1. Learjet 35A by FlySimWare

I think my favorite thing of 2023 was the sudden release of the FlySimWare Lear 35A. This is a humdinger of a masterpiece even if it’s still at the “early access” stage. I can’t recall another aircraft that has been so great right out of the box, with so little wait time or hoopla. I mean, we have the greats such as PMDG and Fenix, but they don’t get dropped suddenly without any long waits. 

The Lear 35A is a fabulous addition to the bizjet genre and one that will be continually upgraded. I have not flown an actual Learjet in real life, but since this product was designed with the input of real Lear 35 pilots, I can safely assume it’s been done well. From what I can see having flown bizjets for 20 years now, it’s spot on. The handling quality is sweet, balanced, and well tuned. Trimming, momentum, and effects of gear and flaps all seem accurate, as well as the feeling of liftoff and touchdown. The amount of float, touchdown quality, and steering on the runway seem good to me as well as the powerful reversers that will do most of the work after landing. 

The only thing is since it’s early access, some of the sounds are still lacking or missing. I would love more of the environmental system sounds, as well as a more robust thrust reverser roar, which would be quite loud. However, the engine spool-up and high rpm harmonic “humming” you’d hear from up front is spot on. Brilliant in that audio regard. 

This aircraft is so beautiful to look at, and all parts externally are replicated to perfect scale. My trained eyes usually find things not designed to scale or size, but in this case, I can’t find anything. It’s a perfect visual blueprint of the real thing. With a product this great, the problem is we wish for the release of many more bizjets immediately. Gimme more now!

Grab your Learjet 35A from the FlySimWare store.

2. Kuro 787-8 Dreamliner (freeware)

This little gem is a remake of the default 787-10 that brings forth the smallest 787 variant, the 787-8. This somewhat stubby-looking (perfect in my mind) version makes for an amazing private jet conversion with beautiful liveries available (any airline you want is an option too). This freebie comes updated with Asobo’s default 787-10 stretch (only in the premium deluxe Microsoft Flight Simulator installation), where service upgrades to panels and systems are already complete. The flying quality is great, and I have been able to perform perfect autolands with this model, a sign of a great build. It comes with its own sound set as well. It’s truly a great add-on and one of my favorites of the entire year.

It’s continually updated and available at the flightsim.to website (the greatest place to get all your MSFS 2020 free items and mods).

3. A2A Piper Comanche

This A2A gem is probably most GA flyers’ No. 1 product of the year for sure. I am not an expert on the smaller things, and haven’t used this enough  to give my expert opinion, but sometimes you need to rely on others. This is a living, breathing airplane that has to be maintained and treated well. 

This is a new function that a lot of designers are bringing into their products and MSFS supports constant-state aircraft that save flight times, wear and tear, health and maintenance practices as you fly. It remembers this so even after flying other aircraft, when you go back to this one, as long as you have a constant state toggled, you’ll be using this feature. Real Comanche pilots are heralding this is the best airplane ever for the MSFS series. Some folks have given up flying anything else. 

In my limited experience, I did enjoy the fact that I damaged the engine by not following procedures, proper warm-up, and fouled plugs. You can use a built-in tablet to view engine health as it runs live. The sounds are great and will accompany any problems with accuracy. A2A is known for top-quality sim aircraft and add-ons, and this one has certainly kept its reputation on the top of the pile. 

4. Carenado Turbo Stationair 207 

Recently released via the MSFS Marketplace is the Carenado Cessna (stretched) 207 Turbo Stationair— a spectacular looking replication of the real-life workhorse. For a mere $14, you can grab this beauty. I loved the appearance, sounds, and feel of hand flying this fabulous, fast-and-furious, do-it-all airplane. From short mountain strips to long-haul journeys, this works. And it kinda has that feeling that “maybe someday I could buy one of these things.” 

The aircraft comes with many fabulous variants, like passenger, cargo, pants or no pants, etc. A good variety of paint jobs, or liveries, are also included. I wasn’t expecting this either, and it’s a great addition to my sim that I really enjoy flying again and again.

5. Black Square (Anything it does is amazing)

Fairly new to the flightsim genre is Black Square. It has been making fabulous enhancements to default aircraft like the Bonanza, King Air 350i, and Baron 58 for a while now, complete with more realistic systems, panels, displays, analogue options (six-pack) with aircraft health and vulnerability built in. 

Just a few months ago, Black Square released its first entire airplane, the powerful Daher TBM 850, to compete with the default Asobo version. Some of us really enjoy the slightly older mix of steam gauges and modern stuff, and Black Square has certainly fulfilled many of our wishes. Everything it does is fabulous, and these products really stand out. The Just Flight store has them all here and here on the website.

6. Felis 747-200 for X-Plane 11/12

In my recent article, I went crazy over this X-Plane marvel. The classic 747-200 is simulated from head to tail in “study level” fashion. This is, by far, the most realistic airliner I’ve ever used for any sim, period. It may have to do with the built-in flying properties of XP itself, combined with brilliant programming and realism put into this production. You can actually feel the momentum, weight, and physics all at work as you hand fly this beast, unlike any other heavy jets I have tackled prior. It’s so good that I would recommend getting XP11/12 just for this. 

However, because of the unrefined status of XP12 currently (graphical and performance issues are still a problem when compared to MSFS), I’d recommend it on XP11 for the smoothest experience. Sometime by March, XP12 will be receiving a graphical and performance fix as noted by developer Laminar Research. This may be the actual piece XP fans have been waiting for to challenge MSFS performance and refined photorealistic visuals. 

7. FSRealistic or XPRealistic for both sims

Anyone who has followed me knows I am a huge fan of XPRealistic and FSRealistic. Both are an absolute must have during sim sessions. It adds everything that was left out of the native simulator versions—both by X-Plane and MSFS default programs—including wind, gear thumps, gear drag, flap noises, speed brakes, prop wash, touchdown sounds, thrust reverser roar, water landing sounds, screaming frightened passengers, turbulence-shaking rattles, and added motion and vibrational effects. All these things and more are now available and customizable by the user. It’s easy to use and I could not imagine sim flights without it. Not sure why base sims don’t include more of this style of immersion, but they don’t. These great add-ons are available from many outlets such as mine. 

8. FSLTL live traffic injector for MSFS

Since getting a new, more powerful laptop to run MSFS, I am now tinkering with live traffic. I had always avoided using any traffic due to the hit on performance and increased likelihood of stutters with such a draw on the CPU. But now it’s no longer really an issue. So after trying the built-in default traffic and getting screen freezes, I kept default traffic off and went to freeware third-party vendor FSLTL. 

FSLTL grabs live ADS-B data worldwide and puts the real traffic in sim with actual visual models of the traffic and their airlines if it is an airliner you’re supposed to see. The visual realism is great, and the immersion of seeing lumbering airliners in cue out to the active runway is jaw-dropping. Then they takeoff with a roar over your head or a trail of water vapor in tow if the runway is wet… wow! Seeing contrails in motion or distant aircraft lighting is very realistic. 

If you’re a fan of traffic watching, you can find out who you’re seeing either from the web, apps like FlightRadar24, or a built-in screen that you can open which shows exactly what traffic is being created, aircraft type, airline, and where they are going. 

All of this creates a performance hit. At large airports, it will take maybe 10 to 20 percent off the frame rate compared to what it would have with no traffic selected. That is far less than the hit from default live traffic by Asobo, because you can really allow a lot more traffic to display at any one time (adjustable). On a fast machine, you won’t care. 

For more information, check out the website.

9. FS-ATC Chatter for both sims

This little program available from Stick and Rudder Studios is available for both X-Plane and MSFS platforms. It will automatically play realistic ATC chatter from around the world, depending on where you are and what your current flight regime is. So you’ll hear accurate accents and dialects in each phase of flight. If you’re in Canada, you’ll hear its controllers. You’ll get accurate ground, tower, departure/arrival, center chatter, etc. The program features regular updates, and voice files are added often so you’ll never be bored hearing the same thing over and over. This is another little gem of a program that adds so much realism for both XP and MSFS.

