Simming La Vida Loca

With their Do-27, the Digital Aviation team appeals for a return to the roots of Flight Simulation. Will you Do the right thing?

A fundamental switch abides in the Configuration Panel of the Aerosoft / Digital Aviation Do-27. It offers owners a deterministic election amid two metaphysical choices of simulation: Simple, or Pro.

Those who choose the road more taken (Simple) will enjoy one of the best (if not THE best) FS aircraft seen so far in terms of technical excellence and craftsmanship: uncanny attention to detail, a VC so realistic that it leaves oil and grease and dirt in your clothes afterwards, outstanding external models and animations, authentic panels, plus many surprising special effects (the cockpit vibrates, the windows get dirty, you need to secure the door latches or they may open) and a plethora of other great little things.

What more could you possibly ask from an FS aeroplane?

If you care to know what exotic aircraft I’m really flying right now, seriously, is the default Piper Cub! That’s right, as per this flight simulation syllabus the venerable Cub will be my official bird until I can call myself a Sport pilot. I am committed to it, I’ve come to know what to expect, and so I can focus on perfecting my aviation and navigational skills. Now the (catch?) is that it won’t break no matter how bad I handle it. I could instruct it to fail via the Failures menu, but wouldn’t that be unrealistic and plainly boring? What about a plane that went beyond the faithful modelling of aerodynamics and systems, and responded realistically to misuse and fatigue? A plane which made you care because it “remembers” whether you flew it right or wrong last time, and checked the oil levels or not? Does that exist?

Enter the Dornier 27’s Pro mode.

This unprecedented package deserves commitment way beyond enjoying the eye candy and the cool SFX. Why? The Pro Mode option unleashes an exciting and novel simulation within the simulation that can seriously take hardcore flightsimmers much closer to as-real-as-it-gets. Suddenly it becomes as-real-as-YOU-get. The people responsible for this have gone a long way to get there. Here is Marcel Felde, one of the proud Digital Aviation fathers, discussing the complexity and minutiae of this magical beast.

Hello, Marcel! Who are you, and how did you end up designing FS add-ons?
Hello, Jarn! My name is Marcel Felde, I’m thirty years old and I live in Frankfurt, Germany. My “story” in relation to aviation and flight simulation begins with my father. He is an aviation enthusiast too, having worked most of his life at a well known airline in Germany (“kerosene has been poured in my cradle” so to speak). I’ve been always looking for ways to be near aircraft, for work or for fun. The first flight simulators I came to enjoy were Solo Flight and SubLogic’s Flight Simulator I. I think I also had every version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, but preferred competing products such as ATP, Pro Pilot, and later on Fly!. One day, simming sort of collided with my other obsession, painting: I discovered the graphics that made the panels in FS98 were editable! Then my design and aviation interests became commercial and I ran out of hobbies.

Through the years I’ve been motivated to develop for FS for several reasons, but mainly I wish to reproduce the experience of flight as realistically as possible; I always look for new features and possibilities that will enhance our products, picturing myself as the user. Of course our customers (and the competition!) have been a fine source of inspiration too.

Regarding the Dornier, I knew I’d never be able to model it alone, and there was also the suspicion that it may not be commercially viable. Luckily the other team members at Digital Aviation responded enthusiastically to my suggestion of going for the DO, and poured in their incredible skills to get it done. Without Alexander Metzger, who’s a genius in the area of flight modelling, this high quality add-on would not exist. It was a team effort all the way.

Are you aware of other previous add-on with features as complex as the Do-27’s, at least within the General Aviation niche?
There are many other add-ons in the General Aviation niche which feature very complex avionics packages and I don’t think one single particular aircraft features everything our Do does, but I wouldn’t want to make comparisons. Many good products (not only FS add-ons) have inspired me and been a source of original features, and it’s always healthy to keep an eye on the competition anyway.

Describe your contribution to the DO-27, how you approached the project. Did you get feedback from real-world pilots, maybe fly the aircraft yourself? Whence came the idea of building something breakable?
The Dornier is a fond part of my childhood; I remember it passing over my head so many times. Whenever I see one this good old feeling comes back to me, so I guess there could be no better motivation to build it than this. During development I had control two times. Alexander, working on the flight model, also got the chance to fly it.

The project itself took a long time. My first approaches were unsuccessful, as I was not able to obtain the documentation I needed. Then, after publishing some preview shots, I came in contact with real-world pilots and enthusiasts, whose connections opened new possibilities. I re-started the project anew (not for the last time). Back then, no-one thought a Dornier would be successful commercially, so it became the “end of the working-day” project for several years. In the meantime I gathered more than 6000 photos of the plane, and got access to several types of manuals, drawings, catalogues, and other documents. Yet many important aspects are never mentioned in the manuals, so I went to the real pilots and experts for advice, and they were glad to help. On an early Sunday Do-27 gathering, having a cup of coffee and small-talking with the pilots proved invaluable. Did you know that the first two litres of oil will evaporate, so you never fill it to the maximum capacity? Or what sound the generator makes when RPMs drop below a certain value? I believe these little big things added great value to the project.

I’m not sure when I decided to make it breakable. I’ve been flying many simulators over the past twenty years, some of them more “intense” than FS. They seemed to engage you more, emotionally. The simulation was a kind of adventure then, and I wondered why FS kept me at a distance. I found the answer to be the fact that it didn’t matter at all how badly you treated the engine, the systems and the frame. In FS, if you overstress the airframe you’ll crash, of course, and the flight will simply re-start, but it’s not a big deal. So I guess this was the motivation: FS simmers have never considered the consequences of improper handling!

With the Do-27 now they can, if they dare.

How many systems are there that can crash? What about wear by use? Describe a little how the gremlins work inside the machine.
That are many systems in there, and we re-created nearly every kind of user-caused malfunction that could happen in the real counterpart, I hope.

Systems are sub-divided in different areas such as the gear, the ignition and oil systems, etc., but the engine plays the most important role. Some systems are worn to the point of damage, and the worse the condition the higher the possibility of a malfunction. Other systems can be damaged immediately under certain circumstances. For example, if the propeller contacts the ground the blades will be destroyed on the spot, and probably the engine will sustain heavy damage too. Brusque changes in propeller speeds are not good for the engine either. You can get away with it a couple of times, but it will lead to problems if you don’t learn to transition RPMs gently. Temperature, manifold pressure, and many other variables influence the condition of the aggregate: imagine you are low on oil. This will affect the engine and temperature will increase, which will cause even more damage. Opening the cowl flaps could help a little, but will produce more drag. A high-nose attitude will cause less air to flow through the inlet into the engine bay, etc. You may still be able to fly her to safety if you handle it with extreme care, and know the secrets of keeping her running, though.

Any extra advice or hints which can help us make the most out of this ground-breaking, marvellous masterpiece are most welcome, Marcel.
My humble advice to flightsimmers is this: return to the original roots of flight simulation. Emulate what real pilots do. Take the time to read the manuals (it won’t take long to read the Dornier’s). Use the forums to exchange experiences on flying aircraft or on navigating through the beautiful sceneries that have been developed, both payware and freeware. Endlessly arguing if this or that sim, virtual aircraft, scenery, add-on, etc. is better than the other will not leave anyone with a good feeling after the computer is switched off. But sharing with other simmers a story about an exciting trip from here to there, or an honest advice on flying the aircraft will give you that, every time. And you’ll be making the most out of the many superb add-ons we are lucky to have in the world of our simulators.

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