4 minutes ago, flyforever said:

I use Ideal Flight. It remembers my aircraft and the last place I landed. It then allows me to create a flight plane to a new destination( picked by Ideal Flight), and off I go. Ideal allows one to configure it so that with one click, flying is always a new adventure. It's that versatile and easy to use.

tony

This looks like a good tool, but it's a bit pricey at 70 US dollars. I'm sure it's more than just a "tell you where to go next" tool, but it looks a bit overkill for me.

I have different methods for different airplanes. But for DC-3, B737-200 and F27 is pick up something from here: http://www.timetableimages.com/index.htm

 

25 minutes ago, nealmac said:

See, the thing is I don't want to limit myself to 1 country. 

Which I can fully understand. But somehow Norway is my favorite country, can't help it. Of course, if you like to fly all over the globe choosing where to go and where from can he hard! In that case 'wasting 10 minutes' is a short amount of time!

Some of the fun things I find is that occasionally in Air Hauler you'll see a job which looks like it will pay a lot, so you think, yeah, I'll assign that to one of my company's AI pilots and tell em to use such and such a plane from my airline's fleet. Easy money right? But then it might pop up a message telling you that the runway is too tricky to allow that AI pilot to fly into in that particular aircraft, and so I'll go and do the flight myself and see just how hard it is to land.

Doing that, I've had occasions where I've managed to get the thing down okay, but then had to back a Boeing 737 up with the reverse thrust right to the runway's edge, offload some fuel (more wasted expense), then hold the brakes on and push the throttles to the stop before releasing them, just so I can actually take off, then I'll maybe land somewhere close by and top up the tanks (yet more expense) in order to complete the journey to elsewhere or back to one of my hubs if a repair is needed, since they are cheaper to do at your base. Thus one has to look at the charts sometimes and weigh up if a job really is easy money or not, because if there are no jobs from that airport, you'll be flying home empty, and that cost a lot in fuel, and more to the point, if you have to go somewhere with a bunch of passengers or cargo on board, you can't get away with carrying too much fuel, which you wouldn't want to do anyway since it will impact on performance and cost you even more.

There's all kinds of fun stuff like that which crops up when you fly into places you wouldn't normally choose courtesy of something like air Hauler or one of the other similar programs, and if you use real world weather generation, it can sometimes really test your resolve. Do you divert and land easily, but then maybe have to pay for the cargo to be forwarded on by truck, or land elsewhere and then make the continuing flight when the weather is better? Do you choose to land at that unfamiliar airport with a low DH and maybe zero visibility? Do you risk the dissatisfaction of passengers to damage your reputation by diverting, or do you try your best to get them there despite the weather? If you land heavily, it will damage the aeroplane, and that has to be paid for, as does any fuel you use, and the aeroplanes all have to have their various airworthiness checks regularly and can have persistent damage too which will load up on the next flight. The fuel price varies around the world too, so sometimes it is better to tanker fuel about or buy at one of your bases of operation. Thus it becomes a bit more interesting and realistic when one has to make such decisions.

I fly to each town where I have a mistress, and there are a lot of them, then imagine spending the night on the town.

Leaving early next morning for the next town after a breakfast in the local airport restaurant or cafe. Taking a piece of blueberry pie with me when I go.

Bryan

Since i'am back with P3Dv4 after some years without simming i'm adicted to fseconomy.net. The UI is a bit outdated/web+text based only but after your first bugs u wan't more and more ... and your first own aircraft. Doing the best routes that gives you good cash you will visit a new country and interessting places every day. Doing it a month now and crossed half of europe most of the time online for more fun :)

2 minutes ago, 1st fltsimguy said:

I fly to each town where I have a mistress, and there are a lot of them, then imagine spending the night on the town.

Leaving early next morning for the next town after a breakfast in the local airport restaurant or cafe. Taking a piece of blueberry pie with me when I go.

Bryan

Best answer I've seen. lol.  Except a pilot doesn't have time for pie he has get to the airport and read print outs!  

47 minutes ago, nealmac said:

This looks like a good tool, but it's a bit pricey at 70 US dollars. I'm sure it's more than just a "tell you where to go next" tool, but it looks a bit overkill for me.

The price has gone up considerably recently. However, do read up on it. It's a utility that provides more features than you can use. I believe that you can install a demo, which would allow you to judge the program and determine its value to you.

+1 Air Hauler 2

Hi

I go to FlightAware

Plug in an airport anywhere in the world based on my mood.

