My Personal Flightsim Fleet.

[jenat-lai]

Cathay Pacific Airbus A340-300 at 35,000ft flying from Los Angeles to Honululu, by PSS. Real world weather and live multiplayer Air Traffic and Air Traffic Controll by vatsim
PSS

and the Cockpit of the A340


Northwest A330-300 by PSS Taking off from Boston Logan.


A330 cockpit


Virgin Blue 737-700 (NG) approaching Melbourne Airport. (aircraft by PMDG


Cockpit of the 737-700

[Sea Skimmer]

Looks real nice, but the real question is, can you fly into buildings or did the fascists get to your CD first? Also, can you fly an A380-800 and if so what is the roll rate?

[jenat-lai]

the Airbuses have enough autopilot modes which override pilot input that I think crashing into a building at any significant speed would be nigh impossible.

[jenat-lai]

and some more...


Fedex 737-600F


Qantaslink Dash-8

[jenat-lai]

Aw, whyle Im on a roll...

[lukexcom]

Ah, the PMDG 737NG. Excellent choice! I suggest also posting these shots on the ScreenShot forum at avsim.com

[jenat-lai]

Ooh another Simmer! yay!

Yes I often do frequent avsim.com... but usually like to make my 5 shots on the post of the same topic.

Yes, the PMDG is a wondefull addon, Though in my mind, still second best to the PIC767. The best for FS2004 though by far. those PSS birds are funny things ... had endless issues with them since I bought them. Oh well.

[Rogue 9]

Meh. I do combat sims. My F-15E can shoot down your 737!

[jenat-lai]

not legally... and not without making an international incident

[jenat-lai]

A Fighter jet was escorting Air Force 1 one day, and was bragging over the radio to the pilot about how manuverable his aircraft was. After some bragging, the Air Force 1 pilot (in his modified Boeing 747-200) asked the fighter pilot to prove it. The fighter pilot in his F-16 proceeded to do a series of barrel rolls, flying upsidedown and all sorts of fun tricks that only a high performance jet can do. After a few moments of this the pilot of Airforce 1 said "Oh yeh? Bet ya can't do this!". some minutes went by with Airforce 1 continuing to hold a level course with no change in attitude, velocity or anything to indicate the pilot was even doing anything. Eventually the F16 pilot came on the radio and said "I don't see anything... what you getting at?"

There was no answer... for an entire minute.

then on the radio Airforce 1 finally comes back on. "Well how'dya like that sir?"
the F16 pilot, not impressed sais "Like what? nothing happened!"
the pilot of Airforce 1 chuckled. "really? Well I did something you can't!"
the F16 pilot now quite confused said "I can hold straight and level like you can!"
the pilot of airforce 1 chuckled harder and said to him "Well I guess you didn't see it, but in the last few minutes, I left my seat, went to the bathroom, got myself a drink of coffee, and went and had a little chat with the presedent whyle stretching my legs, and then came back here..."

[Wicked Pilot]

I'm a F2002 owner, and I was wondering if the new 2004 version is a worthy investment. Do any of you people play it, and is it worth the cost to do the upgrade?

Meh. I do combat sims. My F-15E can shoot down your 737!

My T-37 can pull more Gs than your desktop

[jenat-lai]

Hell even my C172 can pull more G than his desktop. Never flown more than a 2G turn at 60degree angle of bank in real life. never piloted an aircraft higher than 3500ft before either yet.

Personaly I dont yet own FS2004. I like all my addons I have for FS2002 too much including PIC767, and a whole bunch of scenery and mesh. And Vatsim has a hard time connecting to FS2004 apparently too. So Im sticking to FS2002 till further notice.

[Wicked Pilot]

Personaly I dont yet own FS2004. I like all my addons I have for FS2002 too much including PIC767, and a whole bunch of scenery and mesh. And Vatsim has a hard time connecting to FS2004 apparently too. So Im sticking to FS2002 till further notice.

