I appreciate the suggestions, but I am well experienced with managing my own flights. This topic is regarding how I make it easier for beginner users to follow my flight plans.
Remember the first time you loaded a flight simulator and knew nothing about it? Just starting the aircraft and getting off the ground was an accomplishment. Landings were messy. Program configuration was a daunting task. Navigation was yet another level of learning. You were a beginner user.
I found that there are very few easy flight plans for beginner users. Plans that a beginner can simply load and play follow-the-waypoints on the screen in front of them. The lack of beginner flight plans is the gap I am filling with my Short VFR plans. I’m hoping they are also useful to experienced users who just want a simple flying experience.
The scope I am using for flight plan creation is:
- Maximum distance of 50 miles. Preferably less than 20 miles.
- Minimal number of waypoints.
- Optimized for Cessna 172 or smaller.
- Only requires beginner flying skills.
- No additional instrumentation, utilities or tools required.
Here are the behaviors that are frustrating me:
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Waypoint markers often disappear far before reaching the target. In crowded cities, it can be almost impossible to find the target after the waypoint disappears. If the target is a sightseeing item, then it renders the sightseeing flight plan useless.
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The next waypoint marker is often displayed long after the current waypoint disappears. It leaves the user wondering if they should continue forward or assume that maybe waypoints are no longer going to be displayed.
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The problem described above is made worse when sometimes the next waypoint is displayed long before reaching the current waypoint’s target. The current target may be the sightseeing location, which you may not yet see, but now the current waypoint is gone and the program is showing you a new marker indicating a change in direction, when you should not be changing direction.
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The instant that the Pattern Entry marker for the destination airport is displayed, all interim waypoints are suppressed. In other words, if you are at WP2, and WP3 and WP4 are still ahead, the moment the Pattern Entry is displayed then WP3 and WP4 will not be displayed. If the same airport is used for both departure and destination, then the Pattern Entry marker often appears soon after takeoff and no waypoints are displayed, at all. Because my target users are not experts, I often include waypoints that align them with the destination runway. The Pattern Entry behavior eliminates the ability to do that.
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In mountainous terrain, it is almost always difficult to get waypoint markers to display correctly, if they are displayed at all. I suspect in many instances the markers are actually there, but are buried inside mountains because MSFS decides their elevation.
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If the distance between waypoints is short, typically less than a mile, then the next waypoint marker is often not displayed, or may only briefly flash on the screen, or may result in no further waypoints being displayed. This is a problem when POIs are near each other, and also when a POI is on a mountainside, necessitating extra waypoints to guide tight turns.
I have unsuccessfully tried to determine the logic of waypoint displays. I’ve tried flight plan configurations, aircraft types, airspeeds, times to target, types of terrain, etc., etc., and have not found a common denominator. I’m sure there is an algorithm, but in actual usage it seems waypoint behavior is completely random.