geordiehustler Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi. I am experienced in IFR flight rules now but want to turn my attention to VFR flying with a Cessna. I can fly the Cessna and understand the rules of VFR after reading up on them. I was hoping someone with plenty of experience in VFR flying can advise me on where to start. Maybe a decent tutorial would be good. I am talking in depth. i.e. planning the flight, checking the weather pre flight to see if VFR flight is allowed (I use Active Sky Next), what areas can I fly in or do I have to follow the pre planned VFR route? What maps can I use to determine minimum flight level ( I understand I have to be a minimum of 1000ft above the tallest object)?. I use VOX ATC which does give me options of the replies I can give to ATC but how do I understand what transponder codes I swap to etc. Any guidance of info on tutorials would be helpful. Thanks GH Corsair Obsidian 550D Asus Z97 Pro Gamer, SLI, CrossfireX Intel Core I7 4790K Quad Core with HT pro OC'd to 4.6GHz 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz 2 x 4GB EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 250GB Samsung EVO SSD and 2TB HDD3XS Corsair Hydro H100 cooler with dual SP120 750W Corsair RM PSUMicrosoft Windows 7 64 bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi GH, After instrument flying - VFR should be a breeze... Object clearance - It's 1000 feet clearance only over populated areas - 500 feet from any structure, vehicle, or person in sparsely populated areas - but - while obeying the previous - the rule is only an altitude from where a "safe landing" can be made from - I think it's purposely vague... The determining factors when choosing an altitude are ground elevations, clouds, winds, and aircraft performance... To determine your altitude - you need to look at your route on a sectional and note the altitudes along the way... In real life I use Garmin Pilot which has a profile view with all elevations and it's a nice double check of your route... When eastbound you should be flying odd altitudes plus 500 - 3500 5500 7500... When flying westbound you should be flying even altitudes plus 500 - 4500 6500 8500... The directional altitudes only start above 3000 feet AGL as anything below that is a free for all... Remember VMC - defined as (3) 152's - meaning you need 3 mile visibility - and - you have to maintain 1000 feet above - 500 feet below - 2000 feet horizontal cloud clearance... So you have to deviate for clouds... Also keep in mind that any interaction with ATC outside the airports controlled airspace is strictly advisory in nature... If you're talking to ATC on flight following - you are informing them what you are doing - not asking for permission... Usually if just puttering around in the local area or really low - I don't use Flight Following - but - I do use it on any real cross country trips - as its nice having a second set of eyes watching out for you... If you are in the US and have an IPad or Android tablet - download "Fltplan GO" as its a great EFB than connects to FS and is totally free... Supplies all your VFR and IFR charts including georeferenced approach plates... For flying when not on Flight Following - you squawk VFR which is 1200 - when requesting Flight Following ATC will tell you what to squawk - same as IFR... Keep in mind that oxygen is required in an unpressurized aircraft above 12,500 feet and if you fly A2A aircraft they do model hypoxia and you will pass out... So that limits your altitude even if the plane can fly higher... I use Radar Contact for all my IFR flights - but - just the default ATC for VFR... I'm not sure if anything really does VFR realistically... Hope this helps... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Super response Scott! There's something there for everyone to learn, or at least be reminded of. Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi Charles, Hah - was a good review for me as well - had to shake the cobwebs out to remember some of the stuff... ;) Thanks ! Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordiehustler Posted March 17, 2016 Author Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi GH, After instrument flying - VFR should be a breezeObject clearance - It's 1000 feet clearance only over populated areas - 500 feet from any structure, vehicle, or person in sparsely populated areas - but - while obeying the previous - the rule is only an altitude from where a "safe landing" can be made from - I think it's purposely vague... The determining factors when choosing an altitude are ground elevations, clouds, winds, and aircraft performance... To determine your altitude - you need to look at your route on a sectional and note the altitudes along the way... In real life I use Garmin Pilot which has a profile view with all elevations and it's a nice double check of your route... When eastbound you should be flying odd altitudes plus 500 - 3500 5500 7500... When flying westbound you should be flying even altitudes plus 500 - 4500 6500 8500... The directional altitudes only start above 3000 feet AGL as anything below that is a free for all... Remember VMC - defined as (3) 152's - meaning you need 3 mile visibility - and - you have to maintain 1000 feet above - 500 feet below - 2000 feet horizontal cloud clearance... So you have to deviate for clouds... Also keep in mind that any interaction with ATC outside the airports controlled airspace is strictly advisory in nature... If you're talking to ATC on flight following - you are informing them what you are doing - not asking for permission... Usually if just puttering around in the local area or really low - I don't use Flight Following - but - I do use it on any real cross country trips - as its nice having a second set of eyes watching out for you... If you are in the US and have an IPad or Android tablet - download "Fltplan GO" as its a great EFB than connects to FS and is totally free... Supplies all your VFR and IFR charts including georeferenced approach plates... For flying when not on Flight Following - you squawk VFR which is 1200 - when requesting Flight Following ATC will tell you what to squawk - same as IFR... Keep in mind that oxygen is required in an unpressurized aircraft above 12,500 feet and if you fly A2A aircraft they do model hypoxia and you will pass out... So that limits your altitude even if the plane can fly higher... I use Radar Contact for all my IFR flights - but - just the default ATC for VFR... I'm not sure if anything really does VFR realistically... Hope this helps... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Hi Scott. First of all I want to acknowledge and thank you for your amazing answer, this is exactly what type of information I am looking for. Before I reply properly though, I will go through the information you have provided and research it and get back with a post 24 hrs from now with my findings. I'm already looking into Garmin Pilot but have to go to work soon. On reference to your 'cloud' answer, earlier I was hoping looking into flying VFR from EGNM (Leeds/Bradford) to EGNT (Newcastle) when the cloud cover was like this. I presume then, as the clouds are at 2000ft, I would be allowed to fly at 1500ft or at 3000ft along this route. If I fly at 3000 feet, obviously I would have to fly through the clouds, so what is the rule here? Would I have to fly around them (2000ft horizontal clearance) to reach my 3000ft altitude?(see image) ... Corsair Obsidian 550D Asus Z97 Pro Gamer, SLI, CrossfireX Intel Core I7 4790K Quad Core with HT pro OC'd to 4.6GHz 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz 2 x 4GB EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 250GB Samsung EVO SSD and 2TB HDD3XS Corsair Hydro H100 cooler with dual SP120 750W Corsair RM PSUMicrosoft Windows 7 64 bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi GH, Garmin Pilot is a real world EFB and it might be a bit pricey for FS use... It does have a facility for connection to X-Plane but none for MSFS... If you want a real world EFB to connect to MSFS - I've used ForeFlight with excellent results before but again it's pricey for FS use... Again - be sure to check covers area if you a planning to purchase something... Please take everything I said with a grain of salt - as I was quoting US regs - while probably similar - there are differences between countries... Yeah - if the cloud deck is at 2000 AGL - 1500 should be fine providing you can stay clear of terrain... In the US it is perfectly legal to fly VFR above a solid cloud deck - as long as you stay in VMC - but I know some other countries prohibit it... It's not something to take lightly though - as you want to be really sure you have a means to get down while staying in VMC... People have been trapped before and if not instrument rated it can be pretty dicey getting back down and then you might have some explaining to do to the FAA... For pilots - full weather planning is essential for successful flights... You want to look at the weather over your entire route... While I've always used AS for weather - the ASN interface is not the best for flight planning as I find it a bit cumbersome - I use real world flight planning tools since I have them anyway... I'm sure there must be some that cover your side of the pond... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScatterbrainKid Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Fascinating stuff..:) BTW I've been reading up on the John Kennedy Jr plane crash of 1999 in which his single-engined Piper Saratoga crashed into the sea at night killing him, his sister and sister-in-law. It was a shortish night flight and according to Wiki- "Kennedy did not hold an instrument rating and was certified to fly only under visual flight rules. However, at the time of the accident the weather and light conditions were such that all basic landmarks were obscured, making visual flight challenging, although legally still permissible." I'm not sure I understand, does that mean pilots who are VFR certified can fly at night if they like? The crash report said he became disoriented over the sea when he lost sight of all ground lights and the horizon and apparently misread (or didn't trust) his instruments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Jr._plane_crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordiehustler Posted March 17, 2016 Author Share Posted March 17, 2016 Fascinating stuff..:) BTW I've been reading up on the John Kennedy Jr plane crash of 1999 