I could keep going, but these are the 2023 add-ons that stand out to me as being exceptional products. There are many more items in my library that I use daily that could be honorable mentions. And it’s possible I have forgotten something. I am sure that 2024 is going to be another super year for this industry.   

The post Best Sim Add-Ons of 2023 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

If you are looking for something with considerably less space disruption and small enough to fit in a carry-on bag, check out the Yawman Arrow. The company notes the Yawman controller puts the yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals in your hands. The device went on the market as of Monday for $249, available for purchase at yawmanflight.com and Sporty’s Pilot Shop. The device was created by brothers Thomas and Dwight Nield, professional aviators, and John Ostrower, aviation media creator, and founder of The Air Current.

The company, based in Carmel, Indiana, calls it a “fully functional hand-held cockpit,” noting there are 21 buttons and seven axes available for programming the Yawman Arrow with added multipress capability “optimized for Microsoft Flight Simulator that makes the controller infinitely configurable for everything from basic aircraft function for flying and simulator commands to advanced autopilot interaction.” The goal is to radically reduce the need for both keyboard and mouse/trackpad when flying.

The Arrow was “designed for simmers by simmers.” It is built in the United States and can be a primary controller on simmers’ Windows or Apple laptop, desktop, or Android tablet. Its portability makes it different from other devices as it can be used on the road with a gaming laptop or Android tablet, or cast to a television from a laptop.

“This has been a methodical journey to bring together all the familiar pieces of flight simulation hardware into an ultra-mobile form factor without compromising the virtual flying experience,” said Yawman co-founder Thomas Nield. “We have achieved that, and we are excited to deliver it to the simming community. We’ve brought a deliberate precision to Yawman, making it a multifunction controller that requires no additional configuration software to maximize its plug-and-play utility.”

The Arrow is designed to work with virtual aircraft of all types, from smaller general aviation airplanes and helicopters to high-performance fighters and commercial jets. Company officials note the portable controller can be used for real-world flight familiarization, preparation, and training without complex hardware.

The Details

The Arrow features controls for pitch, yaw, and roll, and two vernier-style engine controls like those found on many piston-powered aircraft. When the player is flying a jet, these controls activate spoilers and thrust reversers.

The device has an integrated trim wheel, along with two shoulder bumper buttons, a five-button D-pad, and five-way hat switch for independent viewing angles and video recording. The user can access a multifunction six-pack of programmable buttons to customize their flight experience.

The Arrow is fully compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator on PC, Laminar Research X-Plane on PC and macOS, Infinite Flight for Android, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D, DCS World—and more—as well as nonsimulation games that support HID joystick controls. However, it is not compatible with iOS devices or Xbox.

We Test It

FLYING had a chance to test fly the Arrow. I was assisted by Michael Puoci, one of my learners who is a professional aviation game designer. When Puoci, call sign “Puffin,” was training for his private pilot certificate, he utilized sim technology as an enrichment tool, flying every lesson at least twice before he got out to the airplane That’s the beauty of the syllabus; he knew what was coming next and was able to prepare.

Puoci builds games and test flies them on a regular basis. We met at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. He was armed with his laptop loaded with X-Plane 12 for the demonstration. We tried the Arrow in a Cessna 172 as that is the airframe we both have the most time in.

It was easy to set up the Arrow to interface with X-Plane—just a few clicks. No additional software configuration was required.

• READ MORE: Setting Up Your Sim

Full disclosure: I had never attempted to fly using a game controller before, so there was a learning curve.

During the takeoff from virtual King County International Airport/Boeing Field (KBFI), the left turning tendency got the better of me as I had to use my fingertips for what my feet usually do. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of using light touch adjustments, especially on the trim. I teach my learners pitch, power trim to level off, and it was a challenge to adjust the right lever for power and not to over trim.