Any forthcoming knowledge as to where to find the best addons and scenery for '02 would be appreciated.

[lukexcom]

Personally, I think FS2004 is worth it just for the vastly improved ATC and its astounding weather engine. The clickable and interactive virtual cockpits are a dream, I rarely spend time in the 2d panels nowadays. Plus, more and more add-ons are being designed for FS2004 exclusively.

And yes, my C152 can and does pull more g's than anyone's desktop.

EDIT: look here at the comprehensive FS2004 review at avsim.com

[phongn]

FS2004 cries out for anti-aliasing, but your hardware might not have the mojo to do it

(I was playing WCP and WCSO again, and 4X anti-aliasing and the high-res patch make it look almost like a new game!)

[phongn]

the pilot of airforce 1 chuckled harder and said to him "Well I guess you didn't see it, but in the last few minutes, I left my seat, went to the bathroom, got myself a drink of coffee, and went and had a little chat with the presedent whyle stretching my legs, and then came back here..."

I've heard a similar story about a BUFF driver and an F-4, with the BUFF pilot bragging about flying with two engines off

[jenat-lai]

Personaly I dont yet own FS2004. I like all my addons I have for FS2002 too much including PIC767, and a whole bunch of scenery and mesh. And Vatsim has a hard time connecting to FS2004 apparently too. So Im sticking to FS2002 till further notice.

Any forthcoming knowledge as to where to find the best addons and scenery for '02 would be appreciated.

best scenery (free) is to be found at www.avsim.com look in the file library under "FS2002 scenery" or any of the options there. If you just want to browse I often type in a search for *.zip <g>

There's a good C172 aircraft by Realair Simulations at http://www.realairsimulations.com/ Take a look at their FS2002 Cessna 172

For the best addon aircraft, you need to dish out some money. My favourite for FS2002 (not yet working in FS2004) is the PIC767. I have more flightsim hours in this than any other aircraft, simply because the programming is so stable, the aircraft is very close to real, the systems work very close to the manual of a real aircraft, and the FMC and Autoland modes are just great. check http://www.wilcopub.com

of course I have already mentioned the great 737-600/700 by http://www.precisionmanuals.com/

and the Airbus A330 and A340 by http://www.phoenix-simulation.co.uk/

[jenat-lai]

Personally, I think FS2004 is worth it just for the vastly improved ATC and its astounding weather engine. The clickable and interactive virtual cockpits are a dream, I rarely spend time in the 2d panels nowadays. Plus, more and more add-ons are being designed for FS2004 exclusively.

And yes, my C152 can and does pull more g's than anyone's desktop.

EDIT: look here at the comprehensive FS2004 review at avsim.com

ok so you like FS for
1:Improved ATC
2:Weather Engine
3:Clickable Virtual Cockpits
4:Addons for FS2004 coming out


Ok well and good, but Im a bit of a specialised user.
1: I use vatsim. I never use the inbuilt ATC, I hardly ever fly not connected to Vatsim.net, in multiplayer, with the multiplayer Air Traffic. so the ATC I use (Real live people with virtual radar screens by ASRC) are better than FS2010 is going to have still. I talk to the guys with my voice though a michrophone, and they talk back to me the same. They make mistakes sometimes, but usually they don't make it for long. It feels more real. heck, the only more real ATC you can get is having a VHF radio installed in your computer.

2: Vatsim comes with its own weather engine as part of Squawkbox 2.3, however FS2004 has great clouds, I'll half give that one to you.

3: I hate virtual cockpits still, theyre great for screenshots, and a bit of fun in cruise to alleviate boredom, but when I get down and dirty in the Circuit pattern, or on the descent and approach, 2D for me, all the information right at your fingertips. I guess Im used to that perspective for the dirty work. Feels more natural after being behind the wheel of a real C172. The pan speed in Virtual cockpit is too slow for me. I like to take a snatch-grab glance over my left shoulder for about 1.5 seconds in the traffic pattern at regular intervals (ie every 8 seconds) whyle flying the standard GA traffic pattern. the VC is still a bit too clumbsy for this with a hatswitch view.

