TseTse

Wait, I thought EFIS was Electronic Flight INFORMATION System and was the small panel on airliners with the alphanumeric keypad that their flight plan was loaded on and accessed with!

 

Different people tend to call them different things, so IMO "Instrument" and "Information" are both acceptable.

 

As for the screen/keypad combination on airliners - they're called the "CDU" for "Control/Display Unit" or, if you ask Airbus, the MCDU where the M means "Multifunction". The CDU/MCDU(s) form a part of a larger system called the FMS (Flight Management System) which, from a technical perspective, involves the CDU/MCDU and an array of navigational equipment such as Nav/GPS receivers, flight guidance computers, database storage, etc.

It is indeed a Concorde - flying in formation with a company 777. I recall it was approaching KEWR. Flying the Concorde (which is already difficult enough to fly by itself) in formation with a subsonic airliner on approach was definitely challenging! It was 30 minutes of fun though!

I do quite a bit with my copy of FSX (well... now P3D2):

 

(1) As a PPL studying and training to get my instrument rating, I practice procedures on the sim before certain lessons. Although FSX is not the best and modelling flight characteristics (try spinning in FSX), as long as I have a good addon plane, I find it useful to practice checklist items on the sim.

 

(2) I fly occasionally on VATSIM just because. It's fun visiting places in the virtual world; I'm trying to finish a round-the-world trip on VATSIM. Started at EDDF, currently in PANC.

 

(3) Most of the airports I fly into IRL are small nontowered fields near KGGG. Since these airports are terribly replicated in stock scenery, I take the job to improve them myself. For example, I've added custom taxiway signs in KASL and am working on runways and taxiways. Scenery development is tedious but can be fun!

 

(4) The flight-sim world has developed some great addon planes in recent days! Justflight released the Fokker 27, Alabeo has the DA-42 and devs like QW and Aerosoft are at work on the 737 Classic series and the Pilatus PC-6, respectively. All these airplanes are models of significance in my life. I like to fly them around, sometimes recreating routes I remember from my childhood days (e.g. Twin Otter from Sentani to Wamena, Indonesia).

 

(5) Although my rig would never be able to produce such graphics as Jim Robinson's, my sim uses addons like Orbx, REX and ASN to enhance sim flying. I recommend all products to everyone with a decent rig.

 

...Try joining up on some poor AI dude... it's always fun to fly formation with AI, as you never know what they're gonna do.

 

Every month, I allot $20 or so in my budget to purchase FSX addons. My latest one, the Carenado C340, has been one of the best purchases I've made on an addon. Fun airplane to fly; the rudimentary AP makes it, as I know it, difficult to simply push the buttons and go nap.

 

I usually like to challenge myself in difficult flying conditions. In addition, as I'm currently in ground school, working towards getting my (real) flight training, I like to practice NDBs and VORs on the sim, as well as to hone in my airspaces knowledge.

 

If you are looking for some fun, you can go fly in one of those glitch airports in FSX. I lived in Sentani, Papua for 12 years, and the airport there (WAJJ) happens to be one of those glitch airports in FS (ever since FS2002). In real life, the Rwy30 end of the airport meets a lake, but in FS, this lake is 500 ft higher in elevation than the airport - WAJJ in FSX is effectively in a huge bowl of land, surrounded partially by a lake. Now try flying the Rwy30 approach in a 747; (1) the airport is only able to accomodate a 737 in real life, and (2) you'll have a 20* approach angle!