Virtual Crew Chief for BMS
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I just thought, I’ve never seen seat pins in the F16. So here is a pic of the Jaguar I worked on for 13 years. The seat pin storage highlighted.
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@Tomcattwo Oooookay, then. (Amazing vid, BTW. Thanks.)
I have questions. (For any of the experts in this thread)
I’m going on the basis that there is no such thing as a stupid question, so - forgive me if the answers are obvious.
- He seems relaxed when he ducks past the nozzle a few times, right…?
SO - during the RAMP, when the throttle is pushed forward and the nozzle closes somewhat…
- What would happen if someone were standing BEHIND the nozzle…?
Would they be blown backwards (like with heavy commercial jets)…?
Would they get BURNED…? (Like - is that exhaust ridiculously hot…?)
Both…? Neither…?
Also (related) —>
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When the nozzle is completely open. What would happen if one were standing right behind the nozzle…?
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Assuming that it WOULD hurt (so this question is irrelevant if the above answers were: “nothing would happen”)…
- What would be a SAFE distance to stand behind the nozzle as it is:
a.) Open. b.) Begins to close up…?
- The safety pins on the landing gear…
IF he had forgotten to pull one of those pins… (I am assuming here that they don’t seem in any way connected electronically; they seem physical)
- Could the jet still taxi and take-off; the issue only becoming evident when he tried to raise the gear…? Or - are those pins actually connected somehow, and would not allow taxi…?
I just can’t believe that in the entire history of military jet-aviation that not a single person on any one of a million occasions has not forgotten just one pin. Head-trauma from a year prior; concussion from last week; hangover; depression; thinking about a sick relative; simple brain-fart. Surely - statistically - it must have happened.
Sorry for SO MANY questions, but - I just need to know.
(I actually cut out another three that I have) - He seems relaxed when he ducks past the nozzle a few times, right…?
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Yeah, man.
@jagfour was one of the guys I thought of when I posted the questions.
I’d really love answers.
Maybe Ricky could hit up BogeyDope the next time he’s in contact…?
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@Aragorn
This might help:From “USAF F-16 Emergency Extraction Card.pdf”
Idle thrust is the bottom picture. I am guessing the PW 200/229 Engines have a similar danger area.
For some frame of reference, generally a human cannot hold their hand/fingers in or on something that is 140 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter.
Regards,
TC2 -
@Aragorn said in Virtual Crew Chief for BMS:
@Tomcattwo Oooookay, then. (Amazing vid, BTW. Thanks.)
I have questions. (For any of the experts in this thread)
I’m going on the basis that there is no such thing as a stupid question, so - forgive me if the answers are obvious.
- He seems relaxed when he ducks past the nozzle a few times, right…?
SO - during the RAMP, when the throttle is pushed forward and the nozzle closes somewhat…
- What would happen if someone were standing BEHIND the nozzle…?
Would they be blown backwards (like with heavy commercial jets)…?
Would they get BURNED…? (Like - is that exhaust ridiculously hot…?)
Both…? Neither…?
Also (related) —>
-
When the nozzle is completely open. What would happen if one were standing right behind the nozzle…?
-
Assuming that it WOULD hurt (so this question is irrelevant if the above answers were: “nothing would happen”)…
- What would be a SAFE distance to stand behind the nozzle as it is:
a.) Open. b.) Begins to close up…?
- The safety pins on the landing gear…
IF he had forgotten to pull one of those pins… (I am assuming here that they don’t seem in any way connected electronically; they seem physical)
- Could the jet still taxi and take-off; the issue only becoming evident when he tried to raise the gear…? Or - are those pins actually connected somehow, and would not allow taxi…?
I just can’t believe that in the entire history of military jet-aviation that not a single person on any one of a million occasions has not forgotten just one pin. Head-trauma from a year prior; concussion from last week; hangover; depression; thinking about a sick relative; simple brain-fart. Surely - statistically - it must have happened.
Sorry for SO MANY questions, but - I just need to know.
(I actually cut out another three that I have)Lol, correct there are no stupid questions. You don’t need anyone who doesn’t know what they are doing messing around with aircraft.
- The crew chief ducks down as he passes the nozzle. No one would argue with jet flux just like a civvy would not argue with a tank. Unless your Chinese. I argued with a Hercules once when he engaged reverse. I was at least 100m in front of him and he still won as I didn’t have my safety goggles on. The dust cloud was ginormous in the desert.