in which his single-engined Piper Saratoga crashed into the sea at night killing him, his sister and sister-in-law. It was a shortish night flight and according to Wiki- "Kennedy did not hold an instrument rating and was certified to fly only under visual flight rules. However, at the time of the accident the weather and light conditions were such that all basic landmarks were obscured, making visual flight challenging, although legally still permissible." I'm not sure I understand, does that mean pilots who are VFR certified can fly at night if they like? The crash report said he became disoriented over the sea when he lost sight of all ground lights and the horizon and apparently misread (or didn't trust) his instruments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Jr._plane_crash I watched a documentary on this accident. I've read somewhere, but stand to be corrected. VFR is allowed at night, however pilots need to be licensed for night time VFR. Not sure what this license's correct name is. Corsair Obsidian 550D Asus Z97 Pro Gamer, SLI, CrossfireX Intel Core I7 4790K Quad Core with HT pro OC'd to 4.6GHz 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz 2 x 4GB EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 250GB Samsung EVO SSD and 2TB HDD3XS Corsair Hydro H100 cooler with dual SP120 750W Corsair RM PSUMicrosoft Windows 7 64 bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hi Folks, In the US - VFR night flight is permitted without any additional certification - just a pilots license... You should thoroughly plan and give yourself options as there is obviously more inherent risk than daylight flight - hedge your bet - such as possibly flying over interstates the whole way so there is some option to land in the event of a problem... It can get really dark out there and many of the options you have during the day aren't visible at night... Lot of strange things with the Kennedy crash - his instructor mentioned while under IFR training - he wasn't very good and usually took an instructor along... For this flight - a challenging VFR night flight - over water - with family on board - he leaves the instructor home (the instructor mentioned offering his services for the flight - IIRC) ??? Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
il88pp Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 The flight was supposed to take place earlier in the day but he was delayed by a passenger showing up late. Weather got worse in the mean time, low ground fog. "Hazy" [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnuss Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I'm not sure I understand, does that mean pilots who are VFR certified can fly at night if they like? In the U.S., they certainly can. Many other countries prohibit or restrict night VFR in one way or another, but in the U.S. the same ceiling and visibility limitations apply at night. That doesn't mean it's always a good idea, but it puts the onus on the pilot to carefully evaluate the situation. In Kennedy's situation, he certainly was legal to depart, but it's likely, according to what I've read about it, that the visibility was so poor that there was little visible on which to orient himself, and in the real world (unlike usually in the sim), it's easy for poor visibility to mislead you about your attitude -- you MUST believe your instruments. I can tell you from going through unusual attitude training when working for Private and for Instrument (even more so) that it's easy to get vertigo when you don't have outside views available, and you can soon lose it if you don't trust and properly react to your instruments. And I watched the results on many others while teaching both Private (for required hood time) and Instrument. Did you ever ride a vertigo chair? I did, at an FAA seminar many years back, and it's weird, but teaches you a lot. The vertigo chair is just a chair with armrests that spins very freely. It has a joystick attached to one armrest. The operator puts a visor over your eyes that has blue lights in it, so you're not in the dark, but can't really see anything either. Then he tells you to hold the stick in the direction you think you're turning, has you lean your head down on one shoulder (simulating half of reaching down to pick something up), then gently starts you spinning. Of course you feel this and push the stick in the direction of the spin. But you soon relax the stick as it feels that you are slowing, until you think you're stopped so the stick is back to neutral. Then he says to abruptly bring your head back up and he stops the chair (it wasn't really stopped). For me, this induced a feeling that I was tumbling end over end, even though I was sitting still in that chair on the floor. It's an eye-opening experience, to say the least. Larry N. As Skylab would say: Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COBS Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 A VFR flight at 1,500' under cloud could be regarded as Scud running , it's inviting disaster. The 1,500' is AMSL (above sea level) , the terrain below the flightpath will usually vary considerably , so if the terrain is rising and your cloud is getting lower as the flight progresses you are flying into a ever