Obsession with complexity?

[Boeing or not going 578]

Flight sim never had the correct feeling or weather engine so flying straight and level was just aggravating and annoying. So even in a small prop I'm using the auto pilot if I'm flying straight for a while. But even in heavy jets all my takeoffs and landings, and many times climbs up to cruise or at least transition altitude are manually. I've only done autoland once with the PMDG 737NGX and that was really fun, but the rest all manual. I understand when some people are over burdened and imo talk of realistic damage sim, changing oil, etc. to me is just far beyond what I enjoy in the sim. I just ask for realistic system modelling and a realistic fde with a great virtual cockpit.

[n4gix 4,947]

You guys should enjoy the simulator in the way you want, and let other simmers to do the same, that's my opinion.

 

Has anyone in this thread suggested otherwise? No? Then what precisely is the point of your comment? :Doh:

[ahuimanu 50]

My way of doing business in FSX is flying from airport to airport in JS41 or some heavy stuff, but every hub I visit, has a small strip pretty close to it (just enough to grab a taxi and move there). I rent an A2A Cub, Milviz Cessna 310, sometimes some vintage plane and do a fly for an hour or two. Sometimes with passengers, sometimes alone (to practice maneuvers my passengers would not like to experience). If one do know the physics of aeroplanes in depth, one have to refresh the knowledge from time to time. I usually prepare a flight plan for my VFR flight. When the weather is bad (and I mean really bad), I will take IFR certified plane and practice long touch and go for a few times, every time with different STAR (not just the approach)

 

Totally cool approach and just my style - I like that you use your imagination to make your own "game within the game." I think FSX (with missions) and Flight have tried to be too explicit whereas I've used my imagination like you describe.

[hmsdreadnought 12]

If folks used a plane like the CS 707 or 727 as their first airliner, they would learn a lot more about flying airplanes...

[woodhick 504]

I have come late to your discussion so please forgive me if I am repeating what someone else has said. Here I go:

 

I have never flown a jet (even the default Lear) in 8 years of flight simming. Here's why: To my estimation, and it really isn't a humble opinion at all, it's absolute reality, you guys who may enjoy flying the biggest airliners, military jets (transport size) and even radial engine airliners are way off base. Those aircraft simply cannot be flown single pilot in the real world. You go on about being able to program this and realistically do some approach (Kai Tak comes immediately to mind) at minimums and again, not realistic. It takes a highly trained team to land the heavies in even the best of conditions. Even a DV-3 takes a trained crew, not a solo pilot (although I really did dig my MAAM-SIM DC-3)

 

What are my aircraft of choice?? Thanks for asking I fly three airplanes, the RealAir Turbine Duke, the Flight1 Cessna 182T and (my absolute fave) the A2A Piper Cub. While I do tend to fly the Cessna and Duke using planned flights and the auto-pilot, I fly the Cub 100% dead reackoning. I repeat that, 100% dead reackoning. That means I sit down with my sectional (Cincinnati, expires June 28 2012), my protractor and E6B computer to figure my flight plan. On a good day I might do a 100 mile flight with 4 or 5 in air check points. I use Active Sky 2012 for my wx and am totally at the mercy of the winds, rain, heat and cold (no IFR though).

 

I have an experience in the Cub that is so rewarding that flying the Cessna and Duke have become ho-hum. Automated airplanes are simply wind 'em up, wait a while, then punch the buttons to make it land itself. In the Cub I am flying the airplane 100% of the time. I'l repeat that too, I fly the Cub 100% of the time. I have become so much better a pilot (not a programmer) that there is simply no comparison to anything else for me.

 

I started flying flight sim 8 years ago. I learned to fly an airplane (simulated) two months ago. Suddenly, FSX is new again.

[FLighT01 3]

I spent a lot of hours learning to fly the A2A J3 by the numbers and hopping from one grass/gravel strip to the next in ORBX NA. I feel it made me a much better simpilot in all aircraft after that then I ever was before and I've been at it since 1998.

 

@AliB

 

Interesting avatar, Depp in Dead Man?

[yankeegolf3 51]

hi,

 

Me too I fly dead reckoning and pilotage with my intented route drawn on a sectional chart (By the way did you know that you can buy all the US sectional charts for 40 $ from the flightsim pilot shop?) trying to find my waypoints in my photoscenery, taking the real weather wind into account with my E6B. It is very rewarding when you reach your destination. In addition when my flight is over I search the web to learn interesting facts about the places I have overflown. Not only do I enjoy flying over wonderful scenery but also I learn things about geography and history.

That is the way I fly...

[fritzgohl 29]

Got FSX the day it was released, 1st thing I did, fired up the 747, took off, did barrel rolls.

 

I've recently rediscovered GA flying also. If anybody like me remembers, FS3 only had the Cessna.

 

Fritz

[woodhick 504]

Good gosh!! More actual sim pilots out there than I ever imagined. Good on all of you!!

 

Personal (well not really, but you take my point) to FLighT01: I just got a Seattle sectional in the mail today. I'll finally actually be able to look at my Orbx PNW scenery, at least that below 5000ft msl or so, in real detail. I fly a BN-2 a lot when out that way too.

[Taipan 30]

Got FSX the day it was released, 1st thing I did, fired up the 747, took off, did barrel rolls

 

:) Made me laugh, Ive done it too

[mikea76 184]

Lot of assumptions being made in this thread....

 

not all people that fly tube liners hit toga and land with autoland.. I hand fly my departures and hand fly all landings... I chart my progress on real charts, and make sure my FMC is doing it's job.. Honestly I dont even know how to use the autoland on the ngx... I think you have to activate both autopilot a and b but I have never used it so I may be wrong... in IMC I hand fly a ILS approach, if there is no ils on that runway i have done ils circle to land approaches.. I fly traffic patterns and different approach types by hand... I also have flown a few stars without programing them, just download the chart on my second monitor and fly it using vor radials and dme...

 

Granted I don't hand fly as smooth as a real 737 pilot and I make pleanty of mistakes, especialy when rushed in IMC on vatsim... but I rather hand fly a approach kind of sloppy then fly it perfect on autopilot

[PilotPete99 915]

Lot of assumptions being made in this thread....

 

not all people that fly tube liners hit toga and land with autoland.. I hand fly my departures and hand fly all landings... I chart my progress on real charts, and make sure my FMC is doing it's job.. Honestly I dont even know how to use the autoland on the ngx... I think you have to activate both autopilot a and b but I have never used it so I may be wrong... in IMC I hand fly a ILS approach, if there is no ils on that runway i have done ils circle to land approaches.. I fly traffic patterns and different approach types by hand... I also have flown a few stars without programing them, just download the chart on my second monitor and fly it using vor radials and dme...

 

Granted I don't hand fly as smooth as a real 737 pilot and I make pleanty of mistakes, especialy when rushed in IMC on vatsim... but I rather hand fly a approach kind of sloppy then fly it perfect on autopilot

 

Lol....it sounds like you fly the tubes the same way I do. I figure that if I can get the jet from point a to point b, and execute a fairly good landing by hand, then I am satisfied. I have actually never used autoland in all my years of FSX flying the tubes. If I had more time I would probably try to learn these functions, but I fly very short flights (generally 200nm or less) since I get a bit restless on sim flights that long. That said, I tend want a quick set up. I do think that I can't live without the FMC though, and I would put one in any plane if i can, such as the 727, etc.

 

Cheers, Pete

[Anderscn 0]

Good point, Jaggieroadfilm,

 

I must admit, that I too often switch on the AP soon after retraction of the landing gear, immediately after take-off.

However, I find it immensely funny to make manual landings at Kai-Tak´s legendary RWY 13. I fly mostly old aircraft, and try to do that with a DeHavilland Comet 4 with almost no rudder..

All that said, I have recently taken some hours in a real aircraft (TB9 Tampico), and I think that it actually is much easier to land manually, than for instance the default MSFS Cessna.

 

Best Regards,

Anders

[Chock 17,769]

One thing I will say where complex aircraft are concerned, and this is something A2A mentioned in their AccuSim manual for the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, is that learning new stuff can make for some good fun. For example, on the 377, A2A said that lots of people taxied the thing out to the runway, rammed the throttles open on their first try at a take off with it and ended up with engine fires right after rotation because they didn't know about the ADI system and other stuff like that which helps to cool the engines; then of course they have a look in the manual or on a forum and so it becomes an educational experience as well as a fun one to learn how those old prop beasts were operated.

 

Needless to say, a decent manual helps, which is the case with developers such as A2A, but it is certainly the case that learning new things is always an entertaining and fun thing you can do with FS. I suspect that the arrival of PMDG's DC-6 will be a catalyst for many FMC-only simmers giving the older warhorses a try if they had been disinclined to venture into what A2A do.

 

Al

[Skysurfer7 34]

I have never flown a jet (even the default Lear) in 8 years of flight simming. Here's why: To my estimation, and it really isn't a humble opinion at all, it's absolute reality, you guys who may enjoy flying the biggest airliners, military jets (transport size) and even radial engine airliners are way off base. Those aircraft simply cannot be flown single pilot in the real world. You go on about being able to program this and realistically do some approach (Kai Tak comes immediately to mind) at minimums and again, not realistic. It takes a highly trained team to land the heavies in even the best of conditions. Even a DV-3 takes a trained crew, not a solo pilot (although I really did dig my MAAM-SIM DC-3)

Eherr :Loser: ...... it's a computer sim, you're allowed to do whatever you feel like doing. Telling the community that you are "way off base" by doing what they enjoy is a little bit harsh. Some like heavies some don't.....some like to know how it's like to handle an 747 & it's systems...some don't.

"Those aircraft simply cannot be flown single pilot in the real" - Yes they can! they are just not certified for it. Besides it's a simm, not the real world we are flying in!

"I have never flown a jet (even the default Lear) in 8 years of flight simming"- So how would you know we are "way off base" If you haven't tried it? maybe you should give it a go.......

"It takes a highly trained team to land the heavies in even the best of conditions"- Yeas & if you train in the simm you will become an highly trained simmer :lol: