GWJ FBO: Flight Simulation Catch-all

I'm not sure if its legal or not, but with no view of the ground and nothing but water in the case of an engine failure.. yikes. I've seen some videos of a Diamond DA62 crossing the atlantic by going north to Iceland/Greenland and then down through northeast Canada and you have to wear survival suits while flying since you have no choice but to ditch it into the drink. At least there's 2 engines on that aircraft though!

Carlbear95 wrote:

I'm not sure if its legal or not, but with no view of the ground and nothing but water in the case of an engine failure.. yikes. I've seen some videos of a Diamond DA62 crossing the atlantic by going north to Iceland/Greenland and then down through northeast Canada and you have to wear survival suits while flying since you have no choice but to ditch it into the drink. At least there's 2 engines on that aircraft though!

Looking at LNM, that leg is 164 nm over open water between LFVP and CYQY. The shorter crossing (between SW Newfoundland and Cape Breton) is only 69 nm. I'll be sure to pack a virtual dinghy in the baggage area, or maybe I'll take the Icon A5.

I was going to comment that a hop like that makes me appreciate Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in a single-engine aircraft. Then when I looked up his flight path, it seems that he made almost that same hop, but in the opposite direction!

IMAGE(https://airandspace.si.edu/webimages/highres/6325h.jpg)

Aside: I just noticed that that airport on Newfoundland has a code starting L instead of C. That led me to learn that France still has a (tiny) bit of territory in North America. I did not know this. Now I definitely have to land there.

Hrdina wrote:

Aside: I just noticed that that airport on Newfoundland has a code starting L instead of C. That led me to learn that France still has a (tiny) bit of territory in North America. I did not know this. Now I definitely have to land there.

Hah, yeah I saw that when I was looking at FSEconomy flights.. It was from an LF** airport to a K*** airport.. and I was like.. how is that a 600 mile flight?

Hrdina wrote:

Aside: I just noticed that that airport on Newfoundland has a code starting L instead of C. That led me to learn that France still has a (tiny) bit of territory in North America. I did not know this. Now I definitely have to land there.

I learned something new. Super cool. Now I need to fly there.

DonD wrote:
Hrdina wrote:

Aside: I just noticed that that airport on Newfoundland has a code starting L instead of C. That led me to learn that France still has a (tiny) bit of territory in North America. I did not know this. Now I definitely have to land there.

I learned something new. Super cool. Now I need to fly there.

Earlier today I wondered to myself whether Asobo updated this airport as part of France in World Update 4!

Lot of news regarding Fenix Labs A320 on MSFS. I'm pretty excited about it, as it seems like its going for max-realism and systems (I'm going to stop using "study-level" as it really is a stupid term the more I think about it). No indication on dates or pricing, but comparable airbus products on P3D and Xplane are in the $70-$90 USD range. Should be interesting as it will be going up against the free FBW A320 so we'll see how the MSFS crowd goes for this.

Nothing new to add, just moving this thread to the front page for anyone who is going to give it a shot on Console this week.

Would be very interested to see people's impressions of the console version and to re-assure everyone that we welcome our console family with open arms! You have armchair pilots, real pilots, and armchair pilots who are training to become real pilots here for you!

Personally, I'm super eager to see how much of a performance boost I get with the upcoming update to the sim. Sounds like it could be pretty substantial. I'm less concerned for regular monitor performance and more intrigued about what kind of uplift it could get for me in VR!

I’m also eager to see what the performance update brings for me. I’m currently running a 1070ti, mostly medium settings with a few ultra. I haven’t checked my FPS, but it all feels smooth except for a hiccup I routinely get just around touchdown. If that goes away, I will be happy. Anything more is just gravy.

Yeah, I forgot about the performance updates this week. That should be good. I'm getting decent frames with a 1080ti on 1440p and mostly "High" settings using TrackIR (nothing Ultra I don't think). If I can squeeze a bit more visual fidelity out of it that would be great.

