Microsoft Flight Sim 2020

[DD_Arthur]

14 hours ago, Dakpilot said:

An empty DC-4 is a lot of fun, 

 

Is this a southern african thing?  Big planes?

 

 

I was at this show when this thing stole it.  As far as I remember, if you were within a certain radius of one of their routes,  SAA would roster their chief pilot and he'd come over and mesmorise the crowd for ten minutes at @185 mph, 500' AGL and thirty degrees of bank.  

 

Then it was back to Heathrow to load up for Cape Town

Did I say 500'?  Er....

[Dakpilot]

 

I think it's a southern African thing ?

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[Feathered_IV]

What the hell..  is it a special airshow for short-sighted people??

[DD_Arthur]

On 5/23/2021 at 5:43 AM, CUJO_1970 said:

These graphics are unreal.

 

My cpu is ten years old in the fall....

 

 

[Hoots]

16 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

 

My cpu is ten years old in the fall....

 

 

 

a. it really is an impressive bit of software isn't it.

b. south west england... fall... we need to review your Cornish/Devonian status

[DD_Arthur]

Lol.  Well, it was in defference to Cujo - since I was quoting him.

 

Btw; since last September the seasons in the westcountry have gone fall-winter-fall.  Mid-summer's day is around five weeks away and we had an inch of hail on the ground mid morning

 

I really have an urge to be in Australia atm!   

[Tektolnes]

From Cyprus it west over Mount Olympus and on then to the Asian continent where I'll be spending the next months passing through. First up is Antalya in Turkey with the plan to swing around in a loop through Istanbul and down to Adana near Incirlik AFB before heading into Syria. Started using Pilot2ATC as well which seems to work pretty well so far, allows you to speak (sort of) to ATC and does a better job overall than the stock ATC. Whether I'll fork out $60 after the 10 day trial is over remains to be seen though.

 

 

 

Then on to Izmir - the 3rd biggest city in Turkey with a recorded urban history of more than 3,000 years thanks to it's advantageous location near the Aegean Sea.  

 

 

After that it was due NNE to Istanbul that straddles both Europe and Asia. Previously named Byzantion, Byzantium and Constantinople it's home to more than 15m people  - a big place with a lot of history. The city has seen some TLC too with locations like the Hagia Sophia getting nicely rendered in the game. 

 

 

 

Then on to Ankara - another ancient location home to a variety of cultural owners over the centuries from Celts, Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine to finally Ottoman. Today it's the capital of Turkey and Erdogan has built himself a nice palace here - whenever you see a democratically elected president building himself a grand palace it's a fairly good indication that winning elections is not something he's overly concerned about and is planning to go absolutely nowhere.

 

 

 

Then on to Erkilet AB by Kayseri and then a straight run south to Adana near Incirlik AFB. Not a huge amount to see in this region with large parts of the surrounding area being farmland as situated on a flat, fertile plain. 

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

On 5/23/2021 at 3:51 PM, Bremspropeller said:

MSFS - when you want to quickly hop in and go yet the launcher suggest you're better installing that 78GB update ?

 

Guess what!?

[AndyJWest]

12 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

 

Guess what!?

 

Yeah, 5.75 GB for me. The release notes suggest they've done some significant work on flight modelling though. I'll be trying it out later to see if I can see any difference in stall behaviour (mentioned in the notes), which definitely needed work.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/release-patch-notes-1-16-2-0-now-available/404619

 

 

[Bremspropeller]

Just pulled a double-update on me - 1gig in the Macrohard store and now another 5gig in the game.

[DD_Arthur]

After the latest game update.

 

 

They seem to have fixed a lot of the Spitfire’s flight model quirks in Flyingirons latest update. It’s now really pretty impressive ?.

 

Live weather and yes, got a bit distracted by the ? 

 

[Blooddawn1942]

9 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

After the latest game update.

 

 

They seem to have fixed a lot of the Spitfire’s flight model quirks in Flyingirons latest update. It’s now really pretty impressive ?.

 

Live weather and yes, got a bit distracted by the ? 

 

Have they fixed the strange behavior when taking of? I find it very odd compared to the DCS Spitfire. 

[Trooper117]

Looks like I'll be buying that Spit then 

[DD_Arthur]

1 hour ago, Trooper117 said:

Looks like I'll be buying that Spit then 

 

I’d hold off for a little bit. Somewhere not too far off is thing. 