4: so far all the serious aircraft addons (Im talking payware with FMC's and proper flight dynamics and cockpit procedures) have been released for both FS2004. As I said in my previous post, my favourite aircraft the 767-300 by Pilot In Command/Wilco does not yet work in FS2004. (and doesn't have a virtual cockpit either btw) However I admit, some of the new serious VFR flying scenery (photographic non-repeating ground textures, Terrain meshes etc) are only for FS2004. but since most of my flying is done in Australia VFR only around Sydney, and the rest of the world and time I'm flying IFR in airliners at 35,000ft, Photographic ground textures arn't really that much of a plus.

I give you 1 point out of 4. that is 2 halves of a point.

Though I will likley upgrade once more addons come up to FS2004, I can get Vatsim on FS2004 anyway, and I can still ignore Virtual Cockpits in it too The improved graphics, and cloud modeling are the drawcard for me. Just want all my old addons (or even better, updated versions covering the same) to work in FS2004 first.

[jenat-lai]

Isn't vatsim fun All of those planes are multiplayer. I can see them in person when close enough. (though if you get too close they look crappish, but you can talk to the persons flying them with voice programs and hear them. and all be directed around the sky in an orderly fasion by air traffic controllers, also real people. yay for Vatsim.

[lukexcom]

Personally, I think FS2004 is worth it just for the vastly improved ATC and its astounding weather engine. The clickable and interactive virtual cockpits are a dream, I rarely spend time in the 2d panels nowadays. Plus, more and more add-ons are being designed for FS2004 exclusively.

And yes, my C152 can and does pull more g's than anyone's desktop.

EDIT: look here at the comprehensive FS2004 review at avsim.com

ok so you like FS for
1:Improved ATC
2:Weather Engine
3:Clickable Virtual Cockpits
4:Addons for FS2004 coming out


Ok well and good, but Im a bit of a specialised user.
1: I use vatsim. I never use the inbuilt ATC, I hardly ever fly not connected to Vatsim.net, in multiplayer, with the multiplayer Air Traffic. so the ATC I use (Real live people with virtual radar screens by ASRC) are better than FS2010 is going to have still. I talk to the guys with my voice though a michrophone, and they talk back to me the same. They make mistakes sometimes, but usually they don't make it for long. It feels more real. heck, the only more real ATC you can get is having a VHF radio installed in your computer.

You do bring up a good point, VATSIM does have a great ATC system. Although sometimes I do find myself going back into the normal ATC just to see how the interactions are done there. I haven't been on it much, recently, what with three consecutively broken (cheap) mikes (going to purchase a real, quality computer headset soon) and me not willing to use my Avcomm 900 headset for the computer (it belongs in the cockpit, not by the monitor ).

2: Vatsim comes with its own weather engine as part of Squawkbox 2.3, however FS2004 has great clouds, I'll half give that one to you.

Concur.

3: I hate virtual cockpits still, theyre great for screenshots, and a bit of fun in cruise to alleviate boredom, but when I get down and dirty in the Circuit pattern, or on the descent and approach, 2D for me, all the information right at your fingertips. I guess Im used to that perspective for the dirty work. Feels more natural after being behind the wheel of a real C172. The pan speed in Virtual cockpit is too slow for me. I like to take a snatch-grab glance over my left shoulder for about 1.5 seconds in the traffic pattern at regular intervals (ie every 8 seconds) whyle flying the standard GA traffic pattern. the VC is still a bit too clumbsy for this with a hatswitch view.

You do bring up good points. For me, however, it's an issue of peripheral perspective. In 2d panels, when I adjust the zoom factor to .75 or .65 or whatever I want it to be to get at least a bit of peripheral vision (on my 19" monitor), I only get the outside view adjusted, but not the panel. But when in 3d mode, a change in zoom values adjusts both the outside world and the amount of cockpit visible.

