Flying IFR

[AllFiredUp 0]

I LOVE flying through the clouds in IFR. When MS Flight came out I had to try a situation I'm sure many VFR pilots would rather not get into.

 

This was just a test of how flying through the thick fog acted on my senses. I was totally impressed with the way the movement appeared through the cloud. To my eyes, it gave the sense that I was flying faster than I really was. In real life I have a private pilot's license but not many hours at all. I was going through IFR Training back in the early 1990's but I just couldn't afford to keep it going. I keep my license updated. If I do plan to fly for real I'll go to a local FBO and get go through a BFR with an instructor.

 

Meanwhile, I was just floored by the realism of MS Flight and the scenery and the IFR situation.

 

It was impressive to get into the thick of it and see the airport appear and disappear in the clouds. No IFR pilot would really do this nowadays. Perhaps way back in the 1930's and 1940's it was like this when the navaids were a new thing.

 

Honestly it was a bit hair raising. I thought I had sight of the airport beacon, only to find out that it was a LIGHTHOUSE! So the lighthouses beacons turn on in foggy weather, that is very cool. I knew it was not the airport beacon because it would be flashing green/white.

 

Anyway. Enjoy this sampling.

 

 

side note: As Flight Simmers I think it would be especially good idea to setup some serious hosted games with serious radio communication. I heard from another serious player that one can VOIP over specific frequencies. Now THAT would be realistic if there rose a dedicated group of people to do that with Flight.

[Heimi 91]

Cool find!! Awesome to see this Lighthouse working.

Nice video.

 

I found a few people online. We now meet every evening to fly for fun and sometimes doing "real" operations with radio communication.

[AzureWX 0]

Saw you post this one on Flight's FB page a while back! Glad you found your way here, Dale!

 

<-Ellie O.

 

PS: The green and white airport beacons work the same as the lighthouses! Very useful if you find yourself deep in fog somewhere over Hana in a Stearman. :Hypnotized:

 

PPS: I've found sometimes that radio comms will work even if you can't hear that same player over the global frequency due to connection issues. I've made it a habit to use the CTAF or Tower frequency at any given airport to at least call out my location/intentions when I'm in the pattern, I figure some other geek will appreciate it some day. :Nerd:

[razorhog703 15]

I too have some real life flying experience and enjoy the communication that comes from pilots who know what they are talking about. There is a small group of people that I have meet on Flight that will conduct themselves in this manner vs. the usual language used.

 

What is your username and I can add you to my list so that we can get some serious players together.

 

PS. We use different frequencies as well depending upon the actual airport freqencies that are posted. One of the pilots even created an account that plays an automated ATIS message on a set frequency.

[AllFiredUp 0]

Ahh, Ellie, there you are, yeah it's nice to see AVSIM have this forum too.

 

:)

 

 

Cool find!! Awesome to see this Lighthouse working.

Nice video.

 

I found a few people online. We now meet every evening to fly for fun and sometimes doing "real" operations with radio communication.

 

That is very cool! I've not done a whole lot of MP as yet as I'm pretty busy with family life when I get off work. But it would be cool to find a good group of Flight enthusiasts who are serious flyers. Not just kamikaze types or people that don't fly at all. I would really like to do some serious formation flying.

 

I too have some real life flying experience and enjoy the communication that comes from pilots who know what they are talking about. There is a small group of people that I have meet on Flight that will conduct themselves in this manner vs. the usual language used.

 

What is your username and I can add you to my list so that we can get some serious players together.

 

PS. We use different frequencies as well depending upon the actual airport freqencies that are posted. One of the pilots even created an account that plays an automated ATIS message on a set frequency.

 

Very cool! My gamertag on MSFlight or on Xbox is StratoArt I tried to use that for this forum, but for some reason it wasn't available so I used my old gaming days name for now until I can change it.

 

PS. We use different frequencies as well depending upon the actual airport freqencies that are posted. One of the pilots even created an account that plays an automated ATIS message on a set frequency.

 

Now THAT is what I'm talking about, that is TOO cool! I need to find such people.

 

Thank you! Heimi.

 

Yeah that light house is right on the coast near the JRF - Kalaeloa (John Rodgers Field) Airport

 

BTW I also use SkyVector maps and airport information, Highly recommend.

