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1<html>
2<head>
3 <title>MAVA Logger X User's Manual</title>
4 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
5</head>
6<body>
7 <div align="center"><h1>MAVA Logger X User's Manual</h1></div>
8
9 <h2>Overview</h2>
10
11 <p>
12 MAVA Logger X is an application that monitors the execution of a
13 Malév Virtual flight, and collects data that can be sent to the MAVA
14 website for further evaluation. This manual describes how to use
15 this program. To be able to use the program properly, you need to
16 have a working Internet connection, even if you don't fly on-line on
17 VATSIM or IVAO.
18 </p>
19
20 <p>
21 While monitoring your flight the program continuously checks if your
22 airplane's configuration is always within the parameters prescribed
23 by the airline's operating procedures. For example, you have to turn
24 on or off the various lights of your aircraft according to rules,
25 you cannot exceed certain weight or speed limits, and so on. Any
26 deviation from the expected parameters, also know as a fault, can
27 result in points subtracted from the initial 100 points (or
28 percentage). The result is your <i>flight rating</i>. Some
29 deviations are so serious, that they are deemed <i>NO GO</i> faults
30 and result in the rejection of your flight.
31 </p>
32
33 <p>
34 Besides the faults the program also monitors many other parameters,
35 which are recorded in a textual <i>log</i>. This log is sent as a
36 part of your PIREP (<b>PI</b>lot's <b>REP</b>ort), and will be
37 analyzed, and possibly commented on by more experienced pilot's of
38 Malév Virtual. This way you can perfect the way you execute your
39 flights.
40 </p>
41
42 <p>
43 The application breaks up your flight into
44 several <i>stage</i>s. The advancement from one stage to another is
45 detected automatically. These stages and the conditions under which
46 they are entered are as follows:
47 <ol>
48 <li><b>boarding</b>: This is the initial stage when you start the
49 flight.</li>
50 <li><b>push-back and taxi</b>: If you release the parking brakes
51 or your ground speed becomes 5 knots or greater during the
52 boarding stage, your flight enters this stage.</li>
53 <li><b>takeoff</b>: If you turn on the landing and/or the strobe
54 lights or your ground speed exceeds 80 knots during taxi or after
55 a rejected takeoff (RTO).</li>
56 <li><b>climb</b>: When you retract the gears or you reach 3000
57 feet altitude AGL with a positive climb rate after takeoff.</li>
58 <li><b>RTO</b>: If you switch off both the landing and the
59 strobe lights, and your speed is reduced below 50 knots while on
60 the ground during takeoff.</li>
61 <li><b>cruise</b>: When the aircraft's altitude is within 2000
62 feet of the cruise altitude and you are climbing.</li>
63 <li><b>descent</b>: If the altitude decreases to more than 2000
64 feet below the cruise altitude during cruise.</li>
65 <li><b>landing</b>: If the gears are lowered and the altitude is
66 less than 2000 feet AGL during descent or go-around.</li>
67 <li><b>go-around</b>: If you retract the gears during landing.</li>
68 <li><b>taxi after landing</b>: When the aircraft is in the
69 ground and its ground speed is below 50 knots after landing.</li>
70 <li><b>parking</b>: If the parking brake is activated after taxi.</li>
71 <li><b>end</b>: If the N<sub>1</sub> of the turbines becomes
72 less than 0.5, or the RPM of the piston engines becomes 0 during
73 parking. This is the final stage.</li>
74 </ol>
75
76 <p>
77 To enhance the simulation, the program can play various sound files
78 during the various stages of your flight, such as the announcements
79 made by the flight attendants. These files are supplied with the
80 application, and they can be played automatically, or when you press
81 a certain hotkey in the flight simulator. You can also organize
82 pre-recorded sound files into checklists for the each aircraft
83 type, and these files can also be played back one-by-one when you
84 repeatedly press a key combination in the simulator. See below for
85 more information on this.
86 </p>
87
88 <p>
89 Malév Virtual has implemented an <i>Online ACARS System</i>, which
90 displays the status of the flights in progress. The data appears on
91 the front page of the MAVA website and on a map accessible from the
92 inner page.
