I started playing fsx in about 2009-2010 when i was about 6 years old. My dad showed me some basics like how to land and stuff. I still remember to this day when i first landed the 737 (on gras tho, cuz i missed the runway) but i was so proud of myself. im 18 now and i learned how to fly bigger planes or fly on vatsim all by myself. im so thankful to my dad who inspired me to fly and its my favourite hobby to do now.

Great video and very true. People forget that a simulator replicates real life situations. If you don't have a friend/guide to help you through, it takes a LOT of studying, especially with these more complex aircraft. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 👍

Russ, you nailed this! I started this hobby because I've always been interested in aviation. Also, getting older has made me aware of how good it is for the brain to exercise it by learning new things, especially those that are a bit more complicated and require research and networking. I have been through the frustration part but luckily not to the point of giving the hobby up. I became more determined to learn and expand my options. I have a nice cockpit setup that I am evolving and a new aircraft to learn and fly. This is an amazing hobby to get into and I encourage anyone that is interested to watch this video and drive on! Thank you for all your hard work in putting these videos together and, on a more personal note since you mentioned it, I hope your mother is doing better.

You know what Russ, I really wanted to challenge your red flags but I couldn't. You're absolutely bang on with everything you say. If any new simmers ask me if its worth it, I'll send them to this video. As a flight sim veteran of 25 years I'm still downloading and printing off 1000 page manuals, and studying them every waking hour lol. I adore this hobby, and aviation. One tip I would give any new flight simmer is, once you have your settings on your PC and/or in sim as you like them, leave them. Don't keep on trying to tweak them, because someone says you should try this? You will be chasing your tail. Set and forget. The only caveat to this is if there is a major patch, or update that fundamentally changes the way the sim works. Another quick point. If you know you're in it for the long run. This is the hobby for you, no going back, then buy the best hardware you can afford. If looked after it will last a lifetime. My Thustmaster Hotas Warthog I have owned for many years, and with the minimum of maintenance, its still flies like new. The only caveat to this is your PC. They usually have a 5 to 7 years life cycle before they become outdated. My 8 year old Nvidia GTX 1080 GPU, and Intel i5 6600K CPU still do a magnificent job of keeping up with MSFS, yet could do with an upgrade A great video Russ, and one that needed to be addressed.

Sorry to hear about your mom Russ, best to her and to you. Hope she gets better and feels better. Just to let you know, it's great to have a pro like you as our co-pilot. There really is no limit to the knowledge you can pass on to those of us who love this hobby. Thanks, pal!

I've helped pilots who are learning IFR to set up modest simulators in their homes with specific aircraft and airports. Depending on the scope of the skill being learned and the instruments on the plane, it has been very helpful for them by allowing them to focus on the instruments and procedures without any risk. It is well known, a simmer would never die in a VFR into IMC situation because we focus and trust our instruments already. This is one of the major causes of fatal GA crashes. Thanks for your videos Russ, I will never be able to thank you enough.

#4 haha. That's been my #1 challenge since I discovered this hobby at age 16 (1983) on my Commodore-64 .😂 Still love it and going strong , with full simpit that I've built slowly over time and VR now, something I could only dream of back then. This hobby introduced me to PC building (for flightsims) as well as the basic building blocks to becoming a private pilot, sixteen years later at 32. For me, it's a passion!

Well how the heck is it that I’ve subscribed to scores of flight sim channels, and just discovered yours for the first time tonight (Feb 14, 2023), via this video? Love the content, consider me a new “bell-rung” subscriber!

Awesome video. My brother is interested in DCS (sometimes), and i am all in on Msfs/xp and Dcs. It’s been frustrating over the years to get him into it. I’ve gifted all my second hand gear, mods and he just doesn’t have the itch to learn…your video opened my eyes to giving up. It’s all internal motivation with flight sims.

Really good points! I disagree a bit with the "Are you busy?" part though. If you're motivated but don't have too much time, it'll just take longer. I have career, wife and two small children but I still have managed to build a nice cockpit. The current version just took me half a year to get it working.

Excellent video Russ. Very thoughtful. Please note, that married men (and such) have found themselves single again past the purchase of The Knobster. So proceed with caution as the man says in so many words. Fly on, boys! 🦊

I think this was a great video Russ and spot on. I have simmed since MSFS 3. Went all the way up to X and spent a lot of time and some money many years after X came out. I made the switch to X-Plane a few years ago because I was finally convinced that it had more true to life flight dynamics, and I figured out that is what I really wanted. Now I am into high end VR simming and love it. But it has been a lot of years and money slowly invested into it. I hope your mom is doing better and it seems to me you are a lot like me in the fact that, family does come first. I wish her well.

