Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[RedeyeStorm]

Lurch learned to fly!

[LukeFF]

February 16 Development Update: https://www.flightsimulator.com/february-16th-2023-development-update/

[ZachariasX]

I wonder if the NewZealand mesh ORBX sold in the MSFS store still has purpose after the NZ update…

 

But as MSFS by now doesn‘t want to work at all on my rig anymore, even if completely re-installed. Yes, it worked a bit in between crashing, but that was more like the front half of Titanic righting itself slightly on its way down to the bottom.

 

I‘ll try that update on my future rig. After 5 years, it‘s about time for that. Still waiting for the 7950X3D. And finally there are plenty of MSRP RTX4090 available. It‘s gonna be my plunge into VR.

 

MSFS, through all iterations over the past decades, is certainly can be THE game, where making it run can be as much as a hobby as actually playing it. It‘s part of the „experience“. It always was.

[LukeFF]

1 minute ago, ZachariasX said:

MSFS, through all iterations over the past decades, is certainly can be THE game, where making it run can be as much as a hobby as actually playing it. It‘s part of the „experience“. It always was.

 

LOL yes, I'm finding that out to be the case. One misplaced modded file or wrong setting on the MS's side can screw everything up. ? 

[LukeFF]

On 2/5/2023 at 11:26 PM, ZachariasX said:

FINALLY!

 

I wasn't overly familiar with A2A's history of development, but after reading the latest news about the Comanche and the plans beyond that...hoo boy, yes, this is the sort of thing I've been waiting for. ??

[DD_Arthur]

3 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

I wonder if the NewZealand mesh ORBX sold in the MSFS store still has purpose after the NZ update…

IIRC the NZ WU has been contracted out to….ORBX?

[Mad_Mikhael]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:52 AM, CUJO_1970 said:

Tuesday random photo dump!

 

Picked up the Piper Archer from Carenado:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've just killed few of them in STALKER Anomaly / Gamma. Now they can fly!? ?

 

[Hoots]

11 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

I wasn't overly familiar with A2A's history of development, but after reading the latest news about the Comanche and the plans beyond that...hoo boy, yes, this is the sort of thing I've been waiting for. ??

Their stuff is a whole other class. It changes the way you approach things. Always a certain purchase. 

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Hoots said:

Their stuff is a whole other class. It changes the way you approach things. Always a certain purchase. 

 

Nice to hear that. ?? Yep, the Comanche is definitely going to be a purchase for me.

 

Meanwhile, next stop in the round the world tour: Nuuk (BGGH) 5 to Narsarsuaq (BGBW). This was originally planned to be flight along the coast of Greenland en route to BGBW, but reports of severe turbulence all along the coast changed my mind about that. Instead, we would cut across to the south-southeast, avoiding the worst of the weather (for the most part ?).

 

The day dawned dark and gloomy over Nuuk, with light snow, but the winds weren't bad, and so after taking off to the north we doubled back for our course across the southern portion of Greenland:

 

 

The terrain just south of Nuuk is breathtaking, with towering canyon walls. This would be the last bit of significant scenery we would see for a good while en route to our destination:

 

 

While we avoided the worst of the turbulence, the winds en route were still very much a pain, with an average of 40-50 knot headwinds. We also hit a snowstorm about 30 minutes out from our destination. Not to mention, this part of Greenland is empty, flat landscape:

 

 

But, the weather cleared up as we neared our destination, and we made it down to BGBW without any problems (though, I must say the final approach takes you really close to some hilltops ?). The airport itself is just to the north of the nearby village.

 

 

The next leg of our journey will take us to Iceland.

Edited February 18, 2023 by LukeFF

[Mtnbiker1998]

Picked up a 4070 ti and man, what a beast! MSFS in VR is no longer a pipe dream for my poor little 2060s, so I set aside the SSD space for it again, all 247gb of it once I downloaded all the World Updates!

 

Anyone have any experience with the Milvis Corsair and Flyingiron Hellcat? Wanna pick up a Navy warbird to play with but can't decide which one. Would love to hear some real side-by-side comparisons from people who own both

[LukeFF]

16 hours ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Anyone have any experience with the Milvis Corsair and Flyingiron Hellcat? Wanna pick up a Navy warbird to play with but can't decide which one. Would love to hear some real side-by-side comparisons from people who own both

 

I don't own either of them, but I've scanned discussion topics at the official MSFS forums, and the general consensus there is that they are really good.

 

Next leg of the round the world trip: Narsarsuaq (BGBW) to Keflavik (BIKF), or "This didn't go like I planned." ? 

 

The morning started out gloomy at BGBW, but the recent snowstorm had passed, so before long, as usual, we were on our way:

 

 

The weather initially en route wasn't bad, with only minor turbulence and mostly clear skies as we approached the Denmark Strait. No German warships spotted today. ? 