93 </p>
94
95 <p>
96 Malév Virtual has also implemented an <i>Online Gate System</i>
97 which maintains a database of the aircraft in the airline's fleet
98 and their location. An aircraft may be parked at the Budapest
99 Ferihegy Airport, in which case the number of the gate or stand it
100 is located at is recorded in the database. If so, this number is
101 displayed to you when starting your flight, and you are recommended
102 to place your aircraft at the indicated gate or stand in the
103 simulator. If your flight begins at Ferihegy and the aircraft is
104 away (usually due to someone else's flight), you can select from
105 which gate or stand you start your flight. The database of the
106 Online Gate System can also be displayed by using the application.
107 </p>
108
109 <p>
110 The program can automatically update itself. When it starts up, it
111 checks if there is a newer version available. If so, it downloads
112 its files and replaces the program's current files with the new
113 ones. Then the program is restarted so that you can use the new
114 version. Besides acquiring bug fixes, updating is also important,
115 because the program can be extended with new checks or more refined
116 checks, and if you are using too old a version, the PIREP reviewers
117 may refuse your flight.
118 </p>
119
120 <h3>Graphical User Interface</h3>
121
122 <p>
123 The GUI of the application is made up of traditional building blocks
124 (buttons, checkboxes, lists, text entry boxes, etc.) found in other
125 applications as well. Many such controls have informative tooltips
126 that supplement the contents of this User's Guide in helping you
127 using the application. Many controls are also accessible by pressing
128 the <b>Alt</b> plus the underlined letter in the control's label.
129 </p>
130
131 <p>
132 The most often used part of the program is the main window, to be
133 described in detail below. When you minimize or close the window, it
134 disappears by default, but the program continues to run. You can
135 redisplay the window by clicking on the tray icon of the program,
136 which looks like the one on the picture below.
137 </p>
138
139 <p>
140 If you click on the tray icon when the program's window is hidden,
141 the window will be displayed. If you hover the mouse pointer over
142 the icon, the flight stage and the current rating will be
143 displayed. The tray icon has a right-button menu as well with the
144 following items:
145 <ul>
146 <li><b>Show main window</b>: displays or hides the main window.</li>
147 <li><b>Show monitor window</b>: displays or hides the monitor
148 window (see below).</li>
149 <li><b>Quit</b>: quit the application. A confirmation window will
150 be displayed.</li>
151 </ul>
152 </p>
153
154 <p>
155 You can also quit the application by selecting the <b>File/Quit</b>
156 menu item, or by pressing <b>Ctrl+Q</b>.
157 </p>
158
159 <p>
160 If you start the application, when it is already running, the main
161 window of the already running instance will be displayed instead of
162 starting a new instance of the program.
163 </p>
164
165 <h2>The Main Window</h2>
166
167 <p>
168 The figure below depicts the main window of the application. The top
169 of it contains the usual menu bar, which will be describe in more
170 detail later.
171 </p>
172
173 <p>
174 The content area consists of several tabs the use of which is
175 described below.
176 </p>
177
178 <p>
179 The bottom of the window is a status bar. Its left end contains the
180 icon indicating the status of the connection to the simulator. Since
181 the application continuously monitors the parameters of your
182 aircraft, it needs to communicate with the simulator. The icon's
183 colour indicates the health of this communication channel.
184 </p>
185
186 <p>
187 If it is grey, the program is not connected. This is normal before
188 and after the flight. If it is green, the connection is alive and
189 working properly. If it is red, the connection is broken. In this
190 case a dialog window is displayed. The most likely cause for such a
191 disruption is the crash of the simulator. If this is the case,
192 restart the simulator and try to restore the flight to a state as
193 close to the one before the crash as possible. Then click
194 the <b>Reconnect</b> button, and the program will try to
195 re-establish the connection to the simulator. It preserves all data
196 of your flight, so you can continue where you left off easily.
197 </p>
198
199 <p>
200 If the reason for the failure of the connection is something else,
201 do whatever is needed to be done to restore it. Of course, it is
202 possible that the logger application itself fails, in which case
203 you, unfortunately, have to restart the flight. Do not forget to
204 notify the author if this happens.