Also a working Direct To and Approach Activation in the G1000 would be nice

Obsidian Ant posted a short video about Sim Update 5 (and the XboX release as well).

I was amused because at about 6:40 he zooms in on LFVP (St. Pierre), that French airport off the coast of Newfoundland we discussed recently.

My current tour stop was at CYYT (St John's) so I am only 1 long hop or two long hops away from LFVP. It will be one of the first places I visit after the update.

Looks like the patch is live.. but surprise.. MS servers seem to be having issues with the console release launching, so can't really get it downloading. I did notice one interesting thing in the patch notes:

Added the new “Lock” interaction system:

Set active by default but can be reverted to “Legacy” in Options / General Options / Accessibility.
Tooltips are now displaying the instrument name, instrument values, and controls (dynamic depending of the device in use)
Using the cursor or the camera center pointer, you can highlight any interactive cockpit instrument.
Once highlighted, you can interact with the instrument:
If the instrument is simple (buttons, 2 positions switches), tapping Xbox Controller A or Mouse left button will interact with it.
If the instrument is complex (knobs, levers…), tapping Xbox Controller A or holding Mouse left button will lock on it.
Once locked on an instrument, you can:
Use primary (Xbox Controller A/ Mouse left button), secondary (Xbox Controller X/ Mouse right button) or tertiary (Xbox Controller Y/ Mouse middle button) interactions.
Increase/ decrease the instrument (Xbox Controller LT/ RT or Mouse wheel)
Use gestures (Xbox Controller left stick or Mouse movements)
Unlock the instrument (Xbox Controller B or release Mouse left button)

Obviously this is designed for the "right stick look" console controls, but if I'm using TrackIR I wonder if this carries over so if I'm looking at something I can interact with it in this way. If I can configure the buttons on my yoke, this can be an interesting new way to interact with more complex controls. For a simple aircraft I have enough buttons and switches on my setup, but for something like an airbus or boeing, being able to look and push a button on my yoke instead of reaching for a mouse is pretty cool.

Got the patch.. wont' have a chance to fly it until later, but be sure to go to your content manager and update/delete anything that needs it. I had to update the "Deluxe Upgrade" package within the content manager since I bought that package originally. The various "World Updates" also need to be updated even though they don't appear in "Update Available" and may actually appear under "Not Installed".

This update also added about 15gb of "training" and a few GB of landing challenges. If you don't want those, make sure you remove it from your content manager.

EDIT: heh if you have an edited mouse profile (I disabled the mousewheel zoom), it doesn't work with the new default "Lock" view. There are now new commands for selecting that are only updated in the default profile.

I just got home from work, so I can kick off the patch to download while I have dinner (as long as it doesn't interfere with TV streaming!).

Carlbear95 wrote:

EDIT: heh if you have an edited mouse profile (I disabled the mousewheel zoom), it doesn't work with the new default "Lock" view. There are now new commands for selecting that are only updated in the default profile.

I saw you mention this new zoom thing this morning. I always love it when console stuff goes back into PC. I guess they had to make this the default behavior to be consistent with XB?

I'll give it a try before almost certain switching back to Legacy. Like you I am using Track IR. My usual MO for switches that I don't have mapped to HOTAS buttons is to zoom in, pause head-tracking, and use the mouse wheel to manipulate controls. Hopefully they didn't break that.

My little tour of Newfoundland has turned into a bit of a history lesson. Last night I landed at an airport called "Bay Roberts Airport (CYBY)" in Little NavMap. On landing I noticed that there were no runway markings, which in my experience means that an obsolete airport got into the sim. That happened to me back in April with KUCA (Oneida County, NY) which was apparently replaced by KRME (Griffiss International) when Griffiss AFB was closed.

Anyway, I tried to look online for Bay Roberts Airport (CYBY) and was unsuccessful. Bing Maps shows the area as it looks in the sim but does not call it an airport. Google maps, however, refers to the place as Bristol Field Airport despite having imagery showing the airport being torn down.

