Our Co-pilots (Welcome Crew)

Discussion Hub General Discussion
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Hello new simmers! Welcome to the Microsoft Flight Simulator community. We hope you have a great experience here. Here are a few helpful forum tips!

Welcome to our forums: Brief note on who is who on the Community Team and Mod Team!

Forum Guide: Useful information on how to navigate our forums and learning new forum jargon!

If you want to chat with a friendly face here or have any simple questions about being a part of the community, feel free to DM a Co-pilot! They are here to help.

Send a DM to @FlightCrew to contact all, or feel free to reach out to them individually.

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Good day (new) pilots!

I have been doing real life gliderflying, paragliding and took some lessons (no PPL, yet) on small, single prop planes like the cessna skyhawk, robin, Dynamic wt9 and a couple of others birds.
Beside that i have been flying in flightsimulator for over more than 3 decades (yep, iam from the time where you could sit as a kid for multiple hours in the cockpit of an airliner and having the best time ever with the flightcrew) , and iam still learning everyday.
I like to fly mostly the FBW A320 and PMDG DC6 (some others will follow soon when they get released) on about 1-2 hours flights, but I also do general aviation (like the Cessna and piper, etc) and some other interesting stuff like the spitfire and the h135 helicopter.

I would like to use this opportunity, to welcome you in the beautifull world of flightsimulator.
Some consider it a game, some a sim. What I think is the most important: is having fun!
If you like to fly a 747 inverted underneath a bridge: great! If you like to fly “as real as it gets” with live ATC and a highly detailed plane: great!

Just as long as you, and others are having fun!

Beside a Co-pilot on this forum, Iam also the “fly together category” moderator, so that means you will probarbly see me on daily base over here.
Like I mentioned, the most important thing is that we all have fun. So keep the forums clean and happy, and try to help others out as well as you can.
This is exactly the reason why the flightsim community is a warm and welcoming family, where newcomers are welcome and the “golden oldies” share their knowledge and passion. And oh boy, there is a lot of knowledge and expertise here from flightsimmers as well as real life pilots, ATC’ers, developers, IT etc. etc. Make use of this and dont be scared to ask questions. We all have been a newbie before and were wondering around like a kid in a candyshop. Now its up to us to give you a ride, in what could be your new lifetime hobby or the start of a real life aviation carreer.
Because there is so much to learn, try to dig a bit in this forum and pick all the usefull info you can. Its great to take you by your and and show you everything around, but a lot of info can allready be found in this forum topics, youtube and Google (or any other searchengine)
So there is a lot to discover out there.

AGAIN, dont be afraid to ask!!!

You can do this by creating a topic or sending me or the other copilots a private message (click on our name and press message) and we will try to answer or respond as soon as possible. Since the forum is mainly english, its no problem to sent me a question in Dutch (Nederlands) as well. Just keep in mind to keep it English on the forum.

I fly multiple days per week (almost on daiy base) in MSFS, so if you want to join, feel free to sent a friend request in there to (PHJAAP), so you can see where I am or where Iam going.
Iam not a real life flightinstructor, but i surely can show or teach you the basics of flying, like I allready did with many others in the sim.
Again, there is a lot of information, so as soon as you open MSFS for the first time, dont hesitate to follow youtubers, twitchmembers and/or other streamers or join the MSFS discord!

A small summary of my “rig” and specs.
Acer predator laptop
Intel(R) Core™ i7-10750H CPU
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce RTX 2080 Super with max Q

So to all of you (if you made it so far reading)

Have fun, happy flying and hopefully we will see eachother soon in the skies

Blue skies!

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Hi new pilots and plane lovers!
My name is Filippo, im here to help you if you need. For me is a big pleasure welcome you all to the forum and to our big community!

If you want just send me a DM and i will provide to answer you!

I begin flying since i was 7 with Flight simulator x gold edition, but now skys are changed thanks to to the MSFS Team! Enjoy the sky, the city and all the entire planet at your home!

Cleared for take off!!
Sincerely,
Filippo

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Hi everyone!

I’ve been flight simming since the FSX days, and can often be found half way across the Atlantic/Pacific enroute somewhere :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:. Having said that - my current aircraft of choice in MSFS is the FlyByWire A32nx mod, and lately I’ve been flying it on lots of regional flights around Europe.

