World Not 1:1?

I pose this question due to I have personally flown from Reagan to Texas in a Boeing 747-8 before and it took about 5.5 hours. However in this game I took this same path in the same plane and it only took 2.5 hours. So it leads me to believe that the world is not 1:1. In my real flight we did about 515 MPH, in game I did 225 Knots. Am I missing something??

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If the world was just half the size in fs 2020 that would well explain why the trees look so big in comparison.

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I think it’s a very important point to check. I will check on my next flight…

That is odd. Typically my flights are pretty accurate. I don’t do long hauls though, so I can’t really be sure on that.

Hilarious. lol

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try it! google flightt from reagan KDCA i believe to amarillo KAMA. itll say 5-5.5 hours but in game it takes 2.5!

Reagan to Texas in a 747 should take 2.5 hours, not 5.5 hours. Reagan to LA should take 5.5 hours.

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Where does it say 5.5 hours? It says 3.1 hours, but that includes 20-30 mins of taxi/pushback time…

Why has nobody else questioned the route or its length? lol

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5.5 hours?? I have flown many times from Atlanta to Portland Oregon and it takes about that long, it is nearly twice the distance. Here are many flights from take off to landing doing it around 3 hours with actual real head winds, not the 3knt gail we are dealing with now. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2866/history/20200823/0955Z/KDCA/KDFW

Also the speed you see in the display is airspeed, not ground speed. Most glass cockpits have airspeed, True airspeed and ground speed. I am currently doing 215 air speed but my TAS is 338 and GS 336 knts

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i missed the “nonstop” lol apparently i was reading the flights with 2 stops. but even still non stop is 3 hours so how did i beat it in game by 30 minutes doing only 225K?

(1) 225 kts indicated (shown on the airspeed tape) is going to be a much higher true airspeed (in the 400 kt range) and possibly an even higher ground speed depending on wind.

(2) The added 30+ mins on the real route are there to account for gate to gate time, and I’d be willing to bet that winds at cruise in MSFS are currently broken so you didn’t have a massive headwind like you normally would.

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Not having a 100 MPH head wind like real airplanes may have to deal with. Also when did you personally fly in a 747-8 to Amarillo? I don’t think any airlines are operating 747 domestically short of charter, like a sports team might do

It is 1:1. If the distance between two airports are shown accurately, and you fly with the optimum cruise speed, they should match quite accurately under similar conditions.

The main factor that might affect the flight time is the winds. It is probable that, you had head winds in your real life flight, and had tail winds in sim. Also you may be forgetting to account for boarding time, taxi times, and extra flight time needed for appropriate departure, arrival, and approach procedures. Using airways instead of a direct route add more to that difference. Lastly, your real life flight might have waited in holding pattern for clearence.

There might be a record of that flight available online in some flight tracker archives. It might be interesting to check the facts if you remember the date and flight number.

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this is true, seeing how broken autopilot is… not even allowing me to trigger ILS…lol

It’s absolutely 1:1, if your real flight took longer there may have been a myriad of other factors affecting it. There’s also the issue with how the flight simulators aircraft performance and wind conditions differed from your real flight.

There are a lot of things wrong with the sim at this point but thankfully this is not one of them.

Okay, there’s quite a bit to unpack here. You say in your original post that you have personally flown on a 747 on this route and it took 5.5 hours, yet you forgot that it wasn’t nonstop? And this is before we even start questioning why a 747 would be flying that route to begin with.

Your creative writing could use some better research next time, my guy.

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Flight time from KDCA to KIAH (aprox 1082 nm), at a cruise speed of 418kts (GS), with headwinds component of 54 kts, is around 2:45 mins.
With the same actual weather conditions KDCA to KLAX ( 2041 nm) took a flight time of 4:42 mins, Headwinds 19 kts.
So i dont understand how your flight time from KDCA to KIAH was 5.5 hs with 515 mph on a flight of 1082 nm.
i lost my time respoding this OMG

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no no, it has been years since i took that flight. i was referencing the time by flights on internet. i did not clarify that though lol

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And that is on a slower 737

“this is true, seeing how broken autopilot is… not even allowing me to trigger ILS…lol”

**cough cough user error *** :wink:

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