DA40 Home Sim Components?

Any DA40 related topics

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dmloftus
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by dmloftus »

pisymbol wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:02 pm You can add G1000 bezels from Flightsimbuilders.com for a reasonable cost or go with your Simionic setup. I would also highly recommend PilotEdge for IFR work.
The site is https://flightsimbuilder.com/

Not plural. Cool stuff
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by pisymbol »

I have the 530. It’s excellent.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by jwx96 »

I used FSX when I got my instrument rating. I have a 2003 DA40 so I used an Alabeo add-on model which is almost an exact replica of my DA40 (2 430s in the Alabeo rather than the 540W/430W in my plane), a simple Logitech joystick, and my iPad mini with Foreflight approach plates off to my left - where they are in my real DA40. It didn't have to feel realistic because I already know how to fly the plane and instrument flying is all about the numbers, the charts/plates and the panel. The sim flying helped a lot with practicing the speeds, altitudes, power settings, configurations and checklists for approaches. It helped a lot with learning holds. It helped with reading back the final clearance when vectored onto an ILS. It helped with my scan and maintaining PTS standards. I even found that if I practiced a few glide slopes before I went to the airport I flew better glide slopes in my own plane. If you can find a sim program that roughly matches your plane I would highly recommend that you use it when you are training for your instrument rating. Your instructor will think you're an ace. I don't think your set-up needs to be complicated or expensive. Also Garmin has free downloadable programs to practice programing and flying with their navigators and glass. I've used the ones for the G1000, GNS530W and GNS430W. The King Schools have inexpensive video courses for all the Garmin navigators and glass. Just my experience and opinion. Have fun!
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by dmloftus »

jwx96 wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:53 am It didn't have to feel realistic because I already know how to fly the plane and instrument flying is all about the numbers, the charts/plates and the panel. The sim flying helped a lot with practicing the speeds, altitudes, power settings, configurations and checklists for approaches.
...
I even found that if I practiced a few glide slopes before I went to the airport I flew better glide slopes in my own plane.
Fully agree. Before my instrument check ride many years ago, I used FSX to practice every possible approach multiple times for every airport within 25 miles so I would not be surprised by the DPE. Over the years, I've used XP10, XP11, and MSFS2020 to prepare for complex trips and the occasional IPC. No flight sim or sophisticated hardware is going to replicate anything close to the real plane. But keeping the mental and physical muscle memory can be accomplished on almost any simulator with relatively simple hardware, and invaluable for flight safety.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by dant »

Has anyone used a XB360 controller with MSFS2020? I was trying to see if I could use it for some stuff and it was 100% unusable with a controller. Like... how did this ship unusable. I couldn't get a 172 off the ground at KBFI.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by dmloftus »

dant wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:48 pm Has anyone used a XB360 controller with MSFS2020? I was trying to see if I could use it for some stuff and it was 100% unusable with a controller. Like... how did this ship unusable. I couldn't get a 172 off the ground at KBFI.
Haven't tried XB360 controllers, but I've successfully used wireless Logitech Gamepad and wired Rumblepad controllers for FSX, XP10/11, and MSFS2020. Great when I was still flying 200K miles/year back and forth to Asia and Europe while studying for my instrument check ride. Any small controller is going to be a bit touchy with default settings, but you can lower the sensitivity curves to make them useful for simple flight and IFR practice.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041 ... UTF8&psc=1
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by jbz »

Update: Well, I’m off. I have a Simionic combo setup, and a Thrustmaster TCS Airbus stick, a Saitek throttle quadrant and Thrustmaster TFRP pedals. I am using X-Plane 12 on a Mac (because I had an M1 Air available) to get my system configured. I will report when I get it to where I consider ‘functional.’

Potential next upgrades:
- Samsung Odyssey G9 widescreen
- A prebuilt starter key/switch module for basic function
- decent speaker system
- A better computer (eyeing M2 Pro Mac Mini; I use all Mac for work)

Crazy with the Cheez Whiz future:
- Simionic backup instruments
- Simionic analog compass
- Custom built panel to hold this stuff, with:
- actual DA40 layout
- homebuilt switch modules to mimic DA40 main
panel sections

Does anyone know of a source for an accurately sized instrument panel blank for the DA40, or CNC quality data for one? I found a guy on Etsy with a Da62 panel PDF diagram he claims is good enough for CNC but cant find a DA40 anywhere. 😁😁

The Airbus stick is actually a pretty good analog for the DA40 stick esp since it comes with the side modules reversible. Mine came set up for ‘left’ which mimics the Diamond stick.

