Any Ideas for mid flight bordom

[minibikerider]

so I love all a2a products in general don't get me wrong. the military planes are by far my favorite hands down. any idea for getting over the mid flight boredom. I just hate to do a flight and just quit twenty minutes into the flight.

[robert41]

A couple of things I do on long B17 flights.
Navigating the old fashioned way. With the sextant.
Searching for old radio programs. Internet archives.

[minibikerider]

good to know

[n421nj]

Beer or jack daniels whiskey is what I like to do on long b17 flights. Come to think of it I do it on long b377 flights and short c172 flights as well.

[minibikerider]

not my type of flying but hey whatever floats your boat.

[spork]

I recently installed a TV screen in my Cherokee. It helps alleviate the boredom.

[MadRobbie1]

Old school flight planning on paper - leads to old school navigation in the cockpit - leads to too busy to get 'bored' once you really get in to it!

I fly primarily around the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland), Eire, France, Belgium and Holland in FSX, and only with real-world weather updates on.
I've invested in some ready laminated 1:500,000 scale maps of the above areas, a scale ruler and 'square' protractor, and an air nav dead reckoning computer/circular slide rule (and a few other things like water soluble marker pens for drawing routes on the maps and a flight plan notepad). I also grabbed a few books used for PPL training on learning air nav and weather... dusted off my long unused single math brain cell and got learning!
I work with the Air Training Corps (a part of the RAF Volunteer Reserve Training branch), and I have started training to become an instructor of air navigation....all because of what I started learning in FSX. I am frequently using FSX at home to solidify my own learning objectives while I am doing my studying.

It is amazing what you can learn from FSX. It will never be a full substitute for pilot training (even if a real QFI sits with you) - you HAVE to sit in the real thing to learn at some point and you need the support of a proper training syllabus/facilities if your intension is to indeed take command of a real aircraft one day, but it is a superb tool as a lead-in trainer for learning theory and procedures.

If I plan to fly anywhere else in the world, I also use this free website to help with planning the route https://skyvector.com/

I guess it's down to the individual and what they want to get out of it. If you don't want to get involved with air nav, take a book. Set up a TV and DVD player next to you. Grab a sketch pad and pencil and do some drawing. Make a plastic kit of the aircraft you're flying. Call a relative or friend that you've not seen for a while and talk on speakerphone so you're still hands-free to control the aircraft. Learn to knit. Relax with your favourite drink......experiment with a system or specific procedure in the aircraft and practice using it or the required drill. You'll either become an expert on that one bit of kit or you'll create an inflight emergency that'll focus your attention and kill the boredom instantly anyway!

The last option is stick to short hops.

Whatever you decide, hope you keep enjoying the flying all the same!

Cheers!
Rob

[Paul K]

Bored mid-flight in the B-17? Bring up the manual and read it again. There's plenty to study in a VC such as the B-17's, and more so the B377's if you're flying that one. Read up on the systems, the performance figures, the procedures and so on. There's always something you can learn, so take the opportunity !


Or surf the web, like I do.

[Scott - A2A]

In the real airplanes, especially on long VFR flights, there is little to keep you occupied after you have reached your cruising altitude. So for the sim, I either make shorter flights or you can do other things while en route, that you can't do in he real airplane.

Scott.

[Lewis - A2A]

Thanks to FSX ability of being fully integrated into windows and having full alt-tab support I agree with the youtube/browser comment, I like to use the time to surf the web etc.

thanks,
Lewis

[minibikerider]

yeah, and whats nice to is that i have a laptop at my disposal now too so that will definitely help.

[Paughco]

Sometimes I will run my laptop next to my keyboard and flight controls, and follow the VFR chart on https://skyvector.com/. Or, I'll get out my AN5835-1 dead reckoning computer and figure out my true altitude and true airspeed, and then try to figure out the wind drift, etc. Then, another sip of scotch.

Seeya
ATB

[Alan_A]

...Then, another sip of scotch.

Sounds like more of a P-40 thing!

[reflected]

So, how do you navigate the "old school" way? I guess shift+5 is a cheat, isn't it?

You plan headings, speed and time, then make the turns looking sharply at your watch?

[robert41]

Not exactly old school, but starting with dead reckoning. All pilot do this to some degree, even when flying the latest and greatest aircraft. You and I do this when driving somewhere with are cars. We just do not realize it. Speed, time and distance.