It turns out that Bristol Field Aiport is the former Naval Station Argentia, a US Navy base founded in January 1941 and operated until 1994. The interesting part is that the anchorage associated with the naval station is where Churchill and Roosevelt met for the Atlantic Conference in August 1941, resulting in the Atlantic Charter.

Ironically, I just finished reading Volume 2 of Churchill's The Second World War, which covered 1940. When I start into Volume 3 (The Grand Alliance) I'll be getting to the Atlantic Charter pretty quickly.

IMAGE(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/President_Roosevelt_and_Winston_Churchill_seated_on_the_quarterdeck_of_HMS_PRINCE_OF_WALES_for_a_Sunday_service_during_the_Atlantic_Conference%2C_10_August_1941._A4816.jpg/1280px-thumbnail.jpg)

I didn't spend too much time fiddling with it but I couldn't get the "Lock" function to behave the way I wanted to. I think in TrackIR mode, the cursor is forced on, and even assigning something to toggle it doens't work the way I want it to. After about 5 minutes I just switched it back to Legacy.

I did delete my "no mousewheel zoom" mouse profile and copied the default and re-deleted the zoom commands to restore mouse functionality.

Performance wise, I did increase a few things, and flew it low through the Bay Area... I'm usually doing FSEconomy flights over the middle of nowhere so I forgot that heavy city scenery does take its toll, but overall I'd say it maintained 30+ fps and only when I panned very quickly with the TrackIR did I notice some very minor stutters. I think if I had more smooth panning I wouldn't have even noticed those, so I think the performance increase are definitely there for me. More tweaking needed but so far so good.

Unfortunately the default C172 still doesn't fly great compared to Xplane. I needed LEFT rudder on the roll, and once in the air, P-factor was a non-factor. Trim is still way too sensitive, and now there is an audible "click" when using the trim wheel that I didn't notice before which makes it seem like there are "detents" that have set angles in the trim instead of it just being a free moving surface. When you hear the click, the aircraft kind of climbs or dives a bit when it happens.

Console guy here. Checked it out last night for a bit. As a flight sim newbie, I was curious as to what to expect. Loaded up Boeing Field with the idea of flying to the Methow Valley. Which I think was going to be about an hour flight? IDK.

I'm curious (again, as a newbie). Is the idea to fly the entire flight in real-time or do you at some point kick-in an autopilot, time accelerator? Or maybe flight sims aren't for me.

As always the answer is "it depends" :).

Autopilot usually yes. Whether that's the actual autopilot in the aircraft or using MSFS assists (I think they introduced some new ones for console that can basically take you directly to where you want to go without any GPS programming), take some pressure off the actual flying to enjoy the scenery. I do think there is fun in hand-flying the smaller aircraft, and if you have any interest in learning how to fly, you certainly want to do as much hand-flying as possible. In a jet or airliner, 100% you are using autopilot at some point.

In MSFS specifically, the scenery is just so pretty that if you're flying a small aircraft around I would generally not use time acceleration. Fly around... do things you can't do in real life in a small plane and see things you want to see. I am not familiar with Washington state, but looking on a map, the Methow valley looks to be about 150-200 miles from Seattle? If you're in one of the smaller aircraft, that's definitely more than a 1 hour flight one way. Pretty much every airport in the world is in modern flight sims, so load up at Pangborn, or Waterville airport and just go from there if you want to save some time.

If you're taking out the airbus or one of the jets, some people do you use acceleration. To be honest, once you're into cruise at 30,000+ feet, there ain't much to do in an aircraft. I personally do not. If I only want to fly for an hour I'll pick departures and arrivals that are an hour apart.

