I can go from cold and dark to ready to pushback the PMDG 747x in the time it takes to align the IRS. If I feel like something faster I'll load up the F1 Mustang, Carenado Cessna Super Cargomaster or RealAir Duke Turbine.

 

I just bought the PMDG JS41 and realized it was a mistake when I started reading all the checklists just to get her in the air. The 747 is so much easier than even the NGX.

I know the feeling!

 

Airliners interest me as long as I am learning how to properly fly them, going from cold and dark to cold and dark again. No matter how great the plane, I have found out that as soon as I know how to do a flight properly, I lose interest and I am back to GA... until the next best thing is released. ^_^ I've had this through all my simflying years. As soon as I know how everything works, it becomes work... a drag... time consuming... not fun... and I go back to GA: hop in the plane, start her up and FLY! YEAH!

 

It seems that with big airplanes I like the learning and reading about it more than the actual flying. With all the airliners I've flown (mainly PMDG but also PSS, Level-D and Aerosoft in the past) I had BIG FUN reading ALL manuals from A to Z, compiling my own checlists, but I never ever did a flight longer than an hour and a half... Usually I picked short hops that had me cruising for no longer then 15 minutes. Working with the FMC/MCDU/whatever was GREAT until I knew how to do it and it became VERY repetetive... a chore... boring. And so did figuring out the route, the SIDS, the STARS...

 

The odd thing is that when I do something, I want to do it with a certain degree of realism. I can't treat the 737NGX like a GA and just hop in it. I just can't. So keeping on flying a plane like that is simply torturing myself... ^_^

 

GA is more my thing. Simple start procedures and up in the air within minutes. And then enjoy the scenery. And you can do it with a certain degree of realism (cold and dark, taxi, the lot) without having to spend too much time on the ground preparing things.

 

This is also why I never bought FSCrew stuff (or whatever it is called). The idea of having to go through all checklist item by item every freakin' time. Yikes!

 

The PMDG 737NGX was my last airliner. I did have a look at the upcoming Aerosoft Aribus X Advanced but now I know that I will probably park it forever after a few weeks makes me unsure if I will buy it. I do own the previous version so I can get the advanced version cheap, so maybe... I will give it a go. The price is right for a few days of fun. But then again... it isn't as complete as the 737NGX and that may bother me. I don't think I will get the PMDG 777: too pricey for a plane that I will certainly not enjoy forever.

 

For now I am more then happy with my RealAir Legacy. It's the only plane I fly ever since I bought it. GA simply is more my kind of thing, I guess.

 

EDIT

Yes, VOR! I bought Orbx England and I am flying with VOR all the time again now: big fun! Planning my VOR-flights I do like, oddly enough, maybe because I simply like flying with VOR: figuring out how and when and where to intercept the radials, checking your position, etc. I actually like that, unlike working with an FMC and when you like something, preparation that takes some time is no problem because you know what fun you will get from it. ^_^

 

I feel that you are describing me! I couldn't say it better

put some game into it, get FsCaptain, AirHauler, or wait for Rex whatever that thing is called.

 

Personally i think Hifi is the best candidate to develop fsx multiplayer platform, cause they are better at engineering but not so good at artistry.

 

I mainly do long haul, and the challenge i set myself for each 10hour or so flight is to use time accel to the max and land before i get board, its a race against the clock of boredom.

 

Thing time accell only works when you climb higher else crash, sometimes you restricted by weight so cant climb, sometimes you restricted by weather so you cant accell more than say x4. Sometimes you need to climb to 37K soon, cause your fuel budget relies on being at more fuel efficient altitude by this time.

 

Sometimes you have to detour around weather so fscaptain does not generate failure cause you flew directly into turbulent weather, do you have enough fuel for the detour.

 

Finally much lighter i can climb to 42K in 747 pMDG and set it to x16. 200 miles from destination in this 7000 mile flight, i ask rc4 for much lower altitude, so i can descend at shallow angle at simrate x2 or x4. 200 or sometimes 300 miles out is my TOD. For this sort of Warp AIr flight, you dont want flight plan with lots of waypoints, else at simrate x8 you a/c will be twisting and turning wildly.

 

 

FSX life is much easier if you have extra monitor you can use for panels and web surfing during cruise. These days i just set simrate x4 and groove to Allan watts on youtube as he slowly explains the universe of The Now.

Used to fly the Level-D 767 back in the FS2004 days, but got tired of it. I like flight sims because I can fly without all the nag of pre flight inspections, walk arounds, logbooking, filing flight plans, programming the FMC and all that crap that takes the fun out of flying in real life... Now I rather fly the default B737 if I feel the urge to drive a bus.

We all get where you are occasionally Dan.

 

I tend to follow a rough (unscheduled) system of about 2 months flying complex airliners (NGX, MD-11, 747, Simcheck A300, feelThere ERJ / Airbus, Coolsky, etc), then I get a bit bored of the formality, the preparation etc, and I move out to ORBX land, and start flying some nice GA aircraft (still usually IFR) from local airports. My own personal favourite GA aircraft to fly is the Carenado Cessna 340 II, as I have time in a real one. (I own the RA Turbine Duke, and of course it's far superior but I can't identify with it as a real aircraft as much as the 340).

 

When it's GA time I still do flight planning and ATC but I'm normally in the air within 10 mins of FSX loading.

 

Just enjoy the variety. :smile:

 

Whatever you're flying in FSX it's great fun, just keep focussed on that. :wink:

Blatant self promotion here I know, but how about giving GVA a try?? We're the VA for and about the GA pilot. Click link in my siggy line. Hope to see you soon.

