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-byNot 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.