Too many Commercial Jet Pilots?

[s0cks]

Not so much on here, or in NZ, due to our beautiful bush flying country, but almost everywhere you look there is a vast majority of sim pilots who fly only (or mainly) commerical jets. I even saw one post asking which CaptainSim Boeing he should purchase to explore FTX. It's a damn VFR product for pete's sake!

Flying a big bird and pushing buttons/turning dials is ok once in a while (although I find the bit in between takeoff and landing boring), but all the time is too much for me. Nothing better than taking up an old prop craft and manually adjusting the prop and mixture, keeping an eye on the temperatures and opening/closing the cow gills, and landing in awkward tiny airstrips surrounded by trees! I love it!

Ironically its probably those large aircraft and their complicated systems, flying into large cities and big airports that put the most stress on the computer.

What do you guys think? GA or Commercial? Love to hear from someone who really enjoys it to see what makes them tick

[Naki]

I'm with you GA plus Warbirds......just need some VLC to fly around so I can really explore the country...hate the brown yuck outside the photoreal areas.

Only big aircaft I flew reasonably regularly was the Capt Sim C-130 and I dont have it in FSX.

[bobby48w]

Yay, I agree with you. GA is the way to go.I don`t get a great deal of enjoyment out of flying the Big Guys. Also too high an altitude to appreciate the magnificent scenery. Low and slow we go.

[Venge]

I am a low and slow kind of guy And now with AirHauler it is a matter of saving fuel and increasing profits to not have to climb more then needed lol

[NZ255]

I sort of do both, well did you both until I switched to FSX..now waiting for PMDG 737 so I can get back into IFR.

But I don't really like GA that much without getting too bored. Taxi, take off then just fly and hold the stick as to not go off course. Gets boring to me, so I start doing stupid stuff...aerobatic maneuvers and paddock landings.

I don't know why but i love watching the autopilot make the turns and climb etc after having entered the info in the FMC.

[Venge]

I have to admit, I suck at IFR and all that goes with it so far so my opinion is fairly biased. VFR is all I do well so of course it is what i do mostly. Things may change as I catch on more and more as time goes by.

[happytraveller]

I agree with the points above, but there are plusses and minuses for commercial jets, but if it is flying and flight sim then it is good. The main thing is to fly whatever gives you pleasure. I tended to lose interest in the commercial jets as programming the FMC and starting them took me about 45 minutes, by which time I probably had no time left to actually fly them. At least in something like the Islander you can start it quickly and be up flying in minutes, whereas in something like the 747 I would still be on page 3 of the FMC.

Perhaps as a compromise, the Albatross L-39, then you can have the speed and fun of jets, and still enjoy the VFR scenery.

Smooth landings.

[Grumble]

Gotta say that commercial gets bore me. I like the small regional liners like the Beach 1900, or better yet, GA aircraft.

[Chairman]

I fly whichever style I feel like at the time. Sometimes it's low n slow (Dodosim and the Nemeth Brothers are my friends, must do something about the scenery soon), other times I get a buzz out of correctly programming something big and heavy with lots of engines to do my bidding, and other times I like to go the 727 route which is large and high and fast but I still have to tune VORs and radials and work out when to descend and how to land, I don't know about as real as it gets but the DF 727 is certainly as busy as it gets for me

Happytraveller, when I'm working out how to fly a plane I do myself an abbreviated checklist that has all the things I need to do to make it fly but none of the sim candy e.g. oxygen tests, pressurisation checks etc. So long as I've built the route in FSBuild ready to load into the FMC beforehand (normally takes about 5 minutes) I can get the PMDG 747 from cold and dark to taxying in under 10 minutes which is enough buttons and switches to keep me happy without being tediously long and eating into my flying.

Gary

[Ian Warren]

I have an aircraft for every occasion , from Heli's to Hercs , Albatos to Hawks and Flying Fortress to Lancasters ,to Intrude in my A6 to the B52 , you want a cool ride at nap of the earth in VLC give me the VULCAN ... but hey , what the hell Spitfire is just fine , I even ply the longest route .... Christchurch to Auckland in my PMDG 747 , to go over seas , i need to update my passport .

[kiwibarguy]

I love mountain flying so a bit of ORBX Washington with a floatplane is tickling my fancy for the moment. That is until release of the New Zealand Packages that will be out soon enough. VFR for me.

