ScottishMike

It just appeared out of a cloud, coming from the south, crossing his track just 2000' below to disappear again in more cloud as it headed north. A De Havilland DH-88 Comet. (https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/aircraft/de-havilland-dh88-comet-racer/) John had never seen one in flight before. Yet there it was; passing just 2000' below him, another racer even older than the Spitfire. It must be a sign, an omen, it had to mean something. What were the chances of two vintage racers crossing paths like that? What was it trying to tell him? John put his hand on the bulkhead, felt the vibrations from the Griffon. Glanced at the instruments: The Griffons' confident growl more like an anguished cry. RPM needle bouncing of maximum at 2500 RPM, manifold pressure almost 70. Surprisingly temperatures OK. He would do this no more! He didn't care what Mike or anyone said, he was not going to rip the hart out of this bird. He gradually reduced throttle and propeller pitch till RPM was below the red line around 2050 RPM Manifold pressure dropped to around 50. temperatures only dropped slightly. The fuel and oil quantity gauges didn't work properly anyway. With the tail wind he had been cruising at around 430 kts, it dropped to 373 kts. He didn't mind, in fact he felt good, better than he had in months. Ash Face at his finest over Pueblo and half way time check. Heading for Kansas, and as if by divine intervention tail wind increased to around 53 kts. Maybe his reward for treating this old lady kindly. Around 100 n.m. to run. Cruising around 370 kts. Diving for Hill City Runway in sight Parked at Hill City and final time check. He calculated the time: 1 hour 13 minutes and 2 seconds. Not too shabby and he felt good inside, better than he had for a long time. He could relax, at least till the Queen arrived. He wondered what Mike's reaction would be to keeping to a more reasonable speed.

“Who on earth are they?” “That's the Squitts Porridge Oats team” I piped up: “Our sponsors”. In front of the Spitfire two guys in full Scottish dress, one with bagpipes, had stretched a banner out. On it was the Squitts logo and in large bold type: Squitts Porridge Oats. The photographer snapping away saw us approaching: “lets get some with the pilot in the plane, that'll look great” John looked at me for approval, I nodded, but not sure it was going to add much if anything. Still he could always be photoshopped out later. Happy with the shoot the photographer, Squitts Marketing Manager and the two Scottish dressed Mexicans departed. “Let's get this plane in the air, I have a good feeling about today!” Suzanne looked at me as if I was crazy:”You never told us about the sponsor.” “Wanted you and Ash Face to...Ow! That hurt! Sorry, you and John, to concentrate on the task at hand. Look at John now, almost smiling cos the photographer described him as great. In that state he'll probably forget half the briefing. Anyway I'll explain about Squitts as we follow on to Kansas in the crate.” “Spit's’s fuelled and ready, flight plan is loaded, all is working as it should.” Suzanne smiled and gave the thumbs up. I stretched up to John: “Remember only start descending AFTER Pueblo, that's about half way, if the wind is not a help climb back up to 20,000. And keep ABOVE the mountains before Pueblo.” “OK he's on his way. Is all your junk stowed in the Queen?” “Yes” she smiled. Her work done till meeting up with John later in Hill City. “You going to pilot?” “Ok she replied.” Goodbye Cortez. “Where do you think John will be now?” “Look in my flight bag. I prepared an expected rough time sheet for him.” She nodded to her bag behind the pilots' seat. John felt at home in the air, alone. A navigator would be company but he's not sure he would appreciate it. Suzanne and I had been silent for the last twenty minutes as I left her to concentrate on guiding the Queen through the mountains without climbing above 8500'. “You remembered I suffer from altitude headache at much over our current altitude. I'm flattered.” “You're paying for this holiday, I have to keep you happy.” she replied. “Well actually I set up a charity to fund it.” “A charity? How does that work? I thought you were paying John and me directly.” “You haven't looked at the pay slips e-mailed to you, have you?” Suzanne looked at me for a second: “I check the money is in my account, that's good enough for me. So I'm a charity worker now.” “Well not exactly.” I replied. “You're a contractor working for Golden Aviation Consultancy. The Consultancy is providing aviation staff to the charity.” “So how is the charity making money?” “That's where Squitts Porridge Oats comes in. They think it's a great basis for their American advertising campaign. “Squitts loves America and America loves Squitts” With pictures and film of the Spitfire in the American towns and cities we are visiting. We have agreed a substantial sum if we come first on a downward scale for other placings. Of course the charity has to pay it's expenses but any surplus we distribute to needy aged aviators, Military or civilian.” “And I take it you own that Golden Consultancy company? It sounds similar to the Golden Freight Forwarding company you own” “Actually I don't own either company. I am a director of both, but only have a small shareholding.” “So who is the big cheese?” She asked while negotiating her way between clouds and hard looking mountain sides. “The majority shareholder in both is Golden Aviation Holdings, based in Jersey.” I answered. “And you are the Managing Director or CEO of the holding company?” “Actually no, again I am a director, but the majority shareholder is a trust fund based in the British Virgin Islands.” “You are something else! I've lost track of who is paying for what.” “According to your time sheet John should be approaching Pueblo by now”

I am a bit confused by what you mean by your: Addon Scenery\Landclass folder Is it a folder you have created? When you say you moved the Split landscape files into that folder do you mean the: Split Landscape 2004/Scenery folder or the actual files contained within it? What else is in the Addon Scenery\Landclass folder? Davor Puljevic's instructions have lost something in translation and one detail is incorrect: " INSTALLATION: Unzip Split_Croatia2004 to the temporally folder. You will get two folders:Splitairport and Split-landscape2004. Copy both to FS2004 addon scenery folder. Start FS2004, use scenery library option and pick both sceneries to the list. Important:add first landscape and second airport scenery(Landscape must be lower(lower numeber) than airport in the list. If you download croatiamesh it must be the lowest in the list. Press OK and close FS2004. Start again FS2004 to activate new sceneries and enjoy. By Davor Puljevic, Zagreb, Croatia" What I think is clear is that the two foders Splitairport and Split-landscape 2004 both need to be entered seperatley in your scenery library with Splitairport as a higher priority (i.e. above Split landscape 2004 in the list) Split-landscape 2004 will have a LARGER number in the scenery list, not a lower one as Davor says in his instructions. I The items at the top of the list have the highest priority but the smallest number. Both the split folders need to appear on the list with Splitairport above Split-scenery 2004. I hope this helps.

“OK team, morning briefing, all bright eyed and bushy tailed I hope.” Looking round at the team of two seemed to indicate otherwise. “Before we start; the organisers want to know if the time we recorded yesterday is our official time. Anybody want to re-run the leg?...Please John can you keep your eyes open, that way I can kid myself you're following the conversation”. Silence. “OK yesterdays' time stands. For the record:” SCOTTISHMIKE SPITFIRE XIV Leg One 1hour 24minutes Distance: 519 n.m. Start 11:06:07 Local 18:06:07 GMT Arrival 13:30 Local 19:30 GMT Average speed 370.71 Kts Fuel 99.9% start 21.6% finish “ We are pretty much at max speed so we can only gain by doing a smart ascent and descent. John climb out at 3000' per minute, max throttle, 4 or 5 notches back on propeller. The critical part is leaning the mixture, gentle almost continuos decrease as you climb. Second critical part is what altitude to cruise at. Pay attention to the Hill City forecast.” Suzanne jabbed John in the ribs. “I'm awake., no need for that.” “Notice the upper air: unusual but at 5,010' wind is 208 degrees at 39 kt at around our usual 20,000' it's 199 degrees at 25 kt We will be heading 062 degrees so it may be we cruise quite low. John remember we are at 6000', don't try 5000' till we clear the Rockies. As JGF said you don't want “"attempt to descend below the level of surrounding terrain". On any reports.” “Oh, one more thing, we now have sponsors, so keep all receipts: hotels, food, petrol. Suzanne anything you need to buy for the plane document it. No point in having sponsor money and not using it. OK, let's get up to the airport and start the second leg. Another point, please someone send a note to Dangerous dave26; tell him not to turn left if he's departing KSMO Rwy 210. We dont want the FAA forbidding the race”

I flew a test trip in this Piaggio east from Genoa heading 100 degrees at 21,000' (So approaching Split from Italy in the west). I only started the descent 30 n.m. from Split and no problems. Did you check the priority of the two folders that make up the scenery?

Hello Mike, welcome to the forum. I have the scenery you mention installed, and indead the blue square appears on the GPS at zoom 100 and greater,and on the map. But I don't get crashes to desktop nor do I see the strange hills you mention. But one thing to check is that the "LDSP Split" scenery is above (a smaller priority number) than "LDSP Split Landscape" in your add-on scenery list: Your scenery list will probably look different to mine as I use an add-on application to manage scenery but the principal is the same. Incidentally flying into the blue square is not a problem. I flew to LDSS and landed at this grass strip without problems. Hope you get it sorted as the scenery is worth it, even if the blue square is a PITA.

It's taken me two weeks to get my pilot to remember to do a time check and record fuel quantity when he lands. If he does one of them I consider myself lucky. Not a good idea taxiing to the fuel, it would automatically go to 100% again, then there would be no way of knowing how much had been used on the flight. I think simple is best . Start time when the wheels leave the ground. Finish when the aircraft comes to a halt. I'm sure air traffic won't mind us stopping on the runway for a second or two to record fuel, time and take a couple of pictures.

The bar was busier, the Retro obviously came to life in the evening. John saw her look round. Spotting him alone, Suzanne joined him. “Thought you didn't like it in here?” “I don't, but it's cold and dark outside. Don't go heavy on those. Another long day tomorrow.” She replied. “Yeah, for what?” his speech slightly slurred. She wondered how long John had been sitting here, a beer and brandy chaser on the table. “What do you mean “For what?”?” she asked. “I was talking to one of the guys from Defaids' team. They seem to be having more fun. They have a navigator. The pilot's not alone. What do I do? Alone in the cockpit following a red line on a screen, a lot of fun that is.” Well, Suzanne thought, if he feels like that after completing the race leg over some of the worlds' most spectacular scenery heaven help us once he clears the Rockys. “My life is meaningless. No wife, or girl friend, kids. Nothing, just following that red line.” Why was it that when men got drunk they went one of two ways; aggressive or maudlin. “Just pretend you're following your yellow brick road.” She tried humour. She wondered weather he needed a hart or a brain, probably both. “What do you mean?” he replied, reference lost. “You're heading for Kansas tomorrow.” a hint might help. “So?.” He replied. “Never mind. You need to get yourself to bed ready for tomorrow.” “And what happened to our chase plane? Mike promised a jet, a Challenger or a Lear not that Brazilian army surplus crate we've ended up with.” “I'll talk to Mike tomorrow as we chug along behind you in the crate. Now lets get you to your room.”. She got him to his room, opened the door and shoved him in, slamming the door behind him. No way was she going in the room. The man with no bmp seemed to be losing his mojo as well. To clear her head she decided to walk to the airfield, check the Spitfire and crate were ok.

“OK, guys and gals, team de-brief”. We congregated in a corner of the Retro Inn. “Just keep your voices down, I think Defaid and his team are still here.” The inn had a retro feel to it, dark wood and poor lighting, good Brandy though. “This place smells like an old man cave, old cigars, stale beer and B.O.” Suzanne added. Yes, relaxing, I thought, but said nothing. “OK let's move outside.” We sat at one of the wooden pic-knick tables, sharp clear mountain air a nice change from L.A. “John, good and bad?” I asked “Well, it all seems good, the problem is getting more speed. 380 Kts at 20,000' is not bad but the Sea Fury is faster. I am pretty sure I had prop and mixture at optimum. I tried climbing to 22,000' but the speed dropped from 406 Kts to 403” “You climbed just as the wind dropped, so maybe it was that. Try climbing again on the next leg. Try at 25,000'.” I added. We had had a tail wind swinging from 200 to 218 degrees at 17 to 19 Kts giving us a cruise up to 406 kts. Around the Nevada border the wind swung round to between 111 and 135 degrees at 10 to 9 Kts. negating some of the gain. As luck (and the Cortez forecast) had it, the wind dropped to zero around the second Colorado crossing. “Also the autopilot acts strangely” John added “The altitude and vertical climb on the “modern” stack work as they should, but to set heading I have to use the old unit. Suzanne set the bug to 053 degrees before departure, once this heading is in it's not possible to change it. I had to use the grey turn knob to change course. Not too much of a problem if I'm just following the red line on the GPS though.” “Anything you would like the organisers to change?” I asked. “It would be nice if they provide a table of who has entered and times and stages completed.” Suzanne added. “Well, I've tried to keep track, so far I think it's as follows:” JSMR Mustang P-51D Still testing TaofTedal Sea Fury Leg one 1hr 22m (Might have completed more as well) ViperPilot2 F-5E (P-38J) Still testing Defaid Mosquito Leg one 1hr 36m JGF P-38 Leg one 2hr 12m DangerousDave26 B-29 Still testing and us of course: ScottishMike Spitfire IVX Leg one 1hr 24m “Anybody anything else they would like to add?” silence. “OK, briefing for the next leg first thing tomorrow morning.”

