Hello! New to the avsim forum, looking for advice

[Kerry Pawluski 0]

I too am new to this forum and appreciate any redirection on where my questions might be better answered. Apologies in advance!

I have a day job that doesn't involve flying, but do fly for personal reasons and to assist with a local Angel Flight charity flying patients to and from medical appointments here in western Canada.

With COVID my IFR skills are getting a wee bit rusty so I think it would be prudent to return to the sim world to brush up. I used to run ELITE using an older operating system. However, the software version that I had would run on more recent OS upgrades and ELITE would not give me an updated version without purchasing it again. So now that I am faced with the prospect of getting a new simulator the choices are many. As I do want to have random failures to keep my emergency procedures sharp(er) and I am hoping to configure the panel to be as close to my own (Cessna 340 with G530/430) to be as realistic as possible I am wondering if there are any clearly superior options.

 

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

[charliearon 3,017]

Kerry, I have split your post off into your very own, here in the New Member's forum.  This is a good starting place for you.  Welcome! 😄

[fppilot 4,355]

49 minutes ago, Kerry Pawluski said:

I too am new to this forum and appreciate any redirection on where my questions might be better answered. Apologies in advance!

I have a day job that doesn't involve flying, but do fly for personal reasons and to assist with a local Angel Flight charity flying patients to and from medical appointments here in western Canada.

With COVID my IFR skills are getting a wee bit rusty so I think it would be prudent to return to the sim world to brush up. I used to run ELITE using an older operating system. However, the software version that I had would run on more recent OS upgrades and ELITE would not give me an updated version without purchasing it again. So now that I am faced with the prospect of getting a new simulator the choices are many. As I do want to have random failures to keep my emergency procedures sharp(er) and I am hoping to configure the panel to be as close to my own (Cessna 340 with G530/430) to be as realistic as possible I am wondering if there are any clearly superior options.

 

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Hi Kerry and welcome to Avsim.  It is a great place for sharing.  Cessna 340.  There is a 340 from Carenado for FSX/P3D. You can find it at this link  https://www.carenado.com/sitecarenado/product/c340-ii-hd-series-fsx-p3d/.   It is reasonable.  I have not flown it for a while and did not install it into a new system I had built last August.  My records Show me that I had two versions installed.  One version with a pair of Reality XP GNS 430s, and another version with a single Reality XP GTN 750.  I also had a Reality WX500 weather radio in both versions.  Do not know if I can track back to what I did to accomplish those installations as my previous system and Windows 10 began confronting me with permissions issues.  There is a user-to-user set of forums here on Avsim for Carenado models, the 340 included.  You can research this history in it to find answers and perhaps enhancements.  Here is a link to that forum:  https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/397-c340-ii-hd-series-fsx-p3d/

 

Carenado	C340	C340 RXP v2	RXP 430_2  v2	2
			RXP 430_1 v2	1
			RXP WX500
Carenado	C340	C340 GTN	RXP GTN 750_1	1
			RXP WX500

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by fppilot

[stans 702]

Welcome to Avsim!  I am not a real pilot, just a sim pilot.   I don't know that there is a perfect consumer grade sim for practicing IFR.  For older computers, FSX, especially the Steam Edition, is a pretty good flight sim, for newer computers that meet the required specifications and if you are willing to spend the money, Prepar3D is a good choice.  The new, MSFS, is not yet a fully fleshed out flight sim, it is better for VFR.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Welcome! Enjoy your stay at AVSIM! Whilst FSX (I recommend Steam Edition if you wish to use this older sim) and P3D do have the ability to model failures at random I've never used it (not a real pilot!) and don't know how representative they are. However, as stans says you may find the IFR in either of those sims to be "acceptable" as far as a non-certified flight sim goes.

[Kerry Pawluski 0]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Baby steps...

[Chock 17,769]

Welcome to Avsim. 🙂

I'd second Mark's suggestion of checking out the Steam edition of FSX. It's inexpensive and will run on your computers pretty well, and it certainly is good enough to float your boat to see if you like 'pretending to fly aeroplanes' like the rest of us do.

You certainly don't need to feel cheated with FSX either; whilst it looks a bit basic 'out of the box', it can be tarted up a lot visually and it remains the flight sim for which by far the most expansion stuff is available thanks to having been around for fifteen years, so in spite of its age, it can still give more modern flight simulators a run for their money. You might also want to give XPlane a look too (it can also be found on Steam). XPlane can take up a lot of hard disk space if you install all of its scenery, but it's a nice-looking flight simulator which has a native Mac version, and there is a free demo of it too, so that would literally cost you nothing to try it out.

If you find that is something which appeals to you, then you might also try some of the shinier new flight sims such as the new version of MS Flight Simulator, which does undeniably look a lot prettier, and if it turns out that these don't work on your computer then maybe you'll consider getting something which can run the things, if pretending to fly aeroplanes does turn out to be something which appeals to you. I'm sure it will appeal, since it is fun, challenging and pretty educational too, especially if you like exploring and learning about places in the world which are new to you, and beyond all that, there are of course places such as Avsim where you can enjoy chatting with us all about this kind of thing.

 

 

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:39 AM, Kerry Pawluski said:

As I do want to have random failures to keep my emergency procedures sharp(er) and I am hoping to configure the panel to be as close to my own (Cessna 340 with G530/430) to be as realistic as possible I am wondering if there are any clearly superior options.

Not sure about the random failures, but the Carenado C340 panel layout is such that you could have a GNS530+430 in the panel if that matches your actual cockpit.

If you send me a PM with your email address, I could send you some screenshots that illustrate what can be done... Personally, I like to have a GTN750 in the panel, but you have some options..

Here a sample..

BTW.. I am also in Western Canada, so we can chat if you like..

Edited March 13, 2021 by Bert Pieke