Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[DD_Arthur]

Fantastic screenie?

[Trooper117]

Yes, great pic!

[Feathered_IV]

Thanks.  Just tilt your head 90 degrees when using trackir.    

[Hoots]

56 minutes ago, Feathered_IV said:

Thanks.  Just tilt your head 90 degrees when using trackir.    

 

There's an option to disable trackir in the camera menu now. Presumably you can then move the camera around with keys but I have no idea which ones

 

[AndyJWest]

Reached the Indian Ocean. ?

 

Zanzibar.

 

I decided to head south, for Madagascar, Réunion, and Mauritius. I'll have to double back later but I'm not in a hurry.

 

 

 

[ZachariasX]

Oh, thou warm weather pilot...

 

I decided to make better use of the day by going westwar from the Faroe Islands. Until now, I was dumb enough to to my legs in the evening. In fall! Arriving at Vágar airport in conditions what looked like flyting through the intestines of a frozen cow, I opted for a departure at dusk.

 

Thake the Baron they say! She has legs for 1400 nm they say! Great! So I plan to make use of that and plan for a 1'200 nm leg, from Vágar airport to Nuuk, (BGGH) on the far side of Greenland.

 

But This time, I do check the weather. I don't feel like taking a swim in the North Atlantic.

 

 

Awww... head wind. That is ground speed wind. Now, lets select a flight level...

 

 

With altitude it gets progressively worse, to the point of higher windspeeds than my achievable TAS. Lower is better. I try to be unconventional and select 5500 ft als fligh altitude. The Baron is faster down low. Not having a suercharger royally sucks. But we have what we have.

 

 

My flightplan. I have 1'300 nm or so to cover like this. Wiki says I only have ~1'000 nm or so, but I guess in a forum, Wiki's opining bears litte weight. Besides, the sim says I have 1'480 nm range. That should do for some go-around, shouldn't it?

 

So, here we go. Filled her up to the gills, just me in there and planty spare pants if I ever get THAT kind of crosswind again.

 

 

Yeah... that was nice. When I landed there, crosswind was such that I had to apply full rudder to taxi (!) straight. Now I only needed full rudder for takeoff, but she would taxi nicely.

 

 

Getting above the clouds at 5'500 ft. She already froze up completely, but with all those heaters, she's ok.

 

 

Arriving in Iceland. Had to climb to 8'000 ft to get me over the clouds. But I must say, The topography is impressive, even though "the cloud" has problems stitching together all those white glacier texxtures.

 

 

The weather is rather variable across Island. I find that as soon as you enter the clouds, I have a speed drop from 185 knots TAS to about 160 knots. Forces me to climb again. I notice that it somehow takes longer to reach places than I hoped for.

 

 

At least the weather clears up over the fjords of the nortern shore. Still, without heater, the crate freezes up quickly.

 

Much to my dismay, mixture is not really implemented in the Baron. You either have "Go" or "cut". I can decrease rpm to make for some economy, but I'm stuck with 16 gallons/hr (or so). (I really can't wait for the A2A Aerostar!!!)

 

 

En route to Greenland and back over the water. Lots of it. Doesn't keep the aircraft from freezing up if you turn off the heaters. But the weather is rather tolerable, not much headwind. I'm making good ground. But. Fuel is down to about 40%. I really start to doubt I'll make it to Nuuk.

 

 

Land! And fuel down to 30%.... I at least had the foresight to have planned landfall near Kulusuk airport (BGKK).

 

 

It is somewhere there... Tuning in the station, anouncing my arrival

 

 

There it is. I go in for direct approach.

 

 

Irt feels like I've arrived on the moon, but the scenery is impressive nevertheless. I land and put her on the parking spot. 24% fuel left.

 

 

Eww. now that looks weird. What on earth do they do to aircraft here?? Will my bird look like that tomorrow? There's only one way to find out...