The one thing about flight sim though is that you do have to write your own script. People say the same things about open sandbox games like Elite Dangerous, but in its "standard" form, Flight Sim is just pick a start and a destination and go. I personally enjoy the planning part of it all, and on PC, there are a lot of extra bells and whistles that help add to the immersion. It also led me from being a pure armchair pilot to well on my way to getting a Private Pilots License at almost 50 years old.

Carlbear95 wrote:

It also led me from being a pure armchair pilot to well on my way to getting a Private Pilots License at almost 50 years old.

You are an inspiration to me sir.

When I started flying virtually last year with MSFS2020, I did the usual scenic flying around where I live, but shortly afterward, I felt like I wanted to fly 'properly'. I worked my way through virtual ground school (there are web sites online that have all of the information you need), and stuck with just the C172.

I started with pattern work, then learned the basics of navigation using VORs, and started using FSEconomy to give some purpose to my flying.

After a while, I became frustrated with MSFS ATC and I felt confident enough in my flying skills to go online. There are tons of videos and reddit posts about getting started on Vatsim, so I did my homework and prepared as best I could. It went totally fine. ATC controllers are not as scary as they are made out to be, as long as you are making an effort.

Once I started flying on Vatsim, I heard about something called Wings where you could learn to fly VFR and IFR procedures, so I joined BVARTCC and went through the program. I found the program to be exceptional. Each flight has a brief that gives you information about the procedure (for example, entry into class B airspace), then a route to fly that uses that procedure. Vatsim ATC controllers will monitor your flight and let you know if you pass. If you don't pass, no problem. They will tell you what you did wrong and you can try again. I found a lot of enjoyment in mastering the techniques and procedures.

When I finished the program, I felt a bit of disappointment because I was missing structure to guide where I should fly next. I chose to go the route of virtual airlines. I tried a few different ones, but the one I fly with now is Virtual United Airlines. Currently, I'm doing their MLB tour, so I'm flying the Phillies around for 30 or so flights. I honestly don't care much for baseball, but I like having the structure of a trip schedule. First flight was KPHL to KLGA (playing the Mets). Next is KLGA to KIAD (playing the Nationals). And so on.

One other thing that I did that you might consider: Each time I arrived at a new airport, I added a pin to a custom google map. For me, it's only arrivals that count, to keep it simple. Now, if I just want to do a sightseeing flight, I can pull up the map and look for places that I haven't explored much.

tldr: It is what you make of it. There is no right and wrong way to use the sim.

Edit: Forgot to answer your question. Since I fly on Vatsim, it's always real time. Autopilot on aircraft that have it, but I honestly enjoy being more involved and prefer aircraft that are more hands-on. C152 (base game), DC-6(payware), CRJ7(payware) are among my most-flown. Beechcraft Baron (premium, I think) is up there as well. I used that throughout the winter and did most of the Wings flights with it, mainly because it has anti-icing capability.

Thats awesome DonD... I had no clue you "started" with MSFS 2020. They way you spoke about VATSIM and FSEconomy I thought you were a grizzled aviation veteran

I also didn't know you flew for a VA. Its always one of those things that I want to try. Is that mainly with the Airbus? I did a quick glance on flightaware and even though I'm pretty sure UAL had CRJ7 in their fleet, every active flight right now is in a B7XX or A3XX. I've always been hesitant to go with a VA because I always think its these angry old men that if you don't fly it exactly the way its done in the real world you will be "penalized".

So the reason I’m with this virtual airline is that you can fly any aircraft you are rated for. Ratings are strictly by hours, and you can ‘transfer’ Vatsim hours to get a jumpstart. I joined with more than 125 hours so I can fly anything. As long as the route is in their system and you can get a United (or partner) livery for it, you can fly it. This means I can also fly the DC-6 on modern routes.

Edit: I’ve flown some version of MSFS since around 2000, but really just dabbled, got bored, and moved on. This is the first time I’ve taken flying seriously.

Regarding Virtual Airlines:
I’ve flown for FlyDeltaVirtual, vBlue, United Virtual and currently flying for Virtual United and FlyVirtual.

