The F-4s at Wittmundhafen Air Base are operated by Jagdgeschwader 71, part of the 4th Air Division. Formed in 1959, initially operating the Canadair Sabre 6, the unit transitioned to the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in 1963. After a decade of Starfighter operations, JG71 transferred to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. JG 71 is part of NATO’s Immediate Reaction Force, and must be able to deploy 12 aircraft on five days notice – most recently they deployed to Keflavik Air Base as part of the NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing mission.

Wittmundhafen is also home to BAE Systems, formerly Tractor Flight Systems Inc, who provide visual target towing (banner towing) to the German Air Force Phantom and Eurofighter fleets. The Skyhawks replaced the F-100 Super Sabre in 2001 and are operated by E.I.S. Aircraft GmbH.

It was originally planned that in 2008, JG71 would receive its first Eurofighter aircraft, before slowly phasing out the Phantom II. Four years later, the Phantom II is still going strong, almost 40 years after entering service with the unit.

38+01 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

38+48 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

38+10 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

N434FS – Douglas A-4N Skyhawk – BAE Systems

N268WL – Douglas A-4N Skyhawk – BAE Systems

N432FS – Douglas A-4N Skyhawk – BAE Systems

N434FS – Douglas A-4N Skyhawk – BAE Systems

38+02 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

38+29 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

38+10 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

38+58 – McDD F-4F Phantom II – German Air Force

Phantom three-ship

And with that I say goodbye to the simply phabulous F-4F Phantom II in German Air Force service, although the official retirement isn’t until later in the year.

All photographs on Flickr.

Settings in FSX

Firstly, we’ll need to set a few things in FSX. It seems that FSX has defaulted everything to “Ultra”, which sounds great! It isn’t.

Let’s start by customising this. Click Customize in the lower-right corner, and a new window will appear. You can leave Global Settings on Ultra High, as this will make no difference.

Graphics Tab

• Target frame rate: Unlimited
• Full screen resolution: *your monitor resolution*x32
• Filtering: Anisotropic
• Anti-aliasing: Off
• Global texture resolution: Very high
• Preview DirectX 10: Off
• Lens flare: Off
• Light bloom: Off
• Advanced animations: On
• Informational text: Single line

Aircraft Tab

• Default cockpit view: Your choice
• Show cockpit ToolTips: Off
• High-resolution 3-D virtual cockpit: On if you’re planning on using the VC, off otherwise
• 2-D panel transparency: 0%
• Aircraft casts shadows on the ground: On
• Aircraft casts shadows on itself: On
• Aircraft landing-lights illuminate ground: On

Scenery Tab

•  Level of detail radius: Large
• Mesh complexity: 100
• Mesh resolution: 1m
• Texture resolution: 7cm
• Water effects: Max 2.x
• Land detail textures: On
• Scenery complexity: Extremely dense
• Autogen density: Extremely dense
• Ground scenery shadows: On
• Special effects detail: High

Weather Tab

• Cloud draw distance: 70mi
• Thermal visualization: None
• Cloud details: Detail Clouds
• Cloud coverage density: Maximum

Traffic

• All set to off or 0%

For many years, I have used Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 (“FS9″), and been more than happy with the results I have had.

However, it is reaching a point where the aircraft I want to fly – namely the Boeing 737NG and 777 families, are being designed specifically for FSX. Looks like it is time to move over! This post, and subsequent ones, will take you through the steps I have followed to install FSX and get the most performance you can out if it.

This is not a short process, the steps below took me three hours to complete, so I suggest finding a day when you are free and starting early!

Computer Hardware

I have a high specification computer, bought specifically to run FSX;

• CPU: Intel i5-2500k running at 4.60GHz (4 cores)
• RAM: 16GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengenace
• GPU: EVGA GTX 560 Ti SC 1GB running at 900MHz
• 1x 40GB SSD for my Windows 7 installation, 3x 1TB SATA-III HDDs – one of which is dedicated to games

This information is important – if you have a PC with a lower specification, then the tweaks applied later may cause less than acceptable performance. They are designed for my PC and my PC alone. Use at your own risk! The guide is for Windows 7 – other Operating Systems may differ, but the general premise is the same.

If you have a computer with more than one hard drive, make sure you install FSX on a different hard drive to your Windows operating system, this will speed things up considerably! If you only have one hard drive, then install FSX outside of the “Program Files” folder. I will cover this is more detail later.

Preparing the Computer

Unlike most software, FSX requires quite a bit of preparation in order to install and have it run nicely.

Firstly, download FSX Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2. Save both of these files in a folder on your computer.

Although these steps may seem pointless, it’s a good idea to do them to make sure your PC is running nicely, and you won’t have any issues during the installation.

