Dr. Dobb's Journal March 1999
From what I hear, editors at other magazines fly first class and hang out at exclusive members-only airport lounges. Around here, we've grown used to Greyhound and Burger King. And while other editors brag about frequent-flyer upgrades, we've learned to appreciate bus transfers.
Hankering to find out how the other half travels, DDJ technical editor Eugene Kim and I recently decided to try the next best thing -- simulation. Frankly, what we had in mind was something along the lines of the Concorde, with gourmet meals, hovering flight attendants, and in-flight movies -- all at a simulated 30,000 feet. What we ended up with was, well, a bit more. You might say that we bit off more than we could flew.
For starters, flight simulators aren't as easy to find as, say, a Starbucks. Not to be deterred, we set out from DDJ world headquarters in search of a simulator, ending up in Mountain View, California, home to Sun Microsystems, NASA Ames Research Center, Kim's Restaurant (no relation to Eugene), and, as luck would have it, Fightertown USA.
Fightertown USA (http://www.fightertown.com/) is a jet aircraft simulation center that lets any schmuck off the street "fly" an F-14 Tomcat, F-16 Falcon, F-111 Aardvark, F-18 Hornet, and the like. All in all, Fightertown offers 23 interactive simulators, each with fully functional avionics panels, heads-up/heads-down displays, and hands-on stick and throttle controls. You and your buddies (up to 10 aircraft can be linked in the same virtual world) can take on one or more computer-generated opponents, take out oil rigs or bridges, and night-land on aircraft carriers.
The simulators run on 450-MHz Pentium II PCs linked to a hub computer through a custom network provided by AeroNumerics (http://www.aeronumerics.com/). Fightertown uses the Obsidian X-24 3D accelerator card from Quantum3D (http://www.quantum3d.com/) for the heads-up "out the window" display, and the ATI 3D Rage (http://www.atitech.ca/) for the 2D heads-down "in the cockpit" display. Some of the cockpits use LCD projectors, while others use a 27-inch VGA monitor for the heads-up display. They also use the Diamond Monster MX200 sound card (http://www .diamondmm.com/), with two speaker sets, for 3D sound acceleration.
The heads-down display replicates the basic systems found on jet fighters -- radar, moving map, fuel, airspeed, weapons, aircraft configuration, and the like. The cockpit (and they are real honest-to-gosh jet cockpits) is linked to the computer through the serial port (also provided by AeroNumerics) for feedback from the flight controls and switch panels, and all the cockpits are linked together through a custom voice communications network for interaction between pilot-to-pilot, and pilot-to-control tower.
On the software side, the simulation system, which is written in C++, runs under Windows 98. The graphics engine is based on the Glide optimized rasterization library from 3Dfx Interactive (http://www.3dfx.com/). The effects -- islands, airports, aircraft carriers, multiple aircraft, and targets of opportunity (oil rigs, ships, bridges, and the like) -- are stored in a big 3D image database.
What Eugene and I ended up in was a dual-seat F-111 Aardvark that had a wall-size projection view out the cockpit window. (Eugene thought that the two of us flying side-by-side in the same cockpit would be a good team-building exercise. I reminded him that something similar probably occurred to Laurel and Hardy early in their career.) Since this was our first flight, we operated in "jet trainer" mode, which meant we couldn't go as fast as experienced top guns who fly in "fighter attack" mode. And since it's all software, our Aardvark cockpit was programmed to react like a Tomcat.
For the most part, our 30-minute flight consisted of take-offs and landings on both airfields and aircraft carriers. During the entire flight, we could talk to each other and the control tower over helmet-mounted radios. (Befitting a youth spent in front of video games, not to mention an Ivy League education, Eugene was more adept at touch-and-goes than me.) Although we took turns flying the plane -- that is, controlling the altitude, airspeed, and direction -- Eugene was in charge of raising and lowering the flaps, landing gear, and tailhook. And when the control tower armed our plane with missiles and bombs, we also took turns attacking enemy sites.
Although the graphics weren't photorealistic, they were more than good enough for us to really get into the simulation. When making a high-speed, low-level (under 1000 feet) run up a river with Eugene at the stick, my stomach really did do a flip-flop or two. Communication with the tower was somewhat scratchy, making it difficult to pick up on suggestions and instructions. Foot-rudder control hadn't been implemented yet on the plane we flew, but will be shortly, said our flight instructor. Fightertown's goal, he said, was for simulation to be "90 percent" of the real deal.
What we came away with was a profound respect for fighter pilots. There's a lot of stuff going on in the cockpit, requiring knowledge, coordination, and instinct. We also walked away with respect for what the programmers at Fightertown have done. The simulations are intense and fun, and that they are available to the public is pretty amazing. Roger-dodger. Over and out.
--Jonathan Erickson