It took me a few minutes to achieve coordinated flight, and I found myself physically tilting the Arrow, rather than activating the proper controls, until my hands figured what to do to achieve what I wanted. We had to try stalls too, which are a rudder-dependent maneuver. I did one, then Puochi did one. Learning took place.

If you want to take your aviation sim on the road, the Arrow was meant for you. The unit requires one available USB port (cable included) and weighs 7.83 ounces (222 grams) and does not require batteries or charging.

Shop the Setup

The post Yawman Arrow Hand-Held Cockpit Released appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Since that beautiful day in August of 2020 when Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020) was born, some of us have had a pretty delightful time of it. Little trouble and mostly a great experience. There are others, however, who have had nothing but headaches and misery. 

Why is that? Let’s look at some issues and their solutions, along with general operating tips and hints, that have helped me through a recent upgrade to a better flight simming machine. 

I must say immediately that “less is more.” Anyone using a computer for work, office, graphic design, etc., probably won’t have as much luck with MSFS2020  as someone with a dedicated gaming or flight simming PC. It’s just that simple. A PC that is not crammed full of the extra programs the average office computer is bloated with will always serve you better.

I recently purchased a high-end laptop to use for all my sim needs. A 4090 GeForce graphics card is the highest you can go. However, the top-rated MSI machine I chose at first didn’t have “GSYNC” technology in its display which meant that running MSFS2020 resulted in choppy graphics and screen tearing issues despite blazing fast frame rates. In the past, I had always chosen GSYNC computers, but for some reason this one slipped right past me. I returned it immediately for a GSYNC Asus ROG 18 gaming laptop and couldn’t be happier with the smoothness and performance. 

All that is to say I highly recommend a GSYNC based computer and video display. I now see frame rates over 100 where my old 3070 laptop maxed out at about 50 in rural areas. I have to give a shoutout to my local Boston Microcenter for being such a great place to purchase technology such as my new beast of a laptop. You’ll probably never find a good sim PC in a typical store. Specific online retailers specializing in high performance PCs and gaming laptops are pretty much the only way to go. Personally, for something this valuable, I like being able to return it in person if something goes wrong.

Let’s face it, MSFS2020 is very demanding and requires a great gaming-style PC with high end hardware. That said, most computers and laptops built since 2020 do a pretty great job of running it right out of the box. The problem is no two computers are the same and everyone on earth will have a different set of experiences to report. Many having non-stop issues with the sim have an old or slow computer. Some may have newer, powerful machines that still run everything poorly due to outdated drivers, bloatware, overly clogged hard drives, or actual hardware issues. 

In my recent upgrade to a better gaming laptop, I had a some @#%$!!! moments myself. I would say if you’re having trouble with poor performance, crashes, freezes, and nonstop aggravation with your sim, then simply reset windows to new and use the option to do a complete restore. This will wipe the drive clean, leaving nothing behind. Doing this will ensure getting as new a PC as possible with no bad files or programs left behind to do bad things. In my experience, the time it takes to do a reset (about an hour is all) is way faster than spending days trying to troubleshoot.

Let’s say you do this or actually get a new computer. There is a lot of “junk” to be done before you install the sim and hopefully the things I’ll talk about here will help someone out there! If I can help at least one fellow pilot or flight simmer solve their issues, it will be worth it. 

Before anything can be done, make sure you have a great internet connection. This program will not install or run well on slow internet, period. This can be a major issue for folks in places where the internet is poor and spotty. It can make using MSFS2020 nearly impossible. This is where X-Plane can be the sim of choice, as you can use it easily offline without any internet. 

Here are some important steps to take (in order) after a new install of Windows or getting a new PC:

Windows Updates 

Go to the search box on the bottom area of the desktop, (the one with the magnifying glass symbol). Type in “update” and then click on “Check for updates”. You’ll be brought to the main update interface. Next, click on update and let it go. Now, you may be prompted to do this several times and some “restarts to take effect” will occur. If it hasn’t been done in a while, this could take time (possibly hours depending on your internet speed). Once it says  “your computer is up to date,” you’re ready to do more. 

