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Hello,

The co-pilot on the Connie has always been inconsistent with his voice callouts on my P3D installation. Sometimes he will perform perfectly, whilst other times he will fail to call out flap settings, gear up or down, and will often only intermittently call out altitudes on landing finals. When he does everything correctly it's absolutely nifty, but the callouts are just too unreliable to be enjoyable for me personally. I expect the co-pilot to verify a flap position but I simply can't count on him every time and it's get annoying.

I'm not sure if the problem lies with my own personal installation of the Connie or if this is a known limitation and/or bug with the Connie, but what I would really like to do is completely disable callouts from the co-pilot and avoid the problem altogether. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Thank you.

Hello,

it could be to do with the loading of the flight. Are you loading a little differently when he fails to note things, can can you say what is missing?

thanks,
Lewis

Lewis - A2A wrote:Hello,

it could be to do with the loading of the flight. Are you loading a little differently when he fails to note things, can can you say what is missing?

thanks,
Lewis

Hi Lewis,

The copilot mostly flubs the flap setting call-outs when things go awry. For example, he will miss the "flaps 1 notch down" call initially, sometimes not report "gear down" or "gear up", and other times additionally only make intermittent altitude call-outs at or after the 500ft point on landing final.

You may be on to something I've never considered, however. I've saved a flight after a normal engine shutdown to cold and dark, and then I've been loading that saved flight during subsequent simming sessions. The Connie voice call-out logic may not be 'resetting' itself properly under this circumstance. I will fly a series today starting with a freshly loaded aircraft and report back. I would be so uber-cool if this has been my problem all along.

Thank you.

Lewis - A2A wrote:Hello,

it could be to do with the loading of the flight. Are you loading a little differently when he fails to note things, can can you say what is missing?

thanks,
Lewis

Unfortunately, the loading of the flight wasn't the problem. I started P3D with a default LM aircraft, then manually loaded the Connie in an Accusim preset cold and dark condition. Normal manual start-up, taxi out, flaps set for takeoff (copilot made "takeoff flaps" call-out correctly). Release brakes after setting power to 32 inches, power up to 46 inches for takeoff, co-pilot then immediately misses "we're rolling" call-out, which is always an indication that he will be unreliable for the rest of the flight now. Oh well. It would be nice to just disable the co-pilot he so didn't talk at all (every pilot's dream in real-life, lol). Thanks again, Lewis.

Hobart,

I've never experienced missed calls, and this makes me think something may be over taxing the system that causes this to miss. If frame rates drop below 20, for example, this can happen.

Scott.

Hello Hobart,
I have noticed this in the Connie since day one. I have also noticed it in the B-17 in FSX. There seem to be predetermined minimums that one must achieve in order for the co-pilot to be triggered correctly. Like you, I find that he misses other calls if the "We're Rolling" call out minimums are not met. I have found that a minimum of 37+" before brake release is necessary to get the co-pilot in action. Flaps call out can be missed as well if I drop 1st stage at too high of a speed. It seems to work best to get down around 160 IAS or slower, sometimes, but this is not consistent.

Best option is to play with things by altering your procedures to find what works best. In the B-17 I had them all figured out but have hardly flown the old girl since the Connie was released and I have forgotten some of the minimums that need to be met with it.

Another thing I have noticed is that if another Accu-Sim voiced callout is being made at the same time, or already playing, one of them will be de-regarded and only one is voiced. However, sometimes the second one will be queued and voiced as soon as possible.

Roger

WB_FlashOver wrote:Hello Hobart,
I have noticed this in the Connie since day one. I have also noticed it in the B-17 in FSX. There seem to be predetermined minimums that one must achieve in order for the co-pilot to be triggered correctly. Like you, I find that he misses other calls if the "We're Rolling" call out minimums are not met. I have found that a minimum of 37+" before brake release is necessary to get the co-pilot in action. Flaps call out can be missed as well if I drop 1st stage at too high of a speed. It seems to work best to get down around 160 IAS or slower, sometimes, but this is not consistent.

Best option is to play with things by altering your procedures to find what works best. In the B-17 I had them all figured out but have hardly flown the old girl since the Connie was released and I have forgotten some of the minimums that need to be met with it.

Another thing I have noticed is that if another Accu-Sim voiced callout is being made at the same time, or already playing, one of them will be de-regarded and only one is voiced. However, sometimes the second one will be queued and voiced as soon as possible.

Roger

AHA!!!!!!!! Roger, you hit the nail on the head exactly here. I tested the Connie thoroughly after reading your message, and indeed, Accusim has a definite 'window' it expects a virtual flight to be in before certain call outs will play. You are brilliant in figuring this out. Your 37+" takeoff power setting observation is absolutely correct - the "We're rolling" callout will simply not play if takeoff roll is initiated at a lower power setting. Also, I can confirm that the "flaps one notch" call out on landing approach will not play unless the aircraft is at a certain altitude parameter (2000 ft agl or lower???). And you are also correct about the altitude call outs on landing approach getting 'stepped on' by flaps call outs or vice versa.

Man, this stuff has bugged me from day one since the Connie was released, and at least now I can develop a work around to stay in the 'window' during the times certain call outs should happen. Roger, you are also right about the same phenomenon happening with the Accusim B-17 - I too remember having the same problem with it. Perhaps A2A might consider making an addendum to their product FAQs to reflect on this Accusim characteristic with both of these products as it might perhaps prevent a lot of frustration with both present and future A2A customers.

Thank you again, Roger! I'm personally recommending you for some kind of award.

Scott - A2A wrote:Hobart,

I've never experienced missed calls, and this makes me think something may be over taxing the system that causes this to miss. If frame rates drop below 20, for example, this can happen.

Scott.

Hi Scott. Roger figured out exactly what's been going on (I am recommending him for promotion, btw). All is well again in my virtual flight world. Thanks!

I'm glad to help out. I believe you might be on to something on the flaps call out. It might just be altitude and not IAS that makes the difference. I'll pay attention to this on my next flights. It seems something is not getting triggered at times because he does not call out flaps positions. Today I was too fast at 175 KIAS (lol trying to beat an A321 to the ground) and he did call out the flaps but I was under 2000 AGL. I know that he has called them out at much higher AGL before though. Maybe it's a combination of the two?

This needs more research me thinks...

Cheers
Roger

wow amazing work Roger. We're getting ready to roll out some GPS updates and I will re-visit this prior to release.

Scott.