Happy to help with any questions or issues you’re having with the sim, just ask!

Happy flying! :airplane:

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Hi PHJAAP,
I’m a retired software guy who has just got into gaming in the past week by acquiring an Xbox X and a Game Pass for the pure pleasure of flying to my favorite places with MSFS. I am looking for a complete printable version of the Xbox wireless controller mappings as defined in the CONTROLS section of the help system. The few web sources I’ve located are incomplete or wrong for the current version of the game. Do you know of any definitive source of this info that doesn’t require uploading screen captures from the Xbox?

Peter

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Hi Peter,

First of all welcome to msfs. I hope you enjoy the sim! As a retired IT guy, you probably know more about how to find these things than i do. I dont play xbox myself, so i have to dive into this myself as well.
In the meantime i would suggest you make a new topic on the forum about this. With the amount of people that are using xbox lately, there will be at least 1 person who has the answer to your question.
If i have some info about this, i will let you know. I also ask the other @FlightCrew if they have any idea.

Take care and if you get the answer, please let us know here, so other users can profit from it too.

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Welcome Peter! See if the below might help. I do have the Xbox X myself as well. I mainly use the PC version of MSFS but did manage to do a couple of successful flights with the default A320 from KSFO to KLAX. Something that really came in handy was using a logitech wireless USB dongle on the Xbox X and being able to use a Wireless mouse. This helps greatly with controls.

I have a full setup for flying including Yokes, Joysticks, rudder pedals etc… for the PC version, but I found that transitioning to the Xbox Controller was actually doable and you can do reasonably complex flights if you develop a basic understanding of navigation and just don’t hesitate to reach out.

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Hello Peter. I felt the same way when I started flying with msfs with an Xbox controller months ago. I searched hi and low for the best key bindings. But in the end I decided my own. I can understand wanting a place to start but think about the key buttons you want at your finger tips and leave the rest for mouse clicks or key board (if you have it for the Xbox).

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@FlightCrew

Hi all!

So I have a probably pretty nooby question. I’m new around here on Series X and am enjoying MSFS immensely so far, and am picking things up but have a lot to learn.

For example, I am doing my first “start from scratch” flight at the gate and powered down. Successfully did everything to get going and am enroute in a B78X trans-Pacific IFR flight (have done only VFR thus far).

However, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. First of all a question: did I have to somehow load my flight plan I created in the menu before starting into the flight computer before takeoff? I ask for a few reasons. First, ATC does not give me clearance to climb to my specified flight plan altitudes designated at the waypoints. I have to request FL change to do so. In addition, the vectors they give me to the next waypoint are wrong, and when I turn on LNAV the AP goes to the ATC vectors which are the wrong ones taking me way off course unless I manually adjust the heading. I may as well be doing VFR.

Attached a picture for reference with the map showing my plane going off course with LNAV on.

image

In addition, my AP doesn’t climb to the pre-specified altitudes on its own, I need to change it (I assume maybe related to the same vector issue above?).

And, finally, in aircraft with “selected altitude” and “managed altitude” options, it tells me the button bind to press to activate but there is no toggle, it just says N/A where you would see normally on or off. I usually have to get to my desired altitude and turn on altitude hold.

Thanks for any help!

I am enjoying the game and hoping to learn a lot more.

Cheers

Edit: Also, if it makes a difference for my questions above, I play with Middle-Ground assists, aside from a few custom options I have turned on such as landing and taxi navigation aids etc.

Another edit: I think maybe I found something. My VFR map shows my route as… wanting to travel around the entire globe to reach my destination (it’s mostly right then near the end just goes on a worldwide circle before going to final destination…). But the waypoints displayed in the world are correct per my flight plan in the menu. I must have missed loading it into the actual aircraft and ATC or something? This image below also isn’t tracking distance to my next waypoint, it’s actually increasing in distance from the BANZI waypoint it seems to want me to go to…

image

Ok so another update, after messing around with the flight computer and finding the route data I was able to (I think?) delete that offending BANZI and suddenly everything went back on track. The computer otherwise had all of my flight data, so not sure what happened there but now the aircraft is following the plan as expected.

Cheers!