2 and 3 are only for the stupid. We all get trained to respect jet flux and safety distances around aircraft.
- A safety pin would hold the leg in the downward position and would be shown as a red landing light when u/c up is selected when the other lights go out. The pilot would just land at the earliest opportunity. They would also likely be informed by the ATC that 1 leg is down. No big deal but embarrassing for the pilot. The pins are not connected to anything electrical as far as I know, but I can’t speak for every aircraft. The red flag on every safety pin is a visual sign from distance of a pin still fitted.
- He seems relaxed when he ducks past the nozzle a few times, right…?
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Cheers for the answers, dudes.
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@Aragorn
Gorn, also note in the Launch Procedure video I posted, the Crew Chief never ducks under the “jet blast” - he only ducks under the nozzle. This forces him physically to get lower than the expected jet blast. You can see this clearly around time 8:50 - 9:15 when he is moving from right to left sides to pull the chocks.
Regards,
Tomcattwo
(VoiceClone) -
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@Tomcattwo Hi, me again. I’ve done the Configure Joysticks and still no luck .“Disregard” it is
Other than that, 10/10.
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- Did you ASSIGN your joystick/rudders in Voice Attack (wrench icon, bottom right of Voice Attack window)? If not, this would be why you didn’t get the popup. Please check and let me know if you see your stick(s)/rudder properly assigned:
If not, please do this first.
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Did you ever get the popup box explaining that Virtual Crew Chief for BMS needs to determine your joystick axes, and instructing you to follow the instructions in the Voice Attack events window with a button to Continue? If you did not get this popup box, try this:
a) Switch the Active Profile to AVCS CORE 1.11. When that has finished initializing,
b) Switch the Active Profile back to Virtual Crew Chief for BMS -
You should then get the popup box - follow the directions.
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Also, while Virtual Crew Chief for BMS is active profile, open the profile (Button with the pencil), Select Options, and ensure that Falcon BMS.exe is set in the line “Send Output to:”
- Then switch active profile back to AVCS CORE 1.11 - when it finishes initializing, active profile will be AVCS4 Falcon BMS Radios (v1.42)
R/
TC2 -
@Tomcattwo
Same as @CriticalMass here, surface control movements and brakes are not taken into account by the CC, the strange thing is that trim check is ok.
I did all the recommanded setup, all the other step are ok.Do you have any advice?
Great job really, start up now enjoyable . Thanks a lot
Windblow -
@Wingedsky ,
Okay perhaps you can help me troubleshoot this.-
Are you using AVCS profile by SemlerPDX in VoiceAttack? Or just VCC for BMS by itself in VoiceAttack? Are you using any other profiles in VoiceAttack?
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What are your joystick/rudder assignments as seen in VoiceAttack? (In VoiceAttack, click on wrench icon on bottom right, in pop-up window, General Tab, Joysticks - what does VA think is assigned)?
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Did you ever get the pop-up window in Virtual Crew Chief for BMS that asks you to follow instructions to assign joystick/rudder axes? If you did, were you able to get the axes recognized by VCC4BMS? (The VoiceAttack event screen will tell you when it sees the axis as you follow the prompts).
Trim checks work fine because trim adjustments are not the result of any axis movement - they are keypress callback generated (even if you have them assigned on a joystick hat or button).
The reason you are seeing no response on commands “Big Movements”, “DBU”, or “Brake Checks” is that VCC4BMS does not know what axes are assigned to pitch/roll/yaw or toebrake assignments. We have to figure out why you and @CriticalMass are not getting the initialization popups to assign these axes in VCC4BMS.
If you can answer the above questions for me, it may help me figure out what your specific issue is so we can get it working.
I might see about doing an installation instruction video for installing VCC4BMS in VoiceAttack with AVCS and one without.
@Ricky - jump in please to assist. Thanks!
Regards,
Tomcattwo
(VoiceClone) -
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@Wingedsky , @CriticalMass ,
Try this:- Start VoiceAttack.
- Make “Virtual Crew Chief for BMS” the Active Profile (using the dropdown arrow at the top of the VoiceAttack window).
- Give the voice command: “Configure Joysticks”
- Follow the on-screen prompts in the VoiceAttack Events window to assign each joystick axis in turn.
- Once this is complete, if you are using AVCS, make AVCS CORE (V1.11) the active profile. Test a few simple voice commands (such as “How’s it going, Chief?”) to see if VCC4BMS is working.
