15 replies to this topic

[brownshoe]

I'd really like to be part of a great VA. I fly a lot of airline-type flights in FS, and I think VAs in general are a fun way to associate with like-minded people.I think I fly pretty realistically. I'm a real-world commercial pilot, ex-Naval Aviator, and I'm expecting to pass my CFI checkride next week. I tend to favor add-on aircraft that at least simulate an APU and bleed air system (if appropriate to the type), and I fly SIDs, STARs, and IAPs. Once I get leveled off in cruise, though, there's really not much to do until TOD. So, once I'm satisfied that everything is in order with my plane, I kick the sim rate up to 16x and monitor the systems, fuel, and progress of the flight until it's time to slow down and come down again. It's really a cool feature of FS, and I'm sure that whoever can first implement this in a real airliner will make a killing for himself.But apparently, my philosophy is at odds with the greater Virtual Airline community. Every time someone talks about sim rate on these forums, they're immediately flamed for a lack of "realism." Seriously? Like I said, if we had the feature on real airplanes, I'm pretty sure we'd use it.I hope someday I have the time to "enjoy" a "realistic" FS flight from JFK to LAX with winter headwinds in real-time. But as it is I'm a busy guy with a young family and I'm lucky if I get an hour and a half here and there to make a flight. But you know what? Even if I HAD five hours to kill watching virtual prairies drift below me, I don't think I would. I'd probably just crank up the sim rate so I could fly more than one leg.So, my current VA options are: 1) Lie/cheat when it comes to logging time, if I can even find a VA that doesn't use some sort of ACARS to enforce their silly sim rate rules or 2) restrict myself to short hops, which is also kind of lame. I haven't had the heart to lie/cheat, and I enjoy transcontinental and occasionally transatlantic flights for the level of planning required and the change of scenery involved.Am I a bad person? Am I crazy? Am I the only one who flies like this? Are there any VAs out there that will take me the way I am? I've found a few that allow sim rates other than 1x, but it seems to be frowned on, and in no case is anything more than 4x approved, ever.For you guys who do the long hauls at 1x: Am I missing out on something magical that happens during those long hours of simulated straight-and-level at FL360? What do you do to pass the time?I hope nobody takes this seriously enough to take offense at anything I've said. I guess I'm just a little frustrated and wondering if I'm the only one.Have a great weekend, everybody,Dave

[romanus]

No, you're just realistic, as I am. I am not necessarily young, but my kids are(and wife too, in case she ever reads this). I cant fly the long flights, in fact, the longest that I can handle is about an hour. I salute those that can sit and fly for hours on end, but it isn't something all of us can do. And I would roll my eyes at people who give grief to those who don't fly the way they do. As for finding a VA that allows accel, I would say keep trying. Personally, im not sure why a VA wouldn't allow someone to join, as long as they were up front about needing to speed things up, unless it's hard to keep track of that sort of thing. And I understand not wanting to credit them the same amount of hours as a pilot who does the whole flight in 1x.Anyway, good luck finding a VA, and no, you aren't alone.

[romanus]

Two sites to find VAshttp://www.va-list.com/Andhttp://vaflash.com/

[Peter McKay]

Dave, I put flying at a faster sim rate in the same category as I do pausing to go take a leak. It's something that makes the hobby convenient, nothing more. As a real world aviator I'm sure you can laugh at some of the "realistic to the ninth degree" as I do, I constantly see VA's claiming to be FAR compliant that are laughably not so. At my VA Air Fresno our ACARS is the older FS ACARS from SATA, there is a "no sim compression" function that is optional but I don't use it, just as I don't insist on no pauses, no PIC (pilot in cockpit) or having your crash detector enabled. We're more or less a regional airline and our flights are just over an hour or less, however we will be updating our routes (and fleet) at the end of March to allow some flights of up to 3 hours with simulated layovers between segments. We've been around for almost 14 years with a couple of necessary closures for real-life stuff, but what we use as far as ACARS works great for us.

[delta88p]

I'm with Dave. I am a real world commercial infrequent flyer and I enjoy the semi realistic atc that FSX has to offer. I fly mainly across the US using I.F.R. flight plans. This is a little more realistic however being handed off every three miles means that I can't bump up the sim rate more than 2x or 4x between hand off instructions, sometimes only to be handed off to the same person on a different freq. It reminds me of a real world flight into CYOW once where the controller actually snapped at me for being slow to go to ground. When I did switch over, it was the same guy...all smiles and cheery. In any case, I haven't the 5 hours to fly across the country either. I'm lucky if I can get in 2 hours of sim in an evening. As take off, climb out and approach are what I really enjoy in FSX, I need to shave some time somewhere. Ah Peoria from 360!Delta.

