I have come to the point again where my problems start. My fingers start itching and I start getting restless: it is the point where I seem to have all that I want. This is strictly speaking not true: there is stuff that I still want to buy for FS2004. Actually, there is a lot I still want to buy. But here is the problem. I have scenery all over Europe and the caribbean, and I have the planes for every type of flight I'd want to fly, and this is where the problem is: I don't really know how to fly any of them because I have so many. See, there are specific flights I really want to do. One of the is, for example, to fly the Wilco A332 in the Air Greenland livery I just made, from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq (Greenland). On the other hand, I'm dying to learn to fly the PMDG 747 from Amsterdam Schiphol, to St. Maarten and do that fabulous approach that goes right over the beach. Plus, the scenery by FlyTampa is gorgeous. Then there also is the fact I want to do flight with Surinam Airways and...well, you get the picture. There is a lot to do, and I have limited time. My question for you is: what do you do when you find yourself in such situations?UPDATE: Seems like I didn't quite ask the right question. Go to my next post, where I tried to rephrase it.

As you said my friend...you have planes, you have scenery, everything is perfect...NOW FLY!!! :(

I have come to the point again where my problems start. My fingers start itching and I start getting restless: it is the point where I seem to have all that I want. This is strictly speaking not true: there is stuff that I still want to buy for FS2004. Actually, there is a lot I still want to buy. But here is the problem. I have scenery all over Europe and the caribbean, and I have the planes for every type of flight I'd want to fly, and this is where the problem is: I don't really know how to fly any of them because I have so many. See, there are specific flights I really want to do. One of the is, for example, to fly the Wilco A332 in the Air Greenland livery I just made, from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq (Greenland). On the other hand, I'm dying to learn to fly the PMDG 747 from Amsterdam Schiphol, to St. Maarten and do that fabulous approach that goes right over the beach. Plus, the scenery by FlyTampa is gorgeous. Then there also is the fact I want to do flight with Surinam Airways and...well, you get the picture. There is a lot to do, and I have limited time. My question for you is: what do you do when you find yourself in such situations?

Print out the airplane manual, then read and study it closely. Flying the bird successfully in Flight Sim is simply the proof you understand what you've read.After about a year you will likely have a good overall grasp of a plane like the PMDG 747. Only then onto the next aircraft!For Boeing airplanes I strongly recommend Bill Bulfer's FMC User Guides to really understand FMC capability AND flight deck operations.------An old joke has a NYC visitor asking "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" - Answer: "Practice, Practice, Practice!"Alex Reid

I have come to the point again where my problems start. My fingers start itching and I start getting restless: it is the point where I seem to have all that I want. This is strictly speaking not true: there is stuff that I still want to buy for FS2004. Actually, there is a lot I still want to buy. But here is the problem. I have scenery all over Europe and the caribbean, and I have the planes for every type of flight I'd want to fly, and this is where the problem is: I don't really know how to fly any of them because I have so many. See, there are specific flights I really want to do. One of the is, for example, to fly the Wilco A332 in the Air Greenland livery I just made, from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq (Greenland). On the other hand, I'm dying to learn to fly the PMDG 747 from Amsterdam Schiphol, to St. Maarten and do that fabulous approach that goes right over the beach. Plus, the scenery by FlyTampa is gorgeous. Then there also is the fact I want to do flight with Surinam Airways and...well, you get the picture. There is a lot to do, and I have limited time. My question for you is: what do you do when you find yourself in such situations?

You are doin' a lot of "wanting" but you are not doing any flying. How do you move a mountain? One shovelfull at a time.

and if all else fails there's always eenie meenie minie... :(

Got to be the weirdest post of 2009. :(

well, you get the picture. There is a lot to do, and I have limited time. My question for you is: what do you do when you find yourself in such situations?

Actually the easy part is over, now you have to pick a plane and a mission, crack a book and practice over and over. On some level I understand what you are saying, it's sometimes much easier to obsessively tweak than to patiently fly.

Join a VA that has your wanted flights, good way to practice.

