Version History
V1.0 - 25/12/2021
- Initial release
V1.1 - 13/03/2022
- New wheel types added
- Very small tweak to autopilot code to add smoothing
- Added tooltips for yoke, throttle, levers etc
- Fixed bug with flaps handle input
V1.2 - 26/03/2022
- Bug with gauges fixed - thanks to ZharkovAndrey for bringing this to my attention
V1.3 - 12/04/2022
- Small code tweaks to improve performance
V1.4 - 9/08/2022
- Fixed bug where checklist would "forget" the current page it was open to upon placing down
- Added version number on first page of checklist (V1.4 for this version)
V1.4.1 - 9/08/2022
- Nudged the cover page text on the checklist back a bit because the version number moved the text on the label
V1.5 - 30/07/2023
- Updated a large quantity of the variables using newer coding structures, removing over 20 variables and modifying others to improve performance
- Replaced pistons pushing labels into view with code in the labels
- Landing gear can no longer be retracted when plane is on ground
- Nose gear must be down and locked for steering to work
- Modified landing gear doors to have a realistic open angle (main gear) and less moving parts (nose gear)
- Landing lights now require gear to be down and locked to turn on (in addition to the light switch)
- Plane has to be on ground and stopped (IAS < 5) for ground power to work
- Removed faulty autoland button and related checklist items
- Checklist has a single set of next page/previous page buttons instead of 11
- Ram air turbine is more realistically scaled
- Engines no longer require hydraulics to be on to function (engines can be started as soon as electrical power is enabled)
- ILS DME display now works instead of being a duplicate of the label above it
- Drastically improved ILS variables (large paragraph of code reduced to a few lines)
- First officer's gauge cluster now has a heading bug
- Added line with a dip to attitude ball for better readings
- Added support for Xinshan International Airport into the ILS
- Added frequencies for Xinshan International Airport into the ILS and Com checklist pages
- Remade all wings using the 3 part airfoil technique
V1.6 - 31/07/23
- Added dial to see the heading to the runway compared to your heading to ILS module
- Modified some components of ILS module to make room for new gauge
V1.6.1 - 31/07/23
- Nudged ILS indicator rotators out of view
V1.6.2 - 31/07/23
- Fixed minor bugs in some ILS variables
V1.6.3 - 31/07/23
- Fixed bug with ram air turbine RPM gauge
About
(Fictional) The SWL-10 is a medium-size 1950s-era four-engine propeller cargo plane.
Interesting fact: despite spending about two months developing this plane, I initially built this plane to serve as a testbed for funky trees and variables testing purposes. It eventually became more than just half a cockpit, so I started adding more and more details and functions and decided I was going to upload it eventually.
It has a fully functional autopilot, a fully functional ILS, and a complicated startup sequence which I created by completely exploiting the variables feature. There are over fifty lines of code in the variable setters alone!
How To Fly
Despite the complicated startup sequence, this plane is actually kind of easy to understand. I will go and say I recommend you study the pictures below before entering VR, if you have that. You could alternatively watch this tutorial video.
You may notice the checklist located on the left side of the captain's chair. This contains information on how to fly the plane. It outlines a typical flight going from Airport A to Airport B. Click on it to move it in front of you (the base is a giant button), and use the buttons to change pages, as outlined in the diagram below.
On the pages, the checklist will state a control (e.g. Battery), and then what to do with that, (e.g. Check ON). That command means to check the battery switch, and then if it is off, turn it on. The same concept applies to instructions like Check UP (for landing gear), and similar things.
Controls
There are many of them. Use the checklist described above, and refer to the labelled images of all the controls below. Any controls or switches not labelled have an in-game label, like the battery switch, or any of the lights. It is recommend to familiarize yourself with these controls before flying.
Note only one of the com/nav modules is labelled. All eight (four per side) have the same four buttons.
This aircraft has two complex systems onboard, the autopilot and the ILS system. The autopilot is pretty simple, use the three switches on the "AP Main" module, on the upper line on the front panel. Use the heading, altitude, and V Speed modules to set your parameters. The ILS is a little more complicated. Use the ILS frequency table included at the end of the checklist (click next page until you see it), and tune the frequency of the desired runway into Nav 1 or Nav 2 (on the center panel).
Other controls not used in normal flight are the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), and the engine fire controls. The RAT is an alternative electrical and hydraulics generator. Press the safety cover and then click the switch to deploy it. Then click the "RAT" switch next to the battery and ground power in the electrics input section.
You may also notice the group of four throttles on the right. These are actually mixture controls, and since SimplePlanes has no mixture input, I wrote some custom code to get them to move based on altitude. The actual throttles are to the left.
SWL-10 "Easy Mode"
A few people were requesting a big on/off switch to turn it all on and off, which makes sense. Not everyone wants a detailed startup sequence. I have done this while keeping the startup functionality, so the buttons effectively flick all the switches, but you can still use the realistic sequence if you want. The ILS and autopilot systems are also still fully functional.
Get it here
Links
- Teasers (Newest to Oldest)
SWL-10 "Easy Mode"
SWL-10 Upload Date and Time
SWL-10 Flight
SWL-10 Final Teaser + Upload Date
Lots and Lots of Details
ILS Landing at Wright Runway 18
SWL-10 Startup
Details, Details
I Like Variables
Time For A Remake
- My YouTube SimplePlanes Let's Plays, which all relate to this plane.
Let's Play SimplePlanes Ep 1
Let's Play SimplePlanes Ep 2
Let's Play SimplePlanes Ep 3
Let's Play SimplePlanes Ep 4
Let's Play SimplePlanes Ep 5
- SWL-120
As you may know, the SWL-10 is actually a testbed for ideas. My upcoming SWL-120 will be just like a real flight simulator, with every single button having a function.