 

http://skyvector.com/airports/Hawaii

[zinfinion 0]

That's awesome about the lighthouse. The one near the aerocache the other day wasn't lit, but I was flying clear skies on a sunny day. I didn't really think that through. As well, I was flying near a wind farm in free flight and was annoyed that the turbines weren't spinning and then it dawned on me that there was no wind. So a quick trip to the weather settings and presto, working wind farm. They even face into the wind and also vary in speed depending on the weather. Captain Obvious on the flight deck, I know, but the attention to detail is nice.

[AzureWX 0]

Another minor yet cool detail is that if you're flying into Kahului, the sugar mill mentioned in the published visible approach is not only rendered in game, but the smoke coming out of the stacks drifts with the winds! :Hypnotized:

[AllFiredUp 0]

That's awesome about the lighthouse. The one near the aerocache the other day wasn't lit, but I was flying clear skies on a sunny day. I didn't really think that through. As well, I was flying near a wind farm in free flight and was annoyed that the turbines weren't spinning and then it dawned on me that there was no wind. So a quick trip to the weather settings and presto, working wind farm. They even face into the wind and also vary in speed depending on the weather. Captain Obvious on the flight deck, I know, but the attention to detail is nice.

 

see, now THAT is cool. That means there really is a good engine under MS Flight. Now just to see and hope that more things, possibly PRO features open up. How cool would that be?!?

 

Another minor yet cool detail is that if you're flying into Kahului, the sugar mill mentioned in the published visible approach is not only rendered in game, but the smoke coming out of the stacks drifts with the winds! :Hypnotized:

 

That is sweet! I used to live on Oahu in the 1970's. My father being in the USAF worked on O-2A Cessna's there at Wheeler Field. I used to go to a private school up near Sunset Beach. So I knew the Island pretty well. I've been to the Sugar Mill up around the North West point of Oahu. Kahuku Sugar Mill, I think. I remember in the 1970's when they used to do the burns, the ashes of them would fall on us at Wheeler. That's why I'm excited to fly around Oahu, it was one of the happiest places I lived at when I was a boy. The scenery that Flight did for it is exceptional.

[kama2004 74]

I also got lured by the lighthouse on short final. Ended up circling over the tree top until i reintercepted the threshold. I got on the ground alive but cursing about my mistake.

 

Flying IFR in flight leaving at dawn and arriving in the night is pretty cool. I tried one in FSX saturday just to compare and Flight is very good (better) for those scenarios.

[AllFiredUp 0]

Very cool Kama2004. I need to do a serious IFR run in MS Flight.

 

In real life, I had to leave IFR training due to finances, or lack thereof. I still have all my IFR books, but this was before 9/11. I'm sure a lot has changed since 9/11.

Right now I live in SoCal. and air traffic is pretty heavy here, a bit scary for me who is used to flying around West Virginia/Kentucky/Ohio.

[razorhog703 15]

LOL try a flight around DC... much worse. B)

[zinfinion 0]

I just did a scenic lighthouse tour of Oahu and unfortunately only the Barbers Point Light, west of Kalaeloa Airport as seen in the above video, is working. I also checked a few lights on the Big Island and Maui, and none of those worked either. I'm curious why out of a dozen or so, just the one is working.

 

As well, a few lighthouses were nonexistent, so that was a bit odd.

 

If anyone is interested, http://find.mapmuse.com/map/lighthouses/near/HAWAII and http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHHI.asp are the best sources I have found for tracking these down and making sure they are still in operation in the real world.

 

If anyone could get this to the Flight team's attention as well, that'd be appreciated.

[Guest]

Flying IFR in flight leaving at dawn and arriving in the night is pretty cool. I tried one in FSX saturday just to compare and Flight is very good (better) for those scenarios.

 

Imho Flight beats FSX completely in this regard. It's incomparable. I don't know the right English words for it but those 'parts of light fog' that you see passing by quickly almost makes me feel the cold. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give Flight a 10 and FSX something below 3. Or 2. It's the awesome atmosphere that Flight brings, combined with the real shadows, that makes Flight THE flying game for me right now.

[jcomm 5,971]

+1

 

It is :-), up to the point of me having completely forgoten about Condor.... I wish I could have more time to do missions, hunt aerocaches, and I wish I had a good PC too :-(

 

 

 

Imho Flight beats FSX completely in this regard. It's incomparable. I don't know the right English words for it but those 'parts of light fog' that you see passing by quickly almost makes me feel the cold. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give Flight a 10 and FSX something below 3. Or 2. It's the awesome atmosphere that Flight brings, combined with the real shadows, that makes Flight THE flying game for me right now.