I was thinking about our flight sim community the other day, and about how varied it is. Looking at the screenshot forum, you can quickly see that each person has a specific desire flight simulation fulfills. We obviously all have one common denominator, a love for aviation. But after that, we all go about it in slightly different ways

 

So I'm posting this question, to see what people in the PMDG community do with their simulation/aircraft. Me for instance, i like to fly for one airline. Before I purchase an aircraft, the 777 for example, I look at the operators and their route structure. And using personal preference and destination options, I either pick an airline or get a good idea of what I want and settle down after purchase. Once I purchase I spend weeks/months mastering the aircraft and getting to a point where I feel fairly proficient in it. After that point, I have my airline selected, and take "delivery" of the aircraft from point of manufacture to the airlines hub/wherever they get aircraft delivered. And from there I fly only real routes, depart from where I last arrived, and I have my sim time running at RW time. And I don't ever use time compression. That's just the way I like to fly my PMDG aircraft, and all other airliners. I'm about ready to take delivery of a 777-300ER, and I'm fairly set on flying for AA. I am looking forward to what other ways you all like to use your sim!

I tend to change airlines that use the -300ER in R/L, and like you arrive at one airport and then depart from there to another or do the return leg using PFPX for the flightplan, GSX for the ground services, AivlaSoft as a map-follower, and Topcat to set up the flights, and at the moment a trial ASN for the weather.

I treat my 777-200LR like a charter or BBJ aircraft, so I fly when and where I choose to, including military bases.  I am mostly interested in flying it from a pilot's perspective, interested in 'what it can do' performance-wise, I am not interested in airline economics.  

 

Some GA aircraft on the otherhand, like the A2A Cherokee, I try to simulate being the aircraft owner, operating it realistically and mindful of wear and tear costs.

 

Cheers

TJ 

I tend to fly the British Airways routes from London Gatwick/EGKK. They don't operate the 777-300ER there but it's the PMDG aircraft I use.

These routes take me to the Carribean, USA, Mexico, Bermuda, and the exotic islands in the Indian Ocean of Mauritius and the Maldives.

 

I use ASN, TOPER for Take Off calculations, and addon scenery for the routes I fly.

I joined Alaska Virtual Airlines for the sole reason that their two primary aircraft are two of best aircraft sims on the market: the NGX of course and the (whispers) Q400 from that other guy. Plus most of their routes are within the continental US. I also just started playing with FS Economy and that has definitely breathed alot of life into the Jetstream 41.

I forgot to add, although I strive for realism as much as possible. I do take livery when it comes to the aircraft type the airline uses. Although I keep them at least similar, if the airline flies a 763, 772, ect I'll allow myself to fly the route with the 773ER

One airline, two planes (737-800WL and Q400), and one hub. Always fly real time, real weather, via hub.

Hazelnut and pinch of cinnamon.

I tend to buy scenery based around the aircraft that I use, currently only the PMDG 777 and 737. From there it is a matter of getting routes, times, and flight numbers right for the different airlines that I have for those aircraft.

 

I select my flight based on what I can complete given my time constraints and which flight is departing at or round about that time.

 

Where possible I try to get the published route of the actual flight and program that into the FMC.

 

Then I make a point of not telling anyone about what I did, unless that person is also an avid simmer ... People go cross eyed when they hear about what we get up to.

When I'm flying I want to have a good time. I try to be as realistic as possible, but it it involves too much work and time, I tend to simplify and cut corners. I don't have time to print hundred of documents and make the route be 100% true to real life and weather conditions.

 

I really welcome the PMDG version of time compression, makes me fly more long routes in shorter time periods. I like to fly real life routes with correct liverys. But sometimes I invent my own routes, if I want to go between to specific airports.

 

How do I like my PMDG? Medium rare.  :blink:

I fly the sim realistic in some areas and to personal preference (enjoyment) in others. I'll follow checklists, I'll mimic what I think the procedures are for an actual line flight (including the use of GSX for sounds and visual), I'll follow the taxi route of default FSX ATC (only if it is the RW runway in use, if not I'll assign my own taxi route), I'll follow the STAR and SID 100% then vector myself as needed, and since I fly for a United VA, I'll always use UAL liveries. (that's a big sentence!)

 

As far as flights, the VA has a listed of flights using the 777 and the 737 so I'm covered there. I'll fly codeshare flights in Asia, South America and Europe with the UAL livery (just my personal preference and I fly those areas to just justify the world scenery stuff i have purchased). 

 

WX is ASN. I prefer to fly to and from payware (or good freeware) airports. As mentioned previously I use GSX. PFPX is what I use for flight planning exclusively. For PFPX, I'll get the RW route from Flightaware and use that instead of the auto generated route.

 

After buying a PMDG airplane, I'll ALWAYS do the excellent tutorials. Usually one or two flights on the tutorial is enough familiarization of a Boeing plane for me at this point. 

I fly for Royal Dutch Virtual to simulate KLM's 777 operations. They have a very interesting network of 777 flights, with the 200ER & 300ER.

 

My favorite destinations are Osaka-Kansai (RJBB), Xiamen (ZSAM), Lima (SPIM) & Dubai (OMDB).

 

I am still waiting for scenery for Quito (SEQM), Johannesburg (FAOR) and Taipei (RCTP), so those destinations can be added to that list as well.

 

I enjoy operating within the limits of an airline, so I get the most out of the excellent 777 experience. The same is true for the NGX & KLM.  ^_^

I entered the simulation community with the firm desire to fly for Southwest Virtual.  Southwest is my favorite airline and when I saw I could fly for them and in an online environment I was hooked.   I have always flown combat simulators but I wanted to fly without being shot at for a change.  When I saw there was an ultra realistic simulation of the 737 I made the leap.  I specifically built this $5000 beast of a PC just for FSX at the time.    I collect 737 liveries from other airlines though because I think of each paint job as a work of art and love to look at them but when I fly it's always in a Southwest skin unless I am doing regional work in an ERJ/CRJ.    With the arrival of the 777 I will also start flying the proud colors of FedEX.    For puddle jumping it's the Cessna 208B for SusiAIR or a Twin Otter but my heart will always belong to the 737 and Southwest.

I really enjoy the deep technical aspects of the PMDG 777, (future Aircraft Maintenance Engineer hopefully) I enjoy studying all of the aircrafts systems in huge depth and testing them in the sim.

 

When it comes to actually flying I fly heaps of Qantas codeshare Emirates flights for Qantas Virtual. There's always heaps of flights leaving Dubai in the range of 1-15 hours, so there's plenty of variety.

 

But when I'm not flying Qantas Virtual I love doing polar routes, atlantic crossings, and Antarctica scenic flights (leave YSSY and return 12 hours later).