Hello and good morning/evening/what ever time of day it is.

 

FSX was starting to bore me. Sure, we can use the A2A Mustang to buzz small German towns and fly NOE in the PNW. Sure, we can load up the NGX and fly from one metropolis to another in full automation. Sure, we could hop in the VRS Superbug and go try some carrier landings.Sure, I could load up my trusty Piper Cub, and putter around Israel's Farm and admire the sights, But it was getting a little repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I love all my purchases, and I enthuasiastically use all of them (If you try to take my MD-11 away I will give anything for its return), and FSX is one...err interesting piece of work, but it takes me about 2 minutes to get "in the mood".

 

Well, I found something that just reignited my passion for simming.

 

I just took the Coolsky DC-9 from Kansas City(KMCI) to Detroit(KYIP). I flew my SID straight from the chart, and transitioned onto my route, when there I used NDB's and VOR's to get to my STAR. Again, I flew the STAR straight from the chart all the way down to the beginning of the glideslope, and finally experienced one of the best and most fulfilling landings of my FSX career. The best part? No LNAV/VNAV, no A/T, no pesky FMC. I handflew up to FL270, and then let my basic autopilot take over, until my planned ToD. I then followed my descent and captured the ILS to my landing. Now this was quite different from what I've done, as the longest flight I'd taken in the DC-9 was 8 circuits in KEDW. But MAN was that great! Now I'm thinking about buying the CS 707, or some other old jetliner that follows the same principle. I need to get more experience in this type of flying.

Thanks for reading this bit of fluff.

Has any kind of epiphany happened to anyone else?

I love flying manually. Sometimes the workload is a little too much though, not sure how you managed it all with the older tech. Those airplanes had 2-3 pilots for a reason!

I love SIDs and STARs that aren't RNAV. It's so much more fun tuning VORs and watching the DME to mark intersections and such. From time to time I will fly the NGX in VOR mode instead of LNAV for something more challenging. Another pleasure of mine is the Project Tupolev Tu-154M/B2. Pretty much like the DC9 in terms of basic AP and navigation equipment. When I complete one of those flights it's just so d--n rewarding!

I rather enjoy flying the default DC-3 occasionally, with it's rudimentary autopilot and 1930s era radio. Ignore the modern flight planning stuff and use VORs and NDBs, or just NDBs exclusively. Fun for remote areas and pretending I'm back pre-WW2. Sometimes I cheat and use a GPS, but generally only for the database.

 

Hook