Now I am waiting for a replacement USB power/hub since I think I have isolated my current config woes to a balky older one…
Last edited by jbz on Sun Feb 19, 2023 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by jbz »

Apparently PilotEdge doesn’t work with X-Plane 12 on Mac yet because it doesn’t yet handle Apple Silicon. Presume that is being fixed but no info on when, in case anyone else is thinking along these lines.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by jbz »

PIREP: (from a new simmer, see above)

After getting all of the above components connected and functioning, I started X-Plane 12 at my 'home' airport (KCDA) in a G1000 C172, 'engine running.' I managed to take off and fly to KEFK a bit north of there, and land on a straight-in approach without bending the airplane or going off runway, and managed to taxi to the ramp and shut down properly.

During this flight, the SIMiONIC setup (which was what I was primarily testing) worked well. The engine instruments on the MFD returned sensible data, the PFD primary instruments likewise. The only things noticeably different between the Simionic and the software G1000 in the aircraft were the fact that it doesn't seem that control inputs on the Simionic units is translated to control inputs on the software G1000s (which is OK, since I don't need *both* of them functional) when it came to display changes and the like. I didn't test the autopilot functionality, but things like map changes, zoom changes, direct-to and flight path displays didn't match. Not a surprise. The other issue was that the nav data in the Simionics is noticeably lacking in resolution - something they warn you about - for map use. There was no data other than basic airports visible around KCDA/KEFK, which MIGHT be because I had terrain turned off on the simionics, or might be because terrain data wasn't available - I will need to figure that out.

The biggest challenge I struggled with was probably obvious to anyone with experience on setups like these. Both the rudders and stick have fairly noticeable return-to-center springloading. I was having real trouble focusing on the visual feedback from the sim ONLY to determine what the aircraft was doing. Flying coordinated was nearly impossible this try. The lag in response to rudder inputs was noticeable, and is likely related to my computer being underpowered. But while I made it, I won't claim I was flying in anything other than a 'drunken aviator' style. Debating whether to try removing the spring force where possible, but I think that would probably make it worse, tbh. Not rich enough to pursue force-feedback to see if that helps :D

Next steps - probably parallel tracks. One will be to improve my stick and rudder in the sim enough that I can reduce my 'workload', enough to start thinking about instrument procedures. The other will be to start using the sim purely for G1000 familiarization, because the operation of the Simionic units was flawless modulo the 'light' map data. I have a G1000 training book and will see if I can start working through that. I used a G1000 C172 aircraft several years ago for a cross-Australia flight in the actual world, and had managed to get basic VFR competent on that in a few hours (enough to not feel hampered on the two week journey) so goal 1 is to get back to that level of familiarity.

Oh, I ordered a more substantial bezel/stand to hold the G1000 units, from AllSports Systems - will report on that when I get it. It looks sturdier and more easily moved than the flimsy/sharp metal stand that the Simionics ship with, but is relatively cheap since it only holds the Simionic components and doesn't include or have room for additional controls. I'm still looking for a way to simulate a complete DA40 panel, but that's definitely a more long-term goal.
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Re: DA40 Home Sim Components?

Post by waynemcc999 »

Jacob, thanks for the thorough writeups.

You're likely way past this, but just in case... X-Plane Primer (originally written for my non-pilot son).

-- Question: what kind of Frame Rate (fps) are you getting? You'll want >20 fps.
-- Question: I assume you've calibrated the joystick/yoke and rudder pedals?

And hopefully a more pertinent Primer on IFR with X-Plane that I've been recently evolving for a PPL friend who is starting his IR work.

Enjoy the sim... and a suggestion: expect to be disappointed with the sim's "stick and rudder" and pleased with its usefulness in procedural training.

Wayne
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PPL/IR, 2008 Diamond Star DA40-XLS 40.922, KSBA
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