I have 2 things on my wish list that I'd like to accomplish in flight simming. 

1) Plane Spotting - Ever since I was young I had a fascination and interests in planes. I would love every chance that I got to go to the airport, even if it was just to sit there and watch planes depart and land and to enjoy the surroundings. I just love being at a busy international airport. Especially ones where you can go to the roof level and smell the jet fuel and hear the engine spools and distance rumbles as planes take off. With that being said. I would love to be able to replicate this experience in a flight sim with as much resemblance to the real world as possible. Which is why I am anxiously waiting for proper AI addon to be implemented. Would be a dream to go to your favorite airports, use the drone camera, or perhaps some cool boats or planes and sit off somewhere on the river right next to a runway and watch planes land and takeoff. 

2) Simulate being a passenger. As if I was boarding a plane and sitting in economy sections, with a window seat from point A to B. Having some sort of addon that would do this would bring some added features to the sim and make it more fun and unique per se.

I do enjoy the primary aspects of a flight sim, and that's to actually operate and fly a plane. But other times, I would like to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sim in another perspective. I believe MSFS has the potential to become a more diverse sim, than just for flight. I have seen so many videos of people doing unique and different things, and that's the beauty of it. I saw some people downloading an actual car, to simulate driving around to explore a town, airport. Others using helicopters to do virtual tours. Some downloading boats, yachts to sail the seas and oceans. Some people are going on a wild safari hunt in Africa, or bush flying and landing at some remote locations to take breathtaking photos of the scenery. You can be a photographer, a tour guide, a pilot, a drone operator and so much more in this sim. It's truly amazing.

I believe the possibilities are endless in MSFS, it all comes down to your creativity.

Here's hoping to see AI traffic being improved soon!

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by captain420

I like your post and ideas and agree it would be cool. Hopefully soon we'll have some proper AI aircraft with real liveries and a more immersive experience.

Don't listen to those that will tell you it's a flight sim and not a passenger sim etc. There's always one or two. Everyone has their own interests.

Agree at least to point 1. I can well live with the flight model and avionics of the GA planes, with the scenery anyway, and weather is sufficient for me, too. However, I find the default liveries (A320neo, yellow-white, red-white etc.) among the most disturbing factors right now.

Kind regards, Michael

Unfortunately, the last update broke the AI system so that instead of displaying a livery based on the ICAO code for the AI traffic, as it had previously done, the sim chooses one at random from all active liveries. This seems to have been an accidental/incidental change, but it means that offline AI traffic setups that previously showed appropriate liveries at a given airport are now a total random mess. So instead of getting Qantas, Singapore, etc. in Sydney and Frontier and Spirit in Denver I'm getting Frontier in Sydney and Qantas in Denver...Nothing like seeing Southwest in Yekaterinburg.

It's a little thing for most users, I know, but it's really sapped my enthusiasm for airliner flying in MSFS. And it's a real downer knowing that it could be months, or longer, until it gets fixed or at least reverted. 😞

James

2 hours ago, captain420 said:

I have 2 things on my wish list that I'd like to accomplish in flight simming. 

...

For your request 1; I can suggest you to try PSX. Of course , it still needs some improvements but adequate.

https://www.lekseecon.nl/

Enjoy...

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by kt069

21 minutes ago, kt069 said:

For your request 1; I can suggest you to try PSX. Of course , it still needs some improvements but adequate.

https://www.lekseecon.nl/

Enjoy...

This used to be great for Prepar3d, and I used it frequently, including for plane spotting. However, after the "learning" feature was introduced, I gave up on it. I just don't have the patience and mood to run the learner for hours for a new airport I am - perhaps - going to use in the evening, and to start over if I change my mind. This may be helpful for Virtual Airline pilots frequently flying a certain relation, but not for me as I am frequently investigating new places, sometimes decided ad hoc.

Otherwise, it was a great tool, and I hope an alternative solution to learning will come up one day  

Kind regards, Michael

18 minutes ago, pmb said:

This used to be great for Prepar3d, and I used it frequently, including for plane spotting. However, after the "learning" feature was introduced, I gave up on it. I just don't have the patience and mood to run the learner for hours for a new airport I am - perhaps - going to use in the evening, and to start over if I change my mind. This may be helpful for Virtual Airline pilots frequently flying a certain relation, but not for me as I am frequently investigating new places, sometimes decided ad hoc.

