Call for Experienced Users Regarding Russian Aircraft

[SeanTK]

This is a long post, so be warned.....


I'm looking for Subject Matter Experts and/or knowledgeable enthusiasts for a new Russian & Eastern European Aircraft Training & Resource Center.
As some may know, I have a quiet little spot on another forum where I provide assistance with the Tu-154 series, as well as general FS-related Russian/Eastern aircraft and scenery news.

I'm looking to expand this operation by providing a more centralized website service, while of course not taking away from the Project Tupolev forum already provided.

My new location would provide additional, quick assistance to users of a variety of complex Russian aircraft addons, as well as the ability to mingle in an English-language environment that's directly related to everything that's Russian/Eastern European in the FS world. While the PT forum is great, it seems to be increasingly quiet, and remains somewhat unknown!

My effort is designed to boost Russian aviation awareness and popularity within the Flight Simulator community. There are a lot of assumptions, biases, and simply ignorant beliefs when it comes to this area of the world, and this has been expressed through the reception of relevant addons with FS2004 and FSX. Hopefully, my efforts will squash those mindsets and allow for wider acceptance of many unique aircraft and scenery addons.

I also hope to ease the learning curve of many of these excellent products!

Here is a brief and incomplete list of the services that I will introduce on this website. The specific support list is what I already am competent enough in to provide on my own, but I'm looking for additional help with these and other aircraft. With assistance from other knowledgeable users, I'm hoping to expand the "specific support" list.

Specific Support:


PT Tu-154 series support
PT Il-62M support (when released)
Ivan's MiG-21MF support
SCS Tu-134 support (FS9 only)


General support:


"Russian style" navigation (nav systems) and flying style.
General other Eastern/Russian addon assistance
Information on shortcuts / alternative learning methods for aircraft.
Hardware/software general support.


Other services:


Addon news (aircraft, repaints, and scenery covering Eastern Europe)
Russian/eastern real-world aviation news
General aircraft research assistance.
Organized multi-player flights and group chat sessions for training and/or fun flights.
Full forum
Photo gallery



The website is still under construction, and will be using webs.com free hosting. If this effort proves to be popular, the site will be upgraded to a dedicated domain and will have an expanded feature set (I'll have to start paying monthly for hosting then).
There already will be a forum implemented where most discussion and direct assistance will take place. General news and articles will appear on the website itself.


This is a volunteer, non-paid support role on an enthusiast website.
I am looking for SME's or knowledgeable enthusiasts with the following qualifications:

1. Very good to excellent command of the English-language. All operations will be conducted in English (beyond learning the Russian names for things). On that note, if you are knowledgeable in another language, that can of course be beneficial.

2. Desire to teach, and the ability to convey data in multiple ways based off of a student's learning style and feedback.

3. Mature, civil, and especially patient attitude.

4. Real world aviation qualifications (any government aviation agency certification on any aircraft type) are a plus, but are not required.

5. Very good to expert level familiarity (use your judgement) and active use of at least one of the following:



Project Tupolev - Tupolev Tu-154B-2 for FSX and/or FS2004.
Project Tupolev - Tupolev Tu-154M for FS2004.
Kirill Konovalov - Ilyushin Il-86 for FSX.
Anton "Xomer" Nikolaev - Antonov An-2 for FS2004.
Nikita Konstantinov et al. - Tupolev Tu-144D for FSX.
Soviet Classics Simulations (SCS) - Tupolev Tu-134A for FS2004.
Samdim - Antonov An-24RV for FS2004.
Samdim - Tupolev Tu-124 for FS2004.
Samdim - Yakovlev Yak-42 for FS2004.
Project Tupolev - Ilyushin Il-62M for FS2004. (FSX coming later in the year)
Project Yakovlev - Yakovlev Yak-40 for FS2004. * (http://yak40.avsim.ru/files.html)
Ivan Jurcaga - MiG-21MF for FSX.
Nemeth Designs - Mil Mi-2 for FS2004.
Nemeth Designs - Mil Mi-17 for FS2004.
Nemeth Designs - Mil Mi-24/35 for FS2004.
Nemeth Designs - Kamov Ka-26
.....any other releases past and future....


