Jeppesen SimCharts v4

Transcription

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AVSIM Commercial Utility Review
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Product Information
Publisher: Jeppesen
Description: Airport diagrams, approaches, SIDs, and STARs for the entire world.
file:///E|/AVSIM/Reviews/Jeppeson/Jeppesen.htm (1 of 16)24/12/2007 3:38:39 PM
Download Size:
N/A
Format:
Internet based subscription service
Simulation Type:
FSX
Reviewed by: Zane R. Gard, Jr AVSIM Senior Staff Reviewer - December 24, 2007
Introduction
Jeppesen is a name long known in aviation circles. Ever since the early 1930’s when Elroy Borge Jeppesen started making his
own charts for his personal use, every pilot that saw them wanted to use them. At the time, Jeppesen was a pilot for Varney
airlines which later became United. Elroy Jeppesen recognized an opportunity when he saw it and started selling his book of
charts for $10 and pilots starting making their own contributions so his collection grew. In the late 1930’s Jeppesen stopped
flying for United as a captain and focused on his chart business which had now become a full time business.
The government prints their own IFR charts through the NOS and if you are a military trained pilot, you were trained with and
fly with these NOS charts. If you fly for a commercial airline or charter service you will most likely get your training on and use
the Jeppesen product. In years past the differences were more apparent between the two. Jeppesen charts were more
consistent from region to region so once you learned their language you could look at any chart and recognize the pertinent
data without difficulty.
Jeppesen charts were printed on better quality paper that was thicker and whiter, they had larger graphics and they were
loose leaf so you could arrange a trip pack with just your pertinent charts rather than flipping through the entire NOS booklet.
In the past ten years the NOS charts have started using a whiter recycled paper and now offers loose leaf charts in addition to
the booklets. One advantage of NOS charts nowadays is that since they are government issue, you can access them for free
over the internet. Jeppesen is a private company so you pay for what you use. The arguments between using these two
products continues and really depends on what you were trained on and your own personal preference for appearance.
Jeppesen and Microsoft have had a relationship since FS2000, with Jeppesen supplying the data used for placing navigation
data and airport information as well as displaying this information in MSFS’s GPS. There were a small sample of Jeppesen
approach charts included on the FS2000 CD which could be used in conjunction with some of the included flights. Jeppesen
also introduced the original SimCharts program which was designed to be used in conjunction with FS2000 and was reviewed
by Doug Horton for AVSIM at the time.
In the release version of FS2002, they started including a little demo applet that would display an approach chart for a limited
number of airports on top of the FS2002 display that would track your flightpath for comparison purposes. The idea was if you
really liked this applet, you would purchase the full version on CD which would open up a full region and, depending on how
much you wanted to spend, you could purchase charts for the entire US.
With each subsequent version of MSFS, Jeppesen has updated its Simcharts product to correlate with the data within the
related version of MSFS. The good news was this product would accurately correspond to the GPS data and navigation data
within MSFS. The bad news was that it was only good for in-game use with the specific version of MSFS that it was designed
for and if you updated your GPS data or added sceneries with updated airport data, you were stuck with the time era charts
Simcharts shipped with.
The current version is version 4 and it departs from the earlier version in two ways. It is no longer offered in region specific
packages. The last version, V3 for FS2004, was available in one or three region packages and to cover the entire world you
would need to purchase all three region CD’s which was expensive.
It is now an internet based subscription service so you have to be connected to the internet to use it. This is a very effective
way to cut down on the piracy issue so you can’t let your “friends” use your purchased copy. The original press release and
first few months of sales had this subscription on an annual basis. Jeppesen did change that to a one time fee for as long as
you wanted to use it in FSX, which was a good move since the data is static and not updated. The other difference from earlier
versions is the subscription service covers the entire world.
Now for roughly the cost of one 3 region CD you can have worldwide coverage which is a welcome change. Part of the fun of
MSFS if being able to fly basically anything, anywhere, anytime.
Installation and Documentation
You make your purchase of Jeppesen Simcharts v4.0 over the internet on Jeppesen’s
website which will then direct you to where to download your product from. You will
also need to create a logon and password for Jeppesen which you will use when you
register your purchase.
