Always cold / dark and gate or parked.  The HJET engines are ready to go in a minute as in RL and my shorthand checklist is complete < 3 minutes to taxi.

When troubleshooting I may start on the runway.

dd

Cold and dark at the gate unless i am trying to work out something related to flight. In those cases i start at the gate fired up. 

Mostly I just test my paints or beta test... so for that its air starts or at the very least runway starts.

If I do an actual flight I tend to start on the ramp.... but GA only here.  I've decided I can't stand the 20 min+ prep at the terminal gross hehe.

Always at the gate in turnaround mode.

2 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

I think if that's real world weather in Ketchikan, you won the lottery.  I haven't seen a sky that blue there in about 5 months 😁.

Haha ya its a preset I wanted to see the mountains. 

Edited February 18Feb 18 by Todd2

Gate or Remote stand if an airliner and set to short turn. Cold and dark really only happens once a day. For a bizjet or GA, then anywhere on an apron.

At the gate, cold & dark. I love the feeling of the realism when I see aircraft at other gates as well as taxiing to the runway while I'm setting up the aircraft.

Gate, starting on runway usually screws up AI and ATC.

5 hours ago, Cap737Delta said:

I use FStarter24 and start anywhere with a mouse click. Can't be easier.

IMO, with what the Sim already does and with Little Nav Map (which is free), 10 Euros isn't worth it for FStarter 24.

Always at the gate. Cold and Dark.

 

Same, always at the gate, cold and dark. Heliports won't allow for C&D so I park helis a couple of meters away, which can lead to some awkward situations... 🙂

Cold & Dark at Gate using FSFO app for added realism. I let the FO prep the aircraft and run through the Pre-Flight Flows and & Tests, flicking all the switches, I setup the FMC or MCDU  FP and PERF stuff and readback the FO's checklists. Then GSX Push. I usually give myself about 25 -30 mins for flight setup. I have produced my own checklists and could do this myself, but laziness has got the best of me, thus I use FSFO.

I start cold and dark at the destination airport. Then I don't have to actually fly at all 🤪

Gate, turnaround mode. Sometimes I start GSX boarding, but usually I only call the airstairs and then the pushback tug.

Edited February 18Feb 18 by Luis Hernandez

Funny thing about the realism at the gate and cold&dark... at least for a long distance flight, pilots entering the flight deck will never find the cockpit to be cold&dark, at least I read/heard about that for B777. From that I conclude that most likely A350 too. Not sure about short haul, though.