You know, this is one thng I've never done. I rarely, if ever, use the default aircraft in any of my M$ sims.* All this messing around with radio, ATC & numerous other petty rules & regulations is the main reason I decided against going for my PPL, which I could easily afford if I really wanted to do it. Everything is so different now from when I was learning to fly in the 1960s. I prefer my memories of the old days when flying was far less complicated. FS gives me the chance to renew those memories whenever I wish.
*PS. Except for the FS9 default Piper Cub.
Hm. I guess the regulatory collar doesn't chafe me so much because I learned to fly with it on, but I have discovered in RL and the sim that you can fly around all that stuff.
Of all the default MS birds, other than the Cessnas (which I use as sort of a training aid for RL flying), I've probably flown the Cub and the Jenny the most- on short flights outside of controlled airspace, without talking to anybody on the radio.
As far as RL goes: last Sunday's flight was very similar: Other than turning on the transponder before takeoff (47N is just inside the NYC Mode C veil) I could have legally made that entire flight without touching a radio if I wanted to. Using the radio in that case was more of a benefit (to enhance safety) than a restriction. The only concession to a controlled airspace was dipping briefly below the Atlantic City Class C- which, had I wanted to penetrate it, would've been no big deal, as it's really just a radar sevice area- just have to call and say "hi, I'm here; I'm going there, see ya".
Plenty of navaids and ATC services available, but again, I didn't have to use them, and certainly didn't need to, for a flight below 3000 along the shore. Filing a flight plan was an option I chose just for insurance, so I could have made the flight without Big Brother ever knowing about it.
And in RL as well as the sim, studying the airspaces beforehand and dealing with ATC, once you get the hang of it, is really not a big price to pay for the rewards of flying as PIC...
Don't mean to pester you, Doug, and I'm sure other pilot friends have told you this, but I think you should reconsider. I almost balked the first time I felt the weight of the FAR/AIM in my hand, but first I noticed that half of it, the AIM, is not rules so much as advice, then I found that the bulk of the FARs don't apply to VFR-only non-commercial pilots, then I saw that most of what I did have to study, although verbose, was basically common sense. This cheered me up, and i went on to nearly ace the written (missed one question; I forget what it was, but it was something I knew- I just didn't stop and think quite enough about it).
I think you could do it- and without losing any passion for the act of just taking off to wander around and have fun. I managed it, and even picked up some appreciation for the challenges of flying within the system.
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:31 pm
