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VFR Guide Series

Introducing: Adventurous VFR Guides.

There are roughly – VERY roughly – two kinds of flight simulator pilots: the ones that love airlines, airliners and major airports and everything associated to flying those planes and simulating those operations. And the ones who like to fly the Cessna’s, Beechcraft’s and other (default or add-on) smaller aircraft, usually in a more leisurely fashion.

Of course there are many other aircraft available and many other ‘niche’ groups too, but these are the two major ‘streams’.

Now, in general, the ‘heavy flyers’ are usually not so much interested in the landscape, the scenery below, and are more concerned with the weather, the radio navigation, the ILS systems on the larger airports and often the airports themselves. And they usually fly from inside the airplane (as a real pilot would, yes, yes) and do not use the ‘spot view’ too often. Nothing wrong with this, that’s what a real airline pilot would do too, of course.

The GA flyers however are very often, and increasingly so, people who not only like to fly an aircraft for the joy of mastering the technology and techniques, but also tend to have a keen eye for the surrounding landscape. This is not a ‘simulator thing’ only either. Most real world GA pilots are sports or leisure flyers and have exactly the same urge to see the world from a different vantage point…. and enjoy it. Especially mountains and hills are what make landscapes really worth while. There is nothing that beats the sight of a mountain towering high ABOVE your aircraft while flying through valleys and canyons, over endless glaciers and mountain passes. The sun and the weather make the same mountain look different in a thousand ways and flying in that environment is a constant challenge to the pilot. Real AND simulated.

This is where VFR Guide Series comes in. VFR Guide Series is (going to be) a series of VFR tour descriptions that take you to various scenic parts of the world where you fly a predetermined and descripted route using only a map and your eyes as  navigational aids by following roads, railway lines, rivers etc. etc. to complete the tour. Flying this way you can enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the various sceneries in the area you are flying. These guides are made for the latter group of simulator flyers mentioned above, people who like to fly low-and-slow and enjoy the environment around and below them, and sometimes even above them.

Each guide generally consists of a number of stages or legs to fly, from airfield to airfield, using the default Cessna 172SP Skyhawk, which you can change to the aircraft you like to fly this tour of course. Each stage has it's own detailed tour-description in PDF-format which you can print out or show on a second display during the flight. Also supplied is a flight-package, consisting of per stage pre-determined starting-locations, the aircraft configuration, the weather conditions enroute (matching the stage-description) and a flight briefing, including a simple map. So, after you have installed the package and you want to fly a stage, simply start Flight Simulator, click “Select a flight”, click the name of the guide in the “1. Choose a category”-box, and click the stage you want to fly in the “2. Choose a flight”-box. Everything is preset then, and you can leave right away. If you like to use  another plane, don’t forget to make the necessary adjustments.

Also included are some extra's: Bgl-files of the various airfields you will visit which give those airfields extra parking spaces and taxi-ways, extra AI-aircraft and -flights to lighten-up the various airfields so you are not the only aircraft around. In most cases additional mesh-scenery of the guide-area is included too.

You can navigate using any detailed road-map you have (the one you use in your car) or any VFR chart. If you do not possess a map of the guide-area you can simply download one from the Microsoft Encarta website. The Encarta maps are very useful because the standard Flight Simulator scenery matches these charts very well. All major roads, rivers, mountains, valleys and lakes on these maps match the scenery, even their shapes!

Have a pleasant flight.

Email: vfrgs@tiscali.nl

Last updated: 08-04-06 17:12