Project XP-38N

About

DB2 provides real-time readouts, a few indicator lights and simple functions.  There are few user options as well. 

Main Readouts:

• Ground elevation (ft)

• Height Above Ground Level (ft, rounded to the nearest 10)

• Ground Speed (knots)

• Latitude and Longitude (decimal)

•  Indicated Altitude (ft, rounded to nearest 10)

•  Vertical Speed (ft/min, rounded to nearest 10)

•  NAV1 ILS and Glide Slope Information (Optional, when enabled and within range of tuned ILS frequency)

•  Autopilot target altitude (ft)

•  Flaps angle (degrees)

•  Elevator Trim (percentage up/down, shown as graphic similar to a trim wheel)

•  Left and Right Brakes (%)

•  Fuel (% of total capacity)

•  Wind direction and speed (deg and kt)

•  Outside air temperature (degrees C, option for F)

•  Local time (24-hour format)

•  g-‘force’

•  Sim Rate (note: normal rate is not shown)

Extra Readouts (bottom line, minimal identification and numerical value)

• Piston Engine #1 output power (hp), estimated by the product of torque and rotational speed.

• Piston Engine #2 output power (hp)

• Propeller #1 beta (deg). Applicable to constant-speed (variable pitch) props.

• Propeller #2 beta (deg)

• Angle of Attack (deg)

• Fuel Flow, or consumption rate (gph)

• Fuel Range Estimate (nm). An estimate of how far you can fly on the remaining fuel at the current rate of consumption and current ground speed. Note: it does not take into account unusable fuel, so it may overestimate how far you can actually go!

• Fuel Duration Estimate (hh:mm) An estimate of how long you can fly on the remaining fuel at the current rate of consumption. Note: it does not take into account unusable fuel, so it may overestimate how long you can actually go!

Indicator Lights:

• Autopilot

•  Parking brake

•  Gear Down

•  Auto Throttle (and accompanying tone when A/T is turned off)

•  Reverse Thrust 

• Stall* (see notes below)

•  Taxi Light

• Landing Light

Functions:

• Copy Latitude and Longitude into clipboard (to paste into google maps or whatever)

• Estimate TOC/TOD time and distance, using current vertical speed and target altitude or user-provided, and current ground speed

• Estimate approaching stall based on angle of attack and the model’s stall angle

Options:

• make DB2 top most window (so it will stay on top of MSFS or whatever)

• semi-transparent, useful if you want to put it on top of MSFS and still see the sim underneath

• turn off visibility of a few indicators and features

• update interval

• choose which extra readouts appear on the bottom

  *Stall indicator notes:

This indicator turns yellow just before stall and red when stall occurs. 

DB2 obtains the stall angle from the model, and monitors the angle of attack and the sim’s stall flag (a true or false parameter that says if the plane is in stall).   As the angle of attack approaches the stall angle, the light will turn yellow.  It turns red when the sim signals a stall condition through SimConnect. 

On the default planes that I fly it does a good job at signaling imminent stall (yellow) and turning red when the in-game audible stall warning goes off (if the plane has one).  However, on the one 3^rd party plane I fly regularly the audible stall warning does not sound until much steeper angles of attack, well after the light turns red (or well after the sim thinks it’s in stall).  I’m not sure why this is, but I suspect it is because the set stall angle does not match the flight dynamics (in other words, it appears the stall angle value is just a reference, not a functional parameter, and the flight model does not stall at that set angle).  But I’m not 100% certain of that because the flight model parameters are encrypted.

At any rate, consider this indicator as an approximation of stall condition.  On most of the planes I fly, it does a decent job and has helped me many times during difficult instrument approaches and landings.  If you find it in error or bothersome, just use the option to make it disappear.