2T09 Installation

Day 28 - September 29th

I got a chance to fly the sim a little more today, but not on motion. I'm so busy going through the Test Guide results (QTG) that I really don't have any time for just 'playing.'

Later in the afternoon I took a quick clip of the sim being flown by the CAE test pilot with the motion turned on. Not too exciting, but you can see our sims 3 and 4 going like crazy in the background. I'll try to catch a better clip when the sim is dancing a little more than this.

Day 27 - September 28th

Over the weekend testing continued. CAE has a test pilot here who is running some of the QTG manually, which generally requires some pilot skill to accomplish.

I interrupted Henry, who is working on the visual alignment, for a few minutes and took a quick flight around the patch. The visual seems nice and the textures are quite impressive compared to what I'm used to. With the new, much more powerful IG computers the capacity to generate higher detail and support a more 3D environment is so much better. More buildings can be modeled around the airport scene, 3d trees and other components are available and terrain is much more detailed. Have a look . . .

The view from behind tha Captains seat

The view out the F/Os front window

The view from the F/Os side window

A look at LAX from the take-off position

Day 25 - September 26th

While having a look around the sim today I noticed that the shutters had been installed on the projectors. They have been incorporated by CAE to reduce the amount of light permitted through the projection lens during dusk and night scenes. When the instructor switches out of a daytime scene, or the simulated time of day is late enough, these shutters activate and close off most of the light coming from the projector. The picture is not affected, just the total amount of light available. This is done to help maintain clean blend zones. Blend zones are the areas where the picture from each projector overlap its neighbors.

Close-up of shutters installed on a projector

Day 24 - September 25th

Unfortunately, I was home sick today with a pretty bad case of food poisoning . . . or something. There's no photos today, but I'm told that Henry finished the visual geometry alignment and sent the resulting data to CAE so engineers there could evaluate it. Apparently, they can determine if there will be any significant distortion in the visual display based on the data Henry sent them.

We also managed to get the simulator a temporary connection to the internet so that CAE can open a VPN (Virtual Private Network) tunnel from their plant in Montreal. This connection allows the engineers back in Montreal to troubleshoot software and update the simulator remotely, rather than have to fly specialists out here to work on the sim to fix problems. Hooray for technology! Now, if only I could figure out how to do my job while sitting by my pool at home . . .

Day 23 - September 24th

Visual geometry alignments continued and we got a look at the PC-based alignment tool. The alignment seems to be quite involved, but this is just initial setup and it should be much easier after replacing just one projector or for minor touch-ups. We'll have to wait until we work with it a bit to see if that's really how it going to be!

Henry, the visual specialist, doing the initial geometry alignment

A view of the alignment grid with all colors turned on

Alignment grid showing the cursor and only one color turned on per channel

Day 22 - September 23nd

Not much obvious happened today and I wasn't hovering over the crew since I'm deep into approving the QTG right now. I know that visual configuration is still in work and the QTG testing is almost constant. I did notice that the cabinet doors have been mounted on the IG and HOST complexes in the computer room.

Cabinets all closed up except the front door of the Image Generator complex

Day 21 - September 22nd

Setup of the visual system continued most of the day. The cockpit remained powered up and there was a visual presentation. Some more components were added to the visual mirror area.

Jean-Phillipe from CAE and John Sutherland, one of our Engineers, went through the motion Acceptance Test Manual (ATM). This is pretty exciting since we get to see the extreme extension limits of the motion system. Thanks to John Sutherland again for getting the motion pics. Check it out . . .