I fly mainly short and medium haul (European continental flights at the moment) but how do you go 'away' from the computer (sleep, life, etc) and still keep up with ATC Frequency changes, etc?

I heard there was a way to do it - but wasn't sure how to.

Cheers
Stew

About round-world, I tend to specialise in it nowadays!

I found both pottering around with short trips near home, and cruising in the stratosphere in a jet, equally boring after a while. So one day I tried the 'MacRobertson Race, England to Australia' scenario in the DH88 Comet. Nearly killed me (the default aeroplane doesn't have an autopilot) but I got to Melbourne - and then, on impulse, took it all the way round.

The very best thing about that trip, of course, was that I 'stuck to the rules' and stayed below oxygen height (maximum 12,000 feet or so) - which meant that I had to thread my way through the Rockies and go round the Alps. That made for terrific scenery and lots of challenging flying, and I was 'hooked' for good.

Since then I've taken almost all the default props round - including the Cessna and the Dakota - and a lot of downloads. My current trip is in a De Havilland Leopard Moth (1930 three-seater cabin type, far ahead of its time) - I've just finished threading my way round the mountains of Papua New Guinea and am setting up to land at Jackson's, Port Moresby. The best thing about using short-range types (the Leopard Moth, for example, only has a range of 900-1150 miles, depending on winds) is that you have to plan your routes carefully, and often have to land at airports that are less than fully equipped, because there is nothing else available.

As to time, the last thing I would do is just leave the computer running while I do other things - where's the fun of simming if you're not even THERE? So on the long stretches (especially over oceans) I make judicious use of 'accelerated time.' Make it a rule, though, only to use it when cruising, always handling the initial climb to height and the letdown myself in normal time. And use VOR-to-VOR navigation or 'dead reckoning' for navigation, never GPS hold. Also, of course, AT won't work properly in bad weather. I find that that's a fair compromise between realism and having fun.

Wrote it up once in a tute which has some screenshots to whet your appetite - available here ('FS2004 Round The World In A Prop,' halfway down. Fair warning though, once you're an addict you'll never be able to give RW up!:-

http://www.simviation.com/simviation/static.php?ID=151&page=10

Well, I've just finished my London Heathrow - Dubai Intl trip.

Emirates Airlines 777-300ER.

Flight time was 7hours 15minutes for some odd reason 

Gonna wait 2 hours or so before I do the next leg. I'll try and get pics up but cant promise nothing, as my flight sim has poor graphics.

Just completed an island hop from San Juan to Martinique and enjoyed every mile. Some fascinating airfields on the Caribbean lands. On longer stretches I study stuff I've printed out from the learning center. I fly real weather.

With the spirit of this thread, I announce after I am done with my job in two weeks, I shall do my 2 day around the world tour, flying into various airports such as VHHX and TNCM! I will post screenies! 

Fozzer, I have a lot of respect for you mate for being such a VFR officianado!

I'm an Aussie, but currently loving flying in Europe - the scenery is stunning, weather keeps you more on your toes and 2 hours is a long flight, compared to Aus where 2 hours is a normal flight!

I like flying the tubes - but VFR takes a great deal more patience!

How about VFR in a tube?


737s at tree top level Paul.  


I do a mix of both.  Most of my low & slow trips are around my  part of the country, or nice little hops through various mountain valleys around the world.

My Long hauls are mostly recreations of routes I've taken in real life, and the occasional hop in the Concorde.

I've recently started a trip across the USA following I-70 using a BMW. That should take me a while.

I normally fly my long-hauls without a pause in fat cigar tubes on autopilot.  Also done a few 8-11 hour hops on my laptop before without any trouble, though I don't do long-hauls all that often.  

Nav wrote on Aug 4^th, 2009 at 12:10am:


Aye, aye!  That is always a joy and challenge.  The only time I've done an unsegmented trip around the world was a few years back using a King Air, with the range not being that much higher.  I used to do little three to five hour trips from airfields to airfields and boy was that a lot of fun.  Some of those "less than fully equipped" airports were really challenging to find and land on!  I remember once having to find this small field somewhere in the northeastern side of Russia, because I needed to cross the Pacific onto Alaska, where I had to dodge a giant hill beneath a pretty orange sunset only to land on a short, grassy, and partially submerged strip.  Oh it was quite the adventure!