 

EDIT: That was a 5 hours 7 min trip...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by ZachariasX

[AndyJWest]

Yeah, it's a bit blowy around there right now, ZachariasX. Windy.com was reporting a 210 kt or so jetstream at FL 300-340 blowing from St Johns to Greenland earlier. The latest update shows it dropping a little, but still over 200 kt in places. Nice if you have it behind you, of course...

[ZachariasX]

Yes, it is rather impressive. Actually, at this point, I'm not even sure if I like the scenery more than the clouds. I mean, the scenery is... grand. But the clouds, I can't stop looking at. Right now "real weather" has these marked refreshes (you can see the loading circle in the lower right corner) and then things are slightly changed. But still, it looks just great! Even over water it can kake the flight entertaining...But if it gets too bland, just Alt-Tab "back to work and you have this nice live background on your desktop. Tab' back in when things happen.

 

It is just too bad that the stock aircraft are realy only partially complete, without mentioning how complete they are supposed to be.

 

The Baron has a mixture that is either "on" (and the stuck at 8 gph) or just cut. Working the rpm has no influence in fuel flow, and neither does the throttle setting. This means if you are not going full bore, you're wasting fuel. Haha. The Garmis are missing buttons and dials... But you can make it work.

 

This sim will be awesome. But it still needs so much work. And I need the A2A Aerostar for this sim. The B377 or the Connie would be grand as well. I just love going places with those two.

[Bremspropeller]

You might be faster, going the other waay round

 

6 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

And I need the A2A Aerostar for this sim.

 

Let me guess: Delivering "packages" for "businessmen"?

Edited November 3, 2020 by Bremspropeller

[ZachariasX]

1 minute ago, Bremspropeller said:

You might be faster, going the other waay round

I know. But would you want to be that one that managed to fly around the globe and of whom they say he did it by the grace of tailwinds?

 

 

[Bremspropeller]

1 minute ago, ZachariasX said:

I know. But would you want to be that one that managed to fly around the globe and of whom they say he did it by the grace of tailwinds?

 

 

 

Nah, I'd rather land at 90N and then taxi around the globe

[DD_fruitbat]

1 minute ago, ZachariasX said:

I know. But would you want to be that one that managed to fly around the globe and of whom they say he did it by the grace of tailwinds?

 

 

 

Sounds like someone whose smart to me ?

[ZachariasX]

7 minutes ago, Bremspropeller said:

You might be faster, going the other waay round

Let me guess: Delivering "packages" for "businessmen"?

 

These times are over. But I personally got to know a German guy who did exactly that, in the 70's and 80's. Because it was both legal and well paid. But he also collected a couple of holes in his aircraft. Mostly in Africa. Funny stories that are only funny 20 years after.

Edited November 3, 2020 by ZachariasX

[Bremspropeller]

2 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

Mostly in Africa. Funny stories that are only funny 20 years after.

 

A friend of mine whom I worked together with at my last airline-gig had been flying in Africa before becoming captain on Q400s.

One week of drunk nights out isn't enough for all the stories he could tell.

 

My favourite one was the line check on the Beech 1900 that included single engine full-stalls and recovery from the resulting incipient spin.

Oh, and the latter part was intentional...

[ZachariasX]

18 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

Nah, I'd rather land at 90N and then taxi around the globe

 

18 hours ago, DD_fruitbat said:

Sounds like someone whose smart to me ?

 

Staying off the beaten path, I would do that at 90S, I don't trust the ice anymore these days. And I don't know of flying icebreakers. Maybe Andy knows, he brings boats to the desert while I choose headwinds.

 

You really got me thinking there...

Edited November 4, 2020 by ZachariasX

[ZachariasX]

Ok, next leg (in real weather of course). As things go slower with some of my co-workers (one should be careful disturbing hospital personel these days), I use FS2020 as a great replacement of Minesweeper.

