How do you fly airliners in FS9(if you do)?

[ussmidway]

Just curious how you guys are using FS9 in regards to airliners. And I guess I am talking simulating a passenger airline with turboprops up to the big boys.

 

1.)Do you use default at all, payware, freeware?

2.)Belong to a VA, use Air Hauler, make up your own reasons to fly, any or all of these?

3.)Vatsim?

4.)Do your planes need to be hi-fidelity like a PMDG with FMC, or are you ok with Garmin or something like Garrett Smiths barebones FMC?

5.)Do you ever use the ATC?

6.)Are you mostly a GA person?

 

I'm just looking to see what people are up to with the airliners, maybe discuss FS9 minus the 'us vs them' stuff.

I just flew from KSDF to KBNA in the default 737(American Pacific), sneaking in a route on the east coast. I have a modded panel with pushback, v-speed and Garretts FMC added. As I was landing, I thought that I have better aircraft, but it was still an enjoyable flight and then it led me to wonder about the questions above.

[chris_eve]

Just curious how you guys are using FS9 in regards to airliners. And I guess I am talking simulating a passenger airline with turboprops up to the big boys.

 

1.)Do you use default at all, payware, freeware?

2.)Belong to a VA, use Air Hauler, make up your own reasons to fly, any or all of these?

3.)Vatsim?

4.)Do your planes need to be hi-fidelity like a PMDG with FMC, or are you ok with Garmin or something like Garrett Smiths barebones FMC?

5.)Do you ever use the ATC?

6.)Are you mostly a GA person?

 

#1 … payware (mostly Abacus Cessna Skycatcher) and a couple I've made myself

#2 … no

#3 … no

#4 … PMDG, FMC, ?!?!

#5 … sometimes, most of the strips I use aren't equipped!

#6 … GA all the way … grass strip and a tin shed for a hangar ;)

Edited April 19, 2022 by chris_eve

[defaid]

Hi.

 

The last time I simmed seriously with a passenger jet was over five years ago when I had several months with Dave Maltby's BAC 1-11 500 in my local (if very retro) colours.

 

I never joined a VA. Internet time is very limited and being somewhat recalcitrant I'm not keen on being obliged to fly.

 

The only plus-sized aircraft I use nowadays is Just Flight's C-130. It's by far my favourite because it has a detailed and fully functional VC (though the late J variant from Captain Sim is nicer on the outside). Cold & dark to entering the runway usually takes about 15 minutes. I use it mainly with the original Air Hauler. It's cheap to run, goes a long way and copes well with short runways.

 

If I have the time then I use Radar Contact for ATC. Often, though, I'll skip all ATC and just get the job done: in the cruise the sim rate is usually 16 ×. The main interest is at either end of the flight and I'm not above breaking the rules. FSUIPC's exploding AI function is great for clearing other planes from the runway whenI'm on short final...

 

GA or not GA is difficult to determine. I have vastly more sim hours in Air Hauler but have spent much more real-world time at the PC in small aircraft.

 

In AH I have one employee, whose hours have long since exceeded mine. They have the BAC 1-11. Using FS9, my main regret with regard to AH is that I can't see their plane if we happen to be at the same airport. My C-130 still has standard livery but theirs is in company colours: there's a picture here from when I made the repaint.

 

I have also a long, long RTW going on. It's getting on for 15 years now and I'm currently using RealAir's SF.260 or whatever appeals to me on the day. The C-130 and Rick Piper's HS.748 are the two favourite bigger-than-GA aircraft but generally something small and simple fits the bill better for a quick evening flight. I started the RTW in the stock C172 before swapping for the stock Mooney. By now, I've probably logged most RTW GA hours in Carenado's Piper Seneca, which has crisscrossed South America while taking me from Halley VI in Antarctica to Seymour in the Galapagos, where I swapped for the SF.260

 

The RTW flight is persistent so if I arrive late on Nov 24th then I'll set FS time to early morning Nov 25th for the departure. The weather is set with FSMetar for the sim's date & time. I downloaded a year's worth of metars many years ago.

 

Increasingly frequently I may just go out for a joyride near home in anything in the Aircraft folder. For this I blame Skyrim, which seems to have destroyed my attention span. It could be a short hop in the stock C172 from my local to a farm strip, though again RealAir did a better job of the flight dynamics. It could be poking around the coast in a Catalina. I once tried some sort of dirigible airship but oh! how tedious. I do occasionally take the Aquarama out for a spin and one day will take it up the Congo.

