As you know flying long distance is boring. You can only find so many things to play with and you can only check and recheck the FMC approach and holds so many times.So accelerated time helps, but the A/P, LNAV hold has troubles with it. It starts to over correct and zig zag across the course line wasting fuel and time.Solution? Zoom the map view to about 40 or 80 miles and disengage VNAV hold and fly with HDG hold at x16 speed. You can actually fly quite accurately, given your effective speed of about 8000nm/h.You "can" get away with burst of x32, x64 and even x128, but watch the winds, sudden or even gradual changes in the wind strength or direction can cause you to drop 5000ft in about 10 seconds. Coming back up, wastes gallons of fuel.Hope this is helpful.

I started flying Virtual Airlines years ago and one of the requirements for a VA flight was that you could not use accelerated mode. I actually think it makes it more realistic to fly real time and have always used it. I now have FSNav with the maps and Active Skys and with the ATC, I manage to keep fairly busy checking things.

I also think long flights are boring, so... I only fly short flights! :) Now THERE is a simple solution! :) I am practicing to fly on Vatsim so accel time is out of the question... My flight distances usually are between 100 and 200 NM.

Some people want is as real as it gets. They check their position every now and then, calculate fuel burn, talk to atc, etc. But what i do is takeoff a couple of hours before i go to bed, and land it after i wake up.Cheers,Ian Udingahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

I usually just do short trips. I bought the game and all the accessories to have fun, not watch the FMC fly. I know, I could do the VOR to VOR flying, but honestly, that is just as boring for me as letting the FMC do it, there's no challenge. I find it more fun to just do pattern practice; after all, everyone can always use more landing practice.If I do flights for my VA they are usually 300nm or so. Just long enough to get up to cruising altitude and shortly after descend. That keeps me in practice of the rest.When I do make longer flights (I'm always on VATSIM) I always keep my scanner and liveatc.net close by, or a TV is handy as well, to keep me occupied. That and of course posting on sim boards. :)

Hi Guys,With the PMDG 737NG I have done one trip all over Asia from the US and once all over Europe from the US. Of course it requires some long legs like Denver to Achnorage, then on to Tokyo. On these long flights after I get settled I then do other things around the house. I check on things once an hour. I fly on a real world schedule and never fly accelerated either, nust not real to me.To each their own, thats what makes this sim so great.CheersBob

>But what i do is takeoff a couple of hours before i go to>bed, and land it after i wake up.Ian, isn't that what real life pilot's do? ;)Ahmed

It would be slightly less boring if FS had some more varied ATC voices. E.g. it could have local accents and even local language ATC mixed in, and it could have some non-standard phrases so ATC does not always follow the exact same pattern in what is spoken. But I also understand that this would be a tremendous effort.At the moment it is not even technically possible to have localized accents in the FS world.Cheers,Siggy

Anyway... You have inspired me. I came up with a solution for two problems. 1. I am addicted to FS. 2. I have an assignment overdue.Solution?Start flying round the world in the 737-700, without using the time acceleration at all.Take off, climb to crz, study for 2 or 3 hours, descend, land.Plan next flight, repeat.I left Belfast last night about 4pm, stopped at Ibiza, then across to Cyprus. I got 90% of the priliminary assignment work completed. Today, I am about to descend for Bahrain and I have half an assignment complete. Next stop (odd this one), "Katmanduu", see if I can't find some Everest scenery around first.BTW, FWIW I used to fly Fly2K without the distance compression, because almost everything else didn't accelerate, time, fuel etc. Which really was unusable. I used to do the same as someone mentioned of sleep though long hauls. Only none of the planes I had in Fly2K had decent range and so many times the fuel plan would be messed by wind, or an autopilot disco and I would turn the sound on, while the monitor warmed up to the sound of waves lapping against the cockpit LOL.FWIW, legs 1 to 3Flight one.Day one.EGAC to LEIB (Ibiza)DCT IOM UL10 WAL UN862 BHD UN864 SALCO UN864 ARE UM616 TUPAR UM184 CNA UN863 AGN UN727 ROCAN UN859 BCN UW74 CORDA STAR LEIBTrip Distance: 1138(1200)Fuel: 22279Payload: 37296Taxi Weight: 142575CRZ ALT: FL370Date: 22nd August 2004Power up: 0510z 0600lBoard: 0515zOUT: 0525zOFF: 0526zON: 0811zIN: 0813zET: 2:45Power Down: 0820z(VFR in Cessna round Island)6 hours in ibiza for pax=============================================================================================================Flight two.LEIB to LCPH (Papos Cyprus)LEIB SID MHN UM603 ALG UM601 RUTOM UG8 ATV UL995 RDS UM601 DASNI UW195 TOBAL STAR LCPH Start up time: 1410z 1600lBoard: 1415zOUT: 1423zOFF: 1425zON: 1738zIN: 1744zPower Down: 1800zOvernight stop for PAX.=============================================================================================================Flight threeDay two.LCPH to OBBI Bahrain (via Egypt)LCPH DCT APLON UG183 PASOS UL550 RASMO UP559 ALVON STAR OBBIStart up time: 0600z 0800lBoard: 0615zOUT: 0628z (Pax 10 mins late).OFF: 0632z ON: ????z ETA 0930zIN: ????zPower Down:

Yes they do!So when i get tired i just let the F/O's fly like in the real thing. ;)Cheers,Ian Udingahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

Paul that's a cool idea!When i get the PMDG744, i'm going to take-off every night and sometimes in the day while i can watch tv or so.Then i'm going to fly around the world a couple of times, every time i go around the world i plan my path a little more to the south :), visiting all the biggest cities of the world :9. Cheers,Ian Udingahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

I know that I may get in trouble for this one but I will tell you all how I do the long trips. I like to try and make the flights that I take resonably realistic so I try to do more or less the same things that pilots do. We all know that pre-flight through climb we have a work load and don't get very bored but upon reaching cruise these are the things that I do to stay busy: I will read the paper or a magazine, do a crossword puzzle, any one of a hundred things that people normally do to pass time. I also use, and I know it is cheating, FS Browser to check out various things on the web. I love that tool since it keeps you in the cockpit and you can find charts, weather, sports scores, whatever. Anyway I try to avoid leaving the "cockpit", I will leave to use the restroom of course and I worked out a deal with my wife. This is where the trouble I mentioned earlier will start. :-) We were renting a couple of horses and she wanted to buy them so I made a deal with her, if I buy her the horses she would help me with my flight sim hobby. I told her what she had to do and she was more then happy to comply, actually it surprised me. Anyway, while I am at cruise and I feel the need for something I switch to the upper panel, turn up the sound and hit the attendant call button and my wife will come in and ask me what I would like. I am talking about food and drink here people! :-) This way I do not have to leave the cockpit to get something to eat! When we watch TV we always get things for each other anyway so it is not that big a deal but it is really nice that she agreed to do that for me, and besides I bought her two horses in exchange for her "help". I will admit that at times I do not feel like staying at the PC until the flight is done and I will go watch something on TV but I try to not do that very often. There are so many things that real pilots do to fill their time so I figure I can too. Granted we can't talk to our co-pilot but on occasion my wife will come in and talk to me, I don't mind that as long as I am not on final or otherwise busy, but she has gotten good at seeing where I am in flight and only talks when I am cruising. Take care,Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

Same Here, My wife is very cooperative, We decided to put the TV, some magazines, and my Flight sim set up in one room, She likes to see home decorating TV shows and reading the magazines, so I Take off do the usual stuff, set the bird on cruise, and then I can turn back, get a cup of coffee or a candy from my wife, she just sits and do her stuff. She usually ask me if I am on cruise, so she can show me things she wants to buy ( Hmm women!), then I let her know That I am going to start the descent, so I take my time to plan things and descend, I got back to her when I arrive to the gate and the airplane has been shut down and secure... She even has pushed me to start a around the world trip! She always ask me: Where are you flying now? and got tired of me answering the same 5 or 6 airports every time.Now I am following Gigaquads HRW route with only 3 planes: SF260, PMDG 1900, and PMDG 737-600 NG... The way I do it is really fun, this will be out of topic in this forum, but if you guys are interested I'll show you how I set up the flights...for me it has been a very exciting experience.Right now I am stationed in a remote place in Patagonia, Argentina.... Some interesting Andes mountain crossing ahead!!

LOL i also raise the volume and hit the Flight Attendant button sometimes to call my girlfriend to get us some drinks :)Cheers,Ian Udingahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

Yes, thank God PMDG modelled the attendant call functionality!!!!!! Good job PMDG!!!!!!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg