Happy 40th Birthday, Flight Simulator
Happy 40th Birthday, Flight Simulator
The arrival of Sim Update 11, new aircraft, and this week's group flight details!
It’s finally here! New aircraft, new challenges, and all manner of new avionics, systems, and hardware to get our head around!
Jonathan Beckett
Founder, VirtualFlight.Online
All Aircraft are in the Roster!
We have added all of the new aircraft - except the Wright Flyer - to the roster (unless I introduce a route from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill in Kittyhawk), so feel free to take the various planes out on recorded flights!
Here’s how and where to find them:
Name ICAO operator Class Reg
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Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis” NYP VF Historic Private Pilot G-VFXB
Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck” JN4 VF Historic Private Pilot G-VFXE
Grumman G-21 Goose G21 VF Historic Private Pilot G-VFXF
Hughes H-4 Hercules H4 VF Historic Private Pilot G-VFXG
Guimbal Cabri G2 G2CA VF Flying Club Private Pilot G-VFXI
DG Flugzeugbau LG8-18 LG8 VF Flying Club Private Pilot G-VFXJ
DG Flugzeugbau DG-1001e neo DG1T VF Flying Club Private Pilot G-VFXK
Douglas DC-3 DC3 VF Transport Class D G-VFXC
de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver DHC2 VF Transport Class D G-VFXD
Bell 407 B407 VF Business Class C G-VFXH
Airbus A310-300 A310 VF Express Class B G-VFXLGetting Started with the Airbus A310-300
If you’ve been wondering where on earth to start with the new A310, which doesn’t have Simbrief (it’s in the MCDU) or Navigraph integration - no doubt a licensing requirement in order to be distributed by Microsoft and Asobo - I’ve put a video and document together outlining the basic startup procedure.
You can download the checklist here:
Getting Started with the Douglas DC-3
Similarly, the Douglas DC-3 “Dakota” suffers rather a steep learning curve, and quite a few ambiguities in it’s built-in checklist, so I worked through the various procedures to rationalise them, and get you up and running quickly:
I also wrote up the checklist, which again is available from the link below:
This Week’s Group Flight - Exploring Kenai Fjords National Park, and Chugach State Park, Alaska, USA
A flight exploring the Kenai Fjords National Park, and Chugach state park in Alaska, USA.
When
Sunday 13th November 2022, 2000 UTC
Flight Plan
Downloads accompany these details below - but feel free to use navigation solutions at your disposal to make a plan, follow the notes, or follow the pack!
PAWD Seward - departure
9Z9 Lawing - touch and go
JLA Quartz Creek - touch and go
5HO Hope - touch and go
AQY Girdwood - full stop - 10 minute break
AK66 Hunter Creek - touch and go
PAAQ Palmer Buddy Woods - touch and go
PABV Birchwood - touch and go
PANC Ted Stevens Anchorage - destination
Approx. 150nm
Suggested Aircraft
Any aircraft capable of 100 knots or more in cruise to complete the flight in a timely manner (we try to keep flights under 2 hours).
Voice Communications
To talk to fellow pilots during the flight, visit the VirtualFlight.Online discord server:
If you've never used Discord before, find out more here:
Multiplayer Network
If you want to see other aircraft within Microsoft Flight Simulator, make sure the following are configured:
You must have Multiplayer data switched on
You must select "All Players" in flight conditions
Choose the "SOUTH EAST ASIA" mutiplayer server (we use it because it is quiet)
If you would like to see other aircraft within LittleNavMap while en-route, check out the Transmitter app - available for free from:
Rules / Guidelines
If joining the Discord server for voice communications during the flight, conversation must remain family friendly, respectful, and not stray into any subjects that might offend such as adult jokes, politics, religion, racism, or hate-speech.
Try to stay with the group! If the group is becoming stretched, loop back and join the rear of the group.
Try to stay online until everybody has landed at the final airfield.
Screenshot of the Week
This week’s featured screenshot comes from Mugs, who along with Ryan regularly fly on VATSIM. While taking part in a VATSIM event last week, Mugs was in the middle of pre-flight, when he realised among the thousands taking part, Ryan had been given the stand directly behind him. When switching to the external view to grab a screenshot, the camera was accidentally inside the terminal building - and this scene happened completely by chance:
If you’re interested in getting involved in using ATC during your flights - either through VATSIM or MyAir - look out for Patrick, Roy, Ryan, or Mugs when you’re online in Discord. They’ll be happy to guide you.
Support
If you are in a position to help fund the internet machinery that makes VirtualFlight.Online possible, everybody in the community will be appreciative. For the price of a cup of coffee a month, we get a self funded operation that’s rapidly become one of the fastest growing Flight Simulation communities on the internet!
Find out more at Patreon!