Flight Simulator Co-Pilot

by Charles Gulick

Ground Effect

Eagle Field Training Base (Local)

North: 17412. East: 7438. Altitude: 520. Pitch: 0. Bank: 0.
Heading: 63. Airspeed: Cessna 114. Airspeed: Piper 122.
Throttle: Cessna 20479. Throttle: Piper 19415.
Rudder: 32767. Ailerons: 32767. Flaps: 0.
Elevators: Cessna 32255. Elevators: Piper 36863.
Time: 16:00. Season: 2. Clouds: 0.
Surface Wind: 0 kn., 0 deg.

Don't tell anybody I did this; I just thought you might need a little relief from all this heavy concentration. Look back after the pass, and watch everything recede. Fly it a couple of times.

How high do you suppose that thing actually sits off the ground?

Let's see if we can find out. Go into the Editor, press Recall, then set Slew to 1, North Position to 17417, and East Position to 7447.

Now exit the Editor. Using Heading Slew, turn right to point 90 degrees. You should be looking straight across the hangar roof. And you're suspended over it, 110 feet off the ground (the elevation at Eagle, remember, is 410 feet).

Now switch your view in the normal way to look directly down at the tarmac below your wheels. Then carefully slew east, and stop slewing when you see all white roof.

Return to your out-of-the-windshield view. Take views to all sides, if you like—they're a bit unusual.

Next, slew a bit further east, comparing front and rear views to get at the approximate center of the roof.

Then, very carefully, use the Altitude down slew (Cessna use the F8 key) to try to put your aircraft atop the hangar. Then we'll be able to determine its height off the ground.

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