205 </p>
206
207 <p>
208 If you click the <b>Cancel</b> button in the reconnection dialog,
209 the logger will be reset as if it were stopped and restarted.
210 </p>
211
212 <p>
213 To the right of the connection status icon, you can see the current
214 stage of the flight, if the monitoring has begun. Otherwise it is a
215 single dash. It is followed by the simulator time, if the program is
216 already connected to the simulator. Then comes the current flight
217 rating.
218 </p>
219
220 <p>
221 The right if the status bar is normally empty, but if there is some
222 potentially long operation going on (typically communicating with
223 the MAVA servers), information about the operation is displayed
224 here. This is accompanied by the cursor becoming that of signaling
225 a busy state and most parts of the main window becoming
226 unresponsive.
227 </p>
228
229 <h3>The Flight Tab</h3>
230
231 <p>
232 The flight tab is the most import tab. It consists of a sequence of
233 pages similar to wizards found in many programs. The first several of
234 these pages guide you through the various steps of the preparations
235 for your flight, while the last pages allow you to enter some
236 information about your flight necessary for its evaluation and to
237 send the PIREP (Pilot's Report) assembled by the program to the MAVA
238 website.
239 </p>
240
241 <p>
242 Each page has a title at the top indicating the purpose of the
243 page. There is a short text below this, which describes what the
244 page contains and/or what is expected from you to do with the page.
245 Below the text you can find the main information and possibly data
246 entry areas for the page. Finally, you can find the button row at
247 the bottom.
248 </p>
249
250 <p>
251 Most of the pages contain two buttons: <b>Next</b> and
252 <b>Previous</b>. These help in navigating between the pages. In most
253 cases you can go back to previously visited pages by using
254 the <b>Previous</b> button, although you cannot edit the contents of
255 those pages once finalized by moving to the next page using
256 the <b>Next</b> button. There are a few exceptions though, as
257 detailed below.
258 </p>
259
260 <h4>The <i>Login</i> Page</h4>
261
262 <p>
263 Each flight starts with the Login page where you can enter the your
264 pilot's ID and password for the MAVA website. Both data are given
265 to you when joining Malév Virtual. The pilot's ID usually starts
266 with the letter <q>P</q> followed by three digits.
267 </p>
268
269 <p>
270 If you check <b>Remember password</b>, the password will be saved by
271 the program, so you don't have to enter it all the time. Note,
272 however, that the password is saved plainly into a configuration
273 file, so you this possibility only if your home directory can be
274 accessed only by people you trust. The pilot's ID is saved anyway.
275 </p>
276
277 <p>
278 If you are about to perform the entrance flight, check
279 <b>Entrance exam</b>. In this case you don't have to (and cannot)
280 enter the password, as that is not needed for the entrance exam.
281 </p>
282
283 <p>
284 The login to the MAVA server, and proceed to the next page, press
285 the <b>Login</b> button.
286 </p>
287
288 <h4>The <i>Flight selection</i> Page</h4>
289
290 <p>
291 This page displays the list of the flight you have booked previously
292 on the MAVA website. You can also upload a flight from a file by
293 pressing the <b>Load flight from file</b> button. This displays a
294 file selection dialog where you select the flight file (usually with
295 a suffix of <code>.vaflight</code>). Since you cannot
296 send the PIREP for such flights, this is mostly useful during the
297 entrance exam.
298 </p>
299
300 <p>
301 Select a flight from the list, and press <b>Next</b> button to
302 proceed with that flight.
303 </p>
304
305 <h4>The <i>LHBP gate selection</i> Page</h4>
306
307 <p>
308 This page is displayed after the flight selection page only if your
309 flight starts at the Budapest Ferihegy Airport and the number of the
310 gate or stand at which your aircraft is located cannot be
311 determined.
312 </p>
313
314 <p>
315 Select a number from the list presented, and press <b>Next</b>.
316 </p>
317
318 <h4>The <i>Connect to the simulator</i> Page</h4>
319
320 <p>
321 This page displays some important information about your flight,
322 such as the type and tail number of the aircraft to use, the
323 departure airport and possibly the gate.
