Interesting thread. I was away from simming for much of this past year doing my real world instrument rating, and using FS as practice of the previous flight lesson.I don't have time to do long flights, but enjoy jets. One idea is fly the DF B727 across the US, or across Europe, pretending to do a tour with this aircraft (which is rarely seen anymore in regular service). Or you could do this with a Connie. Or maybe as a promotional trip with a B777 for a new airline.I have been simming since FS4. FS5 offered actual scenery. I maxed out on that after a while, but then found ATP, a sim that I enjoyed flying all those pre-programmed flights and was graded accordingly (and where the "pause" key and the "slew" key were made inactive, from memory). I would love to see something that used FS9 that emulated ATP, I'd make it myself if I knew how to program.For those of us that are aware of instrument flight, one idea might be to have an ATC that offered variables such as holds; and assigned instrument arrivals and approaches (sometimes radar vectored approaches and sometimes full approaches) that didn't let us choose the one being used. I believe Radar Vectors is somewhat designed with this in mind?Bruce.

>>>10. Get inspired by watching airline videos, and learn from what the real pilots are doing. This one reminds me of the time I rented a King Video of a flight in a Citation X, from San Diego to Arizona. Must have watched it ten times. Then, took notes on the flight, and repeated it with the FS. Also have rented tapes of flights in AK, then flew all over AK. One flight, bet never could have been made in reality. Took on in a Waco, flying around and around Denali, trying to get to the peak. Finally realized that was not gaining any altitude on the circuits, as I'd reached the ceiling. Landed on the snow, and took a break, before taking off and heading for the nearest field. Now, in case some are not familiar with the Waco, its an open cockpit Biplane. Fantastic in Sedona, AZ where Ive been up in one several times, and at the controls once. BUT, in those temperatures, would probably have been suffering from hypothermia before ever making it to whare I landed. ;-)

Jason,I, too, have felt the same. Iused to be really into Virtual Airlines but that wained. I haven't been in a real 172 in a year or two. This break has lasted a while too.Coming to this site helps bring me back to simming. Reading books and magazines about flying and trying on the sim what the author is writing about is fun to me. I'm looking forward to CaptSim's C130 for a long time now.Good luck!!Jim

Thank you. I'll try that.On place to begin might be an article on flightsim.com It reviews using GMAX, has some links for info, may helpyou.

Well, putting it up and doing something else may be one course of action, but...There are lots of different things that may be enough of a departure to spark some new interest. From my own experience:1. Soaring in FS2002/2004 (so far FS2002 still seems the better platform due to its thermal scenery options)Check out: http://www.virtualsoaring.org http://www.fszwever.com2. Helicopter flying, including certs from HoverSafe/HoverControl http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm http://www.hovercontrol.com/Trust me, it's harder than it looks...plus, we may never get you back once you get into it!3. Warbirds - try Saipan to Nagasaki in the Wings of Power B-29A using nothing but Dave Bitzer & Mark Beaumont's bubble sextant for celestial nav to get there. Or master VFR patterns in the RealAir Spitfire. Or fly the Hump from Sookerating to Kunming in the MAAM C-47. It'll make you appreciate what even that nasty old E-3 can do!4. Master carrier ops using a carrier scenery like Flight Deck III.5. Take up simulated Air Traffic Control, either through VATSIM/IVAO etc, or with a good standalone ATC sim like Xavius' ATCC. http://www.vatsim.org http://www.xavius.com6. Spend a bunch of time on the various forums helping out others with your experience. Consider that time as well spent as sim flying.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

I've had the same problem, which was generated by the following:1) "Aimless flying": Basically, I randomly decided where to take off from and where to land. Usually, halfway through the flight, I got bored and abandoned it. 2) Inability to decide which aircraft to fly (and why): By the time I got one airplane fired up, I said to myself: Hmmm, maybe I should try another one. 3) General ignorance about where I was flying (my surroundings) Too busy making sure I click all the knobs and turn all the buttons to even look up.4) Too many hours spent in my half-darkened living room bent over manuals, trying to figure out where the hell this or that switch is. This was further compounded by Number 2) above. I never really learnt an aircraft inside and out. I've now adopted a different strategy:1) Confine my flights to usually no more than 1-2 hours on a week day; longer on the weekends. 2) Use one aircraft and one aircraft only, until I can start it in my sleep (this cuts down significantly on prep time.)3) For complicated aircraft I've developed quickie checklists that get me up and running, well, quickly.4) I rotate between heavy iron and GA airplanes. This gives me a good mix between "doing it by the books" and just "lighting the fire and kicking the tires."5) When I use the heavy iron, I only fly the real schedules. I get these from Ultimate Traffic. This has really almost tripled my satisfaction. Currently, I'm doing all the short haul/medium haul flights Cathay Pacific does in the Pacific region, using PSS's A 330. It's proving to be terrific fun. Just reading all the great names and places -Taipei, Surabaya, Cebu, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Kuala Lumpur, etc., places I am definitely hoping to visit at some point, makes me excited. I try to download as much addon scenery as possible for that particular area, and also try to get as much information about places/cities as possible, using maps, atlases, etc. Using my Airbus "quickie checklist" I'm in the air in no time. In addition, there are some very nice short flights that can be done (for example, from Penang (Malaysia) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), so I don't feel like I'm peeing my life away in front of the computer. Once I'm done with the Airbus, I'll start to get really into Dreamfleet's ATR 72, again using real world routes. Ricardo

