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5.6. USING THE INSTRUMENTS AND AVIONICS 53
reaches 80 knots or so, pull back gently on the stick again and resume climbing. Building airspeed
before climbing this way will help keep the plane from stalling.
Note that if a crash occurs that damages the airplane too badly, X-Plane will automatically open
a new airplane and place it at the end of the nearest runway (which in some cases may be a grass
strip). If the impact is only hard enough to damage the airplane without necessarily destroying it,
the aircraft will just sit there and smoke. If this happens, you will need to move your mouse to the
top of the screen, click Aircraft, then click Open Aircraft to get things fixed. If only it were so easy
in the real world!
5.6 Using the Instruments and Avionics
When using the forward cockpit view, the mouse can be used to control the instruments in the
panel, just as the pilot’s hand would be used to manipulate the instruments, switches, and other
controls.
To operate a button, just click it and release. To operate a switch, do the same to change its
position. For example, to bring the landing gear down (on planes that are able to), click with the
landing gear switch. Of course, this control will look different in different aircraft. Keep in mind
that the ‘g’ key could also be used or a joystick button could be assigned to toggle the gear.
To turn knobs, move the mouse to the “plus” or “minus” side, whichever is necessary, and click
to move the knob. Click repeatedly for greater movements.
To easily see the controls within the cockpit that the mouse can operate, open the Instructions
dialog box from the About menu and check the box labeled Show mouse click regions in the
cockpit. This will draw a thin yellow square around the areas of the instrument panel that can be
manipulated with the mouse.
If you have trouble interacting with (or even seeing) a control, you can switch to the 3-D cockpit
mode by pressing Shift+9, then move your view backward by pressing the comma key (‘,’). This
will allow you to see the whole of the cockpit, provided the aircraft you are using has a 3-D cockpit.
Alternatively, you can use the up, down, left, and right arrow keys to move your view around in
the 2-D panel view.
To get a quick description of the instruments in the panel, open the Instructions dialog box
from the About menu and check the box labeled Show instrument instructions in the cockpit.
After closing the window, you’ll see a description of an instrument whenever you hold the mouse
over it.
5.6.1 A Note on Radio Tuning
Avionics in most airplanes utilize twin concentric knobs that allow the pilot to tune the radio.
For example, there will typically be a large knob on the surface of the radio, with a smaller knob
sticking out from the large one. The large knob controls the integer (“counting number”) portion
of the frequency and the smaller knob controls the decimal portion.
For example, imagine that the COM1 radio (the communications radio number 1) needed to
be tuned to 128.00 MHz. In a real aircraft, the pilot would turn the big, lower knob until 128 was
visible in the window, then turn the small, upper knob until 00 was visible.
X-Plane is set up the same way. When hovering the mouse in the vicinity of one of the radio
tuning knobs, two counter-clockwise arrows will appear on the left of the knob and two clockwise
arrows on the right. The arrows closest to the knob are physically smaller than those on the outsidethese
adjust the decimal portion of the frequency. The outside arrows are larger and adjust the
integer portion of the frequency.