Working a full time job and with other responsibilities, I find it hard to make time for Flight Sim.

So I wondered, when do you usually sim?  Do you have a set time of the week that you fly?  Or maybe just on weekends?  Any tips on how to make time for hobbies in general?

 

It’s called retirement , work hard ; save your money and do it as early as you can . 

2 hours ago, NG_Aviator said:

Working a full time job and with other responsibilities, I find it hard to make time for Flight Sim.

So I wondered, when do you usually sim?  Do you have a set time of the week that you fly?  Or maybe just on weekends?  Any tips on how to make time for hobbies in general?

 

I actually plan it into my day if I can 🙂  

Wake at 4:45

5-6 is email

6-7 is workout

Then I try to take off before my calls start in earnest.  my flightsim desk is behind my work desk so I can watch things all day.

7-8 is pre-flight and departure

Work until 5:30 (on a good day)

transition back to the FS desk for approach and arrival 🙂  

 

Hence the reason I love long hauls so much, especially 10+ hours, they can go all day and I can just admire the view as I work LOL  

34 minutes ago, psolk said:

Hence the reason I love long hauls so much, especially 10+ hours, they can go all day and I can just admire the view as I work LOL  

Now I need a second screen just for home office. I only need to make sure there's no HubStaff or similar stuff running on my work rig.

But, since I work directly in office, I'll have to do with just a short haul or even flying a pattern with a saved state of a pre-flown bird. That's how I've flown my PMDG birds lately...

Back in my working days, I used to pre-plan flights so all I had to do was load weather, load the flight plan, and go.  And I had some saved flights that put me on a downwind or base leg so I could fly a couple quick approaches if I only had a little time.

 

11 minutes ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Now I need a second screen just for home office. I only need to make sure there's no HubStaff or similar stuff running on my work rig.

But, since I work directly in office, I'll have to do with just a short haul or even flying a pattern with a saved state of a pre-flown bird. That's how I've flown my PMDG birds lately...

Coincidentally the sim is hidden from all my video conferencing screens, even the big one on the wall 🙂  Sorry for the desk clutter  

Get up around 08:00 and have some orange juice. Take cereal bowl into lounge and leave it to soak in milk whilst I login here and sort out new members' posts needing approval, ban a few spammers and respond to any posts.

Eat cereal around 08:40 and then read sports section of my newspaper on iPad whilst having a large coffee. Around 40m later I come upstairs and power up PCs. Fly around Europe or Australia in my mornings and US in the afternoon.

Keep a check on the forum whilst flying. Finish around 16:00 and turn on TV and watch a few YT videos. Start dinner around 17:30 and then washup and relax in evening.

I'm retired and alone so I make my rules. Bliss! 😁

7 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I'm retired and alone so I make my rules. Bliss! 😁

Yep!

7 hours ago, psolk said:

Coincidentally the sim is hidden from all my video conferencing screens, even the big one on the wall 🙂  Sorry for the desk clutter  

Looks tidy enough to me!

Retired now.  For years in the 90's and before advancement created long business hours, very active at the time with a VA, I flew in the evenings after dinner.  Even when I traveled then on business I flew with a laptop and joystick and no rudder pedals.  From the late '90's until I retired in 2009, constrained by long hours that included a long commute,  I flew when I could, which was not very often.  Since retirement my flying is sometimes seasonal.  I have a three acre wooded lot with half of it nicely groomed.  That keeps me busy seasonally when grass and landscaping are actively growing, and in Fall and early Winter when our huge trees shed their leaves.

I have been fortunate recently as the grass has slowed.  But I am a week to 10 days from the major workload of clearing leaves.  Have to harvest leaves like this about six times each Fall.  Mulch then vacuum.

Edited November 5, 20214 yr by fppilot

@fppilot,

Looks like my setup , I am glad I just have 1 acre .

Edited November 5, 20214 yr by Ray Proudfoot
Long quoted post and image removed.

Retirement is the key. My flight sim logbook goes back 20 years. For the first 14 years when I was working full time, I flow 330 hours. The next 4.5 years of semi retirement, 1165 total hours. The last 2.5 years fully retired, 1290 hours.

John C.

 

I have all the time in the world right now! 

Same here in the Retired group.  Was kind of forced to retire in 2008 by Corporate America (IBM 25 years) my job was outsourced overseas. Tried finding a similar job I had with IBM for months and years of what I was qualified to do but I couldn't find anything.   30+ years of the grind and working my whole life I said screw it!  I ain't working no more.  I was lucky because I wasn't into too much into material stuff and spending so I saved some cash plus I still have my 401K and retirement pension.  Also the house is paid off in full. My two grown kids are out of the house living on their own and have their own careers.    My wife still works though, she works for a small Insurance agency.   Those jobs are a plenty here where I live and she loves working.

I do feel bad for the new workforce "regular folks" struggling today with no higher education than High School looking for well paid jobs.  It's tough out there in this crazy world.  it is so sad to see. I am so blessed and humble to appreciate what I have seeing what people are going through now and struggling to find decent work for decent pay to live on.

Edited November 5, 20214 yr by F1Fan

8 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I'm retired and alone so I make my rules. Bliss! 😁

That’s all I want out of life , it sounds perfect.

I had a great time during lock down and furlough , I could legitimately flight sim all day long in VR and tell the wife it was essential to keeping my skills up to speed and learning the 787.

It made me realise two things though, firstly there’s much more to life than working yourself to death, and secondly I actually prefer VR virtual aviation to the real thing nowadays.

@jon b, as long as I have my health I’m fine. So far, so good. 😉

I worked for nearly 45 years and with a decent pension that is now paying off. There were rough times - not every manager is perfect - but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. 👍

You have the perfect reason to practice for as long as you want. Are you flying the 787 in MSFS or still with P3D? Is the flight model any good?

PS. Love the Queen and the 747 comment. 🤣