Got to be the weirdest post of 2009. :(

Nah, it isn't. Trust me. I have seen posts over here that were a lot more weird. Somehow, this post seems to sum up all the other posts, and that's why I deem it necessary to say the following:I probably seem to you guys to be a bit of a shmuck, no? Have all these planes and scenery, and yet I don't really seem to fly them. I gotta be a gamer, right? Well no. I have seen a lot of planes as a reviewer and I know my bit of planes. My knowledge of planes and FMC operation in Boeing aircraft is fairly good (or so I think), and I generally know what steps to take to get my plane of the ground (problem is: it is not perfect). Airbus aircraft, on the other hand, I know nothing about. The FMGC and A/P keep eluding my in their operation.I think I might have asked my question the wrong way. I mean, OF COURSE I go fly now. That's obvious. I have already been enjoying the NL2000 scenery from the veiw of my cute little Carenado C182RG. What I actually wanted to know, is how do you pick your aircraft and destination. As I said, I have many combinations of planes and destinations that I really, really want to do. But where do I start? I all want to do them equally badly. I would love to take my PMDG 747 into the air and fly to St. Maarten, but I'd also be excited about flying the Maddog 2008 to Surinam. Or, when I'm at it, get the Wilco A332 and fly from Copenhagen to Greenland. My question is: how do you choose. The options seem limitless now!I'm printing out the Wilco A332 manual, but that doesn't say a lot. The PMDG 747 has been printed out the moment I got it, and I have the QW757 manual printed out since last week. Go to my bookshelves and you'll notice an immense stack of paper: all kinds of aircraft manuals that I printed out over the course of a year (yes, I bought my first payware plane almost exactly a year ago!). Come to think about it, the only planes I seem to know well, in such a way that I can successfully complete flights the way I supposed to complete them, are the planes I did reviews about...So, my final question (or second question, perhaps): Shall I go for the PMDG747/LDS767/Ariane737 and perfection what I know, or shall I dive into the Wilco A332 and learn something completely knew? I myself have no idea what to do. What would your choice be? (And again, note that this is what I meant to ask in the first place... asking questions the right way can be tricky)Pingpong: you are right, the easy part is over. The hard part is first of all knowing what to fly and where to fly it, I guess. The flying itself I don't really regard as "the hardest" part. I have experience with a wide variety of planes (except Airbus, I tended to ignore them since I didn't like the design, but recently I have come to the conclusion that the A332 is one of the most elegant planes built, or so I think), and so from each plane I know what to do. When doing the checklists, what I find hardest is finding the damn switch :-PJames: I thought about joining a VA, but in the end I decided not to. I'm hesitant about such things. After hearing avrious opinions, it didn't seem to me to be the thing that would fit my personality.Mike T: Well, no. I do a lot of flying, but it's usually in the framework of a review (but that should be quite clear now after reading this post, I think...).Alex: thanks, I'll look into the booklet you mentioned!

Got to be the weirdest post of 2009. :(

HiNo I don't think it is weird! I have a huge number of addon aircraft installed as well as scenery areas and I can relate to the situation that 'Thraini' describes. I too have a stack of aircraft manuals printed out on my shelves!The problem with having too many aircraft to fly is that you never really master any of them in great detail and it all takes time (which your wife, if you have one, will frequently remind you about!!). I tend to fly general aviation aircraft a lot when I am in high detail scenery areas and they are relatively easy to master most of the systems, particularly as I used to have a pilots licence. Larger commercial aircraft are of course also great fun to fly but a lot of their systems are so complex that they can take a long time to master, even with real flying experience, and they can differ significantly from airliner to airliner which can be even more confusing! I have categorised my aircraft into different groups (general aviation / jet airliners / turboprop airliners / piston airliners / warbirds, etc) and then randomly chose one (literally by throw of a dice!) which will suit the runway lengths of origin and destination airports, distance to be flown and time available. I guess the time has come for you (and for me!!) to actually decide on one or two aircraft in each category which you really like and spend time mastering the systems on those aircraft alone, but that is easier said than done!Just wanted to let you know you are not alone with that 'problem'!BillWindows XP Pro SP2; Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz CPU; Arctic Cool 7Pro; ASUS P5N-E-SLI Motherboard; 2GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM; 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX Dual VGA Graphics card; 2x 500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive; 650W (2 x 12V) PSU; 1000GB Western Digital External Hard Drive; 150GB Western Digital External Hard DriveAll running 245GB of fs9 fun!

