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Whizzer

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    Englewood, FL

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  1. Just getting around to dealing with the ancillary damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian here on the Florida Gulf coast. Our community got hammered and a small part of the damage to my home was the roof lifted and the console got drenched. The Alpha yoke and Bravo Throttle got wet. The pc doesn't seem to be connecting the dots and I can't check to see if the yoke or throttle are okay. Any suggestions of possible damage, if any? I am unable to assess them because the pc is funky. The monitor apparently shrugged off the water and seems to be okay but I only had it on for five minutes. My concern is damage to yoke or throttle down the road as I have no way of knowing, at this point, if water got inside and if so, what it might have done damage wise. My question is, would water have a long lasting effect on the internal parts of those devices? I know this is a sort of open ended inquiry but would appreciate any thoughts on the issue.
  2. WHEW! Finally got in some decent landings. Looking at the date when the first question was raised asking for help and coming to terms with my ability up to this point seems like a long time. But, things are beginning to come together. Funny how that works. Just is, a week or so ago it all started to fit into place and solidify. I haven't been using the sim every day but still often enough it seems like it was an absolute bear to get to a point where I felt there was progress being made. Still not totally satisfied and will keep working on landing. Next step is to learn about mixture settings and plotting a flight plan. I wonder if it might be more interesting to use radio signals rather than GPS. I would appreciate thoughts on this as I progress.
  3. I've been practicing and getting better but not yet at the point where I'm proficient. Still landing too long and having minor difficulty lining up but nothing like it was a few days ago. After a few barely passing attempts at landing at previously mentioned airports changed to KFWN (Sussex, NJ) with a tree line on hill before runway but get really screwed up so will keep practicing at all locales. I will try to get an actual flight in this week so I can see up close and personal how it all comes together. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to all for your kind words, encouragement, suggestions and tutorials. BTW, my age is eighth decade plus and a few medical issues that would preclude a pilot license. This my way of fulfilling something I wanted to do earlier but "never had the time to do," an easy way of saying I wasn't that interested at the time and now it is too late.
  4. Taking all into consideration and finding that I am spending too much time looking at the gauges and starting the approach too far afield without using runway at 45 degree angle as a guide. There were excellent points made and tips offered and they are being used as I practice. Making a dozen t & g's each time I fire up the sim, constantly practicing and trying to get it right. It will come to me, eventually and I'll keep you posted. BTW, I have rudder pedals and will post a picture of my setup. The thing is, I am too old for a pilot's license and want to do this as if it were an actual airplane and eventually learn about navigation and air mixture then progressing on and doing a cross country flight. But getting the plane back on the ground w/o screwing up is my priority for now. Since this picture was taken I added a fully expandable slide drawer three inches below yoke and throttle controls to hold the keyboard and mouse. They extend 18 inches beyond the face of the desk so it is easy to use and then push out of the way.
  5. In reading the above, part of the problem is confusion about setting flaps. On the downwind leg, airspeed is around 80-85 knots, and being warned about deploying flaps at a speed over 80 knots ergo an increase in altitude to slow the plane before deploying flaps 10 degrees. Reduce throttle to around 1700 r.p.m. and try to stay level at 1000 feet AAL. Part of the issue is gauging the proper distance from (a) the end of landing strip and (b) getting lined up properly. Even if I get what makes me think everything is set correctly, I'm unsure what the rate of descent should be and upon final find myself having difficulty judging the distance from current position to the runway and getting lined up. I realize after reading the above part of the issue is coming in too slow and dropping airspeed below 60 knots. I usually end up landing long and having a side to side landing approach which could be more easily controlled by a slightly higher speed. I'll give it a go and see if I can incorporate my landings. Right now I am taking off from KVNC (Venice Muni) and landing at X36 (Buchan Field) a grass strip five road miles and 14 nautical miles from Venice. I use these two facilities because they are close and it is easy to do touch and goes at each.
  6. It seems landing is beyond my capabilities and time to get some assistance. Has anyone had any experience with flight school? I've watched numerous videos on youtube and read instructions for landing a Cessna 152, the most basic of airplanes, but something seems to elude me and I won't move on until I learn to land and learn how to do so properly. I searched the forums here and gone through the search but nothing comes up. I did find the program in the Flightsim.com. but no reviews and wondered if it might be something that would help. If not that one, perhaps a recommendation for another flight instruction? Any assistance will be appreciated. Thank you. This is a great place to get information and everyone seems willing to help.
  7. Well, decided to take the advice of Aptosflyer and ditch the final lesson. I'll go back to it periodically and give it an try. I now have the Alpha yoke and Bravo throttle quadrant plus Logitech rudder pedals and after a bit of a brain fart setting up the throttle, things are working well now. I intend to stick with smaller general airplanes, propeller driven. Maybe, if I get good enough, I'll try small jets. I'm working diligently to try to get the landings down and that alone, is a real challenge for me. Thanks to all for the advice. It is appreciated. Neilends, in the late '80's, my Bride and I spent several winters in AZ. That area around Oak Creek Canyon in the fall when the Aspen trees change to those brilliant colors is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. We had beautiful autumn seasons in NJ with the leaves changing color but those in AZ were spectacular.
  8. Good morning to those who read this!! If there were ever a good time to post a cartoon of a dunce, it would be now. I would like to apologize for the rant in the initial post but this old guy was definitely down and frustrated not having his pacifier, MSFS 2020, up and running. The issue is solved!! HOO-RAY!!! Grandson #2 called and he and I went over things step by step although he has no familiarity with the program, he thought he might help. And help he did! Turns out the old goat misunderstood the instructions from the video by Sporty's Pilot Store on youtube.com. I had watched the video but simply missed one thing. Grandson #2 offered some sage advice, "Pop-Pop, write the instructions down then walk through them when changing the settings for Bravo." Well, I did just that and BINGO!! :cool:Found the step I was confusing/missed, and all was good again. The sun came out, I smiled, and then did something I had not done before. I opened a beer and flew from Sedona to Wickenburg!! Happy days are here again!! I figure when I screw up to not only do it on a major scale but to acknowledge that I, not Honeycomb not MSFS2020, was the guilty party. I see there were many viewers of my frustration thread and I want to thank those who had hoped to help. You had good intentions but sometimes you just can't help those who need to help their self. I'll go about my business now.
  9. HOWDY!! I'm new and while I'm new at the sim I'm not new to life and the various problems and situations that we encounter. Let me begin by mentioning, in my lifetime I've never taken the time to enjoy a sim on my pc. I bought MSFS 2020 thinking it might be fun and I got sucked in and love every minute I spend with this simulator. I currently have over 50 hours of training time as I repeatedly do the lessons just to hone my skills. Now, the joy is slipping away out of pure frustration. Until a week ago I had been using the keyboard for throttle commands but two days prior to the mandatory update (1.19.8.0) being fully installed, the keyboard/throttle action stopped working. The sim could not be used until the mandatory download was completed. Later in the day, I received the Bravo throttle quadrant. This was installed and the sim started and everything, as far as I know, resumed working including the throttle. I also downloaded Air Manager. The sim and throttle worked fine for one go-round of flight when a powered USB multi-port was delivered and the sim placed on pause while the add-ons were plugged into the powered USB ports and the main plug from the powered USB multi-port then inserted in the pc. The sim stopped recognizing the throttle. I closed out of the sim and restarted the pc, reset the throttle and mixture settings as before and still, nothing. I tried removing the power USB ports and used the ports on the pc and that did nothing to end the issue then removed them from the pc and went back to using the powered USB multi-port system. These are the steps taken to try to resolve the condition: I removed the default settings and renamed the quadrant, using #2 position on quadrant for the throttle in GA-single engine, as per Honeycomb diagram and youtube.com video giving instructions. Next was to use position #3 for the mixture. In each circumstance the settings were removed, validated as