narrowing trap , you eventually run out of options ,the end result can be CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) , commonly referred to as a fatal crash. Always fly with the odds on your side. Apart from winds and quadrantal flight levels there are other considerations in selecting cruise flight altitudes , one is engine failure , if flying over mountainous terrain and or heavily wooded countryside I tend to opt for higher altitudes to extend the engine out glide range to provide more options for a forced landing. An alternate approach might be to opt for a longer flight that is routed over friendlier terrain , the shortest route isn't always the safest . Night VFR is totally different to day VFR in many aspects. In my opinion it would be suicidal to attempt a night VFR cross country unless the pilot has conducted them previously with an instructor. Altitude selection at night has to meet the LSALT minimums for terrain clearance . At night you will not see clouds , you can easily fly into clouds and then you will be to all intents IFR. Night flight requires an appreciation of various Aviation Medicine aspects that impact pilots , such as vertigo , acceleration and turning effects , the leans , black hole effect , depth perception , instrument fixation under stress , etc , they all can have an insideous effect on a pilot at night and can be difficult to overcome in a dark environment . It is critical that the pilot has complete faith in his instruments and importantly maintains an ongoing instrument scan procedure , avoid at all costs any tendancy to fixate on one or two instrument , keep the scan going. Navigation at night is difficult , you do not have the usual daylight clues , any clues such as roads can be misleading , thorough preflight planning is vital , a knowledge of VOR and NDB use and navigation is imperative . At night plan for fuel reserves and plan an alternate . At night an engine failure in a single engine aircraft leaves you with virtually nil forced landing options. Always be as cagey as a cat about night flight planning and procedures. In the flight simulator conduct a night cross country flight without the GPS , it will quickly bring home the terrain and navigation difficulties involved . Cheers Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomTweak Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 VFR flight can be a tricky animal. If you aren't doing a proper scan, in AND out of the cockpit, you can go from a lovely VFR day to a dark IFR situation very quickly, leaving the inexperienced (in IFR) pilot wondering where the heck he is and which way is up. And away it goes. Vertigo, death spirals, whatever. Usually fatal to the real-world (where is that anyway??) pilot and any of his passengers. Then there is the "arrogant man" trap. "Yeah, it's IFR, and I have little or no training, but I can handle it! ALL my instruments are obviously wrong and failed, so I'll trust my tailbone in the seat to guide me..." Lack of experience? Arrogance? Overconfidence? Call it what you like, it still kills pilots and worse, the innocent passengers with him. There has been a ton of great advice put forth so far. Follow it! Enjoy the flights, don't get me wrong. Nothing beats flying, whether a glider, ultralight, or F-14. It's the greatest feeling in the world when you rotate and feel the seat pushing up on your butt, as the world drops away around you. One nice thing about the simulator world where a lot of us live is that you don't HAVE the "seat of the pants" feeling to mislead you. I know, it's a common complaint of flight sim pilots that they don't have it, but by the same token, it can't mislead you. You have no choice but to trust your instruments, especially in an unexpected, sudden IFR situation. Funny thing is, you can still get vertigo, which only adds to the experience and "realism". For me anyway. As well, if you DO prang, it costs you nothing. Not your life, nor an aircraft. BIG advantage to it. Not a lot of detailed advice, I realize. Sorry, I just wanted to throw my little ingredient into the stone soup. Pat☺ [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again! Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnuss Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 A VFR flight at 1,500' under cloud could be regarded as Scud running , it's inviting disaster. The 1,500' is AMSL (above sea level) , the terrain below the flightpath will usually vary considerably , so if the terrain is rising and your cloud is getting lower as the flight progresses you are flying into a ever narrowing trap , you eventually run out of options ,the end result can be CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) , commonly referred to as a fatal crash. 