What keeps you going?

[born_2_fly]

Hi guys. I was just wondering, all you fellow 'bus drivers' out there, if you do longhaul flights do you do them all at once or in bits? Also what do you do to keep you occupied? Bit of a pointless question but it just got me thinking. Thanks

Born_2_fly  
England

[garymbuska]

I do not make a lot of long haul flights, but when I do I do what the pilot would do get up & walk around a bit every now & then. I always plan long haul flights when I know I will have the time to fly them. I do not like saving a flight then restarting it. After all in the real flights pilots can not do this so why should I.

[monkeyboy726]

in fs2002 with the sim rate at 16X i sleep with my finger on the "1" key to handle the ATC handoffs. it takes a while to get ur reflexes up to the point where u can hit "1" two times while ur half asleep

[Saratoga]

Speaking from a virtual point of view, get up and walk around...eat...call people...etc. etc. lol. In reality, it is much more entertaining (not that I am dissing FS) and in-depth and trust me, you are glued to the seat. I do 4-5 hour flights sometimes without leaving the seat 'cept for the bathroom (duh) and meals.

[Woodlouse2002]

Stick the autopilot on and then go out. Come back a few hours later and then crash the plane.

[Saratoga]

oh oh oh I do that! If I get so bored I leave, I save the flight as the default one (so I can finish it later) then plunge it into the ground of course! I love hearing ATC yelling something to the effect of "Hey a******, you are 18000 feet below your assigned altitude."

[Hagar]

LOL This is why I would never make an airline pilot. I start getting bored after 5 minutes of straight & level flight in real life, never mind in FS.

Now where did I spot that bridge?

[shamrock_1]

what keeps me going? what doesn`t! ive only had fs2002 for two weeks, previously i used airbus 320 by europress and fs95, i bloody love fs2002!

i just completed my longest flight yet about an hour ago. i flew from london heathrow to Ibiza in a monarch 757-200. 2 hours or so.... and made one of my best landings yet! (visual approach,  not ils.)

so as yet i dont need anything to keep me going, im still excited about the game!

keep her lit!
john.

[Saratoga]

What's fun is to do the climb like most airline pilots do, manually. Most small airliners, regional jets, turboprops, biz jets, and private airplanes climb by hand. 747s and stuff don't, they are too inefficient, but it's very effecient to jack the throttle on a 737 way up, point that nose high in the sky, and blow a 6,000 fpm climb rate at points.

[Triple_7]

hmmm....   Dont do many long hauls.  i used to speed the time up to 16X and blow through 5000 miles in less then an hour.  But for my VA i have to fly real time.  So the only long haul i have done for it was Paris to Washington DC.  7.7 hours, none stop, real time.   just leveled off, set the auto pilot, turned off the monitor and went to bed.  woke up the next morning had a cup of coffe and landed right on schedule.    

I tryed to fly to st maarten from paris   about a month ago     but i looked in on my flight 5 hours into it to notice my A340-300 was flying at mach 1.05      that flight didnt make it and never made it to the log book.

now i have to fly the Washington DC to paris route soon or im going to get deleted for inactivity

[Saratoga]

I take it you file VFR then so ATC doesn't cancel your plan? lol. On the hauls from NYC/Boston to London, Shannon, and Paris I just get me a Big Red, a magazine or two, and sit back and enjoy the ride. On Los Angeles to Sydney (which is a wonderfully long flight) I usually speed it up to 4x. I flew it at 1x one time and that is a little boring. There are no fun little random things to do in FS. In reality, the copilot keeps you entertained, along with your flight attendants, your food, your coffee, ATC, clearances, weather, typical autopilot and FMS problems, and passengers (in two forms, talking to them and then having to tell them to calm down). And damn is turbulence a fun little ride in reality!

[Fozzer]

Not in a million years could I become a bus driver long haul commercial pilot... ...!
It sounds so un-believably boring compared to the short VFR hops I do in single engined prop planes from one airfield to another.... ...!
I cannot imagine flying from Heathrow to New York via the Atlantic Ocean.... ...!
...all that endless flippin' water... ...!

LOL...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul...just wheeling my Tiger Moth out for a nice evening flight with friends.... ...!

[taracer89]

I fly from KALB to KTPA and back alot. It's about a 2.5 hour flight. I will usually fly the 737-400 or the Learjet. Real weather has a big impact on flight times here.

Any number of things keep me going. I like long flights because it makes me work hard for a perfect landing. After flying 2+ hours you really want to nail the landing.

Scenery is a big reason too. FS2002 has done a good job representing my home airport , KALB, so when I fly back I think I get a feel for what real pilots see. I also think that the places I fly to are just as good.

Seeing my plane in flight is high on the list. I have active camera, so seeing the plane in a turn at FL320 with the contrails above and ground below makes it fun for me.

Other airplanes keep it fun too. I using PAI, and seeing real airlines in my sim helps me forget that I'm sitting in front of my computer.

Overall, there is always something going on in the sim, so I never get bored.

I am ready to fly to Europe. Mastering the 747 is another story.

[chinookie]

i flew from london heathrow to Ibiza in a monarch 757-200. 2 hours or so.... and made one of my best landings yet! (visual approach,  not ils.)

I made an almost identical flight only a couple of days ago - except it was from Birmingham Int'l - Ibiza, in the B737-400. Took about 2 hours 10 minutes - only five minutes ' difference from what it took when I actually went on holiday there a few years back!  ;D

I got it up to 30,000 ft, levelled off, then cruised it the whole way while I went to make some coffee, read a magazine, etc.