324 </p>
325
326 <p>
327 Select the aircraft indicated and park it at the departure airport,
328 then press <b>Connect</b> to establish the connection with the
329 simulator. If the connection cannot be established, a dialog will be
330 displayed about it, and you can <b>Try again</b> the connection
331 or <b>Cancel</b> to go back to the login page.
332 </p>
333
334 <p>
335 Note, that after a successful connection, the monitoring of your
336 flight does not begin immediately, but some data can be queried by
337 the logger at this stage.
338 </p>
339
340 <h4>The <i>Payload</i> Page</h4>
341
342 <p>
343 This page displays the components of the flight's payload and the
344 calculated Zero-Fuel Weight (ZFW). You can enter here the cargo
345 weight you determined for your flight. You can also press the <b>ZFW
346 from FS</b> button, which queries the ZFW from the simulator and
347 displays the retrieved value. If the ZFW calculated from the payload
348 data differs too much from the queried one, the calculated value is
349 displayed in red. This the right time to set up the payload in the
350 simulator. If you forget about it, it will be a NO GO fault.
351 </p>
352
353 <p>
354 If you have finished with this page, press the <b>Next</b>
355 button. At this point, the <i>Help</i> tab becomes available, which
356 you can use if you have failed to set up the correct payload in the
357 simulator. See a more detailed description of it below.
358 </p>
359
360 <h4>The <i>Time</i> Page</h4>
361
362 <p>
363 This page displays the departure and arrival times of your
364 flight in UTC. Press the <b>Time from FS</b> button to query the
365 current UTC time of the simulator. To be able to simulate the real
366 lighting circumstances of the flight, the simulator's time should mach
367 the time of the flight according to the schedule. Therefore you are
368 expected to set the simulator's time properly. It is recommended to
369 set it to about 15 minutes before the departure at this stage so
370 that you have enough time to set up your flight.
371 </p>
372
373 <p>
374 When you have set the time of the simulator properly, press
375 the <b>Next</b> button.
376 </p>
377
378 <h4>The <i>Fuel</i> Page</h4>
379
380 <p>
381 This page contains a graphical representation of the fuel tanks of
382 your aircraft. The yellowish colour represents the current level of
383 the fuel in the tank, and turquoise slider is the expected level,
384 which is also displayed numerically (in kilograms) below each graph.
385 </p>
386
387 <p>
388 You can enter the requested amount of fuel numerically, or you can
389 set it by the turquoise sliders, though this method less accurate. The
390 lever can be moved by clicking in the fuel tank's representation,
391 and you can drag it if you keep the button pressed. If your mouse
392 has a wheel, that can also be used to modify the expected level. To
393 use the wheel, keep the mouse pointer within the fuel tank's
394 graphic. Each click of the wheel increment or decrements the amount
395 by 10 kilograms. If you hold down the <b>Shift</b> key, the
396 increment will be 100, if you hold down the <b>Ctrl</b> key, the
397 increment will be 1.
398 </p>
399
400 <p>
401 When all tanks have the correct amount of fuel set, press
402 the <b>Next</b> button. This causes the pumping of the fuel to
403 start. The progress is represented by the yellowish fuel bars
404 growing or shrinking (fuel may be pumped out of a tank as
405 well). This is a relatively quick process and should finish within a
406 few seconds.
407 </p>
408
409 <h4>The <i>Route</i> Page</h4>
410
411 <p>
412 This page displays the cruise level and the flight plan route. The
413 cruise level starts out at FL240, but the route comes from the
414 booked flight. Set the cruise level to the one you have calculated
415 with, and modify the flight plan if needed. For example, if you will
416 enter some airspace that will require you to change the flight
417 level, you should add that here.
418 </p>
419
420 <p>
421 When satisfied with the information on the page, press
422 the <b>Next</b> button to advance. Note, that these data can be
423 edited later as well if you come back to this page.
