MAD1

Hi all, am finally back in FlightSim after being flooded to the ceiling Feb 28 in unprecedented Australian east coast flooding event. My town's floodplain central area was devastated, 2.4m above the highest known floods, 1 in 100 year level, in 1954 and 1974. Will be years before we all recover. PCs all went under, so no sim setup for awhile yet. But, good to be able to read the forums etc. Listening today to our national radio Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Science Show, had a guy at Farnborough Air Show talking about the Overture supersonic passenger aircraft with totally synthetic fuels being developed by Boom (http://boomsupersonic.com) slated to launch in 2026, to be the first passenger ship since Concord, as well as their XB-1. Also how they are or going to make the fuel using hydrogen and carbon dioxide taken from the air, using a modified industrial process that was developed in the 1920s (which used carbon monoxide, which they said the Germans used in WW2). Interesting times ahead. Your thoughts?

Hi djtnm, good to hear. There's nothing wrong with FS2002, it's a good sim, and as you found, dirt cheap and available. I also have the box, CDs in pristine condition. (And also the box, CDs in pristine condition for FS2000). My friend found them at the local recycle centre, free, and gave them to me 15 years ago. Has the advantage they'll run very nicely on older software e.g. WinXP and newer, and on older, cheaper hardware. For a general sim experience they're very good.

I've found all information replies in this thread very informative. (Am only messing with the Cessna 172 for now, but desire is to graduate up to airliner stuff someday, so the complex replies including mrzippy's RW airline info is very handy). The key golden rule is 'LOW and SLOW is a killer', so only be in that zone on take-off and final approach for landing. Hence, initial climb goal is to get to a safe altitude as quickly as possible, e.g. circuit height (nominally 1000 ft above ground level, AGL) or above. Doesn't matter what aircraft type, GA or bigger. Planes don't perform well if used as a farmer's plough, they don't like burying themselves in dirt, and the only part to touch the ground should be the tyres. (Captarnaud's other post is related What-is-the-safe-altitude-to-make-a-turn-after-take-off.)

Common sense applies as well as regulations. I only learnt to fly a Blanik glider, and the golden rule drummed into me was 'height is safety', given no engine. Of course, you can turn at any time, your choice (but you might incur the wrath of the authorities and fellow pilots), but given the aircraft flies most efficiently and safely with level wings, the worst situation to be in is in a climb, slow, nose up, wings not level, i.e. in a turn attitude, and LOW and SLOW, when the engine sputters and conks out. Bad situation. With that wing dipped you're in a configuration to go into a stall spin without sufficient altitude to recover (your 'new best friend' will be the ground and you'll enjoy a holiday in hospital, if you survive). Better to climb straight out for awhile e.g. to pass the 500 ft Above Ground Level (AGL) before doing anything. Get as high as possible as quickly as possible, so set yourself up for maximum climb rate, e.g. I think in the Cessna 172 type its about 80 knots roughly, full throttle. Simply concentrate on getting to a safe altitutude and form a nice rectangular circuit if doing circuit practice, e.g. start (it takes time) a slow, gentle 90 degree turn left about 500' , then do the next turn 90 degree left at about 1000' (say start at 900) so that you join the 'downwind leg' at the nominal 1000' circuit height. Other pilots in the circuit will appreciate your proper and fully expected behaviour. By getting into this simple, comfortable routine, your mind and body (that 'seat of the pants' feel) has time to focus on each leg of the climb out, nothing is rushed, and you are one with the aircraft. The same applies to landing, and what you intend to do on the flight - plan everything before you get in the plane, including knowing what turns you are going to make, at what altitude etc. Flying can then be enjoyable with minimal stress.

See YouTube of Captain Jacobson explaining it. Very entertaining video including his description of his career.

Well Jim Hall, very interesting history. I too have a 16ft Hartley sailboat in my back yard. I look wistfully at it and sigh "Gotta get that out on the water soon" but it doesn't move, is just an expensive garden ornament, but wait, in the next two months I definitely will, I must ... . Funny, and it IS a guy thing, that women tend to be the cause of all our woes!