 

I have been stranded at Kulusuk, one gloomy place. If the Moon had a sea (of water), then it would come close to what this place looks. Being an early bird for a flight was a good decision the last time, so I stick with that. First look at todays wind:

 

 

Having debated headwind above, I then tried to make it at least side winds. It is definitely impossible to go southwest around Greenland, as winds are such, I'd remain stuck over the airfield. I have to cross Greenland then, all the way to Aasiat airport at Disko Bugt. Sounds good. From there alll the way across the drink to Canada. I extend the leg slighty northward to add some space if winds turn out even stronger. I decide to land in CYFP Iqaluit. A real airport. There are a couple of regional airports, but a bit of gravel and a shack is not what I am looking for.

 

There I go:

 

 

It keeps the whole flight a tad below 1000 nm. Should be doable. The clouds... That doesn't look good. But as for someone ferrying an important suitcase to someone, I have to make best with what there is.

 

 

takeoff. The sloped runways are really something. When you can see only for about 3 runway lights because the rest is hidden behind "the hump" of your runway, taking off like that takes some leap of faith if you have otherwhose near zero visibility. I have no idea when or how or if I ever gonna make it out of this soup.

 

 

Eventually, I do! At 15k ft.! But that was a gusty ride. At this point I think, beside breathing problems, I can manage.

 

 

How wrong I was! I should have known when I saw that place upon landing. This is Mordor! The terrain creeps up rapidly and so does the cloud layer. Wind gusts are such that now for the second time they sent me into a stall, IAS just collapsing on me and I'm dropping like a leaf. It is so bad that I have to disengage the autopilot to get the plane back into a somewhat controllable flight attitude. But that earns you a totally trimmed back aircraft!

 

 

Recovering from such a drop to below 9'000 ft., I desperately try to get my frozen up plane (all heaters are on!) to get altitude, as Mordor has moutains up to 14'000 ft here! Upon checking the map (Google), I see that average ground level at 8'500 ft.! Not a good feeling.At all. I'm really scratching the ceiling of what this plane can do and it feels like if I deployed the landing gear, they would touch ground. Yet I see nothing of that. I'm blind and the Garmin is showing me this horror movie.

 

 

Towards the west coast, the weather clears up slightly, just enough for Mordor to expose some of it's jaws... and my frozen plane. If hell freezes over, that is how it would look like! I want to leave this place! But weather closes in again. At least my plane had time to thaw somewhat and I try to reach 16k ft. That works.

 

 

Finally I get on top of the clouds. At 16k ft., I see the sun again.

 

 

Canada the beautiful! With the weather clearing up, Newfoundland looks like paradise to me!

 

 

How nice. My plane is thawing up again and I get her to 200 knots TAS.

 

Spoiler

 

The scenery is still littered with bodies of water that have wrong terrain altitudes.

 

 

Civilization! On approach to CYFB in weather I haven't seen in a while. Everything is so easy now.

 

 

Iqaluit is a nice airport.

 

It was certainly not a very scenic flight on average. I must say it was for a good part about one of the most intense and horrifying flights imaginable. I mean, you have to be out of your effin mind to pull a Hubert Wilkins and just go and fly in these areas by just dead reckoning. This is already very demanding if the weather is - how unusual - nice to you.

 

I have seen enough of the evil cold and dark now, for it is now Florida I'm heading to. Delivering a suitcase. I'm not scared of Hurricanes anymore.

Edited November 4, 2020 by ZachariasX

[Bremspropeller]

6 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

I'm not scared of Hurricanes anymore.

 

See what you did there...

[Monostripezebra]

Visiting the Atomium in Brussels

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by Monostripezebra

[ZachariasX]

You must be used to landing with the parking brake on. 

[Bremspropeller]

Love that registration ?

[ZachariasX]

So, another leg on my way to Florida.

 

From CFYB to CSG5, sacré Saint-Jean-Chrysostome Aerodrome, just outside Québec. The fog in Iqaluit is as thick as cheese. Windy shows me a single cloud the size of darn Greenland above Newfoudland. Zut alors. I must go high, probably. Oh well.

