Seeing as this instance and community is brand new, I’m very curious how everyone here flies their digital planes.
Personally, I love flying on Vatsim. Usually I grab the Fenix A320.
Right now I’m flying some different planes, hoping that the Fenix V2 update drops soon… I need that extra performance to not fly at less than 20fps constantly!
Also flying the CRJ, AN225 and ATR. Might also do some VFR on Vatsim soon.
But I’d love to hear how you guys fly.
I’ve been flying in sims on and off for 20 years (and IRL, but that got too expensive after I got my PPL) and I enjoy doing short technical IFR navigation. I used to have a physical radio+nav controller built with arduino (xplane has an open api that made it very easy to DIY controllers) and enjoyed building gear for it quite a bit.
Just getting back into after not touching it for a while it but at the moment mostly just flying ultralights and GA in VFR.
I like doing IFR flights in turbojets like the TBM930 or 208B Grand Caravan. I usually stick to one or two hour flights - this seems like a nice balance of spending time up in the air getting things configured and looking at the scenery, but speedy enough that cruise doesn’t get boring.
I’ve been flying consistently for 15 years in the sim, and got my PPL last year and fly pretty regularly irl. I primarily fly airliners although I’ve done everything at one point or another (except zeppelins, waiting for the OML hindenburg for that…).
I fly a variety of flights from regional hops to long hauls. I’ve probably done a few hundred long hauls over my years of swimming, including CTP many times. I primarily fly xplane, although I use MSFS for bush flying, GA (which I don’t do much now that I can do it irl) and occasional airliner ops. Nobody asked, but favorite addon is the Felis 747-200, absolute gem. If you’re ever feeling like you’ve figured everything out with modern airliners and need a challenge the 742 is the answer.
I’m pretty new to flightsimming (i have 20 hours flight time or so logged in Volanta) and i don’t have any IRL flying experience either, but i’ve always wanted to be a pilot. so i’m kind of treating it like a virtual PPL training. flying the JF Piper Warrior II, doing touch and goes, stall practice, that sort of thing. i’ve also learned a bit about radio navigation, as a supplement to VFR flying just because sometimes making out landmarks can be a bit hard on a 27" 1440p monitor.
once i feel really comfortable flying the Warrior, i want to learn the Arrow (constant speed prop, retractable gear), then probably the Black Square Beech Baron for twins. Also want to learn tailwheel, mostly for the historic stuff like the warbirds and the DC-3 and 247D. then maybe seaplanes.
so, treating it like a chance to learn the systems, procedures, and stick & rudder for more and more complex aircraft. eventually i may even try my hand at airliners, but they aren’t a huge interest of mine.
I mostly fly VFR in the Cessna 172 by WB-Sim. Hoping that it will benifit my real life pilot training. Although I noticed that flying a real Cessna is easier than the sim. Maybe because you have more sensations and a better feeling for navigation, or I am just bad at sim flying. xD
I love VFR bush trips in VR. Flying the Kodiak 100 in PNG, navigating the trees and landing on challenging runways. Or flying the Beaver in Canada. Especially with the VFR charts in Navigraph 8.
