December 2, 2012 / admin / 0 Comments
After returning back to London from Cape Town, South Africa, (see my around the world adventure posts) I wanted to spend some time flying in and around Europe in some “Big Iron”. While I’ve flown to and from Europe in jets (mainly from the US), I haven’t done much route flying within the UK/Europe. I figure after spending the better part of my 25+ year virtual aviation career flying US domestic routes, it is time to add the UK/Europe region to my experience.
So I spent a little bit of time re-familiarizing myself with the iFly 737NG and slapped on the BA livery and began my pre-flight planning to fly from London Gatwick (EGKK) to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino (LIRF). I do like British Airways and perhaps consider them my second real world favorite of airlines I enjoy simulating. This is emulating the real world British Airways flight BA2540. The real world flight uses a B734, but I’m going to use the B738 in my simulation.
BA2540 at the gate London Gatwick. Gatwick is especially busy today. Lots of company traffic as well as Alitalia, Air France, EasyJet, Portugalia and others all waiting to depart. Preparing to push back and taxi to runway 26L. Our flying time today will be 2 hours and 30 minutes. Note: I’m currently using the default FSX London Gatwick scenery. However, I really love the UK2000 Heathrow scenery I’ve owned for a few years that I believe I’ll pickup their Gatwick version soon.
The initial climb was a bit choppy.
Crossing the English Channel and climbing to FL360.
Intercepting the localizer runway 16R LIRF.
Down below the clouds the runway is in sight.
An uneventful and fun flight in the iFly 737NG. My passengers were pleased to arrive eight minutes early and I’m sure looking forward to their time in Rome. I’ll stretch my legs, grab a cup of coffee and prepare to head back to Gatwick tonight. I’m told to expect a packed flight with worsening weather conditions.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
JT
November 29, 2012 / admin / 0 Comments
To some individuals, a computer based flight simulator is just a game and to many others it is much more, it’s an important hobby. I’ve even known many younger individuals who were inspired to pursue aviation careers and became pilots and air traffic controllers as a result. Regardless of your motive, one can learn and experience many different aspects of aviation and even learn something about geography through a computer based flight simulator program.
For me, flight simulation changed from being “Just a Game” around the year 2000. As it was around this timeframe when I was first introduced to the world of internet based virtual airlines or VA’s. I’ll discuss VA’s in more depth in a future article. Before 2000, I would load up a flight in my simulator, pick a destination, take off and come back in a hour or two and land the plane. I was happy if I could land within a hundred miles or so of the airport. However, with a little practice (practice does make perfect after all), I could navigate my aircraft and found it was actually interesting to fly the aircraft versus letting the autopilot do it.
Tip – It is easy to get caught up in wanting to fly “Big Iron” aircraft like the Boeing 747. However, you’ll learn more about flying and navigating when spending time in the default Cessna type aircraft which are featured in all versions of the popular flight simulator programs. Work your way up from the single engine prop models just like real pilots.
While I have no desire to take flying lessons or earn my private pilots license, the flight simulation hobby has taught me much about aviation, about the world we live in and I’ve met some really wonderful people as a result.
Next time I’ll discuss what flight simulator software is right for you (there are many to choose from) and some tips on setting it up. Thank you for reading my blog.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
JT
November 26, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments
I’ve been flying computer flight simulators since the early to mid 1980’s. During this over 25 year period of time I’ve learned a lot and I would like to share what I’ve learned with my readers. If you’ve been flying for a while, then perhaps nothing I’ll tell you will be new information. However, I know our hobby continues to attract new blood and if I can help those through my knowledge, then it is worth the time I’ll spend blogging about these various subjects.
I’ll “Kick the Tires and Light the Fires” on this content in the coming days. I have a list of topics to discuss and knowledge to share. Please bookmark my site or subscribe via RSS to stay current on my content.
Thank you
JT
