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Setting Up Your Sim

Here’s the second in our series on getting started with an at-home flight simulator.

Once you've gotten your own at-home flight simulator, it's time to get it properly configured. [Illustration: Clare Nicholas]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article emphasizes the importance of adjusting the pilot's eye point in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 for realistic visibility and improved landing, noting that default views are often too low.
  • It strongly recommends customizing key bindings for essential functions like flaps, external lights, and comprehensive autopilot controls to ensure efficient cockpit operation, providing personal examples.
  • The author suggests using an Xbox controller as an inexpensive and portable dedicated autopilot unit, programmable with custom key assignments to complement other flight hardware.
  • For enhanced realism, the article advises purchasing add-ons like FSRealistic to introduce dynamic environmental effects such as vibrations and sounds, which are largely absent in the default simulator.
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If you’re beginning to entertain the idea of purchasing your first airplane, you likely have dozens of aircraft reviews and buyer’s guides bookmarked in your browser. You’ve probably learned how important it is to match an airplane’s capabilities to the sort off lying you expect to do most often. And if your daydreaming has evolved into analysis, you might have already begun to narrow your choices to a handful of potential candidates.

In Part 1 of my series featuring Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 initial setup (May 2023/Issue 937), we discussed the importance of making instant views to use all the time when flying. Positioning yourself and creating the proper “captain’s eye point” is crucial in being able to fly like a real pilot would, as well as correct sight positioning and view toward the runway to enable landing like the pros.

Peter James

Peter is an experienced Part 135 business jet pilot with a passion for simulators and how they blend with the real world. Learning to fly at age 12, he supplemented his passion and career goals with the early versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. With the growing realism of all PC simulators today, he frequently uses them for extra proficiency, and loves to show other pilots how great they are.

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