After each one, turn your PC off, then back on again. Do not just choose “Restart” in Windows!

1. Disable User Account Control – this will give you total control of what you install and where. Useful for software such as FSX that will have plenty of add-ons after the initial install!
2. Run a virus scan – I like to do this ahead of any big projects, such as installing FSX. There’s nothing more annoying than installing hundreds of add-ons, only to find your PC is infected with a virus and you need to format!
3. Install CCleaner and clear out your un-needed junk, do a registry scan and repair also. You can run this two or three times just to be sure, I do.
4. Install Defraggler and defragment all of your hard drives. Not just the one you’re going to install FSX on. All of them.

Once you have completed these steps, you have a perfect base on which to install FSX.

The Installation Process

There are three versions of FSX; RTM – which is the original version with no Service Packs, SP1 – which is the original version with Service Pack 1 installed, and SP2 – this version is the most recent. If you have FSX: Accelleration, this incorporates all of the previous versions. I will be installing FSX to SP2 standard.

Insert DVD 1, if the AutoRun box appears, it’s dvdcheck.exe you want. On the initial screen, click More Options > on the bar at the bottom, do not choose Install.

Select the folder you want to install FSX in to. If you have more than one HDD, choose the one that doesn’t have Windows on it. Otherwise, just change the folder to C:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X. I have chosen to install in to E:|Flight Simulator X - this is on my dedicated Games drive, hence it’s in a folder straight off the drive, rather than a sub-folder.

Leave Install for All Users, Run Flight Simulator X after Install and Add a Shortcut to the Desktop selected, un-tick View the Readme after Install. Click Install to begin the installation routine.Half-way through, you will need to remove DVD1 and insert DVD2, do so.

Once the installer has finished, click Finish and FSX will open. Accept the EULA and activate FSX with the product key you have. The first time FSX opens will take a while. Once it’s done, load the default flight in Free Flight mode and choose Fly Now. Don’t change any settings, just start to fly. Assuming FSX doesn’t crash on you, you can now close the simulator.

Before installing SP1, you will need to tidy up the installation. Reboot the computer (again, don’t use Restart, turn the computer off, then on again). Run CCleaner and do a registry scan, if it find anything, clean the registry and restart the PC. Finally, defragment the drive you install FSX on. Most modern drives shouldn’t be too fragmented at this point, but it’s worth doing anyway. Once that is done, restart the PC.

Now you can install Service Pack 1. Again, once the installation is complete, load FSX, start a default flight (don’t change any settings!), then close, restart PC, CCleaner and Defraggler again, restart and then repeat with SP2!

Installation Complete!

There you go, FSX installed with not problems, ready for you to start installing add-ons!

1) Asterix, Obelisk and Dogmatix
2) TNMT
3) Disney Ducks
4) South Park
5) Earnie and Bert
6) The Simpsons
7) The Smurfs

Images © LEGO and Jung Von Matt.

Looking at JG73′s Bravo flight – one of two sets of “boxes” – basically aircraft shelters! As you can see, a bit of fog to start with. Flying was delayed…

Inside the box, Eurofighter F 30+53 awaits flying to start. From the pilot “stepping up”, it takes 30 minutes to prep the aircraft, start the engines, open both sets of doors and begin the taxy.

Eurofighter F 31+21 was scheduled for some landing gear maintenance - you can see the jacks by all the wheels. This “simple” maintenance is done by the squadrons in the boxes, but there is also a large hangar for more detailed work, and finally the main facility at Manching for overhauls and the like.

Sukhoi SU-22M-4 “Fitter-K” wears former East German marks of 734, although its last serial was actually 25+38 of the Luftwaffe.

Similarly, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML “Flogger” wears East German marks of 330 – last serial was 20+11 of the Luftwaffe.

Then it was over to Alpha flight to see their Typhoons. Although there are two “flights” at Laage, both aircraft and pilots are pooled between them, and just because an aircraft departs from Alpha, doesn’t mean that’s where it will return to! Eurofighter F 30+57 sits in the box ready for “stepping up”.

Perhaps one of the newest additions to Laage, F-4F Phantom II 38+73 is preserved outside the pilots’ building, replacing the former ex-USAF F-4E Phantom II (75-0631) painted as 35+73. Sadly, this new aircraft is in a more…normal…scheme!

Germany Navy P-3C CUP, 60+05, spent a good two hours in the circuit from midday, performing PARs, visual approaches and radar vectored circuits.

The first aircraft of the second wave of departures, 30+52 departed in full reheat, in to a vertical climb – the RAF call it a “performance departure”, I call it amazing! All three aircraft in this flight performed the same manouver, arranged specially by the crews for us! If you’re reading this, thank you, it was very impressive to watch!