Birthday greetings Nels (we're the same age currently, 66). For everyone, he seems to 'hide his light under a bushell'! So for those that might have missed it or haven't heard him, see his 25th anniversary of FlightSim interview last year: SKYBLUERADIO. Willy Canuck show "Hagis and poutine" 16 May 2021, 1h59m30s long. https://pod.co/sky-blue-radio/willy-...-nels-anderson 5 parts to the interview (times below are where in the show the parts occur), in between is music. Welcome and intro of the show by Willy 4m54s Part 1 ...16m15s-...26m35s Part 2 ...35m53s-...44m19s Part 3 ...55m09s-1h03m47s Part 4 1h16m45s-1h26m47s Part 5 1h35m45s-1h49m17s

NavyDoc, I concur with everything Napamule says. 'Don't delay, fly today!' And it's easy once you get a basic setup, the tutorials build into the software will teach you everything, starting from your first instructional flight in your Cessna. Then learning how to putter about your local 'home airport'. Choose a small airport as your home base, with only general aviation (GA) small aircraft at it and coming and going to it [you can turn off that artificial intelligence generated traffic, suggest you do as a newbie, my local YLIS doesn't have any, being a real country strip] and learn what a 'circuit' is and how to fly it properly. Heaps of fun, and yes, you learn something new each time you fire up the sim. You can mix some serious training (in your Cessna) with just pure, plain fun trying your hand at the big aircraft. (As I'm sure you've seen already, look at the companion thread 'Spoilt-for-choice'.) Irrespective of your activity, this website FlightSim.com is a great international fraternity to be in, don't be shy, ask heaps of questions, put in your 5 cents worth etc. Enjoy!

As you can see ' P O Prune', the jury is still out re MSFS, some have no probs, others do. Given you've got your trusty WinXP box with FS2004 on it, why not just continue to use it. I do. And no need or point to be connected to the Internet, my box isn't (of course you might wish to so you can get live weather etc. but I never have bothered. My needs are simple, I have limitied time to fly, so have contented myself with the built-in stuff in my FS2002 (WinXP): the tutorials are good, got internal ATC and traffic (pretend but it does the job, helps me to learn how to interact with it). Just get yourself a yoke, makes a big difference (I got mine from my local recycling shop, cleaned it up, works fine, cost $15!). Suggest you 'get back in the saddle' with 04 and see if you're that interested before you spend big pounds and much time (and perhaps anguish) modernising. As I and others say, for us, our interest is to fly, not fiddle with the technology endlessly (and I've had to do a fair bit of the latter, what a headache, much of what I've tried hasn't worked and not what I want to spend my precious free time on). Good luck.

There are many gurus in this forum who are very advanced (in tech, but also in age like us! But I'm only a youngster at 66!) who will give you good advice. Don't rule out using older software, which runs on older and newer hardware without too much hassle (and has the advantage that what was top line stuff needing top line hardware 10 years ago, runs on just about any standard equipment circa 2018 - 2022, albeit with perhaps some Windows compatibility issues, e.g .Windows 10 etc.). There is a very large user base of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 (FS2004, FS04, FS9 being version 9) solid stalwarts on this website. Unless you have good IT skills and much patience, my reading of the many posts seems to indicate that the latest product, Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) can be a real headache (however is stunning visually it seems). Much good software is available second-hand via e-Bay etc, for just a few $. Like most things, much choice, which in itself can be a headache to navigate. One possible option, if you can find it, is to buy a complete setup - software installed on hardware, possibly including peripherals of yoke, pedals etc. from someone who is upgrading, so you can see it working and nothing for you to configure. Would be cheaper, and no setup needed, just get it home, plug in and fly!

Hi 'P O Prune'. Given your simple needs, if you have already FS2004 perhaps that suffices. What is/was the problem with it re Windows? (I use FS2002, and recently when my PC had issues, I moved the hard drive into another PC and rejigged the registration thingy so that it works fine for me now, with a little work-around which is simple).

The actual aircraft is on free permanent display at Brisbane International Airport, 'Kingsford Smith Memorial'. Have visited it a few times. Charles Kingsford-Smith called it 'the old bus'.

Very good points lnuss. Yep, of course, before one can even try one's hand at a circuit, the fundamentals of an aircraft's controls, the air surfaces, need to be mastered. All this complexity is what makes flight sim world so interesting, never a dull moment or nothing more to learn. And yes, in my old 'legacy' software, FS2002, the in-built tutorials - the Rod Machado lessons are all very good. I've done some of them. Also, when one gets bored with doing 'the same old thing', the sims have in-built so many cool things to try. Re FrankPilot's post 'An easier way to land?', the 'Jacobson flare', have just watched a YouTube of Captain Jacobson explaining it. Very entertaining video including his description of his career.