Early start, Suzanne preparing the spitfire. I'm briefing John, weather reports are in: Cortez Municipal (KCEZ) details: Ready for departure, 99.9% fuel and flight plan loaded into GPS. John is ready to go Wheels up: 11:06 local (GMT 18:06) Climbing out over LA smog: Fog in the San Gabriel Mountains, glad I don't have to land here: Grand canyon and approx. half way (almost exactly 40 mins. elapsed from start: Approaching the arid corner of Utah, not too long to run now: Cortez on final: Total time: 1hr. 24 mins. Distance 519 n.m. Average speed 370.71 Kts.

We sat round the terrace table, the sun setting over the ocean, the golden glow diffused by the LA haze. Papers scattered on the table, facts and figures dissecting the second day of testing. “Well done Ash” I patted his shoulder; he had done all we asked of him. Suzanne and I had analysed the figures. Ash was a great pilot but not the sharpest blade in the prop. We had tested on a timed run from Santa Monica to Monterey and back. We had started with 100% fuel. Ash climbed the plane to 20,000' (It used 6% fuel to get there, it was not a maximum rate climb but not too gradual either) then when at 20,000' turned to fly back over KSMO heading for Monterey. We started the clock when overhead KSMO. The straight line distance KSMO to KMRY (Monterey) and back was measured at 490 n.m. Ash sipped his beer relaxing after the stressful flight. “Spanner eyes” Suzanne enjoying her Pina Colada satisfied with the aircraft's performance, in no small part down to her skills. Fuel consumption had been a concern, however the test flight was completed with 24% fuel remaining (490 n.m plus the initial climb out and up, estimated at an additional 40 n.m.). “Not bad eh?” Suzanne said “Some 530 n.m. At full speed and 24% fuel remaining . The longest leg of the race is 519 n.m. My tank could take another Colada.” “I'm off to bed. Big day tomorrow” Ash left the bar terrace and ambled off towards his room. “Fuel is OK but our average speed is not good, from these figures it averages out at only 220 Kts. How can an aircraft fly at a steady 379 Kts and only average out at 220? The figures don't even include the take off and climb to 20,000'.” Suzanne took a large sip of her Pina Colada “Mike, John was flustered, and please stop calling him Ash, do you think he's not aware of his lost bmp? Now he might lose his licence as well.” “What are you talking about?” I asked dumbfounded “John didn't want to tell you. You can be quite intimidating. He decided to climb out on a left circle, so he would be over KSMO at altitude and heading north towards Monterey. He forgot turning left after departing Rwy 21 would take him right over LAX. Air traffic got a little irate, there was some radio chatter about a report going to the FAA. John said it was difficult to make out as two or three heavies were on the radio as well, not happy having to do non-standard go a rounds to avoid him and each other. After that John's time keeping might have been a little less than accurate”. “That settles it! We go tomorrow before any action can be taken.” “OK, ready when you are.” She replied. Diving curved final for KSMO: “What about navigation? Did you know John got lost yesterday, he couldn't find Santa Monica on the map or GPS, it took him several minutes to realise he had overshot L.A. and was in fact over San Diego.” Suzanne replied: “I thought he was late returning but was busy with other stuff so didn't really notice. Navigation equipment fitted is good and bad. A GPS is fitted as well as a reasonable radio stack. But we have no form of direction finding equipment, but distance measuring is there. The GPS is stand alone, there is no GPS/NAV switch available. The autopilot is antiquated but serviceable. I thought we could plot a track for him on the GPS, he'll have to follow it manually but he should manage.” “What about weather?” I asked. “Very much up to you, you're the boss. You can go calm and clear out of the box or chance your arm with real weather, we might get a tail wind to help or a nasty head wind. But in the spirit of things you decide first. No looking at real weather first and if it doesn't suit going for clear and calm out of the box. OK?” I reluctantly agreed. North America, prevailing winds Westerly. “OK, we take a chance and go with real weather!”.

