Flying around and exploring the world.
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My real life flight training came to a crashing halt in 1996 around the 35hr mark. It involved a Mitsubishi Shogun, a Honda CB900F and a very badly broken leg with major bones popping out of the skin to say hello.
Since then I have had flight sims starting with flight unlimited, progressing through FS98 and CFS1 right through to FSX. FS2004 was probably the last one I used regularly though, as I progressed to IL2, Cliffs of Dover and for the last 10 years or so, exclusively DCS.
It was fine, but apart from the more challenging aspects of DCS, a bit meh.
Then along came VR. An absolute game changer. I am suddenly back in the cockpit again.
All my flights are conducted from cold and dark, all are made as realistic as possible, no third person views. I do not pop out onto the wing of a real aircraft in flighf, why would I do it in sim?
My flights are also conducted at night in many cases, to add a bit more of a challenge.
As far as MSFS 2024 is concerned, I prefer accurate, complex third party aircraft like the comanche, I conduct flights in real time and in real weather, flying out of the airport I trained at, whether it be a pretty day when I can engage the autopilot and watch the pretty scenery go by or in the dark, in choppy conditions and in the clag, playing whack a mole with the gauges.
I get the satisfaction of guiding a complex piece of virtual machinery over many miles of challenging flight and bringing it safely to earth again.
Whether those miles are real world, or in a virtual world, the achievement is the same. The stakes may be different, but the complexities remain.
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Captain? Seriously? 
I feel more like a student with 15 minutes of flight time and Iâm ready to break out the champagne if I take off, circle, and land within a mile of the airport without needing the NTSB!
(Using my special presets of âfantasy weatherâ and a totally un-realistic aircraft setting.)
Landing on the runway? Who are you kidding!
Actually, the one thing I miss from X-Plane is the âlanding exerciseâ where it would put you at âX feetâ of altitude something like 3 or 10 miles out, centered on the runway - and then it hands the controls to you! 
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My favorite part?
The forums!
I actually have more fun on the forums than flying!
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This may sound strange, but my favorite part is getting SPAD profiles configured so that I can eliminate the mouse from my virtual cockpit, controlling everything with my peripherals (HC Alpha/Bravo and Streamdecks in the case of GA.)
A secondary thrill is that every time I dig into SPAD I learn more about it, and am really coming to love the experience. It was quite daunting at first.
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All of the above and my least favourite bit is not having enough time to do it all.
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Youâre just being humble, Captain!
I am cocksure that a gentleman of your genius, keen eye and stature has to be a great aviator.
Holy smokes! What a great post, and a question to which Iâve somehow never really put much thought. 
I spent countless hours flying my first simâChuck Yeagerâs Advanced Flight Trainerâand still have fond memories of learning basic maneuvers in the Cherokee, struggling to get the X-3 to fly even remotely in the direction I wanted, and wrangling an XPG-12 back and forth through the slalom course. But what I enjoyed most was exploring that simâs simple âworldâ of âpyramidâ mountains, âbread loafâ hills, and âfarm fieldâ squares. Centered within each of those fields was a single building, and I spent hours mapping their locations, giving them names, and creating background stories that brought the simâs bitmapped world to life. Oh, what fun it was!
To this day, thatâs what I love most about flight simulation: exploring the world from above. MSFS allows me to explore the real world, to learn about real places and the real people who live there, and to discover where history happened. Thereâs nothing more exciting than loading up my Tiger Moth, pointing the nose somewhere new, and asking, âwhatâs over there?â
The Hubby and I enjoy writing about our explorations, too. If you have a few hours to spare, grab a beverage and jump over to our Pee-Wee and Nagâs Skytours (and Other Thoughts) thread.
(Oh, and I still like strapping on a Phantom or T-Bird for some fast, nap-of-the-earth flying, too. Thank you, Mr. Lerner, wherever you are! 
)
I remember my first sim:
An Atari 130XE with the Microsoft Flight Simulator cartridge as a premium.
I didnât need an Atari XE as I already had several Atari 8-bit systems, but that was the only way to buy the Flight Simulator cartridge.
It had super detailed () resolution and delicate control with the four-position Atari joystick, (like a giant hat-switch), but it was MINE! and I wasted a lot of time trying to land.
The included aircraft was a Piper Cub. âAâ, (singular), Piper Cub, but it was mine and I could âflyâ it.
I know that both the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean used to talk about T-birds being able to âreally flyâ, but I donât think they meant literally flying.
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Getting in an airliner or some kind of huge jet Im totally unqualified to fly to a remote place i never been before. Then getting in a small bush plane to explore the area. Then flying back to the airport i left the airliner and going to another remote place all without breaking continuity. This is why i want to be able to save flights with a flight plan.
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