 

 

The water over the straits was glassy blue, but as we approached Iceland the radar showed there was troublesome weather up ahead:

 

 

What had been a helpful tailwind of about 18 knots turned into a headwind of 20-plus knots, and no visibility. That, plus my inexperience with landing at Keflavik meant that (ahem) I had to add some extra fuel about 10 miles from runway 19. The ILS approach worked flawlessly and the end of the runway appeared before I had to make a decision about whether to land. But, the crosswinds were really nasty, and I promptly went off into the grass after landing. I guess my only saving grace was that I didn't ground loop or hit any objects on the runway. But yeah, gonna need to check that landing gear after parking...

 

So, after bumbling my way back to the runway, I somehow found where I was supposed to park (this is where I love Navigraph's moving maps feature) and safely shut down - after I blasted this poor guy in the face with my taxi light. 

 

 

One lesson learned here: when flying out over open water and with uncertain weather ahead, just top off the fuel tanks. It's not worth it trying to cut things close.

[DD_Arthur]

  Not necessarily the best plane for a short, low level hop around West Cornwall

 

 

 

[Trooper117]

Gorgeous looking!

[Lusekofte]

Oh DC 6 is just awesome 

[Props]

19 hours ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Picked up a 4070 ti and man, what a beast! MSFS in VR is no longer a pipe dream for my poor little 2060s, so I set aside the SSD space for it again, all 247gb of it once I downloaded all the World Updates!

 

Anyone have any experience with the Milvis Corsair and Flyingiron Hellcat? Wanna pick up a Navy warbird to play with but can't decide which one. Would love to hear some real side-by-side comparisons from people who own both

Well I don't fly VR, but I do own the Milvis F4U (it's actually Blackbird Simulations now) and plan on picking up the Flyingiron F6F soon (I have been avoiding buying new planes at a rate that outpaces my income so I limit my purchases over time;-). Love the Corsair, it's way fun and feeds my need to fly WW2 naval aircraft and it is very accurately modeled. I spent a lot of time in the IL2 '46 F4U so this new aircraft is great. The F6F has received glowing reviews as did their Spit so I am definitely looking forward to it.

 

On a side note; if you want to have a Tom Cruise moment try flying the Green River, in Utah, from Green River airport to the Needles! You won't be able to do it in a F-18, but in my RV-14 or Pitts, or the Extra 300 (etc.) it's a nutbuster and loads of fun. It is approximately a 1 hour flight. In my RV-14 I fly it at 140-150 Mph trying to stay over the water at about 100' AGL and it does make me sweat a bit. It's a twisty river between canyon walls and very tight. In MSFS the scenery looks great but you don't have much time to turn your head for sightseeing! As I get better I'll try a faster plane, maybe even my Corsair though it may be to fast for the turns to avoid stalling or hitting a canyon wall. 

[DD_Arthur]

2 hours ago, Lusekofte said:

Oh DC 6 is just awesome 

It got more awesome again after the recent update from PMDG and the updates to the Garmin units in MSFS.  Gyro-pilot works correctly again....although 2,000ft. isn't really an altitude to engage it at.

A couple of things I've found with it;  hit the gyro-pilot On switch first = blue light and then wait a couple of minutes before engaging the gyro-pilot clutch lever.  This gives the gyros a chance to spin up and makes everything smoother.

Also, if landing lights are on and extended it seems to interfere with the gyro-pilot trimming wheels.  Not sure if it's just me or a bug. 

 

@LukeFF

 

Every sim should have live weather!

[Lusekofte]

I let my copilot and mechanic take care of the radials. They get very fast sour if you use throttle too much. 
Reason for not flying it much is that they stop when landed and take off again. I cannot figure out why. 
I was half way around the world when this started to get a problem. 
I try to descend and land with no throttle movement at all. I just get the calculation wrong a lot. But hey I am not a pilot. I just love that bird. @Bremspropeller showed me a similar plane coming up with jets. I guess that will be a no brainier for me. I simply can’t stand glass pits

[LukeFF]

3 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Every sim should have live weather!

 

Yes, I'm getting spoiled by how good it is in MSFS. ??

[Props]

On 2/17/2023 at 11:16 AM, ZachariasX said:

II‘ll try that update on my future rig. After 5 years, it‘s about time for that. Still waiting for the 7950X3D. And finally there are plenty of MSRP RTX4090 available. It‘s gonna be my plunge into VR.

 

MSFS, through all iterations over the past decades, is certainly can be THE game, where making it run can be as much as a hobby as actually playing it. It‘s part of the „experience“. It always was.

