What do you all do with your flightsim?

Over the past year I've had the opportunity to set up a pretty nice flight sim. I have a couple pay-ware aircraft and some decent hardware. But I'm beginning to get a little bored.

I'm in the middle of a trip flying G.A. to the four corners of the continental U.S., a project I started not longer after learning to take off. And I'll finish it, because I finish stuff. But the last dozen legs or so, across MT, ND, MN, and WI, have been boring as all get out. Most of it flat and bland. I spend a lot of time flying between the two regional airports in my area trying to perform the best landings I can do, and I've gotten pretty good, but, well... yawn. I've been thinking about trying to learn to pilot twin props or regional jets, maybe. I don't know.

I'm curious to know what you all do to keep flight-simming exciting and fun? Do you fly a virtual airline? Are you happy just flying low and slow around the world? Do you challenge yourself in some way?

I feel like I'm missing something.

Learn to fly a helicopter. That will liven up your nervous system and stimulate your brain cells. Not sure how old you are, or what version of FS you have, but even FS2004 is good for learning helicopter flying. I also drive race cars in FSX. Then there is the carrier OPS (FSX has moving AI carriers) using the F-18 Hornet . That should keep you busy all of 2020.

Chuck B

Napamule

Learn to fly a helicopter. That will liven up your nervous system and stimulate your brain cells. Not sure how old you are, or what version of FS you have, but even FS2004 is good for learning helicopter flying. I also drive race cars in FSX. Then there is the carrier OPS (FSX has moving AI carriers) using the F-18 Hornet . That should keep you busy all of 2020.

Chuck B

Napamule

I dont fly unless its for a VA. I cant just fly for the sake of it. Thats boring. Need some purpose.

And I mostly fly classic jets - 727 / 747 / DC-10 with VOR/INS nav.

Pressing LNAV/VNAV and watching it fly bores the #### out of me.

And flying online in a classic airliner is a step above that again. You have to be on your A game with ATC flying departures / STARS with no easy FMC and moving map to fly it for you.

I'm enjoying simming for the fun of it. It's all about Fun, Facts 7 Fiction. I dont fly for a VA, nor do I do jets, unless they are 'different', such as the TU-160.

I actually got bored doing the usual point to point flying, when , during my internet browsing, I came across the Ford Tri-Motor Project site, & set up a separate install for the scenery & aircraft. I eventually became friendly with Garry Smith, before he passed on. I was a beta tester for him as well, for an unreleased Death Star project.

For me, the low's 'n slow's are great fun, as you have to actually fly the plane, old style. Drift meters & sextants are also fun to learn. We also have a range of boats & cars to explore our scenery.

My challenge is to keep on flying new 'old planes & discovering new scenery, the old way, especially with ski & amphibians..

'

"I feel like I'm missing something."

You need to find your niche. I've known a lot of flight simmers, and for every one there's a particular aspect of the hobby that most appeals to them. I know combat fliers, VATSIM devotees, bush pilots, tubeliner drivers, type collectors, scenery collectors, simulator collectors, cockpit builders . . . You get the idea. You should try as many different aspects of the hobby as you can to find the one that works for you.

GA can be boring - there were times back when I used to fly for real that I admit to having been bored. These days, in the sim, I fly mostly A2A GA aircraft in real weather, and don't use the GPS. I find that engine and system management, weather awareness and map-and-compass and radio navigation fill the en route time admirably.

Before my friend passed away, we'd fly in direct connect multiplayer (not through a server) and explore North America (mostly), often flying formation, but at least usually within sight of each other, mostly at low altitudes. We flew a multitude of different aircraft types, from the Grumman Goose, Cub, Baron, Cessnas, to the L-39 jet trainer, to Bird Dogs, DC-3s, D-18s, and more.

Back in the FS98 days I wrote an article, "Fun With Multiplayer" that was on this site for many years, though I can't find it on this site now, but the article dealt with specifics on how we were enjoying the sim back then. We progressed through the various versions of FS, too, right up to P3D V2.

So typically we might skim just above a highway or river, or perhaps down a canyon, or get a little higher and practice tight formation (as in 3 feet away close). We always set it up to talk to each other, generally by a standalone program for VOIP. For quite a number of years we used "mumble/murmur" (one a small server, the other the client program), a free, open source program that gives very clear speech. So we were able to make comments to each other, often just, "Hey, look at three o'clock -- pretty." Or, "Hey, check this out."

Before FSX we'd sometimes change aircraft in the middle of a flight (FSX won't let you do that), sometimes surprising the other guy, other times talking it over before deciding we'd both switch. With FSX and, later, with P3D V2, we got ORBX, ultimately getting ALL of the regions available for North America, which covered much of the western U.S. and Canada, even into southern Alaska. With ORBX there were often surprises, such as a tractor or combine in the middle of a farm field, or maybe a couple of horses or cows near a remote airport, perhaps even a deer or two. Near a farm there might be a fence, or perhaps at a very remote field there might be a port-a-potty or a snowcat.

We found sloping runways that ORBX used special techniques to create, lots of objects on most of the airports that made them seem more lifelike, and we enjoyed the much improved mesh that came with the regions.

Sometimes we'd top a hill and it would look almost photographic, with gorgeous views, other times we'd be in a bit flatter area with less scenery.

Usually sometime during the session we'd stop at an airport and put on an airshow for each other, then we'd take off for more exploration. We never did get to all the airports in ORBX, though we sure made it to at least several hundred. Once the sim made it possible, we'd also occasionally connect in the shared cockpit mode, so that one could sightsee while the other flew, then switch off.

With all the above said, let me set up a little background. Forty five years ago he had a glider operation in New Mexico, later adding a flight school. I towed gliders for him and, later, instructed part time for his flight school (we even taught aerobatics and tailwheels). We soon got to be good friends, keeping in touch even after I had moved to Colorado and he to Texas, and with both of us eventually out of commercial aviation, we still remained good friends.

So that's the background that helped us develop our operating style for enjoying the sim. Oh, yes -- to give you an idea of the attitude he had (and I shared it), the name of his flight operation was "Pegasus Aerial Sports" and we had more than just typical Cessna/Piper training, including a Stearman, a Great Lakes, several Citabrias, etc.

Hope this helps give you ideas on how to enjoy the sim.

I fly all the missions I can find (or most of them I should say) Fsx comes with lots of default missions. And then there are tons and tons of add-on missions. Freeware and payware. There are lots of free ones here (although they are pretty old now)

There are tons of them you can download from other sites too.

I do some free flights . Maybe to try out some new add-on plane. To me just flying for the sake of flying is a little boring.

That's why I do the missions and collect the rewards . I know a lot don't like the missions part. But up to you.

Thank you all for sharing! I see there is plenty more I can do, and learn to do. I don't have a clue how to fly using nav aids. So I think I might start there. Turn off the GPS and test my ability to get from here to there without that. Also, I had started flying some missions when I was using FSX, and enjoying them. But having switch to Prepar3d... well it doesn't have nearly the library of built in missions. But to add some freeware/payware mission type things sounds like fun too. I'm kind of excited to try these suggestions!

Yeah, thank you all so much!