'Burn out' aka boring is normal for pretty much anything one does on a regular basis. With all the options FSX provides it's fairly easy to set new goals and challanges to keep things fresh and interesting.

 

One thing I found early on using FSX that really kept my interest is using multiplayer and Teamspeak. I saw Vatsim mentioned already but thats not really what I am referring to, too regimented for my tastes. I am talking about flying together as a group, just 1 friend or a bunch. It seems most FSX users are not availing themselves of this feature, and thats a shame because it gives a whole new dimension to flying.

 

Get some folks on, decide what the days plane and plan is, then jump in and go. It can be as realistic or as simple as everyone wants, but adding others to your flight will definatly keep you entertained. FSX gives you so many options, its almost unlimited. In all the years of flying it, I, and the folks I fly with, seldom suffer boredom, we are usually laughing so hard it's impossible to get bored :-)

 

I'm sure Todd from 'Digitalthemepark' will agree!

After 20yrs of flying large airlines, I started using Air Hauler and made myself a small Air Cargo service. The largest aircraft I have is an ATR. C208's, DC3/BT67, B58's, B200's and 2 ATR's with three bases. King Salmon Alaska, Toledo, Ohio and one in the Caribbean. FSX really shines for my situation. The C208 are the MONEY makers!

 

I have no interest in large commercial airliners. I would sell them if i could!!

All good things in small doses huh guys...

 

No offence intended at all, but you really need to lose that 'green text on black background' from your website. It's painful to read. I literally had a headache by the time I got to the bottom of the home page.

I agree with that. Being a designer of sorts, and managing websites for yonks, I can say on a professional level, dark backgrounds are an eyesore, let alone with dark text on top of it. Easy to read is what people like, and if your eyes feel like you just been punched in the face by mike tyson every time you close a page or look away, its a good time to change it.

 

I know its hard to take, its your site, and who wouldnt be upset... But readability of dark on dark or light on dark is really poor. Given its a virtual airline, a lot of your readers will have multi-monitors too most likely, and everything else we look at is light, or dark on white, so the contrast change is actually painful to the eyes unless your in a dark room all day long. FlyGeordie was not being harsh though, he was actually being very realistic, its a huge no-no in the web design business to use black backgrounds in such huge amounts.

 

As for getting bored with flight simming..

 

I got a great app called UK approaches, which starts you off 90 miles out from your chosen airport and your mission is to land safely, so your already in-flight, often in a learjet or something similar, but there are lots of FSX missions you can get to adjust your flying time and have a bit of fun..

 

When I upgraded my FSFSPro, I found that now has a setting where I can start my flight as far out from the airfield, select any airfield I like, and even select an intercepting course for finals if I fancy practising landing anywhere in the world :-)

 

I think the attraction of the NGX is simply to master something technically challenging, within an area we already enjoy, but I keep my pedals under my desk at all times, they make good footrests during the day (Work from home) and I keep the X52 Pro on my desk at all times for those quick bits of testing, and the yoke/radio/switches etc are all 1 unit which run from 1 power cable and 1 USB lead, so it comes off the shelf, 2 cables plugged in and bang, away we go.

You know, RW airline captains often fly their personal Cessna 182, Bellanca Decathlon, Boeing Stearman, or glider aircraft on weekends as relaxation..

 

You might want to do the same! You can tinker with the cockpit and make it your own personal hobby plane, rather than the impersonal, corporate airliner you fly during the week

You know, RW airline captains often fly their personal Cessna 182, Bellanca Decathlon, Boeing Stearman, or glider aircraft on weekends as relaxation..

 

You might want to do the same! You can tinker with the cockpit and make it your own personal hobby plane, rather than the impersonal, corporate airliner you fly during the week

 

Thats true.. Once I was sitting next to an AA MD80 pilot and we got talking.. he showed me (on his iphone) his Piper aircraft and all the places he flew around Texas with his wife for their 100$ hamburger.

 

My neighbor is another AA Pilot who don't care for GA. but he is into those RC aircrafts.

Forget the FMC for a while, get a L1049, learn to fly it, read the propliner tutorial at www.calclassic.com and you wont be bored, but challenged a lot.

Navigate by vors, adf's etc. Its most satisfying, and you will not miss the airliners a bit for a long time.

But readability of dark on dark or light on dark is really poor. Given its a virtual airline, a lot of your readers will have multi-monitors too most likely, and everything else we look at is light, or dark on white, so the contrast change is actually painful to the eyes unless your in a dark room all day long. FlyGeordie was not being harsh though, he was actually being very realistic, its a huge no-no in the web design business to use black backgrounds in such huge amounts.

 

Ok, point taken and again, I have to say no one has ever complained before. But having said all that, what would you suggest as a restful and appealing color combo (that's available using Google Blogs)??

 

If we are going to have a large discussion, contact me via PM rather than tying up this interesting thread.

If you have access to your stats, see the "bounce rate" or time spent browsing... People don't complain with free websites, they just leave.

Just take a leaf out of AVSims book... There is a reason most websites are dark text / white background... Nuff said?

WILLIAM and PIC007, you talk about a flying club.

Where or how do you fly ? private server?

And tell us about how did you got so far? was it luck to get a bunch of people together or ?

WILLIAM and PIC007, you talk about a flying club.

Where or how do you fly ? private server?

And tell us about how did you got so far? was it luck to get a bunch of people together or ?