*Suprunov Design had a payware Yak-40 for FS2004, but they have since ceased operations. This ending of operations comes with the inability of users to continue to use their product if they need to reinstall it due to strict activation procedures that are no longer possible. I do not wish to advertise support for a product that is now unobtainable.


I would prefer to have a team of at least three people (myself and two others) just to cover the Tu-154 stuff due to the fact that the addon is probably in the public eye the most, and continued visibility of the addon will occur in the coming months as a result of my magazine article and future updates by PT.

Additionally, I would prefer at least two people on a support team for the following:
Ivan's MiG-21MF
SCS Tu-134A

When the PT Il-62 for FSX is released, it will be something that will require at least 3 people as well.

Other experts will be assigned a focus on another aircraft (that they are familiar with), with the ability of course to assist anywhere else in the training center.
Instructors can of course be cross trained if they wish (and likely many already are if they are interested in one of the above), and there are no restrictions as to what they can help with.
I just want to be able to have dedicated individuals/teams though so expert advice is always available on a specific complex aircraft.


As I mentioned, the website is not up yet. I am asking now both for awareness of this effort, and so I can coordinate with those that are able to be on the "staff/instructor" side of things with me prior to opening.
When the website opens, ANYONE can of course join up and start the learning process! Also, for the more casual fliers, take note of this bullet point:



Information on shortcuts / alternative learning methods for aircraft.


We're glad to have you if you are simply interested in this side of aviation, but don't want to get into the gritty details.

While this future website will be a focal point for all things Russian and Eastern European in the FS world, I'll still be posting updates here and elsewhere when new addons of interest are released!

If you are interested in an instructor/staff position, private message me!

If you have any comments or constructive criticism of this concept, post in this thread!

This is NOT a virtual airline.


If you have read this far, thank you!

SeanTK

[vonstroheim]

Not experienced... but interested! PM sent...

Too bad the SD Yak-40 might be lost for simmers... The end of an era...

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/976995Khorogyak40utodtajikistan.jpg

Two Yak-40 in Khorog (UT1C) Tajikistan.

[moune]

Hello,
The "Supronov-Design Yak40" is fantastic in Fs9, i regret to not have it in FsX...
Blue Sky at all, serge :salute:

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/7874/yak40.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/yak40.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[PZL Belfegor]

The list shows that Eastern aircraft are quite popular in flight simulation, but I'd dare to point few more interesting addons:
- ALS-Sim Su-27 (payware for FSX)
- Bear Studios MiG's-15 and 17 (payware, FS9 and native FSX versions featuring Russian, Chinese and Polish versions)
- Il-18, 22 and 38 (fieeware for FS9, the VC version made me regret switching to FSX)
- Ivan's Jurcaga previous project - MiG-21F-13 for FS9
- Samdim's Tu-114 and 126
- freeware Li-2 by Dzies Design for FSX

Piglet's An-32 is nice too, but the systems are not exact replicas of the real ones - similar to few Alphasim/Virtavia's Russian planes and helicopters.
Of course, not only the "big" planes are interesting! There are two freeware Su-26 and two payware (EAW and Alabeo), all for FSX... and some people complain that there are too many 737! Also worth noting are FS9ish Yak-12 and Yak-18T with interesting, non-default systems on board, and I think that Aerosoft/OctopusG payware Wilga deserves place here.

The big problem with learning to fly the Eastern aircraft is the language barrier. People who don't know Russian may feel intimidated by cockpit labels with "those strange letters" and metric system gauges... or maybe it's just the green primer what causes that feeling! Of course, some planes come with great documentation - even written in English, like the Tu-154 and An-24, while some have only quick-start guides or nothing at all. Searching various forums and file libraries may take more time than flying, but finally taming those beasts brings some satisfaction.
I'd advise you to start by gathering the available manuals, tutorials and informations (or links to them, if author doesn't approve uploading his work to other services) and after that focusing on the addons that suffer from lack of English manuals. The systems of simulated Eastern aircraft are often PMDG-quality, but due to lack of resources are not very popular among the English-speaking community - what a shame!
Good luck with the project!