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Hi AHal,

Glad to know you’re enjoying the game on the Series X and, at the same time as enjoying the release for X-Box, delving in and relishing the challenges of Complex IFR Procedures. The B78X is a lovely aircraft to learn on - given it’s very user friendly glass cockpit displays and intuitive flight interface and navigational capabilities. What a treat it is to witness the AP pitch the aircraft gradually down in the Climb to the Cruise Level, kick the seat back and wait for some well-earned coffee and snacks - all the way across to your TOD.

Now, unfortunately, we have to come back down to Earth with a bit of a bump and admit that the AP in the Dreamliner isn’t quite as good as you pilots need it to be. That’s for a great complexity of reasons and that’s just the way of it right now.
That having been said - it is perfectly flyable in AP - if you can improvise a little; and take it from me - I’m a real world pilot - improvisation is one of the most important skills in a pilot’s retinue. So here goes with your points made with WIKI;

  1. If you created the Flight Plan in the World Map before the flight then that should have loaded to the FMC once you got fired up. What you’ll still need to do (on the FMC) is the PERF INIT (Performance Initialisation) and Input Cruise Height, Cost Index and a bunch of other parameters so that the aircraft can calculate V Speeds/ Progress and other things.

Here’s a link to programming Boeing Systems FMC - which is pretty much the same across the fleet;

  1. ATC in the MSFS right now is a moving target and can change from day to day and be wildly inconsistent - we’re all aware of it and it’s frustrating but we also understand it’s one big challenge to get some sort of unified ATC which “just works” whatever the weather and Traffic load and Server load - so, in summary, it’s work in progress - so, like in real world - if ATC isn’t giving you good things - Aviate, Navigate and then Communicate. And, because we’re Simmers we can omit that third one if we like just to get the aircraft on the ground in one piece. (Land first, answer questions from frowning ATC guys later)

  2. That, I am afraid, I am not to sure about but there must be a keybind for you to go through that and I have a suspicion I saw it posted here the other day because someone had exactly the same issue.
    Have a look here - I think it’s resolved;

In closing - I’d say that you’ve chosen quite a handful for your first IFR Big Jet - you could have done the intermediaries like the turboprops and then the biz jets and worked your way up through the lines but in the same breath I say “Bravo!” - Go For It!
But know - the more complex - the more a little or a lot of Improvisation will be required - as mentioned earlier.

Good Luck Captain.

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@wazitdoinnow

Wow! Thank you SO MUCH for all of this great information. This is incredibly helpful!!!

And yeah I had done a few VFR wide-body flights over the last few days (short flights) and thought hey, how hard can IFR really be? Haha, but one way another I’m 8 hours into my flight to New Zealand and still in one piece and was even able to fiddle with the flight computer and get the flight data on track so that is a big positive.

I totally accept and understand improvisations can and will be necessary, and hey, while perhaps a stressor for you real-world pilots it certainly makes the game fun and intuitive to play. A few days ago I would have had no idea how to even set an altitude or heading hold, for example, but now I can find those settings pretty quick in various aircraft.

Very much enjoying the Dreamliner! I fly a lot (as a passenger!) in real life so this is really a cool experience for me.

Thanks again and see you in the skies!

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Glad that info was of use Hal (That Boeing Info site is worth a really good look through) - Glad to know you too, and Yep, see you in the skies!

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@wazitdoinnow I do have one more question. Is there a way for me to see the remaining distance to my final destination and not just the next IFR point?

Cheers

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You should have a PROG (Progress) Page.

Take a look here for a more 787 'centric FMC info source;

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Again, thank you very much!

You’ve given me more than enough material to get going here. Cheers!

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If you have a bit of time - and you find yourself spellbound by the 787 - then two things;

  1. Check out the Heavy Division Mod - here; GitHub - Heavy-Division/B78XH: B78XH is an open source and free modification of default Boeing 787-10 in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

AND

  1. Do check out this - a friendly real world A320 pilot flying in the right seat of the MSFS 787 with a real world 787 pilot sitting in the left;
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Hi! I want to create a new flight, but at all costs the co-pilot is driving the plane. How can I take control? I can control in training mode and also landing challenge.

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Go to your Options, under Assistance. Set everything to Hard/True to Life. That should disable AI Copilot.

In your flight, go to your Top toolbar menu and look for Assistance. Make sure every switch is Off and that also disable the AI Copilot.

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Thanks for your help, problem solved!:slight_smile: