softreset

The best luck I've had with the default ATC is V/S @ 2300-2600 FPM to 10,000 feet (from cruise) and then FL CH at 220-240 until I'm 30 NM out and then I'll start slowing things down for approach. At least that's with the default FSX ATC. Otherwise they'll be barking at me to expedite descent or I'll hit the FAP waaaaaaay too high or too fast. I've used Pro ATC/X which is pretty solid, uses real-world STAR/SID but it's still not perfect with approaches.

Excellent. Registered and have been browsing. Thanks for the great tip. They're absolutely all there (a little tricky to navigate) but it's all good. Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Skydemon as well!

All, I've learned to heavily rely on AirNav & Skyvector for all my US planning. But I'm interested in joining a European based VA and I'm not finding a similar online resource. I pay for monthly Navigraph updates but do not currently pay for their charts service. What would be the best approach here? Free is always preferred but I have no problem paying for charts from a reliable source. Jepp is out of budget, though. Thanks!

What is VAS - http://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a108/vas-management-stopping-out-of-memory-oom-errors.aspx

Man... I wish I could modify the subject line of my original topic. Nonetheless, a lot of great stuff.

It's 100% about the 'neat' factor for me. So I apologize if I've poked the bear on a sensitive topic. Honestly, considering how so many VA sites seem to emphasize that, I just assumed it was... a thing. I think Nick has done a pretty good job of encompassing my feelings about it. My entire life/profession revolves around metrics and performance calculators (I manage a large call center that does 5000+ inbound calls a day) so for me, the tool is about having a sort of "report card" at the conclusion of my experience. I don't treat it like a leader board in a video game, per say (although it's clear there are many places that do) but it's a nice tool to have in the already plethora of add-ons out there. Honestly, if there was an add-on that evaluated me on every stage of the flight, I'd run it. I'd love to have a tool that tells me: "You're too slow on the approach, you took long to do X." Certainly not barking at me during my play time but a sort of post-game wrap up. I have very little doubt that I routinely arrive at my FAF too slow or that my flare isn't smooth. I also struggle to maintain a smooth taxi speed and frequently find myself having to constantly adjust my throttle. Once I get that confidence up, I then move onto the next thing. So rather than taking control of the plane at 500 feet above the runway I can then take control at 750 or 1000. Or maybe I try to hand fly the LOOP8 SID out of LAX to the letter versus immediately engaging the AP and avoid what would be a total disaster on the initial turn (I always seem to overshoot it). Heck, that's part of the reason I haven't flown on VATSIM yet (and I want to real bad). Because I don't want to "screw it up." I want to ensure near mastery level of basic flight mechanics and be able to reproduce them almost subconsciously. Anyway, long enough, here. Again, apologies if I poked the bear and derailed the subject.

Nick, http://bobbyallen.me/landing-rate-monitor/ That's the one I've seen, but there's definitely a lot of other ones. At a minimum you'll need FSUIPC (http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html) The VA I've joined has all of the "stuff" built-into a GUI. It's pretty cool, actually.

Honestly, I prefer the "exhaustive data" approach. I'd rather watch a 2 hour long YouTube video that floods me with data than have to watch a dozen, 10-15 minute videos and try to piece together information. Not to mention, without fail each of those videos are done a little bit differently. Oh I'm a 350+ (but sub 600) ft/min T/D guy, all day. It's fun to let the plan auto land at <100 but I jokingly call myself the "tooth fairy" because I'm collecting loose ones at the conclusion of the flight. Yeah the SWA virtual I fly with broadcasts it the moment you land on the ACARS plugin and there's always ribbing on anything above 350. One of these days I'm going to set it down like a meteorite and see what they say.

My pleasure. Yeah, you've got a lot of videos and they're all pretty long. So saying: "In that one video where you did the thing" is about unhelpful as possible. It was a very helpful video, in addition to the tutorials. Yeah... I've just reached the threshold with add-ons where my computer is no longer happy. A sub 200 ft/min touchdown at 9-14 FPS isn't really a thing. Thanks again.

So I've now done 5 trips on the original route in question and definitely using SPD INTV has helped considerably when necessary. The last 3 trips were 100% speed brake free. One last question I had and we can button this up. I'm 280/12000 and I need to slow to 250/10000 at an upcoming step on my trip. Do I descend to 10k and then slow or slow and then descend to 10,000? Or is weather/wind specific (the answer would depend on conditions). Kyle... in watching your supplemental tutorial v2 (around the 1 hr, 28 min) mark you're descending to 6,000 and then give yourself instruction to slow to 220. But you don't slow until you reach 6k versus enroute to 6k. Is that typically the way it's done? Get to the target height and then slow? I know that's how the FMC calculates it, typically (the decel point right before the target waypoint).

