billstack

My wife and I enjoy watching All Creatures Great and Small, which is filmed in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park in central England. Designated in 1954, the park is 95 percent privately owned, and 23,000 people live and farm 1,000 independent farms. Actors and crew rave about how much they love working there, and tourism has increased due to the TV show.

Source: Yorkshire Dales National Park

The real scenery is nostalgic and tranquil from every viewpoint. So I “flew” over to enjoy it from within Microsoft Flight Simulator ™ 2020. I departed Teesside International Airport (EGNV) in the Tees Valley about 10 miles east of Middlesborough and headed 240 degrees.

SkyVector

Teesside provides services from east-central England to Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Turkey in addition to England. It is also the general-aviation airport for the region.

MSFS 2020

A Cessna 172 reaches Yorkshire Dales in less than 15 minutes. After passing over lowland Yorkshire farmland at 4,500 feet altitude, the route traverses rugged hills, heaths, and valleys in central Yorkshire. Not much grows on these hills due to rocky and acidic soils. Their characteristic scrubs, grasses, and stones appear brown from aloft.

MSFS 2020

Then the lush Yorkshire Dales National Park appears. It can seem ordinary from aloft, but it is very beautiful indeed when considering how nostalgic and sanguine it is from the ground where All Creatures Great and Small is filmed.

MSFS 2020

The return flight is as interesting. Yorkshire’s rural terrain and rugged topography morph into low rolling farmlands followed by the urban area of Middlesborough and its suburbs.

MSFS 2020

The trick is to find Teesside Airport among the rural and urban terrain, which is always challenging for visual navigation. My C172 was not receiving Teesside NDB (TD), which made things more difficult. If you get lost, ask Teesside’s tower for directions, or use Direct-To in your GPS to plot a course from your current position.

MSFS 2020

Teesside is a controlled airport, so communication with its tower is required. Watch out for commercial and private traffic flying to, from, and around this busy regional airport.

MSFS 2020

A short and easy visual flight over beautiful terrain is always rewarding on any lovely day.

MSFS 2020

Bill Stack is author of books and videos for flight simmers who want truly realist simulations.

A new flight-sim manual focused specifically on the Airbus A320 Neo is now available from TopSkills.

Jet Simming: A320 Neo explains what things are, what they do, and how to use them. Physical and performance characteristics are explained in detail, including fuel and passenger distribution, flaps settings, and recommended speeds for all flight phases. It explains how to select airports that are compatible with this popular airliner. The book also explains how to use the Airbus flight management system and control display unit. Proper procedures for all flight phases are laid out in numbered steps.

This new instructional book has six distinct chapters and two appendices, including complete checklists for every flight phase and clear definitions for abbreviations used in the book. Its PDF format enables easy use.

Bill Stack is a flight-sim expert and

Jet Simming: A320 Neo

While most sceneries focus on airports and cities, scenery viewed from aloft reveals features that are often overlooked.  

Africa is usually depicted as deserts and tropical forests, but it is geologically diverse. Its most active tectonic feature is the Eastern Rift System that forms lakes and mountains extending thousands of kilometers from Lebanon in the Middle East to Mozambique in southern Africa.

Africa's Rift Valley from FL300

Two plates have broken from the main African plate. One has become Madagascar, an island off Africa’s east coast. More of eastern Africa is expected to break away eventually like Madagascar did millions of years ago.

Mozambique volcanoes from 5,000 feet

The Western Rift is bordered by some of Africa’s highest mountains. The Virunga Mountains is a chain of volcanoes where Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda meet. Its peaks are among Africa’s highest: The highest is Karisimbi at 14,7897 feet (4,507 meters). Nyiragongo is 11,358 feet (3,462 meters), and Nyamuragira is 1,049 feet (3.063 meters), and Sabyinyo is 11,923 feet.

Zimbabwe from 15,000 feet

Mount Kilimanjaro of Hemingway fame is Africa’s highest peak at 19,341 feet (5,895 meters). It is a dormant volcano with three distinct cones. Its youngest rocks are almost half a million years old. Its height gives it five climatic zones from bush lands, through rain forests, to arctic.

