Okay...so what exactly is your angle Sir???

[nigel richards]

It's often occurred to me that maybe the style of flying I usually find myself doing, is not quite the 'norm'...(no comments on my method of reasoning - I think I can safely guess where most of you sensible, kind Gentlemen have already virtually assigned me...).

No, what I'm driving at is the most popular 'viewpoint' most of us regularly choose on any given flight mission in sim:






Cockpit/VC?

Chase plane?

or Tower?

Tower?
Surely this guy's nuts (sound argument!).
Why/how could anyone worth their sanity salt, sit on the ground of some windy, desolate airfield, while his aeroplane goes careering around the skies....?

Well I'll admit it: At LEAST 50% of my own flying time is spent sitting around in this mode!
Possibly, it's a result of continual time spent developing the voices for the enjoyment of some of your new, and not so new awesome aircraft.

Infact, its one major reason for not spending as much time in FSX as I'd like to. (Maybe its just me that can't figure out how to quickly set up a 'tower' at zero feet plonk in the middle of a busy runway and do my flying from there.

You see, like a good ol'RC hand (or airshow enthusiast), I just love bringing those birds around for hair raising beatups inches above my virtual skull, lavishing my lugs with decibels of din most folk would find offensive...





I used to spend hours in chase mode too (good for cheating fuddled approaches and generally flying like an old game arcade hand...).



But now, I seem to have honed the hours towards just 2 viewpoints:



1. Cockpit/VC (if its a good'n)

2. Tower.

And most of this is in pursuit of getting things on song for the enjoyment it may give to fellow simmers.

So Gentlemen; it would be of valuable use, to know how much time most simmers spend, where!

Love to hear your favourite angle, friends!

[Blackbird686]

I use all of the views, but for the most part, it depends on what I'm doing at the moment. Shooting an ILS to minimums... 2D cockpit, checking out scenery... VC and spot view. Looking at a really splendid model such as the Avia 51, or the CS AC-130 Spectre... you get the idea.

I like the Tower view for fly-bys and T&G's

I also like the external sounds that some of the models in my library have, I'll go to the spot view and crank up the volume. Example...? Starting my trusty ol' Sea Fury on the ground... with a !!!

BB686

[SSI01]

I believe I spend about 70-80% of my time in the cockpit, and the balance in spot view, admiring the work of our developers - both textures and sound (for Nigel - ). Re: the "cockpit" - I seem to favor the 2D panel; if I had a virtual viewer for the VC, I'd probably use that - but I don't, so I can't!

[rdaniell]

I spend 90 to 95 percent of my time in the virtual cockpit. In my humble opinion that simulates real life......You get the aircraft out of the hanger, do a walk around preflight, get in, and then spend the rest of the flight inside the airplane....LOL...

RD

[Sunny9850]

I am with RD. I enjoy the walk around on a great visual model and once I have checked out every angle of the aircraft I get in the cockpit and fly the airplane.
It is a very rare airplane without a VC that gets flying time on my PC, because I love the immersion I get from the simulated 3D world.

The first few flights with a new model I use the chase view on occasion to watch animations such as the gear moving up or down and the flaps moving in and out of the position.
And finally since I love the sound of a good engine I might occasionally listen to the song of a big radial at wide open throttle.

Cheers
Stefan

[stuartcox]

I prefer the 2D panel view.
It gives me all the information needed without having to pan around for switches, dials and levers. Also, especially on VFR landing approaches, I do not have a distorted 'tunnel vision' and wrong interpretation of distance and altitude through zooming in and out.
After shutdown I like to view the replay of my last five minutes airborne in tower view. On long flights cruising it's the spot view.
And Nigel..., the correct sound is just as important as the model itself.

Regards, Stuart

p.s.: My groundcrew is hardly ever tea total - I look after them!

[falcon409]

Like RD and Sunny, I also fly the majority of my flights from inside the cockpit. I use TrackIR so any looking around can be done normally where I used to have to rely on the cap switch. The only time I venture outside is after I've landed. I like to run the replay from the tower view to check on my landings. It's a good tool for perfecting the landings. I'm surprised at how sloppy they seem sometimes from the cockpit and how relatively steady they look from the ground.

[robert41]

All my flying, take offs and landings I do in the VC, if the plane has one.
Taxiing I do from the VC or spot view. Depends on how good the VC is.
When flying, sometimes I'll go to spot view to check out the scenery.
And sometimes replay a landing from tower view.