This afternoon was the first test flight. Not the best time for Ash Face to admit this was the first time he had flown the aircraft. Still nothing I could do about it now. Upwards and onwards. The test revealed good and bad, at 8000' the max ground speed appeared to be around 338 kts, at 20,000' 377 Kts and 25,000' 379 Kts so not as fast as I expected. Mixture control was critical to get best GS (Ground Speed). On the positive side, handling was excellent, almost docile, first landing was only a three bouncer, with practice this will improve. On the bad side on a second climb to 25,000' the plane suddenly stalled and went into a spin, I only regained control at around 9,000' after going through the red mist a couple of times. I will have to investigate to see what went wrong. Probably a too steep climb, at lower altitude the rate of climb is remarkable around 3000' / minute maintaining a GS of over 300 Kts. At the time I was at 4* simulation speed so was climbing rapidly. I suspect as one reaches around 18,000' to 20,000' one has to reduce the rate of climb rapidly (this I had not done.). More testing tomorrow, I suspect better management of the prop control could give further speed improvements. I also need to measure fuel consumption with precision, initial indications are that this is not too bad.

We decided to enter the race. Probably the only Scottish entry. Not an easy decision, so many problems to overcome; would the aircraft be ready? Would the pilot, John “ash face” Johnson be capable? (His loss of colour relates to a sorry tale of unrequited love, too long and sad to tell here). Would our chief mechanic, the beautiful “spanner eyes” Suzanne agree to come to the USA and support us in this crazy venture? She had had a bad experience in the past that gave rise to her nickname. An American visitor to Scotland met her at Aberdeen airport were she worked; he was visiting a golf course he claimed to own, the man swore that on looking in her eyes his nuts tightened. Unfortunately his internal torque wrench was faulty and his nuts stripped. But enough of the background, Spanner Eyes and Ash Face are both here in Santa Monica and the beast has been rolled out of the hanger for its' first check over: First running of the engine on USA soil, all seems to be working OK Checking the instruments, all looks good! Some notes on the aircraft from A.F. Scrub that great restorer of WWII aircraft and one of Suzanne's heroes (I can't imagine his torque wrench ever being faulty). FSX/Fs2004 Spitfire Mk XIV clipped Type info: The Mk XIV was the most important of the Griffon powered Spitfires, and the only one to see significant wartime service. It used the two-speed two-stage supercharged Griffon 61 or 65, giving 2,050 hp and a significantly improved performance at higher altitudes when compared to the earlier Griffon powered Mk XII. The Mk XIV was based on the Mk VIII fuselage, already strengthened to cope with the Merlin 61 engine. Early models used the “c” type universal wing (four 20mm cannon or two 20mm cannon and four .303in machine guns), while later production used the “e” wing (two .50in machine guns instead of the .303s). The Griffon engine improved the performance of the Spitfire at all heights. Tests in early 1944 found it to be faster than the Mk IX at every altitude, with the best rate of climb yet seen. The only area not to see any improvement was manoeuvrability, which did not rely on the engine but on the airframe. It had a similar advantage over the Fw 190A, which had a similar performance to the Mk IX. The only problem posed by the Griffon was that it span in the opposite direction to the Merlin. Merlin powered Spitfires had tended to veer left on takeoff. The Mk XIV veered to the right instead. The superior performance of the Mk XIV made it the ideal aircraft to deal with the menace of the V-1. No.91 Squadron, based at West Malling, ended up with the best record against the flying bomb, shooting down 184 with its Mk XIVs. The "Universal" wing allowed to install the four cannons, or two 20-mm cannon and two 12.7-mm Browning machine guns. In total more than 900 fighters"Spitfire " Mk XIV were built. After WW2, Mk XIV were flown by many countries into the early fifties. I'll keep you posted on the progress (or not) of team Scotland.

