I live close to the Rockies in CO, but would love some good FSX flights through the Appalachian mountains. I am thinking of something east-west that would transverse the many mountain ridges. I know that this awesome range terminates south of the St. Lawrence to the north, and somewhere north of Atlanta in the south, but I'm just not sure which traversal section would offer the best scenery. Also, maybe there are some good longitudinal flights too, along the mountain ridges and valleys?I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has some local knowledge, and any good scenery packages to use also that mioght be available.Thanks, Bruce.

I live close to the Rockies in CO, but would love some good FSX flights through the Appalachian mountains. I am thinking of something east-west that would transverse the many mountain ridges. I know that this awesome range terminates south of the St. Lawrence to the north, and somewhere north of Atlanta in the south, but I'm just not sure which traversal section would offer the best scenery. Also, maybe there are some good longitudinal flights too, along the mountain ridges and valleys?I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has some local knowledge, and any good scenery packages to use also that mioght be available.Thanks, Bruce.

The highest peaks are just south of Knoxville-you might want to try a flight from kdkx (I just landed there a couple weeks ago and it is great-quite challenging) over to Asheville, Nc. That will take you near some of the high ones. The preferred takeoff runway is 08 due to terrain at the end of 26.I also did a direct flight from Martin State, Md (kmtn). to Hungtington, (khts) , West Virginia earlier this year-did it quite low at 6000 ft. and the mountains were quite spectacular and for the most part uninhabited. If you want a challenge try Heaven's Landing, Ga-a small on the runway community. Also Mountain air in North Carolina.Here is a compare of fsx and xplane to real shots from when I went to ge99:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...13&hl=geofaand a shot of Mountain Air which I visited but did not land at (too short for my fully loaded Baron)-how do you like the pool at the runway end?:

.....Here is a compare of fsx and xplane to real shots from when I went to ge99:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...13&hl=geofaand a shot of Mountain Air which I visited but did not land at (too short for my fully loaded Baron)-how do you like the pool at the runway end?:

Hi Geof,Thanks, very interesting shots. One question- those trees surrounding the area, are they evergreen or do they lose their leaves in winter ("deciduous" is the term I think)? Awesome country.I read the followup comments, and your own regarding X-Plane and FSX. (You may wish to reply with a PM to avoid a full scale war of opinions here :) ). The visual comparison of the two sims shows up well in your shots, but as a real-world pilot, and no doubt flying in the sim what you do/have in real life, how do the actual flight models compare between the 2 sims and the real thing? Thanks, Bruce.

Hi Geof,Thanks, very interesting shots. One question- those trees surrounding the area, are they evergreen or do they lose their leaves in winter ("deciduous" is the term I think)? Awesome country.They are a little of both.As for xplane fm's etc-step over to the avsim xplane forum. There is a huge thread there ("I tried xplane") that probably answers all your questions- :(

Hi Geof,Thanks, very interesting shots. One question- those trees surrounding the area, are they evergreen or do they lose their leaves in winter ("deciduous" is the term I think)? Awesome country.I read the followup comments, and your own regarding X-Plane and FSX. (You may wish to reply with a PM to avoid a full scale war of opinions here :) ). The visual comparison of the two sims shows up well in your shots, but as a real-world pilot, and no doubt flying in the sim what you do/have in real life, how do the actual flight models compare between the 2 sims and the real thing? Thanks, Bruce.

I like "full scale wars"......................but we're working on it! :( I've been a fan of the RealAir SF260 for FS9/FSX for a long time. IMO, it's flight dynamics are a lot closer to the type of real aircraft I fly. But as you can see in the link from Geof, we're working on a much revised default plane that comes with X-Plane version 9. Tyler does the programming, and I'll see if it's correct, or what needs tweaking.At the end of the day, I can still see advantages between both sims. This includes scenery too, as it still depends where and what. The same will probably apply to flight models also. Just depends what, and who programmed them.L.Adamson

