I have a little confusion about the Bush Trips. First of all an assumption and a question, I'm assuming I don't have any sort of access to an autopilot or heading hold. Is that correct? I only wonder because I'm finding it hard to hold a steady heading for any length of time. it's like I can't relax my grip on the stick at all. Second, and this applies to any flight, How do I "save my game"? I can't fly the whole thing at once! It appears maybe there is some type of auto save active because last time I completely logged out of the game and came back in, I was in mid flight. I actually wanted to start over from the ground and couldn't figure out how. Third, apparently I can't set the flying options to "easy" on these activities. Is that correct? All that is greyed out on my screen when I try.

I'm sorry if these are stupid questions but I'm not coming up with much info on web searches. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place but some of this stuff does not seem very intuitive or clear to me at all.

It sounds like you don't have your plane trimmed properly. (elevator trim) When trimmed properly you should be able to let go of the joystick for a minute or two and only make minor adjustments to the flight path. Lots of YouTube videos of how to trim. Good luck, I am having a blast with the Bush Trips!😁 Oh, and it automatically saves your progress...

Edited August 23, 20205 yr by okestone
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I'm fine with elevator trim. Takes me a bit sometimes but I can get the plane flying nice and level. What I'm talking about is maintaining the compass heading for long periods of time.

It is gonna drift off without autopilot, no way around that. You don't have to maintain a constant compass heading, ya just have to find the next landmark.

Thanks for the answers. I'm used to a lot of things about FSX like the extra compass at the top of the screen and landmark markers. I can get the extra compass if I go to the external view of the plane but I guess the markers are gone. I wish we had an option for that extra compass while in the cockpit, it's much easier to read than the one on the panel. Also, I only played FSX sporadically in the last few years so I was already rusty and that along with the learning curve of something new has me with a lot of questions. I flew through all the training missions but they were pretty basic and didn't really cover stuff that well. I'm at the point right now where I want a challenge but just not too much of one!😀

Unless you have a course set, following a precise heading alone can still lead you miles off track due to wind. If travelling a fair distance, pick a feature near the horizon, a mountain peak or lake for example, then fly in that general direction. Otherwise just follow roads, towns etc.

That was helpful. I'm getting better at it but I'm still a long way away from flying them without assistance. I maintained a pretty steady heading by following a landmark on the horizon and still ended up quite a bit off when I finally gave in used the get back on track feature. I won't be earning any of the badges soon but I am having fun.

The 'Nav" function in the Missions does work to follow the course. It's odly not displayed on the GPS however.

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by Adrian123

Oh geez, I was having a total brain fart about how I was reading the nav log. It just finally dawned on me that I was following the same heading for too long and that I needed to alter course when I sighted certain landmarks mentioned...duhhh...it's a VFR flight! After that "aha moment" things are making a lot more sense. Keeping track with the timer helps  also. Now if I could just stop over stressing the aircraft, I might get somewhere. I'm not sure what "Nav" function you are speaking of Adrian. I have used the "get back on track" feature which will show me the plane on the map for a short time.

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by Sky_Dancer

By Nav I'm referring to the aircraft will follow the flight path POI's. AP set to NAV and the PFD CDI to GPS.

On 8/23/2020 at 2:02 PM, Sky_Dancer said:

I'm fine with elevator trim. Takes me a bit sometimes but I can get the plane flying nice and level. What I'm talking about is maintaining the compass heading for long periods of time.

Hi

Mostly the same with real flying, light planes tend to drift of heading due to weather and torque effect, in real life can be a constant chore especially when writing on maps etc and often rudder is used to keep the deviations from occuring

2 hours ago, Adrian123 said:

By Nav I'm referring to the aircraft will follow the flight path POI's. AP set to NAV and the PFD CDI to GPS.

Unless I'm missing something, the default Cub that I have to fly on this bush trip doesn't have anything like that. I was only a casual FSX flyer so I'm pretty much a beginner. Another thing that's weird is that when I was flying all over basically lost, my trip was saving by itself. Now that I'm actually following the landmarks and have some sense of where I'm going, it didn't do that. I just lost all my progress because I made a mistake. I have to start back at the beginning. I think I'm going to call it a night.

My apologize. I was using the Balkans mission as a reference using the 172. Havn't used te cub. Does it have a GPS device/Garmin?

The pre compiled Nav logs give you headings, along the way you need to watch out for features and landmarks to follow, It's not about GPS, Nav, VOR , etc, this is back to basic flying, Dead reckoning, VFR and flying by the seat of your pants stuff. And use the timer function to help stay oncourse.

Well, I decided to give it one more shot before going to bed and I'm happy to say I completed the first leg! I'm finding it tough to juggle the nav log and the timer while I fly but I got it done with some help from the "get me back on track" feature. Nav log seems to be a little cranky about scrolling and I get a little confused about what point I'm at and what heading to take next. I'm not always seeing the landmarks. Maybe I'm flying too high? Anyway the good news is that when I did have to use the track feature, my plane was never actually that far from where it should have been so I must be doing something right. If the Cub has any sort of GPS, I can't find it, I don't think it does.

Edited August 26, 20205 yr by Sky_Dancer