And luckily none are so realistic as requiring you to pass a medical each year and complete a given number of hours before being allowed to take off. How realistic do you want the sim to be? Even multi million pound simulators take you nowhere. “I've just flown from Milan to Paris! Without problems.” I'll announce, and my wife reminds me “You've gone nowhere! You're still sitting in the corner of the living room.”. That suspension of disbelief and immersion happen in your mind. Unfortunately as we get older imagination fades and we become self conscious; we no longer play, we simulate and model. As PhrogPhlyer said it is in no small part down to what floats your boat (or flies your plane).

I've never seen the point in getting into a pissing contest between different flight sims; each will have things it does well others not so well and some things not at all. What matters is knowing what is important to you and how well, if at all, the software you are contemplating buying handles your requirements. (Often not as easy as it sounds). We are all pretty unique in how we sim. My set-up is a desk in a corner of the living room, I have two speakers, a 19” monitor, a mouse and keyboard. My internet connection is OK at 62 mbits. Most of the time the room is shared with the rest of the family, I like to be able to keep half an ear on the conversation and not be totally isolated from them. With FS9 I can do this and be as immersed in the sim as I wish while not isolated from others in the room. (A VR head set would be too isolating). The nature of the virtual cockpits in MSFS2020 means multiple monitors and/or a VR headset are almost essential. I have used my keyboard and mouse successfully since FS3 (no joystick, no pedals, no throttles). If I wanted full immersion I'd hire a plane from my aero club and go for a real flight (assuming I could afford the hours to keep my licence current and pass the medical). The degree of props required for us to have that “Suspension of Disbelief” and subsequent immersion varies from person to person. When we were kids two pieces of wood nailed together sufficed, we could then “fly it” round the back yard, the plane could morph from a barnstorming biplane to a B52 and that patch of gravel from JFK to an arctic strip. Unfortunately as we grow older the imagination wanes and we become self conscious, we can no longer “play” we now model and simulate. Lets all get back to playing the sim game we enjoy.

In FS9 go to VIEW, from the drop down menu select VIEW OPTIONS, In the box that appers activate the radio button for SPOT PLANE Make sure the GRADUAL TRANSITION box is NOT ticked In the TYPE box select LOOP Click OK Go back to main screen: You can now cntrol the spot plane position using SHIFT+numeric pad numbers (ensure Num Lock is NOT on) The distance of the spot plane view using SHIFT+ (Minus-) or (Equals=) keys Hope above helps

I am back with FS9. In April I purchased MSFS2020 and installed it. You can read my initial reaction as I compared the two sims in my post “Am I Trans or Bi?” posted in the MSFS2020 General Discussion section of the forum. (It would be good if the Admin team could copy it to this FS2004 section). At the time I was not sure if I would transition to MSFS2020 or use both sims. I have gravitated back to FS9. There are several reasons. One is my love of watching my aircraft in flight, this is possible through the spotter window in FS9, MSFS2020 could have been even better but the external camera view cannot be opened in a separate window; why? The only way to control the plane and see it in flight is that dicky seat at the back of the rudder (see original post). Secondly the cockpit instruments are difficult to see without panning around the cockpit (when they are not so dark as to be invisible), meaning one has to set up multiple short cuts to pre set views or invest in a VR headset. The last thing you want when on short final is trying to remember which key combination will show the required lever or gauge, oops too late you've hit the tree short of the runway! The third disappointment was the disappearance of the GPS; the MSFS2020 VFR map is a poor substitute (at least it can be opened in a window) for the FS9 GPS or the FS9 Map. The fourth is the investment in aircraft and scenery built up over 19 years of using FS9 now with over 2000+ aircraft and 1800+ add-on sceneries. This is not a fault of MSFS2020 but an inevitable result of any new software having to compete with older well established and stable software.