Great to hear your calming voice and to watch another of your video's 😀👍 All the best to you and your family.

Couldn't agree more Russ. As a cockpit builder over several years, these things take time, money and effort. The community is willing to share ideas and inspiration and as you say can be a really rewarding hobby to get involved in. Thanks for sharing.

as a person who is disabled, I use my flight simulator every day. I have not mastered anything. I wish I could find one of these people to help me set up my system the way that I want. I’ve had numerous set ups and I’ve sold things and bought new things but now I have the set up I want now I just need to figure out how to get it to do everything. I was so happy yesterday when I finally got my emergency/parking brake on and off program to a switch on my honeycomb throttle. Thanks for your great videos.

Great job as always Russ. I love every aspect from building my computer from scratch to now graduating to a full motion simulator. Good luck everyone.

Great video and you're an exceptional speaker and presenter!

Hi, Russ. Enjoyed the video. I've been a meteorologist (20 years USAF retired) for a long time and am FINALLY going to get my private pilot license. Building a basic sim to get some training started here at home. Thanks for posting and hope your Mom is feeling better!

You got me. I was an Aeroscout in OH-58C's in the Army in the 90's and never lost the flying bug. Older now, much older lol, and picked up X-plane 11 after stumbling across your tutorials. Pretty much built my cockpit up including air manager and the knobster, got x-plane 12 MSFS 2020 but found I really do not have enough time to devote to it with my job and other priorities. I do know that when I retire in 4 years I have most of what I need to really get into it. Thanks for everything you do!

I got the bug when Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 A Century of Flight and been hooked ever since. I also did the X-Plane and Prepared 3D and others. Even though that's a great hobby and totally immersive, I was still not fully into it. I found myself losing interest simply acting like a commercial pilot flying from Rome to Paris on a Boeing 767ER. That's when I found DCS World. Not only is it real world accuracy, but adding combat makes it a whole new type of sim. Not only do you have the basic airmanship of take off, cruising, radios, landing, etc. but now you're dealing with radars, missiles, bombs, rockets, cannons...and all the systems that support them. I found my true calling. It has refocused my passion into aviation and military knowledge. Especially when I got the Super Carrier module. Taking off from a carrier and landing on one is the ultimate in aviation. And the most difficult. But extremely rewarding. It's not for everyone, but if you want to take simming to the next level, that's how you do it

All valid points. As for DIY, I couldn't agree more. It is only because of DIY'ing that I can now fly the sim with Airbus, GA and Boeing throttle quadrants, and rudder pedals (+ helicopter collective control). And the yoke is on the way. With the priorities we all have in life and the choices that must be made, I'd never put the amount of money required for just going out there and purchasing all of those. Then again, building is a hobby in itself, and seeing those things actually working as they should (at a fraction of the purchase cost) is very rewarding. Good video, keep them coming.

It was flight simming that led me to become a real world pilot. After doing flightsim for a few years I said screw this I'm going to take real flight training and went and got my private pilots license. Now I do both.

This was a great summary, well said. Another one here who started with FS back in '82/83 when it still had Bruce Artwick's name on it. FS has evolved to the point of being a true simulator, game indeed. But of all the myriad personal computer "games" in existence, MSFS presents by far the largest hurdles to jump in equipment investment and learning. To say that it's "daunting" would be a vast understatement.

I’ve never seen your channel before but I hope your mom is doing well. Also thanks for the disclaimer at the start. I’m a few days out from my commercial check ride but I was just curious about getting a better setup for my Xbox sim that I play with friends. Have a good one!

Well done Russ, thanks for your thoughts and information.

Hi Russ You five point as so true and one most important aspect in getting into flight simulation and who is the willing to learn new and not being afraid to break old habits. Learning about the computer and have an good understanding of the OS and it flies structure are essential to having have a good flight simulation experience. There are so many who treat their system like it another appliance and give it up like they do an old toaster. I'm glad you did this video and hope that people get something out of it before they decide to dive in.

Such a great video and advice. You nailed it.

