Hey all,

 

Decided to post this here because it's applicable to any sim. 

How do you decide what/where to fly?

 

I have recently started using FSeconomy which has been a fun way to get my out and exploring the FSX world. Prior I would just pick an airport (maybe one with a recently bough scenery) and do circuits, or just fly in random directions. Other times I'll just pick a random cross-country to do, or go up and practice some real-life situations that I want to be trained for. Now using FSEconomy it gives a lot more structure and purpose. I'm thinking of buying orbx Australia and starting fresh as a "pilot just traveled to down under in search of riches"

 

Anyways, how do you pick what/where to fly?

Depends what you fly I guess. I'm part of to virtual airlines and fly the NGX, so I pick a route from there, however one of the airlines only let you fly from where you landed last, which varies it up a bit. But, apart from that, I fly either where there is Vatsim ATC. Either at the time, or check the calenders so when I get to an area someone is booked in. I like to fly events as well, like shuttles and citi-links to have ATC the whole way.

 

Apart from that, either someone I've never been to or from before, or somewhere with an interesting landing/departure

Gosh, that's something I'm always thinking about.  I always fly somewhere that I have at least some scenery.  Luckily, the scenery is getting better and better so I have many more options than I used to.  Most times it's someplace I'm in the mood to visit.  Other times it's because of a particular challenge (weather, mountain flying, etc.), something in the news, something I hear about a place.  Sometimes I find a flight on Youtube and fly it, looking at the scenery, etc.  (I did this when I was modding an airplane, checking the numbers against the real world settings and numbers the pilot was using...that was a hoot!)

Depending on what I'm flying, I pick from one of the following:

 

- places where I've been

- places where I want to go one day

- places where I have built-up payware  / freeware scenery

- places that are relevant to the aircraft I want to fly

 

For example, I have Hawaii built up quite extensively so it looks, really, really good.  Plus, I've been there.  So it gets a lot of use.  I fly little hops around where I live as well, since I've been to most of the small towns within a large radius.  No payware besides FTX NRM, but I still use the area heavily.  Another example is flying military jets, I have a few freeware bases that I use exclusively for that.

^{Having a nice fleet of heavies, I go to Flightaware and do  flight track by Operator, by Airport or by Aircraft, pick a departure or arrival airport and flight and plan accordingly. This way I am always flying somwhere new destination almost everytime}

 

^Bill