Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Flying in eastern Oregon, part of a tour I'm doing, this leg was from Sunriver OR (KS21) to Burns OR (KBNO). 

[Lusekofte]

Flying south in short legs.

[ZachariasX]

It is now the „MS Comanche Simulator“.

[Lusekofte]

4 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

It is now the „MS Comanche Simulator“.

For me it is

but if I get time I fly the DC6 

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Comanche is great, but I still like and fly Carenado's C.337, has some funky charm...

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by [CPT]Pike*HarryM

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Dang warthog throttle, mechanically off, not sure how to get the two throttles in sync.  Don't want to brick it (again)... at least Skymaster doesn't give a crap about that...

[LukeFF]

And down south we continue, back into the US: Delta Heritage Airpark (CAK3) to William R Fairchild Intl (KCLM), Washington State. Distance flown: 102 NM. Travel time: 0 hours, 47 minutes. Real-time weather, traffic, and time of day:

 

 

The weather was cloudy but otherwise clear as we prepared to leave Canada and return to the mainland US for good for the last stretch of our journey. After pulling the plane over to the refueling point and topping off the tanks we lined up on runway 90 for takeoff. We cleared the trees, but just barely, partly because I didn't quite taxi to the end of the runway. In any event, we turned south and were soon over the outlying islands of Washington State:

 

 

With this being such a short flight we leveled off at 5500 feet. Being below the clouds it was a bit of a bumpy ride, but it wasn't too bad.

 

Soon we were passing over Orcas Island:

 

 

And then Friday Harbor:

 

 

Shortly after this, it was time to being our approach into KCLM. With this being such a short flight I really should have programmed the approach into the GPS before taking off from CAK3, as we had to double-back to get on the right approach path (not the easiest thing with the autopilot fitted in the Comanche). That, and I'm still learning how to trim the plane for a proper descent rate, given (again) that this autopilot works differently than the ones fitted in most other planes (it doesn't control the descent rate - that's up to the pilot to control). 

 

All that said, with the weather and visibility being good, I was able to just disconnect the autopilot once I was lined up on the final approach and we made our landing alright - though the Comanche's tendency to want to float forever is something I need to account for better.

 

After securing the plane we cleared Customs and headed out to town to enjoy the afternoon.

 

[ZachariasX]

9 hours ago, LukeFF said:

though the Comanche's tendency to want to float forever is something I need to account for better.

Scott commented on this a couple of times in regards of flying his Comanche. It‘s just awesome having such high fidelity modules. The list of liveries and checklists is growing fast. There‘s also the file for littlenavmap for flight and fuel planning. No doubt, the Comanche is THE addon for MSFS.

[Adger]

FBW A320 Belfast to East Midlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Piper Comanche Goodwood to Southampton

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by Adger

[LukeFF]

William R Fairchild Intl (KCLM), Washington Siletz Bay (S45), Oregon. Distance flown: 200 NM. Travel time: 1 hour, 20 minutes. Real-time weather and traffic, time of day adjusted to daylight hours.

 

 

With a rainshower coming in from the north and clouds building up from the south, we made plans to leave as soon as was reasonable, so that we wouldn't have to fly over the mountains to our south (Olympus National Park) in bad weather. So, after fueling up and confirming everything looked good, we took off to the west and made a wide climbing turn to the right to give us time to climb above the clouds before heading south, over the mountain peaks. This climb also took more time than usual, given that we topped off the main tanks; this was due to there being a limited fuel supply at our destination.

 

 

It wasn't long before the turbulent weather over the mountains started, but at least to our right we could clearly see Mount Olympus:

 

 

The mountains eventually gave way to the lower elevations of the coastline as we pressed on to the south. Thankfully, the turbulence by this point abated in intensity.

 

 

The Oregon coast and Astoria soon came into view.

 

 

Not that far south of Astoria lay our destination, Siletz Bay, which sits astride Highway 101. After flying over the airfield to determine the winds (S45) is an untowered airport with only a Unicom frequency) we made our approach, but we were too high, so instead of trying to force a bad landing we conducted a go-around and this time, the landing went much better.

 

S45 is another nice little airport that I picked up in the last hours of the July sale. After securing the plane we made our way into town to grab lunch before heading to the beach for some sun.

