Overload

I have both Spotty26 and Flightcontrolspotter, I find FCSpotter the easiest to use from a spotting point of view, especially as the software can be started from a toolbar icon, and used in VR. Also if you have a spare Xbox controller, all the movements needed once outside the aircraft are mapped to it. I found both quite complicated, especially Spotty26, but maybe that's just me.

Just for info a couple of responses on the PPrune forum, from pilots discussing the same event there: I feel this fella's pain as I was once in the same situation trying to land in pee-poor weather at Kennedy..... except the motion lotion was depleting at quite a rate as I worked at getting confirmation of protections being in place for a Cat III autoland. The answer was.....that nobody was prepared to say! Rather than turning into a glider we shot the approach and landed without incident or further issues. Turned out when I rang the Company Duty Pilot he said he would have done the same as I did. The upshot is, in The States they assume you know that its SOP for LVPs to be in force when minima drop below Cat I. Why can't they just add a one-liner to the ATIS FFS😡? Anyway, I learned about flying in the USA from that. Hope this is of use. The correct question would have been "are low visibility procedures in operation?" not "are you declaring LVOs" which are the procedures that aircraft operators follow. However I suspect the JFK controller knew exactly what was being asked but was too pig headed and up his own rear end to give a sensible and useful answer.

Any real world pilots care to comment on the situation? Seems BA need low vis ops below a certain RVR, I could understand it for landing - but not sure why you'd need it for take-off? Also at 2.56 BA says he needs 1800m, but don't they report airport visibility in statute miles and feet in the USA? So at 3.36 when the BA pilot is given take off, touch down RVR 1600, roll out 1800, is that meters or feet?

Ahhh, thanks, I missed that.

Another superb video from the Cockpit casual team, who were tasked with repossessing a number of Spirit aircraft to the Californian desert. They went about their task with great sensitivity to the aircrew and ground staff who lost their jobs. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, just go to 42.50, a song written and performed by a Spirit flight attendant, I lost it when she sang "The yellow bird rests for now".

Thanks, that's useful information!

Yep, thought it might improve FPS at the time, but I'm not sure it makes any difference. I clicked on the packages available for the Standard to Premium deluxe update - there's a lot of stuff there, so I just set select all, and let it get on with the download - all 236gb of it! Not sure I really understand what's going on regarding the various update options available, but the Sims working fine, which is all that matters! Thanks all for your input

I own the MSFS2024 Premium Deluxe, Store edition. In the library I see updates available - why are they there. I already have the Premium Deluxe? https://i.postimg.cc/6Q5LwKFX/MSFS2024-UPDATE-AVAILABLE.png Just curious?

Back in the olden days, I used to fly night freight in a Bandeirante, a small turboprop. One of our scarier runs was Basle (LFSB) to Bergamo (LIME), FL190 unpressurised, on portable oxygen over the Alps. The terrain climbed relatively gently for the 1st 3rd of the flight (about 250nm total), then steeply. Even passed the halfway mark, it could be better to turn back in the event of an engine failure, drifting down to the best single engine altitude, than carrying on over rising terrain. I made a chart with the best course of action to do at any given range from Bergamo in the event of an engine failure (still air - any wind considerations would just have to be a judgement call!). But it relied on knowing my distance from Bergamo - and the DME's at either end dropped out for stages of the flight. I bought a very early Trimble handheld GPS, just a one line display - all positions user entered, no database, but it was a great comfort knowing my range from Bergamo at any given time! The CAA eventually stopped the company from doing the flight, said it was too dangerous - I think they were right! I also used the KNS-81 back then, actually it wasn't very good, unless the VOR's used were close to 90 degrees relative, the bearings were very wishy washy, but better than nothing.

Interesting - I bought the Pimax Super OLED 8K bundled, which includes the Pimax Ultrawide. The Ultrawide does have a great FOV, but just can't compete with the shear gorgeousness of the 8K OLED. To me, having a smaller FOV but superb quality is worth the trade off in terms of head and eye movement. Also the extra pixels generated by the wider FOV does have a significant impact on FPS. Each to their own, but I'm going to return the Ultrawide.