Firstly thanks to steveboston, Rupert and Nels_Anderson for the comprehensive replies The answer to my own question after three months is: I have gravitated back to FS9. There are several reasons. One is my love of watching my aircraft in flight, this is possible through the spotter window in FS9, MSFS2020 could have been even better but the external camera view cannot be opened in a separate window; why? The only way to control the plane and see it in flight is that dicky seat at the back of the rudder. Secondly the cockpit instruments are difficult to see without panning around the cockpit (when they are not so dark as to be invisible), meaning one has to set up multiple short cuts to pre set views or invest in a VR headset. The last thing you want when on short final is trying to remember which key combination will show the required lever or gauge, oops too late you've hit the tree short of the runway! The third disappointment was the disappearance of the GPS; the MSFS2020 VFR map is a poor substitute (at least it can be opened in a window) for the FS9 GPS or the FS9 Map. The fourth is the investment in aircraft and scenery built up over 19 years of using FS9 now with over 2000+ aircraft and 1800+ add-on sceneries. This is not a fault of MSFS2020 but an inevitable result of any new software having to compete with older well established and stable software.

I have the North American B-25J If you want you can send me a private message with your e-mail and I can zip the file and send it. I have an IAI Arava but it is by Victor M. Astiz. The IAI Westwind 2 I have is by Peter Brun of Lider Tours fame. regards Mike license.txt

The point I am trying to make is that what we expect from the .air file and aircraft.cfg is in some ways misguided (one could say naïve?). The example of the TU-114 is that it flies well and close to its' published specs, yet if you look at the aircraft.cfg the engine is not even defined as a turboprop (it's defined as a jet) so its' distinctive props are not defined at all. We have an expectation that the equations used to join all the variables would, if all variables are entered correctly, perfectly reflect the real aircraft. As others in the previous posts have pointed out it does not work out to be true. Pragmatically it's best to look at the two files as means to make the simulated aircraft fly as we wish. Forget what the variables are called, any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental. Without the equations being published it becomes more of an art form than science. We are back to the: “tinker around and fly, re-tinker and re-fly” till the performance resembles what we want. I wonder if Asobo (MS2020) were given the equations? Or did they develop their own from scratch? Is there someone at Microsoft who developed the algorithms and he/she has long since left the company. Or do the maths only work well for the Stock Cessna 172 and Microsoft then also did a lot of fudging to make the other base aircraft work?

You may like to have a look at the cfg. and air files for Samdim's Tupolev TU-114 (the world's fastest prop aircraft) the props are 18 feet 4 inches (5.6m) in diameter and the tips did indeed go supersonic making the aircraft one of the noisiest ever; reportedly 110 Dbs INSIDE the passenger cabin!

Thanks Hans, life is just too short to fix everything. I can live with the oddity as it does not interfear with the approach or landing. In the pdf from CanarySim I posted it does say a mesh is included for the islands, but it does not cover El Hierro or La Gomera. It suggests a mesh that can be downloaded, but I never did so, maybee that would fix the problem: "Canarias Project 2006 by CanarySim. V1.0 Release Edition Project Canarias 2006 is the result of several months of non stop work and a lot of efforts trying to develop an scenery for FS2004. Using the best tools and materials available we’ve reached an unprecedent realism level never seen before. Some of the main features you’ll be able to find out are these ones.. enjoy! - 19.1 m resolution mesh (never seen in any other scenery!) for La Palma, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. 76.4 m resolution mesh are available for El Hierro and La Gomera. - Full photorrealistic coverage for all islands packaged, using colour correct" Regards Mike

Attached is the original PDF for the scenery and below a pic of the sceneries I use for the Canaries important.pdf

I decided to visit the islands, and indeed the problems are there. They do tend to change with disrance. Apart from the sea walls it is very nice scenery: Pic1 El Hierro from a distance (the problem is visible to the left of the picture). Pic 2 Closer to GCHI airport: Pic 3: Water up the left side of GCHI Pic 4: Sea up the cliffs further round the island. Pic 5: Same problem on the neighbouring island of La Gomera although the problem goes away as you get closer. See left of pic. Pic 6: no problem as one gets closer: Still fantastic scenery.