 

[LukeFF]

Siletz Bay, Oregon (S45) 4 to Red Bluff Muni, California (KRBL). Distance flown: 311 NM. Travel time: 1 hour, 54 minutes. Real-time traffic and weather, time of day adjusted to morning hours:

 

 

Getting Close to Home

 

With another nice day of weather ahead of us, we headed out from S45 towards the south. Based on the fuel estimate needed to reach KRBL, the lack of refueling facilities at S45 would not be an issue.

 

 

The weather was moderately cloudy as we took off from S45, but the clouds cleared up as we headed inland:

 

 

As we reached the Cascades the wind picked up in strength, pushing us back and forth but thankfully mostly from a northerly direction:

 

 

Soon we passed Mount Shasta to the west (which I took screenshots of but for some reason didn't end up in my folder), which meant Redding was just up ahead. This was the point on the outbound portion of our trip where we turned eastward in the Bonanza towards the Midwest and Canada. It was about this time as well that the winds finally started to subside.

 

 

With visibility still superb, we made our descent toward Red Bluff, overflow the airfield towards the south, and then made a pretty routine landing on the northbound runway. I'm still getting used to how long it takes to bring the Comanche down properly to land, but this landing was a little bit better than last time. No go-arounds this time!

 

 

My fuel estimates proved to be accurate, as we landed with about 11 gallons to spare. Two more legs, and we should be back home.

 

[LukeFF]

Red Bluff Muni, California (KRBL) to Visalia Muni, California (KVIS). Distance flown: 288 NM. Travel time: 2 hours, 0 minutes. Real-time weather and traffic, time of day adjusted to daylight hours:

 

 

Almost home

 

It was another pleasant morning as we made our preflight checks, towed the plane over to the nearby fueling station, and made our way to the south from KRBL.

 

 

The winds were relatively calm with a slight headwind as we headed south over fairly unspectacular terrain in this part of our journey:

 

 

About the time we were due east of Sacramento and the terrain started to rise in elevation again, we received an alert from both ATC and the GPS about a 737 due east of us. As it turns out, it passed far too close to us, under our left wing, as it made its approach into Sacramento. 

 

 

Then things settled down again. Folsom Lake passed by just to the west:

 

 

And then Yosemite National Park to the east:

 

 

Our approach into KVIS was going fine until my internet connection conked out (I'd forgotten there was a planned service outage), and so I had to deal with a giant internet connection warning message about 2 miles from the runway threshold. I ended up making a harder landing than I'd prefer, but thankfully the Comanche has robust landing gear, so we landed without breaking anything. 

 

 

One more leg to go, and we'll be back home.

[ZachariasX]

6 hours ago, LukeFF said:

One more leg to go, and we'll be back home.

The Comanche truly is something else. makes it painful going back to other modules. Still, for long haulers it is problematic, as Accusim seemingly doesn't support sim rate. While you can adjust sim rate with the desired effect, the aircraft operates at 1x speed, hence with sim rate you can make it fly halfway around the world. But Scott has that issue on the radar. In FSX, simrate was also a problem for Accusim. It kind of worked, but didn't like it and beyond 4x accelleration, it got messy.

[LukeFF]

Speaking of the Comanche, new tutorials are up:

 

 

 

[Veteran66]

MSFS 2020 Aeroplane Heaven Avro Lancaster

https://www.facebook.com/Aeroplaneheaven/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[simfan2015]

In clod and Il-2 GB bombers can at least do what they were meant to do... Drop something. 

What's the point of any warplane in MSFS??? 

[BOO]

36 minutes ago, simfan2015 said:

In clod and Il-2 GB bombers can at least do what they were meant to do... Drop something. 

What's the point of any warplane in MSFS??? 

 

People fly sims for different reasons and have an interests in warbirds that extend beyond blowing stuff up.

 

Oh - and where is the Lanc in GB or Clod?

 

 

4 hours ago, Veteran66 said:

MSFS 2020 Aeroplane Heaven Avro Lancaster

https://www.facebook.com/Aeroplaneheaven/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting scenery too. 

[66Veteran-]

in MSFS 2020 my focus is navigation, it have good clouds and rain and some radio navigations systems.

So find the Target can be a option.

[Hoots]

4 hours ago, simfan2015 said:

In clod and Il-2 GB bombers can at least do what they were meant to do... Drop something. 

What's the point of any warplane in MSFS??? 