Startup, Sleep, and Shutdown Options

Type in “Closing lid” in the search box. Click on “Change what closing the lid does” which will bring you to the options to select variables under the heading “Define power buttons and turn on password protection.” Be sure to stop all sleep, snooze, and lid closing options. Having a computer “hibernate” when attempting to run a sim for hours will cause issues! Also, click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” link to get access to the “Shutdown settings” section. Once there, uncheck “Turn on fast startup” to disable that feature. Experts say to shut off this option as it can introduce problems and system hangs since using fast start was originally meant to speed things up, but can also cause instability and issues if not everything got loaded properly. I have always shut it off on my computers and honestly my laptop boots just as fast and with less worry.

Editing Advanced Power Settings 

Editing these settings will enable you to change the way the processor and other components run. First, type “Edit Power Plan” into the search box. Then click on “Change advanced power settings.” Don’t allow them to reduce less than 100 percent off the max settings, and if on a laptop, don’t allow anything less than 100 percent unless the machine is not plugged in, like on battery. Spend time to look around at all the options and don’t just accept the default ones as good. You need all the power you can get! Hard Disk,  Desktop background settings, Sleep, PCI Express, Processor power management, Display, and Battery options all need to be tweaked for power and not rest. Computers don’t need naps, only pilots do.

USB Controllers

Type “Device Manager” into the search bar. Click on it and then navigate down to “USB serial bus controllers”. Click on that and find “USB Hub” in the dropdown menu. Right click on USB Hub and select “Properties”. Click on the “Power Management” tab, where you will find another hidden option allowing you to uncheck the “Allow the computer to run off this device to save power” box. As we use many connected hardware devices, having a USB port suddenly napping away, can cause the sim to freeze or lock up sometimes. This option may work if you have any issues where the controls aren’t working fast enough or you get sim lockups. 

Game Mode 

Go back to the search bar, type “Game Mode” and select “Game Mode settings.” Click the toggle to turn OFF Game Mode. Most experts say not to use “game mode,” so (to be honest) without much evidence, I leave it off as well. Hopefully it’s not just a placebo. However, once you search for game mode, you’ll find an option under “Related Settings” called “Graphics.”  Click on that and you’ll see a list of programs. Look for Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane and click on it. Next, click “Options”  and choose the one for  “high performance.”. Click Save. This is a new feature and seems to be one that many experts suggest. 

HAGS

Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling (HAGS) is necessary for 4000 series NVIDIA cards to get the best quality and performance as well as the new DLSS and frame generation technology. This can also be enabled on the “Graphics” page (if needed, you can navigate back to it by typing “Graphics” in the search bar and selecting “Graphics settings”). Once there, click on “Change default graphics settings” and make sure the Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling toggle is set to ON. Below HAGS, also set the toggle for Optimizations for windowed games to ON. If you have a lower card like a 2 or 3000 series, it may be better to leave HAGS off. Experiment to see. 

Windows Defender 

Next, type in and click on “Windows Security.” Go to Virus & threat protection and find Virus & threat protection settings. Click on “Manage settings” and scroll down to “Exclusions.” Select “Add or remove exclusions” then “Add an exclusion.” From the dropdown menu, pick “Folder.” From there, find and select your install directory for the sim you use. Now processing power won’t be used to scan this while you’re busy flying. Less intrusion is necessary! MSFS2020 and all my other games run from the Steam network so I just have the entire steam folder selected to ignore my games and sims I use. Defender is all you’d ever need to keep your PC safe in the first place. It is well made and doesn’t slow down your PC by keeping it active. 