Otherwise, it was a great tool, and I hope an alternative solution to learning will come up one day  

Kind regards, Michael

I am using it but I do  not runthe learner. Instantly I open PSX and ADB and see the aircrafts.It just shows the existingreal life traffic (flightradar24) Maybe you can try it without the learner. I am not sure but learner is about parking traffic.(to learn which airline park which gate)

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by kt069

26 minutes ago, kt069 said:

I am using it but I do  not runthe learner. Instantly I open PSX and ADB and see the aircrafts.It just shows the existingreal life traffic (flightradar24) Maybe you can try it without the learner. I am not sure but learner is about parking traffic.(to learn which airline park which gate)

Yes, the learner is for parking traffic, but this is 50% of the fun isn't it? Moving traffic works without the learner but gates are empty without it. At least that was the result when I tried it the last time.

Kind regards, Michael

I fully agreee with the OP. But until we have a decent ai in MSFS, I switch to P3D for that purpose. Plane spotting at high quality airports with AIG ai traffic can be very immersive and the lower quality of the surrounding is negligible in most cases.

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by Nemo

4 hours ago, captain420 said:

2) Simulate being a passenger. As if I was boarding a plane and sitting in economy sections, with a window seat from point A to B. Having some sort of addon that would do this would bring some added features to the sim and make it more fun and unique per se.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/931310/Airplane_Mode/

"Airplane Mode is everything you’d expect from a well-crafted flight simulator where you’re not in control: Boring, hopeless, and a dangerous invitation into the depths of your own unhinged psyche brought on by a high altitude prison that you paid to be incarcerated in."

Come on chum, flight simulation isn't about passively sitting in front of a screen watching a simulation of a virtual seat-back screen. Might be time to consider getting outside into the real world for some fresh air now the pandemic's starting to recede a bit.

1 hour ago, pmb said:

Yes, the learner is for parking traffic, but this is 50% of the fun isn't it? Moving traffic works without the learner but gates are empty without it. At least that was the result when I tried it the last time.

Kind regards, Michael

My gates were also having aircrafts without the learner. And everytime you visit the same airport, a file with the related name of the airport ICAO, in PSX folder, updates as the parked position.I would sugest you to try again. Maybe you will be pleasant lke this. Happy Flying...

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by kt069

1 hour ago, lambourne said:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/931310/Airplane_Mode/

"Airplane Mode is everything you’d expect from a well-crafted flight simulator where you’re not in control: Boring, hopeless, and a dangerous invitation into the depths of your own unhinged psyche brought on by a high altitude prison that you paid to be incarcerated in."

Come on chum, flight simulation isn't about passively sitting in front of a screen watching a simulation of a virtual seat-back screen. Might be time to consider getting outside into the real world for some fresh air now the pandemic's starting to recede a bit.

Does that "game" include random situations where the person in front of you reclines their seat? It would be fun kicking the offender until they move it forward again.

Edited April 23, 20215 yr by Christopher Low

1 hour ago, kt069 said:

My gates were also having aircrafts without the learner. And everytime you visit the same airport, a file with the related name of the airport ICAO, in PSX folder, updates as the parked position.I would sugest you to try again. Maybe you will be pleasant lke this. Happy Flying...

I think add-on airports have gates populated in any case, but default airports don't. But I'll follow your suggestion to try it again, maybe something changed since I gave up.

I still have a running Real Traffic subscription and know how to set it up, thus the effort should be limited.

Kind regards, Michael

7 hours ago, honanhal said:

Unfortunately, the last update broke the AI system so that instead of displaying a livery based on the ICAO code for the AI traffic, as it had previously done, the sim chooses one at random from all active liveries. This seems to have been an accidental/incidental change, but it means that offline AI traffic setups that previously showed appropriate liveries at a given airport are now a total random mess. So instead of getting Qantas, Singapore, etc. in Sydney and Frontier and Spirit in Denver I'm getting Frontier in Sydney and Qantas in Denver...Nothing like seeing Southwest in Yekaterinburg.

It's a little thing for most users, I know, but it's really sapped my enthusiasm for airliner flying in MSFS. And it's a real downer knowing that it could be months, or longer, until it gets fixed or at least reverted. 😞

James

are you sure,

 

I am at the moment at KSEA, with faib , AIA and fpsx ai around me, southwest ASA and some others with live traffic. Only thing you need to set up properly is ICAO code and aircraft type Designator. Not saying that it's perfect because airport afcad and traffic behaviour is crazy, but the live traffic is working.

3 minutes ago, pilotter said:

I am at the moment at KSEA, with faib , AIA and fpsx ai around me, southwest ASA and some others with live traffic. Only thing you need to set up properly is ICAO code and aircraft type Designator. Not saying that it's perfect because airport afcad and traffic behaviour is crazy, but the live traffic is working.

Are you sure the livery matches the actual flight? It’s easy to check in Little Nav Map. If I only had liveries installed for one geographic region I might not have even noticed, but it becomes very obvious with traffic for the entire world.

James