Most VAs use an ACARS system (just a program you run when flying) that tracks your aircraft and records what aircraft you are flying, what livery you are using, your GPS location, and key events. These are things like engine start, taxi, takeoff, cruise speed, touchdown feet per second, engine shutdown, and fuel burn. When you finish your flight, you click to file your PIREP with this info. Then either the VA has someone who reviews it, or it is approved automatically according to criteria that the VA sets. Most require you to maintain <250 kts below 10000ft, but give some wiggle room (maybe up to 160 or 165 as long as it’s brief). Each has a different landing rate requirement, usually around -500fpm as a cutoff.

You can also add comments if you need to. I had 1 flight where I exceeded the landing rate but explained that I was on Vatsim and the airport only had 1 runway available and I had something like a 15 kt crosswind. It got approved. Another flight I was maintaining 160kts below 10000, but it was at the direction of Boston Center. Approved.

When I flew with Delta, they required you to fly their livery, but they did not have liveries for MSFS2020, and when submitted my PIREP, my hub manager gave me grief about the livery I chose (it was a Delta livery from flightsim.to). I didn’t want to deal with that kind of BS, so I moved on.

vBlue was recommended by some guys I know online, and I like their website and their rules are pretty relaxed, but you can only fly a route in an aircraft that JetBlue flies. Which meant just the A320 for me. I really wanted to fly the CRJ, so I moved on.

United Virtual had everything I was looking for except 1 thing. It doesn’t have any group events. It has tons of routes and tons of aircraft, but you begin as a temporary member and you can only fly regional jets or ‘beginner’ routes on the A320 until you submit a check ride for review. This has to be uploaded to YouTube and the link submitted. They then review your check ride and give you detailed feedback and you become a permanent member. To be able to fly other aircraft, you need to pass a check ride again. It’s actually quite a unique approach, and I think it’s kind of cool, but ultimately it felt lonely and I really wanted more of a sense of a community.

So now I’m here at Virtual United. I happened to find out about them by chance. I was flying the DC-6 into KIAH one morning (Vatsim) and I saw on Vatspy that there was a massive stream of United aircraft flying from KORD to KIAH. Around 40 aircraft, arriving by 2 different routes. It wasn’t from my VA (United Virtual at the time) because I could see my VAs active flights on the website. I checked the flight plans of a couple of the planes and found one that had Virtual United in the remarks.

So now I’m with VUAL. I’m mainly flying the CRJ. Almost every PIREP has been auto approved, except the one where I completed my tour. That gets reviewed by a person to check that you did all of the legs.

Special mention goes to FlyVirtual. This is not a traditional VA. There are no qualifications. You can fly any aircraft on any route. I use this if I want to fly something other than an airliner. Like the Baron or the CJ4. Or if I want to fly somewhere that my VA doesn’t go. You can pick the 2 cities for your trip and it will find routes from any airline for you. If it can’t, you can just create the route and fly it.

Why bother? For one, I like having a purpose behind my flying. I also like the added immersion the ACARS adds. You can hear the cabin crew making announcements to the passengers, and get a custom sound pack for whatever airline you are using.

Final note: I fly exclusively on Vatsim now, but almost all VAs allow you to fly offline as long as you have their ACARS running while you do so,

That's awesome. "Finding purpose" really is a challenge in flightsim. Hrdina has his awesome tour of the Northeast and Canada, you enjoy flying on Vatsim and VAs. I'm mostly FSEconomy and busy VATSIM events... I want to always be on my toes talking to ATC ("next station closed, monitor unicom" is my least favorite thing to hear), and also flying VATSIM in foreign countries.

I'm not sure if there are any plans to bring these sort of "wrappers" into the console version. FSEconomy would make a lot of sense, but that system is so archaic I can't imagine anyone there is going to build a console interface.

