how to make long flights more exciting?

[Jockos 6]

I drink (moderately, of course).  Hopefully, real pilots do not.

 

Always brightens up the approach.

[SierraHotel 982]

Install FS2Crew Emergency and FS Captain, join a VA and then tell me you are bored!

[Guest]

I use FS2Crew and ProATC/X and I make sure my flights are short. My cruise phase usually doesn't take more then a few minutes. All this means there is hardly any time where I have to do absolutely nothing. 

 

If you don't like longer flights anymore, don't do them. Simple as that. Why would you want to do something you don't actually like...?

[http404 22]

Great ideas up there, though, I'd like to add what i personally do, and prolly it's why I intentionally choose to fly long cruises.

 

I'm a full-time working professional and i've got 2 laptops. I can work at anytime. While my more-powerful machine runs the FSX, my favorite FSX and other addons in full-screen, I would be doing a gazillion things on my company's laptop.

 

While in a long cruise, I am on the other computer, working, while occasionally doing periodical checks and scans. Reading the FCOMs, manuals, play around flight plans, researching the web, watching videos, even preparing my favorite asian coffees! There are definitely a gazillion things to do if you are similar to me.

 

I get myself really busy with the flight preparations and departure procedures, with an occasional F/D off, A/THR off take-off from time to time to get a feel of how pilots decades ago used to fly.

 

Once AP is on, the workload decreases, and if my flight has been planned carefully, little are the things i need to do, such as switching off the center fuel tanks pumps, step climbs and pressurization, route modifications and finally as T/D comes within range, descent preparations.

 

I also never fly offline unless im flying-around doing touch-and-goes for manual flight practice.

 

If you've got one pc only, and got really nothing else to do while cruising (work or study), then the above does not apply

 

 

Enjoy your flights mate!

[Rocky_53 1,579]

Lot's of good stuff here. I'm a little like Jeroen, in that I don't fly long routes, for exactly that reason. Generally all my NGX flights are Europe based so I'll do UK to Innsbruck - Nice to Bari - Gibraltar to Faro - Lisbon to Barcelona, I think you get the idea. If I put aside an afternoon for my flying i may leave my loacl airport EGGD (Bristol) and fly down to Gibraltar or across to Athens, but these are of cours elonger flights. With these, once at cruise, I'll do other things in my office, where my sim is, wartch FSX vids on YT, visit Avsim and Orbx forums etc, occasionally checking the Opus weather. So while I see that it can appear to get boring, I guess it depends on how you make it not so. I think, like Mike has said, joining a VA would be very interesting or indeed Vatsim. Either of these would help with increasing the level of immersion and decrease any level of boredom. If any of these don't help, then maybe you should consider palying COD during your flights :lol:

[Nurmblitz 59]

Hire a stewardess.

 

Or fly your long distance flights by dead reckoning. Navigate your route by calculating wingdrifts, use only maps to check where you are etc.

[Jikul 61]

Many good suggestions. Now notice how many cool things you can while your NGX cruises at FL350. Now think about what the real world pilots do... Yeah, pretty much nothing. Absolute, complete boredom. 

 

That's why I prefer general aviation.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

Many good suggestions. Now notice how many cool things you can while your NGX cruises at FL350. Now think about what the real world pilots do... Yeah, pretty much nothing. Absolute, complete boredom. 

 

That's why I prefer general aviation.

 

LOL.  Now you're getting the *true* experience.  I only just started flying the NGX and I already see boredom coming if the flights are too long.  Truly, I was very ambivalent about getting it.  Even flying GA IFR is, at times, a pill...being controlled all the way from start to end.  Having a computer do all that flying for you...double pill.  But I like learning new things and the NGX is, at least, a great airplane. 

 

Back to the OP...

 

Some big iron pilots fly GA as well so, maybe, you're just experiencing some of what they do.  Truly, I'd think you're just confused about why you don't want to fly it right now.  I'd do what someone else suggested and let yourself give it a break for a while and see what happens.  I love flying the Duke...serious airplane.  Perhaps you'll find other reasons to fly big iron (as others also suggested)...a VA, perhaps.  New challenges or new opportunities.  But give it some time.  The fuel lines won't rot.  I'd love to hear how it turns out.

[Noel 4,504]

 

Why don't you just get FS Instant Approach?

 

Valid question, however I use FSPax tracking various pilots in my virtual airline and I'm guessing they won't work together in this regard.

[PIC007 82]

Any ideas on how to make big airliners more exciting to fly? I love airliners but I'm just painfully bored when I fly them in FSX.

Find a group to fly with and keep the flights an hour or so. Having other people to talk with makes FSX a whole new experiance.

[Alec 370]

Real pilots will check their fuel at each major waypoint with their NAVLOG, to see if they're burning more or less than expected. That will always change with Winds that aren't as forecast, so it's a good idea to keep track of that, maybe you will see that you no longer have enough fuel for the two missed approaches you thought you had, and you see that the weather is getting worse at your destination, so it's time to plan a very likely diversion to an alternate, load the procedures, input the route into the second page of the FMC.

 

If you fly by the rules of minimum fuel requirements, ETOPS, and other complicated stuff I think you will have plenty to do while you're in cruise.

 

If you want to get serious, PFPX Flight Planned will become your best friend when doing these long hauls flights.

[brucek 38]

 

Why don't you just get FS Instant Approach?  Then in the same time you are taking walking away from your flight sim, you can do several complete flights and landings.

 

 

I do my own version of "instant approach". I prep a flight as normal, load fuel per flight planner (or if the NGX, per the method that the 2nd NGX rutorial uses, which always seems to be "right on the money"), fly the flight in real time (but at times I wil do other things like chores, sometimes I have work that I bring home to do, etc.), then save the flight about 20 nm before TOD. This only works with aircarft that have a sophisicated "panel save" function, BTW.

 

I then repeatedly retrieve the flight, change time of day and weather, usually a weather change is where I try to craete surface winds to favor a different runway), then activate an FSX flight plan (which I created when starting the flight), fire up FS2Crew, and get a unique experience every time I fly into the same airport. To kick it up a notch, enable random failures.

 

I sit and look at a computer screen for 10 hours a day at work, and while I like simming and flight, sitting and watching a computer screen for hours on end on non-work time is something that I don't care to do- life is too short.

 

On occasions when I do want to spend time flying a complete flight, I emulate what I do on real GA flights: While large and sophisicated aircraft have indications of FOB weight, small GA a/c (such as the C172 that I fly) do not, so we are left to resort to tables that give fuel burn for the input variables of altitiude, TAS and RPM. The calculated fuel burn rate is then measured against flight time, for a theoretical FOB remaining. All this needs some math and a FM that matches real performance tables. Since such FMs are rare, I sometimes take an aircraft I like and create my own tables, which tehn allows me to do what I normally would in a RW airctaft. That keeps me busy for short GA flight, and even more so if I emulate IFR flight where I need to generate and measure ETA and ATA respectively at fixes in the IFR flight plan.

 

Thanks, Bruce.

[RWFeldman 159]

Put a wall mounted 46" lcd tv above sim monitors and watch NHL or NCAA tournament.

[Bread Hammer 1]

how to make long flights more exciting?

 

 

 

Don't load enough fuel for the trip.

[Noel 4,504]

Fun to see how others use the sim.  It sounds like most all of the big iron folks do what any sane person, pilot, etc would do during the long boring cruise:  do something else!