|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 22, 2022 3:57:08 GMT -5
Hello All, I have just read the very informative and well written User Guide.
I understand much of it but of course I can really only get a grip of it all when I am flying FSCaptain. So a question. I have been simming for ages and (like many simmers) I want to add some 'meaning' to my flight simming. I fly small/medium GA aircraft throughout the UK and Western Europe. Baron 58, 1900D, Dornier 208, and others. Clearly FSCaptain caters well for bigger aircraft flying longer distances but the guide is somewhat silent on the sort of flying that I enjoy. So I am seeking some comments on whether FSCaptain is where I should be heading ie does FSCaptain support a simmer who needs a good number of assignments from within a specific geographical area ie UK/Western Europe that are suitable for the relatively (slow) medium/small GA aircraft that I fly ? I guess I am trying to find out how FSCaptain can support my sort of flying. There is a reference in the User Guide to creating a small scale domestic based 'airline' but I am unsure how this might work. Anyway, any thoughts on all this would be great. Thanks, Wombat32
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 22, 2022 17:23:23 GMT -5
Hello Wombat32, thank you for your interest in FSCaptain and for your kind words!
I do think that FSCaptain can work for you. We try to accommodate all flying styles, so if we can't work with your current style, you only need to tell us what it is you need and we'll try to make that happen.
In our documentation and PR items we do tend to point out things that are aimed towards jetliners - for instance, our GSX integration and our strangely immobile ground deicing trucks. But there are many Captains who fly pistons and turboprops and don't deal with those items. Some Captains fly with smaller 'real' airlines and some have their own 'airline of one' and make nothing but bush trips.
One of the members of our team - Peter - has an airline where he does nothing more than service small airfields in Northern Canada. Très éloigné
We even have Captains who only fly vintage aircraft with vintage scenery.
I started out in FSCaptain flying only C208s for a year or so, and I still take one out from time to time to carry PAX and cargo while I'm sightseeing (I pretend that I'm keeping my certification - LOL).
You may not know this but you don't need to purchase a license to fly in FSCaptain... I highly recommend that you try us out first to ensure that we really can work for your flying.
There are six airports that everyone is free to fly from - EGCC, EGGD, EGJJ, KSEA, KPDX and KOLM. I hope that at least three of them would be suitable for your testing....
If you like, you can make your own test airline, set its rules as you like and start flying today. You can make your own schedule... or not.... I often fly 'ad hoc' from where I want, to where I want as 'charter' flights. -----
Please do know though, that as of next Monday (July 25th) version 1.8.3 (Service Pack) will be released. There are some changes and fixes as we prepare to start work on proper integration with MSFS 2020.
All you need is a Full Installer for your simulator platform - FS2004/FS9 or FSX or P3D. You can either get the latest public release now, or wait until Monday and get the newest public release.
Whatever you decide, please feel free to ask questions or post problems.
Best regards,
|
|
|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 22, 2022 21:11:16 GMT -5
Thanks Travis for a most comprehensive response. Most encouraging. I am away for a few days but I will give it a try sometime in the middle of next week and see how I go. Thanks again, Mike
|
|
|
Post by peter on Jul 23, 2022 2:04:42 GMT -5
does FSCaptain support a simmer who needs a good number of assignments from within a specific geographical area ie UK/Western Europe that are suitable for the relatively (slow) medium/small GA aircraft that I fly ? Hello Wombat32, welcome to the FSCaptain forum. As Travis mentioned, I have done repeatedly what you want to do with FSCaptain, and it works really well. I fly a lot in Canada and have set up small airlines that where inspired by Perimeter AviationAir InuitAir MontmagnyThe last one is quite unusual: one of its main jobs is to transport students who live on an island in the St. Lawrence River to their elementary school each day. The way to do that with FSCaptain is creating nodes, which is described in appendix 15 of the user guide. Nodes are airports to which you can assign a higher probability of producing jobs. You can even make it 100% sure that FSCaptain only creates charter jobs between your nodes, or you can create a mix of charter jobs between your nodes and to random destinations (for which you can set a typical flight duration). In addition to charter jobs, you can set up scheduled flights for your airline, that will always be available at specific times each week. The demo version is restricted regarding to/from which airports you can fly, but it might be possible to set up a small sample airline that flies out from KSEA, for instance. You could give that a try before buying. Best regards, Peter