 

My flightplan:

Spoiler

 

Not sure that there is too much to see along the way, except one thing: the largest visible meteorite crater on earth, Lake Manicouagan. There's an airport next to it. I choose that as first stint of the way.

 

Visibility has detoriated to about nil at Iqaluit. Weather is as apalling as it could possibly be. First thing you do when sitting in your aircraft is winding down your altimeter to about 29 inches. Crosswinds are such that full rudder almost keeps me going straight on takeoff run. Then I climb.. I climb... climb... climb...

 

...climb....

 

Still see nothing at all.

 

I climb more... until I reach about 23k ft. with a totally frozen aircraft, regardless of the heaters, and about 11 inches manifold left. I give up and venture along at that altitude, hoping that cloud levels will drop at some point. An hour later along the way, the weaher indeed clears up a bit.

 

 

Finally! Later on, I can even descend below 16k and slowly and steady the plane is thawing up.

 

 

There, one can see the crater on the GPS.

 

 

Monumental, indeed. The clouds are clearing up and I get to see that lake, the 5th largest body of fresh water on earth.

 

 

From there, it basically stays flat and green. some rivers. I could descent to breathabe air and decide to take a nap. Ground controler wake me up, hopefully.

 

 

Arriving in Québec. I'm descending for apprach on runway 06, on the far side of the river.

 

 

Landing straight into the woods. Finally. Winds were bad along the way, it took me 5 hours 55 min to reach this airport. But here, weather is fair.

 

I really, really hope I have this ghastly polar weather behind me. I never had to fly at such altitudes, not even to cross the Himalayas.

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by ZachariasX

[Monostripezebra]

Cool flight, Zacharias

 

Man, I wish Greenland was shown a little more love.. it is such a cool transatlantik stepping stone.

[DBFlyguy]

Anyone with the Steam version having issues having to log into xbox every single time they load up the sim now? This wasn't happening until yesterday, pretty annoying

[CanadaOne]

13 minutes ago, DBFlyguy said:

Anyone with the Steam version having issues having to log into xbox every single time they load up the sim now? This wasn't happening until yesterday, pretty annoying

 

I get that little blue Xbox screen when I fire up DCS. But FS20 loads right away. Both are on Steam.

[DBFlyguy]

Just now, CanadaOne said:

 

I get that little blue Xbox screen when I fire up DCS. But FS20 loads right away. Both are on Steam.

Odd... no idea what's going on, I don't know if its a recent Windows 10 update..the recent FS20 update or what? Ironically I played some DCS this week after their newest update and had no issues whatsoever, signs right on.  I may have to reinstall FS20 but I really don't want to...

[DBFlyguy]

Looks like it was the Windows 10 Update.  Rolled back to the previous version and FS20 is working like it previously was with no sign in prompt

[SAS_Storebror]

I've been having issues starting MSFS2020 after installing KB4580364.

In my case the game would crash to desktop on start, at the stage where it recognizes game controllers (right before the "Checking for Updates" and "Japan Update has landet" screens come in).

I've scanned the net and got all kind of advices from people with same or similar issues, including but not limited to:

• disconnect all game controllers and try starting again - didn't help
• delete all contents from the "000901FB25EB23FA_00000000000000000000000069F80140" folder found in the user profiles' MSFS 2020 "SystemAppData\wgs" folder - didn't help since those files are getting restored on next start from XBox console automatically, and right after that: CTD
• Edit plain text config files found in above mentioned folder and subfolders and make sure they contain valid "new" format game controller configs (I don't bother you here with what flags them valid or invalid) - didn't help
• Roll back KB4580364 - didn't help
• Roll back all other Windows 10 Updates from the past 14 days - didn't help
• Reinstall latest GPU driver from Nvidia, after uninstalling the previous one using DDU - didn't help

Finally I chose the last resort and reinstalled MSFS 2020 completely.

That worked.

Even installing all Windows Updates again, including KB4580364 works now.