Nvidia Drivers 

I personally prefer Nvidia graphics cards. For a long time, it’s been widely accepted in the sim community that they provide the highest quality and power for a sim. Nowadays, I could be wrong on this as gamers have accepted–and some even prefer–Ryzen. For me, I am sticking with Nvidia. If you have a Nvidia or Ryzen machine, you’ll need to upgrade to the latest or near-to latest drivers. Realistically, something less than a year old will do. Googling your specific card  is probably the best way to bring up your upgrade options. As always, when upgrading on Nvidia, be sure to choose the “Custom Installation” option and check the “Perform a clean installation” box to completely clear out old drivers and do a fresh install. 

Nvidia Control Panel or Other GPU interface 

It’s extremely important to make sure your main graphics card is listed as either the only one or top priority. On my laptop, I have a Nvidia Control Panel whereby I can select my 4090 graphics card as the priority and main card to use during any gaming or simulation, or just always use it bypassing the internal one on the motherboard. You can’t run any sim on an internal graphics processor. Usually this hassle is only on a laptop. With Nvidia, I have found that customizing settings to anything other than default usually doesn’t result in any added benefit to performance or quality. Some may disagree and have had good luck. The only thing I might change is the option to always use maximum performance vs. normal, but then again, even in default normal, the GPU will go to highest performance when required. Snake oil? No clue on this one. After years of fiddling I still have no proof. All I can say is less “tweaking” seems to result in the best performance and quality overall.

Getting Rid of Bloatware 

One of the most beneficial and satisfying things to do for me is to get rid of system hogging, clogging programs like any outside antivirus software. It’s not necessary and will cause system slowdowns, intrusions, and worse. Windows Defender is plenty all by itself. So via the search bar look up “Add or remove programs” and click on it., Go down the list and uninstall things like McAfee antivirus, Norton antivirus, Windows Office (a massive hog), and other junk a flight simmer will never need. Years ago, virus were a big threat. They’re much less these days, and I used to always find computers so bogged down, so slow and unresponsive, because they are plagued by antivirus software that everyone is told to use. Throw it all out. Just be careful not to delete something either Windows requires or you may need later. 

• READ MORE: Tips and Tricks for Flight Sims

Installing MSFS2020

Once you install the sim for the first time you don’t have to do anything with the so called “community folder.” However, if you have either a pre-existing installation or items you had downloaded or purchased, those are going to need to be re-installed. 

That “Community Folder” Thing…

All the addons you purchase or download for free will be placed into the “community” folder. Become familiar with it as during updates it’s important to temporarily either empty it out (i.e. select all, cut [ctrl-x] and paste the contents elsewhere [ctrl-v], or rename it to something like [Community_backup]. This must be done prior to any Asobo Studio pushed updates. You’ll know it’s time as you’ll be prompted to update. Just exit out the sim, and do this procedure, then re-start the sim and let it do it’s update thing. Once done, you can place your community folder contents back where they were prior to the forced update.

The location of your community folder depends on whether your MSFS2020 is from the Microsoft Store or Steam. 

The location for a Microsoft Store installation is:

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Flight Simulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community

The location for a Steam Store installation is:

C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community

If you’re redoing a new installation from scratch–or just a new one from a new computer–do not just “copy” over your pre-existing community folder. I ran into trouble when I did this by just dragging the community folder over onto my new PC, and trying to install the sim. MSFS2020 failed to update properly on installation and all my addons didn’t work right. The sim was unusable and crashed, as I believe the underlying paths to installed options made the new installation think they were still in the area they were on the previous PC. In any event, a new installation with you re-downloading your add-ons and not including them in the community folder during the installation is the only way to do this error free. You should be flying high now.

I hope this helps at least one person out there get the best out of their sim with the least amount of anguish. For those of you who are real pilots, I can hear it now, “it’s much easier just to fly a real plane.” Well, kinda…But addicted sim geeks like me know we can’t live without both, real and virtual.

The post Optimizing PC Performance for <i>MSFS2020</i> appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

So you decided to get into a flight sim and may not know where to begin. Although an abundance of online guides and videos exist, I find them often overblown—too lengthy and filled with fluff. I would prefer to just give you the facts, introducing you to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and what is needed to run this program well enough to have you saying, “Wow,” “OMG,” and “I can’t believe it is this realistic.” If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be as addicted to it as I have been the last 20-plus years, nor as bullish in telling other pilots how beneficial it is to your chosen career, proficiency, and overall situational awareness.

