Ah! That felt like it used to feel!

Had some time last night to fly. I tried on line for the first time. I created my own server in the small hope that at least one person would join up and go for a flight, but nobody did. I went on by myself. I took off from Fayette County airport in Somerville, TN in the Carenado C-172N and flew by VOR, Ded reckoning, and finally NDB to Springfield, Tn. I started my real life flying in Somerville and ended up earning my private when I lived in Springfield, so they're both well known areas to me.

The 172N doesn't have an autopilot and I'm not fond of the GPS, so it was pure old school hand flying like I learned. I've never been able to trim out the stock 172 just perfectly. I had no such trouble with the Carenado. It's a dream for low and slow cross country flights. I've rarely ever tried actual VFR "spot the landmark" flying in FS, but it really is possible if you find a lake or a town that shows on the map. The best thing was that it was JUST flying. I actually paid attention to mixture, and holding my altitude without the use of an autopilot and trimming for best speed/fuel use. I did cheat a little bit though. I hit pause to go to the bathroom and to refill my drink.

Now THAT sounds more like what 'real' flying in Sim should be like. And, yes, we all miss flying online on someone else's server. Used to be simple. But that got messed up. The flying you describe is the kind of flying I enjoy too. I don't EVEN miss the 'tubes' and have not flown any in over a year! GA is the way to go for me anyway. If you engage AP with 'Z' and then hold alt with 'Ctrl+Z' the trim should be auto set for you. And if you disengage AP the trim should still remain set. Just a trick I use. Thanks for sharing.

Chuck B

Napamule

You guys should take a look at DC-3 Airways at http://www.dc3airways.net for on line flying. Yes, we do a use a little larger aircraft in the DC-3, but she is still low and slow. And the free MJ C-47/DC-3 is the best ever. We do a lot of on line flying on our own servers and you can use P3D, FSX, or X Plane and everyone in the session sees all the others planes. We use Team Speak for comms with each other. There are three scheduled Multiplayer flights every week and we usually have about 10 to 12 pilots on line. We use real time weather, or you can fly CAVOK if you want.

Howard

Pilot 240