 

No, that's not a euphemism.

 

D

[nadlzfw]

1. Nearly all aircraft are freeware add-on aircraft. No payware at all. I frequently tinker with aircraft.cfg and panels.

 

2-3. No VA or vatism at all. I use real time weather from fsrealwx lite.

 

4. Navigation by VOR, unless GPS is built in to the panel (which is only a small number of aircraft. No FMC at all. If I use an autopilot, it is 'manual' heading control, never in NAV or APC mode.

 

5. Always with ATC, and if it is an airliner from an era where IFR clearances were used (like, not the 30's) then IFR.

 

6. GA, Airlines, bizjets, military...whatever I feel like. Today the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley KHYI to KILE. I switch between stick and yoke about every 2-5 months, and normally fly the aircraft that had the device in use. Total time for each flight is seldom more than an hour, so, for a jet, about 200 nm max.

[JSMR]

1.)Do you use default at all, payware, freeware?

 

Payware and Freeware. Mostly free. HJG, Classic British Flight Sim, Calclassic, Metroliner iii/iv, F-27 (Fraser McKay panels are superb) RFP 747(my favourite and I’ve been messing around with an updated FDE/air file I made. Flies much better).

Pay : iFly 737/747. Aeroworx King Air (another favourite also with some new FDE’s I’ve made. )

 

 

2.)Belong to a VA, use Air Hauler, make up your own reasons to fly, any or all of these?

Yes, several VA’s. I find it more enjoyable knowing there are some limits somw VA’s monitor that I need to abide by when flying. I like the challenge.

 

3.)Vatsim?

 

I have both Vatsim and IVOA accounts but haven’t flown either for some time. Years.

 

 

4.)Do your planes need to be hi-fidelity like a PMDG with FMC, or are you ok with Garmin or something like Garrett Smiths barebones FMC?

They don’t need to be but the iFly 737/747 use an FMC.

More often then not I’m using a 727 or 747 Classic with INS nav. Using that and VOR radials etc for SID/STARS. More work but more fun!

 

 

5.)Do you ever use the ATC?

Usually only for taxi. Mostly as I get lost at airports. :p

 

 

6.)Are you mostly a GA person?

Not often. But sometimes I will do a VFR flight in one of my GA aircraft but it’s rare. King Air or Merlin as light as it gets for me.

 

 

 

 

Whoa, I stepped it up using the quote feature.

[alanmerry]

Thanks to the many, mostly freeware, aircraft available, I tend to fly quite a variety. Most frequently the B747-400 for long haul by Project Open Sky (with a considerably modified panel), Project Airbus for shorter trips by A320 and ATR72 for shortest trips (by Francisco Sánchez-Castañer or the payware by Virtualcol). Not quite so regularly I fly the excellent freeware VC10 or Trident by David Maltby or Rick Piper's Viscount. The different flying characteristics together with a large amount of scenery, keeps FS9 full of interest. I rarely use FMC. I do use ATC, but I wish they would get their act together so that I don't land less than a thosand metres behind another aircraft. (Go-around ?? !!)

[ussmidway]

Awesome responses, thanks guys. The one thing I have never had for FS9 that I still want is a good 737. I wish the price of the iFly would come down a bit.

[defaid]

 

... take the Aquarama out...

 

D

 

Sorry, I messed up the link. It's riva_aqu.zip in the FS9 library here. Definitely not an airliner:

 

[leuen]

Cruising (here as AI) through and around the Venitian Canale Grande ...

 

 

Bernard

[CTarana45]

Just curious how you guys are using FS9 in regards to airliners. And I guess I am talking simulating a passenger airline with turboprops up to the big boys.

 

1.)Do you use default at all, payware, freeware?

 

6.)Are you mostly a GA person?

 

 

Yes to the Default Aircraft, and to the Freeware Aircraft!

 

With my History with Golden Wings, I'm definately a GA person! :pilot:

 

Christopher Tarana

[CTarana45]

https://simviation.com/hjg/downloads.htm Their 737's are much better than others! Including iFly!

 

Christopher Tarana

[defaid]

 

Cruising (here as AI) through and around the Venitian Canale Grande ...

 

 

Great screenshot and a great Rialto Bridge. What is the scenery?

[leuen]

Glad that you seems knowing Venice. The scenery was released by LAGO.

 

Bernard