Just a quick question. Whilst on final approach do you stay in the cockpit or outside to land?
I have much better results while firmly seated in the cockpit… but occasionally pop out at the last minute to see how I’m doing.
Looking forward to built in record/playback capability. Haven’t found a third-party tool that I like yet.
Just my $.02.
Jim-Sim
11 Likes
Always inside. I’ve never seen a real aircraft coming into our local airport with the pilot floating above and behind the plane using a remote control to land it. 
54 Likes
Inside. Always. We learn to land the aircraft as realistically as possible, and to succeed in doing so you have to be in the cockpit. It’s really the only way you can keep a proper eye on the touchdown zone (to aim towards it) and the cockpit is the only way to get a proper perspective of flare rate aswell.
I’m talking about airliners though. You might succeed in a smaller aircraft.
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Outside = game
Inside = simulator
41 Likes
Inside. I only use the external views for eye candy.
Back in the day I would replay landings and use external views to evaluate them.
9 Likes
I have around 1000 hrs in the sim now. I likely have 5 minutes outside view. I only step outside to grab a screen shot where I want the aircraft in the pic.
Pretty sure the box says “Flight Simulator” not “ANGEL Simulator”. 
5 Likes
I started by landing outside and then moved to landing inside. Now landing outside feels weird
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Only time I see the outside of the aircraft is the moment between clicking ‘FLY!’ and hitting the ‘End’ key. I consider that me external preflight … 
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I record a lot of my flights using Sky Dolly. When I land while the recording is being done, I always do so in the simulator as everyone else does. But after I do that, sometimes I’ll start the playback then switch to the external camera and move it to the ATC tower or terminal, then hit play and watch my landing from there.
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Ill have to check this out.
My first few landings in the sim were exterior while I was still uncomfortable with the cockpit view so I could see the plane. Once I switched to cockpit view landings I could literally never go back, landing exterior view will be a hard landing almost every time lol
Only ever inside, outside is not realistic at all and I think it’s harder to perform a proper landing from an external view personally.
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I’ve been playing this game since MS2004 and never performed a landing outside of cockpit. I only use external view if I wanna see landmarks, POIs etc.
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That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Jim-Sim
I always use cockpit view to land, but if you prefer to land using outside views, have at it. Contrary to what some will have you believe, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to play Flight Simulator, the point is to have fun and enjoy yourself. Whether your idea of fun is flying by the book and imitating real life as closely as possibly, or you just want to spawn in the air and fly around in exterior view and take in the sights, you do you.
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Both. Usually I land in FPV because 1) it’s more realistic 2) it just provides a better vantage point.
But if I’m just messing around and having fun I occasionally land from third person view.
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I’m a straight 3rd person perspective person.
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I use both at all times…
Try to stay inside when I am being serious if that is possible.
Outside helps me see the surroundings better and practice RC with the sticks.
Inside helps me do my checklists.
I honestly can’t even imagine flying outside the aircraft and I’m pretty sure I would utterly suck if I tried a landing like that.
I pop outside using the drone cam when I want a screenshot of my aircraft but I pause before I do that.
1 Like