Hi fellow pilots! Just wondering. Who here prefers using flight sim to enhance their hands-on flying skills, rather than their instrument/navigation skills? Who here sims to improve both?Also, who here prefers heavies vs light GA, and vice versa? Who here prefers twins? Turboprops vs Piston and vice versa? Who here is primarily interested in aerodynamics and enhancing that knowledge? Who here is primarily interested in understanding aircraft systems? Who here prefers old fighters? New fighters? Bombers old and new? Basically I want to get to know what your primary interests are in flight simulation and how you use it. Do you prefer flying from within the aircraft our outside? Do you prefer VC or no VC?I'll start with myself: My favourite aircaft overall is the RealAir Spitfire. I generally prefer the smaller prop driven aircraft but I don't mind flying modern jet fighters either.I absolutely love flying one of the freeware F-14s coupled with the USS Enterprise payware addon and the 3Wire utility. I also have gauges that display a realistic "meatball", and with AS6 installed the experience is phenomenal.My primary purpose of using FS is to improve my hands-on flying skills. Navigation is secondary. I love performing aerobatics and I also enjoy bush flying.I have to say I've used PMDGs 737-800 a fair bit, but I can't say I'm a particularly great 737 pilot. I just don't really enjoy pushing buttons, so to speak.I don't have a great deal of scenery added on, except for what came with the RealAir Spit and RealAir Scout package, as well as the Eagle field freeware addon, which I think is fantastic!Anyway, enough about me. How about you? James

Hi JamesPersonally i prefer light planes and heavies quads or twins and i fly airliners mainly my main source of navigation is direct gps and i fly anything from long haul flights to regional flights i do like hands on flying as i always fly for take offs and landings and i've done a few MAN-LPL runs handflown the whole way in a sopwith camel and i hate the thought of autoland why fly if you let the plane land itself and i fly from inside the plane and what are VC's?

Hello James,I tend to fly small GA's most of the time. Sometimes light twins also. Once in a while I would fly a heavy. I prefer short flights to long hauls. Generally speaking I prefer keeping myself busy by flying manually rather than passively flying an FMS plan.J.J.JJ StruyfBraine-L'AlleudBelgium

I fly Boeings, and almost all GA's equally. Whether it's a PMDG, Level-D, F1 Piper Meridian, or F1 ATR-72, I like 'em all! Even the Taildragger set from RealAir.I don't fly military, gliders, or helicopters though.I also, with the exception of the RealAir, prefer 2D panels. I need to see what's going on and performance matters to me.I fly IFR most often, but occassional non-specific flights around a certain arean't (e.g., VFR) out of the question.I never autoland or use APP mode unless I'm clearly unfamiliar with the area and possibly behind on some procedures.

Love Flt Sim flying DreamFleet 727-100 UPS with RC4, FSNav, with weather. Local flying with RealAir SF-260 - great airplane. And if you like flying big aircraft hands-on or dated-tech electronics - try DF 727 - another great aircraft. Good luck!Erv KSDF(UPS Country)P4 3.0, Clocked to 3.16Asus P4C800-E-Deluxe MotherboardWin XP Home Editions Service Pack IIXFX GeForce 6600GT 256MB2ea Corsair 512 MB PC3200 DDR400 2ea Ultra 512 MB PC3200 DDR400Antec SL400 W 12V ATX Power SupplySeagate 40 GB 7200 RPMCH Yoke & Pedals

I always loved the heavies as a child - they are what sparked my aviation fire, even custom built them for many years out of cardboard, with an airport in the frontyard and another way out back :)So now despite the rare flirt with GA, my love is for all things pax jet, from A319 to 747, love them allTwo recent conversions - from 2d/wingviews I'm now a 90% vc man thanks to LDS then PSS and now PMDG - the overall visual ambiance is unmatched by 2d. Also I now love longhaul, the whole preparing, flight planning, fuel planning, systems management, everything - and actually miss the virtual sky when I'm not up there traversing seas and continents - sick I know :)regards,Markhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/747400.jpgXPHomeSP2/FS9.1/3.2HT/1024mb/X700pro256