 

Funny thing that. For "John Doe" type of users this is a PITA, as it means you have to re-download 200+ Gigabytes of data from the web and you have to reconfigure all your settings and inputs.

 

Mike

[ZachariasX]

Yes, it is impressive how MS manages to screw their own products with regular Windows updates.

 

I'm starting to experience frametime slowdowns due to 'CoherentGTDraw' suddenly suddnly chocking the whole system. From what I could gather, it is a plugin that draws the Garmin screens or the NAV window. There in no setting in the GFX options to alleviate the issue once you have it. It starts about one hour into the flight, dropping my FPS from 30+ to 10+.

 

In content manager one also gets super messages like "newer game version required to update". No shit, Sherlock. Well, how am I gonna do that when it is not possible anyway to have any version than the current one? And if I can't do anything about that, why telling me?

Spoiler

 

The idea of providing that list of modules without the option of sorting them, especially knowing that there will be many entries is utterly moronic as well. Maybe those guys are using iTunes and are used to not being able to sort their library for eliminating inconsistencies.

 

These are again moments, when I really, really get to appreciate IL2. It usually works. And if it doesn't, it is fixed soon.

[SAS_Storebror]

52 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

These are again moments, when I really, really get to appreciate IL2. It usually works. And if it doesn't, it is fixed soon.

If only that was true... ?

 

We need to give Microsoft credit to care for their customers in comparably due time.

Sure thing, Software isn't always error-free and it's mindboggling sometimes to see how Microsoft manages to break their own Software with their own Updates (and blame each other's department for it), but then again we get updates like in 1-2 week cycles right now, and that is fast.

Plus, MSFS2020 is actually moddable, something IL-2 GB lacks from the very beginning. I still remember talks about an SDK from the early days, but I don't think it'll ever come for IL-2 GB. For MSFS2020 it's there, and even though it leaves plenty of room for improvements, it is actually constantly improving.

 

Mike

[Lusekofte]

2 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

Funny thing that. For "John Doe" type of users this is a PITA, as it means you have to re-download 200+ Gigabytes of data from the web and you have to reconfigure all your settings and inputs.

 

Long time flown now. And your right. After last ordeal I guess I ditch this rather than fix it

[DD_Arthur]

I did re-download the whole thing after it failed to start and yep, getting the same message as Zach in my contents library for certain modules and have to ‘press any key to continue’ once again.  However, to my surprise and relief it’s retained my controller settings.

[ZachariasX]

5 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

If only that was true... ?

I know what you mean, but lets factor in the sensitivies of 109 drivers and the impecable moral fibre of Sopwith drivers, where a sudden drop from 1000 meters will certaibnly leave no dent, then we can maybe wait it out until some more polishing is done.

 

 

Anyway, FS2020 had a happy day on my rig and I could do another flight en route south.

Spoiler

 

Leaving the Québec area in direction Montreal. From there to Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Long Island to LaGuardia.

 

I found out that is is very easy making FS2020 CTD if you create an extensive flightplan. Also, sometimes you can't delete flight plan entries anymore and you have to reset. this will reset your plane loadout as well. But eventually it worked and the sim loaded up as it should.

 

 

Man, the weather is nice today. Some clouds upon takeoff. No, rain, I can actuall see something. Canada. I tell you. Gotta love this place.

 

 

Trois Rivieres, en route to Montreal.  All flat farmland and a huge river. I decide to fly low, around 2'500ft.

 

 

Montreal... or "how to build a city when all you have is free space". There's still the skyline portside.

 

It always strikes me how man changes the face of this planet. You come from out there north, where there is no sign of civilization... and suddenly there's these little island like settlements and later on you have to start looking for nature among all this construction. I enjoy these flights. These prop aircraft have just about the right speed to experience the landscape. It is like the needle in a phonograph. Not too fast, not too slow, giving you the tune of both a visual impression and a feel for dimensions. Too bad that half of the stuff in the stock aircraft is not really working. You have the scenery talking to you, but the aircraft hardly does so. It requires coarse situations, where aircraft management start to matter. But man, I have had my fair share of those. I don't mind just drifting along for a change.