Thank you both for your detailed and thorough responses. It's all starting to make a lot of sense. I appreciate it and you've given me some great 'take home' advice to use on my next flight.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Most of my time flying is after the wife goes to bed and we're in a small place as well. I'm very confident she won't be onboard with me chatting it up. I've been enjoying simbrief.com for planning but I too have gone from jumping into the cockpit and actually planning stuff out. It's probably the reason I'll never graduate to anything larger than the 737. I don't have that much time. :smile:

I wish I had seen this post before I made mine as it's just about the same question I just asked the other day. Really helpful stuff. Thanks!

Found it - http://www.avsim.com/topic/360476-angle-of-attack-training/page-16

Thank you all for the tips/advice. I currently fly offline with no ATC (my play schedule never seems to match up with the Oakland Center Vatsim team. The feedback on payware ATC is too polarizing for me to spend the money on the wrong one, right now. I went the route of scenery first, ATC later (versus the other way around). I tried the V/S method last night from LAS to SMF with a 15-20 kt headwind and definitely got significantly over profile on the descent, opting for the early descent (about 15nm before programmed T/D). But I never exceeded 1600 FPM so that was most likely the problem. I really want to have some degree of 'mastery' before always being logged in with Vatsim. But perhaps the payware ATC needs to be before FS2crew and GSX, so I can get a feel for some of these "wrenches" that get thrown. It sounds like, from what ya'll are saying and what I'm reading/hearing: - Garbage in, garbage out on the FMC. If I'm having to use excessive speed brakes I'm not supplying good data. - Don't blindly lock in VNAV, even with data and hit go - Be agile with descent profile management. Be prepared to jump in and out of V/S and LVL CHNG when applicable. Ultimately (assuming no ATC), it's never going to be a static do X, then Y and finish with Z. But rather, what is X right now... well if it's that, then you need to do this to get to Z.

Kyle - Heh, I've watched all your other videos but that one apparently. Alright I'll check it out. Can you give me an example or two of getting around it? The most obvious thing I can think of is to use a hold at the waypoint before. I've got about 50 hours in-game on the plane and I'm trying to feel very comfortable with VNAV/LNAV programming and forecasting before I go slightly more manual (V/S) but if that's the best way to fly certain descents, then I'll start clicking different buttons on the MCP. Thanks!

Hello, I had a question regarding the descent phase of the flight. I've just started using weather (Active Sky) and I'm coming in a bit 'hot' on my descents. To hopefully avoid other pitfalls (from threads that I've read): Here's how I'm setup... I'm flying from KSMF -> KLAX with a cost index of 40 and a descent speed limit of 284. I'm flying the SADDE6 STAR and my first magenta marker is 280/12000 at SYMON. My typical cruise altitude is FL350, I have wind data programmed into cruise waypoints before T/D. I have wind values programmed at FL300, FL240, FL180 but I'm still a little high (according to the DES page on the FMC between 18,000 and my first restriction at 12,000. It's just about always a tailwind but in this particular instance it was 290/26. I had to ride my speed brakes the whole way from SYMON to SADDE to get from 280K to 250K with only 8 nm between the two and typically passing around ~ 11,000 feet. I've got, what I believe to be the correct calculation for ISA DEV and I have the QNH average for REYES & FIL (where I'm typically crossing 18,000. So I have two questions that I could not find based on my experience with the two tutorial flights: 1.) How typical is speed brake usage on descent even with everything forecasted/entered correctly? Are there some descent/routes where it's just about a given that they'll be up most of the way? 2.) The transition from Flight Level(s) to Altitude cause all of sort of confusion for my FMC on this descent. I know the pressure at (approximately) my transition level and what I've been doing is putting that in prior to descent so that it appears below STD on the PFD. I noticed in the tutorial #2 flight he did not do this, so is that most likely my mistake? Follow up question to that, when do I switch the baro pressure on the descent to the arrival airport? (It doesn't specifically mention what to do on Page 80 of T1 and Page 142 of T2). I think that's all the questions I have for right now. Apologize if I've written too much, I had a week plus of watching the forums and tried to address the frequently asked questions on the front end. Thanks, Jason Fearing