Hello Captains, and welcome back.
From mid-August through mid-October, I flew exclusively in MSFS 2024, charting an around-the-world adventure in the A2A Piper Comanche. Early on, I’d speculated in one of my update posts that flying the same aircraft day after day might wear thin. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I genuinely enjoyed every one of the 115 legs I completed, and during that two-month stretch, MSFS 2020 never saw the light of day.
For those wondering, I haven’t fully transitioned to MSFS 2024 for tubeliner ops. I’m holding out for the PMDG 737-800 and, more critically, Chaseplane. Without Chaseplane’s camera management, flying a tubeliner in 2024 just doesn’t appeal to me. So, after wrapping up my Comanche journey with a final landing back home at Georgetown, Texas (KGTU), it was time to park the bird and return to the world of commercial aviation.
With coffee in hand, I booted up my PC and launched MSFS 2020 for the first time since mid-August. I fired up A Pilot’s Life, where I’m still gainfully employed by British Airways, with my next assignment taking me to Geneva (LSGG). MSFS 2020 needed about five minutes to grab an update, but once that was done, it launched smoothly.
That’s when the gremlins started showing up.
First, Chaseplane had wiped all my camera presets — the ones I’d painstakingly mapped to my Razer OrbWeaver. Ten minutes later, I had them rebuilt and working again.
️ Next up was MobiFlight Connector, which I use alongside the WinWing FCU. The script required for my controller presets had vanished. That one took a bit longer to sort out, but with another cup of coffee and about 20 minutes of tinkering, I had it back in action.
Then came GSX. For reasons unknown, every time I loaded into the sim — this time in the Fenix A320 — GSX insisted on starting boarding before I’d even connected external power. I fiddled with it for 15–20 minutes before deciding to punt that issue to another day.
By the time I’d wrangled all the above, I was out of time to actually fly. So I shut everything down and resolved to try again the next morning.
Fresh day, fresh coffee, and this time I got airborne — a smooth hop from London Heathrow to Geneva. GSX still isn’t behaving quite like it did 60+ days ago, but it’s functional enough for pushback, and I’ll dig deeper into the issue when time allows.
It’s funny — I don’t think MSFS 2020 is jealous that I spent the last two months flying its successor, but it sure felt like it was throwing a bit of a tantrum. Everything had worked flawlessly before, and now it’s acting up after a little neglect.
What’s especially interesting is that none of the add-ons I had to troubleshoot — Chaseplane, GSX, MobiFlight — are even installed in MSFS 2024. Chaseplane isn’t available yet, GSX isn’t part of my 2024 setup, and I haven’t installed the Fenix aircraft, so MobiFlight doesn’t come into play.
All in all, it was a reminder that even with a well-oiled setup, stepping away for a while can lead to a few hiccups. But hey — that’s part of the sim life.
Well that’s all I have time for today. I hope you’ll return again soon and until then….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry