Good dang it @PaulRix, you know what my question is going to be already. If you have a EE Lighting in the mix somewhere to, go ahead and add that link too. You have excellent taste in aircraft sir.
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Why thank you. 
I’ll see what I can do about a Lightning.
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Ace, it’s flyable, but not really functional for any purpose other than taking pretty screen shots…but those screen shots are so pretty 
. Also, as I learned, the FSX aircraft don’t play well (at all) with VR. You really should give the sim a try though. All my other sims are gathering dust right now, despite the limitations of MSFS.
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thats why I keep distance from MSFS
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@PaulRix I was semi hoping it would not of been. Have you got a link for it to download?
I have been trying to bide my time with MSFS but its becoming more difficult. Its my birthday in January so I might ask the wife for a present for once…(I normally try to ignore the whole day)
A tour of v bomber bases in a Victor does sound excellent fun…
I took the 172 for a flight over/through the Grand Canyon today.
I took off from the freeware addon airport KGCN (forgot to take a screenshot though…), then along the Canyon VFR, and finally followed the Peach Springs VOR to navigate to the Hualapai airport (operated by the tribe of the same name. Sadly no buildings, just an asphalt strip, but that’s accurate judging by Google maps).
Nice flight, this is definitely the best (stock) Grand Canyon scenery in any sim.
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Gorgeous. Mission designers could do well to have some fun search and rescue and off field landing challenges. I’m hopeful that MSFS will spawn a huge selection of things to do with the sim…(I think it already has started)…
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I really hope the mission/“campaign” business takes off for this sim.
I want SAR and firefighting and transport and passenger flights with both planes and helicopters, soaring competitions and all that stuff to happen. The sandbox is there, and it is pretty!
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I very much concur Aginor. After an initial look around at release, I put FS2020 away while waiting for some bug squashing, community default aircraft enhancement maturity, and my Honeycomb Bravo to arrive. The last few days I’ve taken a deeper dive into this sim, mostly in the CJ4 and DA62, and am astounded by what I’m finding. From the interface, to the default a/c (with some WT love) and the scenery, FS2020 is a massive leap over any civilian flight simulation. Sure. I have some minor squawks, but what we have right now is incredible.
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Indeed…it does sort of grow on you doesn’t it? I love the fact that the Community folder is a separate entity. So, presumably, anything you put in there that borks the sim, should be easy to just remove or deactivate one would hope.
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I love the new snow in places that are meant to have snow
A320 mod, everything else stock apart from the grubby Westjet livery.
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OMG…they got to you too…
RIP add-ons and tweaking…
(I know that isn’t true…haha…)
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How difficult is an Airbus compared to say… a viper?
I haven’t touched any of it so far, and it frightens me.
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The main things you have to get used to in airliners compared to (most) fighter jets:
- poor view out of the cockpit. That impacts SA.
- you are not in the center of the plane. That makes visual lining up with a runway harder. But there is a trick: your PFD is normally centered to your flight direction.
- the plane is a lot bigger, but quite fast, too. That makes it kinda sluggish and makes for example lining up with runways harder, you need more space to turn
- the plane cannot take a lot of Gs and the bank angles you are supposed to use are rather restricted.
- you have to land quite centered on the runway.
- you don’t have a HUD in most airliners. The thing I miss most is the TVV.
- airliners are rather easy to overspeed. The Viper isn’t.
- I wouldn’t say that its systems are inherently easier or harder to understand. There are lots of them though, the plane is made to be piloted by two people. I usually delegate the radios to the co-pilot to take some load off the pilot.
- you have to learn how to use the autopilot. Airliners are not flown by hand usually. The good news are that you have small planes with similar AP systems and they are not that hard to use.
I recommend trying a big-ish GA aircraft or a business jet first to get used to that kind of instruments before you try a really big one. Cessna Grand Caravan, Beechcraft King Air, Cessna Citation, that kind of plane.
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Inspired by @Aginor’s Grand Canyon exploration, I decided to try one of my own, but in a bush plane.
I launched from the same airport, KGCN Grand Canyon National Park, where the field elevation is 6608 ft. The excellent add-on Savage Grravel Cub, AKA Monster Truck in the Skies, would do nicely. Basically a helicopter without all that shaking 
The original plan looked something like this.
But I ended up following highway 64 toward the park headquarters, then further along it curved east adjacent the canyon rim for a while…
…before dropping over the side for the 4000 ft. descent past nearly 2 billion years of geological history.
When I reached the canyon floor, I turned NE following the Colorado river. Altitude 2500 ft.
Looking at Google Maps, I believe that this bend is part of the Bright Angel Campground and that there is a bridge here for the Bright Angel Trail.
I continued between the steep canyon walls along the Colorado.
Eventually, the canyon widened and I decided to make the climb back to the rim for some more top side exploration. Since at sea level the Grravel can climb at 3000 ft/min, it reaches the top in around two minutes if one desires.
I picked Hwy 64 again and continued my road recce until it turned away from the canyon.
Near the Desert View Watchtower and Campground, I entered a broad plain.
I played here a while, letting the Grravel cub do what it does best, flying low and slow, slipping and sliding along, pushing its seemingly limitless flight envelope, and landing wherever my heart lead.
One guilty pleasure I discovered was following random two-tracks in the grass. Had Thelma and Louise met their demise here?
Out of nowhere rested this shack. I bet that it held some stories.
Eventually, I came to the place where the Little Colorado joins its big brother.
Before turning west, diving into the canyon, and looping back the way I came, I looked out over the vast plain, which appeared to reach the horizon.
RTB route.
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That was a great journey! I’ve been on that Bright Angel suspension bridge before. Hiked down to the bottom and camped back in 1994. Such a memorable trip…
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That must have been a wonderful trip Chris. Putting on the family bucket list.
One thing that I didn’t mention was that I actually flew the trip twice, the first time in VR. But the screenshots didn’t quite do the flight justice, so I flew pretty much the same flight over again in 2D to capture media. But it was spectacular in VR. To point, when approaching the rim from topside, and then pushing over almost vertically in the Grravel cub, really takes your breath away. And flying amongst the canyon walls along the Colorado, as well as playing on the wide plain with this powerful bush plane, must be experienced in VR. That is if you don’t own a bush plane and live out west.
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