Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted with the Space Shuttle Simulator
From X-Plane Wiki
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Basic Flight Controls
In Space Shuttle’s Launch mission, the Orbiter’s computers control everything, so there are no flight controls available. The controls described in this section apply to the other missions only.
Upon re-entering the atmosphere, the Shuttle has no fuel left in its tanks (it was all used up on the trip to orbit). At this point, the craft is no more than a large, heavy glider. For this reason, there is no throttle control of any kind. The user can modify the craft’s speed by either pushing the nose down (to speed up) or up (to slow down), or by using the speedbrake.
The speedbrake control is found in the upper right corner of the screen. To use it, tap on the slider and drag it to the desired position. When the control is at the top of its range of motion, it is fully disengaged. When it is at the bottom of its range of motion, the speedbrake is at full.
Note that when dragging the scroll bar controls, the box with writing on it (in this case, SBRK) shows where the user has commanded the control to be, while the other box shows where the setting is at the moment. If the user commands a quick, large movement of the controls, it will take the aircraft a second or two to meet that command.
The button on the bottom left toggles the wheel brakes on or off. When it is lit up, the brakes are on, and when it is off, the brakes are off. The button to the right of the brakes controls the landing gear. When this button is lit, the gear is down, and when it is unlit, the gear is up.
To steer the Shuttle left, tilt the device left. To steer it right, tilt right. This movement—when the wings dip down or rise up while the fuselage (the main body of the aircraft) stays pointed in the same direction—is referred to as roll. To pull the airplane’s nose up, tilt the device back toward you. To push its nose down, tilt the device down away from you. This movement—when the wings remain at the same attitude, but the fuselage moves—is called pitch.
Note: When your shuttle crashes, go into the settings menu and select a new mission segment. This will reset the Shuttle after the crash, giving you a brand new one to fly again.
Using the Menu and View Options
Tapping the center of the screen will cause the various menu icons to appear at the top. The available menu options are numbered with regard to the image at the top of the next column.
1. This menu option selects the default cockpit view, which is out the windshield with the head-up display (HUD). In this view, the ticking tape on the left side of the screen displays the craft’s airspeed in knots. Note that without any air (such as in orbit), this will display zero, even though the shuttle might be moving at more than 17,000 MPH. The ticking tape on the right side displays the craft’s altitude in feet above mean sea level.
In the center of the HUD screen is a horizontal bar indicating the aircraft’s pitch and roll attitude, and surrounding that bar are lines marking degrees of pitch—for instance, if the aircraft were angled up at a pitch of 20 degrees with its wings level, the bar representing the craft would be even with the “20” mark in the center of the screen.
Finally, the aircraft’s velocity relative to the speed of sound is shown directly beneath the ticking tape on the left. For example, when this reads 1.25, the craft is traveling at 1.25 times the speed of sound (Mach’s number).
2. This menu option selects the external view. Hit that, then drag your finger around on the screen to adjust the viewing angle. To zoom out, put two fingers down far apart on the screen and drag them closer together. To zoom in, put two fingers on the screen close together and drag them apart. This is a nice way of controlling the view that is just not possible with a mouse pointer, since the simulator takes input from both fingers at once.
3. This is the spot view. Selecting this will give the user a stationary view to watch from as the aircraft flies by.
4. This menu option selects the linear spot view, where the camera takes a constant-speed trajectory to match the airplane's flight path. This is like the view of a pilot with whom the user is flying formation if that pilot were to turn around and look at the user’s airplane.
5. This menu option opens the Settings menu, discussed in The Settings Menu below.
6. This button pauses the simulation.
7. Selecting this menu options displays the aircraft instrument panel view. Here, the user can see the Shuttle’s EFIS, with an indicated heading and attitude needed for the craft. Additionally, found at the bottom of the screen are commands from the simulator to help get the Shuttle on track. This view is described more in Chapter 4.
8. Hitting this button will cause X-Plane to display the aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft. These are only visible when using an external view (i.e., the second, third, or fourth view options). These are a visual representation of the forces that X-Plane is calculating for each piece of the airplane. When in an external view, try maneuvering the Shuttle around a good bit to see the little green bars move in real time. Just as in real life, it is these forces that act on the mass of the plane to accelerate it and move it through time and space—just as Newton predicted over three hundred years ago.
The Settings Menu
Selecting the fifth menu option from the left (illustrated with a slider control highlighed in the image below) will open the Settings menu.
Mission
Here, the user can choose to perform a launch, final approach, full approach, or complete re-entry. After selecting the desired portion of the Shuttle’s flight, tap the Go! button to begin. This tab is discussed further in Chapter 3.
The Mission tab is also where you can reset a flight after a crash. Upon crashing, open the settings menu, which will come to the Mission tab by default. Tap one of the mission segment buttons to “fix” your virtual Shuttle and start a new flight.
Region
This screen displays a map with the Shuttle’s position depicted on it.
Plane
The only aircraft available in this application is the Space Shuttle.
Weight
The Weight menu is interesting. Here, the user can move the center of gravity forward to give the craft greater stability, or aft to make it more maneuverable. Additionally, the weight of the Shuttle can be adjusted using the slider—just tap it and drag.
Time
The Time tab of the Settings window allows the user to set one of four times of day, and thus four corresponding levels of daylight.
Sky
The Sky tab is used to set one of five cloud conditions, as well as to change the cloud base height and the visibility. To move a slider, simply tap and drag it.
Wxr
The Wxr tab allows the user to set the weather. It has three sliders (moved just like in the Sky tab) which are used to change the wind speed, turbulence, and wave height. Additionally, the round button is used to set wind direction. To move this, tap near the edge of the circle and drag your finger. Wherever your finger releases is where the wind will come from.
Set
The Set menu allows the user to change the phone or iPod’s “control calibration.” Just hold the device at the desired angle and tap the Set current phone pitch and roll as center button to make the current attitude of the phone or iPod the point for which elevator input is zero. This lets the user fly with the phone in his or her lap when sitting or standing, or held vertical when lying down—kind of convenient!
Updating Space Shuttle
The easiest way to update the mobile X-Plane applications is to go to the App Store (found on the device's "home page") and tap Updates down at the bottom of the screen. There, simply select Update All (as marked in the image below). The device will prompt for the username and password which were used to purchase the applications, then it will automatically download the updates.
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