I don't really understand what the problem is, especially for someone who can luckily afford so many addons.Turn the vast amount of time you spend in this and other flightsim fora into your flightime.Choose an aircraft you like most (or just feel like most) and learn to use it to its (safe) limits.Get nice textures, real weather, interesting destinations, do some planning and... enjoy your flights!If you miss the human factor, join VATSIM and rediscover the realism of flying (highly recommended).And if all that doesn't help, it's time to switch to another hobby, for some time or for good.

How I do it?Well,you see,I've got most of the appealing high end addons there are,excluding some notably longhaul(i.e PMDG MD11/747) aircraft I wouldn't fly anyway,and I'm just standardizing on the Dash 8 now.I have joined something called FSairlines and I'm happily flying Dash 8's all over Vatsimusing REX and Active Sky.I'm actually surprised as to how much those little planes can bounce in turbulenceas compared to say a 737 ... it looks much more lifelike,strangely enough.Where is the fun,you ask?Well,for one thing,said dash 8 flies a bit slower.so it is much more funm to fly procedures as I actually have time to think about what I'm doing,while I'm doing it,in a 737 it was always hit and miss ... for every time you dialled inthe right course you'd do the wrong one as well.If I dial in the wrong course h

Rafal: That you tell me to choose a plane and fly indeed shows me you didn't understand my point. I don't know what plane to choose. Compare it to having two very good CDs and not knowing what CD to put on. I'm not sure how I can make myself clearer. As I said: all is perfect right now. I have all the addons "needed" to get everything out of FS2004, so to truly unlock it's potential. GEPro, REX2004, UT Europe, magnificent addon aircraft. FS2004 is now perfected for me and I'm getting some stunning scenes on my screen. The problems I had, started with the fact that I study biology, and I don't usually have the time to fly around and learn complex aircraft. So, I kept buying stuff, knowing that in vacations I can learn to fly them. Now I am at such a vacation, and I have to choose what to fly. Choosing from a rather wide selection, all very different, all great, is difficult when I want to know them all. And so I wanted to know how you guys decide what plane you'll want to learn to fly. That is all. It is not a matter of not liking anything, it is a matter of liking everything and not knowing where to start. I can't see how switching to another hobby would help, and I don't see why looking at the Avsim forums know and then is relevant for my question ("vast amount of time"? Hardly...).Geez, I thought I could get some honest advice to a simple question. Some people gave it, and I thank you for that, but others seem to... I don't know. "What's the problem?" is what I'm curious about. I know for fact that I'm not the only one in such a situation, so I'm simply wondering how come this question raises such amazement.Anyway, looks like I'll be flying around Europe with my PMDG 747.JP_Visser: Yeah, I completely understand what you mean. I greatly enjoyed flying PMDG's JS41 when I was doing the review about it (it struck me as if I wa actually piloting the aircraft, not merely pushing buttons!). Alas, FSX only, so I won't be flying it anytime soon.

-----------Alex: thanks, I'll look into the booklet you mentioned!

Bulfer's FMC guides open a whole new aspect on flying thru hundreds of examples of ATC & navigational challeges. They are presented in an entertaining way & you may find that curling up with one is just as much fun as simming! You may also be taken aback at how little we simmers really know about flight deck skills. Sim manuals tell about FMC capabilities: Bulfer shows how to make use of those capabilities.Alex Reid

Hi,For all the enjoyment of your add-ons. Try organizations like Air-Source or Flying tigers.All your add-ons would be used for purpose. Fly airline schedules to destinations around the globe w/ thats specific model of equipment.Personal flights: Jump in your Cessna or cooperates and fly around the world. Flight-time logged.Bid flights: It keep our Pilots on their toes with flights limited in numbers and time. Get your bid today, because it may be gone tomorrow.ASHA- HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFTThe AirSource Humanitarian Airlift division offers flights as a way of communicating our concern for worldwide disasters. We cannot always do things to help in real life. ASHA is here to fulfill that mission.Its quite an enjoyment and keep the gears greased up on all your birds.http://www.air-source.usCheers!