When in the pattern in Realair's 172, for instance, I just center the view on the 3d cockpit and fly it in, and all of the instruments and relative info is there for me, plus that small amount of peripheral vision. For me, it's closer to when I'm in a real C152 on final than the 2d panel. Even better still is Active Camera Pro. It gives me all of the head movements that occur when changing an aircraft's attitude or direction of flight. The head bobbing works great.

Even in IFR on a simple CATII ILS, when on the PMDG737NG, I still like to use the 3d cockpit mode. If I need to access something out of the way or awkwardly positioned to the main displays, like the FMC, I can always bring it up with Shift-4, just like in the 2d panel.

Now, I can understand that depending on the resolution, that EFIS display may get very small and almost unreadable. But that comes with computer power. I sometimes run FS2004 at 16x12, especially when flying that 737NG. That way I get a far clearer 3d cockpit at .7 zoom with readable gauges and displays. With some tweaks, frames stay within 15-25 fps, with a cap set at 26 or 23.

IIRC, the VC slew rate *should* be adjustable.

I guess it's all a matter of preference.

4: so far all the serious aircraft addons (Im talking payware with FMC's and proper flight dynamics and cockpit procedures) have been released for both FS2004. As I said in my previous post, my favourite aircraft the 767-300 by Pilot In Command/Wilco does not yet work in FS2004. (and doesn't have a virtual cockpit either btw) However I admit, some of the new serious VFR flying scenery (photographic non-repeating ground textures, Terrain meshes etc) are only for FS2004. but since most of my flying is done in Australia VFR only around Sydney, and the rest of the world and time I'm flying IFR in airliners at 35,000ft, Photographic ground textures arn't really that much of a plus.

Indeed, although they are talking about transitions to FS2004 only. If I remember correctly, and I probably don't on this particular add-on, but I think Dreamfleet mentioned a FS2004-only possibility for their 727...not sure, though.

But anyway, the next iteration of the 767 PIC by it's original designers is currently in the works, last time I checked. And there are ways of bringing the original 767 onto FS2004...albeit they're complex and difficult, and not always successful.

I give you 1 point out of 4. that is 2 halves of a point.

Though I will likley upgrade once more addons come up to FS2004, I can get Vatsim on FS2004 anyway, and I can still ignore Virtual Cockpits in it too The improved graphics, and cloud modeling are the drawcard for me. Just want all my old addons (or even better, updated versions covering the same) to work in FS2004 first.

You can keep both on the hard drive and have them working properly. Although I do hear that a lot of users who did this tended to remove FS2002 within the first few months.

[StarshipTitanic]

Can't you do it yourself?

EDIT: Yes you can. Se the little X?

[jenat-lai]

Flight today on Vatsim. KJFK-KDTW
Flight route was:
KENNEDY9 NEION J223 CORDS J132 ULW ULW303 KOOPR YQO097 YQO SPICA2

screenshot on approach to Detroit at 12,000ft on descent to 6000

[Wicked Pilot]

Flight today on Vatsim. KJFK-KDTW
Flight route was:
KENNEDY9 NEION J223 CORDS J132 ULW ULW303 KOOPR YQO097 YQO SPICA2

Have you ever been to those airports? The new Northwest Airlines terminal at Wayne is like something out of Star Trek. It is freakin awesome!

[jenat-lai]

nah, never been to JFK or Wayne terminals IRL. never been to America even <g>

anyway, tonight (and tomorow) is the big Australia Vatsim flyin.

Tonight looked something like this on the overview:


(you can even see my aircraft in that shot! QFA13)


not wanting to inline these bigger images yet. here we have:

My 767 parked at Melbourne beside a 747

and

The same 767 just pulling in to Sydney Domestic terminal later in the evening

[Ace Pace]

Damn me not having the money to buy FS2K4 (not that theres anyplace to buy it from here).

Also, I would never be patient enough to actully sit and learn to fly it, or sit around on long haul flights ;P