 

Something to consider...

[Trooper117]

Can't get enough Spits mate... 

[CUJO_1970]

Time for a sunset flight over the Gulf:

 

 

Setting fast...

 

 

I've seen the sunset over the Gulf many times IRL, MSFS does a great job recreating it:

 

 

The way back:

 

 

[AndyJWest]

My new toy, a Caudron C.430 "Rafale":

 

 

http:// https://secure.simmarket.com/bluemesh-caudron-rafale-430-msfs.phtml

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudron_C.430_Rafale

 

An interesting beast. Built as a lightweight tourer/racer, and flies like it. Not a beginner's plane by any means, if the handling is at all accurate - it has a vicious stall. A couple of graphics glitches, and I'm not entirely sure about the performance (the rate of climb seems somewhat lacking, though I'd need better sources than Wikipedia to confirm my doubts), but only EUR 10.20, so worth it just for the Gallic charm, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Tektolnes]

On 5/22/2021 at 11:15 PM, CUJO_1970 said:

First look, downloaded all the world updates. Now the long process of setting up the key assignments and the old Galdiator NXT.

 

In case you haven't got to them yet there's some mods that you'd probably be interested in to improve things a little:

• Working Title mods for the G1000, G3000, GX and the CJ4 overhaul mod (which is excellent): GitHub - Working-Title-MSFS-Mods/fspackages: Working Title FS Packages
• GNS530 Mod: GitHub - pimarc/pms50-gns530: Flight simulator 2020 GNS530 Mod
• GTN750 Mod (free for now in beta but will become payware / little finicky to setup but docs explain it all and worth it I think): GPS for MSFS2020 (pms50.com)
• LittleNavMap (great for flight planning & free): 
  • Little Navmap | Little Navconnect | Little Logbook Support Forum - The AVSIM Community
  • New maps for LNM - Little Navmap | Little Navconnect | Little Logbook Support Forum - The AVSIM Community
• C152 Enhancement Mod: JPLogistics C152 Enhancement Mod » Microsoft Flight Simulator
• G36 Bonanza Enhancement Mod (you need the Working Title G1000 for this too): G36 Improvement Project (V0.62, World Update 4 compatible) - Third Party Addon Discussion / Aircraft - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

 

[CUJO_1970]

1 hour ago, Tektolnes said:

 

In case you haven't got to them yet there's some mods that you'd probably be interested in to improve things a little:

• Working Title mods for the G1000, G3000, GX and the CJ4 overhaul mod (which is excellent): GitHub - Working-Title-MSFS-Mods/fspackages: Working Title FS Packages
• GNS530 Mod: GitHub - pimarc/pms50-gns530: Flight simulator 2020 GNS530 Mod
• GTN750 Mod (free for now in beta but will become payware / little finicky to setup but docs explain it all and worth it I think): GPS for MSFS2020 (pms50.com)
• LittleNavMap (great for flight planning & free): 
  • Little Navmap | Little Navconnect | Little Logbook Support Forum - The AVSIM Community
  • New maps for LNM - Little Navmap | Little Navconnect | Little Logbook Support Forum - The AVSIM Community
• C152 Enhancement Mod: JPLogistics C152 Enhancement Mod » Microsoft Flight Simulator
• G36 Bonanza Enhancement Mod (you need the Working Title G1000 for this too): G36 Improvement Project (V0.62, World Update 4 compatible) - Third Party Addon Discussion / Aircraft - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

 

 

 

Outstanding Tektolnes - thank you!

[CUJO_1970]

First time since playing Alien: Isolation or Senua's Sacrfice that I've felt this much intensity playing a video game/simulation:

 

Flew into a storm and started icing up -

 

 

Visibility zero:

 

 

Kept nervously watching the altimeter unwind in total blindness, just praying not to fly into the side of a mountain or hill once I made landfall. Thankfully the canopy de-iced once I got lower - broke out of the fog right over the surface of the water:

 

 

Great relief finding the runway:

 

 

That was an amazing sim moment. So impressed with this thing, sorry but it just blows XPlane completely out of the water.

[CUJO_1970]

Got my first payware airport - KCDK Cedar Key - On NE Gulf Coast (my beloved Gulf of Mexico):

 

 

It's significant for being the shortest paved runway in the state of Florida - and completely water bound on each end. I figure if I can practice on this runway and get gud then other runways should be easier.

