terrylawdinn

Although I was a fully certified Private Pilot, that was some time (too long) ago and the release of MSFS reignited my interest. But, for reality's sake, I started basic, like you, on the C172 to get my hand back in. Once I was happy with that I went to the Bonanza and did the same. It's still my "goto" aircraft as I prefer to look at the scenery although it will go pretty quickly when needed. I've now "graduated" to the CJ4, never got the opportunity IRL to have a go, and it's another steep learning curve but I'm getting there. Take your time but don't be afraid to try something new - at least in the sim if it all goes wrong it's not the end of the world! But the most important thing - ENJOY YOURSELF!

When you investigate the flight plan after setting it up, you'll find LNM does indeed put times and distances for the various legs (scroll right) but I've never investigated the accuracy because I fly different aircraft at different times - the C152 and Cessna CJ4 do tend to be a bit different and until LNM knows what aircraft you're flying and has found the aircraft performance data (read the manual) it's a complete fairy story! Of course it's the same with all flight planning programmes. I've played with a couple and all need the aircraft data before completion, even if it's just inputting your proposed speed - and the more sophistcated ones often go get the weather from external sources, which ATM I don't think LNM does.

In reality your speed is too low for MSFS to run properly. To start with you've got to download over 100 Gigabytes to even get to the start of the sim, no matter the various addons, market place options and updates which can all run as high as 50Gb. At your speeds it would take a week! The other option is to buy the Steam version, which is on 10 discs - you still need an internet connection but you are at least spared the mind-numbing experience of an endless download. Without internet you won't get access to the goodies that the sim is famous for and which are downloaded as you play. Unfortunately MS, as well as a number of other internet developers, are all now writing stuff that only works on-line so I can't see it getting any better.

Quick answer - you're correct. Glad you had no problems installing it, ben a nightmare for me!

I use an addon that simulates "Fall" but it mainly recolours trees etc and isn't what you're looking for. There is a request on the official MSFS website for "seasonal" weather but no indication of when we might see it. In fairness, apart from using the "LiveWeather" option I can't see how anything more than quarterly representation is going to work - it would take pretty big resources to cover everything. We're also "promised" better LiveWeather representation soon too, but what it will look like is anybodys guess for now.

Yes I live right next to the airport. I used to fly IRL from there and also built/opened the General Aviation Terminal - I sold out quite a long time ago but it has done well since. I no longer fly IRL. Obviously I keep my "fleet" here too (although I've got a couple of aircraft in the USA sightseeing) and so I "see" around the city a lot - have a few addons which help. From the air I don't think you'd see a lot of changes although IRL the city has changed quite a bit.

I've been going nuts too trying to get the Bonanza to do an ILS. This what (finally) worked for me today on a simple flight. I was using my local airport, EGNT RWY25, so I could accurately monitor what was going on. From the north (nice area to fly round VFR) I headed down the coast with the AP using heading and altitude hold and descended to the first fix atltitude of 2000ft. I had the ILS/LOC tuned in on Nav1 and had identified it as correct, then selected Nav1 on the CDI - which showed me the localiser path was where I expected it to be. A few miles north of the extended runway centreline I pressed APP and the plane turned onto an intercept course with the G and glideslope diamond visible above my position - where it should be. Apart from setting up ready for landing i.e. prop, throttle, flaps and gear, I did nothing else. Approaching the localiser the plane turned towards the runway then settled on the localiser. It then intercepted the glideslope and commenced the descent, all the way to the decision height when I interceded to do (for me) an absolute greaser landing! An important note - it's normal practice to intercept the glideslope from below. When in previous attempts I tried from above the G/S it wouldn't catch it. I write this out for you so you can try something similar at your "local". Hope it helps.

I believe it should be used first, regardless of whether you're in off-line mode or not. That's why we were advised to empty all caches when installing the latest World Update. Tend not to fly much in the same areas so currently have nothing cached locally - but I understand there is currently a problem with local cache atm anyway, causes CTDs. Will have to check.

Actually if a barrel roll is done correctly you won't spill the champagne....................................:cool:

Options/Controls/Miscellaneous. Check on the Flight Model box and it'll show what you are set on. If it's not Modern just click on the arrow to change it, Save your changes and try again. Another idea - try going to your joystick manufacturers website to see if there are any updated drivers specific for whatever Windows version you're using.

Decided to go have a look at the UK Lake District - it's only about a 20m flight from my home airport - to see how well the UK Update was treating it. Initially had to turn back as the autopilot was playing silly games and for some reason we were being thrown about all over the place. Started again, this time with live weather turned off and selecting a nice sunny day. Except I forgot to remove the mappundi spikes removal mod and the Lake District was hilarious - every body of water now at 2000ft asl! Back to Newcastle, have lunch then reset it. This time a lovely flight in the afternoon winter sun. The Lake District was always pretty good before the update but now is stunning. Down to Blackpool for a cuppa then return to Newcastle, checking out the scenery in Yorkshire on the way. To my mind it has all been improved so well done Asobo/MS - looking forward to having a look at some of the other improvements.

The News section, also the Known Issues section, mentions that the dev team has not seen the CTD/Bing Maps issue on the new release. It does confirm that it was (is?) to do with a conflict with 3rd Party addons - they specifically mention Orbx London Scenery but I'd guess it could also apply to others. I had the same problem with Orbx EGNT.

