How Realistic are You?

[rellifeflyer 0]

On long haul flight especially with the 777, VHHH>KEWR is 16.3 hours. Is anyone like me and fall asleep overnight and when you wake back up you only have 3-6 hours to go? Obviously if the flight is for fun, it would be a pointless act because your doing a 16 hour flight for a reason to eb there the entire time right? But I'm talking about the times when your flying for your VA like United (the one that has that specific flight). Will this become a regular accurence (trend) do you guys think? Will the T7 be so nice that "long Hauls" will be a new trend in the flight sim community? So basically what I'm asking is how big of an impact will this long haul type aircraft have?

[Airbusman330 300]

My longest hauls are no more than 7-8 hours and even then I'm doing other stuff in the house for most of the cruise period. But as in impact I think we will see a good increase of long hauls on vatsim for a little while but once the novelty of the airplane wears off the amount of long hauls will most likely go back down but on a similar note I was talking to a 737 Captain and asked him if he ever wants to transfer to the 777 and he said no for 3 reasons: 1. He doesn't want to give up his ORD seniority, 2. Flying overseas a lot can beat down on the body with the constant time zone changes 3. 12+ hour flights do get boring after you have been doing it for awhile and many long haul guys are in it for the higher pay.

[Werner747 107]

I love long haul flights and use to continually fly 12+ hour trips in the 747 when I still had the time for it. But even then, I always use to do something else during the cruise flight. It can never be like flying the real thing, i.e. you can never find yourself marveling at the scenery outside and be immersed in it like the real thing, even with the level of simulation that PMDG provides.

 

However, I always felt a huge sense of accomplishment at flying that 747 over vast chunks of the globe, safely navigating whatever needs to be navigated and then to put her down as lightly as possible and shut it down at a gate.

 

Our VA has scheduled routes from ORD- RJAA and RJBB, which is between 11.5 and 12.5 hours long which is to be flown by the 747-400. I am also really excited about the release of the 2.0 later in the year, since that is my absolute most favourite aircraft LOL!!! Will be flying through the night, and will be switching between the 777 and the 747 regularly :-). Have to make a living in real life during the day unfortunately LOL!!!

 

Anyway, I agree with Alex - I think that there will be a huge rise in the traffic levels, and when the aircraft becomes the norm, things will begin to quiet down a little.

 

Kind regards

[SierraHotel 974]

On long haul flight especially with the 777, VHHH>KEWR is 16.3 hours. Is anyone like me and fall asleep overnight and when you wake back up you only have 3-6 hours to go? Obviously if the flight is for fun, it would be a pointless act because your doing a 16 hour flight for a reason to eb there the entire time right? But I'm talking about the times when your flying for your VA like United (the one that has that specific flight). Will this become a regular accurence (trend) do you guys think? Will the T7 be so nice that "long Hauls" will be a new trend in the flight sim community? So basically what I'm asking is how big of an impact will this long haul type aircraft have?

 

Flying for British Airways Virtual, we have to log in every hour using our in house ACARS software Pheonix. So in my case "very" realistic, I just wish FS2Crew would allow my co pilot to fly some of the way...;-)

[bpcw001 22]

On long haul flight especially with the 777, VHHH>KEWR is 16.3 hours. Is anyone like me and fall asleep overnight and when you wake back up you only have 3-6 hours to go? Obviously if the flight is for fun, it would be a pointless act because your doing a 16 hour flight for a reason to eb there the entire time right? But I'm talking about the times when your flying for your VA like United (the one that has that specific flight). Will this become a regular accurence (trend) do you guys think? Will the T7 be so nice that "long Hauls" will be a new trend in the flight sim community? So basically what I'm asking is how big of an impact will this long haul type aircraft have?

 

There is no way I'll spend more than a two or three hour leg real-time in FSX, and even there I usually walk away from the computer during cruise to do other stuff.

As some guy here on the forums mentioned, stable flight in FSX time accelerated mode is a must for an addon like the 777 which mostly does (ultra-)long hauls in real life.

 

So, while I do try to stick to real-world procedures as much as the simulation allows for it, I take the liberty of accelerating time when I see fit.

No point for me in sitting through a ten hour leg and have the computer crunch numbers for so long.

 

And those guys who walk away from the computer to do other stuff or go to sleep just to keep the sim running at 1x - well, that's not ultimate realism either.

Except when you sleep in crew bunks which shake around in turbulence, and you keep yourself strapped to the pilot's seat otherwise, having your meal from a tray balanced on your knees.

[shamrockflyer 647]

I once did a flight from Munich to Auckland NZ on the PMDG 747, set fuel to unlimited and successfully flew for around 21 hours or so! I swear I will never do it again! ^_^

[Budbud 227]

Hi,

 

I fly exclusively online on IVAO and as much as possible for VAs (Flying tigers group & Air Child) so I have to stay most of the time in front of my PC in case of trafic control even for very long haul up to 17h. When there is not, I usually watch movies and series or read books.

