I did not dare to test how the update did or did not mess things up on a flight on vatsim, so I decided to do a no ATC flight with the A310 from Budapest (LHBP) to Prague (LKPR)
Luckily there were no hardvare hiccups, only pilot ones. Somehow I managed to open gears mid flight while in drone camera mode. No idea how that’s possible. Also landing was quite…umm…firm. However I have less than 10 flights under my belt in the A310, so I was quite happy with being able to land at all.
. . . and spent much of yesterday evening messing with it, using it to dig holes in the ground until I got a game controller profile set up for it.
After I did that, I stopped digging telephone pole foundation holes, but continued to embarrass myself in new and interesting ways.
Pros:
All the advantages of a helicopter without needing to buy special, specific, controls for it. (Except maybe a good game controller if you don’t have one.)
Cons:
It really requires a game controller as it doesn’t have access to many essential control features on a joystick/HOTAS.
It really requires a custom controller profile because you need to re-define virtually all the controller’s bindings.
Don’t believe the stuff about how very easy it is to fly. Like any new aircraft, you gotta learn it.
I took my brother on a tour of Moscow via a shared screen on Discord.
I used the Astro One and flew to various places around Moscow, then dropped low when we got there to show him around.
The Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theater, the 1980 Olympics “Olympic Park”, Moscow State University, Ostankino tower and the sculpture created when Gagarin finished his orbital flight, Tzaritzina Park - the palace where Catherine the Great lived while in Moscow, and other stuff I don’t remember. A several hour long guided tour that ended up with an on-target landing at Ostafyavo within one of their helipad landing sites.
Miami-Opa Locka Executive (KOPF) to Bowman Field (KLOU). 3 ctds later (and I’ve never had such issues before). At first I thought it might be the Carenado which I’ve had for a few years, but thought I’d fly it with the new yoke. At any rate, I tried a flight in the DC-3 which ctd-d about 80% into the flight. I’ll get to the bottom of it, I’m sure.
Took the Carenado 182RG from KMYF to KVNY, it’s a nice plane to fly! I was able to set the trim perfectly and we just wafted along as if on autopilot. Some dicey moments at descent, as I chose to do that too soon and got a bit close to the mountains. Overall a nice addition to the GA hangar.
