MS Flight Simulator 2020 - Flight Using Air Manager 4 and Knobster

Flying IFR from Naples Municipal (KAPF) to Miami Opa Locka (KOPF) in the Cessna 172 Classic using Air Manager with a 15" touch screen and 2 tablets running air manager.
NOT TO BE TAKEN AS FLIGHT INSTRUCTION.
I'm not a pilot. But I like to play pretend pilot on the computer. Nothing I say or do should ever be considered as advice from a competent pilot.

[@stokestomlin989]

I was flying a 767-300 for United …..returning from Paris to O’Hare about 25 years ago… Chicago Center or maybe approach control cleared me for a visual about 75 miles out for 27 right… Almost fell through the floor of the airplane ! visibility was about 100 miles that day….no crosswind!

[@ottopilot6536]

I was surprised in this video because I fly this route pretty often. Typically on IFR I'll get my approach clearance 30-40 miles out at most. It surprised me that I got it so soon after takeoff. Not being a pilot, I don't know what's typical in real life. I just (normally) know what to expect in the sim. And this was out of the ordinary!

[@jmcc685]

Greetings Billy. Thanks for helping us newbies by describing your setup. I have a question: I’ve used-up my graphics card’s 3 DP outputs for 3 scenery monitors and have only 1 HDMI output left to run a touch screen monitor. I’d like another monitor to run a G1000 MFD and am wondering if I can do that as you did wirelessly with an ipad using space desk. My computer does not have on-board graphics, in case that matters. Thx!

[@ottopilot6536]

You most certainly can. I run a pair of tablets wirelessly with SpaceDesk along with my 3 wired touch screens. SpaceDesk works on both iPad and Android, and I have one of each. This is an older video and my setup has changed a bit since. I now run a pair of 15.6" touch monitors, plus an iPad and Android.

[@davidedel31]

HI, what is the make of the monitor your are using for your instrument gauges. I am working on building my sim panel to use FS 2020. Have all my logitech panels, yoke, and rudder pedals, just now just need a good monitor.

[@ottopilot6536]

The brand is Wimaxit. You can find them on Amazon. They're not terribly expensive. Not the brightest monitors, but more than bright enough in this application.

[@jusr2858]

Hi, does that mean it is possible to use G1000 Panels from Air Manager (e.g. Generic - Garmin G1000 Overlay Mobiflight.siff) with the Air Manager 4 Beta + MobiFlight in MSFS2020?

[@ottopilot6536]

That's what I'm using.

[@WTFBattalion]

now that we have touch control via panel pop out do you know if there are any air manager bezels that are the 370 style for planes like the pipestrel virus?

[@ottopilot6536]

There aren't any that I know of. We haven't made any like this. I remember briefly trying the Virus when the sim first launched, so I'd really have to go in an take a look at what the cockpit looks like.

[@jetsimmer]

Does the 15in Touch Monitor require a USB Type-C Display Output Port to get the "Touch" Function to work? My laptop only has a "Mini DisplayPort" and a "HDMI" Output for display output.

[@ottopilot6536]

It has an HDMI port for display. You can power it from an included power brick to USB C. For the touch data, there's also a micro USB. It does give you a.few options for connectivity.

[@WTFBattalion]

Can you get the Xcub panel popped out and working with a touch screen. I purchased the wimaxit panel and knobster together. I can pop the panel out and move it to my screen but I cannot use touch function to "click" the screen. I can use touch function in windows and did set it up.

[@ottopilot6536]

Touch functionality is completely broken at the sim level. Not only does touch input not work, but once you touch a popped out instrument of ANY kind, or even just move the cursor over it, you lose all control of your input devices to your plane until the cursor is moved out. There's nothing we can do to fix this, unfortunately. And since pop-outs and touch aren't a thing on Xbox, I'm not hopeful we'll see this getting any attention any time soon. Right now, they're all about making this the best Xbox experience possible, with PC being secondary to that.

[@WesJanson2010]

can you share with us where you got your checklists and your paperwork from? what tools do u use for flightplanning?

[@ottopilot6536]

I used the in=game checklist. I made a paper version and printed it out. As for planning, I use Navigraph for IFR and use LIttle NavMap for both IFR and VFR.

[@Mango.Bandicoot]

Does Air Manager work with the PMS750? I really want to be as mouse-free as possible, but lack of ability for me to dock it to my iPhone via a screen share app makes it not possible now. I'd be willing to pay a bit of money to get it working.

[@ottopilot6536]

That's not an Air Manager thing. That's a sim thing. And MSFS doesn't support touch. A bezel for the PMS750 can easily be made. It uses the standard G1000 FMS knob, Menu and DCT button commands. There's a bezel for the RXP 750 that could easily be adapted. But you won't be able to interact with the touch screen on the 750, Air Manager or not.

[@JailbreakStuff]

Can i use the knobster with g1000?

[@ottopilot6536]

As long as you're using a compatible G1000 overlay in Air Manager 4, yes you can. That's what I'm using.

[@davidadams3045]

hi can i ask you what app are you using to drive your ipads cheers

[@ottopilot6536]

Spacedesk.

[@dabneyoffermein595]

In trying to determine whether or not to upgrade to 4.0 for purposes of using it for MSFS-2020, it just doesn't seem to have enough content for 2020 yet. The content for the previous version wasn't that impressive either (Community gauges, etc.). I think it's still geared toward x-plane. If anyone thinks differently, let me know, I'd like to know what the advantages would be for MS-2020...seems very limited for what the FPS drain it would cause.