[hopskip 253]

I'll do the odd longhaul. Every single Cross the Pond on Vatsim (one of my favourite flyins).

 

There's no such thing as time acceleration.

 

I run 2 PC's side-by-side. one for FS, one for whatever (Forum browsing, youtube-ing, chatting etc).

 

Occasionally some sleep may be involved (Controlled decisions, alarms set for FIR crossings, fuel tank switching, step climbs, and loud "alarm" sounds for recieving private messages from Vatsim if online, so a Controller coming online can message me and I'll be there pretty quick).

 

It does mean I don't leave the house while the aircraft is airborne, but I might be in a different room doing housework. There just isn't much to do at FL370 while waiting to climb to FL390 after having climbed from FL350 to FL370 after a significant cruise portion at FL350. I usually keep a fuel track log for significant waypoints, Keep an eye out on Wind forecasts, and a eagle eye on the time estimates (which I set alarms for so I can check stuff on time).

 

All the work is done early in the flight, so that the rest of it is just monitoring. Winds are entered into the leg segments so the times and fuel predictions are accurate. The Selection of STAR/Runway and approach is often done an hour away from landing - with changes done if neccicary by ATC after those have been received.

 

By the time Top of Decent is done, almost all the checklists are completed, the Altimeter/QNH is in standby ready to go, and the FMS Fuel prediction is within 0.1 of a tonne from hours ago.

 

If you are flying the 747, the switch to Tank to Engine feed at ~53 tonnes fuel remaining is essential to get right. Even when I'm sitting in place the whole time I like to get an alarm set for that one.

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

I only fly on IVAO as well and even on 19h flights, i'm present all the time. I might study, enjoy a movie, read some book, wash the dishes... But i'm around

[kevinh 409]

I used to use time acceleration all the time, even on relatively short flights, but since I joined a VA I've only ever use it on test flights. I can't really see the point in not being actively involved in the flight most of the time either. You're basically just flying the departure and arrival with the sim taking care of the cruise.

 

I fly when it suits me, not to real schedules, but I set sim time to the scheduled time, so simulated time of day is correct. This means I'm out of sync with real weather, but I'm prepared to accept that.

[Gazzareth 808]

I normally use 4x in cruise, and since my sim time is limited I may have to save and resume a flight.

 

I always use the real date, although normally with day time. For weather I use ASE with "historical" weather, normally from the same time the previous day. If I save the flight, then I save the weather as well.....

 

G

[klimchuk 6]

Let's see:

1. Start from cold&dark cockpit

2. Real departure and arrival times and that means no time acceleration ever because that can screw up flight model

3. Real warmup time for IRS, no cheating here

4. Planning of cargo/pax/fuel load and manual entering of flight plan in FMC

5. Real STAR/SID procedures (when available)

6. After cruise level reached I can get some rest and that is what real pilots do as well!

7. ILS or Visual approach, no autoland

8. Shut down everything in cockpit before leaving FSX

 

And YES my wife doesn't understand why I'm setting alarm on 5am Sunday morning to check fuel balance on 747

[Noble. 142]

Let's see:

1. Start from cold&dark cockpit

2. Real departure and arrival times and that means no time acceleration ever because that can screw up flight model

3. Real warmup time for IRS, no cheating here

4. Planning of cargo/pax/fuel load and manual entering of flight plan in FMC

5. Real STAR/SID procedures (when available)

6. After cruise level reached I can get some rest and that is what real pilots do as well!

7. ILS or Visual approach, no autoland

8. Shut down everything in cockpit before leaving FSX

 

And YES my wife doesn't understand why I'm setting alarm on 5am Sunday morning to check fuel balance on 747

 

For what it's worth, using autoland isn't unrealistic and from what I recall, each aircraft's autoland is tested every x number of days to ensure it's still functioning etc. but also it's sometimes needed obviously when weather dictates. It's still rarely used in comparison to manually landing, but that doesn't mean it's unrealistic to use it now and again.

[klimchuk 6]

For what it's worth, using autoland isn't unrealistic and from what I recall, each aircraft's autoland is tested every x number of days to ensure it's still functioning etc. but also it's sometimes needed obviously when weather dictates. It's still rarely used in comparison to manually landing, but that doesn't mean it's unrealistic to use it now and again.

 

Yes, autoland should be tested every 28 days on 777 but from simulation point of view it does not help to learn any skills. However some of them look really nice in real world

 

Actually I expect something like that from PMDG 777 ;-)

[jjjallen 37]

LOL - realistic? According to my wife not very. Cheers jja