[napamule]

If you use FSRecorder (both FS9 & FSX) you can do a flight from A to B, SAVE the entire flight, then REPLAY it and you can pause sim and set up a tower view, of any alt, at any point along the way (as the recording plays). Then you can reload the flight and switch from one tower to the NEXT with the press of 'V' key. When you can do it to where you catch the ac flying by tower view (ie: time it) you can then record with Fraps and have it 'saved' as a video. Maybe a little time consuming, but with practice you can do it all the 1st time thru.

And to get the full volume sound (engines) when in tower view, open a new window ('['), use 'S' to switch to where it is 'locked spot' view, and reduce it to as small a square as you can, and place it out of the way (upper right corner is my choice) and as long as you make the window the 'active' window (by clicking on IT) the sound will be heard full blast. Click on the 'regular' window to switch the focus back. This doesn't work too good with FSRecorder as you can't switch views when that small 'window' has the 'focus'.

I myself use locked spot view (50%), then the 2D view (49%) and then the VC view (1% -IF I want to 'Look (or Walk) around' (Ha-BIG DEAL!)). With helicopters I use locked spot view 99% of the time and 1% of the time the 2D. You can 'keep' your VC panels- I don't care for ANY of them at all. None of them.
Chuck B
Napamule
.

[mrogers]

Very interesting thread. I use the VC 90-95% of the time and spot view for the exterior visuals. I stopped using the 2D panels long ago.

I've got the payware Active Camera which really makes a difference, sitting in the VC there is visual motion as the aircraft taxies on the ground and also in the air as you fly. For example your'e pulling the stick back to pull the nose up and as you do that, the dash rises up and your eyepoint view goes down a bit. Also it can do flypasts at any given attitude in what was formerly the tower view. It's neat to watch your aircraft zoom past at random angles. Active Camera has been on my system for as long as I can remember-since 2004 I think.
Sadly I don't think it's available anymore, so that would be frustrating for those who would really like to have it. But I think there are some freeware ones that will do a similiar job perhaps.

[Matt Wynn]

most of my flying is done from the VC with TrackIR... being a demonstration pilot in sim, when performing demonstrations it's just easier to keep a visual tally on the display centre marker and therefore spot the 45 and crowd centre... also on screen though is a stopwatch, again for demonstration uses...

....but, when kicked back and flying for the joy of flying, VFR on a nice clear day, light winds i'll use the VC and TrackIR, or switch to External view when autopilot is on and just enjoy the sight of the aircraft passing over the scenery, as if you were the lead aircraft shooting another plane for a film.... FSRecorder is usually running, for replays (I find the default FS9 Replay function somewhat 'stutt..tt..tt...ery' or for later on when shooting a formation shot....

[EMatheson]

now it's mostly the VC with scant time in the Spot view. I've deleted (using the DSD View Skip gauge) the 2d panel view from almost every one of my aircraft (pretty much just the Dreamfleet 58 and the CS 757 excepting, since they seem unhappy otherwise) and have never had any talent with RC aircraft...

[Willy]

Take off and land from the VC, cruise along in the 2D with the occasional foray into spot view so I can sight see.

[phantomx1]

I like using tower view most of all as you can really get those best angle views of the aircraft as it makes a pass. Really nice if you have Active Camera or use a similar program. With AC you can park the eye-point of the tower just about anywhere you like and any altitude. Sometimes like with an airobatic model I like to set it a couple thousand feet up in the air to take advantage of upper and lower shots while working an airbatic box. Sometimes I like to plant the eyepoint at ground level to view low passes and landings.

I seem to tire of sitting in the VC in general unless I purposefully plan a cross country trip which includes navigation as a purposeful task.

On 2D I almost always "W" out that fake looking panel and but will "W" it back on to get to the autopilot controls to set them then "W" it back off for expanded scenery vision. Not a fan of the 2D cockpit.

Wish I could afford the Tracker IR, seems like it would be like putting your head through the monitor screen and add more of a 3D feel and improve position awareness while in VC view.

[Tom Clayton]

I find that most aircraft have a somewhat limited viewin any mode except for the mini panel. Part of any isitial flight for me has always been to make certain that the horizon is in the center of the screen if the plane is at zero pitch and near the ground. That lets me do my landings much more in a seat-of-the-pants mode. I still keep the six-pack at the bottom of the screen so that I can keep an eye on my decent rate and airspeed. I also use a custom mini, which includes the Baron HSI and artificial horizon so that I can monitor my localizer and glideslope.