Startup FS2020
CTD 😉

2 hours ago, Gazzareth said:

My daughter kept pointing out I only played games I could keep an excel spreadsheet for. Used it for years to keep my FS Logs.....

My sim life would certainly be a lot saner if I didn't worry over whether an airline actually flew between two cities. Its where I end up deciding to do "what if a bunch of now-defunct airlines formed an alliance and survived" and fly routes I like with aircraft I like.

Control E.

😁

 

8 minutes ago, BrammyH said:

I think it's a VA thing. Most VAs are very, very specific on this thing. The line is usually "don't have time for a 6 hour flight? Then don't book one."

That said, I tend to fly routes that are 1-2 hours in length and I enjoy watching the scenery go along.

Also, some aircraft get really unhappy with a sim rate over 2.

Mine doesn't allow it for tour flights, but other than that it's OK. Something I rarely do though, especially over land... same as you, tend to go for 1-2 hour flights.

Long over water though I'll probably go 4x...

G

1 hour ago, Gazzareth said:

I've never understood why people seem to think there's something wrong with using time compression, but will happily go AFK for extended periods to the point they'll set it to pause at TOD. 

Makes zero sense.....

 

G

 

Dunno, doesn't seem realistic to me. Also pause on TOD doesn't make sense to me as well.

If i leave it flying while doing other things, it IS flying and enduring the time. Why compress time anyway and not just do a shorter flight?

1) Starting the following programs all at once: Firefox, MSFS, VAT-Spy, PFPX, vPilot, FSGRW (P3D V4 edition), Qutescoop and a massive Excel file too.

2) In Firefox, I've got a folder that contains all necessary bookmarks I need for flight planning:

https://www.eurofpl.eu/finder# https://skyvector.com/ https://www.meteoblue.com/de/wetter/maps/salzburg_Österreich_2766824#coords=4.03/47.32/14.22&map=snowDepth~hourly~auto~sfc~none https://www.windy.com/ https://simaware.ca/ https://statsim.net/atc/?tables=true https://my.vatsim.net/pilots/flightplan https://aviationweather.gov/metar/data?ids=EBBR+EDDC+EDDE+EDDG+EDDH+EDDL+EDDP+EDDS+EDDV+EDHL+EDJA+EDLP+EDVK+EDXW+EFHK+EFKT+EFVA+EGAC+EGFF+EGGP+EGKK+EGNJ+EGNX+EGPF+EGPH+EGSS+EHRD+EIKY+EKRN+EKVG+ELLX+ENBO+ENBR+ENGM+ENSB+ENZV+EPBY+EPGD+EPLB+EPMO+EPPO+EPSC+EPSY+EPZG+ESSA+EVRA+LCLK+LEBB+LEBG+LECO+LELN+LEPA+LERS+LEST+LEVC+LEVX+LEZL+LFBZ+LFKF+LFMN+LFMP+LFMT+LFQQ+LFSB+LGIR+LGRP+LGSR+LIBP+LICB+LICC+LICJ+LIMJ+LIPB+LIPE+LIPR+LIPZ+LJLJ+LKTB+LMML+LOWK+LOWL+LOWS+LPFR+LPPD+LSZA+LSZH+LSZR+LSZS+LTAI+LZIB+UKBB+UKLL+UKOO&format=raw&date=&hours=0

3) I use google calendar, qutescoop and statsim to visualise where there's gonna be ATC today:

Some of the sheets from my flightplan schedule excel:

 

According to this information, I plan my flight with CFMU valid routes from eurofpl using PFPX.

I generally plan flights in order to have at least either on DEP or on the ARR airport VATSIM ATC coverage (best ofc is both DEP and ARR coverage).

1 hour ago, Nuno Pinto said:

Dunno, doesn't seem realistic to me. Also pause on TOD doesn't make sense to me as well.

If i leave it flying while doing other things, it IS flying and enduring the time. Why compress time anyway and not just do a shorter flight?

It's the same argument, if the flight you are doing is so long that you want to do other things during it, then perhaps you could just do a shorter flight. Convincing yourself that "it" is enduring it is a bogus argument. "It" doesn't care... 

 

G

1) addons linker to pick out some airports/aircraft I might want to use in this session. Sometimes it's very specific - a particular aircraft or airport, sometimes it's broader (maybe half a dozen airports, couple of aircraft etc)

2) start MSFS

3) If I'm planning to have a (for me) serious session, I'll probably start up Flight Recorder, Little Nav Map and the AIG Traffic Controller. If I just want a quick buzz around for a look at something I won't bother with this lot.

4) 99% of the time, pick an airport/airstrip and hot start on the runway, ready to go. Very rarely I'll start at a gate or parking somewhere. Helicopters are the exception, those I usually start cold at a pad somewhere.

5) Once the AI has spun up, start recording and head off down the runway, get in the air and go wherever my fancy takes me. At this point I'll be mostly in the cockpit, but not "flying" in the sense of using any of the instruments or controls except the real basics.

6) Usually, I'll pootle around for a while, looking at the scenery (mostly from inside, but occasionally in extrernal view) and looking on LNM to see where I am and what else is nearby.

7) after a while I might spot a potentially interesting place to put down (via LNM), head there and land. I'll then save the recording.