[Syd Weedon]

Yes. You're evil, a lost soul. LOL

[tutmeister]

There's nothing wrong with flying the way you do. What becomes a pain from the VA administration perspective is logging the compressed hours and keeping things fair against other pilots. Some websites have stats for hours, miles, fuel burned, that kind of thing and having a pilot who uses compression throws the stats off. As long as the website can log your hours divided by the time compression, it can place you against the other pilots in those stats and other things. But unfortunately, that code can be tricky for your average hobbyist coder, so most VAs haven't got the feature  down.I'm an ex-military pilot myself and as such I enjoy the shorter, manual flying types. but I do also enjoy long-haul and international flights for the planning practice too; however, I always multitask enroute. I don't have kids, but I am married with a house, a full-time job and a full-time college load to complete. So whether it be my college work like I did during my flights today (busted out a couple algebra chapters), or cleaning around my man cave, as long as I keep eyes on the computer I don't care if I'm not right upon it every second of the way! If hobbyist pilots find that unrealistic, to be honest, I could give a rat's bottom, as to me this is just that--a hobby. Which should be fun, not slave labor!

[NoahBryant]

Check out Delta - www.deltava.org. The ACARS program is awesome and they don't care about TC because they strive towards number of flights as opposed to number of hours. They also have enormous flexibility in regards to routes/equipment. I like it because it allows me that flexibility. Sometimes I want to fly a 747 300 miles and sometimes I want to fly a small turboprop 1200 miles. I believe the TC limit is 4x which is more than reasonable. Not sure what you're flying but most realistic planes go crazy above 4x anyway.

[Stijn]

Dave,You're more than welcome to join us at Platinum Airways. We are an offline VA that combines Open Skies witrh five hubs. Under Open Skies, we mean that you can fly any mission of your choice with the aircraft of your choice at the time of your choice. Our hubs are KEWR, KDFW, CYVR, YPPH and EBBR. In addition, we have a (usually cheeky) destination of the week, Relief flights and a Milkitary division, that includes unmanned aircraft missions. Best,Stijn

[tutmeister]

Stijn, on 06 February 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

Dave,You're more than welcome to join us at Platinum Airways. We are an offline VA that combines Open Skies witrh five hubs. Under Open Skies, we mean that you can fly any mission of your choice with the aircraft of your choice at the time of your choice. Our hubs are KEWR, KDFW, CYVR, YPPH and EBBR. In addition, we have a (usually cheeky) destination of the week, Relief flights and a Milkitary division, that includes unmanned aircraft missions. Best,Stijn

Not being rude, but does anyone else see the irony in simulating to fly unmanned aircraft missions...:D

[Peter McKay]

Paul, I actually have a great MQ-9 Reaper someone made for CFS2 for me that I enjoy the heck out of when I feel like blowing something up.

[OzWhitey]

What to do at cruise/how to make it interesting is a good question.I use a wav program (randomaster) so my fo and crew will talk to me.I use rc4 so there is some atc.I only fly over photoscenery, because i like seeing how the real world looks as opposed to watching a fake landclass tile drift by.I try to fly to new places as much as possible.I use real world weather with as2012 to add some interest.And i'd only ever fly realistic aircraft so there's plenty of systems to look at.Despite this, if i'm at cruise and get bored - i think hitting time compression is fine. I'm just doing my best to make it interesting so imdon't have to do it more than necessary.Oh, and i also have an ipad installed in my mip, so i can waste time on avsim while flying!

[tutmeister]

Peter McKay, on 07 February 2012 - 12:14 AM, said:

Paul, I actually have a great MQ-9 Reaper someone made for CFS2 for me that I enjoy the heck out of when I feel like blowing something up.

Oh, I'm sure it's awesome--I just cracked up at the thought of someone sitting in their room pretending to be a guy in another room who is flying an unmanned aircraft, when FSX is essentially UAV all the time!

[Peter McKay]

...all that would be missing would be the 2 second data transfer delay and some officer in your ear telling you not to engage until you have confirmation of enemy activity.

[tutmeister]

Peter McKay, on 07 February 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

...all that would be missing would be the 2 second data transfer delay and some officer in your ear telling you not to engage until you have confirmation of enemy activity.

Easy fix, get drunk for the two second delay and be rude at your wife for that nagging feeling...

[brownshoe]

Thanks to all who responded sympathetically. I've checked out DVA and Platinum before... maybe I'll have to give them a try.Unfortunately, the integrated GeForce video card in my laptop has completely worn out. Computer's been freezing up and crashing a lot this week. Luckily, the problem with this particular model is so common that the manufacturers of the computer and the card have gotten together and extended the warranty to four years. It's a 3.7-year-old-computer, and they're dispatching a technician to come to my house this week and replace the motherboard, free of charge. So, I've been grounded all week, but I'm hoping to be back soon.Happy landings,Dave