 

 

Some sweet Grand Caravan tax, just because:

 

[AndyJWest]

Ice, ice, baby... Welcome to the club, Cujo. Florida looks much more inviting, though I'd probably take a floatplane, and not bother with runways.

 

Since getting iced up over the northern Pacific wasn't really in my plans for my world trip, I've been making slow progress across the Aleutians, though at least I'm in the western hemisphere now. I'd made it as far as Adak a few days back, and checking today I saw a chance to get a bit further, though it was going to get colder and cloudier as I went east, so I wasn't sure how far I'd get. Not very far, as it turned out. ☹️

 

Departing Adak, MSFS seemed to think this was an appropriate colour for the ocean. Who knows, maybe it is?

 

Just about visible through the murk is the top of the Great Sitkin Volcano.

 

It had been 6° C at 1000ft when I left Adak, but by the time I'd gone 60 or so miles it had dropped to 4°, and visibility was declining rapidly, so I decided to take the prudent option and land at Atka. Ice on the water, according to MSFS.

 

20 kt crosswind, but at least the runway was easy to find.

 

MSFS seems to think that owning a plane is sufficient reason to use it as a static airfield model, so I had some unlikely company when I parked.

 

I'd only got about 90 nm as the crow flies - not that any sensible crow would be flying, if it had a choice. I'll be glad to see the back of this string of icy rocks, and the endless succession of stormy lows that seem to constitute 'summer' around here. ?

[Bremspropeller]

6 hours ago, CUJO_1970 said:

Got my first payware airport - KCDK Cedar Key - On NE Gulf Coast (my beloved Gulf of Mexico):

 

 

It's significant for being the shortest paved runway in the state of Florida - and completely water bound on each end. I figure if I can practice on this runway and get gud then other runways should be easier.

 

 

Some sweet Grand Caravan tax, just because:

 

 

 

Cedar Key is where I did my first landing in a 172. The airfield required a checkout with a CFI anyway, as it has a very wide runway (in relation to it's length) and it creates weird optical illusions for people not used to it. Also, taking off to the west, there have been a couple of fatal accidents by people losing spatial orientation over the Gulf water.

 

There's no PAPI or VASI or whatsoever, helping judge your height on final approach. There is, however, a substantial bump just short of the runway, making sure you shear off that landing gear - or worse - when coming in too low.

 

You can take a golf cart into town, but we didn't stick around for too long...

 

Photo taken by CFI - back in 2014.

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Bremspropeller

[Tektolnes]

After Adana it was a short hop over the Mediterranean to Aleppo in Syria. It's one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world with over 5,000 years of history. It was once a trading centre between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. Situated at the end of the Silk Road it's importance declined after the Suez Canal was built. Previously it was the largest city in Syria until the civil war unfortunately caused it to suffer massive destruction so probably not a place to stop over today.

 

 

From Aleppo it was a SW run down to Beirut, capital of Lebanon and another city older than 5,000 years. Appeared to be a lot of farming going out throughout this region in the areas closer to the coast. 

 

 

After Beirut it was over to yet another ancient city - Damascus, the capital of Syria and recipient of the dubious title of least livable city in 2019. Not a place to tarry for long then maybe so gave it the 20,000 foot review and headed on down towards Tel-Aviv.

 

On the way to Tel-Aviv passed through more large farmland areas and over the Sea of Galilee where some Jesus fella fed a bunch of fish to loads of people back in the day or something. Today it's the lowest freshwater lake in the world.

 

 

 

The next morning it was a run due south from Tel Aviv to King Hussein International Airport in Jordan near the industrial city of Aqaba with detours over Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. I was thinking to go to see the ancient city of Petra but a quick check showed that MSFS AI had placed all modern buildings there so decided to give seeing rectangular blocks shoved into the side of hills a miss.

 

 

 

[CUJO_1970]

Little flight over Sydney Harbor.

 

[CUJO_1970]

Getting better with the King Air:

 

 

[AndyJWest]

Normandy.

 

 

[Blooddawn1942]

After completing my UK and Ireland roundtrip in the Spitfire I'm looking forward to see the shores of France once again. Been there all to often, Normandy and Atlantic Coast.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Blooddawn1942

[DD_Arthur]

Early evening sightseeing around the East Devon coast

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

Soon....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by DD_Arthur

[AndyJWest]

As I fly into Nebraska, the excitement overwhelms me. ?

