I have always been doing 60 to 90 minute flights from/to medium and large hubs in the US and Europe. Mostly west coast, as it is arguably one of the most beautiful places on the planet (if you consider populated areas). But it does get a bit boring when you always fly from/to KLAX, KLAX, KSAN, KSFO, KSEA and CYVR. During these flights, you only spend 20-40 minutes in cruise with nothing to do, that's bearable without compressing time (something I never did). However, recently, I often think to myself "what are you doing here" once I am at flight level, and quit the sim. Simulation has become so convenient with X-Plane and now MSFS, that it's easily possible to be fed up and you need a hiatus I guess.

To get around the "nothing to do" syndrome, do what we were trained to do in real life. One flight instructor told me that in a single-engine a/c on a cross country flight, I always had to have identified the nearest suitable diversion airport, along its various frequencies, runways, etc. Paraphrasing Ghost Busters, who are going to call in an emergency and where are you going to land if it occurs right now? Also, keep a running tab on available fuel vs. flight plan (those blank spaces on the Simbrief OFPs are supposed to be filled out with actual fuel burns, times, etc.), as well as destination and alternate weather. Are you still legal with regard to fuel reserves if it's an IFR flight. Doing this in an airliner without having a dispatcher somewhere doing all the math for you can be a real challenge.

That'll keep you busy. 😊

 

I tend to do like IRL. IFR above 18000 and when weather is bad. I do enjoy VFR though any other time!

For those on the baron kick, here are some real flights I make frequently (or have made) that are fun:

klom (philly) to kffa (first flight): klom ptw mxe sby orf direct (or direct after Salisbury if you can get it) . Lots of airspace to contend with the dc sfr, and Moas over the water. Plus taking the baron to a 3k foot runway means you have to be right on the numbers  download the freeware Wright brothers memorial addon as well  

klom to Acadia. Longer flight but beautiful and fly directly over jfk

kaus (Austin) to llano for some bbq (coopers). Fly over west lake, lake lbj and horseshoe bay. It’s probably a 20-30 min hop for each of these. This flight and the flight to Fredericksburg are amazing. Is the hangar hotel modeled?

kjyo (leesburg) to kavl. This is direct and you fly over the blue ridge mountains. 

Ksan to Catalina island. This is a short hop but it is fantastic in a baron since you’re over water and in a twin. 

any approach into Bozeman Montana. The approach into Bozeman in a normally aspirated airplane is awesome, just avoid the afternoon thunderstorms if flying in the summer. 

Other things you do in the cockpit to pass the time, scan engine instruments, make sure your vor 1 and 2 have no more than a 4 degree error deflection from each other (make sure you’re in heading mode!). Listen to guard (121.5), see how many rivers you pass over that you can identify without looking, become super paranoid because you think the engine sounds slightly high too pitched, was that vibration like that before?, wait is my number five cylinder egt too high?

all fun things. 

Sitting for longer than 20mins is detrimental to your health. The shorter the flight the better. Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man.... landing is the first 🙂

32 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

To get around the "nothing to do" syndrome, do what we were trained to do in real life. One flight instructor told me that in a single-engine a/c on a cross country flight, I always had to have identified the nearest suitable diversion airport, along its various frequencies, runways, etc. Paraphrasing Ghost Busters, who are going to call in an emergency and where are you going to land if it occurs right now? Also, keep a running tab on available fuel vs. flight plan (those blank spaces on the Simbrief OFPs are supposed to be filled out with actual fuel burns, times, etc.), as well as destination and alternate weather. Are you still legal with regard to fuel reserves if it's an IFR flight. Doing this in an airliner without having a dispatcher somewhere doing all the math for you can be a real challenge.

That'll keep you busy. 😊

 

In addition to this, I always make sure I have a good idea of what field or other suitable option I can put the thing down in if there is the pressing need to do so at that exact moment. I've only had to do it once in real life (on a golf course), but it went perfectly okay because I had a plan although they were not best pleased with me at the golf club, but screw them, it's a cack game anyway, in addition to frequently being a crime against good dress sense too if a lot of the golfers I see are anything to go by. 🤣

Then again I do a similar thing with hotels and other buildings I go in to in real life, always making sure I know a couple of ways to get out if there is the need to do so quickly. Hopefully I'll never need to, but if I ever do, I'll be as ready as you can be. Emergencies rarely happen at a convenient time and if they do, that's not the time to start planning stuff and trying to figure things out.

Less dramatically, you can do things like calculating your fuel burn and trying to tweak that, maybe see if there is a better altitude to climb or descend to in order to get better economy or a bit of increased ground speed courtesy of the wind. If you are using real weather - try windy.com to help you with this. Alternatively, abandon being a child of the magenta line and try navigating old school with triangulating your position from VORs etc.

Edited December 25, 20205 yr by Chock

Cruise wouldn't be so bad if you were flying with a friend and can just shoot the breeze. I need to try out YourControls. Has anyone tried that with the FBWA32NX or WT modded planes? I might give it a try if it's stable enough.

Edited December 25, 20205 yr by captain420

I use Simrate up to 8x between waypoints and slow to 2x through waypoints... and it works fine. I use Simrate Bandit to better track the sim rate...

https://flightsim.to/file/176/fs-simrate-bandit

As for long haul IFR, in my case, I’m doing a world tour. The premise is that I’m a pilot for a luxury charter company, and my current assignment is flying a billionaire and his family on a world tour in a custom A320 Neo that they’ve rented from the company. We do local sight seeing side-trips in locally procured Caravans. 

I recently picked up the aircraft from the factory in Toulouse and my last segment was a 7hr flight from Reykjavik to Vancouver. I pick up the family next week in San Jose. 🙂

I do 1-4hr flights but set sim rate to 4x at cruise and wonder off and then come back for landing. Nothing better than taking off in bad weather and landing somewhere sunkist or vice versa.

Throw in some random failures? 

9 hours ago, Cmcollazo71 said:

there’s a life outside simming...😃

Wash your mouth out with soap!🤬

You're right though!

8 hours ago, EmaRacing said:

Never had zero visibility down to ground when landing though...

As I posted in the main snow thread, my very first flight with snow (having waited till it was available in Live Weather) involved flying in a whiteout and only being able to spot the approach lights when it was almost too late to try to make the landing. So it can happen.

2-6 hour flights.  Cruise is awesome!  You know how much stuff I can get done during cruise?   Cook a full meal. Clean the apartment, Get some groceries. Feed the cat. Go for a walk.  Monitor flight on LNM and NCharts simlink. Check the OFP for fuel issues.   Makes for alot of varied routes. 

1 hour ago, 109Sqn said:

Wash your mouth out with soap!🤬

Ha!

Sorry mom...😳

1-2 hours. Usually in something small like the analog 172.