Once installed you have the ability to open Simcharts as a freestanding program and
review charts or if you are flying in FSX, you will notice a new menu selection for
Jeppesen Simcharts which will open a window which will sit on top of your FSX display
and operates the same way as the standalone application.
The first time you open Jeppesen SimCharts within FSX you will get the security
warning we have all learned to love and use, just press “run” and then designate
“simcharts.exe” as trusted software. If you are opening this program for the first time
within FSX, you will also be greeted by the request for your username and password to
verify you are who you are.
The graphic user interface (GUI) is very intuitive and easy to follow and a few minutes
of clicking your way around, you have a very good feel for using the program. If you
are using a second (or third) monitor, you have the ability to drag and drop this
window over to that other monitor freeing up your main view window.
Test System
Athlon FX 50
Asus A8N SLI Premium
2GB DDR3200
Windows XP Pro
ATI Radeon x800GTO 256MB
overclocked 580/610
21” Sony Trinitron 1600x1200x32
14” Compaq V410 1028x768x32
Soundblaster Audigy
Track IR4 Pro
PFC Cirrus II Cat II hardware
Flying Time:
25 hours
Using Jeppesen Simcharts
I already stated that I found the GUI very intuitive and easy to use. You can click on an icon to open, rotate views, even split
the view of approach charts. You can drag and click across a portion of the chart to zoom in on a specific area and then right
click and reset the zoom. If you prefer, you can use the right click menu box to make all your changes. Since a picture says a
thousand words I’ll show you…
High Quality mode
Right click then toggle mode
High quality mode off
Selecting split view
Left click on chart to show
graphic only
Resize to optimize view
Left click and drag to select
area to zoom
Zoomed view
Right click and select reset
zoom
Opening an airspace overview
LAX class B airspace
Selecting take off minimums
Take off mins for LAX
Selecting a parking bay
overview
…and the parking coordinates
Your basic filtering menu
Advanced filter settings menu
…for airports
…and approaches
…and the lower portion of
filter selections
SimCharts in Action
I am in the process of studying for my IFR exam. I know, I’ve been licensed for over twenty years and when I first got my
license I thought, I won’t need an IFR license. The majority of my flying in the 80’s was more like today’s sport pilot privileges
in a two-seat day VFR aircraft in San Diego where you can count the IFR days/year on one hand.
Now living in Portland, Oregon it seems the ratio is almost reversed! You cherish a good VFR day and many of the times that I
can find to go flying, the weather is not cooperating. I signed up for American Flyers I-Pass IFR online ground school and in
addition purchased a wonderful set of FS9/FSX designed adventures that American Flyers calls their IFR refresher courseware.
It is a rather expensive set of courseware, so if you are a simmer you’re gonna freak at the price.
For a real pilot, it represents the cost of three to four hours of air work with an instructor by your side but gives over 11 hours
of simulated instruction and the ability to fly them again and again and again… a relative value in my book.
I’m going to take you along on three types of approaches which will cover using SimCharts for reality type flying in real IFR
weather with winds and low visibility. We’ll do a GPS non-precision approach, a VFR non-precision approach and finally a full
ILS all flown by hand, not with the autopilot, and tracked on the SimCharts.
Ready to go at Paris, TX with airport diagram displayed
Inbound OWECU intersection, SimChart display shows
mileage when off chart
Almost to initial approach fix (IAF) seen on SimChart and GPS
About to turn at OWECU and see blue tracking line on
SimChart
Lined up on approach path and holding at 2,000 till EGANY
intersection
Still lined up and descending hoping to see runway prior to
900’ decision height
3 miles out and no runway in sight
Aah… there it is and 200’ to go
Short final and all looks good
Slow to flare and we’ve done it
FSX Flight Analysis give altitude information to compare with
ground track
Notice in last shot how aircraft icon is red when disconnected
from FSX flight
For the VOR non-precision we’ll fly the Hubbard Five departure
This will be a DME arc approach so we’ll start our turn a half
mile from 10 DME
Established on 10 DME arc, now tune the VOR radial down 10 degrees and wait for the needle to center, then turn 10
degrees and repeat procedure till intercept
Intercepting 350 radial for PRX
Verify weather while maintaining airspeed, altitude and
tracking
At station crossing we can start descent to 880’ decision
height
Outbound now and are those runway lights out there?