- Go do a Ramp Start in BMS and see if the problem is solved.
Please let me know how it goes.
R/,
Tomcattwo
(VoiceClone) -
@Tomcattwo Thanks for your answer
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I am using Voice attack v1.10.6v64 bits, with AVCS v1.11 and AVCS Falcon BMS radio v1.42.
No profile in addition except Virtual Crew Chief for BMS included into AVCS profile. No other profile. -
Throttle - Hotas Warthog is Joystick 1
Joystick - Hotas Warthog is Joystick 2
T-Pendular-Rudder is Joystick 3
all are Enabled in General Tab -
Yes All the axis were correctly recognized during the first running of VCC4BMS. I also did several times the reconfiguration as explained in your last post and configuration completed each time. but no change during the Ramp Start.
I hope It can help.
Windblow
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@Tomcattwo I have pretty much the same setup as @Wingedsky with
Joy 1 - vkb gladiator nxt (rudder on twist)
Joy 2 - X56 ThrottleFor VA I have AVCS, my set up looks different to your screen shot: I have CORE as global and BMS loaded automatically with VCC as an included profile.
And as previously mentioned, I use Ice’s Helios profile that has no key bindings for Stick or Rudder axes (just a thought)
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Hi all, sorry I’ve been offline here for a while.
@Tomcattwo and I have very nearly finished a version 1.1 of the Virtual Crew Chief for BMS. One of the improvements is more reliable storing and retrieving of settings, including the joystick axes. If any of you are still having trouble with 1.0 in this area, maybe wait a few more days for 1.1 and then try again fresh. If the problem still exists, I’ll send you a diagnostic version of the profile that outputs more information, so that we can see what the cause is.
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@Wingedsky @CriticalMass , (@Ricky for info)
Hmm…OK, so it appears to me that the configuration routine is functioning, but my bet is that the routine is unable to save the axis assignment values to the profile, and I think I might know why.
The Configure Joysticks routine is designed to save each axis assignment value to the “Active Profile” - in your case, to VCC4BMS profile. However, the way Voice Attack works is by keeping ALL imported profile information in a single file, called VoiceAttack.dat, and then associating the saved information with the VCC4BMS profile within VoiceAttack.dat
So, something is causing VCC4BMS Configure Joysticks routine from saving the axis data properly to the VoiceAttack.dat file. Let’s try two things:
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VoiceAttack default installation folder is C;\Program Files (x86)\VoiceAttack If you installed it there, then you may need to run VoiceAttack as a Program Administrator, or Windows may not allow VoiceAttack to do the saving it needs to do. So, try this:
a) Locate the shortcut you use to start VoiceAttack
b) RIGHT Click on the shortcut, and in the dropdown list, select Properties
c) In the Properties Window, click on the Compatibility Tab
d) In the Compatibility Tab, check the box that says “Run this program as an Administrator”
e) Click the Apply button, then the OK button.
f) Open VoiceAttack using the shortcut.
g) Make Virtual Crew Chief for BMS the active Profile
h) Say the voice command “Configure Joysticks” and follow all the prompts in the events window
i) Make AVCS CORE v1.11 the active profile (it will eventually make AVCS4 Falcon BMS Radios (v1.42) active profile as part of AVCS initialization)
j) Try a Ramp Start in BMS and see if this did the trick. -
Another thing to check:
a) Navigate to the folder where VoiceAttack.dat is saved: C:\Users<Your Username>\AppData\Roaming\VoiceAttack
b) RIGHT Click on the VoiceAttack.dat file and from the dropdown, select Properties
c) In the Properties window, General Tab, make sure that the block for “Attributes: Read Only” is UNCHECKED. If it is Checked, UNCHECK it, click on Apply and OK buttons.
d) Open VoiceAttack using shortcut, and follow the above steps to Configure Joysticks and test in BMS.
Note that AppData folder may be hidden. If so, in your C:\Users<Your Username> folder, in the Windows Explorer window, click on View Tab (at the top), and ensure the checkbox for “Hidden items” is checked.
Give these things a try and please let me know how it went. Thanks. We’ll get this fixed!!
@Ricky This check to make sure VoiceAttack is run as Administrator should be included in the installation notes for V1.1 The new version would run into exactly the same problem if VA is located in Program Files (x86) and is not run as Administrator.
Regards,
Tomcattwo
(VoiceClone) -
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@Tomcattwo
Great job on your viseo TC2