Some good stuff here. :-) I know last night I wanted to fly but couldn't decide where to fly or what plane to fly. (that has been happening more often lately)On my next flight I am going to take one of my cargo planes and fly down to Phuket with supplies for the tsunami victims down there. Not to make it to long of a flight I will probably start in Japan or Hong Kong.

I have done some Continents. This is a super way to "see the world". Pick out a route in any country or continent and take your time, and enjoy seeing the lay of the land as you go. You will be seeing areas you have never seen before. One crazed trick I have done, when I had to study for board certification exam, was do the longer flights, as in 3-4 hours, and bring up study materials to read during the longer flights. Somehow, some way, it made the studying more tolerable! Only a fellow simmer could appreciate that!Cheers,Noel

When i got bored with FS i found this a great remedy to get over it : didn't need to take up embroidery, flower arranging, bonzai or sigar smoking contest, i just threw out those noisey thingies up front,at the back, or on my wings and went flying with the birds ! Like Bob also suggested i went sailing the virtual skies but NOT within FS ! Ok, this remedy will cost you the price of a top quality FS aircraft add-on but who needs that when you're already bored with FS. Get Sailors of the Skies (SOTS) and i promise you you'll forget about FS instantly but will be happy to return once you have completely mastered SOTS. And this you'll find no easy task ! SOTS is a completely different bowl of fish compared to gliding in FS. Particularly the immersion is amazing because the program is completely dedicated to gliding and all of its specific components. For example you can choose to be towed up either by winch or towplane ( no slew in SOTS... ), trying to stay properly behind the towplane already is a great challenge. Little things like the towplane waving its wings telling you that's as far as he'll go, your plane resting on a wing while waiting for your turn, other planes waiting behind you for their turn and you having to wait for the plane in front of you to take off also help a lot getting immersed into this wonderful sim.The cockpits/gauges are well done ( not as nice as in FS but that's one of the reason's you'll be happy to return to FS one day... ;-)), the sceneries are photoreal and very nice ( lots to download ), the flightmodels are brilliant, can't be compared to FS sailplane FDs, sounds are amazing,particularly in fly-by mode, models are nice too ( first time i saw an animated pilot figure ) but it's the feeling of flying a *real* virtual sailplane for once which i really got a kick out of and which,imho, is totally different compared to flying a sailplane in FS.Try it,(you can download a demo) good chance you'll get hooked ( don't forget to release it at the proper time ) as i did. Don't go back to FS while sailing with SOTS and you'll be equally amazed how wonderful FS is after you long for some engine noise again ! I'm not in any way affiliated with SOTS or anything, just loved the program to death and made me get over my FS boredom.You can read all about SOTS here : http://www.sailorsofthesky.com/Good Luck! (you'll need it! )Jan

Hey there Jason,I am in much the same situation. I have found myself, dare I say it bored of FS. That may seem drastic to some, but having just moved and starting over, basically a new life, it's taken from my love for FS. So what do I do know? I have delved into other gaming genres, I have taken a liking to the Splinter Cell Series and Call Of Duty.However my plan is just to take a break from FS for awhile. I have always loved aviation, I grew up immersed in it. My father is a flight instructor, and I have taken flight instruction to the point of having student cert.I plan on returning to FS in the coming months after my "boredom" passes. I occasionally jump into FS2004 for a short flight, but short is all I can do right now. My suggestion to you? As with all the others, take a break, many have done it and come back with even more appreciation for it, which I am sure will be my case.Perhaps when Squawkbox 3 becomes available that will be the spring board to return and enjoy the wonders of FS again.Oh man it''s been awhile since I logged on, I gotta change my banner. LOL

"There is an art . . . to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss!"

I have found my interest is reenergized after a trip to the airport. I don't have the time or $$ to fly for real so the sim is the closest thing I can get.