Just Curious as to How to Make Solo Play interesting

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I just got this about a month ago. Haven’t flown it much.

I usually just fly regular small engine aircraft like Cessna.

Just curious about one thing. How do you make this interesting if you don’t play in multiplayer? Going from point A to point B is OK but it gets a little old after awhile. How can I make it more interesting, in your opinion?

Thanks.

Michael

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Fly around the world in a single engine piston plane, preferably using steam gauges only.

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Fly inverted on a 747.

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I’ve been trying NeoFly and I can recommend it, you basically have missions to complete and earn money from which allows you to unlock more planes and so on.
Check it out here:
Home | NeoFly

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Hi @SevenMagic21363. Try flying cross country using a sectional and matching up landmarks from the scenery with a sectional map to get to the destination.
Explore geography and cities “low and slow”.
Try night VFR flying.
Try aerobatics.

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Around the world in an X-Cub does it for me.

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This is potentially the thread you are looking for. Expand the “apps to game-ify the sim” section for a list :+1:

Get yourself some kind of purpose for your flights with one of those.

You also have the Bush Trips and Landing Challenges already in the game which you might enjoy.

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I use “OnAir Company”

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Absolutely, I’m using OnAir and I had missions in the EU so I had to fly from AU to EU. Such a big trip and I did most of it in the M20R. I also had size 0 and 1 airports enabled so I got to land at many tiny and difficult airfields, some I could barely find after searching even with the GPS. It was simply fantastic.

It is attractive for most of us to go to bigger planes and longer distances but that is a mistake.
Smaller planes let us see more and try many more different types of airfield.
Shorter distances means less time cruising and twiddling your thumbs.
For at least 10 minutes after takeoff and 10 minutes before landing, fly manually. I suspect most of us use autopilot almost all the time.

I know a lot of people like to say how many hours they have in the sim. But much more interesting to me is “how many safe landings have we done”.

Not to take anything away from airline pilots, they are very skilled with a lot of responsibility, especially if they regularly fly in bad weather and difficult airports. But bush flying is where it is at for a challenge IMHO. For example, enable real weather and fly to each of the airports around Papua New Guinea. Trips are short and many of them are as scary as hell where you need to really make important decisions (especially if you fly realistically). I know I’ll be heading back there soon.

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Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions.

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A couple more thoughts on things I have enjoyed doing, although I don’t have enough time for some of these ideas anymore:

  • Go look at stuff you are interested in. For example, I have toured the US Civil War battlefields, the South Pacific island battlefields, and such sites, and seeing them from the air gives a totally new appreciation for the terrain and what things actually look like.
  • “Travel mode”: The next flight always starts from where the previous flight ended. If you want to go look at something you really need to travel there – and that sets up a bunch of “for purpose” flights because you want to go fly somewhere else and you have to get there first. Without having to go work for someone else if that is not what you are into.
  • Other ways of lining up hoops for yourself that you enjoy jumping through. E.g., every time I try out a new airplane I always go to the factory airport to check it out first. Combined with the travel mode approach that results in lots of flights to places you otherwise might not have reasons to go to, like numerous trips to Wichita, KS. Last flight in Prepar3d was to go to Independence, KS, so I could start out in the C172S in MSFS.
  • Wanna watch a football game? Cool – but you have to fly there if you want to watch it. A bit challenging to catch both the Sunday night and the Monday night game depending on your real life schedule… Same for some other sport you like; Formula 1 results in a lot of long haul trips if that’s your fancy.
  • More hoops: Decide you need a proficiency check flight every six months for each type or class rating you hold; i.e., each type or class of aircraft you want to be flying. Look up the practical test standards and set up a flight profile that goes through the required number of approaches, go arounds, full stop landings and all that stuff.
  • Look up training syllabi for various ratings and certificates. Go do all that stuff.

Then there is the whole content creation thing… Want to run your own business, such as a charter flight operation? Great fun to build and configure your own hangars, office buildings and such for your main operating base and perhaps other outlying stations. That was always the aspect of scenery creation I enjoyed the most, much more than copying real-life scenery for the simulator.

No shortage of cool stuff to do.

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Here’s my plan to lend some purpose to what I’m doing… it requires a bit of role playing…

I’m a pilot for an airline leasing/rental company. The company leases or rents jets to wealthy people. I’m assigned to a job where the client and his family have rented/leased a private luxury A320 Neo for a round-the-world sight seeing trip. We will use the company A320 for long haul flights to various regional airports and then the company will arrange a Grand Caravan at each stop for local sight seeing trips. I’m certified on both the A320 and 208B and will pilot all flights.

I’m currently in Toulouse France picking up the new plane from the factory and doing some test flights. From there, I will fly back to NA to pick up our client in San Jose. The first destination is Japan (due to the recent updates) where we need to pick up the clients son from Tokyo. Then we will fully explore Japan. Ultimately we will tour the entire world.

Logistically, I will only start a session where I left off from a previous session. All flights will be logged in SimToolKitPro as it has an excellent log book.

The A320 will fly IFR between major airports. The Grand Caravan used for VFR flights locally.

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MIchael, this is supposed ti be a flight simulator, although many regard it as a game, arcade or otherwise.

As long as you enjoy it, how you use it is up to you…but aircraft do fly from A to B and flying an aircraft only becomes engrossing when you get into the technicalities, navigation, flight planning and all the stuff that goes with it.

If you want to take your Cessna up for sightseeing, that’s ok too but you’ll still have to take off and land and go either from A to A or from A to B.

That is the nature of flight simulation.

Try to go further than than thinking of this sim as Google Earth (which is a brilliant resource) and get into the actual skill of flying. If you are doing it properly, you’ll never be bored.

Hope you enjoy FS2020, however you decide to use it.

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Study, the things will turned more interesting.

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I can’t get the ■■■■ program to run. When I try to run NeoFly I get a Microsoft security error. I’ve tried to turn off all the security features. I’ve tried to sign on as administrator, etc., etc., etc. and I can’t make the thing run. Is there any support available for this application?

Thanks again.

Michael

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No sure where you fly but I am lucky to live where there is some amazing scenery and even fun to sim. I live near KHIO and can fly west over the coastal range or head east and fly up the Columbia River Gorge or over My Hood, Mt Adams, and Mt St Helens, or fly north to the San Juan Islands of Washington and Vancouver Island British Columbia. Once you get comfortable with VFR then check out some youtube videos and start learning how to use a VOR for navigating or some basic IFR

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Have a purpose for each flight.
I took the default C152 on a lap of Australia. Low range, slow speed, and all the character of a small GA. Plenty of landings,takeoffs, and planning involved.

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Have kids. Plan a half hour flight. Try to fly said flight uninterrupted.

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I basically turn on liveatc.net and listen to air traffic. Also I go onto flightaware.com and see what real world routes are being flown at the time. I log all the flights using Projectfly and you can see everyone else online (inc VATSIM/ICAO) on a map and where you are relevant to them. I don’t really like going on Vatsim anymore as I just enjoy doing my own thing without having to listen to the yabbering on there it’s pretty toxic some of the attitudes on there (VATPAC).

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Get onboard with OnAir.