 

For me it started kinda by accident. I was using FS9 to make videos for a company and couldn't get it to run the way I needed it to. I ended up contacting a service (no longer available) that helped me set up my computer for FS. The guy who helped me became a close friend, and other clients of his joined in our group. Initially we used FSHost in FS9 then switched to Gamespy with FSX. Eventually we started using a private server, as Gamespy can be aggravating at times. Some of the initial group are still around and flying, others have moved on.

 

As far as the type of flying, we normally don't fly any session longer than about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. We fly everything from jets to GA, high and fast to low and slow, it all depends on what everyone wants to do in that particular session. Some are RL pilots so we occasionally have one act as ATC for the 'real' experiance but generally we just load, launch, and fly. We have made 4 'round the world' trips, most of the time using real world weather and staying low enough to see the scenery and fast enough (using Cessna CJ1) to cover some ground. We all have addon's that enhance FSX so we try to fly areas that are interesting. Everyone is from different places so we all give the others a 'tour' of our home areas in FSX, informing them of interesting facts.Thats one of the great things about MP, getting to meet people from all over the world and finding out about them and different cultures.

 

Most flights now we just select an area of the world that looks appealing and set up a flight of an hour or so. If it's a 'scenic' flight we stay low and slow, if it's a 'weather' flight usually mid to high levels in jets. There is so much variety with FSX we seldom duplicate a flight unless we come across a place thats really beautifull and interesting, and there are a LOT of those in FSX.

 

One of my favorite things to do is 'throw a dart' at an airport I have never been to and just launch there and take a look around. We have found some amazing scenery in FSX in places that you never would have thought to try. With GEX, FEX, Genesis, etc enhancing FSX, it's truely an amazing experiance, even 7 years later.

 

If MP interests you, without the hassels of dealing with ATC, I would suggest joining different sessions in Gamespy to find people you enjoy flying with, or checking out 'Digitalthemepark'. Theres a link to DTP in the MP forum on Avsim.

For me its all about immersion and reality. My environment (cockpit / scenery / airports) have to be as realistic as possible. I fly the NGX on routes taking no more than 1 hour. I use EZDoc for realism and camera views. I have no "cold and dark" desires whatsoever. Can't imagine why you would want to flick a series of switches and knobs in the correct sequence to hear an engine start up! I jump into a "ready to taxi" office, I plan my route, I prep my FMC, I download or set tasty weather, I take off from and land at a high quality payware airport. Job done.

 

I fly for a UK VA and a USA VA. Sometimes I will drop the commercial big stuff and spend time flying my RealAir Lanc around some beautiful mountains or Caribbean islands.

 

The PMDG 777 will be fully utilised in the same way performing maximum one hour routes for very fictional cargo purposes!

 

Addicted to this daft hobby, but I love it. 2013 will be the year for investment in ORBX. Can't wait!!

Thanks for the enlightment and insight.

I am playing with this idea to create such a group from the Netherlands.

One thing that I enjoy once in a while is flying my A2A Cub in true dead reckoning mode. I have a sectional for my local area and one for some of WA & OR (Orbx scenery). I use the protractor, etc and do the whole deal--course headings, landmarks, estimated speed etc. I use Active Sky 2012 and fish around for some reasonable wx for the Cub (no IFR, strong and gusty winds etc) and fly with my chart in my lap and the stop watch (an old analog model no less) for keeping track of time, distance etc. Sometimes I miss my target by--well more than a few feet let's say, and other times I'm dead on. I always seem to come back a better hands on pilot and I've seen some scenery up close and personal and with a feeling of accomplishment.

LIke everything else, I find my interests waxing and waning. Often I like to fly big iron realistically; but you're right, sometimes it's just a bore especially when you've just about mastered the airplane.

 

But it's a big world and there's lots of things do to. Right now I'm enjoying flying smaller airplanes (C208, BN-2, and BT-67) into remote areas of Alaska hauling supplies and passengers. FSCaptain gives me my assignments and keeps track of my career as well as providing a crew and PAX. Alaska is full of challenges with weather, terrain, and difficult airports and I never know exactly where or what I'll be assigned to next.

 

Other times though I'll enjoy flying long haul jets. There's just so much to do if you think about it.

 

Sometimes I just get burned out from flying. Take a break. Then weeks later maybe watch a flying video on YouTube (there are tons of real life ones) then "get the bug" and get back into it.

 

That's the great thing about having this as a hobby and not a job!

 

Dutch

Everything is completely dependent on what you look for in a flight sim.

 

Guy A wants something quick to zip around in that he can get in the air in less then 5 min.

Guy B wants total realism and will buy every adding that simulates the real world from flight planning to baggage loading to simulated passengers and flight attendants.

Guy C wants a bit of both and usually buys the "light" fleet aircraft such as the QW 757. Not too complicated, but not super simple.

Everything else falls under guy D, which is specific preferences.

 

I'm guy B. I plan my flight for 20 min before even starting fsx, running programs like fsbuild and going to weather planning websites.

Post-flight engineer cockpit setup start scenerio, fs2crew for a FO, wx software, ezdok for camera shaking effects, trackir, and then there's all the hardware; yoke, throttle quads, pedals, laptop for charts.

I just love going all out. I want to create as close a reality to the real thing I possibly can.

 

All this usually limits the time I have to run flights but when I do it's very satisfying.

 

To each their own!