Now that I am back home I thought I'd do a few sim/real compares. Pretty amazing stuff-a flight from San Diego Montgomery field to Catalina Island.In 3 parts:Part 1-shot #1 -looking back at Mirmar airportshot #2-La Jolla http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg

1) Torrey Pines golf course2) Catalina-north side (two coves)http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg

1)Entering downwind Catalina airport2)Over the town of Avalonhttp://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg

Geof...Ah the memories... I learned to fly out of Brown field (you know, the one where if you did too sloppy a pattern, you would end up in Mexican airspace), and flew with a friend once to Catalina. In a Luscomb no less. Had one of the most fascinating fuel "gauges" I had ever encountered. :)Thanks for the shots Geof!

You're back home already? Did you use time compression (or did I oversleep?)

http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg:-lol :-lol :-lol :-lolIf only it worked that way... I spent all day in a plane being delayed by weather yesterday :-mad

Not another transplanted San Diegan! :-kewlhttp://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg

Either way, I'm going to have to fly that Deb more often to get from place to place.

>Pretty amazing stuff-a flight from San Diego Actually this is a good example how two people can reach different conclusions looking at this comparison. To me it shows how much is still left to be done in the scenery area to even have a vague "being there" feeling. Airports are already quite good - but general scenery has still years to go ...Michael J.

Of course there is always more to be done to increase reality. I did fly this trip several times on the sim before going for real though, and I was amazed at how well it prepared me-down to the real weather to expect. I think the resemblance is quite good-the mind can fill in much of the blanks in the missing areas for now.http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg

>Of course there is always more to be done to increase >reality. I did fly this trip several times on the sim before >going for real though, and I was amazed at how well it >prepared me-down to the real weather to expect. I think the >resemblance is quite good-the mind can fill in much of the >blanks in the missing areas for now. >>http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg I did the same thing during my flight training. I'd fly the flights in MS2002 and I had the same experience....it helped...(I remember distinctly that flying KSSF to KCLL....helped me to visualize the approach to College Station - runway layout from the air, etc.)To some degree, MS2002 is as real as you want to make it (e.g. following checklists, run-ups, etc.)BTW - AWESOME comparison shots between reality and MS2002. I think I'm going to do the same for some of the areas here in South Texas. Flat in reality....flat in the sim...NICE! ;-)

I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago for my BFR,(Flight Review),I flew the area northwest of Oklahoma City in the simulator with special emphasis on F28,(ElReno). On the way to El Reno out of Wiley Post, the CFI had ragged on me a bit for not seeing traffic, when he says, "do you see El Reno Airport"? I said,"no you can't see it from here, but when we fly over the road that bends back to the right we will see it, if we look left". "I thought you hadn't flown here before", he says. Sure enough, as I came abreast of the bend in Interstate 40 I turned left gently, looked left forward and there it was. I never told him I had flown this in FS2k2 with 10 mile visibility setting. He still wonders how i found the strip so easily. :D In ProPilot days I won a VFR contest by flying the route from Grand Prairie TX to San Saba Tx. and Back to GPM via Waco Tx. We had to fly that with only a compass, stopwatch. and a sectional. There was a CFI from the FBO flying with you to make sure you didn't use any electronic navigational aids. The person that came the closest to flying the route in the estimated time that you gave before starting the flight was the winner, assuming you didn't get lost. :) I won 10% of anything the FBO sold for one year. This included flight time. I flew this route in Pro Pilot before flying it for real. Turned out quite nicely.

Geof, you should collect all the comparison shots you've done and set them up on a web site. They're great!Sidney Schwartz [KPDX]Horizon Flights--flight plans and scenery for FS2002http://sidneyschwartz.homestead.com/index.html

That's amazing that that kind of detail exists!

Thanks!In the "old" days I did have a site that compared fs98, pro pilot, and fuIII to real shots. It was a pretty big site-but then the free hosting site went under and took the website with it-I never had the ambition to try again. It is fun to do these shots though-maybe I'll give it another shot some time.http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.jpg