Missouri Simulator Tour-Fredericktown to St. Louis
Previous leg: Marble Hill to Fredericktown
There have been a couple of events this spring that changed the shape of my Missouri Microsoft Flight Simulator X Tour. First of all, my trusty laptop finally gave up the ghost and I purchased a new gaming desktop. The new machine is far more powerful and has allowed me to upgrade to X-Plane 10 and try the Steam edition of FSX. In addition, a real-world goose strike damaged our flying club’s Cessna 172 and caused me to temporarily start training in Skybound Aviation’s Remos GX.
Throughout the rest of this tour I will be experimenting with different airplanes, settings, scenery, and add-ons for both simulators. The flight from Fredericktown (St. Francois County) to St. Louis included touch-and-gos at Farmington, Perryville (Perry County), St. Genevieve (St. Genevieve County), and Festus (Jefferson County). It was my first opportunity to try X-Plane 10. Purchasing and downloading the program from Steam was easy. The only challenge came when trying to install the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. When calibrating the controls I inadvertently confused the pitch and roll and axes on the stick. The first several takeoff attempts ended up in a disastrous roll to the right with the nose dropping straight into the pavement. With a little bit of trouble shooting I discovered the problem, reassigned the axes, and everything started working just fine.
The default scenery for X-Plane 10 is much better than the X-Plane 9 scenery I am used to. There is much more detail. Objects are clearer in the distance. There are even vehicles and trains running around on the ground. Unfortunately, most airports still do not have any buildings on them. Laminar Research has started to address this problem. There are also many members of the flight sim community working to create free scenery downloads, but I must say that the default FSX scenery is still far ahead in this particular area.
On the other hand, default X-Plane scenery remains far ahead of default FSX in terms of VFR navigation. The biggest reason for this is that roads, power lines, and train tracks are far easier to follow. They are clearly visible to the horizon, while on FSX they often fade into the rest of the scenery a few miles from the plane. The fact that I could even see individual trains passing underneath as I flew into St. Genevieve made the effect even more convincing.
The plane that I chose to use for this was vFlyteAir’s Remos GX. The simulator trip was made just a few days before my first real-world Remos lesson was scheduled. It proved to be a good way to get reacquainted with the systems and layout of the Remos. Overall the performance numbers match those of the real-world plane. The glass cockpit took some getting used to, and I am glad that I had an opportunity to get some practice before getting into the non-virtual cockpit. The only real complaint is something that I have experienced in most X-Plane light pistons. The propeller slipstream effect seems highly exaggerated and the Remos constantly wanted to initiate a slow roll to the left whenever I took my hands off the controls.
During the 1.6 hour flight I flew 105 NM and made five landings. Most of the scenery was farmland interrupted by a few stretches of wooded hills. All navigation was done by pilotage and dead reckoning. X-Plane 10’s default GPS is still a bit of a mystery to me. Fortunately, the Mississippi River is an easy landmark to work with and the city of St. Louis is hard to miss.
X-Plane’s scenery designers attempt to create what they term a “plausible world.” They try very hard to match building and terrain types to the real-world map and climate. Overall the effect works quite well. This is very much the view that one sees when flying into St. Louis. The skyscrapers butt up against the Mississippi River with suburbs spilling out as far as the eye can see. There were even trains and cars crossing the bridges below. Despite all of that jumble of scenery, frame rates did not noticeably slow down and the flight remained smooth.
No simulator is perfect. X-Plane does some things very well out of the box, but some things it does not. The default scenery in Microsoft Flight Simulator has lots of local landmarks. London has Big Ben. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. St. Louis has the Gateway Arch. (I know because I have flown through it several times.) Although there are scenery downloads available with all of those landmarks available, it would be nice if a new X-Plane user did not have to go that extra mile.
This is not to say that all local details are missing in default X-Plane 10. Many of the larger airports around the world are very well modeled. St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport is no exception. After landing the Remos on 30L I taxied up to the familiar sight of the KSTL Terminal 1.
Most of the time I try to use simulators as a supplement to my real world flight training. They have been invaluable in helping me practice procedures and navigation. However, they are also just a lot of fun. Simulators let me try things that I could never do in real life. For example, flying through the Gateway Arch would get me arrested or killed, but on FSX it is a great challenge. Just because I could, I decided to pass right by the general aviation parking and taxi the Remos straight up to Terminal 1. Sport pilots usually do not get to park at the jetway. Normally I would get squished by a Southwest Airlines 737.
Conclusion: The first leg of the Missouri Simulator Tour using X-Plane 10 was very enjoyable. Downloading the program through Steam was easy. Control setup took a little work, but the mistakes were easily rectified. X-Plane 10’s scenery is much better than XP9, but the lack of default scenery at most airports is frustrating. FSX still leads the way in terms of default landmark buildings. vFlyteAir’s Remos is very true to life, but is hampered by XP10’s default GPS and exaggerated propeller slipstream effect. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed the glass cockpit and responsive handling. It will take a few more flights before I learn how to get the best out of both X-Plane 10 and the Remos GX.
Flight details: 1.6 hours and 105 NM
Route: H88-KFAM-6MO2-KFES-KSTL
Next leg: St. Louis to Bowling Green
