I’ve attempted a world tour a dozen times now. In the Hondajet, in the BlackSquare TBM 850, in the Cessna 310, in the Comanche. I never finish. I just lose interest and most of the times I also lose interest in the plane itself, which is a shame!
I guess if you allow to change planes it gets easier. But it doesn’t feel as good to me then.
If you scroll up in the Spitfire topic there’s a guy who did a world tour in the Spit, handflying everything. What an achievement! Unbelievable.
Tell your story! If you completed one, and also if you haven’t!
I have only completed one and that’s because I used the PMDG 777 as a Boeing Business Jet.
Definitely recommend doing your first tour in as fast an aircraft as possible to give you an idea on how big the world actually is then working out if you would feel comfortable doing it in something smaller/ slower.
The Spitfire flight you mention took well over 100 hours (flying time alone), when you see people celebrating their 500 hour achievement bear that in mind with how much commitment you’re going to need to make.
Same for me. The World is just too big. I gave up after 30+ legs and now just pick a spot and fly without worry. And over time I developed my favorite geographies and hang out there in-depth. It’s all great.
I’ve decided to focus my efforts on one plane - the FSR500.
I have a lot to learn about navigation, and I’m planning on doing a North American tour to get more comfortable with flight planning and other aspects of the flight experience. Some day I hope to do the same in other areas of the world, trying to visit at least 20 airports in each region. This model has state saving and damage modeling, so it should be fun to plan and execute these trips.
Not sure an around-the-world journey is in the cards, but I certainly admire those who take on that challenge. Paraphrasing @Ariana2022UK, “The world is a really big place.”
As a small challenge, I decided to try a circumnavigation fully south of the Equator using a CJ4; it turned out impossible near the end, across the Atlantic, as I didn’t want to use a military base (and Ascension Island is the only viable crossing point).
The Pacific trip may also have landed me in places I realistically should not have, but that’s besides the point
I just got to Iceland, but finding a weather window with no icing this time of year is tough!
I think it’s important to concentrate on other activities alongside the round the world to keep interested / match the time you have. I am looking forward to coming home to the UK and flying around Europe. Also, using BATC, which is amazing for this sort of thing!
Originally in FSX/P3D with the A2A Comanche using only VOR’s and NDB for navigation (no GPS). To keep myself engaged with the endeavour I used Air Hauler to give a purpose to my flights. All flights were in real-time and I was present apart from necessarily pitstops to the bathroom.
On occasions for longer legs 4 hours+ I did allow myself to step away from the PC to grab lunch and yes those legs did get boring but I did it for the challenge.
Most importantly, I did not concern myself with how long overall the trip actually took and at times I would not fly for days or even weeks.
I recently completed similar with MSFS 2020, but using Neofly. This time as I earned more virtual credits I bought larger/faster aircraft to make more money and faster progress. This time I did use modern GPS avionics but stuck with G/A aircraft and helicopters only. The TBM 850 being the fastest and most capable aircraft of choice for longer distance I needed to cover.
While I have completed the second trip around the world I have ‘moved’ my virtual self to where I left my Grand Duke in the US and and gradually ferrying that back to my home in the UK. I intend to do the same with other aircraft I left dotted around the world. It will no doubt take me years lol.
I was actually hoping it would be possible to do something similar with the career mode, but at this point it sounds too unfinished, problematic and too restrictive for me to even try it.
I got as far as this in my quest to land at every capital city in FS2020 in the TBM. But as you say, it got boring. Everywhere looked the same in the end. South Africa looked like the UK, Europe looked like Asia. The clouds were the same everywhere.
When 2024 is more matured, and I can set my own registration on the TBM, I might start again or pick up where I left off. At least the trees will look different this time in each country!
This is in the nature of a cheat. You can use GTFP to make a flight plan that visits all country capitals. For boring legs, you can use the built-in ‘tracker’ to (repeatedly) half-slew to the next airport. The User’s Guide explains these features. Disclaimer: I am the author of this (free) flight planner.
It’s an ongoing work in progress, and so far covers north & south Americas, Greenland and Europe from Ireland to Lithuania. The flights and logs are well worked-out and a pleasure to fly. You can change aircraft but as standard they use the DA62, which is reasonably fast and well suited to pretty much any airport. Some of the short and very remote strips in heavily forested areas are a challenge however.
These were among my favourite bush trips from 2020, and they also work in 2024 when copied into the Community Folder, although you don’t get the Navlog in the same way.
It’s not a round-the-world trip although it is still quite long. I copied it into the 2024 community folder, but it didn’t work because the Kenmore Livery G1000 wasn’t available. Reading and commenting on this thread made me look into changing aircraft, and I was pleased to see it works in 24 the same way as 2020, so once I finish re-doing the RTW trip, I can do this one too!
Started on Jan 8th, 2021, I am in Tasmania as of today. 150 legs done with my 339, about the same amount remaining. Apart from some long oceanic legs (where I used an F-35), it was never boring.
I add Wikipedia “exploration” to learn things about the places where I fly (I prepare in advance a written report, and then I go through it during flight). After the flight I create a recap video, take photos using a replay, write a report, post it on social media.
I fly VR-only, cockpit view-only.
Of course something like this, as “silly” it may be, takes a little commitment to stay on course. My suggestion is: plan in advance, be ready to adapt, look at the big picture (meaning - if one week you don’t want to fly, just skip it).