Damn good advise Russ so glad you put this out here this is going to help a lot of PPL and save them a lot of money and disappointment...

Russ, you hit the nail on the head... For me it's things like building Air Manager Gauges or re-writing code seeing gauges come to life/ building panels ... Learning different ac systems.. Flight planning and of course good take offs.. Approaches and landings... For me since FS95 it's been an obsession...

Excellent presentation. Brief and pithy. I also appreciated your "Signs You May Be Obsessed With Flight Sims" vid. I started with fixed wing a couple years ago with X-Plane 11. After a few months I took a shot at rotor craft and since I'm from the Vietnam era I ordered the X-Plane Nimbus Huey for drill. After flipping it on it's side like tipping cows any number of times I eventually got it airborne and laboriously but successfully landed it in one piece using a Thrustmaster T.16000M joystick. Well I was hooked and after considerable research found that I needed serious gear to fly helicopters with less frustration. Thus I bought a full helicopter cyclic, yaw and collective control setup made in Italy which works orders of magnitude better than I can pilot. Nevertheless I'm closing fast on crashing only 10% of the time I attempt to go airborne and 50% of the time that I attempt landings. All great fun for an old retired guy even though the hobby has not been a friend to my finances.

1st time visitor... Wonderful description and infotainment. You [are] the Sim Whisperer. Thank you.

Russ, you bring to this hobby inspirations for the rest of us in everyone of your videos

i read the title as "5 red flags that flight SWIMMING may not be for you" LMAO

As a person who couldn't get their license due to medical clearance sims have been a great tool just for staying cognitively active. I fly low by racing cars instead and that's another place where all these excellent points apply. It can be expensive, time consuming and if the hobbyist doesn't have a great grasp on tech they might not get the maximum benefit that translates to real world skills. Great video for setting expectations, hopefully it encourages people to try out and stick with it until they've acquired not just flight skills but tech skills too!

I just love the complexity and the challenge to fly a plane in Mfs or Dcs

Yes, definitely more motivated. Thanks!

Well said. I started flight simming on a whim really to kill some time during lockdown. One new computer, a lot of kit and over 600 hrs of flying later I’m well bitten by the bug in a way I never thought I would be. It’s fantastic, but everything you say is true. I’ve had to learn a lot about my computer, about flying and, boy, the patience - I’ve needed a lot of it and still do. But two years plus on I still Iove it. I’ve had some great learning experiences in my life, but this has been up there with the toughest of them. Great vid.

Spot on with most of these comments, from a real private pilot (not current at the moment) who really appreciates what you can get out of a flight simulator program like MSFS, I agree that it takes a bit of a commitment, although we all have different levels of commitment and it is a great way for someone to get into flying without devoting your entire life to it. Remember, it can get pretty expensive upgrading your computer and adding all the peripherals but it will never be anything close to what you would have to spend to get your real pilots licence!

Russ, just stumbled on your channel with this video. You’ve gained a subscriber. Such a nice presentation. I’ve been swimming for a while. Use it for keeping proficient as I making my way towards CPL. You’re absolutely right. Setting up sim takes work, but rewards are great. Very nice presentation sir.

Best 9 minutes and 31 seconds ever. Had the aviation bug for decades. This goes well for all sims especially combat sims like Falcon BMS, you are not only learning to fly but also to fight and use the aircraft as a weapon. Some folks are coming to BMS and wanting to fly and fight but not knowing what an altimeter is but not wanting to read manuals or watch videos. Thanks for sharing and I will defiantly be sharing this.

You were coming in hot for the Vision Jet landing and just about managed to get down to a reasonable speed. Taxiing speed though..., I thought you were Harrison Ford for a second LOL! Great video though and good disclaimer at the beginning, I play casually and love this sim but do some light simming from time to time. This sim is pretty accessible but for the folks this video is intended for, those red flags are definately worth paying attention to. Nice one! 👍

Well with Microsoft proudly proclaiming 2,000,000 FS 2020 sales on Xbox Series S & X, I noticed only 1.15% have logged 100 actual flight hours since it's launch in 2021. That is 23,000 ACTUAL simmers or devotees as I like to call them. The rest if I can go by 90% of the FS 2020 KZfaq channels are simply having an aviation GTA V diversion in life. I've just passed 500 logbook flight hours on my Series X and May will be my 1 year anniversary of purchase. Some line pilots can do 700+ hours P/A in real life, however I'd say it would be closer to 500 hours P/A or a 40 veteran will have logged 20,000 flight hours. Great channel and I am extremely keen to see where you go with it since you joined in 2006. FS 2020 has definitely put virtual piloting back in a part of the spotlight, yet I am skeptical as to how they expect an extreme niche of simmers to support Asobo and other 3rd party devs.. Time will tell.

