Shared Cockpit

wdhurley
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Shared Cockpit

Post by wdhurley »

Keith, has their been any progress in the shared cockpit issue? I talked with a few of the Digital Theme Park members last night who are very interested in PE but are understandably nervous about ATC. They are all very good "sim pilots" but have no experience with ATC. One mentioned the shared cockpit idea, and I had already read that as of now it is not supported. I think it would be a great resource of new pilots if we could tap into that.
Keith Smith
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Keith Smith »

It is planned but hasn't been started.

They should check out the pilot training program, http://training.pilotedge.net

Each flight has all the material required to fly successfully, including atc transcripts.

we are also working on cockpit video/audio for each flight.

For now, the 'first flight' video is a start.
Keith Smith
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Keith Smith »

And now it's done. I'll be announcing soon.
bruce
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by bruce »

Keith Smith wrote:And now it's done. I'll be announcing soon.
I think this is going to be of interest to a few people I know who may be nervous of going it alone or just want a bit of a confidence booster.

The question is, how soon is soon?
Keith Smith
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Keith Smith »

Now'ish...

1. set up your shared cockpit connection X-Plane (using the SmartCoPilot plugin) or FSX
2. 1st pilot should connect to PilotEdge with standard callsign, eg. N123AB
3. 2nd pilot should connect to PilotEdge with same callsign, but with a @ suffix, eg. N123AB@

Nobody will physically see N123AB@ (on the scope or out the window). N123AB@ will not be able to see N123AB sitting on top of them (that's a good thing).

Neither pilot will hear each other on the radio (by design), but they'll hear everything else. Either party can talk on the radio.

Edit: It's assumed that you'll be using a VOIP system such as Skype or Teamspeak to communicate with each other in real time throughout the flight, so you'll hear the other guy's calls on Skype or Teamspeak. That's why I suppress the audio from the other guy's calls, otherwise you'd hear it twice, once through your virtual intercom (skype/ts3) and then again through the PE radio.

I have no idea how FSX shared cockpit works, so feedback would be appreciated on the result for those that can try it out.
Marcus Becker
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Marcus Becker »

Just did a shared cockpit session with Harold R. using FSX and the default L45. Worked magnificently. Not being able to hear the transmissions from my copilot was solved by setting up our TeamSpeak to simply transmit with voice activation. It worked well enough. What a blast it was!

The way we set it up was to create a multiplayer session via a direct connect method and get both parties connected. We then opened the PE client and connected as Keith described above. Worked the first time without issue.
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Keith Smith
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Keith Smith »

Marcus, that's great to hear. it is assumed that you are talking on an open channel to the co pilot. if you are using ptt to talk to copilot, then you should add a second ptt to teamspeak using the same button that you use for PilotEdge.
Marcus Becker
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Marcus Becker »

We found it easiest to use voice activation in teamspeak. It worked quite well. FSX has a built in voice use but I didn't set it up properly. Maybe I will try again another time.
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Kim Ellis
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Kim Ellis »

Marcus, if you ever try it with a non-MS aircraft, specifically any PMDG aircraft, or hear of anyone trying it with a PMDG plane, I would greatly appreciate hearing the result.
Marcus Becker
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Re: Shared Cockpit

Post by Marcus Becker »

Kim, I tried the PMDG 747 and almost nothing crossed over. The only thing I could find that did work was the radios and flight controls. Light switches, flaps, CDU inputs, FMS, APU, all didn't work. I would say that particular aircraft is a no go for shared cockpits which is a shame. I'll keep trying out other aircraft I have to see how they sync up.
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