Antipodeslonghaul

I think the freighter potentially has the same range as the LR with no aux fuel tanks, but only if you're taking on a relatively light payload, like what 200 or so pax and their bags might weigh if you were flying an LR. Generally you'd probably want to take less fuel and more heavy cargo. You're limited by the max takeoff weight. I'm also seriously considering getting the freighter. Edit: Just stumbled upon this article, I didn't know about it before. https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/20-hours-11-315-miles-national-airlines-completes-record-breaking-boeing-777f-flight/ar-AA29uNNl I think just taking some fairly lightweight spare parts, so range with full fuel and light payload is no problem for the freighter. I'm thinking another example would be like a single prize horse of some rich dude, and maybe just one handler, a bag of oats, some water, and a brush to give the horse a rub down on the long flight. Freighter ops indeed have lots of possibilities.

I think whether one gets the 200 LR or ER it only makes a slight difference as far as the flying experience, "the feeling" within the sim goes. I think it's simply down to lots of people liking to fly the models that are more popular in the real world influencing the price. Exactly! As someone else just mentioned before, like the 737-600 vs. the 700. The LR really wastes a lot of space that could have otherwise been used for payload if you don't use it on flights that are more than like 14 hours. Generally up to roughly 14 hour flights the ER is totally adequate. I was just envisioning it's cicra 2004 and I can make all the decisions at Qantas. I'd be like screw it, we're going to beat Singapore Airlines with their A340-500's on their Newark nonstops ASAP! We're getting a whole fleet of 777-200 LR's. Project Sunrise is now in full effect! But imagine you're parked at the gate filling up with like 160,000 kg of fuel, only to take on like 16,000 kg of payload (stress the pay, as in what's paying you, rather than what you're paying for, all that fuel). Like maybe just 120 pax and some mail. 10 times the weight in fuel vs. payload. It might seem rather silly to a lot of people. One thing I also like about the 200ER vs. the LR is the shorter wingspan, you could potentially get into tighter parking spaces. But I doubt whether that factor had much of an impact on the prices of the PMDG's.

Ok, the 777-200LR is very tempting. 35 USD with the sale. That would have been about 25 dollars 10 years ago with inflation. Pretty cheap for a quality addon then and now. The thing is I already have the 777-200LR in FSX and still use it there, mainly to see how planning ultra long hauls pans out, not so much for the neat graphics I don't have MSFS2024 only 20 as my computer isn't that great, but this one does include both 20 and 24 versions in case I upgrade. I'm a penny pincher, but this does seem pretty decent. I do like the ultra long hauls. Anyway, thanks so much to the OP for the head's up on this sale.

Daylight savings time isn't so annoying on its own, it's the switching back and forth of the clocks twice a year that always throws me off. So thanks a lot Ben! (sarcastic voice) Kidding, not his fault. He was quite a character. https://www.ushistory.org/franklin/science/daylight.htm

Just got an e-mail from the water works this morning warning "Don't water your plants! Water for basic human hygiene necesseties only!" While we're entering another heatwave in southern Germany, it feels like it'll be a lot less taxing heatwise this time around. Highs around 30, lows around 15. Last one a few weeks ago was more like highs 35+, lows 20 at best, and even if, that was just for an hour or so around 4 am. The night time low makes all the difference. It seems the soil around here has dried out really quick. I think for me personally, I'd still prefer high humidity and lots of thunderstorms over dryness though, but that's just me. I guess I'm more of a swamp rat than a desert rat.

Wow! I'm in Germany and a bit surprised it's that high, but sure enough. Like my food I'll take my statistics with a grain of salt, but I guess as a rough indicator: The worst off seems to be American Samoa at 75% obese. USA proper weighs in at 42%, UK 27%, Germany 20%, France 10%, Japan 6% (not sure if sumo wrestlers count), and Vietnam the winners at only 2%. Maybe sort of a World Bowl championship instead of a World Cup. Yeah, I think walking a lot is good. The last time I was in Taiwan I walked at least 10 km and rode commuter trains daily. Although they have elevators and escalators at the stations, it was usually quicker to take the stairs between the platforms. Going up and down several flights of stairs every day was hell on my knees, but I definitely lost weight. Excellent food, but fairly small portion sizes a few times a day, and lots of tea, it was pretty good. Germany has a trend around the cities and outlying areas, lots of drive thru fast food, lots of parking lots around strip mall style shops. Convenient if you're driving, but unless you make an extra effort, you don't get much walking done apart from pushing a shopping cart down the aisles of a supermarket.