The background is military aviation/naval aviation. I started with Pro pilot, then went to 2002, then 2004, after that FSX in addition to X plane 9, 10, and 11, I'm not going to purchase X plane 12, three different computers with various graphics cards. When I think I have the latest graphics card here comes another one; they're not cheap, always trying to get that sweet spot. Plus, I spent a lot of money on add-ons, some doesn't work anymore because of Windows updates. Don't forget controllers. I ended up purchasing computer pilot magazines with some good informative articles. The articles pointed out what you see on the box about a particular add-on is not what you're going to get when you purchase it, learned the hard way. One last thing, VR Is the latest craze. For me this is my hobby and also a learning tool, I have been doing this since the 1990s.

Just started putting my sim together. I've watched a lot of your videos along with a couple of other channels. Your tutorials and advise have helped quite a bit. I just sold my Cessna 120, so I want to try other aircraft, and this seemed a good way to explore.

Thanks Russ for a great article. As an 88 yr old gamer and 3000 hour GA pilot I applaud your thoughts. My wife and co-pilot and I started enjoying Flight simulation as a supplement to working on our Private tickets back in the 60's. Much of what you and others talk about and do we can only dream about in todays world. Simulation has become so sophisticated and requires both a wealth of computer knowledge to achieve the fine tuning and tweaking necessary. Paid 100.00 plus for MS 20/20 ad still can't figure out how to do all necessary to download and tweak to fly it. Thanks for X-Plane which enables many of us old folks to still enjoy flight simulation. Appreciate your articles even though some of it is above my learning curve.

Thanks for making and sharing this video Russ. I was hoping one of the red flags didn't apply to me and I just scraped through as my PC skills are not the best. You could have added a 6th; "will your wife let you site your C152 mock up in the lounge?" Mine did but it took some doing and I had to stop at a single (curved) screen rather than you awesome 3! I guess you have already thought of a future "5 Green Flags" video but in case you haven't, here's #1: Flight simulation allows a level of emersion that keeps the brain healthy especially as we get towards retirement. I'm 62 and look forward to the challenge of flying a complex twin (PMDG 737 for example) into Heathrow, in poor visibility with full ATC. I'm not there yet as still learning basic instrument approaches (PA28 into my local Biggin Hill) that'll keep me on my toes for a few month yet. This hobby has such a future for me and many, many others.

I was recently able to fulfill my dream of being a private pilot in my country. Your videos a few years ago have been inspiring and motivating for me and I continue forward with this great passion. Thank you for sharing and helping us to make general aviation accessible to everyone through simulation. I wish you that your mom can heal quickly and God's blessings. Hug

Great video! I know exactly where you're coming from. As someone who's entire professional career was technology, as well as a private pilot, even I had multiple challenges. I just finished building my new PC, and if I had to think about it, I probably do have multiple thousands (over $3000 just in the new PC). Adding things like the yoke, throttle, radio panels, rudders, multiple screens; it all adds up over time. Even now I will find a missing key binding here or there. Compare that with a good friend of mine who is also a pilot but has no computer experience. His struggles with simple things like downloading drivers for his video card come very hard to him, and he is a pretty smart guy and an excellent pilot. He depends on me a lot with getting his simulator up and running and at least I'm here and I can try and help. We both take this pretty seriously (meaning it's not just a toy) because we use these simulators to supplement our IFR training as well as explaining general aviation to other friends and family. Thanks again for sharing.

Extremely new to the sim world. First tried late June of this year. Bought my first system early July. Quickly realized that I had some performance expectations. So I quickly taught myself to build a computer. Im extremely ocd, and analytical by nature (I have an engineering background as a reference). It was in fact a long, and sometimes frustrating, process. I studied, and took a step, studied, and took a step….over and over. Didnt do myself any favors jumping into the fenix a320, and had to learn navigation etc. I will say that the extreme number of great videos on youtube, simbrief, navigraph, and many other helpful programs accelerated my learning curve.