Specifications
Spotlights
- This craft is curated
- AndrewGarrison 3.5 years ago
- Walvis 3.3 years ago
- asteroidbook345 3.2 years ago
- SnoWFLakE0s 3.5 years ago
- AWESOMENESS360 3.5 years ago
- Ian_Yashima 3.5 years ago
- Noname918181818181818181 3.5 years ago
- Rework 2.9 years ago
- Maluch 8 months ago
- MrCOPTY 2.0 years ago
- RepublicOfCursedPlanes 1.4 years ago
General Characteristics
- Successors 34 airplane(s) +77 bonus
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 108.8ft (33.1m)
- Length 105.6ft (32.2m)
- Height 30.7ft (9.4m)
- Empty Weight 3,774lbs (1,712kg)
- Loaded Weight 37,384lbs (16,957kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.161
- Wing Loading 30.2lbs/ft2 (147.3kg/m2)
- Wing Area 1,239.5ft2 (115.2m2)
- Drag Points 7950
Parts
- Number of Parts 1041
- Control Surfaces 7
- Performance Cost 4,691
@PlaneFlightX But do the starters need to be on for the engine to be running in your message? Kind of like having the engines activation group be “Starters & BATTERY>"?"”, because irl the starters only drain power at the startup, as they are only used then. it would realistically be like “Battery>"?" & "StartersHaveRan"” Maybe I’m just missing something ☠️
@XM803ENJOYER46 The closest thing I have to a starter is my APU starting system, which has a load on the electrical system when starting. What I do is use the APU dial as a load, so if the dial is 2 (start position), there is a load, but 0 or 1 have no load (off or on). Hopefully that helps.
@XM803ENJOYER46 here’s the Battery level variable "clamp(sum((apu)+(engine)-(system*1.4)),0,800" where the battery level is clamped at 800, and "engine" is the throttle times 70 but only when engines are on, and system is all things electronic that would drain battery. Hope I’m not wasting your time man, thanks.
@PlaneFlightX I have a APU system that allows what you mentioned, that was the biggest challenge lol. What I’m really stuck on is having the starters drain power whilst starting the engines and then not draining power once the engines are started. As of now, the starters are essential for the engines to be running as I use the method stated in your variables video (stuff like "Switch7*Switch9 & Battery>300 ect." How could I make it to where they only need to be running and draining battery when the engines are starting. -hope this makes sense lol I’m pretty new to FT
@XM803ENJOYER46 Thanks!
About realistic startup (I'm assuming you mean turning the APU off after engine start), you need a "separate system" that is powered by the engines or the APU, so as long as something is on, the system is on. Make the APU the only source that doesn't need the "system" to be running to start. You could also make the engines not need the APU as long as they are running, although that would be harder to do. On the SWL-10, as of Version 1.5, the engines don't even need the APU to start; just electrical power. Before that, I made them need hydraulics on to function (which can be powered by the APU or the engines, serving the job of the "separate system" I described above.
Hope this helps!
@PlaneFlightX hey man, I really wanna thank you for your variables video and this SWL-10, as it has expanded my knowledge of Funk immensely. Any tips for creating realistic startups? I am attempting a realistic APU on my SU-52 Hammer but do not know how to make the starters not be necessary to have the engines running. Nice build too bro my mobile device is gonna explode…
@PlaneFlightX good luck!
@NanamyMory I don't think so, unfortunately. This plane is so old that if I were to try and do any work on it (past bugfixes), I'd end up redoing half the cockpit and spending far too much time on it. My upcoming SWL-120 will have a full autopilot panel (and autonavigation and autoland), but that is still many months away.
@PlaneFlightX Ohh... Ok, will you fix it in future updates?
@NanamyMory Are you talking about the button with "APP" on it? It never worked anyway, so I removed it in updated versions.
Please help me. On all your videos there is isl activate button, but there isnt it in plane. How can i activate isl module?
Outside = Just a boring plane....
Inside = OH MY GO-
FUTURE UNIT OF UNIVERSAL AIRLINES (LOGISTICS DIVISION)
@PlaneFlightX
You are a strange sort.
@Graingy I plan to remake this in SP2 with ultra details similar to the SWL-120.
Should be a quick and fun project, only a few thousand parts and just under a year.
It's like a... very ugly coconut that's very fancy on the inside.
No, I don't wanna live inside a coconut, you do!
@Graingy This was my actual building skill 3 years ago lol
How far I've come...
Also if you check the changelog in the description I've made lots of improvements to this plane over time.
This thing has gotta be the most technically impressive shitpost...
It's like, the outside looks so incredibly mundane (almost like something I could make), and then you look inside...
There's a humour to it.
CuriosFalcon5882
@Thbigmanscoop109 I would say the hydraulics are not switched on. Refer to the pictures in the description to turn them on.
@PlaneFlightX @PlaneFlightX aileron my bad
@Thbigmanscoop109 What do you mean by "not turning"? Are you referring to the nose gear steering, aileron control, or propellers?
why wont it turn
why wont it turn
@SWL120NEED Well in SP, part count is CPU bound, so for a normal plane, it's not so much about the GPU but actually single threaded performance. What I've done to kind of get around this (the cockpit is still very laggy) is export all my static parts (for example the 1800 part wings), do some processing with Unity and blender, and then add each static body (e.g. one flap segment) back as one part. Now, the CPU processes one part, and the GPU renders the complex mesh. This effectively transfers the load from CPU to GPU, such that I have been able to run what would be hundreds of thousands of parts (now just 50 for that test) with no issues, although my GPU usage was high.
You can view more information here and here. Although the content and status of the plane is older, the concept is still the same, although I now use scripting to get a more than one static body in one mod part.