Want a new idea to keep FS interesting?

[magentaline 1]

Get to that point where you wonder what to do? ye I still need to mug up on the J41, learn to program the FMC better etc etc. 

Here's a suggestion for a new and interesting activity:  Go back to doing non precision approaches such as VOR DME. Its actually very interesting and a good test of skills. Use something slow like the A2A 172 or the Twin Otter for example.

Get the charts you need for these approaches (for the UK) here:

http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html

 

[SolRayz 392]

Or...you could do this. :lol:

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Be cool if you could stop in some out of the way area and catch fish!  :lol:

[Q_flyer 766]

Get to that point where you wonder what to do? ye I still need to mug up on the J41, learn to program the FMC better etc etc. 

Here's a suggestion for a new and interesting activity:  Go back to doing non precision approaches such as VOR DME. Its actually very interesting and a good test of skills. Use something slow like the A2A 172 or the Twin Otter for example.

Get the charts you need for these approaches (for the UK) here:

http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html

I've been in a similar place the last couple of weeks, so yesterday I abandoned all my complex heavies, got back into GA aircraft (RealAir Duke B60 2.0, Carenado PA46-350P Malibu, and MilViz C310R), printed the charts of all airports in Scotland from the Navigraph Charts Bank, and started flying between them, and following the proper approaches (often VOR and NDB); without using GPS.

 

Loving it!

[ViperPilot 81]

Q_flyer (Dave),

 

I have a question for you, and HiFlyer (Devon)...

 

If I flew a cross country with the GPS on, but without the Waypoints plotted (no Magenta line showing), navigating by VOR's and NDB's... would that be considered cheating? Basically, I'm using the GPS as an aid, but not using it to navigate with. Sort of like an 'Electronic Sectional".

 

(Did that make sense?)

 

I have always wondered about that...

 

Thanks!

 

Alan

[magentaline 1]

I do that, like you say it gives good situational awareness but still fly the approach as per the chart 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Define cheating! :-)

[ViperPilot 81]

I do that, like you say it gives good situational awareness but still fly the approach as per the chart 

 

Exactly. I'll plan out my route using Skyvector, write down the waypoints and freqs, and head on out.

 

Cool!

 

Define cheating! :-)

 

Devon,

 

Cheating, as in the GPS ain't showing me which way to go; it's just showing me what's out and about...

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Nope, not "cheating" and a lot more interesting. :-)

[Need-To-Know 34]

 About a year ago I was into flying tubes. One day I took off without proper planning or programing of the FMC and ended up getting lost.

It dawned on me that I really knew nothing of real world navigation. I started studying a bit and ordered charts and various plotting tools and found out planning the flight and then flying it was alot more fun than pressing an auto pilot.

Then after I got that figured out I really started to think about doing more and more the old school way. I ordered vintage books on navigation and dead reckoning to find out FSX is really really good for this and much more fun.

Last week watching a time lapse of a guy flying one of the really popular tubes I really wondered what is so appealing about it.? He just sat there for hours doing nothing. Heck the thing even lands itself.

I am now really extreme and use a sextant, calculate winds by how far I am off course at my next reference point. Use an aviation timer for the flight, fuel and approaches. Use paper charts and plotting.

While guys get so proud that they can push buttons and watch the AC fly - try getting lost and following a lost procedure with a real chart and VORs.

Hand land a plane in zero vis by watching you HSI.

I promise you there is TONS more to learn that you might actually get to use flying a real GA one day...do you really think you get to fly a massive passenger jet...ever.

I would love to meet a similar like minded guy(s) that we can work on this together and be more proficient than modern real world pilots.

I now use a vintage MARK 3 plotting board, wind drift meter and other old world tools. And I never just sit and stare at glass gauges - NO GPS for me. Not cheating as this is how all of my real world pilot buddies fly.

 

It is pretty much what guys learn in real flight training but get lazy and rely only on instruments. Or tubes never bother to learn but spend weeks learning the FMC... Just sayin  
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIfJaK1f0xM

[TOGA-saurus 330]

I thought this thread would be along the lines of "put you wind up to 200 KTS and watch your plane hover over the runway!"

[ViperPilot 81]

If you're into old school navigation and want to get real 'classic' I would suggest DC-3 Airways. There's nothing like flying a Three the old fashioned way, from flying one of the routes over the Hump, to a 1951 route for Piedmont Airlines. The only requirement is that you're flying the DC-3.

 

There's a group of folks over at FlightSim.who fly old school; they have even devised a Gauge that simulates a Sextant, using tables available on the Web that allow you to calculate 'sun shots' and plot your position.

 

I was thinking... hand fly an approach with, say a 787, using only the PAPI lights and no auto-throttle.

 

I ended up buying a 3rd party FMC, just because I could put it into any airplane, and it was easier to input Waypoints than using the Default GPS...

 

[Need-To-Know 34]

Awesome ViperPilot! Thanks for the heads up about that group. I will check them out.

 

And yeah I have those nav tools also.

 

BTW noticed your signature - I am a Colorado native stuck in the hot, humid, bug land of Florida and feel homesick everyday. Appreciate what ya got out there it does not get any better. :rolleyes:

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

Vor triangulation and ndb navigation, timer on short legs to compare headings. When at low altitude I know from triangulating all pick up vor or nbd signals. Normally fly heading and hone in on flying left and right of needle and using dead reckoning to find course. It's non precision understanding your position based on vfr sectionals, visual clues, vor, nbd signals.