Flying The Virtual Skies – #2. Getting started

Hi Steemians, this is, a little later than anticipated, my 3rd post on Steemit and the 2nd in this series about flight simulation. In the first part I more or less explained how to choose a simulation platform and your choice should, in my opinion, be one of the available mainstream 64-bit platforms: either Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3d version 4 or Laminar Research’s Xplane (11). I also explained that I am a user of the first, but everything I explain here should apply to the latter as well.

The first step after acquiring one of the simulators is, of course, installing them. I won’t cover the details, but I suggest installing the simulator on its own, dedicated drive, preferably a solid state disk (SSD) because the read times of textures and scenery files is much, much quicker compared to an ordinary hard disk drive (HDD). They are a bit more expensive, yes, but well worth the upgrade.

After installing the simulator, you’ll end up with an environment that covers the whole earth to some level of realism. There are add-ons available that significantly improve the visuals, accuracy and details, but they are certainly not required at this point. First, because improved visuals will affect your performance and, second, because you don’t want to spend your money right away.

Setting up your flight simulator requires some time. I’d suggest to take some time to get it right and familiarize yourself with the interface of the simulator menus. Depending on your hardware, you should configure your graphical settings so you’ll achieve a frame rate of at least 25 frames per second to avoid any stutters and delays. This will make the simulator more responsive and your control inputs will be more direct. Next thing to setup: your controls. In my first blog post I told you that flight simulation can be free, apart from the platform software. This is true, but investing in some sort of joystick or controller makes your flight simming experience much more enjoyable and easier. And although joysticks can be very expensive, you can buy yourself a fairly decent joystick for under $40. A popular model is the Logitech 3D Pro, which even has a twist axis for rudder control (yaw). If you want to go a step higher, you could invest in a HOTAS system or a flight yoke and some rudder pedals, for example. These can be bought online for around $150-$200.

Once you are happy with your control setup, you can start your first flight. You can start a flight by selecting a location (airport), aircraft and the day and time of flight. Additionally, you can configure the weather settings, but for now I’d recommend some nice weather with clear skies or a few clouds. Your location doesn’t really matter, although airports at high altitudes aren’t a very good idea for a newbie. So, choose any airport located below 2000 feet above sea level. And finally, the aircraft you like to fly. You could hop into a jetliner or fighter jet, but most reasonable people start with some small propeller aircraft, like a Cessna 172. This aircraft is a very popular model for real life flight lessons as well, and it’s fairly easy to fly.

Once your flight has been loaded, you could apply full throttle, release the brakes and explore the area. But, here’s where the more serious flight simmers emerge: take some time to understand the basics of flight and how aircraft are operated within certain performance limits. So, instead of applying full throttle, take a look around in your cockpit and try to understand what the instruments are for and what switches can be found in various places. A fun thing to try is to start your aircraft from a shutdown situation and start your engine manually. Going through these kind of procedures will help you very much later on!

In my next article, I will explain some of the basic instruments and controls, based on a Cessna 172. For now, enjoy your simulator, get used to the controls and menus and start exploring!

See you next time!

Jeroen

My other articles:

• Introduction
• Flying The Virtual Skies - #1. Choosing your platform and hardware