I guess the answer to the question is that most simmers don't know how to fly a plane. It takes some practice to hand fly correctly, and 99,999% of all the landings you do, once you get it, should be correct, even in bad weather. I guess most "gamers" don't have the discipline to learn this. Doing the button pressing seems more realistic to them. It's quite delusional.

+1. People have this "the computer flies the plane" image in their head

Sorry Paul but this is wrong.Very few things are left today to the pilot's "taste".Airlines decide the conditions of manual landings and 80% of Airbus landings are done via autoland actually.

Thanks Dave. Now all you "hand flying" Desktop Pilots, shut up, and listen... sam bertien.

Well, modern airliners have so much options. You can fly it in few different ways, even if you follow all regulations. So, one day, I want to fly SID manually - no prob; nex day I want to fly SID via AP not coupled with FMC - no prob; nex day I want to fly only LNAV, and to regulate speed/altitude via MCP - no prob... There are so much choices, why to limit ourself to only one? Same is for landing, sometimes I like to sit and watch the computer doing job, sometimes I want to do whole descend and land manually. Lj. Prodanovic

Thanks Dave. Now all you "hand flying" Desktop Pilots, shut up, and listen... sam bertien.

You know he admitted that that was a typo like 10 posts back....

I suppose if you want to do it real, you can wake up at the crack of dawn and start flying whether you're ready or not, fly a route that is handed to you and enter loads that are handed to you, you can work under the pressure of a strict schedule, and between each flight should come a mountain of paperwork to complete....and then of course you need to stay in the air as long as is legally allowed before shutting down and sleeping in an unfamiliar location, getting the minimum rest legally allowed and then start the process over again.

I didn't know you were a real world pilot, I thought you were just an simmer with a home cockpit set-up...Are you a RW pilot?

Yes I was Ronan. I flew with KLM and Ryanair.I am retired now and still involved in aviation education andfixed base 737 simulators.I am also involved in cockpit building and have been part of building flightdecks for a few movies.I help Flightdeck Solutions (Toronto) with their European customers. Frederic Steiner.

AS far as I'm concerned there are only 2 RW pilots on this thread, David and Ronan. I'm sorry Fred but you seem nothing more than a simmer, you're far too immature and don't have the professionalism (or the proof) like David and Ronan do.

Right and wrong !! No longer flying for a living. Fred.

Yes I was Ronan. I flew with KLM and Ryanair.I am retired now and still involved in aviation education andfixed base 737 simulators.I am also involved in cockpit building and have been part of building flightdecks for a few movies.I help Flightdeck Solutions (Toronto) with their European customers. Frederic Steiner. Right and wrong !! No longer flying for a living. Fred.

Obviously don't want to accuse you of anything but is there any proof of that?

Obviously don't want to accuse you of anything but is there any proof of that?

Of course !! Ask Ryanair or KLM about Capain Fred Steiner.You could also ask Flightdeck Solutions about my involvement in " Mayda " the Discovery Channel seriesand the cockpit we built for the movie " Flight 93 " Universal Pictures. Fred.

Obviously I'm not away to go call up KLM or Ryanair. Something a bit more simple?

Obviously I'm not away to go call up KLM or Ryanair. Something a bit more simple?

Well you'll just have to take my word for it !! These are a few pics of the sims we built for "Mayday" and "Flight 93" The 2 Mayday cockpits were a MD80 and an Airbus A330. Fred.

Obviously don't want to accuse you of anything but is there any proof of that?

I don't know if you need to be playing the "prove it" card, "Di"

The pics as promised !! Fred.

I don't know if you need to be playing the "prove it" card, "Di"

She is SO cute !!!! She can fly my simulator anytime she wants !!

The pics as promised !! Fred.

wow thats pretty sweet hardware.

Well, I just got in from Oslo and, coincidentally enough, an autoland that went horribly wrong. Since, I missed most of the discussion, let me just say I like autoland because I love to watch all this newfangled digital stuff in action. Heck, you can manually or womanually land a 172, but there is only one that will autoland, at least in my hanger.

Well not having a very good day here so I was a little testy earlier. I apologize. Now let me clarify myself to those that were offended. First Off on the topic of this thread. I guess I should have worded it with more thought as to what I wanted to say so it didn't appear to be a challenge or an insult to those flying Autolands. My point was there obviously some minor glitches to work out on the Autoland after SP3. Seems that the default airports mostly work but the payware airports are not working well. Least that whats been my experience so far. Yes even I have done some auto lands to test what people were asking about. The NGX has so much to offer other than autoland that if you take the time to learn the systems, hand fly it and just get out there and fly you will enjoy yourself emensely. In other words it will be fixed when it gets fixed in the mean time it shouldnt keep you enjoying the rest of the sim. Just land manually like the real world pilots do and enjoy it. And in case you missed the typo earlier in this thread. Real World Pilots Hand Fly their approaches more than they do Autolands. On the part about Game vs Sim, everyone is welcome to their opinion. If just have a joystick sitting on top of your desk, own 1 or 2 payware planes and just like flying any old way or anywhere and that is your thing then I can see how you would call it a game. Thats your opinion and your welcome to it. Others like me who have spend thousands of dollars (I have over 100 FSX Payware airports, ASE, GEX, REX UTA, UTX, UTII, FS Global 2010) on software and trying to make your sim look as real as possible, then spending hundreds of hours reading pilot manuals, learning how to read Charts, make flight plans, learning things from real world pilots and have 7000 hrs flight time under your belt. Well to us this is a Sim and that just how it is. If you think of this as a game you just don't have the dedication and addiction that some of the rest of us do. As to our 3 newest real pilots glad your here hope you will be available for questions and sorry if I stepped on any toes. I am a Boeing and MD11 fan and never flew an Airbus so that make me a little biased. I never meant to imply that Airbus Pilots were button pushers. I know most pilots prefer to hand fly whenever possible. I just always hear that the Airbus is so technically advanced and computerized that sometimes the computer can overide the pilot? That much automation and ability of the computer to overide the pilot scares me. Or maybe I am hearing Biased people that don't Like Airbuses. But here is your chance to set the record straight on how it is in the real world with Airbuses.