Mount Kilimanjaro from FL350

Rift Valley has some of the world’s largest inland waters: Lake Tanganyika is 4,820 feet (1,470 meters) deep. It is also the world’s longest fresh-water lake.

Lake Tanganyika from above Bujumbura Burindi

The prominence of these features is readily visible in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

Bill Stack is a flight-sim expert and author of <a href="https://store.flightsim.com/search.asp?keyword=topskills">tutorial books and videos</a> for flight simmers who want truly realist simulations.

While cruising over the Saraha Desert in southern Algeria at FL330 in MSFS, my attention was drawn to something unexpected.

The Sahara Desert is usually depicted as entirely sand, so mountains in southern Algeria seemed out of place. They are ridges and valleys much like southern Appalachia, but they are barren rock – sans any vegetation. So I looked them up online.

Wide swaths of the Sahara are solid rock with a little wind-blown sand. The region’s rocks are metamorphic and estimated at two billions years old. The highest is almost 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above mean sea level. Some mountains are eroded into odd shapes by blowing sand. Similar ridges and valleys are seen in the Congo area, but they are vegetated and eroded by water.

Africa comprises five tectonic plates that have been lifting and crinkling the topography one earthquake at a time for hundreds of millions of years.

Mixed among the Sahara’s ridges and valleys are solidary conical mountains – telltale volcanoes. The region has a respectable share of more than 100 dormant and active volcanoes in Africa. The Atakor volcanic field in southern Algeria comprises lava domes, lava flows, craters, and vents releasing volcanic gasses. Terrain approaches almost 10,000 feet elevation with deep gorges among the crests and peaks. Volcanic activity ranges from 20 million years ago to the present with ongoing venting of volcanic gases and frequent seismic activity.

This huge desert seems barren from aloft, but a few oases such as El Golea, In Salah, and Tamanrasset have enough water to support human activities. Their urbanization and airports are represented in MSFS 2020.

High-altitude cruises over the region provide excellent overviews. Low-altitude cruises reveal fascinating details of the topography and villages even though satellite imagery in MSFS lacks definitive details. My screen shots show the Ahaggar Mountains near the oasis city of Tamanrasset, the lava fields near another oasis city In Salah, and isolated dormant volcanoes in the region.

This often ignored region is more geologically interesting than I knew.

Bill Stack is a flight-sim expert and author of tutorial books and videos for flight simmers who want truly realist simulations.

“Orders are exceeding expectations,” says author Bill Stack about his latest flight-simulating manual: ATR Simming. “Obviously there has been a pent up demand for it.”

“I began writing ATR Simming as a manual for my own use,” he explains, “and then I realized that other flight simmers needed a manual as much as I did.”

ATR Simming describes and explains operations of the ATR 42-600 and ATR72-600 from preflight, through all flight phases, to complete shutdown.

In seven distinct chapters, this entirely new manual describes physical and performance characteristics for both models, explains their electronic flight decks, and instructs how to operate these unique aircraft. The manual explains the ATRs unique features such as gust lock, idle gate, and hotel mode. An appendix defines acronyms and abbreviations used in the book, and another appendix provides checklists for all flight phases from startup to shutdown.

Flight-sim author and instructor Bill Stack spent several months researching and flight testing these unique aircraft for developing this totally original manual.

This all-new 137-page manual is published in portable document format (PDF) for clarity of pages, images, and tables and for ease of use by all flight simmers.

Absolutely free extras are included: Standard V-speed card, ATR quick-step table, and MSFS keyboard shortcuts.

“Flight simmers will enjoy simulating both ATRs as a result of knowledge gained from this comprehensive manual,” promises author Bill Stack.

ATR Simming is available from the Flight Sim Com Store: https://store.flightsim.com/TopSkills--ATR-SIMMING_p_5054.html

Hello,

If you purchased Version 1 of Jet Simming 21st Century from FlightSimCom, you can download the updated version from FlightSimCom under your account. If you are referring to the old FSX version of Jet Simming, it is no longer available. Further questions or needs can be answered directly by FlightSimCom's customer service: https://store.flightsim.com/crm.asp?action=contactus.