[@ottopilot6536]

Air Manager doesn't cause any FPS drain at all. Undocking instrument panels in MSFS does though. But if you're building your own steam gauge panels, there's zero performance impact from using AM. Version 4 is still in beta atm, so there's not a lot of MSFS compatible instruments as of yet. Once they get it released as a final product, that will more than likely change.

[@dabneyoffermein595]

@@ottopilot6536 i got the email this morning from them that it is officially released now, thus the question. Their website has buttons you can click to see the available instruments. Also, you are correct, when you undock an instrument in 2020, it's a terrible FPS problem. I go down by 10 FPS most times when undocking just one instrument. For example, the CJ4 Collins panel. Thanks for your response, I'll take a further dive into a few things before deciding. I have till May 4th or 5th (for the upgrade discount from 3.x to 4.x, per the email).

[@ottopilot6536]

@@dabneyoffermein595 Yeah, I just got home from work and saw that V4 had been released. I bought it, because that's how my cockpit setup is. Without Air Manager, I have to go back to using my mouse and keyboard to control my plane. I'd rather put up wiht lower performance than that. Hopefully Asobo get their act together and fix their sim so we don't have to take such a performance hit. It wasn't always like this. Until the VR update in December, I would lose about 2-3 fps for each subsequent one. That wasn't bad. Since then though, it's far more significant of a drop.

[@dabneyoffermein595]

@@ottopilot6536 ok, thanks for the info, yea, I'm hoping they figure this out, even the VFR map pulled over to another screen is brutal. It's bad enough our base Frame-Rates are affected, but the pop-out instruments kill us.

[@ottopilot6536]

@@dabneyoffermein595 I don't know if this will make a differece for you, as I can't explain why it happens (and I'm a programmer). When I have windows undocked, I get better sim performance if I give focus to an application other than MSFS. I'll click into LIttle NavMap, Navigraph, Chrome, desktop... ANYTHING really, and I suddenly gain from 5-10 fps back. If I click back into the sim, that fps disappears. And I can see it on my CPU usage as well. My main thread is 60%. I click out of MSFS, and suddenly, my main thread is being used 80+%. That's completely the opposite of what should be happening.

[@bruins2122]

I’m trying to fly the c172 without the g1000, how do I know which airplanes don’t have the g1000 in fs2020

[@ottopilot6536]

If you have just the base edition of MSFS, you don't have the steam gauge C172. There aren't a whole lot of stock planes that don't have glass cockpits. The lower end Cub doesn't have one. I think the Robin planes as well. Otherwise, I'm not sure. I only fly a few planes.

[@bruins2122]

@@ottopilot6536 ahh okay so gotta spend a little more to get the one without it thank you

[@mcorrive12]

Are you using Air Manager 4? Or the BETA? I'm using the BETA but can't get my GNS530/430 to communicate to my cockpit in MSFS. When i tap the buttons on my touchscreen panel (see my setup on my channel of you're interested) I hear clicks, but nothing happens. And I can tap the knobs and see them turn in air manager when I turn my Knobster, but it has no effect in the simulator itself. Are you using a custom panel? I tried even creating a simple custom panel since premium panels aren't enabled in the BETA, but I'm not having any luck. Thanks for the info! Can't wait to get this working on my rig!

[@ottopilot6536]

I'm using Air Manager 4 Beta. It's the only version that works with MSFS 2020. There are a few steps you need to get your Garmin working. 1. The default Garmins in Air Manager are only X-Plane compatible. Here's a library of MSFS 2020 compatible Garmins and other instruments that will work: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dHG3OkFKFEz8mssAX25soBflUJbMcL5I 2. Currently, there are no Garmin variables exposed by SimConnect. You need to install the MobiFlight plugin in order to get it working. Follow steps 1-9 in this post on the MSFS official forum: forums.flightsimulator.com/t/full-g1000-control-now-with-mobiflight/348509?u=crunchmeister71 If you've followed all instructions correctly, you'll be rewarded with a fully functional Garmin. Please let me know if you have any issues. I'd be more than happy to help you out if I can.

[@mcorrive12]

@@ottopilot6536 WOW!! GAME CHANGING!!! Thank you so much for posting that video to show that this is possible right now! And thank you for the explanation! I'll be giving that a shot this week and hope to have a fully functioning Garmin stack in my next video!!! Thanks again!!!

[@mcorrive12]

@@ottopilot6536 You are a hero my friend!! Works like a charm!! It's beautiful!! I think I can finally call my sim "complete" and start FLYING the damn thing! 😆 Thank you again!! Huge!!

[@ottopilot6536]

@@mcorrive12 Glad to be of help. That was the point of these videos - to show what can be done without necessarily dumping thousands into hardware that can tie you into a certain type of plane. You can have a fully functional cockpit for a few hundred bucks that can be adapted to any plane type.

[@mcorrive12]

@@ottopilot6536 Exactly!! That is what makes these touch screen panels so game changing!! You get the benefit of changing your cockpit controls to match the aircraft you're flying that day. That is huge!! And the Knobster is absolutely brilliant. Shout out to @Russ Barlow. For those who haven't seen his channel, search for his name + air manager.

[@activex7327]

According to Xplane fanboys you're not simming, you're playing a game, ... instead you should use Xplane for any sim practice.

[@ottopilot6536]

Yup. I'm playing pretend pilot. And I'm good with that. Although atm, XP fans may not be totally wrong. XP is a better, more realistic (in terms of procedure and realistic planes), but it's just a matter of time before MSFS overtakes it. Although the hardcore XP fanboys will never admit to it if that does happen. Fanboyism only hurts the fanboys themselves.