I like "full scale wars"......................but we're working on it! :( I've been a fan of the RealAir SF260 for FS9/FSX for a long time. IMO, it's flight dynamics are a lot closer to the type of real aircraft I fly. But as you can see in the link from Geof, we're working on a much revised default plane that comes with X-Plane version 9. Tyler does the programming, and I'll see if it's correct, or what needs tweaking.At the end of the day, I can still see advantages between both sims. This includes scenery too, as it still depends where and what. The same will probably apply to flight models also. Just depends what, and who programmed them.L.Adamson

Thanks Geof and Larry,I might get the trial d/l of X-Plane with limited time funtionality and see how the C172 behaves.Bruce.

Thanks Geof and Larry,I might get the trial d/l of X-Plane with limited time funtionality and see how the C172 behaves.Bruce.

Bruce-I think that is one of the problems with xplane-the demo aircraft are not good-the 172 being one.

Bruce-I think that is one of the problems with xplane-the demo aircraft are not good-the 172 being one.

Thanks Geof, maybe not a good idea :)Thanks, Bruce.

Thanks Geof, maybe not a good idea :)Thanks, Bruce.

Well the good news is with a little bit of adjustment the fm's can be made great-even the 172's. Why those are not included in the defaults is anyone's guess-but it looks like it may be fixed in future versions.

IRL I used to fly with a friend of mine out of KAND in a C172 up north around the clemson/pickens area and a little further north towards the NC/GA/Tenn borders. Was real pretty in the fall. Luckily we only worked about 10 minutes from the airport and back then the rental was only 40 bucks an hour. Divided by two it was pretty cheap to get alot of pleasure hours.We also did alot of KBLM-KROA-KBLM also actually for the same company I worked for before they moved to S.C.

IRL I used to fly with a friend of mine out of KAND in a C172 up north around the clemson/pickens area and a little further north towards the NC/GA/Tenn borders. Was real pretty in the fall. Luckily we only worked about 10 minutes from the airport and back then the rental was only 40 bucks an hour. Divided by two it was pretty cheap to get alot of pleasure hours.We also did alot of KBLM-KROA-KBLM also actually for the same company I worked for before they moved to S.C.

I made a fuel stop once in kand. If I recall-the direct flight home to kptk took me directly over the highest peak in the chain. If I also recall it had an fss on the field (this was about 5 years ago)-a rarity if not extinct today.It is incredible in the fall-really beautiful country!

I made a fuel stop once in kand. If I recall-the direct flight home to kptk took me directly over the highest peak in the chain. If I also recall it had an fss on the field (this was about 5 years ago)-a rarity if not extinct today.It is incredible in the fall-really beautiful country!

Yea they did. Last time I flew out of there was in 93. Alot of coorporate people were in and out of that AP. The big boom in the late 80's when alot of manufacturing companys were moving or expanding down south from up north brought alot of traffic. Real estate was dirt cheap. So was the help. I bought a 3 bedroom ranch on 3 acres for 72 grand.KCEU is a nice little strip too. That was about 3 miles from my house.

1A3 (Copperhill, TN) and RHP (Andrews-Murphy) are both nice airports nestled in the mountains. Unless you want to fly 360s to get in and out, RHP is almost a one way in, one way out airport for many non-high performance aircraft, being surrounded by high terrain on three sides. Climb out of the cove and a relatively short flight north puts you right over Fontana Lake and Smoky Mountain NP, NE takes you up towards Asheville and Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi.

I just posted a video of landing at kdkx (knoxville island downtown) a few weeks ago on my avsim page-cool airport to land at!

Hey Bruce--I lived in Brevard, NC (SW of Ashville) for 5 years and spent a lot of time on the Blue Ridge Parkway on my motorcycles. Have been to Montainaire at Burnsville, NC as well. The Blue Ridge Pkwy goes from Cherokee, NC northeast to Front Royal, VA. In VA it is called Skyline Parkway. You could follow it the entire 500 miles or so and see some of the best the Appalachins have to offer. I did this map with Streets and Trips.Regards,Bruce Scott