Any chance of a "communication log"

[gonzman]

Using my desktop speakers, as my headphones are melting my ears off in this warm Australian summer.

I often can't hear what the other members of the flight say, or Betty, over the roar of the engines.

Would it be possible to get a knee pad type thing with these voices written out so we can refer to them later or catch something we missed?

Thanks!

[MarcE]

I second this.

Last night I wanted to do a flight from St Maarten to Jacksonville. Climbing through 16-17000 feet just over the Virgin Islands Betty came in and said something like we had a problem, everyone was comfortable and I did't really know what she ment. shortly after that I (as the captain) told the passengers to keep calm and follow the instructions of the stewardess. nothing else I believe. But I hadn't understood everything as I have to listen against the engine sound, being german and having learnt english at school I diverted to San Juan and on the ground the Captain apologized for the problem and thanked for the patience. I still have no glue what actually happened.

The recordings are great, no discussion. The real language module is amazing, just compare it to several ATC addons.. but for us guys who are not natively english speaking it's really hard to make the right decisions when we're not fully aware of the situation. Please keep in mind: we can't ask Betty what's going on, we have to understand it on the first attempt. Additionally the FE doesn't care about a talking Betty or Betty won't care about ATC..

So a log or a repeat function would be great.

Greets,
Marc

[Medtner]

Maybe the Stewardess-button on the right side of the co-pilot can (as well as a shift-3 panel button) repeat the last message(s)?

The B-17 has a function like this, if I recall correctly.

[MarcE]

Maybe the Stewardess-button on the right side of the co-pilot can (as well as a shift-3 panel button) repeat the last message(s)?

The B-17 has a function like this, if I recall correctly.

it's not clickable - just tried it on the ground after some complaints, that the cabin was too hot, which was my intension for the moment...

Edit: you ment that as a suggestion, sry I understood it as "that's already done"

[Piper_EEWL]

Yes the B-17 has the function where you can repeat the last call made in the shift+3 menu. And the crew only repeats the important calls that are necessary for piloting the aircraft or decision making.

I don't have the Connie yet so I don't know what the noise levels compare to but I recognized that "issue" on the B377 before. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what's going on if you can't repeat the call or read it somewhere. Especially when caught by suprise which is usually the case with emergencies I guess And it wouldn't be unrealistic since in a real world situation I'm sure the captain would ask his crew if he (or she) didn't understand the call!?

So +1 for a repeat button or a communications log for the Connie and maybe the B377?

[gonzman]

I did some fiddling with the volume sliders in P3D, if you kinda turn everything else down low you can hear the crew, but that sort of defeats the point of having such rich and beautiful sounds.

[G-BJPS]

Good ideas chaps, every time I go to the toilet, or make a drink whilst on a flight, I worry I'm going to miss something! Especially if some of the situations are really rare as Scott says, it would be a shame to miss what Betty says about a passenger etc.

And yes, it would be great if it was possible to make the passenger sounds a little louder during decent and landing, so we can hear if a baby is crying better, and applause of course!

[gabrieldonate]

I second this idea.

[bobsk8]

I think on one or two other A2A aircraft I have, there is an audio volume adjust . Would be nice for one with the crew announcements. I am missing many of them.

[MatzeH84]

Same here. Today Betty came up and sais something about the cabin (I guess I had a VIP on board, but no sign of this in the log either..), but couldn't understand as she's rather low on volume.. so could have missed an important information.

[MarcE]

up

Lewis? Any comments? Or slaps?

[MarcE]

The thing is..

I haven't flown the Connie for weeks now and did another attempt tonight from Berlin to the south.

Well, reaching Stuttgart I had 10% of fuel left, around 118 gallons in each tank. (116,115,119,122gal exactly).

On approach with Flaps on first notch my FO or FE told me we were low on fuel and should land asap. 10% is a good 30-45 min reserve isn't it? whatever. during my -700ft/min decent the captain already had made an announcement that he apologized for the problems during flight (what problems??) and that he expected to continue the flight normally. and after landing he apologized again. I still don't know what problem I had, the flight was just perfect in my eyes. no major turbulence, fine weather, good hydraulic pressure, FE managing the FE panel and pressurization.

Then after shut down I got this notes on my Captains log:

You are a Captain
You know your airplane pretty well. (Thanks, actually not, obviously... lol)

You managed to land the plane safely (yeah, wasn't aware of any abnormalities... have there been any??)
You are a hero! (tadaaa tadaaa)


Nothing to complain about the Connie... But those failures on almost every single flight without any problems are.. well... distroying the immersion ^^ But hey, I am a hero, something like Sully..

Greets,
Marc


btw:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIIqBMR6mkM[/youtube]

[WB_FlashOver]

+1 for me as well.

I prefer 3-4 hour flights and sometimes 8-10 hour flights. That's a long time to sit in my 'most uncomfortable Captains chair'. As with a real pilot, I need to visit the little boys room often and make snacks and such if not just stretch my legs. Upon returning to the cockpit a real captain would be brought up to speed on everything that has happened in his absence. He would be able to ask for more details of specific events that have transpired as well.

A log file would be the best in my mind. As stated above, when the FE is talking to himself, ATC is giving instructions, engines are roaring, and Betty is informing you of an emergency or serving you a hot cup of Sanka, it all jumbos together into the sound of adults talking in the "Peanuts" shows.

As far as the unknown emergencies and apologizing, I've gotten that when fuel is low but have not yet determined the percentage level when this happens but I think it's around 15%. I did a 500nm flight the other day. When I started my decent I still had a range of 600nm. During the decent the captain apologized for the in-flight emergency, then again on taxi, then Betty apologized many times to the passengers as they exited the aircraft. I don't agree with apologizing to the passengers for this. There is no way that they would be informed of the level of fuel on-board before, during, or after a flight. All they need to know is that they had a great flight and made it safely.

Roger

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
The emergency low fuel , is triggered by the first tank reaching 10% , i had this happen at cruise going between KSEA/PANC , i was just over 1 hr from destination when it happened , i continued to my destination , and on shut down i checked the fuel left , the calc of fuel left ment i had exactly 45min res left , so this percentage that triggers this low fuel warning could in my opinion be dropped to 5%.
Since this warning , i have fuelled the aircraft to make sure no tank reachs 10% on any trip , unless i need full tanks for the trip , in which case i plan a diversion field , incase i hit high head winds , that might bring on this low fuel warning.
regards alan.

[maddz]

The problem for me is that all the communication with betty sound like she's talking inside a bean can...strange echo, and two words merge into 1 mamking it unaudiable.
Also when the FE talks to the captain, its over a headset, and the ''talking through a headset'' effect makes it sound strange. Like when you select ''Hall'' as an output to your speakers...sounds like talking in an empty echo-ey room.
A little audio log would save messing with sound files.

..think its a simple task to add such, but not having heard all the sounds, complaints, ect, how could it be done without having access to the audio files...i dont know how many there are.\

We need a gauge, say, to display a string of text inside a small communication log window - when that paticular sound is played.

In order to display the right text, you'd need to know what trigger's that sound.

I was going to attemp something like this, but its just brick wall after brick wall, cant open or read nothing to do the audio side of things. I think it's a job for A2A, who has the software to open the file extensions.