Whew… yeah, they are and not a moment too soon
Flare and not bad for my first ever hand flown DME arc…
really!
FSX Flight Analysis shows good altitude control and SimCharts now showing airport diagram so we know where to taxi.
We’re given the DUMPY Two arrival into KADS Dallas for ILS runway 33, I use the GPS to identify DUMPY and fly direct to.
We’re 42 miles out so I’ll keep up our cruise speed
…and it really is ugly out there, but you can see the ground ;)
North Up on the GPS gives a better comparison to STAR chart
Did I already say it wasn’t a good VFR day?
I use VOR2 to stay on the 120 radial for CVE while we wait to intercept the ILS, and you notice I slowed now to 90 KIAS, also
notice ADF needle as we cross JUG
Still too far out for glide slope signal but we have a signal
from the ILS
Now the GS is alive and you can see the tip of the green icon
on the chart
I don’t think we’ll be canceling IFR today for the visual
GPS tells us we will start intercept soon, nice tool to have
North Up view on GPS compares will with chart
Now we’ve got a live needle and about to start turn to
intercept
We should intercept the GS at PORTR
Would you want to be here without radios and GPS?
We’re at PORTR and GS is alive
All needles centered and a steady speed and descent
Still no visual on the runway and yes we’re getting close
Now we can just make out the runway end lights
In these two shots we are still above minimums, yes you can see the runway but also notice how close to the ground and
surroundings
Here we are at minimums, would you really continue without
sighting the runway?
A little to the left, that’s a crosswind for you
…and slowing down on centerline… whew!
Summary / Closing Remarks
I personally like this product and found it very easy to use. Is it for everybody? I don’t think so. The argument will rise that
you can download all the NOS charts for free and print them out using them on a kneeboard or stuck up next to the computer
monitor. You can even view them in a second window on your monitor and I know simmers that view them inserting them into
the virtual kneeboard.
That won’t give you Jeppesen charts (snobbish smile crosses pilot’s face) and it won’t give you a tracking line to follow or view
later. On the other hand, with this product you are stuck with FSX era charts with no plans to revise/update or allow user
made/downloaded charts. So if you are flying online and the area you are flying in is using a newer set of procedures, you’ll
probably get all uncomfortable as the controller wannabe on the other end scolds you for not being properly prepared.
Understand that I find this hang up with absolutely fresh current charts when the sim’s own navdata and airports are a static
snapshot in time is a little silly. I would love to see a future plan for user choice of updated current charts (expect a fee for
this) along with keeping use of the existing static charts for the one time fee.
The program I actually miss is Georges Lorsches Final Approach. If someone could find a way to combine the features of these
two programs, I think that would be an all around winner for all involved.
What I Like About Jeppesen SimCharts v4
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Worldwide coverage for FSX
Internet based application so no more CDs to get scratched, lost, broken
All approach charts pertinent to FSX’s navdata are included
Airport parking, overview, even briefing and docking information included for large
airports
Airspace charts included where appropriate
More types of approach charts than you will probably ever use
Tracking for approach charts lets user see how well they are doing, or did if they
review later.
Arrival and Departure charts for larger airports including engine out procedures
Noise abatement charts included
Ability to make list of favorites so your chart is easier to find
Ability to print any of the charts for kneeboard use
Internet based help system that is very comprehensive and user friendly
Can be used with or without FSX installed
User friendly re-install process if you move to another computer
What I Don't Like About Jeppesen SimCharts v4
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Have to be connected to the internet to use, no option for offsite use
No quick key assignment so you can’t quickly display/hide the chart while on the fly
Can only be used in windowed mode so no full screen compatibility
Static FSX era navdata only, no provision for updates, user modified or downloaded
charts
Printing
If you wish to print this review or read it offline at your leisure, right click on the link below,
and select "save as"
(adobe acrobat required)
Comments?
Standard Disclaimer
The review above is a subjective assessment of the product by the author. There is no connection between
the producer and the reviewer, and we feel this review is unbiased and truly reflects the performance of
the product in the simming environment. This disclaimer is posted here in order to provide you with
background information on the reviewer and any connections that may exist between him/her and the
contributing party.
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Jeppesen SimCharts v4

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