Brand New To Flight Sim / Need Some Insight

[odourboy 1,289]

 

 

So many (new and old) get caught up in the 3rd party addon frenzy we don't stop to enjoy it for what it is

 

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

[MG49 0]

Will do (to all of the above) people.  

 

I gotta say it again I am absolutely stunned by the detailed sophistication of FSX but that being said I do find that I'm becoming slightly less intimidated each time I come on to fly a mission.  I finally landed my first jet in the "transitioning to jets" mission:)  It took 6 or 7 times but what a blast!  Quite frankly I think I lucked out but it sure was fun especially when I made it all the way to the gate/jetway.  Almost landed the Rome-Naples mission jet but couldn't line up the runway but that's okay I'm just feeling my way around and having a blast like you were saying I should.

 

Just incredible stuff all the way around for real:)

 

Now I think it's time to pull back some in order to start doing some finer points learning with respect to the fundamentals as you all have stated here....breaking down the instrumentation, etc.

 

So cool that a lot of you folks have been around this rodeo for quite some time now.  I appreciate the knowledge I really do and thanks as always!

[High Plains Flyer 35]

I will confirm it for you: the FSX Jet Tutorial is garbage -- utterly unhelpful and confusing.

 

Having been in your position a while ago, I would advise the KISS principle:  Keep It Simple Stupid!

 

It is really easy to overcomplicate things.  Take things one step at a time.  Don't overly complicate things.  Learn to do one thing at a time.

 

Stick to the default aircraft until you get the hang of things.  Don't even think of going to the PMDG site or the Angle of Attack site.  Those are for more advanced users.  Don't worry about ADFs/NDBs, VORs, Intersections; they are not needed to get you started.  Don't mess with FSX's brain dead Air Traffic Control.  All of these things will confuse the bejeebus out of you.  You can jump down these rabbitholes and waste a lot of time there.

 

You need to learn how to use ILS landing system.  You need to learn how to use the autopilot.  You need to find the location of the GPS switch on the default aircraft.  Learn how to use the Garmin GPS system.

 

A while ago, I started a blog describing my misadventures in learning how to use Flight Simulator:  http://flyingsims.blogspot.com/  I sort of lost interest in keeping up with this, but it might be of some help.

 

Just plan on crashing a lot of planes.

[MG49 0]

Thank you for sharing High Plains and speaking as a brand newbie I seriously appreciate that kind of looking out and I certainly will check out your blog.  

 

The best thing about forums such as this is the input from all of you people who once were precisely where I am at now where so much is foreign to me but each day becoming less so and what a seriously cool experience this all is I gotta say.

 

I've been reading articles like crazy every day and watching videos on youtube and it's just absolutely mesmerizing to me.

 

I read an article earlier tonight about how in the flight sim world you guys even have organized virtual airlines that virtual pilots sign on to fly for and that run and schedule just like the real ones and you even have air traffic controllers like the real world kind.  Wow I had no idea!

 

Even though it'll be eons before I ever get to that level I think it's awesome that it's all happening out there.

 

But thanks for your post and your input High Plains I really appreciate it:)

[Chris from Angle of Attack 7]

 

 

Stick to the default aircraft until you get the hang of things.  Don't even think of going to the PMDG site or the Angle of Attack site.  Those are for more advanced users.  Don't worry about ADFs/NDBs, VORs, Intersections; they are not needed to get you started.  Don't mess with FSX's brain dead Air Traffic Control.  All of these things will confuse the bejeebus out of you.  You can jump down these rabbitholes and waste a lot of time there.

 

This is totally inaccurate. We have a free course called Aviator90 that is absolutely perfect for you, and goes through all the basics of flying in a video course. 45 videos, all taught by real pilots (mostly me). Come on over, you have nothing to lose. 

 

www.Aviator90.com 

 

Hello forum -

 

I sure hope I am posting this properly and not violating any forum rules or anything.  Sorry if I am and please let me know.

 

I am brand new to the world of flight sim and have been into it for just over 2 weeks now.

 

I started out with the beginner missions in fsx and did really well until I got to the one that's the intro to jets and now I realize there's a LOT to learn but I'm excited and in for the long term because it's the jets that I got into this for to begin with.

 

I've been seriously active in researching and learning, watching youtube videos of people showing their successful landings and takeoffs (some of these are AWESOME!), reading all the inserts that came with fsx plus everything I can find online, and so on, and I am definitely learning new things every day.

 

A couple of initial questions though:

 

1. I experimented with adding skins/liveries/repaints and when I finished the part where you plug it into the Notepad file I was "denied access" and couldn't complete it.  Any ideas?  Do I need to go back and set up my fsx on my computer all over again only this time set it up under administrator?  I am running Windows 7 with the minimum system requirements to be able to run fsx if that helps.

 

2. When I did download and plug in a totally new jet (the total plane which was an Aer Lingus and not just the repaint) to add to my aircraft I did it from one of those freeware sites and while the jet showed up in my list of aircraft when I went to actually "fly now" with it the outside view of the plane was blank wherever the aircraft was supposed to be, from any view.  Was this a bad file or something?  Also, where is the most reliable, safest place online to add liveries and new aircraft?  I don't mind paying for them if they're the real deal and won't screw up my computer in any way.

 

3. Any ideas as to how to best approach my learning to fly the jets?  Any recommendations for learning material?

 

Thanks for your time any help will be GREATLY appreciated:)

 

Checkout Aviator90. You'll love it. 

I will confirm it for you: the FSX Jet Tutorial is garbage -- utterly unhelpful and confusing.

 

Having been in your position a while ago, I would advise the KISS principle:  Keep It Simple Stupid!

