The Joy of Study Level Aircraft
Not everyone appreciates the joy of study level aircraft in the flight sim world. At one point in time, I was one of these individuals. My argument (and I believed at the time it was a valid one), was simply I just didn’t have the available time to spend 30 minutes or more on the ground flipping switches and programming a complex FMS. I simply wanted to spend less time kicking the tires, and more time lighting the fires and flying.
It must sound strange…
…to a non-flight sim enthusiast that anyone would spend the amount of money and time on a hobby like this, but truly have no desire to learn to fly in the real world. The argument is a valid one, I’ve spent at least a high four figures (perhaps five) over the years which would have more than paid the costs of obtaining my PPL. While I absolutely love flying in real life (as a passenger), I just simply don’t share the same interest in obtaining my private pilots license.
There’s No Right or Wrong Way
Something my YouTube viewers have heard me say many, many times. There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy the hobby of flight simulation. I recently wrote an article titled, “Default/Freeware Aircraft in P3D v4” where I discussed some of the history of both default and freeware aircraft and the fact that there is nothing wrong with using these models to simulate flight. As I was writing that article, I saw a comment posted in one of the Facebook groups I follow. The individual discussed the fact that he simply doesn’t have the time to study, study level aircraft. He expressed many of the same reasons for not flying the complex study level aircraft which I mentioned in the first paragraph and his bottom line was he wanted to spend time flying for maximum enjoyment to escape the stresses of his day-to-day hectic life. Sound familiar? It does to me.
While I’ll always argue and defend the fact there’s no right or wrong way to enjoy flight simulation. I’ll also add that over the years I’ve found I actually get the maximum enjoyment from the more complex, study level, payware aircraft I once avoided.
Point A to Point B and EVERYTHING In-between
I absolutely enjoy all aspects of flight simulation. I enjoy the flight planning, the setup of the aircraft, the taxi, departure, climb, cruise, descent, arrival, approach, landing, taxi…..basically everything. To me, a flight from point A to point B isn’t complete unless all the I’s are dotted and all the T’s are crossed. Yes, it takes some time. But over the years I’ve developed a process which I use to both learn and also fly these types of aircraft.
New Tutorial Series
The past two articles I’ve written did get me to thinking that I should share my processes for how I conduct my flights with the payware, study level aircraft I enjoy flying. I’ve only really started the frame work portion of how I draft and write my articles so I’m not sure just how many tutorials or how in-depth they’ll actually be. But in keeping with my philosophy of “There’s No Right or Wrong Way”, if you are the type of simmer who enjoys dressing up like a real world airline captain and working through each and every checklist, then most likely you’ll not get a lot out of these future tutorials. HOWEVER, if you desire not to spend greater than 30 minutes, 45 minutes or even up to an hour on the ground just to enjoy a flight…then perhaps you’ll learn something from these upcoming tutorials. We’ll see.
The first article will focus mainly on how I learn/study the process of flying a new aircraft and I hope to bring that to you within the next week or so. As I’m looking at my calendar, I have two work related trips I’ll be taking in July, followed by one in early August. Then my wife and I are leaving for Belgium/England for two weeks in late August, early September. I honestly can’t wait for this vacation, but will do my best to at the very least get the tutorial series started before vacation.
As always, thanks for reading. Until next time….happy flying!
Jerry
P.S. You can read my other Flight Sim Tutorials, by clicking Flight, then Flight Sim Tutorials on the GrizzlyBearSims website.