There are alternatives to Imgur, that work in the UK. This one works well, can be used without sign up, very intuitive. https://postimages.org/

Same here, nippa! (retired 2010). Tip for the original poster - take a look at the FR24, you'll see the Heathrow inbounds via BIG, including indicated airspeeds, rates of descent, and levels achieved, really not an issue for them, assuming a timely descent from ATC. Agree with nippa, being able to achieve the minimum holding level and holding speed at BIG (usually FL70, 220kts max), is essential for Heathrow Approach.

I'm pretty sure that MSFS2020 requires internet access to run? The scenery is streamed, not stored on the PC.

"That overhead image is not from the PC12-47 (that the SWS models). That's from the PC12 NGX that is made by Carenado for MSFS." I googled PC12 overhead to find an image - and got that image, just to show the CB in issue - it is the SWS PC12 that's the problem, but thanks for the observation.

Bought it yesterday (MSFS2024) - just tried a quick flight to test it, on the runway, engine running. Keep getting a Bus Tie warning, circuit breaker resets, but 30 seconds later pops out again. Probably need to study the manual, but anyone had this happen? Thanks

There's a tick box in the Pimax play software for using the headset speakers, is that ticked?

I didn't do any sign up, just opened the site link - clicked on choose image - picked the Apollo one I just downloded! Then the Upload complete box is shown, Direct link, 2nd one down on the list is what you want, copy it it, paste it into your post - and it's there!

Re "These screenshots are from IMGUR. How do I post them Here then?" I switched to https://postimages.org/ Very intuitive interface - no sign up required, seems to work fine in the UK

As a recent purchaser of "Spotty", which actually is a very cool utility, for av-geeks, I tried this function just out of curiosity, but can see that jerky aircraft movement you can see in the video, which rather spoils it. Admittedly, Spotty has very little to do with flying as such, but I enjoy 20 minutes or so spotting at major airports, coupled with FSLTL (free realtime traffic) which uses FR24 data. Also a very quick way of exploring the world, POI's, 3d cities, to decide if it's somewhere you'd like to fly from, in a way that's far quicker than flying around there.

MSFS 2024 can be installed on more than one PC if that's what you mean, but you can only run one version at a time. Use the original xbox login, and it should be available for download.

Actually, I didn't know that Imgur had switched off UK access, but if it's useful for anyone, I use https://postimages.org/ very easy intuitive interface, no sign up, works well.

This is why I prefer SkyDemon maps, the information you need, but not totally obscuring the topographical features, for visual navigation. The area from SkyDemon below. There's actually a lot of nice GA airfields around there, I've put black boxes around a few. There are 3 actually inside the Heathrow Control zone, you don't need permission from Heathrow, there's special procedure for them, something like all circuits away from Heathrow, not above 1200ft VFR, remain within 2 miles of the airfield, that type of thing. One big issue is that Controlled airspace starts at 2500ft, so all the VFR traffic is below that, usually around 2000ft, on a sunny weekend, the airspace is very busy, really need to keep a good lookout!

Off topic - sorry, but I see this "Content not viewable" notice quite often. The poster is UK based, same as me, any idea why?

Roughly the same airspace in the new Navigraph charts - why I described them as fussy!

Flying VFR in Europe is a complicated business, not least because each country has it's own rules. There a lot more more class A airspace around even at low levels. This is a Skyvector pic of the airspace around Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton plus others, I've put red boxes around some of the airspace vertical delineations. There a huge swath around Heathrow and Gatwick that's class A above 2500ft, the control zones are class A down to the surface. As you get further away from the major airfields the base levels rise, but you still need to keep a close eye on where you are to avoid infringing class A airspace. Moving maps have made things a lot easier, when I was flying around there in the olden days, we didn't have those, you really needed a good map!