Blatant self promotion here I know, but how about giving GVA a try?? We're the VA for and about the GA pilot. Click link in my siggy line. Hope to see you soon.

 

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

Well...OK. Never heard that one before. To each his own I guess. Glasses/contacts OK?? Not too much to drink last night I hope?? No, those sentences aren't self promotion at all are they.

I feel that you are describing me!

 

I though the same about your post... ^_^

 

I mainly do long haul, and the challenge i set myself for each 10hour or so flight is to use time accel to the max and land before i get board, its a race against the clock of boredom.

 

Thing time accell only works when you climb higher else crash, sometimes you restricted by weight so cant climb, sometimes you restricted by weather so you cant accell more than say x4. Sometimes you need to climb to 37K soon, cause your fuel budget relies on being at more fuel efficient altitude by this time.

 

Sometimes you have to detour around weather so fscaptain does not generate failure cause you flew directly into turbulent weather, do you have enough fuel for the detour.

 

Finally much lighter i can climb to 42K in 747 pMDG and set it to x16. 200 miles from destination in this 7000 mile flight, i ask rc4 for much lower altitude, so i can descend at shallow angle at simrate x2 or x4. 200 or sometimes 300 miles out is my TOD. For this sort of Warp AIr flight, you dont want flight plan with lots of waypoints, else at simrate x8 you a/c will be twisting and turning wildly.

 

 

FSX life is much easier if you have extra monitor you can use for panels and web surfing during cruise. These days i just set simrate x4 and groove to Allan watts on youtube as he slowly explains the universe of The Now.

 

Are you serious or joking...? If serious: makes me wonder why you fly at ALL...? :unsure: Why not simply do SHORT flights without time accel? Or is it that you really like the excitement time accel gives you? If so, that's in interesting way of using the sim! ^_^

This doctor recommends a strict diet of bush flying...for example with http://eaglevalleyair.com/ . It's a long way from the NGX experience. Another of my own activities is just to take off in some scenic area and explore the locality low and slow in a Cub, Chipmunk or Tiger Moth for some real stick and rudder flying. If you use the A2A Cub, it's just as realistic as the NGX, in its own way. The systems are just (a lot!) simpler.

 

H

Orbx, RealAir, and A2A moved me from my strict NGX and MD-11 flying, to the new, lower and "slower" flying enjoying the hundreds of dollars that I put into making FSX so beautiful to me.

 

I still will fly the larger ones every now and again, but only when the other guys from my Flying Club are on, and we make a group flight. Other than that, we all get on TS now, and fly around with slower stuff.....

 

I like both, but enjoy I think GA type flying more now....even the JS4100 holds my interest now more than the NGX. Not product bashing, but it took me a while to not understand why I go through 40 minutes of preflight and start-up only to just sit back 10 minutes into the flight and watch stuff fly by at FL340......

Recently discovered (and bought) the Alabeo WACO YMF5. About as pure and simple flying as you can get! Not to mention FUN! :rolleyes:

Recently discovered (and bought) the Alabeo WACO YMF5. About as pure and simple flying as you can get! Not to mention FUN! :rolleyes:

 

I have my eye on their Pitts, there are some guys at my local who do their aerobatics around the training area. Does look like fun.

 

Maybe I'll even buy the ultra-slow A2A Cub for some ultra-short trips to the beach :lol:

There are opportunities to accept other challenges here. FSX is a great environment to learn and practice some of the older types of navigation. Several of the posters above a pointed out the availability of VOR's and NDB's. If you want to try something new, think about this:

 

Contact one of your local flying services and ask if it is possible to purchase some old VFR sectionals - the out of date sectionals will work just fine for what you are about to learn. Spread out a sectional of your chosen area and, using a PN-1 Navigation Plotter ( an inexpensive protractor-like device you can also purchase there) lay out a course which is defined by only VOR and/or NDB waypoints. Consider creating a few waypoints that are defined only by the intersection of a couple of those VOR's. Measure the distance using your plotter. Select something like the C210 or the C182, you know, something slow and equipped with NAV1 and NAV2 radios. Decide upon a comfortable cruising speed and calculate how much time it should take you to complete the course using only those navaids and your two radios - no GPS, Plan-G or any other type of assistance to increase your situational awareness.

 

Now, turn off all WX so you are not influenced by any winds aloft, take-off and fly that course to the best of your ability. You will be surprised how you end up concentrating and what fun it is. You will also be pleased at the sensation of accomplishment when you master this exercise. As you become more proficient you can turn on RW WX and make the whole exercise more and more difficult and complicated.

 

This is also a very basic RW pilot's required skill and one that any professional RW pilot maintains. One never knows when he will be required to fall back on his basic navigation skills to get himself and his passengers back on the ground safely again.

 

Enjoy!

 

+1

 

I got into flight simulation because I was getting RL ratings. It's the most 'real' way to fly with charts, plotter, E6B, pencil, etc. in hand. I often fly non-auto pilot aircraft to recreate what flying I did in real life. Flying instrument approaches with the book of approach plates on my lap is still challenging. I'll pick an approach that is more difficult sometimes. One with an IAF that is an intersection of radials, or somesuch, dial in some deep cloud or fog, and go at it. It will get my adrenaline going!

The other side of the coin is true too... I have been flying...very unrealistic. I start at the runway with engines already started (Everything prior to that is work) or I am already on Final.. (Everything else prior to that is work) and then I land... and then what?

 

I have been doing this a lot lately. Most of my saved flight are named like this "Approach to......"

 

So that gets boring too.

 

 

Lets admit it, we generally are hard to please crowd! Ha Ha!

 

MAnny