 

Yep, it can be trying at times! The first few months I spent more time smoothing the tech aspect out to avoid all the CTDs, stutters, scenery, and issues with the Marketplace (though I try to buy my planes direct from the devs rather than via the Marketplace), than I did actually flying!. But it's been smooth as silk for 2 months now @ 72 fps on my 32" 1440p monitor. I adjusted my undervolted EVGA 3080 just a tad and set a max fps of 72 in the NVCP and what do you know - no more stutters or CTDs. After watching many youtube vids on how Ultra settings are often indistinguishable from High graphics settings in most games I opted for mostly High settings with just a few Ultras and that helped a lot too. And of course there is quite a few good MSFS tweak vids available now too. And maybe my new AMD 5800X3D helped as well (I am sure it did 'cause I saw a difference in temps, etc., right away).

 

My new MSI RTX 4080 should be here this week so I am excited to push the sim a little harder, especially LOD and scenery wise. It's time for me to start using Live weather too. This version of MSFS has really been a game changer, the only thing it's lacking is the opportunity to shoot something down;-). 

[Lusekofte]

1 hour ago, Props said:

the only thing it's lacking is the opportunity to shoot something down;-). 

I do not miss that. Mostly I fly civil missions in DCS. 
And that is what I need, a purpose to fly. Not just the flying. It is kind of a fire fighting water bomb working. But they could do a better effort 

[LukeFF]

Next leg in the round the world tour: Keflavik (BIKF) to Vagar (EKVG):

 

It started out as another windy day in Keflavik, but thankfully I found my way to the runway without incident and soon we were on our way.

 

 

We were afforded beautiful scenery as we headed out towards the east. Definitely need to spend some more time around here in the future. It was also interesting to see all the old, abandoned airfields, likely from WWII and the Cold War:

 

 

Once out over the sea, we were more than helped along by 50-60(!)-knot tailwind. Of course, that meant that at our destination in the Faroe Islands, that meant a 60-knot headwind. ?

 

The approach to the west of the islands was beautiful enough, but of course there was light to moderate rain over the airport.

 

 

Visibility wasn't great but still acceptable for landing. I was actually doing good on my final approach until I disengaged autopilot at 500 feet and cut power too much, and we ended up clipping the approach lights. I tried reloading the flight from the approach phase to try a better technique, but after the sim crashed on me twice on final approach, I called it a night. We'll have to fly in some spare parts before this bird can fly again.

 

[ZachariasX]

5 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Next leg in the round the world tour: Keflavik (BIKF) to Vagar (EKVG):

You never had problems with icing?

 

When I did my world tour, that was THE danger, but they might have toned it down in later versions of the sim.

[Lusekofte]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:52 AM, CUJO_1970 said:

Tuesday random photo dump!

Where did you Get that Forrest Gump pilot

Edited February 20, 2023 by Lusekofte

[LukeFF]

22 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

You never had problems with icing?

 

When I did my world tour, that was THE danger, but they might have toned it down in later versions of the sim.

 

I have had to deal with icing, but so far it hasn't caused me any issues. I'm using the G36 Improvement Mod by CaptMatto, so I dunno if he's done anything that may have altered how icing affects this plane. 

[Lusekofte]

3 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

I have had to deal with icing, but so far it hasn't caused me any issues. I'm using the G36 Improvement Mod by CaptMatto, so I dunno if he's done anything that may have altered how icing affects this plane. 

My only problem with icing is being too late defrosting my windows. Now, I have not flown one particular aircraft enough to say icing do not affect aerodynamics, I can only say I have not noticed it yet 

[ZachariasX]

1 hour ago, Lusekofte said:

Now, I have not flown one particular aircraft enough to say icing do not affect aerodynamics,

That‘s like when full power is not enough to keep altitude...

[Props]

On 2/19/2023 at 4:21 PM, Lusekofte said:

I do not miss that. Mostly I fly civil missions in DCS. 
And that is what I need, a purpose to fly. Not just the flying. It is kind of a fire fighting water bomb working. But they could do a better effort 

Yeah, to be honest I get my shooting done in the mornings and then fly all peaceful like in the afternoons. I guess that's why I spend more time in civil aircraft then my F4U which for the moment is my only MSFS military aircraft and I got that mainly for practicing carrier landings. 

[LukeFF]

Vagar (EKVG) to Floro (ENFL):

 

One look at the underside of my plane told me all I needed to know: LW1979 was not going to be flying any time again soon. But, as we found out shortly, we were in luck. After giving us a ride to the FBO, the guy who gave us a lift told us, "we have this Bonanza that's been sitting here for a while. Think the owner's abandoned it. Bought it from a guy in Florida and brought it back here, but I think finances have finally caught up to him."

 

So, after some calls back and forth with the insurance company and other powers-that-be, we loaded up our luggage into N134BB, a low-time plane that will hopefully serve us through to the end of our journey. If not... ?

 

Thankfully the ridiculously strong winds of yesterday were gone now, and visibility was good. After double-checking everything was good in our new ride, we were on our way east, to Norway.