MSFS 2020 needs a solid, powerful laptop or desktop to run well. The good news is most of these can be easily obtained for between $1,000 and $2,000 off the shelf today. Naturally, the more you spend, the more capable the PC you’ll have, but with the refinements, MSFS 2020 has gone through since its introduction more than 20 years ago, you’ll be able to run it well on most new, gaming-style PCs and laptops.

• READ MORE: What Is the Best Flight Simulator?

PC Requirements

Gaming PCs come with the proper video card and CPU combinations, hassle-free, and I highly recommend this approach. Most online and brick-and-mortar stores sell these. If it’s not called a “gaming PC,” don’t get it. I use an HP Omen laptop with a 17-inch display for all my virtual flying, as I travel as a pilot and need something portable. The laptop is strong enough to run MSFS 2020 on the highest detail settings at 50 FPS. Yes, a laptop can now run MSFS 2020 as well as any desktop setup.

Specifically, you want an Intel i7 or i9, or AMD RYZEN 7+ processor, plus a NVIDIA GeForce 3060 series or higher graphics card, a 1TB SSD drive, and 6 GB of RAM, or more. I find Intel CPUs superior in performance and reliability when it comes to any flight sim, as opposed to AMD, but others may disagree. Do not get anything less than these specs.

Controls & Hardware

This is the portable setup I use for travel. I highly recommend this as the best entry-level option with high performance for MSFS 2020. I use the HP laptop, Thrustmaster Airbus sidestick, Xbox Elite controller, mouse, and Thrustmaster Airbus throttle quadrant. You can get the Airbus controllers together for less than $200 at Sporty’s. The Xbox controller can easily be found online or in electronic stores.

For the grand setup for a home, one good choice is the Flight Sim Starter set for $599, also from Sporty’s dedicated flight sim store. The Honeycomb system is reconfigurable for any type of aircraft you want to fly. Once I started flying virtually with this, it became so much more enjoyable and realistic.

Whichever controls you decide to use, they can be set up easily by plugging them into the USB ports—Windows will configure them automatically, in seconds.

Installing the Simulator

The new MSFS 2020 can only be installed through a high-speed internet connection. If you do not have high-speed WiFi, Ethernet, or so forth, then you will not be able to run MSFS 2020 at all. Although this is a departure from the norm of years ago, the sim uses live-streaming photorealistic world graphics, terrain, airports, weather, and traffic. The disk space required for this would be enormous. The sim will push updates automatically for itself and any purchased add-ons, with less hassle than keeping track of all this yourself. However, I must stress that without high-speed internet you will not be able to run this sim—or if you try, you may have performance issues. Investing in a good internet is a must for this hobby.

My recommendation is to purchase and install this via the Steam gaming service online. It is safe, easy, and reliable. The Microsoft Store also offers it, but it seems the highest satisfaction comes from those who use Steam. It may take an hour or more to install the first time, depending on your connection. 

Preparing To Run MSFS 2020

Once the controls are plugged in and MSFS 2020 is installed, you’ll run it for the first time. Depending on your PC strength, the program will determine your graphics settings. In most cases, you can go into General Options/Graphics/Global Rendering Quality to see what is chosen for you. If you have a new gaming PC, go ahead and set this to “Ultra,” save, and exit.

Setting Up the Pilot Cameras and Views

This is one of my biggest things to emphasize. Trying to move and view with a mouse or joystick hat will lead to frustration. Using the function within the sim, find General Options/Controls Options/Keyboard/Translate Cockpit View Right, Left, View Forward, View Backward, and give each one of these a command you like. I have named each of those entries, [Right], [Left], [Up], and [Down], corresponding to the arrow keys. Then find Cockpit Camera/Increase Cockpit View Height, name it [Right Shift] + [Up], and then Cockpit Camera/Decrease Cockpit View Height, and name it [Right Shift] + [Dn]. Combining two commands works.

