Post by Tom Goodrick on Dec 10, 2011 21:45:18 GMT -5
Here's a note I wrote today about how to have fun in FS. One thing that is clear now is that to have fun in FS, you must master the basics of aircraft control in FS. Since deciding t0 run FS in Vista, I have had a lot of trouble with throttle control. For years I used the F1, F2,F3, F4 keys for throttle control. Now those keys have no effect because Vista sees my particular 3-axis joystick as a particular 3-axis joystick and not a generic 2-axis.
ONE WAY TO FUN WITH FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Here are some ideas for having fun with Flight Simulator. First fly from one place to another.
Pick two cities about 2 flight-hours apart. (Pick your favorite airplane or a new one that you
have not flown much.) Pick a weather condition. "Clear Skies" or "Fair Weather" are good if
you want to see the sights as you travel. You can set any wind you wish. Fair Weather gives
you some small clouds to pass by in flight and no surface wind but there may be a little wind
at cruising altitude. Load your airplane as you wish for the trip but put something in there
other than what is already there for payload and fuel just so you have a chance to think about
these things. Don't go anywhere special to start. We'll take care of that later.
We will operate the airplane as we would for the IFR trip but we will not bother with ATC or
other radio calls. This is a fun, practice flight. You can re-do it with ATC later.
Lets pick the Beech Baron with two couples on board for a loading of: 200, 220, 150, 140 with
190 lbs of baggage for a golf weekend flight. The men get the wide seats up front and the two
women get the narrower seats in the middle (or they may prefer the two rear seats).
Check the fuel. You will have to reduce the fuel for this trip to stay under gross eight. Go
to Aircraft, fuel and payload, Change Fuel, and enter 356 lbs for both left and right tanks.
Note the CG is now at 24.87% mc and that is back a little but still ok.
Select Flights and FLIGHT PLANNER. In the CREATE SECTION FLIGHT PLANNER, click on the Select
section of "1.Choose departure location" click Select and then under City select Knoxville and
click on Knoxville-Downtown I for the small island airport in the downtown area. This is KDKX.
Click OK.
Next under "2. Choose Destination" Click Select and State: South Carolina and City: Hilton
Head Island which is KHXD. Click OK. We will fly from Knoxville to Hilton Head Island for a
round of golf. Verify the plan shows KDKX to KHXD. Choose IFR and Direct GPS routing. Plot the
flight plan. Look at the terrain. Note that, after takeoff, you will be flying over some
mountains and the minimum enroute altitude is listed as 11,000 ft. That gives you a good
margin of altitude over the mountains. But, after crossing the mountains, you can change to a
lower altitude. Click on SAVE and entera good title for the flight, such as KDKX_KHXD.PLN,
before clicking on OK to save the flight. Then click YES to move the aircraft to the active
runway at KDKX ready to go.
Set the runway heading, 080 and the cruise altitude of 11000 ft into the auto pilot BUT DO NOT
TURN THE AUTOPILOT ON. Set takeoff trim of 8 degrees. Make your normal takeoff with full
power. When a steady climb is established on heading 080 and you have climbed 500 ft above the
runway, turn on the autopilo so that it continues to climb on a heading of 080. Reduce power
to 80%. The autopilot will take there if you manage power and altitude. Climb on course to
11,000 ft. Cruise power above 6000 ft is 2500 rpm and full throttle. Don't forget the G key
after takeoff. I did and wondered why the performance was so poor. Then I looked at an
external view.
From the map view (Terr key) it was clear we could come down to 5000 ft about 2000 nm from
Hilton Head. About 75 nm out we deviate to the right to stay out of the Marine training areas
and then we will come in parallel to the river so we know nobody will get mad.
I flew to the east just north of the airport at 3,000 ft and then turned left for an approach
to runway 21. I landed a bit fast at 110.9 KIAS and -86 fpm. I have to work on power
manipulation at landing. I can't use the old F1 that I used for many years to cut power over
the runway. It took 1.7 hours.
Was it fun? Well, sort of. If you want an ILS for landing, use KSAV just a few miles south.
ONE WAY TO FUN WITH FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Here are some ideas for having fun with Flight Simulator. First fly from one place to another.
Pick two cities about 2 flight-hours apart. (Pick your favorite airplane or a new one that you
have not flown much.) Pick a weather condition. "Clear Skies" or "Fair Weather" are good if
you want to see the sights as you travel. You can set any wind you wish. Fair Weather gives
you some small clouds to pass by in flight and no surface wind but there may be a little wind
at cruising altitude. Load your airplane as you wish for the trip but put something in there
other than what is already there for payload and fuel just so you have a chance to think about
these things. Don't go anywhere special to start. We'll take care of that later.
We will operate the airplane as we would for the IFR trip but we will not bother with ATC or
other radio calls. This is a fun, practice flight. You can re-do it with ATC later.
Lets pick the Beech Baron with two couples on board for a loading of: 200, 220, 150, 140 with
190 lbs of baggage for a golf weekend flight. The men get the wide seats up front and the two
women get the narrower seats in the middle (or they may prefer the two rear seats).
Check the fuel. You will have to reduce the fuel for this trip to stay under gross eight. Go
to Aircraft, fuel and payload, Change Fuel, and enter 356 lbs for both left and right tanks.
Note the CG is now at 24.87% mc and that is back a little but still ok.
Select Flights and FLIGHT PLANNER. In the CREATE SECTION FLIGHT PLANNER, click on the Select
section of "1.Choose departure location" click Select and then under City select Knoxville and
click on Knoxville-Downtown I for the small island airport in the downtown area. This is KDKX.
Click OK.
Next under "2. Choose Destination" Click Select and State: South Carolina and City: Hilton
Head Island which is KHXD. Click OK. We will fly from Knoxville to Hilton Head Island for a
round of golf. Verify the plan shows KDKX to KHXD. Choose IFR and Direct GPS routing. Plot the
flight plan. Look at the terrain. Note that, after takeoff, you will be flying over some
mountains and the minimum enroute altitude is listed as 11,000 ft. That gives you a good
margin of altitude over the mountains. But, after crossing the mountains, you can change to a
lower altitude. Click on SAVE and entera good title for the flight, such as KDKX_KHXD.PLN,
before clicking on OK to save the flight. Then click YES to move the aircraft to the active
runway at KDKX ready to go.
Set the runway heading, 080 and the cruise altitude of 11000 ft into the auto pilot BUT DO NOT
TURN THE AUTOPILOT ON. Set takeoff trim of 8 degrees. Make your normal takeoff with full
power. When a steady climb is established on heading 080 and you have climbed 500 ft above the
runway, turn on the autopilo so that it continues to climb on a heading of 080. Reduce power
to 80%. The autopilot will take there if you manage power and altitude. Climb on course to
11,000 ft. Cruise power above 6000 ft is 2500 rpm and full throttle. Don't forget the G key
after takeoff. I did and wondered why the performance was so poor. Then I looked at an
external view.
From the map view (Terr key) it was clear we could come down to 5000 ft about 2000 nm from
Hilton Head. About 75 nm out we deviate to the right to stay out of the Marine training areas
and then we will come in parallel to the river so we know nobody will get mad.
I flew to the east just north of the airport at 3,000 ft and then turned left for an approach
to runway 21. I landed a bit fast at 110.9 KIAS and -86 fpm. I have to work on power
manipulation at landing. I can't use the old F1 that I used for many years to cut power over
the runway. It took 1.7 hours.
Was it fun? Well, sort of. If you want an ILS for landing, use KSAV just a few miles south.