 

Seriously though, making good progress on my trip. I'll try to sort out some screenshots with 3-dimensional scenery later.

 

[CUJO_1970]

2 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

As I fly into Nebraska, the excitement overwhelms me. ?

 

Seriously though, making good progress on my trip. I'll try to sort out some screenshots with 3-dimensional scenery later.

 

 

We call Kansas and Nebraska "flyover" states for a reason ?

 

Seriously though, flying over the US from east coast to west coast you look outside and wonder how there could be any person in want of food anywhere in the world. Our mismanagement of the planet is profound.

[AndyJWest]

1 hour ago, CUJO_1970 said:

 

We call Kansas and Nebraska "flyover" states for a reason ?

 

Seriously though, flying over the US from east coast to west coast you look outside and wonder how there could be any person in want of food anywhere in the world. Our mismanagement of the planet is profound.

 

People wanting for food generally only has a limited relationship with food being available. It's who owns the land, the water supply, and the resultant crops, and the price they charge for it all that usually matters most. Been that way since the time of the Pharaohs.

[ZachariasX]

7 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Soon....

A day 1 buy for me. 

[Hoots]

3 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

 

People wanting for food generally only has a limited relationship with food being available. It's who owns the land, the water supply, and the resultant crops, and the price they charge for it all that usually matters most. Been that way since the time of the Pharaohs.

At the risk of further derailing, it doesn’t mean it still should still be that way 3000 years later. 

[AndyJWest]

52 minutes ago, Hoots said:

At the risk of further derailing, it doesn’t mean it still should still be that way 3000 years later. 

 

Yup, I think we can safely say that we've tried the Pharaohs' methods, and they don't work. Though come to think of it (and checking my dates on Wikipedia) it isn't really fair to blame the Pharaohs, since the even-more-ancient-Egyptians were probably at it for a couple of millennia before them.

 

As I've noted previously in this thread, bimbling across vast swathes of this planet at 130 knots (minus the inevitable headwind that the sky-god imposes to remind me of my place in the order of things) gives me a lot of time to think. And very often leads me to thinking about time itself. Sometimes time on human timescales, as in when I do a bit of in-flight Googling regarding an implausibly-named peak in Wyoming, and discover that there seem to be at least 13 'Steamboat Mountain's in the US. Wikipedia lists 12, and the one I passed isn't even included amongst them. Why were people naming mountains hundreds of miles from navigable water after steamboats? I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that (assuming it wasn't down to bad whiskey) the most likely explanation was the shape resembling said boats - from a time when those exploring the western territories where most of the peaks are would be familiar with steamboats, and may even have come part of the way on them. If people were finding new peaks now, and naming them, they'd probably all be named after Kim Kardashian's ample features or something. The past wasn't all bad.

 

And on the other end of the timescale, I think I've figured out how US geography really works. The whole thing (bar the odd volcano, and some humongous flooding when ice-ages come to a sudden stop) is the result of squashing from both sides. It gets rather crumpled in the west, where the pacific plate is diving under (at an angle, hauling San Francisco towards Los Angeles, to the immense disappointment of the inhabitants of both cities), and towards the middle, beyond the crumple zone, is getting rather pushed up too, in emulation of Tibet, though not quite as high - so far. The east coast is mostly relatively immune to the more dramatic effects of all this squeezing, but even the inhabitants there must have an inkling of what is going on. Maybe this explains the 'paranoid streak' in American culture that sociologists have sometimes commented on. Not paranoia at all - plate tectonics is conspiring against them....

 

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by AndyJWest

[Tektolnes]

4 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

If people were finding new peaks now, and naming them, they'd probably all be named after Kim Kardashian's ample features or something. The past wasn't all bad.

 

The French-Canadian trappers who named the Grand Tetons range in Wyoming undoubtedly had something similar to Kim's features on their mind. 

[DBFlyguy]

New Xbox date announcement trailer and make sure to watch till the end ?

 

[Hoots]

1 hour ago, DBFlyguy said:

New Xbox date announcement trailer and make sure to watch till the end ?

 

Hmm… my heart sinks a bit at that top gun thing. 

[AndyJWest]

I have a sneaking suspicion the tubeliner purists over at the MSFS forum aren't going to be too happy about the last bit.

 

Interesting to see MS using freeware mods to advertise their product, too. I do hope they've figured out a way to include them on XBox, and that they got the creator's permission to do so...