Getting Real (Part II)

As I continued climbing, I next took this picture looking directly behind me at the receding airport. During the takeoff, I did notice the airplane pulling to the left. That's one of the realism settings that's turned off on "easy" mode. Engine torque and several other factors cause single-engine planes to pull to the left, especially during take-off. The effect was manageable though, even without rudder peddles, but I suspect on "hard" mode you probably do need direct control of the rudder, and "auto-rudder" turned off to compensate for the added realism.

Anyway, I climbed up to about 2000-2500 feet above sea level (airport is at 714), and then banked to the left and did a 180 degree turn, heading back in the opposite direction. As I took off into the wind, this part of the flight is called the down-wind leg. You can see the airport off to my left in this image:

I continued in this direction, trimming out for level flight around 2500 feet, which is a bit high really for flying the pattern since I'll need to be about a thousand feet lower after I make the turn back towards the runway.

As I flew past the airport, I took this image showing the various hangers and buildings modeled in the program. Oddly, Airport Road, which runs along the far side of the airport when viewed from this direction, is not shown at all in FSX. It makes the airport look like its just out in the woods, inaccessible except by air. I suppose if they ever get MegaScenery Dalton posted, I can fix that:

I continued past the airport, but without realizing it, I let the wind push me in towards the airport, and push my heading slight to the west. Thus, when I turned 90 degrees to my left, and looked out the window, I was well past the airport and had to do a 270 degree turn back to the right to line up for landing. I'm sure that's not how you're suppose to do it, but it worked for me this time. More landing images coming up in the next post.