Hi,
I am new to ‘flying’ (sim only) and I am wondering what the view from my cockpit (Cessna 152) should be?
VFR essentially means, that I am looking out for visual hints about where I am on my flight route. Rivers, lakes, motorway junctions, railways, high-rise buildings etc
But when using the default cockpit camera, I don’t see what’s below the plane at all. looking sideways gives me a bit of hint what might be ‘below’.
Using the external camera feels like ‘cheating’. But then what’s the best way to look out for visual waypoints? Turn left/right to allow a better viewing angle out of the cockpit? Lower the plane nose down to get a glimpse of what’s below?
I wonder what the real life view from a Cessna cockpit would be in a VFR situation? Is it as restricted as in the sim?
The view from a high wing aircraft is fantastic.There is no wing in the way. Forward view is fine too, maybe you might need to raise your seat a little. Only a little though.
If you are just worried about crossing a landmark for leg timings then you can just use when the landmark is completely hidden by the nose or if you like to can fly abeam the landmark so you can see if from your side window.
When doing a cross-country we know exactly where we were, where we are going and what we need to see to confirm our position. We also know how to determine if the winds are not as forecast so are affecting our location and how to correct for it. There is also guidance on what to do if lost. There are resources on the net that will tell you a bit about how to do a cross-country so it might be worth having a search.
Are you using a properly prepared VFR flight plan? If not, then you can’ really do a cross-country type flight properly. Apps like LittleNavMap can create them ok but make sure you take into account the winds properly.
yes, i am using little nav map - although i haven’t considered any winds yet. am just getting started with the whole thing
i did some flights in the alps, and the initial plan was to follow streams through the valleys, and i noticed that i didn’t have a decent view to the streams at all, and i ended up flying at the sides of the valleys rather than in the middle…
what i haven’t done yet is look at leg timings properly.
but good to know that the cockpit view is correct (with a little raised seat)
This is exactly what happens in the Real world. Keep the landmark you’re following on the pilot’s (left) side of the airplane so you can actually see it.
(on a off-topic side note: what about flight traffic patterns? am i supposed to use a flight pattern every time I take off and land? or only when i land, or does it completely depend on the airfield/airport?)
Where I fly all smaller planes always use a pattern. Some commercial services, even just a 9 seater will often do a straight in approach. Anyone can make a radio call to do a straight in but it isn’t considered good form because you are basically disregarding anyone that is in the pattern so you should have a reason if you do it.
A reason we don’t get don’t usually get miffed at ATPs doing straight ins is because time is money for them.
Now departing while going upwind is fine but you need to have climbed at least 500 feet above circuit altitude to consider yourself “out of the pattern”. Your radio call when you started rolling would let everyone know what your intention was.
Usually at uncontrolled airports you do them, so other pilots know where to expect other traffic around an airport (does not mean they don’t have to look!)
At controlled airports you would call tower 10-20nm out and they will tell you what to do (or you ask). most likely they say something like ‘…enter left downwind rwy 28 and call base’. Then you know what to to.
The standard views are all a compromise between seeing “something” and instrument view. I prefer a realistic view point over seeing instruments. Whenever i need to see the instruments i look down, just like a real pilot. The best settings for almost every plane is in ESC/cameras, wide angle for the cockpit type, 65-70 for height and 70 for zoom on a 30 inch screen at 60 cm distance.
I do have to point out that the eye viewpoint in most of the aircraft by default is from the position as if the pilot is a small child. I have created several mods raising the eye viewpoint to more realistic levels for the aircraft I fly.
But, other than that, what you see is what you get. You’ll never be able to see what’s below you unless you’re in an open cockpit biplane and you stick your head out over the side… which, hopefully we’ll be able to do someday
Another thing that helps with the VFR views is to use TrackIR. It allows you to easily move your head sideways a little bit towards the window to get a better view downwards when you need to and that helps spotting landmarks better (IRL as well as in the sim). Without TrackIR, depending on what controllers you have, I guess you could set up two hat switches, one to move your view and one to move your head, but it sounds a bit tedious…
I found TrackIR was a game changer in the traffic pattern as well. Being able to quickly look towards the runway, back in to check airspeed and altitude, and back out again, without having to mess with a hat switch to slew my view around, makes it feel much more like real life.
Also agree with the previous poster about moving your viewpoint. The default viewpoint in aircraft like the C172 is too low and too far back. You can modify the default viewpoints (or download a mod that does that), or if like me you are too lazy for that just move your view with arrow keys once you are in the aircraft, like you would pull your seat forward after you get in and raise it if the previous pilot was eight feet tall and left it too low. Might have to map some keys for that if they are not default mapped.
Yeah seat up and down is mapped by default, seat forward and aft I think I had to map myself. At least in the C172 I found that raising my seat high enough to see the right amount of cowling put me too high to see well out the side and that does not match reality, but moving my seat forward a bit and raising it a little less did the trick.
I have not used TrackIR, but I can confirm that what makes real VFR flying much easier is that you can easily, quickly and naturally move your head to see around obstacles, like a wing spar, or move it close to the window to see nearly straight down or quickly glance over your shoulder or to the side a few times to see where the runway is in the pattern. Apart from that, the view from the cockpit is reasonably, if not perfectly accurate. The hat switches, mentioned in another post, help a lot, but they are still clumsy and slow compared to just moving your head. It is also not just the view out of the windows that matters, but the ability to rapidly switch between the instruments and outside.
I have set up my custom cameras to ‘reasonable’ 0, 45, 90, 120 etc degrees views now, and mapped them to the hat switch. it feels much more ‘immersive’ - but I see how the TrackIR can be game changer.
(if it isn’t too expensive, I might get myself one)
slightly related to the ‘view from cockpit’ topic:
i would love to see other planes using traffic patterns at airports/airstrips, to add realism when flying in the sim. right now when i enter the traffic patterns it feels like i am doing this just for the sake of doing it, but not to line up with other air traffic, avoid collisions etc…
would be great if i really had to watch where and when i enter the pattern, to not obstruct the path for other planes.
do other players/simmers usually follow air traffic patterns? (and if so, are there any airports that are better to practise this than others?)
or shall i increase AI air traffic density to see other planes on the traffic patterns?
when i ‘fly’, i see lots of planes of other players but they don’t seem to follow any traffic patterns.
I haven’t checked AI traffic though. maybe they have implemented the patterns and i never noticed
