I’m Level 74 in Career Mode. Two things, you are given some long flights that are beyond the aircraft’s range - so you MUST add fuel by other means during the flight.
You can get a negative score for “Airline Procedures” and even more than 100% in the category as well.
Your reputation gets absolutely destroyed if you even do average in any category. I was an “S” but received a demotion to a “C” for reasons I don’t understand.
Despite hours and hours of flying (I haven’t used SimRate adjustments at all), I have to take my ATP Jetliner certification and with my path as Cargo Pilot - I still must completed dozens more flights in the Medium category. It’s a grind.
Bind a key so you can add 25% of fuel per time. Personally I don’t like the cargo missions, eventhough I fly smooth, have ~80% smoothness landings I still end up impacting the integrity of my cargo…
Also, learn which planes give you a penalty for using flaps while taxiing or taking-off. I.e. the DHC-2 will give you penalty for it
Career Mode is somewhat broken. I have bound the “add fuel” to “T” on my keyboard = T for tank, as a reminder. There are no conflicts with the “T” key.
I just finished a 7.5 hour flight in a Caravan flying from South China to Malaysia. There are some hacks with not having to check-in to every FIR you fly through, but if you fly through turbulence (there is a lot) and PARTICULARLY the landing is crucial. It’s fun.
i just unlocked this too but due to speeding during taxi (18kts) a bunch of time because i refuse to go slower the entire way round lax, i lost all my reputation and cant access the charter missions anymore YAY!!! also found the 737 was micro-adjusting my pitch trim is this normal?
i would really LOVE for the a320 to be added so i can use that instead i find the 737 really old and complicated.
I just did my first Charter VIP flight in the BBJ 737 MAX. Not sure how I got a ZERO in this category. Also I was planning on a west landing into LAX per the EFB and I was given a drastic descent assignment and assigned an east landing. Credit though as you can build a HOLD into this FMC. The autoland was also fairly accurate. The flight deck HUD also very well integrated.
My suggestion for now is to ignore reputation. It’s kind of borked so focus on just making money, certifications, and expanding your companies. Don’t get heartburn over reputation until it’s fixed.
You can add fuel in management before starting flight. Just restart your flight once you spawn into the game and the planned fuel will be there. Once again, I don’t think it’s worth the hassle, but you can do it if you want some more control and to pay for your fuel. Up to you.
Don’t underestimate the Vision jet. Great way to get early money/xp gain doing VIP missions.
Use Basic insurance for AI aircraft. The pay/hour for AI is lower than the cost/hour of premium insurance. You won’t make money. I use Basic for my aircraft as well because insurance seems broken to me right now.
Expand you “vision”. Take jobs that remove the “fog of war”. It just lets you see more of the map and pick from more jobs.
Have fun. Unless you’re min/maxing, fly the jobs you enjoy doing the most. Grind only when you’re up for it. In the end this game is about what is going on in and out of the cockpit more than the progress bars at the end of the mission.
Career mode is a single player experience. Fly the way you want too. Be as realistic or as arcade like as you find the most enjoyable.
Be patient. It’s a buggy experience. No amount of complaining is going to change that, but we can help each other out. With that being said, feel free to share what you learn with others. As the game updates, experience/advice will mature with the game. Keep your fellow pilots informed.
Ignore the instructions in the top right and land on the runway in your flight plan. Sometimes they disagree, and if you follow the top right, you’ll get dinged for landing in an undesignated area.
You have to respond to ATC, but you don’t have to do what they tell you.
I’m level 50+ and have all but three or four certs, and an S level reputation. My goto for money and XP are Medivac missions. I don’t skip anything, climb to altitude, cancel IFR and program the destination airport into Direct-To. Set AP up at a good altitude and set heading as shown on the Garmin. Sure it’s not realistic, but I do those sorts of flights on my own time in free mode. Easy way to get lots of cash fast, and also level up.
Another thing, I avoid any mission with an aircraft I’m not super comfortable with. Helicopters? Nah, not yet!
Don’t skip on the ground at unfamiliar small airports. The blue parking squares are sometimes on top of buildings and you will crash if you skip to parking. Write these down because spawning into these airports also crashes you instantly upon spawning in.
Always get the lowest insurance as it pays out 0% at every tier.
Get out of small GA aircraft as soon as possible. The turbulence model in career is cranked up to 11 and you will find it nearly impossible to land at some airports.
ATC will vector you into the side of a mountain. Be aware of your flight plan and the maximum altitude you need and ignore ATC if you have to.
Yeah, the flaps penalty is ridiculous, many aircraft in career mode give you a flaps penalty no matter how slow you are…
Asobo should disable the flap penalty until they fix this
Don’t buy the TBM 930. It is completely broken, as it starts with 0% fuel, and the add fuel key does not work for TBM in career mode, so absolutely useless.
Plus there is also another glitch that prevents the player from choosing TBM 930 to take on most charter missions anyway…
Started a company just doing Flight Seeing in a Cub. All around the mode needs updating. It’s very unforgiving for any poor landings (repair and reputation), and sometimes it’s a mystery why you get dinged in some categories. Still having fun overall with the auto-generated missions. It makes you fly places that are unique.
The Undiscovered Country
or how to find missions near an airport you haven’t landed at yet.
When you land at an airport a circular area with a radius of about 80 nm shows up on the mission map as not dimmed and new missions originating at airports within that are will be available. Also, yellow icons representing the pilot and your airplane will be at the airport. It turns out that there is a separate icon for the pilot for a reason.
Let’s say that you land at KBOI (Boise, Idaho, USA) but you want to fly out of KSLC (Salt Lake City). You could look for missions that would land at an airport that’s within 80 nm of KSLC or you could go to the missions map and zoom in close enough to KSLC for the airport icon to become clickable and click on Fast Travel.
Clicking Fast Travel moves the pilot to the airport, for which there is a fee, and reveals all the missions available in the area. If you own a company and want use a company plane, you’ll need to transfer the plane, for which there is a fee,
FYI - When you go to the My companies page, the Transfer Aircraft button will allow you to move the airplane to an airport that is in an area that is not greyed out (has been discovered). This is mostly redundant because when you choose a mission not based at the airport where your plane is already sitting, you have to move it anyway.
If you’re just having fun checking things out, it’s fine. But if you’re seriously grinding for the long haul at this moment, I think you should reconsider and be prepared to start over once things get fixed…if they get fixed. From what I’m seeing, the whole career mode have zero credibility on your progress as a pilot or any thing else. So why bother when you know the system is broken?
into the cabin.
