Pretty much as the title says. I know that most of us are waiting for the release of Alaska with varying degrees of eagerness, but what the heck is there to see/do actually, in Alaska?

 

What are the highlights? What are the must-sees that MS will probably be concentrating on? Besides the fact that they sprung Sarah Palin on us, I pretty much have no clue about the place, especially in the context of interesting things for a flight sim.

 

Any fsx Alaska flyers out there? Whats up?

Watch a few episodes of this show:

 

http://dsc.discovery...ng-wild-alaska/

 

Looks like Season 1 is even on Netflix streaming.

 

If MS builds Missions and Jobs based off this show's Episode Guide, I foresee much fun...

Curious to see what is included also. I fly in Alaska in FSX quite often, BUT other than the great scenery and dense forests, I also see lots of birds, dolphins, whales, and bush/seaplane/boat AI, things which will not be in free flight in Flight, or so I guess. Seeing the airport building detail in hawaii I am curious to see what PAKT, PASI will be like, or even Juneau.

 

Plus if I am doing a realistic flight in Alaska in FSX, the weather is usually pretty poor, so I pray they have some kind of real world weather option other than the themes they have now.

Watch a few episodes of this show:

 

http://dsc.discovery...ng-wild-alaska/

 

Looks like Season 1 is even on Netflix streaming.

 

If MS builds Missions and Jobs based off this show's Episode Guide, I foresee much fun...

 

Omg!! I know I am gonna go to hell for it, but some of the accents kept making me burst into laughter. I have seen way too many Saturday night live skits of a well known ex-politician, it seems, and have a bad Pavlovian response.

 

So far though, this seems like solo-land. I wonder what happens to flight multi-flyer in such a vast open space. With players spread far and wide, AI of some sort might become imperative so that you don't feel alone.

 

EDIT: looks like I cross-posted with 1mikel151

True. The 16-player limit is not even enough traffic for Hawaii. Alaska will be effectively empty without AI, or a few massive dedicated servers hosting hundreds of us.

Flying in Alaska is pretty lonely from my experience, even with many of the AI packages for FS9 and FSX. Probably why I prefer it over flying around city areas in the lower 48. I have more good sim memories in Alaska than any other area in the sim. I had my first IFR experience when I fist got FS9. loaded a flight at PANC in the FSD porter and visability was less than a mile and ATC wouldn't let me take off without filing an IFR plan, LOL

 

I haven't tried the MP aspects of Flight yet, but can remember lots of great MP flights around Alaska, really hope we get a good helicopter.

I've seen a bit of flying wild Alaska, but for some reason I like Ice Pilots more. Hopefully FLIGHT will have a good DC-3 with the next scenery pack.

From the Maule to a DC-3 is quite a jump. I expect the first twin will be something smaller, like a Baron.

 

I just seriously want a pax & cargo plane with a nose wheel... I'm sick of tail-draggers.

I was never into the tail draggers either until I started watching those shows. But I can see them keeping things simple with small GA aircraft.

After yucking it up in multiplayer, I am not certain I could go back to being a solo hermit again.

Sitka is one of my favorate places to fly in fsx... Looking forward to it in flight.

Let's see, you have the Alleutian Islands which is a huge chain of mountainous islands with tough approaches. You have Juneau which is a big airport in a mountainous valley, In real life one of the approaches to Jeneau curves through the valley and you follow the curved path of the lead-in lights. That wasn't modelled in FSX but would be neat if they have it in Flight.

 

You have Anchorage which is a huge airport used by cargo carriers as a fuel stop between the US and Asia. You have Hood Lake which is the busiest seaplane base in the world and it happens to be right next to Anchorage. You have Denali National Park which is huge. On one of the airports in the park the runway is part of the main road running through town. You have several snow and ice runways in the North. The mountains in Alaska are so trecherous that building roads through them is impossible, so the whole state depends on aircraft for supplies. Many airports are in valleys so they have placed beacons on the mountains and the traffic pattern curves around the beacons. The unpredictable weather is the icing on the cake, but since Flight doesn't have Real World Weather, that may be a disappointment.

 

- Gary Letona

I expect the first twin will be something smaller

How about something like the DA42??? would it be to small ??? the only plane i had the chance to own for 2 years was the DA20 and other than the icon as my next plane im considering a used Pilatus a DA42 or the Corvalis TTX....

Alaska is THE bush pilots region, afaik. Flying on your own above the wilderness, landing in difficult situations, danger, adventure... I don't mind the lack of actual AI because I am used to flying alone in the bush. I would like some planes on the airfields though, even static ones would be fine...

 

Flying above Alaska will be a bigger challenge (unless we get a GPS) because above Hawaii it's VERY easy to see where you are: the islands are small and one look out of the window and you know where you are. In Alaska you really can get completely lost...

 

I am looking forward to it.

With no proof for it at all, I have always assumed Alaska would have new weather themes. For instance, how could you not have snow in Alaska? Other things I was hoping for might be some enhancements/refinements to the clouds. (and water)

 

And I was always surprised that another watercraft was not released for Hawaii, or at least some type of helicopter. It would be pretty sad if we did not see that In Alaska, but after watching some of the show RoboRay, suggested, it occurred to me that it would be almost a marketing no-brainer to model at least a few of the planes seen on that show.

 

A second coup might be to have actors from the show with speaking parts, to help ground people who have no other emotional links to the area but may be fans of the series.