Pre-flight checks

[Cholmondely]

*F1 Launch page. So I spoke to a learner flier, and was told that there was a half-hour of preflight tests to be done before flying.

I found this:

Interior Preflight

Once the pilot is satisfied that everything outside the airplane is as it should be, the pilot must check multiple systems inside the airplane. This has two phases. The first phase is when the airplane has not yet been started. Every airplane is different, so what the pilot checks varies from airplane to airplane. However, basically, the pilot looks at systems related to braking, fuel, and electronics.

The second phase happens once the airplane has been started; now there are many other systems to check. These include, at very minimum:

Fuel pressure
Oil pressure
Radio settings and tunability (including transponder code – see the CalAero article on this)
Navigational instrument health
Operation of flight controls, including but not limited to
Flaps
Rudder
Ailerons
Elevator
Ability to move all of these to their 100% limits
Fire extinguisher readiness
Database currency, for airplanes so equipped
Flightplan entry, for airplanes so equipped

and this:

The appearance and length of pre-flight checklist varies enormously, from relatively simple lists of actions for single engine planes such as most private pilots learn on and fly, to extremely long and detailed lists used by airline pilots. As an example, here is an example of a pre-flight checklist for the Cessna 152, a small aircraft commonly used in flying schools for PPL training.

Actually, the C152 checklist starts with the external ‘walk around’. This is when the pilot walks carefully round the outside of the aircraft, checking everything from moving surfaces such as flaps and ailerons, to tyres to fuel. This is just summarised below as ‘Complete External Checks’, but on an actual checklist each item will be described separately and should be checked carefully.

Example of the Cessna 152 Checklist
1. Before Starting Engine

Complete external checks.
Seats adjusted and locked in position.
Seat belts and shoulder harnesses fastened.
Fuel shutoff valve on.
Radios and electrical equipment off.
Brakes test and hold.

2. Starting the Engine

Circuit breakers in.
Mixture rich.
Carburetor heat cold.
Prime up to three strokes.
Throttle open 1/2 inch.
Master switch ON.
Beacon on.
Propeller – area check and shout “Clear”.
Ignition switch start.
Adjust rpm with throttle to 1000 or less.
Oil pressure check.
Mixture lean one inch for taxi-ing.
Flaps up.
Radios on.
Transponder on standby.

3. Before Takeoff

Brakes set.
Cabin doors latched.
Flight controls free and moving correctly.
Elevator trim moves correctly and set in takeoff position.
Fuel valve on.
Mixture rich, assuming takeoff below 3000 feet.
Throttle – advance smoothly to 1700 rpm (make sure you still have the brakes applied.)
Oil pressure and temperature should be checked and be in the green.
Ammeter check.
Suction gauge check in the green.
Carburetor Heat. – Check.
Magnetos. – Check.
Throttle – reduce to idle.
Flight instruments – Set as required
Radios – set to desired frequencies.
Brakes – release prior to taxi.

As you can see from this list, the checks fall into natural groupings. First there are items which are checked before you even think of starting the engine, then things you need to do as a part of engine start-up, and then ‘power checks’ which are done when you increase the power prior to takeoff. Then, after taxi-ing, there are actually few more items to check before the actual takeoff.

References:
https://calaero.edu/airplane-preflight-checklist/
https://pilotinstitute.com/pre-flight-checks/
Less helpful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preflight_checklist


So what would pre-flight checks in a Cobra Mk3 consist of?