Select a pair from to that airport based on my planned time to fly and interest in the region covered.

For Example: I put in VHHH, UUEE, HECA etc... and you get a page full of departure to dozens of airports and arrivals from dozens of airports as well as planned routes.

I pick the pair of interest and head to PFPX and make a plan with Sids and Stars etc. Save and go to P3D.

I never get bored where I am flying today. You learn a lot about International airlines, what aircrafts fly where and geography and scenery.

Bill

1 hour ago, flyforever said:

I use Ideal Flight. It remembers my aircraft and the last place I landed. It then allows me to create a flight plane to a new destination( picked by Ideal Flight), and off I go. Ideal allows one to configure it so that with one click, flying is always a new adventure. It's that versatile and easy to use.

tony

This. Ideal Flight makes decisions for you based on criteria and the flight plan is very comprehensively laid out. Does lots more too.

This has been a very interesting thread to read, I've heard products mentioned here I had never heard of before and plan on looking into them.

I have about 6 spreadsheets representing 6 different aircraft, with each tab in the spreadsheet labeled with the to-from airport, for example, "PHLI-PHNL", then the next tab picks up where the previous flight left off, "PHNL-PHOG", and so on.

In the spreadsheet I have the scenario starting and ending names, the date in real life, the sim date, starting and ending fuel, the NAV route used, and what has become a lot of fun: pictures as I go- you can use the snip tool in windows and take pictures from the sim and drop them into the spreadsheet and even resize them right there in excel.

Also for each tab I have the airport diagrams copy/pasted into the sheets using the snip tool, as well as approach charts and basically anything else that is relevant to the flight.

So now I have a record of all my flights, as well as pictures.   And if I ever re-do a flight, I copy/paste the entire tab which has all the diagrams and NAV info figured out.

So when I think about where to fly next, I usually review the spreadsheets to see where my favorite 6 aircraft are currently parked and decide where to go next, usually something no farther than 2 hours away (after all, the takeoffs and landings and the best part), and something in-line with the airline I'm flying- for example the Caribbean Air airplane normally visits the Caribbean Islands, the Alaska Airlines flies around Alaska, I have a United Airlines plane that flies from Chicago all over the United States (normally to my payware airports), etc.    I have a BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) that goes anywhere- it's my party plane and it goes to all my party destinations (Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Hawaii).   I may take this one on a zig-zag trip around the world, completely documented in the spreadsheets.

Keeping the spreadsheets is indeed a little more work, I will say that for once I have something to show for my flight simulator time, and I wish I had started doing this 20 years ago.  Plus, each spreadsheet is like a scrapbook of memorable screenshots of each leg of the flight.

It's how I roll lately,

Mark

4 hours ago, swiesma said:

Not for me :-) I guess it's up to everyones choice, but for me, what I read about them - I don't need / want them :-)

Shame, There are some that are not for everyone. But Delta is a frantastic V as its code sharing means you can fly Just about anywhere.

I Certainly would not be a member of 1 let alone 4 if it felt like a job. They make every flight feel like it has a meaning.

Like you say its your choise. Its not like you have anything to lose by trying one. But hey :) 

I thought like you until Ebs talked me into trying one, best thing I ever did, Thanks to him.

I let my career in Air Hauler 2 direct my activities. If I didn't, I'd be doing the same thing you do. 

8 hours ago, nealmac said:

When I first load up P3D what's the first thing I always do? Well I'll tell you. The first thing I do is ask myself where am I going to fly from/to today. And I usually waste about 10 minutes before concluding....I'll fly from to and from airport that I've covered a million times before.

 

So how do you ladies and gents decide what airports you're gonna fly from and to? What factors play a part in making such important decisions? 

 

EDIT: In hindsight, I probably should have put this in Hangar Chat, as it's not just limited to P3D, so if a moderator wants to move it that would be cool.

I pick my airports based on scenery enroute.  Napa to Reno, and Reno to Ontario are a couple of my favorite routes.  Napa to Reno has farmland, lakes like Lake Tahoe, mountains like the Sierras and coast range, and desert once you arrive in Reno.  Of course I use photoreal scenery (MSE) for this.  Reno to Ontario has great mountain scenery, the high Sierras, Mono Lake, and desert to the east, ending with the large metro area of California's inland empire.  I also like Napa to Santa Ana and Santa Ana to Phoenix, all chosen again for the scenery enroute.  I also like the airports themselves.

John