Thanks Russ, I've been interested in aviation for a long time. Started out in the late 90's with Microsoft Flight sim and am currently running X-Plane 11. I've been using it for almost 4 years. I took two lessons in a Cessna 172 but stopped there. The flight sim hobby is much less expensive and safer than taking flying lessons and renting planes. As you know, you can expand your hobby as little or as much as you want. My basic setup involves a fast desktop computer, one 1080P 27 inch monitor, Logitech flight yoke, throttle quadrant, switch panel and a Real SimGear GNS530 which I use for the Cessna, Beechcraft Baron and King Air. I prefer flying GA planes. I used to use sectional and terminal area charts that I bought at local GA airports, but now use SkyVector online and program flight plans and use the approach plates for landing at various airports. I also use Air Manager on my iPad. That's about the extent of my Flight Sim setup but it's very satisfying. Like you said, it takes money and can be very expensive, but you do what you can and in the meantime, enjoy the hobby!

Russ, now you need to make a '5 red flags that you might be obsessed with flight simming' video. Hehehe... I started flight simming on a Commodore 64 with SubLogic FS2. Flew every MS Flight Simulator version up to FSX before giving it up for a few years (due to life events and getting out of gaming completely). MSFS brought me back and for the first time ever, I actually have wanted to learn the 'real' way to fly (and to fly airliners). Plus, I've started to build a 'cockpit' (well, my version of one anyway as I don't just fly one plane but many from GA to the big boys). 3D printer and Arduinos have made addons so much more available as we no longer have to depend on established hardware manufacturers (Logitech, etc) who may not see the value in what they may consider a niche market. What a time to be a flight simmer.

That's a very informative video, Russ. Thanks! What mostly interests me is historical aircraft and military history...tactics and strategy on the ground, on the sea, and in the air. So, over the years I've gotten into various historical flight simulators in the past, but have not gone as deep into it as what you are talking about in this video. I think I would probably stick with the simpler stuff rather than take on a really advanced flight sim...but I have enjoyed hearing you explain what it entails. That is a great looking airplane in the video, by the way. A really sleek design, and I love the V-shaped tail surfaces, which make sense, considering where the engine is mounted. I'll watch for more of your videos.

Wonderful, Russ, thank you! Very interesting and unique video. (Y)

I appreciate your down to earth segments on Sim Flying! i to am about to put together a simulator, have most of the gear, i also build computers so i'm a head of that problem! at 70 i have the time, i hope to learn and enjoy flying in my basement! Keep producing your videos !!

Hi Russ, I've watched many of your videos and learned a lot from them. Talking about red flags, my biggest red flag was, and is, my computer knowledge and skills. Many things in your videos assume that your viewers know certain computer tricks or procedures. This is where I spent most of my time getting things to work. Like getting a touch screen monitor to work in my set up, or upgrading scenery, which is still a problem for me. But, after retiring from the airlines and the air force, I still love flying approaches and landings in the sim. My plan is to help out high school ROTC students to learn about the instruments and how the controls work. But I still have a few bugs to work out before I invite the principal over to see what I have to offer. I wish there was a way to meet with fellow simmers and share experiences in the sim. Like any great hobby, if it doesn't challenge you, you'll soon move on to something else, and this hobby really can challenge you.

Hi Russ, this was a really good video topic. Succinctly put together and useful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!! 🙂

The same can be said for Space simulators. With KSP 1 and soon to be 2. As well as Reentry they are excellent at illustrating what it’s flying from Cessna clear through the Saturn V and it’s fun to play.

I am a 15 year licensed pilot, with PPL in airplanes and instrument and commercial ratings in Helicopters. I also own a weight shift control, and a supercub. I've been using Microsoft flight simulator since I was a kid, starting with FS 95. I've used every iteration of Microsoft flight simulator on a nearly daily basis for about 25 years! It is what got me interested in flying, and what I used to practice procedures through every one of my real world ratings and endorsements. If you know how to use it, it is and endlessly useful tool. These days I play it casually more like a game just to goof around and do the things you're not allowed to do in real airplanes. 😂 I do occasionally use it to "pre-fly" an upcoming flight to familiarize myself with that airport environment, as well. That being said, I have recently discovered playing it in VR, and holy cow. I will absolutely never go back to playing it on a 2D monitor ever again. The difference in immersion is astounding, and I don't think I could ever play it the old way again. If you haven't tried it in VR, you absolutely should. I recommend the HP reverb G2, but obviously there are better headsets if you can afford them!

