For the life of me I can't get the 737 to stay at cruising altitude. I try adjusting pitch, I try adjusting power and I try pitch trimming and it just doesn't want to fly level. Am I missing something?? Does N1 have to be at certain power?? I don't want to fly in autopilot every time I fly a jet. I have the same problems with the GA aircraft as well but not as much as the jet. Could it be my controller and null control???? Please help...thanxAlso what are VOR's for?? Why would one fly over a VOR to another VOR instead of just flying straight to the airport?? Can somebody explain this to me. Obviously I am a newbie but I am not understanding the point of flying over a VOR. What is it doing to benefit me?? I know some may chuckle at the "stupid" sounding question but please forgive me I am a newbie that loves aviation. Thanx for your time guys.

I'll take a stab at the second question.I think it is always helpful to know history to understand things.In the late 20-s as commercial aviation was beginning to expand it was recognized that there needed to be a way to fly in bad weather.At this point-a system of radio transmitting stations, each of which transmited a signal that carried identification . The older

In addition, check out this website. It will help you with all your FS navigation needs.http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/Glenn

well done geofa- nice lucid little history of aeronautical navigation (with links!)its always been a dream of mine to get a ppl and fly across this great country we live in. A couple of years ago i fulfilled a (smaller) goal and drove clear across from philly to the ca coast. alone. and it was the best trip i have ever taken in my life.of course with FS (and lately FS + Tileproxy) i have been "pretending" the cross country trek.is your flight plan from this summer available somewhere?

Check my blog site below-I pictures of the whole trip and flight plans (make sure you click "view more entries" on the bottom for the flight plans).http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

>...I don't want to fly in autopilot every time I fly a jet...The reality is that jets are tougher to hand fly smoothly and efficiently. Most airliners are flown on autopilot from about 1000' above ground on takeoff, to about 1000' above ground on landing. Most single-pilot jets (a lot of the small business jets) are required to be flown with autopilot so the pilot does not get overworked, and if the autopilot fails in one of those jets the pilot is required to land right away and get it fixed before flying again. Obviously, the 737 is not a single-pilot aircraft, but when you fly it at home in the sim it is.>...Why would one fly over a VOR to>another VOR instead of just flying straight to the airport??It's all about making it easier for ATC to maintain some order. If everyone flew direct from one airport to the other it would be a lot of work for ATC to figure who was going to be where when. Plus, if a pilot just told ATC they were flying from Fairview Nevada to Oak Grove California would you even have a clue where to begin looking for him on the radar screen? With the thousands of little airports across the US, a controller can't possibly know where all of them are. But if ATC knew he was going from Fairview to ABC vor, then taking Victorway V123 to XYZ vor, then to Oak Grove, now you know where to look.The other way it benefits you is if you fly at lower altitudes the airways have minimum altitudes assigned to them that guarantee you won't run into terrain. If you fly direct it's up to you to figure out what altitude you'll need to avoid flying into a mountain.

Geofa- Your description of the A-N radio nav system set my heart rate up about 30 beats!! As a kid, I would lie in bed at night, secretly listening to the "N" Dah Dit tone from Malton,Ont. on my homemade crystal set- coil wound on a toilet paper core and 100 feet of copper wire antenna out to a tree behind the house. Scratch the galena with the cat's whisker, adjust the headphones, and imagination took me aloft in a Lancaster bomber on the way to singlehandedly win the air war over Germany!!!That's a long time ago- I don't think CYYZ- Pearson Int'l uses that system anymore!!!! Thanks for the memories.Alex Reid CYYJ

Thanks for the real story-you got my heart rate up! Me-I only read about it in Ernest Gann's "Fate is the Hunter"-my favorite book!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

Hi,I am also fairly new. Here's my advice on altitude:Cruising altitude depends on power and trim. If you were in a car, on a straight road, you wouldn't expect to set the cruise control and just let go of the steering wheel. That's because there's wind, and the road is slightly banked, there's potholes, etc. In the air, you not only have x and y to worry about, but z as well. If you think about how often you adjust your heading in a car, even minutely, just a tiny bit of pressure, I see no reason that you should not expect that in an airplane. How you set up your controller is up to you. Personally, I try to set my joystick so that sneezing on it isn't a big deal, but that a small, intentional, adjustment is noticeable. The best you can hope for, with proper trim, is that the aircraft will oscillate above and below your intended altitude. The degree of this oscillation can be managed by adjusting power and trim incrementally, but it will never be perfect, nor should you expect it to be.