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 23, 2022 13:11:16 GMT -5
Thanks Peter, those are great examples! And for anyone who has wondered why our six free-to-fly-from airports were chosen, Dutch picked the first three US airports because at the time FSX was in vogue, and Orbx's Pacific Northwest scenery was just about to be released. Dutch chose an large international airport (KSEA), a smaller regional / international airport (KPDX), and a smaller GA-friendly airport (KOLM). A prospective Captain could try any sized fixed-wing aircraft, and still have ILS and Tower support. Years later when I thought to add three similar European airports, I thought to give a nod to UK2000 scenery fields and chose another large international (EGCC), a regional (EGJJ), and a regional / GA-friendly airport (EGGD) to match the original trio. It's possible to even bridge the US and UK international airports and have an airline with flights to-from KSEA or KPDX with EGCC. Again, anyone can fly from any of these six airports to anywhere in the world, as many times as you like. Finally, if anyone cares why I chose Manchester over Heathrow, it was because of the difficulty that some 32-bit sims have with even default London city scenery. (Plus Lucy and I were watching Cold Feet and the original Life on Mars at the time. ) Best,
|
|
|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 26, 2022 19:28:15 GMT -5
Thanks Peter and Travis for the last 2 posts. I will be back home later this week and will certainly be downloading the 'trial'. Will report back on here. Mike
|
|
|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 29, 2022 2:23:44 GMT -5
Home again so an update. I have read and re-read the User Guide and Tutorial. They make more sense each time but much of it at this early stage is of course well beyond my understanding. Have downloaded and am now ready to install though.
Although I have a fair bit of flight simming experience I must own up to the fact that many of the ‘high standards’ required of FSCaptain’s pilots have to date not been my strong point ! So the User Guide recommendation to start with an ‘Easy Airline’ makes a lot of sense.
However Peter’s set up seems to mirror very closely what I am seeking. I want to keep flying small/medium GA aircraft mainly charter with a mix of cargo/pax. Looking through the UK, Scotland seems to have the right geography for what I am chasing. The far flung Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides, Western Isles etc etc. A mix of small provincial airports and grass strips. All within range though of the bigger airports of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Northern England.
So now I have another question. For newbies you guys logically recommend starting their ‘career’ by signing up with say ‘Landmark’. But given where I want to end up, is setting up my own small airline straight away feasible ? Am asking because from what I have read, in the first place at least, I would be able to set up my airline with a degree of ‘easiness’ on a par with say ‘Landmark’ before moving in the direction of increasing standards.
Any advice please before I take the plunge ?
Thanks, Mike
|
|
|
Post by peter on Jul 29, 2022 4:19:38 GMT -5
That is absolutely feasible. I would recommend to create backup copies of all landmark files in the FSCaptain\Airlines\ folder and then modify the landmark files as you please.
And you're in luck: both Travis and I are big fans of the Jimmy Perez Shetland TV series. I fell in love with the landscape and decided to simulate some of the flights that Logan Air offers in Scotland and the Shetlands. My schedules are probably a few years old and not accurate anymore, but I would be happy to share a node file and a schedule file with you that creates regional flights in Scotland for you.
Generally, we can definitely help you setting up the airline in the way you want it to work. FSCaptain is a very deep and complex program, we have helped many other pilots before to set it up before.
Cheers, Peter
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 29, 2022 11:59:53 GMT -5
Hi Mike, I second what Peter wrote. If you have the just-uploaded-this-week 183 SP download, I created a funky little airline - AcmeUK - that you can use as a base for your airline if you like. You can use the "Create Airline" button to make your own airline using ACMEUK as a 'base'. There was a small Scottish airline named Air Ecosse which folded back in the 80s that I always liked the sound of. It even had its own ICAO code if you want to set up dedicated parking one day.... I do see that all of our fictional airlines have "ILS Required for Fixed Wing Aircraft" which you will likely want to de-select when you're ready. Feel free to ask about any of the other options, etc.! Best regards,
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 29, 2022 12:03:34 GMT -5
Mike,
One more question - what simulator are you using? Knowing that would help us in recommending various things.
