chris writes:

Yep, but it just seems to take forever! I also find it a damn pain to
hand-fly the sim, preferring to set the autopilot.. IRL I don't have
any issues hand-flying..

Here again it may simply be an issue of sensations. In the sim you have
visuals and sound, and that's it. Depending on what part of real flying
appeals to you, this could make flights very boring.

I don't like to fly three-hour legs or anything like that in the sim. It gets
boring and there's not much to do. I don't know if I'd feel the same way in a
real aircraft. Then again, in a real aircraft, toilet breaks would probably
limit the length of legs more than anything else.

I just remembered something you might be surprised about.. Our
national airline purchased 16 or so Beech 1900D turboprop airliners a
year or two back. They ordered them WITHOUT autopilot! They have to
be hand flown the whole time. Rationale was apparently that it keeps
the pilots sharp by making them fly the whole time.

I guess they forget their history easily. The whole motivation for autopilots
to begin with was to reduce pilot fatigue and improve alertness. Flying by
hand is very tiring. After a few hours of flying by hand, one becomes quite
tired, and less and less attentive. Mistakes are made, important information
is overlooked, and sometimes problems ensue.

Flying by hand can keep the pilot alert if there is variety to it. Few
fighter pilots would want to fly on autopilot most of the time (although
fighters often have autopilots, too). But if you are just flying in a
straight line for 300 miles at a time, your alertness is not enhanced by
constantly holding the yoke. That's true for aircraft, cars, motorcycles,
boats, bicycles, and everything else.

It is a right royal pain in the ass!!! Anyway, you don't need
crossfeed for a single

If you have to switch tanks in flight, there are clearly still improvements to
be made. Remember John Denver.

Might depend on the twin - the fuel systems are as varied as the
aircraft. And on things like Twin Comanches and Aztecs I believe the
fuel selectors are between the pilots seats on the floor where you
can't see them at night!!!

Perhaps so. I only know the arrangement in the Baron.

It sure is! If I have any chance to fill er up I will.. But I always
have to keep an eye on weight - I fly out of some short runways and
weight is always a concern, especially on Pipers which aren't happy to
fly until they're good and ready...

I thought Piper Cubs in particular had a reputation for flying almost
immediately. The simulated Cub does, but I don't know how accurate that is.

When you apply the flaps you need to push forward to counteract the
climb, if that's what it's trying to do. Some planes are worse than
others. If you bang flaps down on a 172 you better be ready to
push!!! And if you have lots of flap down and you try to do a go-
around you better have a strong set of arms on you, I understand
bigger Cessnas are even worse...

Because ... ?

Probably not, but you might want to chop the power to idle when you
flare, or it will probably float for miles!

True, but runways are often so long that I don't worry much about it. If I'm
landing on a truly short runway, I try to get down more quickly. It seems
that most runways are generously proportioned with respect to GA aircraft.

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