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Aptosflier

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About Aptosflier

  • Birthday May 15

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  • Location
    Aptos, California
  • Occupation
    Retired

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  1. I've been having fun flying landing patterns "in" Charles Lindbergh's famous plane. I've seen the real thing hanging from the ceiling at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the 1950s Jimmy Stewart film about Lindbergh's flight from Long Island to Paris (in real time, I might add). But the Spirit of St. Louis's addition to MSFS's fleet gives you a virtually real idea of what it must've been like to fly this plane.
  2. Another adventure in our local simulated wild blue yonder -- I "flew" the Cessna 172 float plane from Watsonville to the Lexington Reservoir west of San Jose. I pass this reservoir while driving to and from the Bay Area on adjacent Highway 17, a winding four-lane mountain road (road summit, 1,800 ft.) which is our main connection to Silicon Valley. In this video, I followed the highway to the reservoir for a water landing.
  3. Daher Kodiak 100, KORD visual RWY 9L, 18-26 kt crosswind, 180 degrees. Fun!
  4. I took the DA40NG up for some hand-flying practice and virtual sightseeing in my real-life neighborhood.
  5. Hand flew the C172 float plane from Whistler back to Squamish, B.C. where I went missed and around -- twice -- before landing. Next, following the sound, I flew the Daher Kodiak from Squamish to Vancouver, landing at Vancouver, Intl. with a little directional help from the tower. I'd laid in a simple flight plan -- destination, CYVR; 26L visual approach -- but GPS wasn't very helpful.
  6. Early in my MSFS 2020 career (Some 350-plus flight hours ago), I took off from Squamish, BC in search of my all-time favorite ski area, Whistler/Blackcomb. (Stats: one-mile vertical drop; longest run, seven miles.) I knew where to look -- adjacent to Green Lake -- and flew there but the ski area wasn't there back then. It is now, thanks to Asobo's recent Canada World Update. I "flew" there twice from Squamish, B.C. the closest airport; in the Beech G36 for an aerial tour of the two mountains, and also in the slower C172 float plane to land on the lake. There's supposed to be a seaplane base (Whistler/Green Lake Seaplane Base, CAE5) at the Whistler Village end of the lake, but I didn't see it there.
  7. I've been flying a lot of practice approaches in the CJ4 lately, flying into KSJC from either KWVI (Watsonville, our actual local airport) or KSNS (nearby Salinas). Live weather being one of my favorite MSFS 2020 features, and real weather being pretty lively around here today (RAIN!), I decided to take another practice run in the jet. KSJC was "turned around" today because prevailing winds had switched from the usual north to south, and instead of my usual approach to ILS RWY 30L, I flew the reciprocal to ILS RWY 12R. I used VNAV to manage my descent from 5,000 ft. to the Faf at 1,800 ft.
  8. Are you referring to the Daher TBM 930 or the Daher Kodiak 100? I have the Logitech (Saitek) throttle quadrant. I've run into a throttle problem with it seemingly malfunctioning in the Kodiak. I think it may have something to do with liveries. For example, I recently tried to take off in a Kodiak with a yellow and blue livery and when I pushed the Logitech throttle forward, couldn't do more than taxi. But when I switched to the default livery, I no longer had a problem.
  9. I also ordered mine directly from Flight Velocity. I haven't contacted them. I can still trim using the toggle on my Logitech yoke and the small trim wheel on my Logitech multipanel. I've seen other reviews about Trim Wheel Pro failures after a few months of use. Good luck with yours.
  10. I got this trim wheel from Flight Velocity in May because I wanted a larger-diameter wheel than the one in my Logitech multipanel. I had to spin the multipanel wheel to effect the slightest pitch change in the sim. I was able to fine-tune trim adjustments with slight movements of the Trim Wheel Pro -- a big improvement. Unfortunately, the Flight Velocity wheel gave out after a couple of months. One day recently it worked; the next time I tried to use it, the Daher Kodiak I was flying nose dived. The big virtual trim wheel in the cockpit was spinning like a top. Checking the controls menu in the sim, I found that the white axis bar no longer moved when I turned the Trim Wheel Pro. It's dead. I don't think this is a question of a single defective product. I'm guessing it's more a general problem of defective design. Which is so disappointing, because I really liked this wheel while it worked.
  11. For reasons I don't understand, the ILS approach to RWY 30L didn't work for me in the twin-engine Beech King Air I was "flying." So I disengaged the autopilot, "went missed," flew around, and landed, all by hand. The King Air is a beast of an airplane and difficult to slow down even with the engines idling -- in Microsoft Flight Simulator at any rate. At one point I raised the nose to quickly shed airspeed. It's a technique that's called "mushing," and I used it to slow the plane to a safe speed range so I could lower the landing gear and extend the flaps.
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