I'd thought I'd seen discussion of this but I'm not locating any.  How are ya'll performing long haul flights? So far I've figured out that "Travel To" is a great way to ruin the flight....Now on a KJFK-EGLL run to continue my world tour from KSAT having finally learned the A32NX to the point I can pre-flight, program, etc. and get up to CRZ but man another 5 hours?  Any advice greatly appreciated, meanwhile I hope nothing breaks while I go ride a few miles.......

I simply stopped doing long-haul most of the time.

In MSFS there is no decent long-haul aircraft yet available anyway.

I did however do them in the past in P3D with aircraft that had an auto step-climb feature and Pro-ATC where your co-pilot handles the radio while you are away.

So the computer would just run in the background or even overnight while I was asleep. Kind of insane, considering to spend electricity on that...

But that's how that worked.

As the technology progressed and add-ons had auto time-compression features I started to use the historical weather function of Active Sky. Meaning I would simply pick a real life flight, do all the pre-planning and then fly it at a more convenient time in the future, speeding up the time during cruise, using the real world weather that was happening at the time that I was simulating.

But nowadays the maximum I'm willing to spend in the air is usually around 4 hours, and even with that I let the sim run in the background. Only with flights less than two hours I will actually stay at my desk monitoring the flight completely.

P3D I used to cruise at 4x time acceleration, which cut the flight times down to manageable levels. Don't use time acceleration in FS since it doesn't show onscreen - just cut length of flights down....

 

G

The QW 787 was the last longhaul plane I used, simply due to the "jump to" feature. For MSFS I am down to 1-2h flights only...

I do not own the P3D product, but I believe that there is a sim rate function and it will display that rate on the screen.  I know that FS2020 has the same rate function but does not display (I have not idea why that was removed, one of the many oddities).  Therefore I do not know the rate 'jump' increment.

What I do know the FBW A320 is that with the MCDU/FMGC working the autopilot (on) I can climb to altitude and track nav utilizing the first step (R and the + key).  Once at cruise level, I can go the next step not problem.  However it will get unstable at the third step with the MCDU/FMGC directing the auto pilot.

However, I find that once established on a long leg, I can take command of the autopilot and go Heading mode, Speed mode and Alt mode (pull all three of these knobs) and go into the third step no issues.  You can even take it into the fourth step but it can get unstable with a wind shift or baro. pressure change.  In this manual mode you will have to monitor of course.

Using this I have been able to get 3 hour flights into about 45 minutes or so.

I am doing mostly long haul flights with the 748i (Salty) and 787-10 (BH). Use the FsSimRateBandit to accelerate the flying time, but the logbook will not show the actual flight plan time but the accelerated one.

great tips, I think I'll try sim rate after this one.  I'm nearly at LESLU and two more jumps and its TOD so I'm riding till the wheels fall down...

3 hours ago, aero943 said:

I am doing mostly long haul flights with the 748i (Salty) and 787-10 (BH). Use the FsSimRateBandit to accelerate the flying time, but the logbook will not show the actual flight plan time but the accelerated one.

I just got this little app, it is perfect, thanks for sharing

Going to get that app as well.  

Question: On approach in APPR mode, "CAT III Single" notification on PFD, GS and LOC activated A32NX tried to fly itself into the ground.  I did have managed alt mode selected with a low constraint of 100 ft.  Was that the issue or something else?  This was 27L via OCKMET approach into EGLL.

1 hour ago, badgenes said:

Going to get that app as well.  

Question: On approach in APPR mode, "CAT III Single" notification on PFD, GS and LOC activated A32NX tried to fly itself into the ground.  I did have managed alt mode selected with a low constraint of 100 ft.  Was that the issue or something else?  This was 27L via OCKMET approach into EGLL.

You wouldnt be in a managed Alt mode if your established on the ILS.  Or perhaps your meaning your decision height?  Thats set in the FMS anyway.  Running into the ground, never had it happen although nearly all landings are manual and have only done a couple full autoland. Perhaps your altimeter was off from the local wx?  

11 hours ago, aero943 said:

I am doing mostly long haul flights with the 748i (Salty) and 787-10 (BH). Use the FsSimRateBandit to accelerate the flying time, but the logbook will not show the actual flight plan time but the accelerated one.

Not heard of that, will give it a look....

 

Cheers

 

G

To be honest, I wouldn't consider a flight with acceleration a long-haul flight.

In P3D I sometimes flew the Qualitywings 787 from Mahe to London. It's a 10 hour flight. I get up to cruise, then wait until asked to contact the next controller. At that point I set everything up and return to my PC about 8 hours later, hoping the whole thing hasn't crashed by then.

At the moment I have very little free time, so most of my flights are no longer than 90 minutes.

Perhaps your altimeter was off from the local wx?  

 

Dang, surely that is it.  I never set it after leaving KJFK...."B" doesn't do it in the A32NX and I forgot to deal with it on approach.  Thanks!

16 hours ago, Mike S KPDX said:

What I do know the FBW A320 is that with the MCDU/FMGC working the autopilot (on) I can climb to altitude and track nav utilizing the first step (R and the + key).  Once at cruise level, I can go the next step not problem.  However it will get unstable at the third step with the MCDU/FMGC directing the auto pilot.

Careful with time compression and FBW A32NX. The devs have said that the custom autopilot now in use needs at least 17 FPS to work properly. If your system is struggling to keep at least that rate while in time compression, the autopilot will not be able to keep up. 

16 hours ago, aero943 said:

I am doing mostly long haul flights with the 748i (Salty) and 787-10 (BH). Use the FsSimRateBandit to accelerate the flying time, but the logbook will not show the actual flight plan time but the accelerated one.

Another good tool is Lorby's Time Machine. He compiled a copy for MSFS and it works good. Again, FS2020 doesn't show you the current sim rate, but Lorby at least takes a guess as to what the current rate is.