424 </p>
425
426 <h4>The <i>Briefing</i> Pages</h4>
427
428 <p>
429 These pages display the NOTAMs and the METAR for the departure and
430 the arrival airports. You can edit the METAR if your network
431 provides a different weather, or you do not fly with real
432 weather. The METAR of the arrival airport will be updated when
433 entering the landing stage, unless you have edited it before. The
434 METARs can be edited during the whole duration of the flight. If you
435 do so, please, comment it in the <i>Comments</i> sections of
436 the <i>Flight info</i> tab.
437 </p>
438
439 <p>
440 On the second briefing page (that of the arrival airport), confirm
441 that you have read the briefing and are ready to start the flight by
442 clicking the button. This begins the monitoring of your flight with
443 the boarding stage.
444 </p>
445
446 <h4>The <i>Takeoff</i> Page</h4>
447
448 <p>
449 On this page you have to enter the name of the departure runway, the
450 name of the Standard Instrument Departure procedure you follow after
451 takeoff and the takeoff V-speeds. While you can edit these data
452 anytime, it is recommended to do so before takeoff.
453 <p>
454
455 <p>
456 You can proceed to the next page after takeoff, and if all data has
457 been entered, by pressing the <b>Next</b> button.
458 </p>
459
460 <h4>The <i>Landing</i> Page</h4>
461
462 <p>
463 On this page you have to enter the name of the STAR and/or transition followed
464 (if you get vectors from ATC, enter <q>VECTORS</q> here), the
465 approach type (e.g. <q>ILS</q>, <q>VOR</q>, <q>VISUAL</q>, etc.),
466 the name of the landing runway, and the landing reference speed,
467 V<sub>ref</sub>. You can enter this data during the flight, or after
468 you have landed at your discretion.
469 </p>
470
471 <p>
472 When you have entered all data, press the <b>Next</b> button. It is
473 active only, if the flight has ended.
474 </p>
475
476 <h4>The <i>Finish</i> Page</h4>
477
478 <p>
479 This is the final page of the flight wizard. It contains a summary
480 of your flight: the rating, the flight and block times, the distance
481 flown and the amount of fuel burnt.
482 </p>
483
484 <p>
485 You also have to provide a few pieces of information. You have to
486 select the type of the flight from the list provided (scheduled,
487 old-timer, VIP, charter) and whether it was an online flight or
488 not. If you arrive at the Budapest Ferihegy Airport, and are using
489 the Online Gate System, you also need to specify the number of the
490 gate or stand you have parked you aircraft at.
491 </p>
492
493 <p>
494 With all data entered, you may want it review your flight, then save
495 or send the PIREP created from it. These can be accomplished by
496 pressing one of the buttons at the bottom. A saved PIREP can be
497 loaded later and sent, if the sending fails for some reason. When a
498 PIREP is sent, it becomes available for review by the designated
499 PIREP reviewers of Malév Virtual.
500 </p>
501
502 <h3>The Flight info Tab</h3>
503
504 <p>
505 This tab allows one to enter some additional information about the
506 flight, if necessary.
507 </p>
508
509 <p>
510 The <i>Comments</i> text area should contain any general information
511 that you would like the PIREP reviewer to know about. For example,
512 why you changed the METAR, why you lowered the gears accidentally
513 (i.e. pressed the wrong key on the keyboard), etc.
514 </p>
515
516 <p>
517 The <i>Flight defects</i> text area should contain information about
518 any problems you encountered with the plane during the flight. For
519 example an engine stopped and why (if known), that flaps could not
520 be extended or retracted, etc.
521 </p>
522
523 <p>
524 In the <i>Delay codes</i> area you can mark one or more reasons why
525 the flight was delayed, if it was. The options are self-explanatory.
526 </p>
527
528 <h3>The Help Tab</h3>
529
530 <p>
531 This tab provides some help for calculating and setting the payload
532 weight of the aircraft. It can be used once the <i>Payload</i>
533 (i.e. the cargo weight) is finalized. To use this tab, check
534 the <b>Using help</b> checkbox. It causes the page to become
535 sensitive and filled with data. Note, that the fact of using the
536 help is logged, so the PIREP reviewers will know about it.
