First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

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Badger
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First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Badger »

Hi All

It's a long time since I have warmed my toes in front of the crackling fire here in the hallowed halls of the A2A forums, but I'm back today because I have embarked on another attempt (yet another) to try to learn to fly properly (or at least as close as my brain can manage) in FSX.

In order to accomplish this and to try a new approach, I have invested in a nice thick book called "Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Pilots. Real World Training." (By Jeff Van West & Kevin Lane-Cummings.) Just the title is enough of a challenge to read in one go and its many pages seem arcane and unfathomable right now, but I hope to mine it's secrets for wisdom and even now I can tell that it's heavy enough to hold my living room door open and a heavy book is always good, no?

I've already made a start and am part way through my first lesson, which takes place in a Piper Cub and already I have learned things not only about the Cub (which in fairness I've always ignored) but about "FSX" itself. For example (and I realize and don't care that any or all of these might make me look a bit stupid) I had never realized that the Trim controls were already mapped to my joystick! I've been struggling with the "home" and "end" keys and just this one realization alone has profoundly altered my flying experience.

Window in window, there's another one I'd never played with. Oh yes I knew it was there, but what a handy thing now I come to actually use it.

And that sticky up antenna affair on the bonnet of the Cub. I've seen it on other old prop planes and I never really questioned it, assuming that in a nod to modern day flying, it was perhaps an ariel for the planes radio. But no, it's a stick. A stick painted red which dips into the fuel tank. A stick with a cork on the end and as the fuel runs out the stick...well...sinks. ........ A stick with a cork on the end!

Anyway, the thing is I really enjoyed flying the Piper Cub. So much so that I impetuously bought A2A's lovely version of it and have just finished downloading and installing it. I even bought the "Accu-Feel" program as well, to add some extra finesse to "FSX" all around, although the actual "Accu-Sim" extension for the Cub I felt was a thing best left for another day. A day when I hope I will be able to better appreciate it.

Buying A2A's Cub off the cuff like that might indeed have been impetuous, but it wasn't completely without a plan. I thought, rather than settle for "FSX" default models, that I might treat myself to a shiny addon plane each time I advanced to a new one in the book (Now there's optimism for you!) starting with this one and if you think that sounds ambitious, keep in mind that my ultimate prize will be the knowledge to one day fire up my old PC, the one with "FS9" installed on it and actually run Just Flight's "Airliner Pilot". Which of course I've never been able to do because (and I'm sure you know where this is headed) I don't know how to fly an airliner!

I don't know if I'll get to this lofty goal. I've never managed to stick with it long enough before. But this time? I don't know... I think I have a good feeling about it.

So why am I telling you all this I hear you ask? Well my plan as you know was to use my new Cub to fly the Cub lessons in "MFSXfPRWT". But it occurs to me that the flights provided on the "Wiley.com" website, which coincide with the lessons, might not simply be a case of setting up a plane in a place. The time, date and the weather they used are probably all important to. So I wondered if any of you have also used this book and also gone with 3rd party aircraft. (I can't be the only one, right?) And might be able to tell me how much footwork will be involved in duplicating those flights.

I sincerely hope that question made sense! :lol:

All the best

Badger

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Lewis - A2A
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Hey Badger,

just moved your post to this area where I think it has a better chance of an answer to your question re: the book etc
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Badger
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Badger »

Lewis - A2A wrote:Hey Badger, just moved your post to this area where I think it has a better chance of an answer to your question re: the book etc
Thank you for the redirect Lewis.

Right then... hello again pilots. Ok, so 90 thread views and not a single clue for your Badger? I'm going to go ahead and guess that I warbled on too much and lost most of you before I got around to asking the actual question. Damned..fingers...won't ...stop..typing!! I know it can't have been that the question was too hard, because I now know the answer and it's one of those "D'oh" moments.

So just in case there's anyone else out there as challenged as me (What.... there could be!) the answer is that you load up the flight, then exit straight out and you are presented with the options that they set up. At which point you just have to change the plane and re-save it to a different name. :D Genius! I'm a bleedin genius! :lol:

Badger

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Killratio
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Killratio »

G'day Badger,

Don't know the book or the missions, so can't help there but I will make one suggestion, if I might?

If you can afford it, I would grab the "Accusim" for the Cub upfront. If you want to learn to fly "properly" then I would advise starting with as real as you get. The Accusim adds much that a real pilot MUST get to grips with straight up (eg, things break if you redline, there are reasons for "warm ups" and preflighting etc and consequences for not doing them).

Anway, welcome and blue skys,

Darryl
<Sent from my 1988 Sony Walkman with Dolby Noise Reduction and 24" earphone cord extension>


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Badger
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Badger »

Thanks Darryl I think you might be right. I emptied my piggy bank buying those two things though so it'll have to wait a little while.

I suppose I might have made a bad call when faced with the choice of buying the "Accu-feel" or the Accu-sim" when I downloaded the Cub. They were the same price but I knew I could only buy one of them straight away. My logic was that the "Accu-Feel" was an upgrade for "FSX" globally and would bring a little something to anything I was flying. That seemed a better value choice for me if I had to choose one or the other. But the fact is that because I am working with the above mentioned book, I'm almost exclusively flying the Cub at the moment and .....well...it would have been nice to have the "Accusim".

Ah well, yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice. :lol:

Badger

Rammit
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Rammit »

Don't get me wrong, 'un'-accusimmed aircraft by A2A are still fantastic, very very realistic, but after flying 70+ hours on the P-51D with accu-sim, everything else seems very....boring? I would pick up the Accu-sim as soon as possible no matter what aircraft you own.

Good Huntin'
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Though I fly through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil, as I am 70,000ft and climbing

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Killratio
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Re: First Time Flyer. Erm....... Again!

Post by Killratio »

Badger wrote:I suppose I might have made a bad call when faced with the choice of buying the "Accu-feel" or the Accu-sim" when I downloaded the Cub. They were the same price but I knew I could only buy one of them straight away. My logic was that the "Accu-Feel" was an upgrade for "FSX" globally and would bring a little something to anything I was flying.
Badger,

I think you probably made the right choice first up, given circumstances......just as a learning tool, follow all your proper procedures and then later when you do add Accusim, it will not "cane" you for errors..you won't make any :wink: The advantage you have is that the Cub isn't really THAT hard to operate anyway, in Accusim or in real life (not that I have any time on Cubs).

Accu-feel is a great little add-on and certainly brings "other" aircraft alive.

regards

Darryl
<Sent from my 1988 Sony Walkman with Dolby Noise Reduction and 24" earphone cord extension>


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