FSX-MS How do you spend your time on long-haul flights?

[neucoas 82]

I wouldn't bother with scenery for long haul. Just a couple nice airports.

Yeah. OOM will be a problem. 

 

Also my system could barely support the load of PMDG + stock scenery.

[Airline2Sim 489]

I'm with Ryan. I think the reason I love the Dash 8 so much (apart from the fact it's the one aircraft I really *understand* how to fly) is because it's busy. Short hops, sometimes only 20 mins airborne between smallish airports and fast turnarounds is what makes it so much fun.

 

You can do three busy, challenging sectors in the Q400 before the 777 pilot has finished his starter at lunch.

 

Even the real guys get very bored. My Q400 guy now flies the A320 and says if he had a choice of watching the Bus fly itself to Beirut for 5 hours or do four sectors around the islands in a Dash he'd do the latter almost any day of the week. But they pay him more to do the former

[twharrell 38]

When I do a long haul (which is rare), I usually do the takeoff and then hit the sack when I get to cruise. Then I wake up, fly the approach and land.

 

But, I'm with Ryan. Nowadays when I get the time to fly, it's mostly short hops on PilotEdge.

[martinlest2 58]

My FS PC is in the bedroom so sleeping doesn't really work for me.. I keep waking up and then can't resist getting up and checking that everything in the cockpit is OK. Sounds like most folks are the same as me: short haul makes up 95% of my 'big jet' flying and I suppose will continue to do so.

[YukonPete 586]

rarely do long hauls. Most are 1-2 hours.  When I do fly long haul ( probably 1 a month )  I start it just before I go to bed and sleep en-route  And wake up with an hour or two still remaining. 

[jcomm 5,938]

Even in Aerowinx PSX, I just use it for short flights ( Faro - Lisbon or at most Lisbon - Barcelona ), or simple circuits with bad weather.

 

What's mainly the biggest thrill for me are the flight dynamics and systems modeling, and it's under certain extreme situations that they're more interesting to use.

 

I've considered adding FS2Crew and / or some ATC Robot, but then again, that would require me to be at the PC permanently, unless I can give my co-pilot the ATC stuff while away from the pit, which I do not know if any of the MCE programs is prepared to simulate ?

[Flying Penguin 44]

Even in Aerowinx PSX, I just use it for short flights ( Faro - Lisbon or at most Lisbon - Barcelona ), or simple circuits with bad weather.

 

What's mainly the biggest thrill for me are the flight dynamics and systems modeling, and it's under certain extreme situations that they're more interesting to use.

 

I've considered adding FS2Crew and / or some ATC Robot, but then again, that would require me to be at the PC permanently, unless I can give my co-pilot the ATC stuff while away from the pit, which I do not know if any of the MCE programs is prepared to simulate ?

 

If it's self-handling radio comms you want, you could always try VoxATC, you can do the radio comms yourself until cruise and then turn on the in-built FO function to handle the radios and switch between centre controllers whilst you are away, just turn off en-route diversions in the menu so it doesn't try route you round traffic (it self-generates traffic, so that's not a problem)

 

Also FS2Crew requires no input once established in the cruise, at least until it's time to start preparing for descent, so you could quite conceivably leave it unattended, just hit the mute button first.

[jcomm 5,938]

Great Jamie, thx for the prompt answer :-)

[Flying Penguin 44]

 

Lastly I got some curiosity to start flying jets again. Something like the 737 or Q400. Common routes of my country. I don't know if its worth the money. I also do not have any scenery (only FTX full fat region).

 

For the Q400, you could quite conceivably make use of full-fat scenery, there are numerous plausible routes that fit well within a single FTX region (e.g. for England, EGKK-EGNM, EGHI-EGCC, EGTE-EGNT, even more if you add Scotland and include EGPH, EGPF, EGPB etc).

 

For the 737, you could  do the same, and in fact the 737/A319 share a lot of very similar routes at the shorter end of their range (again, e.g. in the UK, EGKK-EGCC, EGLL-EGPH etc).  Obviously they can also do longer routes, at which point the advice to not bother with any full fat scenery and just splurge on airports is perfectly reasonable, particularly if the routes are really long enough to stretch their (virtual) legs.

[PaulGR 168]

I set up my flight plan in simbrief.com, load it into the FMC of the PMDG 777, take off, get to cruise altitude and go back to work. The way PMDG works allows me to do all I want till TOD. Step climbs are automatic, so is cruise speed and so on.

Usually before I'm done with work I start my descent. 7-10h flights are a breeze with PMDG

[Tatave 57]

While I do enjoy ETOPS planning etc for PMDG aircraft, the only long-hauls I've performed were basically ones where I'd takeoff, go to bed and wake up in the morning, a short time before TOD. I find it's always nice to wake up, turn the monitor on and see the 777 flight deck there, the way I'd left it 12 hours ago. 

 

I've flown 3 long-hauls: 2x KLAX-YBBN (14hr) and 1x PHNL-YBBN (10hr). 

 

Other than that, I'm much like others in this thread- a 1-2hr hop will do it for me. 

[Donald Traill 8]

Most of my "long hauls" have been in the B377 from A2A. Daytime and I only leave to get drinks, snacks and do the lavatory thing.

 

"Long Haul" can be relative... I did KABE to Bermuda in the A2A 182 and that was to me a very long haul... though not as strenuous as doing it in the Lotussim L-39 with no autopilot... some of my stratocruiser flights have lasted twelve hours or more.

 

Donald

[martinlest2 58]

I tend to watch TV or do something on my other PC... I often feel that I am missing something when I am not attending to the sim: I often switch from cockpit to spot view (I assume others do this, or do some always stay 'inside' the aircraft?). Quite frequently there is some stunning view out there - I wonder how many I miss when I am doing something else...

[Ray Proudfoot 8,955]

My longer flights tend to be with FS Labs ConcordeX. Concorde doesn't do long haul as no flight is longer than four hours. :smile:

 

But in that time I can cross the North Atlantic or half of the Pacific (Tokyo-Honolulu). All flights in real-time.

 

I tend to spend my time either 1) reading the newspaper on my iPad or 2) waving at all those subsonic 747s and 777s 22,000ft below as I pass them at Mach 1.2. B)

 

Sorry Boeing / Airbus pilots, couldn't resist. :wink:

[nhagag 26]

I did a few long long hauls (JFK-Hong Kong following Cathay Pacific) or CYYZ-Hong Kong (Following Air Canada) in segments/Legs.

Other shorter long hauls ~6 hours I save for Saturday/Sunday early a.m. While in cruise, I do few errands *library/drug store" and then I grab a good read book to consume during the bulk of the time of the flight.

 

Bill