 

 

The journey across the Norwegian Sea was uneventful, with the typical broken clouds and some bumpiness, but nothing unusual. Before long, the fjords of the Norwegian coast hove into view:

 

 

Skimming along the mountaintops on final to Floro:

 

 

The runway at Floro is interesting in that it is 27 degrees to the left of the final approach fix due to the terrain. Once again, like yesterday, on final approach, the game up and crashed on me unexpectedly. I did a quick search of the forums and found this was a problem that could be fixed by deleting the rolling cache, so I did that, reloaded the mission and teleported to the final approach phase and thankfully made it down this time without any problems.

 

Welcome to Norway!

 

 

P.S. nice little airport here, but part of the parking area is unusable right now due to the terrain being all lumpy. Hopefully a fix for that is forthcoming...

[CUJO_1970]

This should be fun

 

[unlikely_spider]

Good looking plane from the inside. From the outside on the other hand...

 

At least the Twin Otter is photogenic from all angles.

[LukeFF]

New Zealand World Update is also out now as well. ??

[CUJO_1970]

5 hours ago, unlikely_spider said:

Good looking plane from the inside. From the outside on the other hand...

 

It's so ugly it's beautiful.

[Lusekofte]

Oh , it’s arrived. Is it on marketplace ?

[Props]

Back in the late '70s I served in the 82hd ABN DIV and on a regular basis the DIV would lay on Saturday Fun Jumps. They had loads of parachutes that were approaching inspection dates and would need to be unpacked, inspected and repacked so what better way to do it then let the troops get in another jump since the chutes had to be unpacked anyway. All you had to do was show up in uniform with your dogtags, helmet, and ID. They usually had helos like the Hueys and Chinooks, but on a couple of occasions they provided Caribous for the jumps. To be honest it wasn't unusual for many of us to show up with a bit of hangover as it was an early Saturday morning event.

 

This was done at Sicily dropzone where they had a hardpacked dirt strip on the DZ. Watching this aircraft land and takeoff was great as it truly is an awesome STOL aircraft. They wanted quick turnaround on the jumps so the idea was to get up to altitude quick, usually around 3000" which was great since most of our combat training jumps back then were closer to 1100', drop the troops and land quickly for the next load. We would stand in the aircraft already hooked up bracing each other during takeoff and climb, then exit the rear ramp. If you were there early you could get as many jumps as you wanted as long as there were still chutes available. 

 

The Caribou was the most memorable fun jumps I had! What a great airplane! Looking forward to it in MSFS.

[AndyJWest]

1 hour ago, CUJO_1970 said:

 

It's so ugly it's beautiful.

 

I'd say it was average functional ugliness. If they wanted really ugly, they would have asked for advice from Blackburn.

 

Can you do the nosewheel trick in MSFS?

 

[LukeFF]

6 hours ago, Lusekofte said:

Oh , it’s arrived. Is it on marketplace ?

 

Yep

[Lusekofte]

God, I will buy this. 
 

[Mtnbiker1998]

Enjoying my new Milviz FG-1D, and enjoying the hell out of the new Middle Earth New Zealand world update!!

 

What an absolutely gorgeous Country, and being on the opposite side of the planet means I can take late night flights with Live Time/Weather and not have to worry about flying in the dark! Gonna be a new favorite of mine for sure. 

 

"I got to buzz the Party Tree in a Corsair." Is not something I ever thought I'd say about a gaming experience and yet, here we are. I really hope they swap out the other photogrammetry "trees" for some generic ones soon though... The Hobbit holes and other props look great but the trees really detract from the look.

[Dakpilot]

Once secured a job as co-pilot on a Caribou operating in the Eastern DRC, (early in career) 

Was very excited, there was a non airworthy one at my local field that I used for familiarisation, training proper would start when I arrived in Congo.

As luck would have it the guys hit a tree with the wing on landing at a dirt strip one week before I left, as far as I know it was never repaired, and I never got to fly one .

Red Cross and UN operated a lot of DHC Buffalo (turboprop development and a bit bigger) was fun to see them operating.

Shortly after the Caribou fiasco I got a job on DC-4's.. probably a much better option , certainly a bit safer ? 

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[LukeFF]

Next leg in the round the world journey: Floro, Norway (ENFL) to Billund, Denmark (EKBI), the home of Legoland ?. Both real-time weather and time of day for this flight! 

 

The weather was a bit gloomy and with light rain on mission start, but once we cleared the airport the weather cleared up en route. 

 

 

As expected, we were treated to gorgeous views of the Norwegian coastline all the way south:

 

 

This might be my favorite screenshot of the bunch:

 

 

Over Denmark, land of a thousand wind generators:

 

We had a nasty crosswind which made the landing hairy, but we made it to the parking area without breaking anything important.

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by LukeFF