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PilotWatch - Fly safely when AFK


Daniel Lange (1352906)

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Daniel Lange (1352906)

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Perhaps it's not the best practice in terms of realism, but let's be honest; when flying in cruise we often tab out the game and watch Netflix, make dinner or wash some clothes. I bet most of you don't fancy ticking the option in the flight sim to hear sounds even when tabbed out, so you can engine roars on top of Netflix. So when will you know something fails? When you come back and your flight has respawned? As a small side project I've now created PilotWatch, it's a small program which communicates with the flight sim, and PMDG airplanes, to monitor for warnings on your flight.

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PilotWatch is meant to be activated once you go AFK, else you'll probably get spammed by all kinds of warnings before you get to cruise. Once an warning is detected, it'll play a sound and send you a notification. Disable the alarm by opening the program.

Warnings monitored
737: Fire, Master Caution, Anti-ice, Hydraulic, Doors, Engine, Overhead, Cond, Auto-pilot, Auto-throttle.
777: Master Caution, Master Warning

Compatibility
FlightWatch is made to work with Windows 10 and Prepar3D v.4.2. Theoretically you should be able to use earlier versions of Windows, but this is not tested, let me know if it works for you! The supported version of Prepar3D is absolute, you will not be able to use it on any other version. Due to the nature of 64-bit in P3D, It will require too much double-up work to make this compatible P3D v1-3 or FSX. I'll however look into the possibility to support 4.0 and up later on.

Works with: PMDG NGX 737 and PMDG 777.

Download
Newest version: Beta 1
Very early beta: v.0.1
Install by placing the folder where you want, preferably outside Program Files folder.

Important installation note!
In order for FlightWatch to receive data, you must tell PMDG to broadcast it, and by default this is turned off. Go to your PMDG folder in P3D, then the plane you're going to use, and open Options.ini and add this line at the bottom, and save:

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1

Example where you find this file: C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\PMDG\PMDG 737 NGX\737NGX_Options.ini

Disclaimer
This is a very early version of the program, so I can't guarantee it'll cover all kind of warnings. If you do find bugs, crashes, or warnings which are not covered, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to add them! Please help me test this! Once we get NGX perfected, I'll be easier for me to complete the other PMDG planes.

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Edited by Daniel Lange
New download link
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Mats Edvin Aaro (1227980)

Wow, very nice!!!

Just a thought: would it be possible to have vpilot integration as well? :D "Incoming message from XXX_TWR" or a really loud alert for "New message from XX_SUP"? Oh god that would make my life so much more enjoyable. <3

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Daniel Lange (1352906)
1 hour ago, Mats Edvin Aaro said:

Wow, very nice!!!

Just a thought: would it be possible to have vpilot integration as well? :D "Incoming message from XXX_TWR" or a really loud alert for "New message from XX_SUP"? Oh god that would make my life so much more enjoyable. <3

Oh god yes, you read my mind! I'm unsure about the possibility, but I'll surely check it out!

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Magnus Gustafsson (880543)
17 hours ago, Mats Edvin Aaro said:

Just a thought: would it be possible to have vpilot integration as well? :D "Incoming message from XXX_TWR" or a really loud alert for "New message from XX_SUP"?

I would say that´s not following the idea of online gaming as VATSIM is al about!

Just to clarify:

  • Pilots are allowed according to Code of Conduct to be away from "cockpit" for 30 min maximum if in uncontrolled airspace.
    • Still pilots is obligated to check regularly  if they enter controlled airspace during 30 minutes away from cockpit, example: Norway Control open the position and aircraft are in Norway Control airspace!
  • The obligation is totally according to regulations that pilots should monitor and take contact to ATC when enter ATC controlled airspace.
    • The "contact me on freq. XXX,xxx" function from ATC, is an heads up from ATC that pilot has not followed the intention that are stipulated in VATSIM regulations.

Magnus

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Mats Edvin Aaro (1227980)
39 minutes ago, Magnus Gustafsson said:

I would say that´s not following the idea of online gaming as VATSIM is al about!

I totally agree with that, but sadly - that's not the reality we live in. And in my opinion, if we can reduce the amount of B3's and A9's SUP's have to deal with, I would see that as a positive thing. 

Having a pop-up on screen would still require you to be present at your computer, but it would help both parties (frustration from ATC and consequences for the pilot). Say for example if a pilot has fallen asleep or is preoccupied, he shouldn't be on the network, but I think everyone knows that's not the reality we live in. Having a loud alert to let you know that you should contact ATC would from my point of view be a positive thing, although I do understand your argument.

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Martin Loxbo (811805)

Surely the pilot clients already play a sound when you get a text message, a personal chat message and a SUP message?

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Daniel Lange (1352906)

Yes it does, at least in vPilot. However everyone doesnt notice the sound when it’s played once, unless the controller starts sending you multiple contact-me’s. 

I’m often just at the other side of the room and maybe have some music on, and I don’t always notice it the first time. So have something to nag me a bit more, without the frustration of the ATC sending multiple contacts would be beneficial.

In terms of FlightWatch, I look at this to be an option you can toggle, as not everyone would like this or see the purpose of it. And I’m not making FlightWatch to encourage people to break the VATSIM CoC, just to be clear on that (not saying you meant that). However the reality is exactly as @Mats Edvin Aaro describes it. 

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Martin Loxbo (811805)

I think we all know the reality. But as a controller with a few thousand hours I can tell you the frustration of constantly having to send "contactmes" to people who are clearly not paying attention at all to their flight, just flying through your airspace and maybe responding half an hour after they've left the sector. Possibly even worse are the people who don't respond even minutes after they checked in on your frequency (when trying to turn them away from traffic to avoid a conflict!) and they just decided it was a good time to leave for 10 minutes without asking first.

To me that's not so much about CoC but about basic respect for others, realising that ATC are there to enjoy their hobby as well.

It's simple really. If you're in uncontrolled airspace, make sure you check on your flight at least every 30 minutes. If you've got your sim "tabbed down" that's not too much to ask I think. If you're in controlled airspace, you pay attention to the frequency or ask to leave it for a short while (which I have no problem with whatsoever, I remember a guy asking if he could run down to the shop to buy some beers before it closed, and of course I would never deny such an urgent request! :D).

Rant mode over. I'm sure you guys would never do anything like that and that you pay attention to ATC! :) And in any case your program could help with that.

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Daniel Lange (1352906)

New version is out! Beta 1 brings compatibility to be used with PMDG 777! Which is surely the plane it'll be most handy for, on long-haul flights.

I've discarded support for PMDG747 for now, as I don't see that many use the plane, but also I can't seem to connect with it to receive the data needed. I'll reconsider it if I get enough requests for this specific plane.

Download: Check first post on top!

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Daniel Edvardsson

Could you create something similar for ATC? Might wanna try to leave the screen with some ten to fifteen planes in the TMA next time during an event and see the reaction.

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Daniel Lange (1352906)
12 hours ago, Daniel Edvardsson said:

Could you create something similar for ATC? Might wanna try to leave the screen with some ten to fifteen planes in the TMA next time during an event and see the reaction.

Sure thing! I'll make a text-to-speech reply if people try to contact you "<CALLSIGN>, identification services terminated - controller is eating lunch away from his post". :P

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Daniel Lange (1352906)
13 hours ago, Anton Lindros said:

Will this be out for the QW 787?

AFAIK QW787 does not have any SDK which could provide me with alert information, at least not yet. If it comes out, I'll surely consider it :)

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Jouka Ahponen (1239359)

One idea could be to add "Simulator crashed" feature that would work on every addon. So you know if sim has possibly crashed and can get back to your PC quickly to recover the flight with aurosave.

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Daniel Lange (1352906)
On 26/05/2018 at 2:26 PM, Jouka Ahponen said:

One idea could be to add "Simulator crashed" feature that would work on every addon. So you know if sim has possibly crashed and can get back to your PC quickly to recover the flight with aurosave.

Good suggestion! I've also got request for watching ALT/SPD/TIME, which is also not aircraft-specific. I think GA-pilots would like something like that.

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