I do a daytime job as well as running my own company. This gives me precious little time to enjoy either real flying (once a month if the weather is good) and even less time to enjoy FS2004. I realised the other week that since the 9.1 patch came out I have spent 95% of my time installing/testing/tweaking new addons and only 5% (if that!) actually flying anything, anywhere.I opened up my PMDG 737-700NG last night to try a brief flight (and I mean brief...EGLL to EGKK!) and after I had finished programming the FMC, trying to find the correct SID/STARS, setting the AT/Autopilot, Trim etc I realised that I had run out of time and had to go to bed! Could I save the situation and return tonight where I left off? No.So sadly the PMDG aircraft was and will be the last payware airliner I purchase for FS because I am fed up of not getting off the ground!It's back to freeware airliners where I can jump in, load up a flightplan from FsNavigator and GO FLY! And at least I can save the flight for another free evening without having to go through the whole process of programming everything again.Developers please note. Not everyone in the FS community has the time to spend weeks reading manuals and programming FMC's. And in the future please remember that outside the FS world lies the REAL WORLD and at least give us an option to save all our precious programming work for another wet and windy evening!

Hi Squawk and Ident,Interesting post there. I am kind of like you. I have a day time job and my own business. And I am a pilot too.Well I have to say that you made a valid point there. But I think the most amazing thing about FS is the near infinite possibilities it has to offer. Well...why don't you try to get a few nice seneries from FSAddons and become a virtual bush pilot in the north Washington and Alaska region? It is simply amazing. Or why don't you try squawking 7777 for a change...now that C-130 is (hopefully) coming out soon.I guess most of us, pilots or not really, take pride in being able to operate an airliner to the numbers in the sim. But it of course is not our only option.Keep flying the friendly skies, the real and the virtual.BestJason

There are some good quality addons that don't require the same level of committement. The PMDG Beech 1900 is a good example, as is the Aerosoft Beaver. I'm sure there are many. But when it comes to simulations of complex aircraft, simmers demand that complexity. A 737-600 that didn't feature an FMS, for example, wouldn't sell very well. As for saving the state, apparently that's not possible. I don't know that from first hand experience, but no one has done it that I know of.

Just pick up a copy of Realair's SIAI MARCHETTI SF260 Fire up the engines and go flying.For me it is still the best GA out there.

TrueBut if you want REALISM then you have to do all that stuff unfortunately mate !In a real plane you have to program it all over again if you want to fly another day - no shortcuts. These developers (PMDG especially) are striving to imitate reality and all that goes with it....hence the long prepwork involved to get it all properly setup before you set off ( just like in the real world ;-) )L8ter

Hello All,Well, having been in the same situation, I now have two models of just about every aircraft I like to fly. even though I am retired, I still have a horse business to run and my wife has young kids which have to be tended to.So, when I have time, I do it by the numbers and choose the heavy model, when I don't I pick the one which is a click and fly, do my thing and let it go at that. Time is fleeting, like everything else in this world . . . the young should remember that one, your youth fades just like fame.Best to allClayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

Hi thanks for repliesI understand that there are many simmers who demand the ultimate realism with their aircraft.However to me FS is more than just sitting back and pressing buttons. There is some fantastic scenery (ie VFR Photographic, USA Megascenery) and some wonderful weather (thanks to the FS weather engine and ActiveSky) to look at and to be honest you can't really see that much at FL370...Gabriel I have the fantastic SF-260 from Real Air - its my "default" aircraft 99% of the time but when I fancy something a bit more "long haul" it would take hours to fly from ie London Gatwick to Nice/Barcelona etc. That's when the PMDG jets used to come in.Maybe I should tweak the SF-260 and give it a turbocharger and 2 extra blades;) No I jest...RegardsAdam