 

 

America, the beautiful.

 

Just outside Lebanon. Woo-hoo. Had to climb to 4'500ft to get over these mountains. Who would have thought I would come here and everything is just so peaceful.

 

 

Passing Boston enroute to Cape Cod. From there, onward to Nantucket.

 

 

No whalers at the piers in Nantucket.

 

 

Going southwest, I just passed Edgartown flying over Martha's Vineyard. I suppose people down there seeing me are thinking "Look at the poor schmock who can't afford a Gulfstream."

 

 

LaGuardia. Direct approach, runway 31. I (as usual) got lost on the taxiways to the GA area, but who cares.

 

It's gonna take two stints to fly to Florida. Although the spec sheet says 1'440 nm (or so) range, the way fuel consumption is calculated, don't count on more than 1'000 nm. Economical cruise setting just let you fly slower than full power. There is really little point with the Baron trying to milk out more range. Looking outside must do.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by ZachariasX

[AndyJWest]

More world trip screenshots. ?

 

Spoiler

Western Madagascar. Dry, and suffering from deforestation.

 

Central Madagascar. The mountains catch almost all the rain coming in on prevailing winds from the east.

Leaving Madagascar for Réunion.

 

Réunion is spectacular. Towering volcanic peaks and steep cliffs. In the foreground is the Piton des Neiges. Dormant, with several settlements inside. Do people live in volcanic calderas just for the added excitement, I wonder?

 

On the far side of Réunion is the Piton de la Fournaise. An active volcano, with seismic activity and a lava flow as recently as last April. As per usual MSFS had done its best to mimic the cloud build-up around islands, but I managed to find my way under it to land on a coastal airfield.

 

Mauritius. Flatter than Réunion, with extensive agriculture - mostly sugar cane.

 

Réunion again, on the way back west. I was originally going to land there, but decided that I'd take advantage of a 20 kt tailwind and continue back to Madagascar. 

 

My next destination will be Mozambique, before heading back to Kilimanjaro via an inland dog-leg to Lake Malawi/Nyasa, and on northwards to Ethiopia. I'll have to cross my earlier route somewhere, and if I do it via Kilimanjaro maybe I'll actually get to see it properly this time, rather than just more cloud...

 

[DD_Arthur]

Inaugral flight of British Airways new Heathrow - Rio service using the 747 replacement fleet.

Next week - Ryan Air launches  Ring of Kerry - Mount Snowden business class hang gliders 

[chiliwili69]

On 10/30/2020 at 7:49 PM, Blooddawn1942 said:

Almost Halloween ?

 

 

 

Hey, those clouds are absolutely amazing!

[Jaws2002]

4 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

Hey, those clouds are absolutely amazing!

 

Yes they are!

 

 I played that Halloween mission too. The atmosphere is just awesome.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Jaws2002

[Bremspropeller]

On 11/8/2020 at 3:59 PM, ZachariasX said:

It's gonna take two stints to fly to Florida. Although the spec sheet says 1'440 nm (or so) range, the way fuel consumption is calculated, don't count on more than 1'000 nm. Economical cruise setting just let you fly slower than full power.

 

Make sure you go via KFFA and Cape Hatteras.

[DBFlyguy]

2 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

Make sure you go via KFFA and Cape Hatteras.

Before anyone goes anywhere near KFFA, be sure to download the free scenery update from Vertical Sim.  The default is an embarrassment, can't believe Asobo completely dropped the ball on the location of the first powered flight, especially when the sim suggests you visit there...

 

The Vertical Sim addon can be found here:

https://verticalsims.com/kffa/

 

 

[Feathered_IV]

On 11/9/2020 at 1:59 AM, ZachariasX said:

 

No whalers at the piers in Nantucket.

 

So long, Nantucket.

[DD_Arthur]

Game update in progress.

 

 Fingers crossed.........