Microsoft Flight Simulator Discussion

[Cricketman]

Damn, this looks boring as hell . Do you just do regular flights from like Chicago to Brussels and what not? What do you do during the taxi, watch an inflight movie ?

Am I missing something? Are there like Nazis or Aliens or Nazi-Aliens to shoot or something..... haha

 

[pcfan123]

Taxi is just the brief time you are on ground and making your way around the airport

What you probably meant is "cruise time" in the air, and during that most people just speed up the simulation once they have reached cruise speed and altitude.

and yes, it's an acquired taste for simulation and realism, its deffo not action packed.

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@ Hedger

the brakes you are applying are differential brakes, they are not air brakes so no point in applying them while in flight, they just lock the tires.

The "air brake" is called a spoiler and it's usually only on jets and engaged using the "/" key.

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The little flaps sticking up above the wings are the spoilers. Sort of like regular flaps, except that they induce drag at the expense of lift.

 

[hedger_14]

I know they are differential brakes but I didn't know how to use the air brakes since they mentioned it in a mission but I wasn't told how to use them and it didn't show it in the key list.

 

[pcfan123]

It's cause there are none on a Cessna

Like I said, mostly only on jets or turbo props.

 

[Covvy]

One of the great things about playing this is when your on a real flight, you know what they're doing, well most of the time. Also comes in handy if both pilots have a heart attack and you save the day and become a hero

 

[hedger_14]

i meant earlier when I was using a Bombardier Learjet and it didn't show the controls for it so I didn't know how to actually put it on.

 

[pcfan123]

One of the great things about playing this is when your on a real flight, you know what they're doing, well most of the time. Also comes in handy if both pilots have a heart attack and you save the day and become a hero

I love sitting by the wings and seeing the different flap settings and what not.

Also liveatc.net lets you listen to most Air Traffic Control towers around the world, very cool stuff.

As for flying a plane with only simulator experience

Let me just put it this way, even if you spent 20,000 hours on a Cessna in a simulator you would still crater it in real life. You might be able to pilot it reasonably well, all the way to the scene of the crash that is

Ironically enough, the one plane you might be able to land is a complex jet, if you managed to set the ILS and autoland properly, but in a light aircraft, no chance in hell.

 

[Biggy]

Damn, this looks boring as hell . Do you just do regular flights from like Chicago to Brussels and what not? What do you do during the taxi, watch an inflight movie ?

Am I missing something? Are there like Nazis or Aliens or Nazi-Aliens to shoot or something..... haha

Surely finding amusing ways to crash the plane would be the way to go.

 

[riz7khan12]

just downloaded the demo of FSX and i really need a tutorial, i can get the plane into the air but landing is a issue.

 

[pcfan123]

Can help you through it a bit if you tell us which aircraft and airport.

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i meant earlier when I was using a Bombardier Learjet and it didn't show the controls for it so I didn't know how to actually put it on.

Just saw this

the "/" key is how to deploy them in FS2004, it's probably the same in FSX

 

[riz7khan12]

princess juliana intl (other caribbean airports) and at first was a ultralight then a beach barron. i need to know how to turn the auto pilot on too, because i find it hard to keep the plane level when flying.

the "/" key is how to deploy them in FS2004, it's probably the same in FSX

is this the landing gear?

 

[pcfan123]

princess juliana intl (other caribbean airports) and at first was a ultralight then a beach barron. i need to know how to turn the auto pilot on too, because i find it hard to keep the plane level when flying.



is this the landing gear?

No that is for the spoilers (air brakes) on jets. Landing Gear is "g"

Ok so first of you probably want to stick to the Cessna.

The Autopilot is in the radio stack (Shift + 2) to bring it up, it will be at the bottom of the radio stack. Set the altititude, then click the ALT button, it should light up, now set the heading you want and click the HD button and it lights up. Now click on the autopilot master switch (z) and the autopilot will take over and fly that altitude and heading.

To level the plane at a specific altitude you need to "trim" the airplane. This is sort of like a cruise control setting that helps planes maintain a certain angle at the yoke. The trim is a little black dial with up or down clicks. If you want to cheat, you can just use the Autopilot to set altitude and that will trim the plane for the selected flight level.

It would really be worth your time to do the lessons. Knowing the fundamentals of flight physics, controls and procedures will make the game a HELL OF A Lot more fun than just randomly taking off and landing in airports.

Also some other general Cessna 172/182 tips:

At least 10-20 degrees of flaps on take off, full throttle and rotate to a pitch of about 10 degrees at 60 knots. During the climb, trim the plane to climb at a speed of about 70 knots with a vertical speed of 700ft/min. Raise the flaps as you gain sufficient altitude and remove them completely at cruise altitude.

For landing, be sure to have flaps for the descent and be on full flaps during final approach. Approach speed in a Cessna 172 is about 55-60 knots, anything faster is dangerous.

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Riz, if you need any more help or detailed help in a specific area, let me know and I'll make you a video using FRAPS tomorrow.

 

[hedger_14]

No, 'G' is landing gear in FSX. '/' is air brake.

When landing, just line up with the run way, slowly lower the throttle, while pulling down the landing gear, and lowering flaps to full (press F7 until retracted all the way) and slowly make your descent into the runway and pitch your nose up and depending on the length of the runway, hover over the runway for a bit until you finally let your wheels hit the ground and apply the brakes.


And it would help if you use a joystick to keep the plane level.

 

[pcfan123]

^ just to add to that, keep an eye on your vertical speed indicator, it will tell you if your descent to the runway is too fast. Around -200ft/m is a good touch down, -400 or highers is dangerous and anything about -600ish will usually collapse the gear.

 

[riz7khan12]

okay thanks for all that, i'll have another go flying the beechcraft barron with the tips. the demo only has a bombardier learjet, beechcraft barron, trike ultralight and a robinson r22 beta II. so i cant fly a cessna & the lessons tab is unavailabe too, might have to buy the original version...