I grew up around General Aviation. It has been in my blood ever since. I fly VFR most of the time if possible, I do use AS6 too. I do it to enjoy the scenery, the ability to explore anywhere I feel, I love MSFS for that.I fly almost exclusively General Aviation, singles and twins. My favourite ride? It's a toss up between three aircraft, Dreamfleet's Cessna 310, Flight1's Cessna 421 and Aeroworx and their Beech King Air 200. I love these aircraft, mainly because I have flown them or been in them in RL.I do occasionally fly a 737(Erick Cantu's 737-200), or the awesome BAC 1-11 when I get the itch, but quickly return to GA. I love it, and I hope someday to pick-up where I left off in my PPL back home. You would think with my father being a CFI, it would be a peice of cake huh!!?[hr color=#000000][table border=0" width="98%" id="table1" height="4" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2][td width=500]Jason CYOO - Formerly MYNN[br /]General Aviation Fan[br][/b]P4 3.2Ghz, 1GB Ram, FX5900 128MB, XP SP2.[br /][br /]

I fly GA too... But I do fly the flight 1 ATR (its simply awesome) and recently the PMDG 747...cause I spent time to learn the system. and now, I just love to hand fly the beast and land properly. I think hand flying the PMDG 747 helps me with flying skills in the Fsim more than hand flying GA aircrafts. GA aircrafts in Fsim helps with insturment skills lot more IMO. The lag time and early recognition of when you are going off course takes lot more effort and skill when flying the PMDG or even the ATR. Manny

Mostly general aviation aircraft is what I like to fly (Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft). Perhaps it is what I am most used to, being a private pilot license holder. The more realistic I can make my flight sim the more I enjoy it.I have addon scenerys like Flight Environment and Ground Environment to add more beauty to the scenery. I use my real aviation approach plates and charts to navigate the FS world. My goal is to simulate my flights and IFR approaches as real as possible. If I am flying VFR, I will fly the correct proceedure to entering the pattern at an uncontrolled airport. I also monitor my speed as per the correct FAA proceedures. Call me crazy, but I even simulate the run up before takeoff. I also enjoy the airliners, both heavy and commuter. My goal with these is to replicate real world airline flights.In short my ultimate goal is to replicate real life situations, improve my flying skills and knowledge of aircraft/enroute proceedures. So far with the addons and tweaks I have made to FS9, it is a huge success. :DKevin

I mostly fly real world Airliner routes. I own all the hardcore aircraft out there (VMAX, DF's 727, everything PMDG, FT 737PIC, etc). I haven't much gotten into GA flying but I have used lighter aircraft to help me in real world training. FS is a great tool to practice what you've learned during a day at the airport taking lessons.I really believe once FSX rolls around my Airliner flights will be limited thanks to the much improved GA environment offered by FSX. I think many of us with be converts this time next year with products like DF's A36 taking center stage for many of us... :-)

My preferences seem to change daily -- yesterday I flew Dave Eckert's Steerman in Argentina, flew a STAR into Montreal, Mirabel in a 727-200, and took a Beaver floatplane up the B.C. coast. Great hobby, eh?In general, I get a lot of airtime in short hops (an hour or so) with older jets like the MD83, 722 or 732. I do a lot of GA flying too. I always find the sessions most enjoyable when I take the time to do it properly, that means using real VFR charts and navigating with an E6B.I have approach plates for most Canadian airports and that adds to the immersion factor, too.Often I'll emulate a real life flight -- one I've taken or one I've read about. My last really good flight was in the AFG YS-11 along the Aleutians in Alaska.BlairCYOW

Same feelings here plus sometimes the Piper Cub.

>Call me crazy, but I even simulate the run up before takeoff. >>KevinGood practice. I do to and I can't count the times it's saved me when I have some setting wrong somewhere. I also check all control surfaces just like RL. Great way to catch that AP you forgot to turn off. Sure it's no real harm done since it's just a sim but crashing because you forgot to turn off the AP or had the mixture wrong can ruin a good sim session.