Because the Lanc is a lovely thing to look at if nothing else. I like navigation so I will have a lovely looking, challenging, entertaining thing to fly around in. Not everyone is solely interested in blowing things up, it's good to have options no?

[simfan2015]

Indeed there is no Lancaster, neither in GB, nor COD. 

I fully understand the interest in the msfs Lancaster because, of course, and as always... YMMV! 

That is also why I, personally, stick to War titles. 

[Mtnbiker1998]

Personally, I don't fly my Milviz Corsair all that often (and the P-51s from the Reno Race DLC aren't even worth flying) So I mostly agree about warbirds, but I'm actually half tempted by the Lancaster... Honestly I think bombers are the one type of warbird that kinda work in MSFS, the map is big enough for the big strategic stuff, the navigation and weather challenges are there (And arguably done a lot better than in any other sim) and all you need to simulate is some weight in your belly disappearing halfway through the flight, which msfs is already perfectly capable of simulating (The Corsair has bombs and droptanks that can be "Dropped," even has firing effects and weight of gun ammo simulated.)

 

Sure you won't be getting shot down by flak or fighters any time soon in MSFS, but for some people thats a plus rather than a con!!

 

[Trooper117]

Just think, you could fly the route that the Dambusters took, at night, at tree top height, and fly back to Blighty in real time... wonder how many would manage it?

[Enceladus828]

Just got the Dornier X. Very impressive plane. I first learned about it when I was in preschool when I read a book called Conquerors of the Air: The evolution of aircraft 1903-1945. I even put these building blocks together to resemble the Dornier. Now I'm flying it.

 

Radio Operator station

 

Flight Engineer station. The two wheels control 6 engines.

 

Generator station (I suppose).

 

Taking off out of LaGuardia (1935) and flying east of Manhattan

 

The Anchor room

 

The onboard Bar

 

Looking out the window in first-class seating behind the Bar.

 

Sleeping berths, likely for the crew

 

Another First class seating

 

Care for a cup of tea anyone?

 

In the hull of the Dornier

 

A galley, behind the lower/economy class seats

 

The Head

 

The sink

 

A rear galley at the end of this magnificent flying boat

 

Definitely worth getting

[danielprates]

On 8/23/2023 at 4:54 PM, Enceladus said:

Now I'm flying it.

 

Post some pictures of the cockpit, or "bridge" or whatever this thing had!

[LukeFF]

Visalia Muni, California (KVIS) to Redlands Muni, California (KREI). Distance flown: 208 NM. Travel time: 1 hour, 27 minutes. Real-time traffic and weather, time of day adjusted to morning hours:

 

 

Right Back Where We Started

 

We had relatively calm winds as we set out from Visalia for the final leg of our trip back home to KREI. We still had enough fuel in the tanks to make it home, so after performing our checks we were up and on our way:

 

 

Central California is pretty dull in terms of interesting scenery, but about halfway through our trip, we could see the Sequoia National Forest to our east. On the other side of those mountains lies a vast area of airspace reserved for military operations:

 

 

Making the final turn toward home at the southern end of Sequoia National Forest. In the upper right lie the San Bernardino Mountains:

 

 

We still had to skim some rather high altitudes that set off the terrain warning system on our GPS, but soon we were clear of the highlands and coming ever closer to our destination:

 

 

We passed south of KREI before looping around and setting up for our approach on the westbound runway. Just south of the airport lies home:

 

 

The winds were pretty benign, so the landing was uneventful. We taxied off the runway, found our parking spot, and called it a day and our round-the-world trip complete:

 

 

And, the final stats for our round-the-world trip:

 

58 legs, totaling 123 hours and 38 minutes real time; sim time 295 hours 40 minutes. Total distance flown: 21,781 NM.

 

We started out in the bog standard, boring C172 with G1000 GPS; traded it in for the more interesting modded G35 in Oxnard; flew the G35 all the way across Canada and the Atlantic before crashing it in the Faroe Islands; flew "another" G35 the rest of the way to mainland Europe; traded the G35 in Munich for the much more in-depth C310R, and then parted ways with the 310R in Alaksa for the king of MSFS GA planes, the A2A Comanche.

 

So, from here, I plan on taking the Comanche down to an authorized Piper Service Center at John Wayne Airport (which I just drove past yesterday) for some maintenance work before making our way back north up to the Pacific Northwest to see family in Idaho before winter weather sets in.