[s0cks]

Good to see I'm not the only one. I can see the attraction to learning to fly the big boys and learning how they do it in real life, but bar the initial start up, programming, taxing and takeoff, it all gets rather boring until just before touchdown. If I ever fly a big jet I tend to time compress all the way up to destination.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (s0cks @ Jun 4 2010, 05:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the big boys and learning how they do it in real life,

I,m sure we have a few 'BIG BOYS' reading this , One was Blake ' Waka172' , maybe not as many hours , but willing to share his time and explain procedure , had you been online in a MP with your PC running TS3 couple months back.

We could only do this in a default MS airliner .. but dang it was fun and you learned the pattern off cold to approach .

Blake is offline current , brought a newbie back to NZ , Congrads , so he will be a little busy searching for work , lotta fun to have online

Maybe another real time liner pilot could help out in Multi play , .. I can easy set up a flight , from there way we/you go

[deeknow]

Hey s0cks. Good question, and itd be an intersting Poll actually why dont you start one.

Its a funny thing the tubliner flyin. I personally started out simming only on GA, sure I might have fired up the odd piece of heavy iron on occasion, but for a couple of years all I flew was GA. I loved the low-n-slow stuff, and learning what I could about instruments and navigation. Slowly but surely though I've found meself flying Jets pretty much exclusively these days, with the odd Helo or turboprop flown in.

Not neccessarily long haul stuff though, I tend to fly short legs like the 733 domestic routes here in NZ. There's not much down time really on those routes, you're always thinkin about the next phase, approach, ATC comms if your online, it can be pretty busy, I guess you just dont have the same view out the glass

For me the interest has become more about procedures than geography, dont know why, it just has. Horses for courses I guess aye. Theres something in the wonderful world of simming for everyone and just like RL your interests can change.

[ShadowMystDK]

It's quite rare that I use the commercial jetliners in FS - too big, cumbersome, and for the most part boring. I much prefer something smaller, faster, and more agile - namely fighters. I love everything from WWI era S.E.5a's and Albatros D.V's to modern jet fighters such as the F-22, Typhoon, and JSF.
Even smaller GA aircraft can be a lot of fun - one of my faves is the Carenado T-34 Mentor - small and light enough to take off/land at most any airstrip, yet still agile and fun to fly (especially down low).

[pilotgallagher01]

In FSX I never fly jets, I stick to GA just because I use it as a training aid most of the time. And for people who are starting off. You will be starting off in GA and VFR.
I occasionally do a bit of IFR but mainly stick to the 172 or Seneca as this is what we use in the real world, a jet is just a bit too quick when your trying to get your IFR up to scratch..

And when I'm in a cruisy moode, I'll do some aerobactics in the Albatros or Spitfire but I class that GA for myself

Also since I work on a 737-800, by time I've got home if I decide to play on flight sim, I don't want to fly the 737 lol

[BigBird]

I like a bit of everything. Would really get my teeth into the FSX helicopters. I just haven't been able to figure them out.

I really enjoy the challenge of setting up a big jet for a flight. I've got the PMDG 747, CS 767 and now the 757. Also enjoy the CS 727 although I am having a few issues with it. As far as the big props go, the CS Herc is a beaut to fly.

My fave comm jet would be the 737 but I got fed up with the Wilco version because it CTD every time I try to land it. Roll on the PMDG version!

I love flying GA singles and twins such as those from the Carenado stable.

The business jets are a pleasure to fly too.

So many choices, so little time to sim

[AndrewJamez]

Yep im a Carenado fan all the way for G.A, check out there site to see pics of there upcoming project - a massivly detailed Cessna Caravan - their 1st turbo prop, the build pics of it have me drooling already.

[bluebird79]

Well having spent a few hours flying in real life and way to many hours flying in MSFS I still to this day prefer GA and some Turbo twins. For me the heavy metal is nothing like they are in Real life so maybe that is why I stay away from them ?? Mind you I do like my F-111 and FA/18's

Cheers
Ian

[AlisterC]

I'm almost surprised to read how many GA fans there are here. For me, I fly almost purely IFR in twin jets (737,767,A320) and that is where I get the most enjoyment. Flying VFR is somewhat boring in a generic, autogen world (why ANYONE would fly helicopters for example is beyond me). But IFR it's all about the cockpit, and quality of systems simulated. As such I enjoy my Level D and PMDG 737 very much! Anything else gets a little boring for me. If I actually have to sit there and hold onto the joystick for long periods it's not the kind of flying I enjoy!