And the third wave saw an equally impressive departure. Although no reheat, the two aircraft performed a fast climb and a hard right bank after departure to head North from the field.

Also spending time in the circuit was this brand new Global Express, 14+03, which performed two approaches before landing.

Then it was back to the North-side to get the remaining two preserved aircraft; Starfighter 25+02 and this, G-91R, 33+03.

And with that, the tour was concluded. Five hours and 27 minutes exactly, 38 aircraft logged, almost 200 photos taken and 51 edited and uploaded. You can see the rest here.

BA477 (Barcelona – London Heathrow) diverted to Manchester
HX875 (Hong Kong – London Gatwick) diverted to Manchester
VS044 (Las Vegas – London Gatwick) diverted to Manchester 

Updated 10:17, 15th March 2012. If you have any updates, @cglobe or #FlightDisruption!

1540: Fog, thick, horrible fog. Visibility was 100 meters according to ATC. I decided to take the chance and walk from the Visitor Centre (Heathrow Academy now!) down to the Enfield Roundabout at the end of 27R, the landing runway.

1615: Glorious blue sky! Never have I seen fog clear so quickly, but I wasn’t complaining, I just needed it to hold out for a couple of hours so I could get some of the aircraft I wanted. Speaking of which…

SP-LLC – Boeing 737-45D – LOT-Polish Airlines

JA781A – Boeing 777-381ER – All Nippon Airways

777s are so big they bring their own weather system with them!

EC-KFI – Airbus A320-216 – Vueling Airlines

LN-RMS – McDonnell Douglas MD-81 – SAS-Scandinavian Airline System

TS-IMQ – Airbus A319-115LR – Tunis Air

JA737J – Boeing 777-346ER – Japan Airlines

I-DACR – McDonnell Douglas MD-82 – Alitalia

HL7494 – Boeing 747-4B5 – Korean Air

Some aircraft need repainting..

B-6092 – Airbus A330-243 – Air China

And others just need cleaning!

G-VBLU – Airbus A340-642 – Virgin Atlantic

OO-DIJ – Airbus A300B4-103(F) – European Air Transport

BA2166 (Tampa – London Gatwick) diverted to Manchester
TS722 (Toronto – London Gatwick) diverted to Manchester
UA928 (Chicago – London Heathrow) diverted to Manchester
VS44 (Las Vegas – London Gatwick) diverted to Manchester

Updated 1051, 12th March 2012.

Many thanks to @Jiddster and @APGPhoto for their updates!

For my readers that don’t know me, I left Sixth Form college in 2009 with three A-Levels, my highest grade being a C in Informations Communications Technology (ICT), examined by WJEC. From there, I spent 12 months searching for a job, before finally being enrolled on Future Jobs Fund and getting a 6 month placement at NHS North West. At the end of my placement (literally, it was the day before my 6 months was up!) I was offered a job, employed through an agency, on a permanent basis, which I accepted.

So, here we are, I had a choice – I could have done an Open University BSc (Honours) in Computing and IT, but I’ve never been the most academic of people, so something a little more “hands on”, but still carrying the same or similar weight for an employer!

Just over a week ago, I received an email from TotalJobs, a site that I had originally signed up for in 2009, advertising The Learning People.co.uk’s Kickstarter package. At the time, this package included;

• CompTIA A+
• CompTIA Network + (2009)
• MCITP win7 Support Technician

At a cost of £995 (incl. VAT) – not a bad deal at all, in my opinion!

So, after a bit of thinking, and looking in to the three courses, I decided to go for it, which is the stage I am now up to. I have my Skillsoft login details, and I’m looking at the 45 different “courses”, each which should take about two hours.

As you can see, the list is a bit long! Anyway, I’ll post some more updates along the way, if you want to keep track of my progress!

http://chrisglobe.co.uk/downloads/fs2004.nip - it might open in your browser and display the raw text, if so you’ll need to right click and save

This profile is designed for a NVIDIA GTX 560Ti and 290.xx and newer drivers, and an Intel Core i5 or better CPU. I have unlocked the FPS, it gets to about 150 of most complex addons/sceneries with REX, etc. installed. I suggest locking the FPS in Inspector to the same as your monitor’s refresh rate.

Settings

• 16xS (2×2 SS & 4x MS) anti-aliasing
• 4x Transparency Supersampling
• 12x Anisotropic filtering
• Negative LOD clamps, High quality texture filtering with Trilinear optimisation
• Single display and maximum power modes – note that “single display” is only about the simulator, not the number of screens you have! If you have FS over more than one screen, change this setting!

And it looks something like this…

If you would like a custom profile for your setup, please let me know! @cglobe