I know I started SIM to ease the flying fever until time/funds became available for ppl training. Great observations!

Thanks Russ, I've just returned to sim flying after a 15+ year break. And I am blown away with how things look now. I am making an ordered "priority list" of hardware, add-ons, training, skills to learn, etc in order to continue to improve my immersive experience, my knowledge and my flying skills over time. I agree with not trying to do too much too quickly. As well as the budget issues, I am concerned to avoid the "headless chicken" effect if I introduce too many new things at the same time. I used to fly a simple single (PA28) in real life, but there is so much new to learn for complex GA and commercial - exciting times ahead! BTW, what was that gorgeous V-tail jet you were flying??

Great content which so often is the case on your channel 👍

For me, #4 and 5 are holding me back if I wanted to get into FS2020, but I will admit I still use FS2004 with numerous addons I have from over the years that keep it interesting. I don't use the sim's ATC but rather open LiveATC on a browser to listen in on areas I plan to fly in just to kind of "keep it real" more or less or maybe even listen to soundscape music as I fly on autopilot as I sit back and enjoy a beer. I do enjoy doing VOR-VOR in a Cub or KingAir, ILS landings in IFR weather in the big jets, etc..

I have been doing flight sim for 20 years now i have thousands of hours to the point where i have more hours in my sim than regular pilots have in their tenure so far and i still am on a potato system. I am part of the financially challenged group but i keep going. I have just purchased a new GPU for a reasonable price and working on getting the PSU and a new SSD. I can tell you its an expensive hobby especially when you are in my shoes. But with time and patience you will get there slowly but surely. I have wanted to be a pilot since i got into the hobby in 2003 but due to finances i had to give up on that dream. Now i keep that dream alive at my desk flying for 5 different VAs and loving every minute of it.

For me, the thing that helped me was just trying out flight simming. I started with Flight Gear, as it was free, and an xbox controller I had. Sure it isn't "authentic", or a full sim, but it helped me know if I wanted to go further. I then later changed to MSFS, and continued to use a controller, and then got a yoke. As someone who doesn't need to have a full cockpit replica, and am flying for the joy of it, a slow build up has made me realise that I enjoy the base aspect of flying, and without needing to spend money on anything I will later regret. Although I realise this may not be what the video is for, this is for the people who want an authentic flying experience at home, rather than someone who just wants to experience it casually.

Excellent video with sound advice. My very best to you and your Mother.

I started with MSFS 2004 and CFS2. The entire Earth is modeled with correct latitude and longitude and the stars in the sky at night are the right stars in the right place and you can change the date in the sim that you are flying at night and the stars at night will be in the correct place for that date (if I remember correctly). The squad I flew with in CFS2 were fanatics about getting as real as possible and recreating the battles in the Pacific war during WW2. It doesn't require that kind of dedication to fly in a flight sim like MSFS 2020 though and there are generally tutorials on how to do everything from starting new to becoming an airline pilot. I remember going though the King's training videos in MSFS 2004 and it was quite fun to learn everything. With the graphics and details available now anyone that has any interest in flying and learning aircraft and flight should have an endless amount of enjoyment ahead of them.

Pretty good top 5 list. All true I think, I’ve been simming for years and got past all of them. For any hobby, it’s more about the love of the journey, overcoming difficulties to build something awesome, and learning about every aspect than anything else.

As someone who falls into a group of beginners who plays with a controller, my main issue is I don't really have the space for the equipment. The most I could maybe do is a yoke and throttle, but I don't want to make any big investments until I know for sure how I like it as I have barely any experience and really need to test how much I am willing to play. Regardless, from my experience so far I am trying my hardest to keep the plane in the sky. I try to take flights at least somewhat seriously.

Remind me of one friend, who just got a flight sim. he was pretty excited about it, but he spent too much time looking for equipment and not learning anything in the flight sim. about 3 months later he quit playing flight sim. Anyways nice vid! thanks for the clear explaination

Nice list! I will say as someone that has been simming since 1982 with the first release of MSFS, that the Impatience and Spoiled can also be overcome like time and money if you want it bad enough ;) (from personal experience).