May I ask, have you ever flown an aircraft for real and what type so you can make accurate comparison? Although no longer a licenced pilot I have flown lots of different types in the past, from small aerobatic stuff up to and including the mighty 747 - admittedly that was on an official BA simulator at Heathrow but it doesn't come any more realistic than that! Although I haven't tried every aircraft in the sim, those I have are pretty close to reality, some better than others I'll admit too. If you're used to shoot 'em up, high speed chase type games then MSFS is going to feel very pedestrian - but that's not what it is intended for. If I'm wrong about your experience I apologise in advance. So then it would seem that some of your control settings could do with tweaking. I wouldn't recommend setting them to full sensitive either, then it WILL be unflyable.

Yep, long and sometimes angry thread on the MS official forum. Net result is that MS/Asobo have acknowledged the problem and are working on it. Hope it doesn't delay tomorrows update - but I'm not holding my breath! Happened to me as well and after some experimenting and checking that thread changed the file name (just added .bak) and it all worked fine on Orbx EGNT. This appears to work on any addon that uses a CGL file and seems to be a conflict with Bing Maps. You can also get round it by turning Bing Maps off in the data settings.

You were lucky to get it to even load! Had same problem with Orbx EGNT and it wouldn't even load into the sim!

Assume you're using the standard version of MSFS. In which case, no, it would need a complete rebuild of the aircraft file. I understand there is a version of the C172 with the older instrument panel in the Deluxe version - but you need to buy the whole DeLuxe package again, you can't just upgrade. (Wonder how many folk have regretted just going for the standard MSFS version?) Otherwise you'll probably have to wait for a third-party build, I'll bet someone is making one.

Managed a complete IFR positioning flight from EGNT to EICK in the CJ4 - except the weather at Cork was way below minimums so had to divert to EINN. Apart from ATC abandoning me at "BAL" VOR when I diverted it went very well. So I'm currently sitting on the ground at Shannon waiting for an improvement so we (got a lady copilot!) can reposition to Cork and pick up my first passengers to go to Paris.

Ermm - no. A turbo-prop is a different animal entirely, basically a jet engine with a prop. It's turbo-charged, which has the same effect as on a car engine - more power which translates to climbing higher and faster. Suggest you leave this alone until you've mastered the normally aspirated version - quite fast enough to learn on! The improvement is here - https://flightsim.to/file/1056/g36-improvement-project Once you've downloaded the.zip file extract it to a new folder, say on your desktop called Bonanza Improvements, then copy that folder into your Community Folder. Much more realistic performance. Whilst your at it, another good addition is this - https://github.com/Working-Title-MSFS-Mods/fspackages/releases/download/g1000-v0.3.4/workingtitle-g1000-v0.3.4.zip - which is a (vast) improvement on the Garmin G1000 system fitted to the Bonanza. After downloading again unzip (I'd put it in the same folder as above) and it goes into your C/F as well. Learning that system is quite a steep learning curve too but well worth it - I "tour" with the Bonanza and use it all the time so I can spend more time looking out of the window! (Incidentally it's the same system as fitted to the C172S, the upgrade will sort that out too). Take your time and enjoy it!

I use an addons manager (MSFS Addon Manager) to look after all my add-ons (got quite a large collection now) that lets me load whatever I'm going to use on my next session without filling up the Community Folder and increasing the time it takes to load the sim. It also means I can empty the CF at any time - as I have just done ready for the latest update. I also empty the rolling cache (care- it needs to re-enabled after). Shouldn't be necessary but it does no harm and clears one more possibility for problems.

Excellent choice for further development. I did most of my RL flying on fixed-pitch singles but did have some experience on VP and multi-engined aircraft. I gave up RW flying years ago (became too expensive at the time) and have only recently come back to it via the excellent MSFS. I started, as the OP, with the basic simple stuff to get my wings back but then decided I was going to work my way up to more sophisticated aircraft, gradually whilst I "mastered" each one and chose the Bonanza as a first step. A lovely aircraft to operate, even better with the third-party update, and currently my "go to" choice, although I have started to experiment with the CJ4 (now that's a learning curve!). Have done a lot of "hours" mainly on sightseeing tours in parts of the world I'm never going to visit in real life! PS There's a turbo version now too, awesome performance!

Check you've got Bing Maps switched on in the Options/Graphics. For no apparent reason sometimes things get switched off....................

But it runs much better with 32GB doesn't it? Personally I've got 64GB but that's only because I got an unusual "deal" - but hardly ever see it above 50% useage. The rest of my kit is a bit middle of the road - when prices are no longer stupid I'll upgrade the graphics card. There has been some discussion that lower amounts of RAM could contribute to the CTD's, but of course nothing yet proved. Considering the price of RAM compared to other components getting as much as you reasonably can is IMO a no-brainer.

Currently "doing" the Pilots of the Caribbean tour - a series of flights around the Caribbean sea - in my purple Bonanza (N682FB), complete with new lady co-pilot (who doesn't say very much, probably 'cos she hasn't got a seatbelt!) Today took off in beautiful weather (using live all the time) east from West Caicos emergency dirt airstrip to have a look at some of the smaller Cays. A round trip ending at Mayaguana in the SW Bahamas in a thunderstorm! Mostly over the sea at low level. Just loving the Bonanza!

I think it's possible in any aircraft that has the G1000/G3000 glass cockpits, although there are apparently still a few glitches being ironed out - apparently the next update is supposed to address them.

He's pretty good that way! Just noticed there is an update on flightsim.to - maybe to fix that bug?