Lol, I was having exactly the SAME thoughts last night: by the time you Load up FS9Load up the default starting situationLoad up the plane you actually want to flyShut it down, so you can start from a cold and dark cockpit.Move it to your departure airport.Create a flightplan. Exit FS9 to activate ActiveSky.Wait for ActiveSky to load your weatherGo back to the plane.Start it up.........it's time to go to bed.It seems like a lot of simmers are independently wealthy, or just don't need any sleep. You also hit another sore spot of mine: the inability to save most flights. So, it's either complete the damn flight, or start over!.(And before the button-fiddler and tweakers jump on me and say: THIS IS THE PRICE OF REALISM - gimme a brak: sitting in front of tiny monitor, moving plastic yokes and joysticks around, staring at tiny pixels is about as far removed from realism as you can possibly get).The pseudo-complexity of FS9 and the general pain in the butt of having to tweak the damn sim every minutes is a real killjoy.ricardo

Please! If you don't want a complex addon then simply don't buy one. Why should developers dumb down their products just because YOU don't have enough time. Flight1, RealAir and Dreamfleet to mention a few all have some fairly simple products that are excellent quaility at the same time. If you want airliners there isn't even a need to go payware as long as you don't need it to be realistic. And even the PMDG can be flown with complete disregrad to the comlex stuff.-

You missed my point: flying any "airliner" in a $40 sim isn't realistic, no matter how you spin it. What you are doing is you are pressing 90% of the buttons that a pilot would press in the real thing - if that's your definition of realism - so be it. Having had the privilege of (very briefly) being in a real full motion sim and having had the additional privilege of taking one of those affordable "be a pilot" lessons: I can tell you this: if you think FS9 is realistic, boy are you going to be in for a surprise. However, I would agree that to at least some extent you can learn navigation procedures and other basic techniques. ricardo

So?You still want the sim dumbed down, removing everything that takes a bit of time.One suggestion to you: get FSNavigator, load a default aircraft, have FSNav generate a flightplan, and press the "fly me now" button.Now sit back and watch the video as FSNav does everything for you, no more pushing unrealistic buttons and following procedures that noone will correct you on if you don't follow them.

I had exactly the same sentiments two or three years ago when I only flew the big iron. I went to GA and didn't look back. I have a great homecockpit that is made for a twin and even this requires some pre-flight setup but it isn't anywhere near as time consuming.And regarding this reality thing what is so real about programming a computer for hours and then watch a plane fly and open 15 windows to do it? Set up a decent GA cockpit instead and throw some real switches. Try to fly some short finals in bad weather into a short field. Looks more real to me and requires a lot more skill. Or do dead reckoning. Fly VFR with some of the Georender Sceneries. Try to find Strom without a GPS. Ban the autopilot from your cockpit. This is a lot more real to me and requires way more skill. AlexJus' my 2 cents.

Agree with you Alex - I use my CAA charts more for flight sim navigation than I do real-world nav. Much more rewarding using a chinagraph, flight comp (manual) and a stopwatch;)Great for practising "real world" IMC and IFR proceedures as well:)AdamPS: Each to their own as the saying goes!

I have to say my situation is about the same.Day job, Own my own business, hold a pilots license, and love to flight sim. Lets not forget the family, maintaining a house, etc. If only there were 48 hours in a day. 24 is just not enough. I have not flown a heavy in a long time. I stick with the general avaiation stuff, because I can get into the air quicker. Although I still run out of time.Perfect example, tried to recreate a flight of a King Air from Olympia to Vancouver Intl. and back. Doing a corporate flight. Needless to say I got to Vancouver and said, I am too tired to get the pax back to Olympia. Maybe tomorrow.:D

>Having had the privilege of (very briefly) being in a real>full motion sim and having had the additional privilege of>taking one of those affordable "be a pilot" lessons: I can>tell you this: if you think FS9 is realistic, boy are you>going to be in for a surprise. Yeah, why should we even try? No point of playing FS, let's switch to Crimson Skies, should save some of our valuable time.But seriously, the logic of this thread is ridiculous. People here don't have enough time on their hands (who has?) and somehow that translates into the proposition that clicking buttons with the mouse on screen is unrealistic, so everyone should go back to nature, or at least use simpler aircraft, and it appears to be a demand that developers who worked for years to program increasingly complex panels should now dumb down their products (somehow that should make fs more real).-