Hi Russ, I've been watching/learning by your videos for years, you are an important reference, TY. These are serious alerts for newcomers indeed! Especially for PC simmers and they are not exaggerated in any way. In general it's also valid for PC gamming Thinking in a broader scope, is there another way ? It's a fact of life that a considerable amount of people (old and young) do not have the "patience" for technology hurdles (like you have, me ..., and most hobbyists) yet they still drive cars, bikes, boats, etc..., even "flying vehicles" in a not so distant future and find joy in it. I believe "that" usually happens for a product when it reaches the consumer level. Consoles, in my view, are a consumer level device and when a game/simulator is available on them that is the way for that group of people to enjoy games/simulators with a minimum of cost and trouble. Of course doing it in a PC is another level of experience but will bring all that Russ says in the video. When someone asks my opinion about a gaming PC under 500€ most of the times that person does not quite understand what gamming in a PC involves nowadays and, probably, my best answer is "hum... buy a console" Thank you and keep up this good work👍

Im a junior lawyer, when i come home from work, y read and learn about the addon aircrafts i buy, in the wekkends (sundays specialy) i fly, i think is about passion, maybe is not a shot term hobby, but its rewarding if you put the hours, i started doing this when i buy a xplane 7 copy with 12 yrs, now at 24 im still loving this things, its completly oposit to my job so is so relaxing for me, i only use a gaming pc with a joystick, but a flight for hours (with the help of old flight calendars from old airlines like pan am or jal). I always love computers, reading and learning, i agree with you in that point.

Hey Russ hope your mom gets better and just remember that it’s ok to take time off to take care of the ones that matter 🙏

Just recently got into flight sims as a hobby. I currently dont have a super amazing setup, just a computer and an oculus quest I had lying around. But it currently does the job while I get the basics of flying around down, maybe in the future if I get better I will consider buying some type of flight sim peripherals.

Really good advice ... thanks for doing this.. I'm over 70 and find flight simming very good brain food and a lot of fun.. the older one gets the less you want to travel due to all the flight issues, crowds etc etc however... flight simming lets me explore the world on my terms and it's pretty cheap when compared to real travel these days... cheers.

I started flying FS2020 to see how my house looked with surroundings. But then I just wanted to learn more and more. So instead of Flying the Icon A5 it’s the 747 just because it’s fun to learn the actual systems inside the aircrafts. And last Black Friday I invested in the Turtle Beach Velocity One just to get a better feel when I’m flying.

Sound advice. Together with a few friends I run the only Flight Simulator Museum in the world, in the Netherlands. We mainly have x-simulators from Airlines and the Air Forces. Our crown jewel is a CAE A310 FFS. It's always great fun to see people who are completely new to flying trying our machines. Some pick it up surprisingly fast and some will never learn the difference between left and right ;-)

Because of Microsoft flight simulator and I have been using it since flight simulator 1998. When my sister got me my first lesson last. My teacher realized that I knew a little bit more than most beginners. He told me while I was turning to the left, and I quote he said well you took that very slowly and perfect. I smile from ear-to-ear you give me my first reward for the first lesson. And the reward was he paid for dinner. Well flying is just amazing fun and exciting thing to do. I use Microsoft flight simulator very often, justifly around places I never been.

I was an FSX guy for a long time. Built my own computer and designed scenery.... Biggest problem for me was the computer demands. I was obsessed with frame rates. Every time I added something, the CPU performance took a hit. It got to the point that it was no longer enjoyable because of the constant maintenance I had to do on the rig just to keep it performing well. Best thing I ever got tho was Track IR. A little hat clip deal that allowed me to turn my head in the virtual cockpit and look around, push buttons, etc. Not sure if that is still a thing in the new MSFS but I have been thinking about getting back into it. I wouldn't do it, if it didn't support Track IR.

As usual a great video Hope your mother does well. 👍

I love the Cirrus Vision. Great small jet. Landing was a touch quick, that plane has a stall speed around 65-68kts with full flaps, touchdown should be around 75ish, maybe 80.

I kind of fell into it. My dad bought me my first PC...mix that with occasional exposure to others' flight simulator programs and meeting a pilot, I just started flying it. It was overwhelming, but I had a good teacher. That got me into aviation programs in college. For 20 years, I only ever used a CH yoke and that's it. Only got my first rider pedals 5 years ago, and finally replaced my CH with a Boeing yoke and Bravo last year! I've only ever played my sim casually... never could effectively use it for real world training. I just liked the immersion and imagination.

cool video, my friend wanted to try it out mainly because he was bored but he is also very impatient, i told him if he were to do a flight from LAX-SFO he would have to wait the full hour. he didn’t listen and well let’s just say he gave up.

