I'm a casual flyer 99% of the time, though always at full realism. Can't stand arcade flight models. I like the scenery, the geograhic adventures, the virtual freedom. Not much into flight plans and systems management. (I have two kids, I'm already an expert in plans and systems management.)I enjoy landing most of all. I can spend hours just landing different birds in different weather conditions and locations.You could call me a Buzzer.

first off, i fly every flight as if my life depends on it, ill check wx and check my flight plan and note the airspaces I might be passing through, etc but all with GA and pretty much all VFR - I will go IFR if im socked in with the wx - I allways fly with ASV6.5 and with real wx and if I'm socked in, I either don't fly or IFR I never cheat and change the location or my wx. the aeroworx B200 is about the max right now for complexity for me, I much prefer the C206 in washington/portland or/canada area for me - I have been flying that area for about the last 2 yrs. I do fly some heavies but not much anymore. I get hung up on all the technicalities of all that stuff and at one time I was really into it, but I'm trying to get my photography business going and I just don't have time to be studying large amounts of manuals, etc.I do love the B1900C/F and the wilco ER4I would like to get into RC4 but... not sure..ciao!Brian S

I enjoy GA flying in Alaska, lots of good scenery to see. But, for the last week or so, I've been doing the world flights by Klaus Hullermann. In the process, I forced myself to make proper approachs for landing. I had a bad habit of making too short of an approach, from too high of an altitude, and forced a landing, when I should have gone around. So now, I do a proper approach, getting lined up to the runway, altitude at 5,000', at least 5 miles out. It's so much easier.Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like -M.Twain

Great post.How technical? Well,I try to remember to put the wheels out before hitting the ground and I try to get it stopped before it does 6 bounces or shoots off the far end of the runway and into the landscape.I worry about stalling.I like take-offs and I generally set visibility to 30 miles or so to blur the background once aloft.That said, I may set up nasty conditions to try to land in, with a lot of wind and shear, and for me the FS9 weather engine is pretty effective.I fly dc3s,dc4s,dc6s all over the States, as I d/led some of Justin Tymes mesh add-ons for the Western states and Alaska, so as the terrain is now a bit more realistic I fly mainly there.I try to fly without a loaded flightplan as I don't like the pink line in the GPS ( which I use as a co-pilot) so I might create a plan, then print it and fly with that.I only bought FS9 to see what it was like and I've been hooked since the first day I used it. Technically correct? Not at all, I'm afraid!Andy.

Yes Andy, this is a great thread.I'd like to add one more aspect to simming, to my comments above. Many of us see simming differently and for many reasons, but we all have a passion about some aspect of aviation. Tom's AVSIM provides a great place to exchange views such as this, and that's the glue that keeps us together. We cross many boundaries here; politically, culturally and otherwise; yet you would never know it, thanks to the high standards that Tom and his team have set. Bruce.

This has made such intersting reading reading. I'm glad I posted this.I remember when I first started simming in FS98 - I was facinated with what computers were able to achive graphically. I was never very impressed with earlier computer graphics. When FS98 came out I remember spending hours doing flights in the DEFAULT 737 between the few airports which existed around the globe - with the absolute minimum of navaids. At that point I didn't even know that third party developers or payware existed ! I spent months with default aircraft. Boy was I happy when I found Avsim and flightsim.com's download libraries. Does anyone remember the payware Classic Airliners series for FS98 ? I was very chuffed with that. And then when the utility 'Aircraft Animator' came about I spend loads of time 'animating' the nosewheel and propellors of my aircraft. That was exciting stuff. It was so REAL. (at the time) . But boy, look where we are 9 years later. Amazing. I tried to do everything by the book as far as was possible, but over the years have tired of spending hours between navaids on long haul flights :-). I dont have the luxury of that time anymore. So now myself go for the short hops between new airports I've just purchased. And by the way, if you haven't used AES yet, my advice is, definately give it a go. It adds alot of realism to the airport environment.. It's amazing how the small enhancements sometimes have the greatest overall impact.It will be interesting to see 9 years from now, what we'll be saying about todays 'archaic' PC simulation experiences. :-). I've made a diary note ask the question then :-)Thanks all for adding to this. Eric