So now you can “move” easily around in the cockpit; the first step in setting cameras. Once you place your eyeball view in the virtual cockpit where you want it, you must lock it into place.

Next, set up your pilot views or cockpit cameras. There are nine views you can select by pre-positioning your favorite viewing spots, to recall instantly instead of using the mouse or joystick that switch to look around. This will take a bit of time, but will last forever on each aircraft. You can also customize the commands to save each view, 1–9. Go to Controls Options/Keyboard. Your controller will be listed here—take the time to go through each of these menus to customize what you like. “Saving Custom Camera” and “Load Custom Camera” can be accomplished now as well. It is not overly complex but takes some time. Once you do this, you’ll be able to keep these and rarely need to tinker again with them.

I have customized my setup to be CtrAlt+1 through 9 to save nine different viewpoints. Save Custom Camera is the entry in the sim. For instance, to save and lock in the pilot’s view, use Ctrl-Alt-1; then copilot, Ctrl-Alt-2; left view snap, Ctrl-Alt-3; right snap, Ctrl-Alt-4;etc.—however you like. Using your controller to “grab” these views, assign custom “Load Custom Camera” to a joystick or controller button, or keyboard option. I use buttons on my joystick or yoke to allow smooth viewing, snapping to import views, instruments, systems, etc. These will automatically save per aircraft.

I hope this quick course in initial PC setup and assigning camera commands helps get you started with MSFS 2020.There is much more to cover as we move forward in this series. In the meantime, if you conquer this, you’ll be able to start assigning key commands and functions throughout the sim, and deleting many of the defaults you’ll never use. The beauty is that all this is saved automatically. In the 2.5 years I have used MSFS 2020, nothing has been changed, deleted, or corrupted. It’s a game-changer.

This article was originally published in the May 2023, Issue 937 of  FLYING.

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My weather was live and real-time as usual, and I was greeted by ceiling and visibility unlimited (CAVU) the day I started this trip. Once there, I marveled at the incredible scenery and beauty of it all, with lots of snowy landscapes to view. It was early spring but winter in Alaska using the live weather features of MSFS, showed the heavy snows they have been having this year are still in place. 

But once flying a variety of heavy aircraft west along the Aleutian Islands, far western Alaska isn’t far from Russia. My curiosity got the best of me, so I continued the short two-hour trip westward to land in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport (UHPP), a fairly remote outpost but real-world fuel stop for Asia-bound ferry flights. 

From UHPP, it was only another two hours or so to northern Japan, where the flowers were in full bloom and the weather warmer and more inviting. From there, I decided to explore North Korea, but my stay was brief. I entered illegally and had to get out fast, prohibited from taking any photos.

A day trip was reduced to 20 minutes at hypersonic speeds. After some great difficulty hand flying this beast, I was able to get it back into the normal atmosphere, approach the new Hong Kong International Airport (VHHH) with wide open runways, and land at some 200 kts. I was exhausted, but the real reason to come to the new Hong Kong airport is to see the old one, Kai Tak International Airport (VHHX), which operated until 1998. 

For any aviation fan, the destination rekindles some great memories of when airline pilots had to practice the famous “checkerboard” approach to Kai Tak’s Runway 13. It was perhaps the most famous airport in the world back then, and lives today in fame. 

We can explore what landing at Kai Tak was like via MSFS, which still has the airport open and fully operational. Here, I selected the Boeing 747-8i, an aircraft popular among passenger airlines until recently. 

This was one of those special flight sim moments where I remember this event as if it were real. To be able to experience a famous, challenging airport, one that thousands of aviators worldwide got to experience first hand, hand flying in their wide bodies and heavy jets of their time into this exciting airport. 

I had hoped in my lifetime that I would have been able to experience flying into Kai Tak International but sadly missed that opportunity. My feelings are similar to having never been able to fly or even be a passenger on the Concorde. Yet we have all of this in MSFS and other simulators as well, keeping this dream alive. 

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