There are so many ways to "play" Flight Simulator.You can "play" the pilot and just fly and not worry about the financial end of things. or try to be an FBO owner, etc...my question is, suppose I want to simulate my own air charter start-up, does that go hand in hand with owning my own FBO? or not necessarily? As long as I'm leasing my planes can't I rent hanger space somewhere from another FBO or from the airport itself? or is that not realistic?thanksBS

You can do all of that at Eagle Valley Air. www.eaglevalleyair.comFS Economy might also interest you. www.fseconomy.comUsed both and I prefer the former..

yes, I'm familiar with VAFS and FSEFSE is quite limited when you break things down.in FSE, your price is based off distance traveled not time. most charter companies charge by time.also, you can't simulate "rides" or "flightseeing" in FSE and you can't do things like power line inspection flights, photography flights, etc... you can't do things like Cargo on demand, etc well to some degree it does, but very little.VAFS, is very good... need to look into that more.however, I'm want to study and know the real thing first then simulate what I know.

Couldn't agree with you more about FSE - it's a system that is abused by the members and it's all a race for money. VAFS is the best simulation I've found. Sadly I think much of what you're asking for doesn't exist yet in FS.

There are so many ways to "play" Flight Simulator.You can "play" the pilot and just fly and not worry about the financial end of things. or try to be an FBO owner, etc...my question is, suppose I want to simulate my own air charter start-up, does that go hand in hand with owning my own FBO? or not necessarily? As long as I'm leasing my planes can't I rent hanger space somewhere from another FBO or from the airport itself? or is that not realistic?thanksBS

To answer your question, yes, it is totally realistic to simulate an air charter that does not own an FBO. I'd say the majority of charter companies do not also own the FBO. They rent a hangar through the FBO or the airport. FBO/Charter combinations used to be more prevalent, but many have split up to separate costs. (Even if from the outside they appear to be one entity).I'm not saying there are not plenty of joint FBO/Charter companies, but you could simulate it realistically either way.

Well that is really helpful and cool as well.back to the other response.... I think I can simulate everything I want, I just have to do it on paper and keep track of everything out of FSXthings, like keeping track of people, so that if you fly 3 guys out for fishing, those 3 guys have to be picked up sometime later and flown back home, etc.

Well, that kind attention to realism certainly commands my respect.