I have to admit, compared to everyone else here I am VERY new to FS. I only started with FS2002, and at that it was out of sheer boredom. I am a heavy gamer, and I beat all my games. I happened to have an OEM version of FS2002 that came with a graphics card I purchased and installed it only because I had absolutely noting else to do.Being a gamer, FS irked me. I couldnt learn it well as I only had a cheap joystick and keyboard. The joystick sucked. Eventually I got a slightly better joystick and was still annoyed by not being able to learn. Remember this was an OEM version of FS2002, so I didn't have a users guide or manual. Finally I started digging into the menu and stumbled across Rod Machado's lessons. Less than a year after installing FS and discovering those lessons, I was not only hooked on FS with CH flight yoke and pedals, but taking my introductory flight in a Cessna 150F.Now, about 6 years later, I am about to start IFR for my flight portion of training (Cessna 172M) and ground school wise I have completed PPL, IFR, Commercial, CRM, Weather, and Mountain Flying, and my last class of this semester is Aircraft Systems. I start Multi-Engine ground school in the Fall. Hopefully over the Summer, I can get my IFR hours and some commercial to start catching my flight portions of training up with the ground schools I am taking in college.I guess after reading Eric's second reply above I had to come back to this thread to point out I would not be diving into an aviation career if it weren't for FS, the great FS community and a few great payware and freeware add-ons . . . . jus a few . . . Okay okay so my FS is now over 500GB partitioned and that partition is almost full . . . . .Anyway I love reading the posts in here. Personally I'd love not only knowing how others use FS, but what got you into it :-)Thanks for a great thread, Eric.EDIT::: I never said I could spell.

>It will be interesting to see 9 years from now, what we'll be>saying about todays 'archaic' PC simulation experiences. :-). >I've made a diary note ask the question then :-)>>Thanks all for adding to this. >>EricIf the advances in computer technology keep at the pace that's it's been going for the last 9 years then I see a simulator world where there will be a lot more real world interaction. We already have some pretty good real time weather engines that simulate exactly what's going on outside weatherwise . Now imagine taking that a step further and having the ability to simulate other events that are going on right now. For example, if there was a major structure fire in New York, one could fly there in his/her FS and see the actual goings on just as they are occuring in real life. How cool would that be?If that were ever to become a reality I would definitely spend more time learning to fly the helicopters in FS so that I could do a " sightsee cruise" of the Florida beaches during Spring Break:-cool John M

>If the advances in computer technology keep at the pace that's>it's been going for the last 9 years then I see a simulator>world where there will be a lot more real world interaction.>We already have some pretty good real time weather engines>that simulate exactly what's going on outside weatherwise .>Now imagine taking that a step further and having the ability>to simulate other events that are going on right now. >For example, if there was a major structure fire in New York,>one could fly there in his/her FS and see the actual goings on>just as they are occuring in real life. How cool would that>be?>If that were ever to become a reality I would definitely spend>more time learning to fly the helicopters in FS so that I>could do a " sightsee cruise" of the Florida beaches during>Spring Break:-cool >>John MHi, I've also wondered if might possible in the future to interject current RW event's into the sim. I know there was a freeware addon last year which would depict all the forest fires going on across the U.S. with data obtained from external sources. Even more things like this would be very cool indeed, IMHO.But, no one has really mentioned flying by the book regarding weather? How many of us fly into and through thunderstorms that we wouldn't come close to in real life? I don't know if it's possible but, I would like to see ActiveSky or other weather engines be able to interact with something like Radar Contact, so you would be vectored into a holding pattern before you could land until some storms pass through. Or, maybe you are delayed on the ground because of bad weather passing by or directed around storms while you're in the upper flight levels - just like in real life.I agree John, in today's computer and information age, the opportunities to portray current events within the sim could be endless and I hope become a reality. Great topic and read!Regards, KendallDell 8400 3.2 GHZ H.T.800 FSB/2MB L22 GB 533 DDR2X800XT 256MB/Catalyst driver - 6.10's6x AA/16x HQ A/FDiamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530'sDual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905CH Yoke/Pedals

Woah -- an add-on that dd forest fires based on rl data? Where's this one at?????

In the library: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...scen&DLID=87713Regards, KendallDell 8400 3.2 GHZ H.T.800 FSB/2MB L22 GB 533 DDR2X800XT 256MB/Catalyst driver - 6.10's6x AA/16x HQ A/FDiamond Xtreme/Logitech X-530'sDual Monitor: Dell 2405/1905CH Yoke/Pedals

Oh . . . OH!!!! Okay. Schweet. I actually downloaded that once and still have it somewhere. I just remembered it placing historic -- didnt see the realtime! Going to install that rght now!!! Thanks!!!!Guess I could add that to the topic -- I love taking the C-130 Tanker and doing firefighting runs. One of my dreams.Chris

That's really cool, you could use an Evergreen B741 or DC-10 fire tanker on those fires and have some real fun. I wonder if the Hayman fire (CO in 2002) is in that historical collection.Bruce.

We need some of Hogler's magic he created with the oil-drum fires in his Glacier Bay sceneries, but expanded to a much bigger scale to duplicate a forest fire.Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like -M.Twain

I'll bring the weinies.......who's got the brew? :-beerchug Regards, Kendall