009 Aeroplane Heaven, Just Flight Limited. All rights reserved. Just Flight and the Just Flight logo are trademarks of Just Flight Limited, 2 Stonehill, Stukeley Meadows, Huntingdon, PE29 6ED, UK. All trademarks and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners and their use herein does not imply any association or endorsement by any third party.

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CREDITS
Developer Aeroplane Heaven London to Zurich Tutorial Flight Jane-Rachel Whittaker Project Management Alex Ford Production Management Andy Payne, Dermot Stapleton Installer Richard Slater PR Scott Phillips Support Richard Slater, Simon Martin, Martyn Northall, Matt West-Robinson Design Fink Creative Manufacturing The Producers Manual Editing Mark Embleton Additional screenshots Dan Fowler & Richard Slater Sales James, Andy H, Harley and Mark

SOFTWARE PIRACY
This software is copy protected to prevent illegal copying. We at Just Flight have invested significant time, effort and money to develop, manufacture and publish all of our flight simulation products. This includes rewarding the programmers and artists whose creativity contributes so much to the products we all enjoy. A pirate, otherwise known as a thief, makes a profit from the sale of other peoples hard work. In some cases he makes more profit than the publishers and developers make from the sale of an original title. Piracy is not just the domain of the casual domestic user in his or her back room, but it is also a multi-million pound business conducted by criminals often with associations with the illegal drugs trade. Buying or downloading pirated copies of programs directly support these illegal operations. Dont be fooled by a load of old tosh about file sharing. The sites that host these shared files are multi-million dollar operations that cover their backsides with the excuse that they are simply a gateway to the files. In fact, they actively encourage piracy and are often funded by advertising. Most of them are illegal money-laundering operations by another name. The people who really suffer from game piracy are the artists, programmers and other committed game development staff. Piracy and theft directly affects people, and their families. Loss of revenue to the games industry through piracy means many are losing their jobs due to cut-backs that have to be made to ensure developers and publishers survive. The logical outcome of this is that eventually the supply of flight simulation programs will dry up because developers think it is not worth the hassle. It's not just copying software that is against the law, owning copied software also constitutes a criminal offence; so anyone buying or downloading from these people is also at risk of arrest and prosecution. To find out more about the implications of piracy please click on the Piracy link on our website at www.justflight.com.

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