March 11, 20233 yr Hopefully, this may interest a few people who might also like to do a similar thing - seeing the beauty of specific parts of the world reflected though MSFS, while feeling like completing a worthwhile goal. I have decided I would like to do a virtual tour of the mainland USA (Hawaii and Alaska will be done separately). What inspired this was recently watching YouTube videos showing the beauty of US States such as Utah, Montana, and Wyoming - I was absolutely stunned. (obviously every state has its own characteristics and beauty). So, I am looking for an optimised route (starting place doesn't matter, but probably from a 'corner' state such as Washington ), taking in the main beauty spots and points of interest before moving on to the next state. Obviously, it won't be practical to cover everything, just the main points, and I expect a bit of zig-zagging. If anyone knows of a decent flight plan, or suggestions for where to start or go about this, I would be very grateful. I intend to log everything and take the usual screen shots (not too many!), and then place this up for others to follow if they want - I think it will be an interesting exercise and lots of fun. Maybe even a collaboration might be possible. Plane selection will be fairly easy. Preferably high wing (for viewing convenience), a decent leg range of a couple of hours (which may be my limit at the PC), possibly short field performance for smaller airfields, but with a decent cruise speed, but then a lower 'loitering' speed for spotting / viewing. How long it takes won't be a problem - I would rather not rush to be honest. Like I say, any input would be gratefully received. This is interesting to me, as I intend to do this tour in real life one day, when I decide to finally call it a day for working life! Not by me flying by the way - I am only a virtual pilot. Edited March 11, 20233 yr by bobcat999 Rob (but call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind). I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio. Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's. Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.
March 11, 20233 yr According to ChatGPT this is approximatively the shortest route: Maine New Hampshire Vermont Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland District of Columbia Virginia West Virginia Ohio Michigan Indiana Illinois Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Missouri Kentucky Tennessee North Carolina South Carolina Georgia Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Arkansas Oklahoma Texas New Mexico Arizona Nevada Utah Colorado Wyoming Montana Idaho Washington Oregon California Alaska Hawaii For transparency: I'm a community mentor at the BATC discord. However, I do not get paid for it in any way.
March 11, 20233 yr Have done this myself for USA, Africa and some others. But rather than plan a definite route I made a checklist of places to go, then equipped myself with Little Nav Map together with the Google maps overlay and then just flew where the fancy took me doing flight plans on the day.
March 11, 20233 yr You could refine this even more by specifying POIs. FYI what you asked is a basic problem in computer science, known as the "Traveling Salesman Problem" For transparency: I'm a community mentor at the BATC discord. However, I do not get paid for it in any way.
March 11, 20233 yr Author 3 hours ago, Fiorentoni said: According to ChatGPT this is approximatively the shortest route: Maine New Hampshire Vermont.... Cool - Thanks! I am going to trace this out on a map. I wonder why there are only 47 including Hawaii and Alaska? Rob (but call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind). I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio. Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's. Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.
March 11, 20233 yr 20 minutes ago, bobcat999 said: Cool - Thanks! I am going to trace this out on a map. I wonder why there are only 47 including Hawaii and Alaska? Due to powerful plate tectonic forces Alaska has crashed into the lower 48, causing North and South Dakota & Nebraska to disappear into a new subduciton zone 😉 The four presidential heads are now floating on lava.... Edited March 11, 20233 yr by JabbleWok
March 11, 20233 yr MY VA has a tour of all the states, listed on this page. I already flew it. https://flyvirtual.net/index.php/tour
March 11, 20233 yr I don't know what you mean by optimization, but keep an eye on Huntington WV. Optimal, you do a pattern there and you bag three states, WV, OH and KY 🙃. Edited March 11, 20233 yr by Dominique_K Dominique Simming since 1981 - [email protected] GHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 1080 with 8 GB VRAM running a 27" @ 2560*1440 - Windows 10 - Warthog HOTAS - MFG pedals - MSFS Standard version with Steam
March 11, 20233 yr Or you can follow the route of Stephen Coonts in his book The Cannibal Queen. It's also a great read. Even relatively dull legs become more exciting if navigated only by dead reckoning and US VFR sectionals. You can see a rough overview of flight plans here: Steam Community :: :: Cannibal Queen Flight Also, this community website is very nice when it comes to landmarks and POIs: Bushtalk Radio - Audio tours and virtual tourism for MS Flight Simulator 2020 Edit: For maximum immersion, the faired version of PT-17 Stearman from DC Designs actually includes Cannibal Queen livery should you choose to fly in that aircraft. Edited March 11, 20233 yr by Ohmsquare CPU Ryzen 5800X3D RAM 64GB DDR4 3200MHz GPU RTX 5070 Ti (16 GB VRAM) Display 38" LG OS Windows 11
March 11, 20233 yr Author Some great suggestions coming in here! Rob (but call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind). I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio. Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's. Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.
March 11, 20233 yr Author 2 hours ago, Ohmsquare said: Or you can follow the route of Stephen Coonts in his book The Cannibal Queen. It's also a great read. Even relatively dull legs become more exciting if navigated only by dead reckoning and US VFR sectionals. You can see a rough overview of flight plans here: Steam Community :: :: Cannibal Queen Flight Also, this community website is very nice when it comes to landmarks and POIs: Bushtalk Radio - Audio tours and virtual tourism for MS Flight Simulator 2020 Edit: For maximum immersion, the faired version of PT-17 Stearman from DC Designs actually includes Cannibal Queen livery should you choose to fly in that aircraft. Sincere thanks for your help. I have the Stearman and I like the cowled engine version if that is what you mean. I have now just bought The Cannibal Queen from Amazon as well. sounds like a good read! Looks like Bush Talk radio will be very useful as well. I didn't realise it did all that. Edited March 11, 20233 yr by bobcat999 Rob (but call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind). I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio. Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's. Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.
March 11, 20233 yr Get rid of District of Columbia (too many politicians there and it's not a state) and add Kansas after Oklahoma. Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota after Wyoming. Plan a route to the eastern side of California in case the big one hits. -J 13700KF | RTX 4090 @ 1440 | 64GB DDR5 | 2 x 1TB SSDs | 1TB M.2 NVMe
March 11, 20233 yr This makes it very easy World Sightseeing Tour - Bush Trips Part 1 - North America (West) » Microsoft Flight Simulator World Sightseeing Tour - Bush Trips Part 2 - South America » Microsoft Flight Simulator World Sightseeing Tour - Bush Trips Part 3 - North America (East) » Microsoft Flight Simulator Edited March 11, 20233 yr by colklink14
March 11, 20233 yr To keep on with my useless advices, a good omen would be to start your long journey at KTCS Municipal Airport in NM. Dominique Simming since 1981 - [email protected] GHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 1080 with 8 GB VRAM running a 27" @ 2560*1440 - Windows 10 - Warthog HOTAS - MFG pedals - MSFS Standard version with Steam
March 11, 20233 yr Author 47 minutes ago, Dominique_K said: To keep on with my useless advices, a good omen would be to start your long journey at KTCS Municipal Airport in NM. Never useless from you. Any reason why this would consider it a good omen from here? Rob (but call me Bob or Rob, I don't mind). I like to trick airline passengers into thinking I have my own swimming pool in my back yard by painting a large blue rectangle on my patio. Intel 14900K in a Z790 motherboard with water cooling, RTX 4080, 32 GB 6000 CL30 DDR5 RAM, W11 and MSFS on Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD's. Core Isolation Off, Game Mode Off.
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