[SeanTK]

Thanks for the well wishes "PZL", and you're welcome aboard the website once we get started officially.
Most of your list comprises excellent aircraft with simpler systems, not counting the great Il-18/22/38 series for FS2004.
My focus has always been Tu-154 series first, followed by a selection of other "high-profile" aircraft that seem to cause the most noise in terms of users complaining about the difficulty. Despite having English-manuals, oftentimes people still get frustrated with these addons.
That being said, I agree with the idea to also focus on those products lacking much English-language guidance. I already created a cockpit and start-up guide a few months ago for Ivan's MiG-21MF, with that illustrated posting located in the annals of the New Zealand Flightsim Forums (need to dig that one out again)!

FS2004 is definitely well off in the Russian department, and yet unfortunately FSX is still lacking, at least in the civil Russian aviation arena.

I'm already working on reorganizing the existing resources for the SCS Tu-134, and am trying to craft lessons and guidance for the Tu-154. I'll also be moving and updating my MiG-21 cockpit/flying guide for the new location.

I have one other experienced member that has reached out to assist so far, so we're off to a good start in these initial stages.


The list shows that Eastern aircraft are quite popular in flight simulation, but I'd dare to point few more interesting addons:
- ALS-Sim Su-27 (payware for FSX)
- Bear Studios MiG's-15 and 17 (payware, FS9 and native FSX versions featuring Russian, Chinese and Polish versions)
- Il-18, 22 and 38 (fieeware for FS9, the VC version made me regret switching to FSX)
- Ivan's Jurcaga previous project - MiG-21F-13 for FS9
- Samdim's Tu-114 and 126
- freeware Li-2 by Dzies Design for FSX

Piglet's An-32 is nice too, but the systems are not exact replicas of the real ones - similar to few Alphasim/Virtavia's Russian planes and helicopters.
Of course, not only the "big" planes are interesting! There are two freeware Su-26 and two payware (EAW and Alabeo), all for FSX... and some people complain that there are too many 737! Also worth noting are FS9ish Yak-12 and Yak-18T with interesting, non-default systems on board, and I think that Aerosoft/OctopusG payware Wilga deserves place here.

The big problem with learning to fly the Eastern aircraft is the language barrier. People who don't know Russian may feel intimidated by cockpit labels with "those strange letters" and metric system gauges... or maybe it's just the green primer what causes that feeling! Of course, some planes come with great documentation - even written in English, like the Tu-154 and An-24, while some have only quick-start guides or nothing at all. Searching various forums and file libraries may take more time than flying, but finally taming those beasts brings some satisfaction.
I'd advise you to start by gathering the available manuals, tutorials and informations (or links to them, if author doesn't approve uploading his work to other services) and after that focusing on the addons that suffer from lack of English manuals. The systems of simulated Eastern aircraft are often PMDG-quality, but due to lack of resources are not very popular among the English-speaking community - what a shame!
Good luck with the project!

[PZL Belfegor]

Thank you for the invitation, I'll surely join - I'm especially interested in learning about proper ways to fly Il-86 and how to navigate using Tu-144's navigation system НПК-144, but any tips concerning other aircraft will be interesting read too.
Ivan's MiG-21 is pretty neatly documented for English-reader (of course thanks to you too!), especially when compared to the planes above, though the resources are a bit scattered around the web. Aside from the Czech manuals included in package and your tutorials, there are also English translations (http://www.avsimrus.com/f/documents-16/mig-21mf-manuals-39404.html ) and tutorial videos ( http://www.youtube.com/user/IvanekMiG ). Additional files that may come in handy are the F-13's manual and old Captain Sim and Lago MiG-21's manuals if one has those, as well as documentation of MiG-21 addon for Flaming Cliffs by Beczl.