DonD wrote:

Currently, I'm doing their MLB tour, so I'm flying the Phillies around for 30 or so flights. I honestly don't care much for baseball, but I like having the structure of a trip schedule. First flight was KPHL to KLGA (playing the Mets). Next is KLGA to KIAD (playing the Nationals). And so on.

Man, as a Phils fan I would be careful with that. If their play on the field impacts your flying, you're going to have a lot of perfect flights that end up with you landing inverted.

I didn't get a chance to fly last night, but found an hour tonight to try out the new update.

Good news first: frame rate increases are real. I wasn't flying over anywhere complicated (still in Newfoundland), but I most of my settings set to Ultra, and places where I was previously getting 30-40 frames are now seeing 60+. The next big city for me will likely be Boston in a few weeks (unless you consider Halifax or Moncton to be "big"), so I am curious to see how that works out.

In totally unexpected news, the Sim Update V changes to support XB controllers have borked up interactions between JF Arrows and existing controllers (there are a couple of Update V topics on the JF forum). In my case I've seen:
* Pressing my HOTAS button to toggle parking brake will only *set* the brake (can click on it, though)
* The landing gear did something similar
* A couple of cosmetic switches (cabin temp and window latch) are not working at all; how can I yell "clear prop" without the window open?

In addition, the "history" entries on the "Fly Now" page were apparently reset to show only the first three flights I did after buying the sim (really!). I did manage to complete one flight tonight, and the history entries were not updated after that.

I'm going to have to go through all the other sim settings to double-check them. I liked the new "Lock" feature even less than I expected to. They apparently enabled a bunch of labels and tool tips that I had previously disabled.

Hrdina wrote:
DonD wrote:

Currently, I'm doing their MLB tour, so I'm flying the Phillies around for 30 or so flights. I honestly don't care much for baseball, but I like having the structure of a trip schedule. First flight was KPHL to KLGA (playing the Mets). Next is KLGA to KIAD (playing the Nationals). And so on.

Man, as a Phils fan I would be careful with that. If their play on the field impacts your flying, you're going to have a lot of perfect flights that end up with you landing inverted.

Not a Phillies fan at all. It was actually more about KPHL for me.

New G1000 NXi is out.. still beta/alpha but...

Full support of direct-to with proper matching behavior and waypoint sequencing

nearly a year late, but thank the maker!

DonD wrote:

Not a Phillies fan at all. It was actually more about KPHL for me.

I meant that I'm a Phils fan, and this year they've blown more than a few games this year right at the end.

I'm originally from South Jersey, so I like to fly into PHL now and again.

Carlbear95 wrote:

New G1000 NXi is out.. still beta/alpha but...

Full support of direct-to with proper matching behavior and waypoint sequencing

nearly a year late, but thank the maker!

I saw that last night in the marketplace; I hope it finally scratches that itch for you!

Hrdina wrote:
Carlbear95 wrote:

New G1000 NXi is out.. still beta/alpha but...

Full support of direct-to with proper matching behavior and waypoint sequencing

nearly a year late, but thank the maker!

I saw that last night in the marketplace; I hope it finally scratches that itch for you! ;)

Between that and a proper approach selection it will. I'll finally be able to comfortably get into an aircraft with real weather in MSFS on and not panic if its low ceilings. First thing I do before I choose to do an FSEconomy flight in MSFS is check the METAR (and then I load into both airports to double check, because it only follows the real weather maybe 50% of the time )

My first flight with SU5 was to that little French offshore island, St. Pierre (LFVP). Tonight I only had a little time, so I took a short hop to the other airport in that territory, Aéroport de Miquelon (LFVM).

I'm not sure if it's just the way this area looks, or the weather I flew with today, or an effect of the latest Sim Update, but the ground and especially the buildings have this weird look to them. I'm not sure if it's real or if I'm just tainted by reading the official FS forums and therefore expecting the visual quality to have degraded.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/YDJvuHf.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ryvT7yq.jpg)