Hooray, my first Takeoff !!

[Otto Groschenbügel]

Okay, this was not quite what I expected when I bought CRJ-200...

After my decision to give X-Plane10 a try a month ago, I was surprised how fine the v.10 looks, compared to older versions. So I thought about buing a SERIOUS plane for it. That was CRJ-200. Thought flicking through the manual and hop, up in the air.

In the end I spent 1 1/2 hour ON THE GROUND while working through the tutorial just to get the plane to the runway holding position. And just when I tried to align with the runway, one of the engine died. No, I had no failures selected in X-Plane, it looked like I had somewhere pressed the wrong key or switch... I was so depressed that I switched off the computer and didn't touch CRJ-200 for a week.

But yesterday I gave it another try ! I didn't remember much about the first "flight" so I had to grab the tutorial again. And this time I only used about 1 hour for the preparations. (My wife came by and asked: "Aren't you gonna fly ? Is something broken ? )

This time both engines worked and I really managed to takeoff ! But what was that ?? The plane behaved as stubborn as a mule, it bounced up and down, and from left to right. Even after I activated the autopilot, the plane couldn't hold course neither altitude.

OH BOY, is it really THAT hard to fly this baby ???

After a while struggling I had an idea, went to the weather menu and BINGO ! I had still activated "Real weather from the internet" from a last flight. And on that day, big storms rushed through my region here in Germany, looks like they were in Spain too !

After I switched to global calm weather, I was relieved, everything worked now. And I began enjoying the flight.

Okay, I must admit, I didn't manage to "catch" the flightplan at first so that I flew in the wrong direction but that is another story...

What I want to know now, what were your experiences during the first flight with CRJ-200 ??

[Mike Hotel]

Congrats making the first flight, the learning curve is a steep one. It took me a while to get the CRJ airborne, too. Did you watch Javiers excellent 60mins tutorial video?

Just wait for the moment you are ready, engines running, and not being able to move the CRJ from the very spot.

If you want to try real ATC, have a look at IVAO (sneak peak) or VATSIM. But thats is another challenge...

[MasterTRL]

Hi Otto,

oh how i know the "Aren't you gonna fly ?" from my Wife. Exactly the same for me.

I watched the whole Tutorial even before i bought the plane so i was pretty much aware of what i had to expect. But i have to say that i am very new to such realistic simulations. I have tried Cliffs of Dover before, which is also very realistic, but getting a spitfire off the ground is really a different thing.

So when i got the CRJ i also spent over an hour diggin through the tutorial. Once the engines where running i have to say that the Takeoff was not that big problem since the whole AP procedure is not that different to other planes. Programming a route, following it ans even calculating the top of descend did go well so far.

At the momment i´m struggling with ILS approach and how to configure the visuals to be nice while fast.

Overall this is just a great plane, not only to look at but also to feel it. And it is still a long way till i will be able to interact with other people online while trying not to crash.

Cheers

Chris

[jagipson]

I had a similar experience. It took a while for me to start the engines without turning the back of the plane into an impromptu "smoking section."

The difficult an detailed systems don't bother me though. I love this plane. I love that most of the systems are simulated. I love that if it takes RL pilots 1/2 an hour from cold and dark, to taxi; that it takes me about the same amount of time.

[hobofat]

What I want to know now, what were your experiences during the first flight with CRJ-200 ??

More or less the same as yours! I went through the tutorial about 3 times up until the point of take-off without actually taking off, and now I've now managed to get through the tutorial flight successfully, twice. The first two tries were failures though. First time I don't know what I did wrong, and the second time my computer crapped out on me.

But two successful times in a row and I'm now planning a different route for my third try. Thinking Valencia to Palma de Mallorca, this time. Short, not too complicated. I just need to update my navdata. I went for it with the default data and it didn't match up with up to date charts, so need to drop some cash on Navgraph before trying again.