 

It is really easy to overcomplicate things.  Take things one step at a time.  Don't overly complicate things.  Learn to do one thing at a time.

 

Stick to the default aircraft until you get the hang of things.  Don't even think of going to the PMDG site or the Angle of Attack site.  Those are for more advanced users.  Don't worry about ADFs/NDBs, VORs, Intersections; they are not needed to get you started.  Don't mess with FSX's brain dead Air Traffic Control.  All of these things will confuse the bejeebus out of you.  You can jump down these rabbitholes and waste a lot of time there.

 

You need to learn how to use ILS landing system.  You need to learn how to use the autopilot.  You need to find the location of the GPS switch on the default aircraft.  Learn how to use the Garmin GPS system.

 

A while ago, I started a blog describing my misadventures in learning how to use Flight Simulator:  http://flyingsims.blogspot.com/  I sort of lost interest in keeping up with this, but it might be of some help.

 

Just plan on crashing a lot of planes.

I would wait on this stuff. You've got to learn to land and take off first, do maneuvers, and so on. ILS is actually quite advanced, and you need a good grasp of the machine to do simple things like descend on glideslope. 

[clayton4115 56]

yes, i have been flying flight sim since 1998 when FS98 came out, it can get addictive.

[High Plains Flyer 35]

This is totally inaccurate. We have a free course called Aviator90 that is absolutely perfect for you, and goes through all the basics of flying in a video course. 45 videos, all taught by real pilots (mostly me). Come on over, you have nothing to lose. 

 

www.Aviator90.com 

Checkout Aviator90. You'll love it. 

I would wait on this stuff. You've got to learn to land and take off first, do maneuvers, and so on. ILS is actually quite advanced, and you need a good grasp of the machine to do simple things like descend on glideslope. 

 

Watch out!  This guy is trying to sell you something!  You should always be wary of someone who has a financial interest in the advice he gives.

 

Watching videos for 19 hours is a lot of time to invest.  There is a lot of wasted time either watching stuff you really don't need to know or "panning for gold"  looking for those new nuggets.

 

My blog is not a lesson in doing things right.  It is the frustration of a newbie trying to figure out the basics.  When I look back at it now, it is actually rather embarrassing.  There simply was a lot of stuff I did not know, and more experienced flight simmers never thought were important enough to mention.  Of course, these are the things which are critical to understand (like the 250 speed limit below 10,000 feet).

 

One of the biggest problems with people who have been doing this for a while is they overcomplicate things.  Very few of them know how to get to the point, how to strip out the extraneous garbage and just tell you what you need to know to get started.  At the same time, there is a tendency to leave out important details, because, for them, those details are so routine as to seem unimportant.  Many of these people thrive on complexity and making things as difficult as possible.  The end result is they end up confusing people.

 

It becomes the classic case of asking someone for the time, and they give you instructions on how to build a watch.

 

As for ILS, I had a blog entry,http://flyingsims.blogspot.com/2012/01/adding-ils.html, where I tried to explain in the simplest terms how to do it.  This same basic system works for all of the FSX default aircraft, including the jets.  They all have a panel to enter an ILS frequency and they all have a gps/nav switch.

 

Not learning how to use this simple ILS will guarantee that most of your flights will end in crashes.  In fact, I would go so far as to state that trying to land aircraft without the ILS system is far more advanced and difficult than  landing aircraft with it.

 

This is NOT how things are done in real life.  Real life is much more complicated.  However, Microsoft's philosophy appears to have been to simplify real life procedures into something which does not take days or weeks of study to understand.

 

My approach has been to start with something simple, then gradually add complexity.  The fun is in the journey.

 

When you have the default aircraft mastered, there are a number of simplified aircraft, from CLS or Just Flight, which make a nice next step.  Eventually you might want to look at the Aerosoft Airbus Extended, because the thing almost flies itself.

[Chris from Angle of Attack 7]

Watch out!  This guy is trying to sell you something!  You should always be wary of someone who has a financial interest in the advice he gives.

 

No, actually, it's free. Completely free. I have thousands of people watching these videos that don't pay a dime. And I love it! Because of a reason you suggested "My blog is not a lesson in doing things right.  It is the frustration of a newbie trying to figure out the basics.  When I look back at it now, it is actually rather embarrassing.  There simply was a lot of stuff I did not know, and more experienced flight simmers never thought were important enough to mention.  Of course, these are the things which are critical to understand (like the 250 speed limit below 10,000 feet).

 

One of the biggest problems with people who have been doing this for a while is they overcomplicate things.  Very few of them know how to get to the point, how to strip out the extraneous garbage and just tell you what you need to know to get started.  At the same time, there is a tendency to leave out important details, because, for them, those details are so routine as to seem unimportant.  Many of these people thrive on complexity and making things as difficult as possible.  The end result is they end up confusing people."

 

Doing an ILS to begin with is really, really overcomplicating things. An ILS is an advanced maneuver taught to people that are already competent in landing the aircraft visually. And ILS does NOT take you all the way to the ground, so how are you going to land in those last few hundred feet? 

 

Listen, I really appreciate you trying to help this guy out, but you're being super confusing and contradicting. I want other people to jump in here and back me up, because this is borderline ridiculous to say you can't land without an ILS. 

 

I can tell you aren't a real pilot, but I can tell you've learned a thing or two. If it were me, I would want to be starting out with the basics. ILS is NOT part of the basics. 

 

I would also want to be learning from actual pilots. 

 

It's up for other people to decide, but it's clear where the real experience is here. And I think that's who most people want to learn from, bypassing years of confusion.