FSX: A Dream of Flying

[hedger_14]

When I was fifteen, I decided I wanted to be a pilot after I went up in a Cessna for the first time and now I had my opportunity for the first time. I had to pass my training though and today was my first lesson. We were over in California where the training exercise was going to be held, at Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft I was going to be using was an Air Creation Buggy 582SL Trike Ultralight. I was going to be taking off, navigating the ultralight through a series of gates before landing. It sounded simple but I was very nervous.

It was the longest runway in the world and it looked very long as I got told by the instructor to get in the plane. He told me that he would contact me by the radio. I got in the plane and had a look around down at the simple plane. I didn?t really want to be flying this type of plane but we all have to start somewhere. I got my first radio message. I think he expected me to just listen to him and follow instructions so I was planning on doing that.

Time to go flying. You?re going to start the engine, release the brakes, take off, fly through some gates and land again.

First, move the throttle to idle. Next, start the ultralight?s engine. Once you have done that, release the parking brake.

I did what he said to do as I got ready to take off. Putting the throttle to idle, clicking the ignition switch and releasing the parking brake and now I was ready for takeoff.

Ready for takeoff? Smoothly advance the throttle to full. Taking off is easy. At about 30 miles per hour, lift the nose up and the aircraft will fly off the runway.

I started to put up the throttle and when I got to just over 30 miles per hour, I moved the nose upwards.

Congratulations, you?re flying. Now climb a bit to fly through the first gate you see in front of you.

That was pretty simple as I climbed upwards and then levelled off to fly through the gate. After I flew through the first gate, he told me to climb a little to fly through the second gate which I did as I now had to go down to fly through the final gate.

Now reduce the throttle a bit and slow down. The next gate is lower than the last one and you?ll be landing once you get through it.

I lowered the aircraft to fly through the gate. I was told to lower the throttle all of the way to get ready to land. I got close to the ground and got another message.

Pull the nose up slightly and level out. Try and hover over the runway as long as possible before letting the wheels touch the ground.
I let the wheels touch the ground and then got told to brake which I did to complete a nice landing and was pleased to complete my first bit of training.

Excellent job, now put on the parking brake and get out of the aircraft.

I got out of the plane and the instructor told me I did well. That was the first training lesson done and I was on my way to getting my plane license.

Sitting in the Plane Ready for Takeoff

A Successful Takeoff to start my Training

And a Nice Landing to Finish the Lesson​

 

[pcfan123]

Great start and love the screens, that little plane is hilarious

 

[hedger_14]

haha, the controls are too confusing though

I hate flying those planes though. You can go straight, they always want to turn one way. And you can't go much above 65 knots without overstressing the plane.

 

[Covvy]

So are you just doing all the missions or something?

 

[hedger_14]

It will be a mixture. I'm doing all the tutorial missions (except for probably the helicopter and glider ones) as training before doing the mission around Hawaii to finish off my training pretty much then I'll be doing a combination of missions and normal flights, using FSPassengers to make it more career based and saying that when I'm doing missions, I'm not actually flying for my company. Check the Soon on PC thread for what I was thinking of doing.

 

[pcfan123]

Looking forward to the missions and the Jet tutorials. FSX has some really challenging missions, especially the one's in the heavy jets. 4 engine failure over the pacific!

 

[AkshayS]

Great start, the plane looks good and an exciting start. Good luck.

 

[hedger_14]

Second Lesson​

Only a week since my first lesson and I was now in Hong Kong ready for my second lesson. I was flying the ultralight again and had taken off and got ready to fly through a marked course, the goal of the exercise. It would work on my steering mostly. My instructor was going to be contacting me on the radio but since what I had to was pretty simple, I didn?t think I would need him.

I flew on towards the first gate while enjoying some of the scenery around me. After I moved through the first gate, I continued onwards to the second gate, with the throttle still not all the way up to make sure I didn?t overpower the aircraft. I had to descend then to gate 3, so I lowered the throttle so I stayed below 70 miles per hour. I then had to turn so I could line up with the fourth gate which I did pretty comfortably while having to avoid the high hills but again no problem as I now only had one gate to pass though.

I then moved away to the right so I could line up to pass though the fifth and final gate. I then made a reasonably tight turn to move through the gate to finish the exercise. Landing it was simple as I now only had a few training exercises to go before I could get my pilot licence. The instructor told me I did well and now I had to go over to France for my third lesson. I would have to take off, fly around and then turn around and make a proper landing.

Some nice Scenery as I head Towards the First Gate

Another Successful Lesson as I get ready to go Through the Final Gate​