Instrument Simming 21^st Century is an all-new manual that replaces TopSkills’ former instrument flying manual. This entirely new manual defines, describes, and explains instrument flight for home simulation pilots with emphasis on modern technology.

Instrument flight, commonly referred to as “IFR,” is required when weather obstructs visibility, for all commercial flights, and all flights higher than 18,000 feet above mean sea level. Flight simmers embarking on such flights should apply IFR for the utmost realism.

In nine distinct chapters, this new manual defines instrument flight, describes instrument-flight rules (IFR), and explains aircraft instruments used in instrument flights. It also explains making and filing flight plans and reading and using official instrument-flight charts.

With specific focus on instrument flying, four chapters instruct on planning and preparing, taxiing and taking off, flying en route, arriving, and approaching in step-by-step directions. One appendix provides instrument-flight exercises, and another defines acronyms used in the book.

This 156-page manual is published in portable document format (PDF) for clarity of pages, images, and tables and for ease of use by all flight simmers.

A free V-speed card is included, as is an official flight-plan form for laying out plans before filing them.

“Flight simmers seeking true realism will enjoy the knowledge gained from this comprehensive manual,” promises author Bill Stack.

Instrument Simming 21^st Century is available from the FlightSimCom Store.

FlightSimCom's administrator says updates can be redownloaded under your account.

Enjoy,

Bill Stack

An updated version of Jet Simming 21^st Century by flight-sim author and instructor Bill Stack has been released by TopSkills. The updated manual describes and explains the Cessna Citation CJ4 and Cessna Citation Longitude that were substantially upgraded by Microsoft and Asobo in 2023.

“Microsoft’s upgraded Cessna jets are very different from their previous renditions,” notes Mr. Stack. “I tested the new models, recorded their performance figures, and analyzed those data. My upgrade explains changes to the physical and performance characteristics as well as operational systems and the flight-management computers.”

Chapters about the Airbus A320, Boeing 747-8I, and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner have been enhanced as well. Instructions, images, tables, checklists, definitions, explanations, and descriptions for all the book’s jets have been improved and sharpened. With 340 pages, the upgraded book has almost 10 percent more content for the same price.

Jet Simming 21^st Century explains jet basics, planning and preparing, and step-by-step procedures for all flight phases from pre-flight at departure airports through shutdown at destinations.

"I spent several months updating this comprehensive manual," notes author Bill Stack. “Flight simmers seeking true realism will enjoy their enhanced simulations as a result.”

Jet Simming 21st Century Version 2 is available here from the FlightSimCom Store.

Consumers who purchased Version 1 can download Version 2 from their retailers for no additional cost.

An updated version of Glass Simming 2020 by flight-sim author and instructor Bill Stack has been released by TopSkills. Version 3 describes and explains the Cessna Citation CJ4 that was substantially upgraded by Microsoft and Asobo. Chapters about the Airbus A320 and Boeing 747-8I have been enhanced as well.

“Microsoft’s upgraded Cessna Citation CJ4 is remarkably different from their previous rendition,” notes Mr. Stack. “I tested the new model, recorded performance figures, and analyzed data. My upgrade explains changes to the physical and performance characteristics as well as operational systems and the flight-management computers.”

Instructions, images, tables, checklists, definitions, explanations, and descriptions throughout have been improved and sharpened in Version 3. With 330 pages, the upgraded book has almost 10 percent more content for the same price.

Glass Simming 2020 explains electronic flight decks and cockpits for eight aircraft modeled in Microsoft Flight Simulator ®. Principles apply to other aircraft and simulation programs.

“Flight simmers seeking true realism will enjoy the knowledge gained from this comprehensive manual and its upgrades and improvements,” promises author Bill Stack.

Glass Simming 2020 Version 3 is available from the FlightSim store: https://store.flightsim.com/TopSkills--Glass-Simming-2020-v3-_p_4891.html

Consumers who purchased Versions 1 and 2 can download Version 3 for no additional cost.