Years of MSFS 2020

[Wing_Z]

How many here would have flown all these aircraft, and from these airports, I wonder?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3ySsmhCH2Tc

[jankees]

I have never flown any of these aircraft, nor have I ever visited those airports...

[Priller]

I've briefly flown the Super Hornet, but that's it really.

Never visited any of the airports.

Priller

[Paul K]

Never flown from any of those airports.

Brief dabbled with the Hornet too, but a bit of a yawn, so off to my digital Davis Monthan with it. I'm still learning the FBW A320, which shares ancestry with the default A320Neo. As for the C152, one of my favourite aircraft in the sim is the WB/JPLogistics mod - especially the tail dragger.

[Cazzie]

Just make sure it's the JPLogistics 152, not the default Asobo 152. I learned to fly on one, the JPLogistics is the bee's knees. Get it if you never have.

Cazzie

Attachment 91597

[Cees Donker]

Just make sure it's the JPLogistics 152, not the default Asobo 152. I learned to fly on one, the JPLogistics is the bee's knees. Get it if you never have.

Cazzie

Attachment 91597

That's exactly my favorite plane to fly! The JpLogistics 152 is great! The Super Hornet is used for carrier quals.


Cees

[collensr]

I think it's quite telling that notwithstanding the MSFS stance on weapons the F-18E is the 3rd most flown aircraft over the past 3 years.

With the freeware addon that enables carriage of fuel tanks the Super Hornet is more realistic but I'd wager most of the users that got it to the number 3 slot would fly it clean out of the box.

I am sure if quizzed most of us would have had the Cessna 152 and the A320 at #1 or #2 but few would have got the #3 slot holder correct ?

[Javis]

Remarkable to see that non of you ever visited Heathrow, JFK nore KLAX....

I'd say Huh ???.... How in the virtual flying world is that even possible ??....

[jankees]

I don't like these airports in real life, so why should I go there in the sim? Heathrow always manages to lose my luggage, I go to great lengths to avoid it...

[Mathias]

Remarkable to see that non of you ever visited Heathrow, JFK nore KLAX....

I'd say Huh ???.... How in the virtual flying world is that even possible ??....

Imagine Hillbilly Jim in a Tin Lizzy cruising Wallstreet for the very first time in his life, that's me on a major airport.
Green grass of home, buddy. "Home" not necessarly but "green gras" feels more comfortable to me.
On a serious note, performance around major urban areas just doesn't cut it on my dated rig.

[Cazzie]

I don't like these airports in real life, so why should I go there in the sim? Heathrow always manages to lose my luggage, I go to great lengths to avoid it...

Same here, never care to fly into large airports, really don't care for big cities. I prefer the smaller regional strips around my demographic, where I have flown in real time. I have been working on scenery for many, when MSFS allows me and does not BSOD, CTD, or flash FlightSimulator.exe has stopped working: Stop program. It's been very finicky with me lately, but my son is fixing me a rig that should handle it just fine. To tell you the truth and I know from your liveries you do too, I enjoy the creative part of MSFS more than the flying, it takes up more of my time, which I have too much of in my old age, and keeps me from sitting around being bored.

Cazzie

[jmig]

I earned my PPL flying the C-150/152. I haven't flown it since, except for an Aerobat once or twice, in either RL or MSFS. As for the big airports, unless you are into tube-liners, there is no reason to fly into them. I am like Caz, give me the regional airports, mostly in the southeast.

Also, Caz has inspired me to learn MSFS scenery building. I figure if an OLD man can do it, I can. I am focusing on small airports in Louisiana and eastern Texas.

[collensr]

The appeal of MSFS to me is that I can fly into airports that are nearby my home (Duxford/BigginHill/Gatwick/Redhill etc) and those that I spend time at in the US - Nellis/Fallon/China Lake etc but also you can visit airports/airfields in places that you have never been to or are unlikely to visit. In fact its a great tool for planning holidays and photo-shoot locations as well as a fun place to fly.

[Cazzie]

I earned my PPL flying the C-150/152. I haven't flown it since, except for an Aerobat once or twice, in either RL or MSFS. As for the big airports, unless you are into tube-liners, there is no reason to fly into them. I am like Caz, give me the regional airports, mostly in the southeast.

Also, Caz has inspired me to learn MSFS scenery building. I figure if an OLD man can do it, I can. I am focusing on small airports in Louisiana and eastern Texas.

John,

When I first purchased and flew MSFS, I was amazed that my home airport, Danville (VA) Regional, had no structures, none, nada. Yet when I flew to the small airfield in South Boston, Tuck, it was all there and correct. The same for Shiloe in Rockingham County, NC, all hangers and buildings correctly placed (generic of course). So I took it upon myself to learn how to do scenery for MSFS using the SDK and did KDAN. Later, I discovered that another major Regional airport, Blue Ridge, near Martinsville, VA (KMTV), also had no structures, including the famous restaurant everyone flew in on weekends to eat at. So I took it upon myself to do that one also. I have five completed now, one a bush strip here in Danville, VA95 Buck Holler. I finished Shelby-Cleveland County (NC) yesterday and if I can find decent windsocks, I'll get Gastonia (NC) Municipal and Lincoln County Regional. I also finished up a private strip in Martinsville, Lorey Lester. I could .zip and send them up to SOH, but I doubt anyone would be of interest save Tom, who lives in my demographic area. I just search airport in MSFS locally and any that lack detail or have some detail, but it's all wrong, I like to build scenery for them using Google Earth as a reference and generic Asobo and MS objects to keep FPS to a minimum, Photogrammetry will eat your FPS up. The new SDK makes it easier than ever. Now if I can just figure out how to get my liveries to take? I have several to send up if I could get them to where MSFS could read them. The JPLogistic Cessna 152 in the hanger above is one of my liveriers that took and belonged to a modeling friend in Spartanburg, SC, who trained people in it.

Cazzie

[Tom Clayton]

I flew the steam 172 for a while when I first got the sim, but there are too many inaccuracies for it to be fun anymore. As for airports, I think I've used Heathrow once, and the last time I flew out of LAX, I ended up stuck taxying behind a 747 for 15 minutes before I turned off AI.

[K5083]

The top airports in MS's video don't surprise me. Lots of people use little airports, airports near their homes, and mil bases, but there are too many of them for any one to accrue the numbers of the top international airports that the tube guys all fly to.

I'm a little surprised that some of us haven't tried the big hubs at least occasionally, but hey, you do you.

The F-18 was released less than 2 years ago, so the fact that it makes it into the top 3 over the whole 3-year period makes me suspect that it has been the #1 most popular aircraft over the time since its release.

I am also a bit surprised that the 152 is so popular. I would expect most of the MSFS audience to try it, maybe master it, then move on to something more exciting, i.e., anything else. But maybe that's the point, the players who are new to flight simming start on the 152, then branch out to different planes of interest, so the 152 is the one that racks up the hours.

August

[dvj]

Wonder what the top 3 payware aircraft are? My guess the Captain Sim C130 is numero uno.

[Bomber_12th]

I just have to say that the C152 is one of the default aircraft I've flown most (at least top three, with the X Cub and Cirrus), going all the way back to alpha testing, and I still take it out almost weekly. Especially if I just have 10-15 minutes to spare, it's one of my go-to aircraft to do pattern work. One of my FB friends, who flies and maintains Mustangs, Corsairs and P-40s, recently shared a photo from some flying he was doing in a C172, and he commented about how much fun it actually was for him, with a type he hadn't really flown much since flight school. Another friend of mine, who spent years flying for the Collings Foundation, flying the B-17, B-24, and P-51C, still gets just as much if not more enjoyment flying his personal Piper Cub. I've flown the Hornet from time to time, and I've flown the Airbus a few times, though aircraft like that I'm never fully comfortable with since I've never taken the time to be knowledgeable about all of their workings (but, as long as an aircraft is in my virtual hangar, I like to make use of them). It really is no surprise the airports that are the most popular, since airliner fans seem to have always made up the majority of the flight sim user base. You can tell just by what repaints are always the most downloaded. I've also noticed how a couple of the MSFS payware airport developers I follow on Facebook, when they've taken polls as to whether they should develop more of the big intl. airports or focus more on regional airports, the amount of people in favor of the big intl. airports always overpowers those who would be more interested in the smaller regional airports. I have done one flight out of LAX in MSFS (using the Airbus), but I haven't even flown near the other two airports listed - as mentioned earlier in this thread, the typical aircraft I fly don't usually fly in/out of airports like those.

[jmig]

Wonder what the top 3 payware aircraft are? My guess the Captain Sim C130 is numero uno.

Is that a joke? I ask because I read so much bitching about Capt Sim lack of quality on forums. I don't own any of their products, so I don't have an opinion.

[Wing_Z]

Yes I think as much aimed at the product as the wider FS audience... I am thinking that SOH may not be wholly representative

I do not use stock FS aircraft (the door never opens!) and in any case the 3rd party offerings are so good, and so many, that you may never run out of anything but money.
On the scenery front it's almost as if MSFS 2020 is Too Big, you will not easily digest the Whole World.
(In any case that all happened back in FS9)
I agree with the comments that the real world experience of Big Airports is enough (Apart from the odd pre-holiday FS reconnaissance)

I've hardly covered New Zealand in a year.
But on occasion I'm a sucker for the high quality boutique sceneries like the Scilly Isles, which allow you to fly without having to close one eye when you get to the edge of the scenery.

[Rudyjo]

Concerning the JPL Logistics C152.
I did not know that they now have a taildragger version.
I tried to find a download for it, but every one says that the file is no longer available.
Is there a website that does have the download for it?

[LostPilot]

Concerning the JPL Logistics C152.
I did not know that they now have a taildragger version.
I tried to find a download for it, but every one says that the file is no longer available.
Is there a website that does have the download for it?

It's on WB-Sim's Discord since they took over the project, but here's a direct link to save you some clicks:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmK...usp=share_link
alternate link 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7D...usp=share_link
alternate link 2: https://simdoc.eu/wbsim_jpl_152_2.0.6.zip

Note that that's for the current version 2.0.6 only.

I'd share a link to their Discord but they seem to have that disabled, or I'm just blind today.

[Dangerous Beans]

If you like the JPL Logistics C152 you also might like the C172 updates and variants by Bagolu over at flightsim.to
there are Bush Kit, Taildragger and Amphibs for both the steam gauge and G1000 versions and a Reims Rocket for the G1000.

[Tom Clayton]

I think one of the big reasons the stock 152 is so far up in rank is because MS/Asobo track lesson hours too. I've never flown any of them, but I think they use that plane for the basics.

[Rudyjo]

It's on WB-Sim's Discord since they took over the project, but here's a direct link to save you some clicks:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmK...usp=share_link
alternate link 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7D...usp=share_link
alternate link 2: https://simdoc.eu/wbsim_jpl_152_2.0.6.zip

Note that that's for the current version 2.0.6 only.

I'd share a link to their Discord but they seem to have that disabled, or I'm just blind today.

Thank you for the links, had no problem downloading the plane or a set of vintage liveries.
It seems that all the websites I went to had a link to flightsim .to that no longer has the file.