537 </p>
538
539 <p>
540 The most important information is after the <i>Payload:</i> label,
541 which is the payload weight of the aircraft. This value should be
542 set in the simulator as the airplane's payload weight. By pressing
543 the <b>Simulator data</b> button, the data on the right coming from
544 the simulator can be queried and displayed. If the data is out of
545 the tolerances, it is displayed in red, otherwise in green.
546 </p>
547
548 <p>
549 The gross weight is also displayed with some maximum weights of the
550 aircraft, so it can be checked or estimated if you will remain within
551 those maximums during the flight.
552 </p>
553
554 <h3>The Log Tab</h3>
555
556 <p>
557 This is the main log of your flight that will be analyzed by the
558 PIREP reviewers. Its contents is generated automatically by the
559 program, and most lines are prefixed by the simulator times the
560 information in the given line belongs to.
561 </p>
562
563 <p>
564 While the log's contents is mainly useful for PIREP reviewers, it
565 can come handy when things start to happen very fast, and you have
566 no time check each fault message passing by (if you have enabled
567 such messages at all). Later, when things calm down, you can check
568 the log to see what happened exactly, so that you know why so many
569 fault points have been awarded. For example, you may even decide to
570 abort the flight, if you think some of the faults are to
571 embarrassing :)
572 </p>
573
574 <h3>The Gates Tab</h3>
575
576 <p>
577 This tab displays information retrieved from the MAVA Online Gate
578 System. If the program needs to retrieve data, this tab's contents
579 are refreshed automatically, but you can refresh them anytime using
580 the <b>Refresh data</b> button.
581 </p>
582
583 <p>
584 The left side of the tab contains the fleet information. The tail
585 number of each aircraft is listed with the plane's status, as known
586 by the Online Gate System. The two major statuses are <i>LHBP-nn</i>
587 and <i>AWAY</i>. The former indicates that the aircraft is parked at
588 the Budapest Ferihegy Airport at gate or stand <i>nn</i>, while the
589 latter one denotes that the airplane is parked at another
590 airport. Another possible status is <i>PARKED</i>, which means that
591 the airplane is parked somewhere at the Ferihegy Airport, but we
592 (or at least the Gate System) don't know where. It may happen that
593 several aircraft are parked at the same gate or stand at
594 Ferihegy. In this case the tail numbers and the statuses of those
595 airplanes are displayed in red.
596 </p>
597
598 <p>
599 The right side contains the list of the numbers of the gates and
600 parking positions. A number is black if no aircraft is positioned at
601 the corresponding gate or stand, and it is orange, if the location
602 is occupied.
603 </p>
604
605 <h3>The Debug log</h3>
606
607 <p>
608 This tab is not visible by default, but can be displayed by
609 selecting <b>View/Show debug log</b> or by
610 pressing <b>Ctrl+D</b>. It is another kind of log, which is mainly
611 useful for debugging. If you experience some problem with the
612 program, please, include the contents of this log with your bug
613 report. It can help a low with finding a solution to the problem.
614 </p>
615
616 <h2>Loading PIREPs</h2>
617
618 <p>
619 Saved PIREPs can be loaded and sent by the program loader. This can
620 become necessary, for example, if you cannot send a PIREP due to
621 some network problem right after your flight.
622 </p>
623
624 <p>
625 To load a PIREP select the <b>File/Load PIREP...</b> menu option or
626 press the <b>Ctrl+L</b> key. A file selection dialog appears, from
627 which you can select the PIREP to load. If you select a valid PIREP
628 file, it will be loaded and a new window will be displayed with the
629 most important data of your flight. By clicking <b>Send
630 PIREP...</b>, the PIREP will be sent (or at least an attempt will be
631 made at sending it). A dialog window will be displayed about the
632 results of the attempt.
633 </p>
634
635 <h2>Editing checklists</h2>
636
637 <p>
638 The checklists are lists of audio files. When checklist playback is
639 enabled (see the description of the Preferences window below), and
640 there is a checklist for the type of the aircraft used for the
641 flight, the files constituting the checklist can be played
642 one-by-one by pressing the checklist hotkey repeatedly.
