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Anyone into flight simulation?
- Thread starter r.j.s
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Why sit behind a computer screen and pretend to fly when you can fly a real plane
Due to medical issues, I likely will never be able to fly.
So I go with the next best thing.
I am!
MSFS 2004 (FS9). I won't make the jump to FSX because I have a lot of time invested in sceneries and different aircraft that I use. X-Plane is coming up strong for me as well, as used properly, it is certified for real world training, with the flight hours logged.
Addons: Project Opensky, FSFreePro, FSDreamteam sceneries, VistaOz, Project Airbus, Dreamwings E170, Feelthere's E170 series, and just about anything I can find at AVSIM.
I also am a controller on VATSIM and PilotEdge.
Used to; not anymore, since most of them feel away with their equivalent RW airline folding.
Ejets, by far. The 170 and 190 series are the nicest planes I've used. Favourite airport: tough one to call. I'd say FSDreamTeam's KLAS and KLAX scenery (soon to also be CYVR), and ORBX's YSSY.
BL.
I dick around in Microsoft Flight Sim X, nothing serious as I just managed to get the thing to fly through trial and error, never bothered with the tutorial.
Current favourite aircraft on it is the 747 as it has a compass on the dashboard I can use to vaguely fly in the right direction
Current favourite aircraft on it is the 747 as it has a compass on the dashboard I can use to vaguely fly in the right direction
My stepdad got me hooked on MS Flight Simulator at a young age, I've played nearly all of them at one point or another.
My favorite is the 2004 edition, because of all the historical planes. I love flying the Piper Cub, so simple and so much fun. No real favorite airports, I like to fly local areas and sometimes just pick one out of the blue. (Seattle is a common one though.)
My favorite is the 2004 edition, because of all the historical planes. I love flying the Piper Cub, so simple and so much fun.
No real favorite airports, I like to fly local areas and sometimes just pick one out of the blue. (Seattle is a common one though.)
ZLA. All of SoCal! We just had a huge event along with our semi-annual dinner where everyone in the sector gets together last week. I controlled everything including and north of KLAS.
BL.
Awesome, that means we've talked. I fly under the MET (MetroAir) callsign - in/out of LAS and ONT.
My stepdad got me hooked on MS Flight Simulator at a young age, I've played nearly all of them at one point or another.
My favorite is the 2004 edition, because of all the historical planes. I love flying the Piper Cub, so simple and so much fun.
Same here, my dad got me hooked at a young age. I've been flying sim since FS5!
Yes, I am.
I had a thread in the photo gallery forum here ages ago.
I'm using the following:
Flight Simulator X Acceleration
Active Sky Evolution
Flight Sim Labs Concorde X
PMDG B737NG X
PMDG B747-400X
PMDG MD-11
Concorde is probably the best addon of them all due to its realism. You have to operate it right, or it will punish you.
I'll probably move my addons over to Lockheed-Martin Prepar3D soon when FSX becomes too old. It looks like most of them will be compatible.
I'm currently flying from Toulouse to Dubai right at the moment with Concorde, going down the Med and then using parts of the old Concorde route to Bahrain (Turaif, Hafr-al-batin, etc). This is part of a world-tour:
Denpasar-Sydney-Noumea-Honolulu-Anchorage-Thule AFB-Toulouse-Dubai
I don't know from Dubai which way I'll go to reach Denpasar again.
I'm currently at N34º14.0" E030º43.0" according to the INS, moving at a ground speed of 1119kts and at 56,920ft.
I had a thread in the photo gallery forum here ages ago.
I'm using the following:
Flight Simulator X Acceleration
Active Sky Evolution
Flight Sim Labs Concorde X
PMDG B737NG X
PMDG B747-400X
PMDG MD-11
Concorde is probably the best addon of them all due to its realism. You have to operate it right, or it will punish you.
I'll probably move my addons over to Lockheed-Martin Prepar3D soon when FSX becomes too old. It looks like most of them will be compatible.
I'm currently flying from Toulouse to Dubai right at the moment with Concorde, going down the Med and then using parts of the old Concorde route to Bahrain (Turaif, Hafr-al-batin, etc).
This is part of a world-tour:Denpasar-Sydney-Noumea-Honolulu-Anchorage-Thule AFB-Toulouse-Dubai
I don't know from Dubai which way I'll go to reach Denpasar again.
I'm currently at N34º14.0" E030º43.0" according to the INS, moving at a ground speed of 1119kts and at 56,920ft.
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I currently fly FSX. I started with MSFS 4.0 and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat on the Mac. I've still got all of my old classic Mac sims, too.
I've tried X-Plane a few times, but I've always found the flight models a bit too "bouncy" on the lateral axis. Maybe I need a yoke instead of a joystick, or maybe the default planes just suck. The cockpits have been awful as well. However, the graphics look better with each release. I also like being able to do exotic stuff like fly the X-15 to the edge of space after a B-52 airdrop...or fly rocket planes on Mars. I'm going to try the v10 demo after this post.
Until I can find a place that rents DC-10s, Boeing 377s, MD-83s, etc., I'll stick with FSX. Best I can do is a Spam-in-a-can-hawk @ $107/hr. Recently I did get to play with a Level-D 737-800 for about 0.2. If I had a spare $20M, I'd buy one of those and gladly throw FSX into the trash.
