I sometimes do short flights for the sights and scenic seeing.
When I do commercial flights I typically am doing 1-2.5 hour flights but recently I have been doing some longer ones.
During the long ones, I watch TV, youtube, clean, cook. I have showered and took a nap before.
I sit in the back and let the “Flight Assistant “ fly
Might as well enjoy the comforts of the Longitude
I guess I’m the only one that does Long haul 10+ hr flights without simrate lol…I tend to do some things outside and around the house…If I’m around I’ll be on Vatsim enjoying all the different accent’s and terminology…Maybe even some oceanic position reports.
As most others have stated I do flights with a maximum duration of around 90 minutes or so as well (and even that is rare).
But what I sometimes do - especially when flying over “unknown territory” (which is like 99.9% of the Earth ;)) or, say, “exotic territory” like Africa etc.: I do “Wikipedia research”! Together with Little NavMap I figure out my exact location, check with Google Ma^w… Bing Maps the surroundings and do “research about that little town I just flew over”. Or “that funny looking mountain range”. Or whatever is shown on the map as point of interest.
And sometimes I just click on a “restaurant” icon on the map and study the online menu 
… and you’re watching a live stream of someone else flying from A to B, correct? 
There’s a few people here who are obviously not fans of long flights : P
I do long flights but then my sim rig is in my office at home where I work so no bother for me to take off and get back to my desk and watch the scenery in the back ground. Also gives me a good chance on long hops to familiarise myself with the aircraft.
I took my first flight in a Citation today Sydney to brisbane (YSSY - YBBN), great plane.
I like to keep things as RL as possible so I ask for a lot of coffee and then flirt with the flight attendant when she brings it to me. Have to be careful what you say though everything on the flight deck is being recorded.
just like a real world pilot …auto pilot on …party time 
I think I’m just missing something on the attraction of long flights.
Quite a few start up then take off, disappear for a few hours then land, taxi and park. Would it not be better/more fun/more productive to find two airports close together and do short flights if all you are experiencing is the takeoff and landing phases.
Or just jump after takeoff to the landing phase? Seems rather… I don’t know, pointless simulating something no one sees?
I can understand the longer flights if you are looking at the world going by etc but not when you go and mow your lawn or do your day job.
Everyone has their own fun and their right to it. Amount of time I’ve spent moving trees a few feet to make them look right in other games!
I think it is simply fascination in technology in general! Mankind can fly from one remote location around half the Earth - even across the Sea without visual navigation aids (ignoring stars for now) - and safely arrive in another remote location.
And now you can simulate this on your home PC (and heat your apartment with your GPU ;)). That’s simply fascinating.
Note that I have never done such a long (> 2 hours) flight myself, but I can kind of understand it (I had the same “technology fascination”, just on a much “smaller scale” with my < 2 hours flights…).
I typically do both long and short. If I’m really interested doing some sightseeing, it’ll be the shorter flights, maybe an hour max, but using Air Hauler 2 I’ll do some multi-hour flights where I’ll set it and forget it for several hours. Last night after work for example, I did a 3 hour flight from Nashville to Put-in-Bay for a virtual delivery, but was maybe actively observing the controls for about an hour of it. In this particular case I was basically still in the room reading and playing with my dog, but I’ve had other days where I’ll do work around the house or run errands or whatever if it’s a particularly long flight, setting a timer on my phone to come back with 30-45 minutes left to handle a decent/approach/landing.
Just depends what I have time for. Long flights allow me to still get some simming in while not intruding too much on real world activities/responsibilities. If I can, I enjoy staying through an entire flight but that’s just not always feasible.
How do you sit in the back?
There are two “window” seats in the back of the Cessna Longitude that you can save custom views from. Then I just go to that view and transition my view using the ALT left or right arrow key.
It’s really nothing more then a view… nothing functional back there… but it’s a cool perspective
Another angle at “why do long flights”: I do what it seems quite a few others do and always start the next flight from where I landed last (not always same airport, but at least same city). That means if I want to see some other part of the world I have to fly there.
So I’m in the US and want to check out France? That means a long haul transatlantic trip. Or I’m in Florida and want to pick up my “new” DC-6 in Santa Monica? Could do it in 10 hops in the C172, but if I’m impatient it is a long transcontinental flight in the CJ4.
I find most of my long flights are such “travel flights” to go somewhere I want to be.
LOL 340 KM is a short hop. :). I"ve done JFK to Changi before in real time no time compression. You read FCOM or POH of the airplane study for Vatsim certification. Watch youtube videos about in depth system operation of airplane you’re flying. Monitor your instruments of course. Generically speaking with jet flying cruise is for nerding out on your aviation hobby :). But 340 km in a jet is an in and out you prepare for landing just as soon as you clean up aircraft after the take off. I don’t do AI flying just regular Autopilot.
Oh… Is there a difference? When I push the cursor toggle the AI keeps me steady. 
Hahahaha yeaa chillings
Oh yeah big one :). AI flies the plane for you. Autopilot helps YOU to fly the plane. in many GA aircraft for example AP is LNAV only you still need to monitor and adjust your engine rpms, fuel mixture make sure you don’t blow thru top of decent etc. Even in a big well modeled jetliner not yet found in FS you can potentially blow thru the turn if you’re going too fast and turn is too sharp and then AP gets lost and starts going in perpetual circles. You can overspeed the plane in AP mode if you don’t monitor it and work your speed brakes. Blow thru restrictions lots of little things to do even if you’re not actively yanking and banking the yoke.
I generally fly for three reasons:
My GA world tour with smaller planes - these flights tend to be 45-90 minute legs between airports. Just long enough to get airborne, see some scenery along the way and then start my approach and landing. On these I pretty much always stay actively involved watching scenery, scoping out instruments and reviewing airport diagrams for approach/landing.
To knock off flights in OnAir for my airline - again, I try to keep my flights around 2 hours here. These are my longer ones and I’ll throw a show, baseball game or podcast on my iPad and split time between my iPad and monitoring my flight.
Short flights to practice nighttime, poor weather or challenging approaches. Not much else to do on these except focus on the flight.
I have done one flight at about 3.5 hours. I basically set the flight in motion and put the AP on after being airborne and then spent the time until approach doing chores around the house, coming back occasionally to make sure I hadn’t plummeted from the sky, lol
I do both long and short haul. And my day job is a couple of feet away. Each to their own I guess!