643 </p>
644
645 <p>
646 The checklist editor dialog box allows for editing the checklist. It
647 can be displayed by selecting <b>Tools/Checklist Editor...</b> or
648 pressing <b>Ctrl+C</b>. The top of the window contains an aircraft
649 type selector.
650 </p>
651
652 <p>
653 The files making up the checklist for the currently selected flight
654 are displayed on the right. You can move a file up or down by
655 dragging it with the mouse. You can also select one or more files
656 from the list. Then you can remove them with the <b>Remove</b>
657 button, or move them up or down by pressing <b>Move up</b>
658 and <b>Move down</b>.
659 </p>
660
661 <p>
662 To add new files to the checklist, select them in the file selector
663 on the left, and press <b>Add to checklist</b>. The file(s) will be
664 appended to the end of the checklist.
665 </p>
666
667 <p>
668 Note, that any changes you make are effective only if you press
669 the <b>OK</b> button when having finished the modifications. If the
670 flight has already started, no changes made to the corresponding
671 checklist have any effect during the flight (i.e. you will still use
672 the old checklist, or no checklist if there was none).
673 </p>
674
675 <h2>The Preferences Window</h2>
676
677 </p>
678 The Preferences window can be displayed by
679 selecting <b>Tools/Preferences</b> or by
680 pressing <b>Ctrl+P</b>. Here you can set options that you usually
681 don't have to change for every flight. This window also consists of
682 tabs grouping the options logically.
683 </p>
684
685 <h3>The <i>General</i> Tab</h3>
686
687 <p>
688 These are some general settings for various parts of the
689 program. The <i>GUI</i> frame contains options regarding the
690 behaviour of the graphical user interface. The <i>Language</i> combo
691 box can be used to selected what language the program should
692 use. Currently English and Hungarian are supported. The value
693 of <i>system default</i> means that the operating system's default
694 language is used if it is one of the supported ones or English
695 otherwise. Note, that the program must be restarted for the change
696 to take effect if you modify this setting. If the <b>Hide main window
697 when minimized</b> checkbox is checked, and you minimize the window
698 it will actually disappear completely (i.e. not appear among the
699 other minimized windows). You can make it appear by using the tray
700 icon.
701 </p>
702
703 <p>
704 The <i>MAVA Online Systems</i> frame contains settings related to
705 the online systems of MAVA, the gate and the ACARS systems mentioned
706 above. It is recommended to enabled these for normal operations.
707 </p>
708
709 <p>
710 The <i>Simulator</i> frame contains settings for how the program
711 interacts with the simulator. Most options are self-explanatory, but
712 the ones related to smoothing requires some discussion. Flight
713 Simulator is known for producing wind speed changes that are not
714 entirely realistic and can result in the simulated aircraft
715 experiencing some very high indicated airspeeds, which in turn can
716 also cause the autopilot to suddenly increase the climb rate to
717 counter the high speeds. Since this phenomenon is difficult to
718 protect oneself against without buying extra products, like FSUIPC,
719 the logger provides the possibility to average the IAS and/or the VS
720 over a few seconds so that spikes in these values are
721 smoothed. The <b>Enable the smoothing of IAS/VS over N sec.</b>
722 options allow controlling this feature. The number of seconds may
723 need experimenting with, but note that every change for which you
724 press the <b>OK</b> button is taken into account immediately.
725 </p>
726
727 <h3>The <i>Messages</i> Tab</h3>
728
729 <p>
730 The program can display messages about certain events in the
731 simulator and/or it can play a warning sound when those events
732 occur. The tab allows configuring this.