From my personal gaming perspective:
*Ensure refuelling is complete
*Ensure destination mapped into F6 short-range chart (unless in a pirate-ridden system) - doable
*Fast action MFD's set up as desired - doable
*Lasers set up as desired (LMSS & Laser Arrangement .oxp's) - doable
*MFD's set up as desired

What else might be involved?
- Ensuring that bought commodities are on-board and properly stowed (should this not take a little time?)
- Filling in paperwork for departure
- Check life-support systems/rescue-pod
- Testing engine response to astrogation board/engine checks (speed/direction)
- Checking all external apertures are shut
one presumes that the order of such is in-part dictated by the time need to rectify matters. Engineering work might take much longer than stowing away the tonne cannisters of commodities

And we have Commander Cheyd's breakdown of the innards for his Witchspace bits-and-bobs:
Akai Stella Automated Transport Routing Unit: Plots wormhole entry and exit event horizons in conjunction with Witchspace Navigation Beacons:
Dynamic Response Uridium Injection Dilator: Dynamically alters uridium injection into the drive initiator housing during exit sequence.
Proton Anti-Gaussing Anisotropy Neutraliser: Re-stabilizes the proton-focusing crystal in the drive unit's anti-gaussing field destabilizer into an isotrophic state.
Std. Heisenberg Atemporal Muon-Ambiplasma Navigation: Ensures asynchronous temporal wormhole exit by destabilising the witchspace exit meniscus only after the ship has entered the wormhole using ambiplasma-derived muons.
Witchspace Initiator Chromo-Channel Accelerator: Accelerates particles in the quantum chromodynamics channel to initiate a witchspace jump.

What else might we need?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Edited to add:
ADD: Checking what is outside... is a Thargoid raid taking place? ... And could the station scramble some of the pilots - such as oneself - if it is?

And what should be vanilla game code, and what should be oxp-able?

The ability to demote the F1 to the F1F1 would require vanilla game code. One could argue that shutting doors, stowing luggage, and a very basic engine & life-support systems check might all be vanilla game code (maybe disable-able in F2 Game Options).

The Joystick configuration pages could be reworked in the same way that cag reworked telescope options - and so could Phkb's upcoming astrogation console configuration pages (it is important that the different species of lobstoid have the laser fire control configured as they prefer...).

Then those two sections of the F2 game options page could go instead on the new F1 pre-flight checks page!

Reference
cag's in-game Telescope Options page



Moved here from Musings for v.1.92

[Cholmondely]

Whoops! Apologies for mindlessly repeating the above!

But let me add in this link: Possibility to cancel a Player's launch from station? - see Venator Dha (March 8, 2015)

[Cmdr James]

Are you asking what would make sense for a real spaceship, or what would be fun for a game?

There are all the things needed for a cessna, plus a load of checking we are airtight, plus a whole load of stuff for the weaponary and defenses, plus all the trade related paperwork (taxes, export certificates etc), all correctly loaded and matching manifest, correct environmental systems (does food need to be stored under nitogen, refrigerated, etc?) and working, everything stowed securely. Then all the "are we ready for our journey", so stuff like route planned, suitable fuel onboard, permission from docking authorities (cleared for launch sir!)

And of course enough food for the crew, septic tank emptied, oxygen pressure checked, water stores...

Take a look at preflight checks for somethng like a 747 https://www.onebag.com/popups/747checklist.pdf (civilian stores etc) and and f16 (some military parts to check) https://info.publicintelligence.net/HAF ... cklist.pdf

[Cholmondely]

Are you asking what would make sense for a real spaceship, or what would be fun for a game?

There are all the things needed for a cessna, plus a load of checking we are airtight, plus a whole load of stuff for the weaponry and defenses, plus all the trade related paperwork (taxes, export certificates etc), all correctly loaded and matching manifest, correct environmental systems (does food need to be stored under nitogen, refrigerated, etc?) and working, everything stowed securely. Then all the "are we ready for our journey", so stuff like route planned, suitable fuel onboard, permission from docking authorities (cleared for launch sir!)

And of course enough food for the crew, septic tank emptied, oxygen pressure checked, water stores...

Take a look at preflight checks for somethng like a 747 https://www.onebag.com/popups/747checklist.pdf (civilian stores etc) and and f16 (some military parts to check) https://info.publicintelligence.net/HAF ... cklist.pdf

Good question, sir.

I would like fun for the game player, which for me involves immersion, believeability if you will. We can find out what they do with real spaceships now in 2021. But these are not Cobra's/Adders etc. I would hope that the vast majority of the paperwork could be computerised (such as it is for my fobile moan). Since we are talking about the far future, we can invent, indulge in handwavium, and most importantly make things less onerous.

[Cody]

If memory serves (it might not, as it's been seven years), ED had a pre-flight checklist thingy, which could be skipped.

[hiran]

If memory serves (it might not, as it's been seven years), ED had a pre-flight checklist thingy, which could be skipped.

I guess that's what would happen on a regular base.

So unless there are consequences noone would ever go through that hassle. And consequences in form of a probability for breakdown are not enough - pilots are forced by policies and procedures. Would anyone add consequences to Oolite?

Maybe the best would be to have an autocheck during launch, where you can see the systems starting up, getting checked until they are marked as 'go'. Then the undocking sequence would kick in.
In case some malfunction is detected, the undocking sequence would not kick in, giving the pilot a chance to have the ship serviced.

[Cholmondely]

If memory serves (it might not, as it's been seven years), ED had a pre-flight checklist thingy, which could be skipped.

I guess that's what would happen on a regular base.

So unless there are consequences noone would ever go through that hassle. And consequences in form of a probability for breakdown are not enough - pilots are forced by policies and procedures. Would anyone add consequences to Oolite?

Maybe the best would be to have an autocheck during launch, where you can see the systems starting up, getting checked until they are marked as 'go'. Then the undocking sequence would kick in.
In case some malfunction is detected, the undocking sequence would not kick in, giving the pilot a chance to have the ship serviced.

That sounds just as good. The idea is to have a little more realism for those as want it. Happy for it to be oxp-able, curious if any changes would be needed to the vanilla game. To what extent can we muck about with the F1/launch page?

[Nite Owl]

Have a look at DOCKING FEES and EMAIL SYSTEM. Docking Fees adds information to the screen that pops up when you first dock at a station. That is the screen that tells you about any Bounties you have received including the status of any Escape Pods you may have scooped. Email Systems has a way of adding OXP equipment to the email you get when you do a Maintenance Overhaul. Both of these are mentioned here as reference material.

The way this could work and not be overly intrusive on a players game is by simply adding a list of system checks to the F1 Launch Screen prior to a player's ship being sent screaming out of the docking bay. Again in a similar way that the Email System sends you a list of equipment that has been checked and/or fixed during a Maintenance Overhaul. The player really does nothing but sees this "Flight Check List" before shooting out of the station. How such a list would be attached to the F1 screen is beyond my skill level. It could however include things similar to the following.

• Engine Status Light in the Launch Position

• Witchspace Fuel Line Clear

• Witchspace Drive Light in Standby Position

• Astral Navigation set to <destination system via F6 setup>

• Advanced Space Compass set to <destination>

• Weapons <offline/online>

• Etc.

• Et Al

• Ad Infinitum

Basically it would look at all of the standard equipment, see what is installed on a player's ship, and give it a listing as indicated above. It would also have a method (as Email System does) that would allow a player to add OXP equipment to the above list with whatever text a player might wish to include. Reads as doable if someone with the coding skills would undertake the project. As for the actual words that would be shown on such a list that can be discussed by the community with the usual amount of input being given.

[Cmdr James]

I would hope that the vast majority of the paperwork could be computerised (such as it is for my fobile moan). Since we are talking about the far future, we can invent, indulge in handwavium, and most importantly make things less onerous.

Im pretty sure almost all of it can be automated now, but it isnt, or at least we dont rely on automated checks because we need to be sure.

Since we are talking about the far future, we can invent, indulge in handwavium, and most importantly make things less onerous.

Indeed we can, thats the nub of it, there isnt really any reason to have preflight checks in oolite apart from possibly did I refuel, did I remember to sell my stuff, did I buy a missile to replace the one I just used. So we are left with a "how long is a piece of string" question of how many artificial hoops we wish to jump through to get the illusion of flying a real ship.

My gut feeling is that this doesnt add much, perhaps ask about fuel, trades completed, resupply, and whether the route is planned but honestly asking me if I oiled my Vespucci Navigator doesnt help my immersion its just silly box ticking.