I was getting very enthusiastic about flight simming, or rather getting into it. It was the time investment that deterred me. I realized that I already have a lot on my plate and just the games that are not true sims have sometimes proved to be frustrating and difficult to grasp on a more casual basis. So I know I need to really clear up my schedule in order to have the necessary time to devote to actually learning to fly. I think for many of us something that includes settings ranging from almost arcade like performance all the way up to 1 to 1 true flight simulation is needed in order to start somewhere and ramp up the realism and hence complexity/difficulty. Perhaps some of the better "games" would serve as a sort of entry point for someone like me then graduate further into actual sims. DCS in particular grabbed me, not to imply that it is a "game" by ANY means, but that adds even more workload as in military aviation the flying is just the commute to work. The weapons systems and combat survival can be just as demanding or more so than the flying. Flying rubber dogshit out of Hong Kong might be more my speed than Top Gun anyway. ;) BTW, I love your videos Russ. Even though I may not have time to learn to fly right now I still can find time here and there to watch you teach and advise. Thank you.

I've dreamed of being a private pilot... And I think that dream will never be realized. I love flight simming to live that dream without having to spend the time or money getting a real license. I'm not hard core, but flying in VR with invisible vr controls is quite satisfying to me. Good video.

I was using a ddr 3 based pc for the first year of this sim,but it was obvious that I needed something better.Due to a road traffick collision and subsequent insurance payout,I had just enough left over to build a ddr 4 pc which I duly did.Now I have a reasonable upgrade path.I started casual flight simming years ago which included a year or so using Condor the gliding simulator.Gliding I feel is a good place to start and helped me with landings.As I'm retired I fly every day,usually for a hour or so,when summer comes it could be a bit less whilst I travel around a bit more........................................

Amazing video

Great list.

To me, time is the killer. I bought the yoke and quadrant from Honeycomb over a year a go....they are still in the box. At the moment, I am working on a build and hope to have ready in the next week or so and start using the sim as a training device. This time, I will take time to do this. Hope mamá gets better. 🙏 Thanks for sharing, Sr.

With the Aero you really can benefit from a 4090 and that's $1600-2000 on it's own. I tool around with my 20+ yr old Logitech 3D Extreme Pro stick. My OG Vive now 6-7 years in is a screen door nightmare but it's paid for and aero would slot in there real nice with my Vive Base stations and Index controllers. I feel a title along the lines of "reality Check for a good Flight sim Experience" rather than red flags. You ain't flying nowhere in 30min.... I like sim because I'm tired of crashing my RC planes! It got too stressful once I got to big planes, EDF jets etc. Thank Russ!

Something i would like to add if you're coming into the flight simulator world. Do your research KZfaq/Google on add-ons such as airports and aircraft before purchasing anything. If you can't find a review or simply a upload of what you want to purchase, it becomes a much higher chance of you not being satisfied if you purchase it anyways. Flight simulators add-ons in marketplaces doesn't have quality control, because the add-ons are created by 3rd party developers that are not at all equal in skill. And it's best to learn over time why you shouldn't buy from certain add-on developers, because some don't have great track records, and will not correct issues with the add-on you just purchased.

Man you nailed it!!!!!!!!

Very good words of wisdom Russ! I am 68 and earned my pilot liscence in 83, rediscovered the joy of flying with the sims!Thanks Russ for all the good advices and tips motivating us to go further in the play and be able to improve ourself the game!

Thanks for the video.... same sentiments could apply to Sim racing.

Red flag 3 made me chuckle as i always thought i was just impatient because i couldnt set things up perfectly in one go. Have since learnt that i work better doing things a little bit at a time and projects or study done over a couple of days arent a bad thing.(im looking at you SteamVR settings)

Well done!

I tried FSX when I was younger but I found it too complicated and gave up. When I started flying on real life and understanding how planes and physics work, I gave it another try and now I can't have enough of it. I was suffering to land a plane on the sim until I did it on real life and figured out that you control your speed with your pitch, and your descent rate with your throttle

what's this little jet called? Is it available on the MSFS store?

My recommendation would be that if somebody invests that much time and money, that they fly in VR. I use an HP Reverb G2 on an HP Omen 30L with an RTX3090 video card, the game

Excellent vid than in s for the info