Round the World Flight in Citation X - My Journey

WolverineHusky · February 3, 2026, 6:06pm

So going to share my world tour with the MSFS forum community. Thought it would be fun to log my tour. Equally important, I welcome any tips and suggestions as I undertake this flight sim journey. ALso, maybe the trip gives folks ideas to make their own flight sim journey more rewarding.

About Me: Typical dude who has thousands of hours in DCS and MSFS 2020 and 2024. In DCS and MSFS I own most of the legit payware planes. I fly everything - airliners, GA, and rotos. In terms of confidence, with 1 being an arcade player who knows nothing, and 10 being a real life pilot who knows everything, I’d say I’m about a 5 or 6. I can cold-dark start everything, can handle most avionic and autopilot systems, and I generally try to follow all RL procedures. I decided to do this as I needed some goals and wanted to get out of the rut of seeing the same sceneries and airports. Also a great way to learn a new plane.

The Plane. Going with the Citation X. Was going to go with the BSQ starship or TBM 850, but settled on the Citation X due to its speed, range and easy flight planning and autopilot features. I’ll probably do another trip one day with a BSQ plane as the immersion is better due to their fidelity, but the Citation X is a good choice for a first round the world tour.

Hardware: RTX 5090, Intel 14900K. Virtual Fly Yoko Yoke Plus and Ruddo pedals. RealFlightSim Gear GFC 500 autopilot panel. VKR STECS throttle. Virpil Panel 2. Streamdeck XL. Keychron keyboard. Viper mouse. Ipad. TrackIR. Airpods Max. Pic (while flying starship and not using throttle depicted):

Software: Typical binding software. Citation X streamdeck profile. Navigraph, simbrief, Volanta, Obsidian (for taking notes and planning). Also using Windy.com for weather, Wikipidia for airport research and Gemini AI for route planning. Say Intentions for ATC.

Trip requirements: Round the world, leaving from KBFI in Seattle (home airport, I drive by it nearly once a week in real life - also dad retired Boeing and it is a Boeing airport). No flights longer than 4 hours. Placing a priority on scenic airports and approaches. Will try to do real time and live weather, but I will adjust time of day if I want to fly during the day. Will use say intentions for ATC on all flights. Always cold/dark and engine off after parking. Live players. No speeding up the sim to make flights go faster.

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Will post pics and trip highlights/lowlights. And again, I encourage any tips on how to fly the Citation X as I have less than 10 hours in it. I have not vetted all the airports yet either, and I welcome new routes as long as the routes fit.

WolverineHusky · February 3, 2026, 7:44pm

I knocked out the first four legs before my OP. The recap:**

Leg 1: KBFI (Seattle) to KBZN (Bozeman)**

First flight in the Citation X. I love Boeing Field; I’m very familiar with it in real life, and flying around Seattle is always a visual joy with the blend of water and mountains. It’s easily my most-used departure airport (KPAE and KRNT are up there, too).

The flight was uneventful, but it made me realize what a beast the Citation X is. The speed is incredible, the engines sound great, and the cockpit viewing angles are fantastic. The approach into KBZN isn’t overly difficult, though you have to mind your altitude since it sits in a large valley.

Lessons learned: I tried manual air pressurization and it didn’t go well. I kept getting cabin warnings. I’ll be sticking to “Auto” for now. Also, she is remarkably “floaty” on landing. My pedal inputs felt sluggish, so I need to check if that’s a calibration issue or just the flight model.

Leg 2: KBZN (Bozeman) to KPGA (Page, AZ)

Taxiing this bird is tricky. I need to look into the nose wheel steering (NWS) logic, as using the rudder for tight turns feels a bit “janky” right now.

I also have to be vigilant about overspeeding. Since I’m not using autothrottle, you have to slam those levers back to the “Climb” detent almost immediately after gear-up, especially if ATC holds you at a low altitude for vectors. As real-world pilots say: you have to get ahead of the power curve before the descent, or the speed will absolutely run away from you.

A scenic approach:

Leg 3: KPGA (Page, AZ) to KMSY (New Orleans)

My first night flight! I got a little nervous about my fuel state and ended up requesting early vectors from Say Intentions ATC. We made it down with a safe margin, but it was a good wake-up call on fuel planning for a jet this thirsty.

Leg 4: KMSY (New Orleans) to KCAE (Columbia, SC)

This flight was wild. Simbrief wanted me at FL450 for a short hop, which felt excessive. I negotiated a cruise at FL250 with Say Intentions, but it took some back-and-forth.

One thing the Citation X excels at is “going down and slowing down.” Even when ATC peppered me with late changes and steep descents, the speedbrakes and flaps allowed me to keep up with the chaos.

The Landing: Pure insanity. I was established on the RNAV when a jumbo jet pulled onto the runway! I had to execute my first go-around in the X. It was sketchy—I veered right to avoid the traffic and nearly stalled at 2,000 feet. I had to “clean up” the plane (flaps up, gear up, nose down) fast to recover. When I told ATC about the go around, the controller got all snarky with me and acted like I was bothering her LMAO. I actually caught it on video, though the “ghost” AI plane didn’t show up in the recording! My after the go around:

Stopping Power: I’m still struggling to slow down after touchdown. Even with full spoilers, reverse thrust, and flaps, I’m barely stopping before the displaced threshold. I think my toe brakes need a serious calibration tweak.

All in all had a blast for the first 4 legs. But I have a LOT to learn when it comes to fuel planning flight planning, landing, braking and taming the Citation X.

WolverineHusky · February 5, 2026, 2:22am

Leg 5: KCAE (Columbia, SC) to CYQX (Gander, Newfoundland)

The leg from Columbia to Newfoundland was about as sketchy and weird as any flight I’ve ever had.

First, I managed to get into the wrong plane. Look, I own a lot of planes! That’s my only excuse for climbing into the Starship, firing her up, and being utterly confused when the FMC looked completely wrong for my weights, range, and fuel. I quickly realized my mistake and muttered to myself, “Ummm… you’re supposed to be flying the Citation X.”

After successfully avoiding airport security to find my actual plane, the weird omens continued…

The flight plan looked normal: cruising at FL450. I couldn’t get the “NO TAKEOFF” warning to clear on the MFD, but it finally vanished once I cleared the runway, which was odd. I’ll have to tell the techs to look into that one.

Then, things got really dicey. I entered some clouds on the climb and engaged the anti-ice, only to suffer a massive, unexpected power loss to the point of almost stalling. Thankfully, I got back to the cockpit just in time after warming up a coffee. A quick search suggests it might be a known bug, but it was a heart-stopper nonetheless.

Since I prefer not to use autothrust and occasionally “wing it” on climb speeds and descent profiles, I finally got myself into real trouble: Fuel. I landed with only 50 lbs in each tank. Being in Newfoundland, there aren’t many alternates for an emergency landing. I was sweating the last 15 minutes of the flight; for the approach, I diverted to a closer waypoint on the arrival just to get on the ground sooner.

But wait, there’s more! Do not trust the RNAV approach into CYQX. I captured the glide path and let the autopilot do its thing with the Baro correctly set. Initially, everything looked fine… until the glideslope tried to fly me right into the dirt about 500 yards short of the runway. I hand-flew it from there, which led to another adventure.

I definitely have a hardware calibration issue. My rudder inputs are delayed and sluggish; full rudder deflection isn’t producing the expected results. It resulted in another dicey landing as half on the runway and half in the snow. I have to figure this out before it costs me my “life.”

All in all, a harrowing trip. Getting into the wrong plane should have been my signal to stay in the hangar, but I made it from A to B. I’m now officially out of the United States and won’t see the US again until I hit Alaska on the home stretch.