I'm not bashing anything in this post but rather invoking information from responses within it. After having seen screenshots of common freeware aircraft like iFDG and POSKY combined with the desire to fly something besides LDS and PMDG, I have always wondered how in the world do people manage to get those aircraft from point a to point b with just the model that each of the before-mentioned groups supplies ? Is it just a simple matter of a panel quickly downloaded from AVSIM ? Do alot of people just use a VOR to VOR type flying ? With no FMC, I don't understand how people do it and I'm hoping through this post someone can explain to me thus.Sorry for wasting anybody's time,Tony N.

I have been flying Fsim since FS98 -- all I can say is - What is an FMC?? It sounds like some kind of big American car. :-lol There are many ways to fly aircraft in FS2004 - programming an FMC and then going to sleep doesn't sound very interesting to me. I think I'll stick with the non-FMC equiped a/c - preferably those that fly under 14,000 feet.Barry

LOL, same here Barry.Regards, MichaelKDFW

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI-x16 / AMD

Charts, flight planning, following procedures...You can fly any route and procedure with the default FS2004 aircraft and default FS2004 flight planner and default FS2004 GPS you can fly with an addon aircraft with the fanciest FMS around.It does take more real world flight planning skills and adding SID/STAR to the flight plan one waypoint at a time is work - but it also really helps you understand how they work in the real world.Plus even with the fanciest FMS in the world - a real world pilot better cross check the position with a VOR or other reference occasionally.

Pilotage dear boy, good old fashioned pilotage.

Being that this is a worldwide hobby, it's a good idea to at least put the country you live in in your profile so people can help you.In the U.S. there are lots of resources for getting the information you need and for planning your flights. For the U.S. you might try http://www.duats.com/cirrus.shtml for either the old Cirrus program or its newer replacement Golden Eagle Flight Prep. They are both free, and I think you can now even access the FAA weather even if you aren't a pilot. Combined with www.airnav.com you can get lots of flight planning information and weather. There are probably similar products for Europe and elsewhere.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

"Give me a map and a stopwatch and I'll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows"

Hunt For Red October:)

I dont see anything wrong with flying freeware airplanes without FMCs, especially if they are models that never had them in real life. What I dont get, is people that actually buy payware aircraft with no FMCs, panels, quality FDEs, etc, like the 50north airplane

Quite frankly I own one of the best FMC aircraft - and seldom fly it because I don't like FMC flying.I can calculate V1 and V2 and other settings pretty quickly. I don't like the automated - can't find an airport without the FMS style of flying.But then I'm an old #### - and enjoy such things as flying a DC-7 in formation with another pilot on-line in real time from Wake to Honolulu - via dead reckoning and no GPS.I also think it completely defeats the "realism" aspect that the plane manufacturer purposely setup the plane systems so they cannot interact with the default approach and ATC system.

I agree, and I cant wait for the Dreamfleet DC-8! My favorite old jetliner.Speaking of approaches, do you know why there is no ILS and approach for ZSPD's runway 34?

FSX or FS2004 ?FS2004 only has runways 17/35 - with a Localizer and GP on each end.Anytime a runway is added, a complete new approach has to be coded in XML. You can add an ILS for the user aircraft with AFCAD - but neither the GPS nor the approach system can see it without XML code.It basically becomes a VMC only ILS.You might want to check out Jan Martin's new Jetways & Terminals Package Twelve - jtacof12.zip - which has an approach file for ZSPD included. I have not looked at it or tested it - but Jan's getting pretty good at these.

yes I did download that new package thanks for reminding me, but have not had a chance to fly yet. My 747-400F is still sitting at the tarmac from the last flight on Sunday! But for some reason, the latest sid/stars navdata do not have it eitherand yes it is FS9, I have the FSX beta but was disappointed with peformance so I am hoping the full release version is better and will wait a month for it

Hey everyone thanks for the replies,I hope no offense was not meant in any of them seeing to it that none was taken. Only I feel as if I were just bashed for being a retard. I just want to know what a majority of the users here in this forum do with planes that are basically flying models (POSKY,iFDG etc.) do you use the default GPS or what. I'm not saying "Help me I need an FMC" I simply wish to know how people simply go about accomplishing such tasks.Sorry,Tony N.

Hey everyone thanks for the replies,I hope no offense was not meant in any of them seeing to it that none was taken. Only I feel as if I were just bashed for being a retard. I just want to know what a majority of the users here in this forum do with planes that are basically flying models (POSKY,iFDG etc.) do you use the default GPS or what. I'm not saying "Help me I need an FMC" I simply wish to know how people simply go about accomplishing such tasks.Sorry,Tony N.