i'm findiing flight in FSX a bIt too easy these days. I can land my twin props in crosswinds, takeoff, land on short fields, in bad weather etc, and I can use NDBs and VOR radials. I also have Remote Flight Map on an iPad I use as a moving map/GPS and it makes navigation so ... easy.

 

So I've started switching it off and planning flights visually, using landmarks and dead reckoning. I did alot of this in my Amy Johnson 1930 flight to Australia last year. It was the most challenging flying I'd ever done and I've not had any of that white knuckle flying since.

 

But I've found now I'm working harder throughout the flight, now, checking times, looking for landmarks, consulting the map, checking landmarks again.... Panicking when the cloud base creeps lower and lower.

 

I guess I'm going to have to pretend I'm flying back in the 90's!

Excellent.  This reminds me of what I started doing many years ago, when I found the flights were getting a little routine and not as challenging.

 

What I did was start performing wind corrections, using a lot of mental gym (math in my head, etc.). For those who argue that Flight Simulation isn't real world enough, I can tell you that it certainly helped me to become a better pilot.

 

Sadly, I've got lazy again, and if you don't use it, you loose it.  These days it's the FMS for me, but we're flying those commercial aircraft in shared cockpit using real world procedures and though it's different, it's been a real treat and pretty heavy workload.

 

Dave

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Panicking when the cloud base creeps lower and lower.

 

 

I'm assuming that most of those pilots who once flew the airplanes, that dot so many of the mountain sides, out here in the mountain west, also did a bit of panicking.

I looked at a map, that had red dots for all of the flight into terrain accidents for this area. Looked like the red poppy field in Wizard of Oz. For simming though, it does add some enjoyment, by navigating the old ways.  

 

BTW ----- looking straight out my window, is a mountain peak, that hid an airliner for six months back in 1936-1937 before it was found. Amelia Earhart flew up to join the search.

Oh wow, where is that?

Oh wow, where is that?

South of Salt Lake City. Lone Peak, Dec. 15th 1936. Western Air Express, Boeing 247D.

There are a lot of interesting story's associated with this accident.  After hitting 15' below the peak, the plane went over and dropped 1000' into a basin below.