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I still wonder occasionally, is it ok to just go dev mode pause, or open the save window as a pause, or exit the flight and just go back to the startup screen and put the computer to sleep, but don't exit the sim. How long can one continue on doing that I wonder?

I'd say. Here's our current METAR at Munich, temp 22 dp 19. METAR EDDM 300750Z AUTO 11004KT 050V150 9999 SCT010 22/19 Q1023 BECMG 05005KT And this was yesterday around this time, temp 26 dp 17. METAR EDDM 290750Z AUTO 32012KT 290V350 CAVOK 26/17 Q1022 NOSIG It definitely feels just as, if not more "muggy" today, despite being slightly cooler. Anyway, an awesome thunderstorm display last night here including red lightning, "Red Sprites" I believe. Regardless of the humidity though, the cooler temperatures at night and in the morning are more than welcome to get some relief! I guess I'll pick a dewpoint of 15 as a rough rule of thumb. Above it I get that kind of warm tropical feeling, which can be pleasant, but one sure can also sweat a lot without too much effort. Below it is more what I'd consider normal, even in the summer in Northern Europe.

So, if sim development stood still right now, I guess I'd stick with the PMDG BBJ1 I've been using. I've grown quite fond of it. I've boosted the MTOW to 79 according to my own regulations (I think that's what the Australian Air Force uses in theirs). I saw a seating chart where it was outfitted with 20 business angle flat seats in the front (although I think it could also fit as many Polaris lie flats from a United 757, and 66 economy seats crammed behind the overwing emergency exits in the back, so 86 pax in total. Also I've got the max aux tank configuration set up, so overhead bins and space under the seats in front of you crammed to the max! Just set payload at 100%. And I've set up the cockpit to look as old as possible, also with the eyebrow windows (stuff some charts in there if you need to, or just enjoy the extra view). Maybe a little bit of a modernized 707 feeling on long hauls, although a tad bit slower in cruise. And there were a few so called 737-700ER's in Japan a while back which are essentially the same. I'll call it that as well, since BBJ sounds too posh. Quite a versatile little thing. Go lightweight and try super short runways and cramped ramps at tiny remote airstrips, or load up to the max and fly in and out of larger airports. Range is around 6,000 nm if you cut back on the payload. I like it!

Delete Double Post (must be too hot)

I haven't been following too closely, but the games are great to watch when one gets a chance. It seems the 1950 final between Uruguay and Brazil in Rio had the highest attendance in the stadium at 173,850 spectators. I'll just say I'm rooting for Mexico in this one, since I think they haven't won one yet, but any which way, may the best team win!

I've been trying to get friends and family to talk only about temperature and dew point, and just ignore the relative humidity value altogether, as it gets too confusing at such vastly different temperatures. But they're all like "What's that you nerd?" Like if Singapore and London are perhaps at the exact same temperature today, then sure, comparing relative humidity in the two cities would give you a good indication of how they feel, but otherwise I always prefer to just look at the dewpoint to see how sweaty it is out there. Anyway, I was shocked and saddened to hear about all the drownings these past few days. I remember one time when I panicked a bit swimming in Florida. I got caught in a really strong rip current. I knew all about them and exactly what to do, it's just I'd never directly experienced one quite like that before. I can comfortably float about on my back and tread water for hours. I might have just taken it as a free ride to the Bahamas. But I did momentarily feel a sense of panic and flailed about a bit. But then calmly swam parallel to the shore and was very soon out of it and easily able to swim back to the beach. I guess it's a bit like a strong narrow jetstream in the air.

I'm definitely looking forward to the 787. Interesting how Qantas apparently deliberated for quite a while between using the 787 and A350 for the SYD-LHR and SYD-JFK nonstops. I still like to fly those ultra long hauls, but definitely cheating. I avoid all the sid's, stars, airspace closures, and only use Great Circle Mapper and Earth Nullschool Wind Atlas to plot a few waypoints along the way and off I go. Not getting into the background but on the surface it must be incredibly annoying for the airlines to deal with so many airspace restrictions, enroute diversions and such. The SYD-LHR nonstop is supposed to be commencing soon, but seems like a very tough one to plan. SYD-JFK would seem a bit more flexible regarding routing.

Thanks for that tip, ads are gone now. I had noticed the ads increasing recently, but wasn't till today there were numerous ones covering pretty much the entire screen, making it nearly impossible to read anything. Was using Chrome on an Android phone. One weird thing is my phone provider recently upgraded me from 500 MB to 1 GB per month. I'm on the cheapest plan. I think it's not so much greater though, just there are so many pop up video ads nowadays that quickly suck up all one's data.