removed, replaced with Left axis 2 and left axis 3, validated and closed after selecting validate changes at bottom of screen. It has now been three days and I cannot figure how to get the throttle to work with the sim. When resetting the throttle and mixture, the graph shows a nice steady application of power and mixture but the sim, while saying it recognizes the throttle, does not. I've removed all assistance and done more reset than I can count. I'm not sure if Air Manager would mess with the sim. I'm at my wits end, and after reading and tried everything found on this website and in viewing videos on youtube.com, still have not found a solution. If someone out there could help it would be greatly appreciated. And please, do not lecture me on how if I did my homework I could find the answer. I'm worn down from trying to come up with something that works. I simply want to start flying again!! THANK YOU in advance. KEN
  10. I've been trying to finish lesson 5 of pc installed MSFS 2020. The flight from Flagstaff to Sedona. In taking off, gain altitude to 500 feet and turn to my left 90 degrees. Continue gaining altitude and turning again 90 degrees for a downwind leg past runway and turn left again 90 degrees still gaining altitude to 8500'. Turn left again to cross runway center and start clock. Pick 163 degree heading, 8500'. The box in top right corner with tasks does not list any of them being completed except elevation achieved. Get to Munk's Golf Course in eight minutes, turn to 221 degree heading, restart the clock, head to Sedona. As soon as the plane clears mountains, the power is cut to reduce speed to 70kph and turn right to begin setup for landing on runway 3. Fly past runway, turn 90 degrees for downwind leg while losing altitude about 700 ' per minute until at 6000' when making turn before final. L and at 60kph and get message, "you really shouldn't land there." I've rerun the session and landed on runway 221 although it has the red lights on at that end but still get the message about landing there. i've run into issues with the throttle not responding during final or plane not reacting to elevation changes (I'm still using keyboard for throttle and flaps until throttle setup is delivered. Any day now. ) but those are not as annoying as not being able to complete train session satisfactorily. Is this something inherent in the system? Am I doing something wrong? must say I am getting extremely frustrated as previous training sessions have gone well and I've been able to work through glitches as I self-teach to learn how to fly. This can be trying at times when you know zilch when beginning. Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated.
  11. HOWDY! Much appreciation for the responses. I am trying to be a persistent old phart. A lesson learned in concert with patience when I closed in on the 8th decade a few years ago. As an example, I do not consider myself proficient until averaging 80% in training sessions. Figure the remaining 20% will fall into place with practice. The thing that throws me off at the moment is getting to proper altitude (1000') holding it and judging the turn distance into the downwind leg. A few days away while visiting our daughter is giving me an opportunity to clear and regroup the mindset. Using a yoke after giving up on a joystick which was too touchy and doing little more than creating frustration, something not necessary at this stage of life. There is a major issue in reading the gauges as the sim shows a glare plus they are small on a 32" tv/monitor although the search is on for a used 50" tv/monitor. Something will come along sooner or later. Just have other things of what are considered greater importance right at the moment. The thing is, I want to do this right and fly as if it were not just a simulator but a realistic flight experience and with the kind assistance from all feel it will happen. Thank you.
  12. HOWDY! Yep! I'm new to this forum but old by age. Maybe old to some but not to others as age is a mental thing. Really enjoying the MS Flight 2020, especially the training sessions. Getting better although there are a few hiccups along the way. Currently waiting for the Bravo throttle setup and using keyboard for throttle until it arrives. Want to do touch and goes and trying to find out if there is a place within the MS Flight 2020 sim where it is setup. Very possible I'm looking right at it and do not see it which would only prove what my Bride has been telling me all along. Anyone can offer a bit of advice on that will be greatly appreciated. I did several touch and goes yesterday but they only show as one landing and do not record the actual number of attempts. I say attempts as some were really, really, bad landings. That is why I keep practicing plus this way no one gets hurt and the equipment stays in one piece. Looking forward to replies. Thank you!! WHIZZER
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