733 <p>
734
735 <p>
736 The categories of the message are listed on the left. These are the
737 following:
738 </p>
739
740 <ul>
741 <li><b>Logger Error Messages</b>: error messages about the
742 internal working of the logger.</li>
743 <li><b>Information Messages</b>: informational messages about,
744 e.g., the flight stage, the end of an audio checklist, etc.</li>
745 <li><b>Fault Messages</b>: messages about the non-NO GO faults the program detects.</li>
746 <li><b>NO GO Fault Messages</b>: messages about the NO GO faults the program detects</li>
747 <li><b>Gate System Messages</b>: messages related to the Online
748 Gate System. For example, when you have landed at Ferihegy, it can display
749 the list of the available gates so that you can choose where to
750 park, if there is no ATC available.</li>
751 <li><b>Environment Messages</b>: other messages, e.g. the welcome
752 message when the flight has ended.</li>
753 <li><b>Help Messages</b>: help messages, e.g. warning about
754 entering the V-speeds into the Takeoff page before takeoff.</li>
755 <li><b>Visibility Messages</b>: messages about the visibility
756 during descent and landing.</li>
757 </ul>
758
759 <p>
760 There are two checkboxes associated with each messages category. If the
761 left one (<i>Displayed in FS</i>) is checked, the messages of the
762 category will be displayed in the simulator. If the right one
763 (<i>Sound alert</i>) is checked, and a message of the given category
764 is about to be displayed, a warning sound will be played. It is
765 mainly intended to accompany the text messages, but the two options
766 can be controlled separately, so you can select the sound alert, but
767 not the displaying of the messages. This may be useful if you don't
768 want these messages to clutter up the windscreen of your aircraft,
769 but still get some notification that some problem occurred.
770 </p>
771
772 <h3>The <i>Sounds</i> Tab</h3>
773
774 <p>
775 This tab controls how the sounds are played by the application.
776 </p>
777
778 <p>
779 The top part is for the background sounds. These are pre-recorded
780 sound files that are played when certain conditions hold during the
781 flight. Typical examples are the various announcements the flight
782 attendants make during the flight. The <b>Enable background
783 sounds</b> checkbox controls whether such sounds are enabled at
784 all. If the <b>Pilot controls sounds</b> checkbox is enabled, the
785 pilot should start the playback of these sound files by pressing a
786 hotkey in the simulator. Note, that you should still be in the right
787 flight stage (and sometimes fulfill other conditions) to be able to
788 play the sound files. Also, one file can be played only once. If you
789 enable this option, the hotkey to press in the simulator can be
790 selected below. You can choose one of the alphanumeric keys (0-9,
791 A-Z) optionally combined with one or both of the <i>Ctrl</i>
792 and <i>Shift</i> modifiers. If this checkbox is not checked, the
793 sound files will be played automatically.
794 </p>
795
796 <p>
797 If the <b>Enable speedbrake sound at touchdown</b> checkbox is
798 checked, you will here a distinctive sound when the spoilers deploy
799 automatically after touchdown.
800 </p>
801
802 <p>
803 The lower part, named <i>Checklist</i> contains some settings
804 related to the audio checklists belonging to the aircraft. They are
805 available only if the <b>Enable aircraft-specific checklist></b>
806 checkbox is selected. In this case another hotkey should be
807 specified. If you press this hotkey, the next file from the
808 checklist will be played.
809 </p>
810
811 <h3>The <i>Advanced</i> Tab</h3>
812
813 <p>
814 This tab contains some settings that you normally should not
815 change. Currently, these settings are related to the automatic
816 update. If the <b>Update the program automatically</b> checkbox is
817 not checked, the automatic update at program start-up will be
818 omitted. The <i>Update URL</i> text entry field contains the URL
819 from which to download the updates. Occasionally the developers of
820 the application may tell you to change this something else, e.g. to
821 test some development version. Or it may need to be changed due to
822 organizational reasons, such as moving to a new server, etc.
823 </p>
824
825 <h2>The Monitor Window</h2>
826
827 <p>
828 The monitor window can be used when debugging the program. You can
829 display it by selecting <b>View/Show monitor window</b> or by
830 pressing <b>Ctrl+M</b>. It displays the various parameters from the
831 aircraft as read from the flight simulator. During flight, it is
832 updated once per second. If something is not detected properly by
833 the logger, this window can be used to determine if the problem is
834 in interpreting and translating the data read from the simulator, or
835 when the translated data is being evaluated by other parts of the
836 program.
837 </p>
838
839</html>
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