1500 MSL is waaaayyy below my house, let alone the nearest airport (my house near Denver is at 5230 MSL). It would be deep tunneling for me. I'd suggest instead that under 1,000 feet AGL with poor visibilty (sometimes the viz can be in excess of 10 miles with ceiling that low), and especially with lower hanging fingers of cloud, or less than a couple of miles viz, or... And that's in flat terrain, such as the midwestern part of the U.S. In mountain country, you'll want a lot more than that if you leave the traffic pattern or, some places, even IN the pattern. Larry N. As Skylab would say: Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COBS Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Larry Yes , you have to adapt to where you are and be very wary of weather that can and will vary from that forecast. I had a funny event once , the bottom of the clouds were diffuse , no sharp outlines , I was flying along VFR when I thought that I was having a medical problem , my vision started to go rather hazy , I immediately realised that I was flying into the mist at the bottom of the clouds , pushed the controls down , and got a instant cure to my vision problem as I emerged from the clouds , it's all too easy to do ! Pat I totally agree . I enjoy flying military aircraft and doing the usual turning and burning , it's a load of fun , and in the simulator you can do things that you would never attempt in RL , joy of joys . In real life I have not experienced vertigo even when doing aerobatics , however I know only too well that one day I will experience it . I have had black hole effects during approaches to dark country airports during night VFR cross country flights that resulted in me getting below the ideal glideslope even though I knew to expect that effect. Rather dangerous as trees often lurk in the dark below the approach path ! ! ! Even having that RL experience as a pilot I found that when I first started using the flight sim that on a couple of occasions flying military aircraft fairly hard I got vertigo ,it was funny , if I would have stood up I would have fallen flat on my face , I had to wait a moment or two and focus horizontally at a distant object before the vertigo would go away. It only happened a couple of times and quickly went away. I find that if I am extremely tired or have influenza that vertigo can return sometimes. I suspect that it's a matter of immersion , you may not have the seat of the pants physical sensations , but at a certain level of immersion in your flying your mind seems to generate some odd sensations. Cheers Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomTweak Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 In real life I have not experienced vertigo even when doing aerobatics , however I know only too well that one day I will experience it . Thankfully, I only did once. In a glider of all things, when I had first solo'd at 14. I was soaring a REALLY strong thermal, so going up pretty fast, and wasn't watching above me as well as I should have. Soared right up into a cloud. Suddenly blind, effectively, and those planes didn't HAVE any IFR gear, instruments, nav, nothing other than a compass, altimeter, airspeed, and VVI. Without thinking, I dumped into a spin, which I had recently mastered in that plane, and got down below the cloud fast, but the spinning, coupled with the lack of outside references, left me with pretty bad vertigo. Thank goodness, gliders come out of a spin easy: let go the controls. I did, it did, and I stayed straight and level at 60KIAS until the vertigo cleared. Took a little bit, but it did. Once I got it on the ground, I shook for about an hour, and must have smoked 1/2 a pack of cigs. Yeah, I know, but I was smoking at 14. Sue me. I was a LOT more careful of my scan after that! I've found that my Sim induced vertigo is usually delayed some, strangely. It almost invariably waits until I am driving someplace after flying the sim to hit. I have learned to deal with it, but it's still unpleasant. I think it has something to do with only having one eye, and getting very immersed in the sim. Maybe. I don't really know. In real life I have not experienced vertigo even when doing aerobatics , however I know only too well that one day I will experience it . I have had black hole effects during approaches to dark country airports during night VFR cross country flights that resulted in me getting below the ideal glideslope even though I knew to expect that effect. Rather dangerous as trees often lurk in the dark below the approach path ! ! Want a real challenge? Do carrier quals in the FSDT FSXBA F/A-18C v16.1 on a moonless, low ceiling night, with some turbulence in the winds, and the boat pitching. And yes, all that can be simulated very well in FSX. You almost HAVE to have vLSO running to get on the deck at all, let alone in one piece, and the black-hole effect, along with vertigo can be very strong. I still love doing it though :D Still, enjoy it! It what it's there for. I know I sure do :D Pat☺ [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again! Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Hi Folks, Just to illustrate the benefits of real world EFB's we spoke of... Here is a recent screenshot of a VFR flight in Garmin Pilot (weather was different at time of flight)... As you can see the vertical profile view can really come in handy - shows terrain - weather - winds - and airspaces so you can quickly see if there is anything you missed... It's amazing how much information we have at our fingertips in the cockpit now... This also illustrates a scenario where you might consider flying VFR over a solid cloud deck - as both the departure and destination appear clear of clouds - with some solid layers in between... http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160318/dd242403eb6a58ccdce924ca075ce786.jpg Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Yes Scott, We did a lot of "VFR On Top" flying. In fact fog was so much of an issue at Santa Ana Ca. that we had a specific come through the clouds and fog procedure for choppers at the MCAF Santa Ana. It was called the "Santa Ana Shut Down." This was well before GPS but we were pretty good at triangulation. Basicaly when your Tacan and DME off of El Toro and your VOR off of Santa Ana, now called John Wayne were at set values, (no I don't even pretend to remember all the numbers!) you'd slowly hover down with everyone looking for those huge hangers and/or the ground till you found the deck. We did have a radar altimeter so if you were coming down directly atop one of those hangers that was real obvious. Showing 100' off the deck with the altimeter showing 500' meant you were above a hanger. Hey I know there's probably a 1,000+ reasons people wouldn't do that today! But hey, it was the 60's, we were all invincible, and besides this was easy compared to what we did almost daily while deployed in South East Asia! Newbies needed hours! This was a great way to get them to think outside standard procedures with an old salt teaching! Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hi Charles, Sounds like you e had a bit of excitement in your life - what did you fly ??? I've been up close and personal with a CH-53 Super Sea Stallion a number of time - worked on San Clemente Island for a few years in the early 90's - what an impressive machine... I've been messing with the Huey in DCS as well and I think DCS might do an even better job with flight physics than the MS franchise and related... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egsjr1956 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Thanks to all. Love a good thread. Very good reading. GPU: GeForce GTX 1080 CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K CPU@4.2GHz Memory: 16.00GB Ram Resolution: 3840 x 2160, 30Hz Seiki 39†Monitor Operating System: Windows 10 Home Edition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hi Folks, Thanks... Oh - one more thing I meant to post... Just for an overall picture of global aviation weather - the US AWC weather site works really well - it's come a long way in the past several years - helps me pick where I want to fly my sim flights as well... Tons of options - but pink dots are Low IFR - red dots are IFR - blue dots are Marginal VFR - and those areas without dots are VFR... If your addon weather programs are accurate - the sim weather should match real world... https://www.aviationweather.gov/ Regards, Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithras Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hi, It should noted that the squawk code given near the top of the thread is different in the UK, instead of 1200 I think it is 5000. I replicated the JFK Jnr flight in quite a lot of detail, with the same plane, same fuel, loaded the same, same flight plan and time of night and just managed t tweak the same weather conditions, the lights disappearing in the mist as I climbed. For my part, I got a little lost when I saw the lights near Marth's Vineyard, I was off my planned heading by a bit and misidentified where I was, but I had the luxury of not having RL panic overcome me. I did land at MV when I realised my mistake. - Paul Elliott [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Come and follow my recreation of this historic light here: HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hi Charles, Sounds like you e had a bit of excitement in your life - what did you fly ??? I've been up close and personal with a CH-53 Super Sea Stallion a number of time - worked on San Clemente Island for a few years in the early 90's - what an impressive machine... I've been messing with the Huey in DCS as well and I think DCS might do an even better job with flight physics than the MS franchise and related... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk After basics in fixed wings, my primary planes in the Marines were the CH-34, an old rotary recip. with a single main rotor, & the CH-46. The 46 was a twin turboprop, twin main rotor craft built by Boeing. (Think 3/4 scale H-47 Chinook.) I have ridden in the HH-53 and its' fore-runner the HH-37. Which looked really similar to the 53, but had a pair of rotary recip. engines instead of the jets. And of course the oil leaks which all rotary recips., British motor vehicles, & Harleys share. DCS? Sorry, I may know what that program is, but the acronym doesn't ring a bell. I've been looking for a sim of choppers that flies more correctly than any I've tried so far. I'd be real interested in any info about DCS. Being an old chopper guy I usually fly low and slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb613 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Hi Charles, It's a combat sim - here is a video that showcases the Huey... http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/index.php Here is my favorite ride in DCS though.... Regards, Scott Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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