Whilst this forum seems to be mostly about getting software working well including FS2020 (MFS), thought might be good to post a thread for new pilots. As many of us say, and sometimes forget, then remember again, nothing beats self-training in a disciplined way: if you really want to learn to fly and understand how it's done, in real life and in the sim, the fundamentals, simple stuff, is the place to spend some time. Circuit training is fundamental. Funny, I've been dabbling with FS for about 20 years, with big gaps, basically am a 66 year old 'old experienced newbie'! Given working full-time, life in general, not much time for the hobby. Having got 6 hours solo in a glider in my 20s under my belt, so was trained properly, the fundamental knowledge and training keeps coming back to remind me. Situational awareness, knowing where you are at all times, including height in relation to the ground, where you're intending to go, your compass heading. Although I'm very good with compass knowledge, just never seemed to click in my head, in an automatic, simple, ready-reckoner way, to think about my circuit headings before I start the circuit practice, until yesterday. E.g. from my local strip: take off runway 15, left circuit (4 x 90 degree left turns)), hence legs: depart 15, cross-wind 15-9=6, downwind 6-9=-3 i.e. 36-3=33 (the reverse direction of the take-off strip), cross-wind 33-9=24, final 24-9=15 (of course!). Thought "huh, why haven't I realised that before, how easy it is to calculate in my head"!). Scribbled this on paper (should be part of my preparation before flight: what am I going to do, where am I going to go, how am I going to do it? Ans: a standard left circuit (1000 ft altitude above ground standard circuit). (I learnt a year ago to set the heading bug on the compass to the landing heading, just hadn't bothered to learn that before, made life a lot easier having that visual guide to my orientation. Paid dividends as my circuits were no longer totally embarrassing!) So a message to newbies, especially those without any flight training - have fun playing with all the different aircraft, airports etc. including the airliners, jets etc., but also give time to getting the fundamentals right, and just as in real aviation, that means puttering around a circuit in a Cessna or similar. You'll find your enjoyment increases many fold when you do play with the bigger stuff.

Yahoo!!! 'Back in the saddle again' after months of no flying. So now can try the Charles Wood's material.

Yahoo!!! My Xmas present to self is what I know many of us experience, dead equipment - after hours of research on the Internet (thank God for it, and YouTube videos etc.), just now was able to get audio back into my WinXP FS2002 setup, on a Lenovo ThinkCentre MT - M 6077 - AT8 S/N L3B5959 (M57 desktop, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU), using the hard drive from my dead HP Workstation that I used to use. Needed the audio driver in WinXP so it could talk to the onboard audio on the Lenovo motherboard. All working fine 'out of the box', frame-rate and audio is good. Downloaded and installed the driver recommended on the Lenovo website (very good legacy support there). And amazing, it worked! Just flew a circuit at my local airport, with CH Products yoke. So 'back in the saddle again'. Can now try the various toys floating around, e.g. in the FS2004 forum Vor ndb and ils page online. Also want to try a download I did years ago from FlightSim library re Charles Kingsford Smith (later Sir), his 'Southern Cross' trimotor. (That's the guy who flew for first time USA to Australia in 1928 Trans-Pacific flight. (The airplane is on display at Brisbane Airport.)

Just looked at Charles Wood's 'Flight Simulator Navigation' website (what a great facility is that Way Back Machine, thanks Tom for the link). It's the nav training Cessna, on the other page via the button 'What you need' https://web.archive.org/web/20200627224122/http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/aircraft.htm Have downloaded the plane zip file for FS2002. Will try and see if it works. Also started to watch that first video, is very good, the guy is explaining things in a nice manner at a good pace, not too fast. (Have studied all this in years past in the very good hardcopy manual that came with FS2000, so having videos and Charle's tutorials that you can actually practice with is very good.)

Same to you and yours plainsman. Seeing you posted this in FS02 forum, I presume the screenshot is from FS02? Am planning to spend today trying to get audio back working on my WinXP FS02 setup and if successful, get back flying in FS02 after a long break due to PC issues.

Thanks Dom, same to you and yours. Very classy ad. Amazing how they did all those props and things, must have cost them a heap. (Wonder how they created all those old internal Heathrow airport sceneries, surely they don't exist for real. And all the extras actors in period costume. Wow. Big $. Very nice little story. Again, pure class!

