romanus

I use a few free airports, and then try and find an afcad for those I may fly into. And I also have the Zinertek Airport Environment for when in FS9(yes, I fly both). But I got into the trap where I spent more time tinkering than flying. But that's my inability to leave well enough alone. I am enjoying a lot of GA flying around the area I live, so I only really worry about airports and traffic in that area. FSX is a lot more enjoyable now that I am focusing on just flying. Most of the time I don't notice the airports all that much. As long as there is traffic, the immersion is perfect for me.

I fly default on occasion in both FS9 and FSX. Love the Ford Trimotor, Cessnas, Maule, DC3s, and the FSX jetliners are just fine. For me, FS9 and FSX are aviation simulators. I get to play airline pilot, cargo pilot, bush pilot, and with FS9 Golden Wings/Cal Classics, I fly in the 1930s/40s era. The default planes definitely have their place in my FS universe.

I use torrents to trade old time radio shows. It's a digital offshoot of the people who used to trade cassettes, Vinyl and other media containing these old shows. Most of these are abandoned by the networks, or their trading is allowed by those who do, like the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater from the 70s. We just arent allowed to sell them. I see a lot of things on these sites and am never shocked. I got to beta test a PC game that I know had a very VERY small user base, and it even showed up on 'the site'. I think the people who do pirate things would think differently if they were trying to make a living on something and it showed up for free. Im a 3D modeler and am still trying to figure out how so many people can afford Maya, 3DS max and Cinema4D to do hobbyist modeling. Especially those who say they 'use all three'. Thousands of dollars right there. I use Blender.....it's what I can afford. Same with FSX....i'm a freeware junky.

I still use it in both FS9 and FSX(yes, I use both, didnt have to make the hard choice). Default is fine, not awesome but serves the purpose. Sometimes, i dont use any at all.

Two sites to find VAshttp://www.va-list.com/Andhttp://vaflash.com/

No, you're just realistic, as I am. I am not necessarily young, but my kids are(and wife too, in case she ever reads this). I cant fly the long flights, in fact, the longest that I can handle is about an hour. I salute those that can sit and fly for hours on end, but it isn't something all of us can do. And I would roll my eyes at people who give grief to those who don't fly the way they do. As for finding a VA that allows accel, I would say keep trying. Personally, im not sure why a VA wouldn't allow someone to join, as long as they were up front about needing to speed things up, unless it's hard to keep track of that sort of thing. And I understand not wanting to credit them the same amount of hours as a pilot who does the whole flight in 1x.Anyway, good luck finding a VA, and no, you aren't alone.

Its a great plane, I fly it a lot. I think the most recent versions streamlined everything for the install.

I use the free VOZ 1.8 scenery for Australia. Best out there for that area, for FS9 anyway.

Definately go to Avsim or Flightsim.com and search the library for 'paint kit' or 'paintkit' plus whatever plane you are using. All of the Project Opensky or Posky planes have paintkits, same for the airbus models from IFDG and Project Airbus. Also the SGA, Tin Mouse, and Kitty Hawk planes. Im an avid paint kit hoarder myself, so if you have any trouble finding any, let me know.

I delete my default aircraft, except for the DC3, Cub, Trimotor and Cessnas. I dont fly the other ones or use them for AI. It's a personal choice obviously, and shouldnt be done unless you are comfortable with setting up addon planes to work around any dependencies on the defaults.

Whenever I see this plane, i think 'Baby Hercules'. Great looking plane though.

Cant go wrong with any of the above suggestions, especially the Eaglesoft birds. I do second the AFG Kingair, great freeware plane.

Hmm....not too sure about that. Is the 15 year old whose daddy bought him the PMDG MD-11 a more professional flyer than the 46 year old working man who cant afford it so he flys a freeware version? Why cant freeware alternatives for the fleet be an option? I've always wondered why some VAs restrict members to payware planes. Many peoples PCs just cant handle them, and some pilots fly their flights in a very proper manner, without having to flick and click every button in sight. Im not knocking you guys or your ideas, just think that you might miss out on some good pilots if you have too many restrictions. The Vatsim requirement will weed out a lot of guys, so further restrictions could limit potential members.Good luck on the venture.

I was impressed with the X-Plane demo, but the long load times, and honestly, the very nice but generic scenery just doesnt cut it. In FS9 I can fly from the Mach1DG KLAS to shez KLGB, and it looks like Vegas and Long Beach. Commercial flight, GA, whatever. Lots of planes with great externals, detailed panels, tons of AI traffic around me, I couldnt get that kind of immersion in X-Plane. Something else i've been wondering about is flight model. The smallest plane I have ever flown on was a Grumman C-2 Greyhound, so I have no experience in Cessnas or Beech. The XP flight model feels like the plane is a christmas ornament, dangling from a string. Im not anti XP, I would buy it if it was under $40 just because I want to support Flight Sim Developers. But, I wont buy it at $80. I will buy Flight as long as it's a more reasonable price. I already have FSX, just waiting for when I have a PC that can handle it better.

Love the 188, and thats a great livery. Awesome shot.