cruise level........what do you guys do?

[Azapata87 173]

hi,This is what I do (I like flying airliners so cruise is really boring) I takeoff, hand fly to 15000 then Autopilot the rest of the way up until final approach where (I like hand flying final approach) I take over and hand fly all the way to touchdown. Cruise is really boring, I walk around in the pmdg 737 cabin and look at the wings and stuff. Then if its a long flight I'll go watch tv until I get close to my descent point. My question is what do you guys do during your flights to keep yourselves entertained and not die of boredom?AndrewPS. Hopefully this will change for the better in fs2004 with the weather and stuff (Im sure I'll like watching the pretty clouds go by)

[Guest]

Surf the web AND take short flights. Can't stand anything longer than 45 mins

[spotlope 0]

If you want a less boring cruise but still want to fly airliners, sign up as a pilot for Hawaiian or Aloha airlines, flying inter-island. There's some great mesh available for Hawaii, both freeware and payware, and Bill Melichar has created almost every airport in the islands in great detail (also freeware). You get to fly a full trip without the autopilot, as the average flight is around 40-45 minutes! Give it a shot, and I'll bet it'll beat those cruisin' blues.aloha,

[Azapata87 173]

hi,Hmmmm I'm interested now!!! I see Aloha VA flies the 737-700!! :-) :-)I'll see if I give it a try ;-) I especially like the idea of not having to file PIREPs using the Acars program.Andrew

[Guest]

The longest flights I do are usually around 2 hrs. I am always in hear shot when flying on VATSIM. During cruise either watch TV or surf the web.

[jacsantos 0]

Same here! Small flights!!!250-600 nmor max 1h, one time made a 2h one. boring.... They are so automatic that is hard to do anything rather than monitor everything...My planes:PSS airbus PSS dash8Pss 747DF737Flight1 meridianPMDG 737SSW a310As you can see they all are of a very high quality with the majority of systems implemented and still they're boring on long flightsYou may say "well buy captain sim 727 or RFP 747 they don't have fancy FMC's to fly for you, so even in cruise you'll get prety ocupied" and I'll say "yeah but they were made for a flight crew of 3, and it's very hard to take the place of all of them in fs, besides they require a lot of paperwork (charts). " So, fly GA planes, one pilot is enough, and you can use god old navigation" and I say "Sure to go from VOR to VOR is fun if they are near each other, make patterns around the base airport isn't bad either, but is very basic, they are hard to control in "bad" weather, they're slow, fly low and gets BORING to go from one airport to another even if they are less than 100nm of each other ;) Besides I love technology, to understand the diferent philosophies of the manufactures, the complex systems, to know how a computer can make something hard seem easy,logic and simple, so new airliners are the way to go, but for understanding all this I dont need 2h+ flights, so short ones suit me best. Flying in Europe or in the USA is fun because in short distances you can reach a state capital, or a national capital, whith big international airports, and lot's of AI traffic, giving you the feeling of a serious(long or international) flight without needing to leave the computer unsupervised ;) for the duration of flight, besides in about 3h we can make about 3 flights (ie: three pre flights, 3 takeoff's and 3 landings) while for a long one probably not even one full could be done.The beauty of FS is that everyone can make his/her choice: GA, regionals, Hely's, Heavymetal jumbos, long, short, VFR, IFR, repainting, modeling, screeshoting, online, offline, by the book... as long as one feels ok with what it does the everything is fine!Enjoy yourselfs ;Santos(LPAV)

[Guest Matthew Murray]

Hello, Intially I fly to around 2000ft and engage the A/P after thrust reduction (A320). The A/P then climbs me to my intial cruise altitude depending on clearence from ATC. All during my cruise I am filling in my NAV Sheet, fuel and nav checks. I also plan my arrival and alternate route to my alternate airport. I am also checking ATIS at suitable enroute alternate airports just in case I have to make an emergency landing. I am pretty busy up-front, even for a high-tech jetliner like "the bus". Longest flight? around 4-5hrs

-----------------------[bR]Matthew Murray | Project Airbus[bR]

http://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg

[Guest captbulldog]

Sleep

[Guest ssurjap]

I surf the web (or play games) on my other computer, but I still monitor the instruments even though I'm on AP. I also don't use the NAV slave on the AP. I use the Heading slave, so I always have to make sure I'm still on course.

[Guest crashing_pilot]

i fly quite long flights with hjg's dc8 mainly,coupled with the freeware delco ins,and i'm always busy...handfly her up to 10.000 ft at least,watch the airspeed(no autothrottle),adjust throttles,nav cross checks,watch enroute atis in case of emergencies,adjust vertical speed,calculate tod,toc,monitor flightplan,systems,level off at cruise altitude(no altitude capture),man it really is busy,especially when flying on vatsim with all that typing(no voice)but hey,as long as i've got fun right?no airbus or boeing for me ;-)DC 8 all the way!

[phjvh 0]

Hi,Only testing adjustments to panelgraphics and aircraftsystems (xml)No autopilot, only testing the different mode's.No FL's, fly between the mountains and cows.Jan"Procul Negotiis"

[Guest]

weird nobody does what i do...Using VATSIM, I'll get a flightplan goin, take-off, climb to 5,000ft, set autopilot, make sure speed and altitude are going as I like them, and then I'll flip open my homework and start working. While i'm doin my work, i'll check the systems; i'll keep the speakers on, to be alerted by anything... And then land when i need to... I'm pretty different than most pilots, i usually do not flying GA aircraft, the closest i'll get to that is a FOKKER 50.Thats always good for a 4-7 hour flight... Takeoff around 4:00pm and arrive somewhere else 9:00pm or 10:00pm (my time that is). That way u are busy doing your homework at your desk, and still gettin some good flyin... And of course, an inflight snack or meal is requiered... now we can't have a hungry pilot flyin a plane... :-lolNow i must say, Flight Simulator is probably the only simulator (its a game, but at the same time not) where u can play and do your homework... mercy, everything just works out well!AlPVA @ www.palva.ca.tc

[Guest Captain Barfbag]

I fly IFR and kick the sim rate up to 4x once I reach cruising altitude. You'll be plenty busy just keeping up with the ATC handoffs and small course corrections. On transoceanic runs, I run at 16x. There's hardly any AI out there anyway, and it all restarts once I get back to normal speed as I approach the coastline.