8 ) either straight away, or maybe on my next session, I'll replay this flight, and that's the rewarding bit for me. It's where I can pause whenever I like, take screenies, vary the weather and suchlike, get out in the drone and explore anything that takes my eye either at the start/end airports or just somewhere I spot in flight.  Most of the replay will be done in external view, and I'll zip back and forward on occasion if I want to see a location in different conditions (weather, ToD etc). I keep all my saved flights (unless I decide they were rubbish) and it's nice to go back and revisit occasionally.

I think in my maybe 10 years of simming (I only got in to it around the time of MS Flight - yeah knock yourself out but I was impressed) I have done maybe three of four long haul flights. And only two of those used a flight plan. Doesn't do it for me. I like to zoom around in interesting aircraft and look at the world fairly close up. Low and fast in an F16 or F22, or low and slow in any one of a dozen or so candidates. And occasionally only slightly high up in a big tube, but I tend to stay around 5-6000 feet and treat an MD11 or 777 as a personal toy for sightseeing anyway.

When you think about it, it's pretty impressive that MSFS can give me such a huge amount of pleasure using it the way I do, and also (apparently) satisfy all those folk who really do want to master all the procedures and details of something like the 737 or whatever and then do realtime full on flights around the world.

3 minutes ago, Gazzareth said:

It's the same argument, if the flight you are doing is so long that you want to do other things during it, then perhaps you could just do a shorter flight. Convincing yourself that "it" is enduring it is a bogus argument. "It" doesn't care... 

 

G

It's not the same when you have to fly an online tour as time compression is not allowed, i thought that was implicit.

2 hours ago, BrammyH said:

My sim life would certainly be a lot saner if I didn't worry over whether an airline actually flew between two cities. Its where I end up deciding to do "what if a bunch of now-defunct airlines formed an alliance and survived" and fly routes I like with aircraft I like.

That's what business jets are for 🤣

.... and cargo!

G

56 minutes ago, Gazzareth said:

That's what business jets are for 🤣

.... and cargo!

Oh, you went there 🙂 

Short version to an incredibly long story.

Yeah, some sort of business jet, charter, etc. is a strong candidate. Plus there are the the older FSX legacy liveries like Orbit/World Travel.

A lot of this is trying to "build a brand" for my YouTube channel of 20 subs. In the end, the livery doesn't really matter. It's a fun diversion tracking all this stuff. The massive Excel sheet has a lot of lookups on if there is a handcrafted airport available, something I got from .to, or I bought it.

As an aside, does anyone know if FedEx or a sub contractor uses B737-800s in the states? I have found evidence of them using them in Europe.

I have an Excel spreadsheet with every airport/strip from MSFS and I randomize where I’m flying to.  I’ve been doing this for the last 1,983 flights since 2003.  

3 hours ago, BrammyH said:

As an aside, does anyone know if FedEx or a sub contractor uses B737-800s in the states? I have found evidence of them using them in Europe.

FedEx, No, but,

Sun Country Airlines operates 12 737-800 BCF aircraft for Amazon (Prime) Air, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Country_Airlines#Current_fleet.

Southern Air (via their Airline merger with Atlas Air) operates 8 of the same Aircraft, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Air#Fleet

i Aero Airways operates 7 737-800 BDSF Aircraft for DHL, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAero_Airways#Current

I'm cycling thru about 8 aircraft right now that I really enjoy - most of them I know very well but there are a couple I'm still studying.  I've flown the whole world over the last couple of years - now I'm randomizing and choosing destinations fields I haven't been to.  I usually take off from the field I landed at in the last flight.

1. Select aircraft from the rotation.
2. Start Random Flights Generator and put in a range that will give an average of 90 min.  Choose a strip from the randomizer that I haven't been to for the destination.
3. Obtain the weather reports for the departure and destination and select the runways.
4. Enter the data into SimBrief and export the flight plan.
5. Import the flight plan into Navigraph, adjust SIDs and STARS (where appropriate) and add the most likely approach and transitions.
6. Export the final flight plan for FS.
7. Use AddonsLinker when appropriate for the aircraft or area
8. Start FS, load the FP and aircraft, adjust fuel and cargo and start the flight (always cold and dark)
9.  Load Real Weather and time.  However, if it's currently late and dark for that area, I'll keep the weather but set the time earlier so that I get a light to dark transition.
10. Start the aircraft and use the default ATC - I'll eventually try some other add-ons for this but it's OK for now.
11. Once at cruise I'll begin planning my approach: verify the TOD, study the most likely IAP and set up VNAV if appropriate.  I also make a note of field elevation if making an RNAV approach.
12. If weather is iffy, use radar to work around the worst cells.
13. Verify the destination weather after beginning the descent - if the winds and cover change significantly, select a new runway and a new approach.
14. Shoot the approach, land and taxi to an appropriate ramp for the aircraft type and shut down.  If the field is in a city or region I've haven't seen, I'll give myself a tour of the area with the Drone camera before shutting down.

Start Oculus Home

Start OpenXR ToolKit

Start Oculus Debug Tool and run MSFS exe from there.

Load a flight

Start FSLTL Traffic Injector

Start FSKneeBoard Server

Adjust Weather/Time to my preference

Throw on VR headset and switch to VR mode, make FOV/POV seating position/view adjustments.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder... Climbing high into the sun 😛