Best,
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 29, 2022 13:03:26 GMT -5
Mike, One reason I suggested that you create a new airline is that you would not have "legacy scheduled flights" to bother with. Landmark would give you a schedule based around our US Pacific Northwest airports. Here's an Air Ecosse file that I just made for your inspection. Air Ecosse.cfg (1.71 KB) I've given it a hub of EGPE / Inverness as that airport can handle smaller aircraft as well as regional turbos and medium-sized jetliners should you decide to try your hands with them one day.
I've also removed the requirement for an ILS at your destination, and I've also removed the need for a control tower.
I haven't made a schedule for Air Ecosse, but if you tell me the airport you would prefer to have as your hub, I'll be happy to walk you through auto-creating one. Although as Peter has mentioned, you may want to create a "nodes list" of favorite airports first. Best,
|
|
|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 29, 2022 23:06:04 GMT -5
Wow ! I have never been in any flight sim forum where there is so much enthusiasm and help ! I guess though I am a little nervous about taking up too much of your time. Mind you I wont say no to some help as initially as FSCaptain really does have a somewhat steep learning curve for newbies.
First up I am using FSX. I have a reasonably good set up but not state of the art. 4.000 Gh Intel i7-4790K running W10. Runs very well. ORBX UK Scenery plus several UK2000 airports.
I have had a look at EGPE which looks to be ideal for what I am aiming for so I would like to go with that.
A lot of this is really very new to me and at the moment I am rather ‘foggy’ about how it all fits together (in spite of delving into the User Guide). For example I have never seen a .cfg file for an airline before – nor did I knew they even existed ! More studying less flying might be the order of the day for a while.
Re the ‘Nodes List’ My understanding is that the use of this is to go some way to filtering out assignments that are of limited interest to me. User Guide Appendix 15 is comprehensive so I will work on that but I don’t as yet have access to my \FSCaptain\Config\AirportSceneries.csv file.
I have the latest download but I have been holding off installation because of my uncertainty between LandMark and my own Airline. Now that is resolved I am a little unsure about how I should handle the next step ? To start things off I could ‘apply’ to Travis’ ACMEUK and switch to my own when all is in place ?
Also it may be better if I get a registration key now. With all the help I am getting I don’t want to screw things up.
Thanks again guys. Mike
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Jul 30, 2022 0:56:36 GMT -5
Hi Mike,
Please don't purchase until you are certain that this is something you will use and enjoy! I would hate for you to purchase a license only to find that it does not work well for you.
For now, I suggest that you use ACMEUK as your airline with the three UK free-to-fly-from airports and see how FSCaptain works for you. The Orbx scenery is great for your UK flying, and obviously the UK2000 scenery is top notch!!
Change any / all of the airline settings (such as the ILS and Control Tower settings) to suit you, and make some charter flights using the Specify Flight Details button on the Dispatch dialog. Make a short flight from EGJJ to Guernsey (EGJB) or Alderney (EGJA). If that works well, plan a longer flight... perhaps EGCC to the Isle of Man (EGNS).
Or just let the scheduler pick a destination for you....
Best,
|
|
|
Post by wombat32 on Jul 30, 2022 2:20:56 GMT -5
Thanks Travis, that sounds like the way to go. Will install and get stuck in tomorrow. I havnt purchased yet but I think I have got my money's worth already ! Will report back after a few flights then if all OK I can think about setting up my own airline. Mike
|
|
|
Post by peter on Jul 30, 2022 6:03:42 GMT -5
Hi Wombat32, I will be travelling next week and won't be able to help for a while. I therefore went ahead and created a fictional Loganair configuration, based on Landmark settings, and with hub in Aberdeen; nodes in Scotland and Stanstedt; and scheduled flights that I created a few years back. Just copy the attached files into the FSCaptain/Airlines folder, then start the Administrator and pick Loganair as your airline. You can replace the name of the airline by whatever you like, of course. Cheers, Peter Loganair.cfg (1.71 KB) Loganair_nodes.txt (79 B) Loganair_schedule.txt (2.97 KB)
|
|