Hi borisvp. Just interested, I take it then that FS2004 (FS9) can still connect with VATSIM via Swift. Any news/idea how long VATSIM's Swift will continue to support FS9? Am a FS2002 user but might 'get modern' and upgrade to FS9. Years ago I studied up about VATSIM and did connect from FS2002 via Squawkbox, a few times, did the right thing and sat in my Cessna on the grass as 'Observer', watched VATSIM aircraft taxiing and taking off, listening and learning the radio comms. I wasn't ready to join in, being a novice. When I did decide a few years later to try my luck, VATSIM had just ditched Squawkbox and brought in Swift which didn't support FS2002. So I gave up!

Just finished reading Shawn Weigelt's review of the X-Plane Cirrus addon. In his Conclusion is this cautionary para: "For whatever reason, vFlyteAir products are surprisingly resource heavy. I don't know what causes this, but there are other add-on airplanes from other companies out there that are able to deliver not only stunning looking products, but also ones that are still usable and easier on the hardware. Any potential vFlyteAir SR20 customer should definitely make sure their system has what it takes to run this aircraft before making a purchase decision.". Might be an issue for you Bert,

Hi Bert, throwing in my 5 cents from Aussie, very admirable for 'Uncle Bert' to be doing what you and the family are doing. Sounds like your nephew is the pilot type - calm, quite etc. And yes, the guys are GREAT re good advice. One point which it's clear from your very precise posts, is that I'm sure you appreciate that being computer stuff, whatever in theory should work, might or might not on an individual machine. So perhaps, yes, go with your plan, but a great Xmas gift is to simply promise him the gear and setup ongoing, it's a matter of trying a certain installation and see how it goes, then add to it incrementally. Am sure, by what you describe of him, that he'll be just as chuffed getting your 'gift card' rather than the actual software and hardware on Xmas day etc.) Please keep us posted about how it goes. (For me, I only learned to fly in a Blanik glider in 1979, 24 yrs old, and remember the thrill of realising my childhood dream. Went solo then accrued 6 hrs solo, in the Northern Territory, 100km south of Darwin, Australia. At 66 yrs, am 'old school' and for my needs, FS2002 running on Windows XP is all I need, runs fine on an older PC. There's plenty of good, cheap software on eBay etc. including FS2002, FS2004 etc, CDs etc. if that interests you. I have the Logitech Flightsim Joystick shown on Sporty's Pilot Shop and also an old CH Products 'FLIGHTSIM' yoke that I refurbished which works as good as new, I prefer the yoke as it's much more sensitive and 'gentle' i.e. more realistic than the joystick which is too 'jerky' but I never fiddled with the settings to make it smoother perhaps. I fly the standard Cessna 172, which like the Cirrus, is best for new pilots to practice training things.) This thread is interesting for me (and probably others) also, as the gurus' opinions about what software will run on what hardware is always informative. I agree with all that has been said, any sim, whilst probably not totally realistic for the feel and handling of any aircraft, will generally be very good for overall education and orientation, e.g. airport layout, taxing, procedures onground, in air, practicing circuits, radio comms etc., as aviation 'good practice' is international and all the same overall. Final suggestion, why not get your nephew to sign up to FlightSim.com after Xmas and he can start his own journey in this fraternity.

Am back baby! (Well at least a little bit! Re #17 29 Oct 21) Apologies for posting this in a Win11 thread. Isn't YouTube wonderful. Studied quite a few websites and forums, and found that there's such a very simple, easy workaround to the WinXP Activation issue when you move a hard drive to a new mainboard. Here's a good British video . It floats my boat, or flys my plane, for my simple needs I simply repeat the procedure monthly in the first instance, only takes a minute, 12x/yr. Just fired up Win2000 and enjoying the classic Cessna takeoff from Meigs Field, Chicago. When I tried to fire up FS2002 it said there was a missing .bgl file, and to reinstall FS02. I can do that, have the original CDs. What joy, after a few months of no simming, can now get 'back in the saddle.'

Very informative thread. Thanks gents. (Once I can get back up and running with my FS2002 I'll implement the thread's wisdom.)

Thanks heaps Col, just watched the video, very good. We also have a laptop with Win10 Home and it's so slow. Suppose I better 'gird my loins' and step up and try some stuff, also to persevere with my WinXP on my old hardware. Just get tired thinking about it! (It really is alarming and annoying, like how 'CyberCPU Tech' in the video mentions about the constant telemetry traffic back to MS. I just wish a company would sell us their product and then leave us alone, but those days are gone forever. Am dubious re the benefits of frequent updates, security fixes etc. outweighing the negatives.)