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Return to Misty Moorings (FSX/P3D/MSFS2020) => Misty's Place => Topic started by: Yoda on May 27, 2021, 01:42:24 AM

Title: Rules to Fly By
Post by: Yoda on May 27, 2021, 01:42:24 AM
I'm always looking for ways to make my sim time more immersive and realistic, and yesterday, I came across this article on the AOPA website:
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/may/flight-training-magazine/alaska-rules-to-live-by

Not all of that list applies to sim flying, and none of them are as important as they would be in real life, but it still makes me think that flying by the ones that we can do in the sim can make for a more realistic experience. Here's the beginnings of a list:

1. Don't fly at round-number altitudes such as 1,000 or 1,500 feet. This is really only applicable in multiplayer, but flying this way in single-player will help make it a habit.

2. When flying through canyons and valleys, stick to the right side. Again, a multiplayer collision-avoidance thing, but a good habit to get into. Canyon flying is a whole topic by itself...FS2020 flyers are going to have to get used to winds being affected by terrain.

3. Don't overfly big bodies of water even in a floatplane. No real risk in the sim, of course, but helpful for thinking realistically. I still remember my flight instructor telling me, "Never fly further out over water than the distance you can safely glide back for an emergency landing if your engine quits."

4. Spot landings are the fundamental key to bush flying. Does anyone else practice this?

5. Don't lose sight of the ground. Once IRL, during a lesson off Long Beach, CA, the haze rolled in on us and our only visual connection to the ground was straight down. We called SOCAL Approach and they vectored us to a modified ILS approach into KLGB, but I always think about that when I'm flying VFR in low overcast conditions.

6. Survival Kit. State law in Alaska requires one. Anyone else flying with an extra 25 lbs or so of "cargo" all the time? (In the XCub, it makes a difference in how the airplane flies.)

I'm curious to know what others think.

Title: Re: Rules to Fly By
Post by: Doug on May 27, 2021, 08:32:20 AM
That is an interesting site. I need to find a place for these kinds of things on the new (coming soon) FS2020 Misty's Place Library. yesterday, when I finished creating McDonald Lake USFS cabin (and bear Observatory), I flew the route I had created. I'm always making these things in clear weather , sunshine set for mid day. But I always do a final check by flying the new route in live weather. the ceiling was about 800 feet and rain. I had to fly very low and kept the ground in site. There is a 27 mile leg over water, So instead if flying direct, I hugged the coast keeping land and my waypoint in sight. The rules you found were very real. I can only imagine what that flight would have been like in reality.  It is just a game, but it can be a white-knuckled game if you fly it realistically. We need to keep gems like this. That is the kind of item that will make our FS2020 stand out with RTMM quality.
Title: Re: Rules to Fly By
Post by: nbrich1 on May 27, 2021, 09:27:02 AM
Well I didn't quite understand item 1.  But referring to the site which you provided the link, the item refers to
avoiding the typical altitude bands to avoid any potential collision courses with other planes.

Don’t fly at round-number altitudes such as 1,000 feet or 1,500 feet. “That’s where everyone else flies,” he said. “Better to be at 700 or 1,300 or another random height that other pilots aren’t habitually drawn to. I don’t know what it is about the way we train pilots that makes them fly at certain altitudes, but I make it a point to avoid them.”   

Well Doug, could always set up a Pilot's Best Practices and primary VFR and IFR rules page for all this stuff so it's all together in one location.
Title: Re: Rules to Fly By
Post by: Yoda on May 27, 2021, 09:37:07 AM
Doug,

I couldn't have said it better. It really ups the immersion to consider all these factors when simming.

I'm reading "Mountain, Canyon, and Backcountry Flying" by Amy Hoover and R.K. "Dick" Williams. It's really changed how I fly, thinking about weather considerations along a canyon route, terrain effects on winds, slowing down in confined airspace instead of proceeding at max cruise, focusing on making a stable landing approach, picking an aimpoint on the runway, and the list goes on.

You're right...it can be white knuckle at times! Definitely more to think about.

Norm, I was thinking of something along the lines of a "Best Practices" section, too.

Title: Re: Rules to Fly By
Post by: stiletto2 on May 29, 2021, 10:57:59 AM
Good stuff!

Thanks!

Rod