[Mtnbiker1998]

One hell of a journey Luke! Thanks for bringing us along for the ride, it was always a pleasure seeing your posts in here. Certainly inspired a few trips of my own (and maybe a few purchases too, doubt I would own the 310 if not for your posts, haha!)

[ZachariasX]

6 hours ago, LukeFF said:

We started out in the bog standard, boring C172 with G1000 GPS; traded it in for the more interesting modded G35 in Oxnard; flew the G35 all the way across Canada and the Atlantic before crashing it in the Faroe Islands; flew "another" G35 the rest of the way to mainland Europe; traded the G35 in Munich for the much more in-depth C310R, and then parted ways with the 310R in Alaksa for the king of MSFS GA planes, the A2A Comanche.

A fantastic journey!

 

Even what might seem boring or dull to some still puts up a challenge enough to trash at least one airframe, often with the pilot in a questionable state as well. Seeing someone pull such off for real is indeed deeply impressive. And testament to this sim providing a simworld, where the challenge is believeble and does reflect the actual situation. Flight sims too often forget the simworld and consider that as mere backdrop, when in fact it is the environment in which you both have to navigate and should maintain flight...

 

On the weekend, I just did a trip in the Comanche from LSZT (Lommis, Switzerland) to LFTZ (La Mole, France). with stopover in Turin (LIMF) making for two ~90 min flights. People at the flying club would sometimes do that (the usually fly direct) to spend a weekend in St.Tropez. As the weather currently is utterly miserable in Europe with record breaking rains, I wanted to try whether I actually can do that anyway. I didn't take any screenies, as after takeoff, it was just rain and clouds, zero visibility with short periods of some visibility, mostly during the landing approach. The Comanche can actually fly up to 13'000 ft, hence you can cross the Alps and by using radials from Zurich and Milan. That way, you can pick a place where there likely won't be a mountain higher than yourself. Still, you can run into something at any given time asI don't use GPS. The mountain range north of Monaco is also higher than one might think and just an opening in the otherwise totally overcast weather saved me from running into a mountain. You actually need 10'000 ft. minimum there as well to be reasonably safe. As at the coast, the weather was just semi-terrible with at least very limited visibility, I could land at LFTZ without much issue. It can be entertaining, even though there is hardly anything to see.

 

Fair to say, it would be suicide doing this for real, but it is nice having the occasion of trying your luck. I am still deeply impressed about this sim and A2A.

[Lusekofte]

A2A and new accusim shows it is possible to have a proper fm and sort of realistic physics in a sim. It is by far the most realistic aeroplane I flown in any sim

[ZachariasX]

Another vid by Scott:

 

[LukeFF]

Well, we took the Comanche to Martin Aviation at John Wayne Airport, and after a week we (meaning the wife and I) came back and picked it up. I had the newer, more efficient MT propeller installed, the brakes repaired, stabilator tips and a new proper lever installed, and I had the engine overhauled, since when I bought the plane in Alaska, the engine was in pretty rough shape. So, all of this has definitely set me back a little bit. ? 

 

We've had rainy weather recently here in SoCal, and that was no different as we prepared to make the short hop over to Catalina (KAVX). In the background a Southwest 737 departs on runway 20L:

 

 

This flight was definitely made more complicated by there being a 1700-foot ceiling and KAVX being situated at 1600 feet above sea level. Add into that the ATC blaring all sorts of instructions about changing frequencies, the GPS screaming to pull up (there was no danger, but apparently, the GTN 750Xi doesn't like it when you fly below 2000 feet over the water), and I had my hands full just keeping the plane level and below the clouds.

 

It was definitely not easy finding the runway at KAVX, and at one point I descended below 1600 feet, which necessitated a hasty climb. I stalled out at this point, still overloaded somewhat by the weather and trying to maintain a correct approach. But, the Comanche responds fairly quickly to full power, and I got us back on course. With the misses wondering what I was doing and if we were about to plunge into the Pacific, I finally got things in order, and soon enough the perimeter lights of KAVX came into view:

 

 

This part of the flight was thankfully uneventful, and we taxied off the runway, secured the plane, and headed off into town:

 

[javelina]

7 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Well, we took the Comanche to Martin Aviation at John Wayne Airport, and after a week we (meaning the wife and I) came back and picked it up. I had the newer, more efficient MT propeller installed, the brakes repaired, stabilator tips and a new proper lever installed, and I had the engine overhauled, since when I bought the plane in Alaska, the engine was in pretty rough shape. So, all of this has definitely set me back a little bit. ? 

 

We've had rainy weather recently here in SoCal, and that was no different as we prepared to make the short hop over to Catalina (KAVX). In the background a Southwest 737 departs on runway 20L:

 

 

 

This flight was definitely made more complicated by there being a 1700-foot ceiling and KAVX being situated at 1600 feet above sea level. Add into that the ATC blaring all sorts of instructions about changing frequencies, the GPS screaming to pull up (there was no danger, but apparently, the GTN 750Xi doesn't like it when you fly below 2000 feet over the water), and I had my hands full just keeping the plane level and below the clouds.

 

It was definitely not easy finding the runway at KAVX, and at one point I descended below 1600 feet, which necessitated a hasty climb. I stalled out at this point, still overloaded somewhat by the weather and trying to maintain a correct approach. But, the Comanche responds fairly quickly to full power, and I got us back on course. With the misses wondering what I was doing and if we were about to plunge into the Pacific, I finally got things in order, and soon enough the perimeter lights of KAVX came into view:

 

 

 

This part of the flight was thankfully uneventful, and we taxied off the runway, secured the plane, and headed off into town:

 

 

 

This kinda reminds me of the Sedona Airport.  I've managed to land the DC-6 there a couple of times... ?

 

thanks for the pics and report!

 

[Mtnbiker1998]

Gotfriend's F4F released today, what a beautiful stubby lil navy fighter!! One of my favorites for sure.

 

Now with functioning bombs and tracer effects!!

 

[Trooper117]

5 hours ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Now with functioning bombs and tracer effects!!

 

Yes it looks great... but for me, it seems a waste of time having bombs and tracers that can't be used in combat.

[ZachariasX]

18 minutes ago, Trooper117 said:

Yes it looks great... but for me, it seems a waste of time having bombs and tracers that can't be used in combat.

Well, they make a splash when they fall into the sea. This means obect intraction is well possible in this sim. Given the next verstion of MSFS will make this a core part of its functionality, then the CFS is not far away.

Also, *any* aircraft module out there sets a benchmark from what has to be expected in any upcoming sim containing exactly that module.

[Trooper117]

12 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

then the CFS is not far away.

 

Has this been mentioned? how did you get that info?

[ZachariasX]

57 minutes ago, Trooper117 said:

 

Has this been mentioned? how did you get that info?

I meant that figuratively speaking, "on a technical level". Other than that, it is obviously a single decision (that Jörg has to make) away away from reality. But I doubt he would do that anytime soon. But given the MSFS playpen is now open for other software using it such as Accusim, you can now inject any other gemometries and let that 3rd party runtime decide how they interact. I'd say someone making a CFS for MSFS as an addon is getting a realistic possibility. Not exactly for today or tomorrow. But If I was to bet my fortune on a CFS for a venture extending a decade down the road, that would be the competition I'd have in mind. And not DCS.

[Lusekofte]

finally took the time learning how to start that Boeing 247. Damn fine aircraft to fly

[Mtnbiker1998]

9 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

Well, they make a splash when they fall into the sea. This means obect intraction is well possible in this sim. Given the next verstion of MSFS will make this a core part of its functionality, then the CFS is not far away.

Also, *any* aircraft module out there sets a benchmark from what has to be expected in any upcoming sim containing exactly that module.

Agreed 100% Every step forward is a step in the right direction!

[DBFlyguy]

Yesterdays Live Dev Q&A

 

 

[Lusekofte]

On 9/26/2023 at 11:52 AM, ZachariasX said:

Well, they make a splash when they fall into the sea. This means obect intraction is well possible in this sim. Given the next verstion of MSFS will make this a core part of its functionality, then the CFS is not far away.

Also, *any* aircraft module out there sets a benchmark from what has to be expected in any upcoming sim containing exactly that module.

The Boeing 247 catch fire and got a damage model. Same does the Comanche.  These also got a more believable fm/ conduct and feel of atmosphere. So this can be implemented by third party. 
I am pretty sure you can make a plane with guns and bombs that works provided you make object that can take damage 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Lusekofte