I've tried X-Plane a few times, but I've always found the flight models a bit too "bouncy" on the lateral axis. Maybe I need a yoke instead of a joystick, or maybe the default planes just suck. The cockpits have been awful as well. However, the graphics look better with each release. I also like being able to do exotic stuff like fly the X-15 to the edge of space after a B-52 airdrop...or fly rocket planes on Mars. I'm going to try the v10 demo after this post.
Why sit behind a computer screen and pretend to fly when you can fly a real plane
Until I can find a place that rents DC-10s, Boeing 377s, MD-83s, etc., I'll stick with FSX.
Best I can do is a Spam-in-a-can-hawk @ $107/hr. Recently I did get to play with a Level-D 737-800 for about 0.2. If I had a spare $20M, I'd buy one of those and gladly throw FSX into the trash. 
At the moment.
Just had the number 3 inertial-navigation-system unit warning light come on, the accuracy of it had somehow become very poor. Dual-DME updating of the 3 units seems to have cleared the error. I'll continue to monitor it. Only the number 3 unit was affected, the other two were fine...
I'm getting near Turaif - so there are plenty of diversion options nearby if I need to use them. But so far, it seems okay again.
Edit: And arrived in Dubai after 3h:05min. Not too bad at all, apart from the low-visibility on landing. Auto-land helps with that.
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I've not messed with flight sims for years. However when I did, mostly I enjoyed Warbirds (online) and in X-Plane, I liked the Shuttle approach that started at 500k.
I just realized I never said what I use. I fly FSX, with Active Sky 2012, Shade and VATSIM for a VA.
My favorite is the A321 (for now), and I fly to or from KBWI mostly.
Touchdown at KBWI in the MetroAir A320, coming from KMCI.
My favorite is the A321 (for now), and I fly to or from KBWI mostly.
Touchdown at KBWI in the MetroAir A320, coming from KMCI.
You should join a virtual airline. Doh!* I considered it once.
*Just realized what you were talking about.
*Just realized what you were talking about.
I really enjoy Microsoft's new game, Microsoft Flight. It is a free download (available on Steam) and I think it's better than their previous games because it focuses more on achieving goals and less on pure simulation.
I like that it is more of a game and there are more things to do, plus the world seems to be much more detailed (probably because it is a much more constrained area). Plus a big bonus is that it has LIVE achievements.
I play it with an Xbox 360 controller and I have had a lot of fun so far. I paid the extra money to download the Hawaii Adventure Pack and it is good too.
The next DLC pack is going to be the Alaska pack.
I like that it is more of a game and there are more things to do, plus the world seems to be much more detailed (probably because it is a much more constrained area). Plus a big bonus is that it has LIVE achievements.
I play it with an Xbox 360 controller and I have had a lot of fun so far. I paid the extra money to download the Hawaii Adventure Pack and it is good too.
The next DLC pack is going to be the Alaska pack.
You should join a virtual airline. Doh!* I considered it once.
*Just realized what you were talking about.
I did it because it gives a point to flying some of the longer flights. That and the FSPassengers add-on, which in addition to
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I looked at that, but I like the more realistic flying of FSX - and none of the add-ons work with Flight.
Since I'm a pilot and do this kind of flying daily, my interest has always laid where I can't really fly, combat. Hence my interest in Combat flight sims, although I acknowledge that real no-**** combat against an equally matched foe, would not be that fun, considering the loser most likely dies.
Even when I participated with Warbirds, I did not consider myself all that hot a pilot but I had a blast for years. When my son was in high school we used to fly on each others wing in the Warbirds Pacific arena.Since I'm a pilot and do this kind of flying daily, my interest has always laid where I can't really fly, combat. Hence my interest in Combat flight sims, although I acknowledge that real no-**** combat against an equally matched foe, would not be that fun, considering the loser most likely dies.
I understand that. I'm in the same position, I want to be a pilot, but I can't, so I sim what I want to do.
Since I'm a pilot and do this kind of flying daily, my interest has always laid where I can't really fly, combat. Hence my interest in Combat flight sims, although I acknowledge that real no-**** combat against an equally matched foe, would not be that fun, considering the loser most likely dies.
What kind of plane do you fly? A big commercial one like a 747/767? How common is it for Pilots to forget to switch the radio on? I work on an Air Force station and it seems every 2 days or so a Passenger Jet from Europe (Nearly always EasyJet) enters UK Airspace with no comms. It's not till they see 2 of these flying along side them that they realize something may be wrong
What kind of plane do you fly? A big commercial one like a 747/767? How common is it for Pilots to forget to switch the radio on? I work on an Air Force station and it seems every 2 days or so a Passenger Jet from Europe (Nearly always EasyJet) enters UK Airspace with no comms. It's not till they see 2 of these flying along side them that they realize something may be wrong
I'm an Airbus A319/320 Captain. I fly domestic/Canada/Mexico/Caribbean. Before that I flew DC-9, Boeing 747, and Boeing 727. The Airbus has ruined me for Boeing... no, it's not rational. It's just that this specific airplane is extremely well designed, with one of the most spacious narrow body flight decks, taller than the squaty 737s
AND... a joy stick!! Lol. Instead of switching the radio on, I think you mean forget to switch to the new frequency or a frequency change is dropped, ie, the controller loses contact or forgets to switch the aircraft over to the next controller, or the pilots are so involved in some conversation, they don't hear the frequency change. BTW, that is not the norm, but it has been known to happen.
