Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)

The header holds the Datalink chip, Autosave and Night mode. Under it a status strip shows whether you are on the ground (and whether the brake is set) or in flight, and on the right what matters on the open tab, for example Equipment can move on the Ground tab or No plan sent on the Flight plan tab. Messages pop up above the tabs and close by themselves; errors stay a little longer, and the × closes one at once.

When the app opens it shows Restoring cockpit settings for a moment while your saved configuration is applied.

Three cards: Set up aircraft, Payload and Mission equipment. The equipment can be changed on the ground or in flight; only Set up aircraft needs the ground.

Set up aircraft

On the ground and stopped, one press sets the whole cockpit up for you. Anywhere else the line under the buttons says why it cannot run. While a preset runs the line says what it is doing (preparing the aircraft, starting the engine, bringing ground power, clearing the ground equipment) and what it waits for; afterwards it shows the last state applied, or why a preset could not finish.

With the ASARS-2 nose or the SPAN dorsal fitted, a Chalk Drawings by HUES card appears at the bottom of the Aircraft tab. Choose ASARS-2 nose or SPAN dorsal to open its drawing pad, pick white, ochre or blue chalk and draw with the mouse: the drawing appears on that part of the aircraft. Undo takes back the last stroke and Clear wipes the pad. Each drawing is kept on this PC.

Service the aircraft and arrange the ground equipment on your stand. It works only while you are parked: on the ground, stopped, off the runway, with the parking brake set or the wheel chocks fitted. The line under the map (and the status strip) says what is missing.

Servicing

The services in the order of a departure. Connect or Attach brings a hidden vehicle out by itself, sends it to its service point where the cable or hose goes on; Disconnect sends it back.

SimBrief plan. Enter your SimBrief Pilot ID once (from your SimBrief account settings); the MFD uses the same ID for MFD STAT → LOAD → SIMBRIEF. Choose Route (DPS file: origin, navlog fixes and destination, up to 99 DPs) or Airports (EMER file: origin, destination and alternates, up to 16), then Send route to aircraft. The EFB plays the ground station: it fetches your latest plan and sends it as an UPLD file, which you accept or reject on the MFD or the BCDU. It needs an internet connection, not the datalink.

INS. Your position in the format the BCDU expects for ALN POS, and the INS state. Reset INS asks first, then puts the INS back in standby so you can align again.

Fuel for the ACTIVE route. Current fuel in gallons and pounds. Calculate flies the ACTIVE DP file in a quick model (the 160 KIAS climb to M .715, then the cruise climb at M .715, with your zero fuel weight and the pods' drag; standard day, no wind, no descent) and gives the required fuel plus 15 %, the zero fuel, takeoff and landing weights and a fuel bar. Apply to aircraft (stopped on the ground) loads it, both sides even. Changing the ACTIVE file or the payload clears the figure.

Climb profile. Calculate draws the climb on the same model: altitude against KIAS, between the stall speed (at the start and end weights) and the limits, MMO .75 and VMO 240 KIAS, with the top of climb, the speed corridor there and the ceilings. With no ACTIVE route it draws the climb at your present weight.

U-2 pilots clip their charts to a sunshade that slides along the canopy arch. Yours works the same way.

Charts. The two tiles are your two charts (LOCAL and NAV to begin with); the one on the shade is marked On the sunshade. Click a tile to put its chart on the shade, or Swap; in the cockpit the amber pull tab swaps them too. Change opens the chart library for that tile.

Sunshade. Stowed · Shade only · Shade + chart. Position on canopy arch: the slider, the arrows (2 % a click) and Left · Top · Right. In the cockpit you can drag the shade or roll the mouse wheel over it. Every flight starts with the shade down at the top of the arch, showing your last chart.

Chart sources. INSPlanner: generate the charts in INSPlanner and choose Send charts to aircraft, then type the same plan ID here and press Find; sheet 1 goes to chart 1 as LOCAL and sheet 2 to chart 2 as NAV. Custom pages (Set up): a direct link to an image or PDF, one page or two side by side, the PDF page, Preview, then Load and save pages. Links must be direct http/https addresses to files that are not password-protected.

Drinks. Six 500 ml bottles, each Water or Energy. Set a bottle's level with its slider, or use Fill all with water, Fill all, mixed or Empty all; the card shows how much is left in all. The sip size is 10, 25 or 50 ml. Click a bottle in the cockpit to drink.

Dragon Food. Three heater slots (aft, middle, forward) and ten tube flavors. Select a slot, then a tube or Leave empty; All · Savory · Sweet filters the list, and the card header counts the stocked slots. In the cockpit, click a stocked tube to take it out and again to stow it; the FOOD HEATER switch warms a tube and shows FOOD READY about ten minutes after START.

The datalink is off on a first install, and your choice is remembered on this PC. Turn on datalink asks first; Turn off works at once. While it is on, your position, altitude, speed, heading and the local weather go to Miltech every 15 s under your MSFS gamertag, and other pilots see your U-2 on miltechRadar24 while you are airborne. Camera captures go only when you press the capture key; no images are ever uploaded. Switching off stops the uploads at once, and your radar position goes within 90 s.

datalink.miltechsimulations.com is where you see your shared records: sign in with your gamertag. Show QR code puts the address on the tablet for your phone camera. Link status gives your gamertag and the time of the last flight sample.

Camera controls lists the MSFS controls the camera pages listen to; they are all in the Keybinds Guide. With the datalink on and a camera page showing above 1,000 ft AGL, Capture saves the camera position and conditions to your gallery; the card header shows how the last capture went.

Attributions lists the map, radar and imagery sources. The Datalink console shows local error messages from the datalink, the SimBrief uplink and the radar, map and camera pages; it works with the datalink off and nothing in it is uploaded.

Nine sections; click a heading to fold or unfold it (remembered on this PC). Switches are blue when on.