Is there a way to practice partial panel IFR in the Cherokee

[Cherokee180owner]

Is there a way to turn off/block some of the primary instruments in order to practice partial panel IFR?

[AKar]

I don't think there is atm. I wonder if texture gurus here could figure out something such as non-transparent gauge glasses.

One thing on my official wishlist one day when viable would be an addition of a failure customization editor for at least the P3D lineup, perhaps as an additional product that would cover the fleet.

-Esa

[Nick - A2A]

Although it's not possible to 'cover' instruments, you can still use the default FSX failures menu to fail them. (I assume this is much the same in P3D.) You can either fail individual instruments or the whole gyro system for example. As far as I can see, in spite of the custom Accu-Sim coding, these failures still work (or, er, don't work as it were ).

System dependency also seems pretty authentic. If you fail the turn coordinator, the custom A2A rate-based autopilot will no longer function properly and you'll tend to end up at a rather alarming bank angle if you try to use it for turns! (Same goes for the KAP 140 in the Cessnas.) This is not the case for the 'relaxed realism' default MS autopilot which carries-on working fine regardless...

Cheers,
Nick

[AKar]

Ah good to know - I haven't even tried the default failures as they were recommended against, but good to know that these work.

-Esa

[Nick - A2A]

Yes - it's not a part of FSX I tend to use much either to be honest. Although failing the instruments seems to work fine (you can merrily fail as many as you like, or use the random component failures feature), I guess it wouldn't be advisable to use the default FSX failures for engines, flaps and so on as they're already taken care of by Accu-Sim.

I certainly agree that selectable Accu-Sim failures (such as being able to deliberately block the static port) would be good in future. But not just for P3D please!

Cheers,
Nick

[chaders]

What we need are virtual post-it notes I always kept a pack handy when instructing.

[Lewis - A2A]

Using a custom texture a re-painter could have a custom cockpit to blank out gauges via painting them black for example would be a workaround for this.

thanks,
Lewis

[Illi73]

Using a custom texture a re-painter could have a custom cockpit to blank out gauges via painting them black for example would be a workaround for this.

thanks,
Lewis

That's a good tip, Lewis. I accidentally messed this up once when doing a custom paint for myself. All of my gauges were 'empty'.

Another thing that might work for you (assuming you don't use IRView and don't want to look around in the cockpit all the time) is covering the gauges by an another 'view window'. You can e.g. zoom in to a dark spot on your plane, or seats, etc. so it doesn't contain too much of distracting graphics. Of course, if you move your camera view, then you also reveal (and hide) different areas.

[Scott - A2A]

With more aircraft moving into flight schools, it may be inevitable we implement a system like this. This is another example of how commercial demands help home users and vice versa.

Scott.

[William Hughes]

It would be very nice to have a realistic failure for a vacuum pump - the way it droops slowly to three inches, jumps back up to six, holds for a few hours, and then flops around a bit, before giving up altogether and slumping to zero, with a few once inch twitches before the very end.

It would be very nice to get a realistic failure of the AI, in that it slowly indicates a turn, rather than suddenly freezing.

I really use my flight sim to practice IFR approaches and it really helps a lot. Partial panel too. I actually stuck sticky notes to my monitor though...