Circular Runways?

I think circular TAXIWAYS made more sense. Thevideo shows just how easy it is to make a wing/engine strike. And in turbulent/windy/freaky conditions, the pilot would have to constantly adjust during the banking turn. I have a hard time in a simulator on a straight runway (and apparently some pilots do too in real life).. what more one that requires you to make a banking turn..

...and just how do you do a crosswind at the moment of touch down? Just imagine a sudden crosswind during touch down and the rudder turn right after that would have to be huuuge to compensate for the xwind + runway bank + runway radius...

The Story Behind Flightgear Default Airport, KSFO (And also MSFS & X-Plane)

So while having some time to myself and flying around KSFO (San Francisco International Airport) region I thought to myself; is there any significance to using KSFO as a default airport for Flightgear?

Although there is not any official reason as to why KSFO was chosen as its default, here's what I got when I asked & searched around:There are probably some requirements for an auto-startup airport to make a good impression to newbies in flight sims, which is having good scenery of built-up airports, city objects, great landscape features.


KSFO, or San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, easily meets just such requirements. Surrounded by hills on one side, and a water feature (bay) on the opposite end, and some buildings and bridges. So no matter which part on the runway you spawn, you will see some features and details as visual eye candy. KSFO also offers some fairly advanced challenges for relatively new users, such as having terrain & structures to avoid during take off or landing, but still has the open water landing approach perfect for people attempting their first landing.

A short flight into the skies and a few turns in the correct direction and the world famous Golden Gate bridge will greet the new user, piquing his or her interest to go closer for a look, and there's also the famous Alcatraz island and various other landscapes / structures to buzz around and experiment with flying.

And once the user gets the hang of it, start flying to the other plentiful nearby airports around it, like KHAF (Half Moon Bay) or KOAK (Oakland International) both of which are just a really short hop from KSFO.

So, KSFO as single auto start place is a very good choice, for the first time users to experiment, and the place is literally full of other airports and airstrips to go to all within a short time.


What about MSFS's Meigs Field?

I don't know if you're old enough to remember the first few versions Flight Simulator, or even the Meigs Field, but the original MSFS's startup airport uses Meigs as its default starting airport. 

Although there wasn't an official reason ever provided by Bruce Artwick, the creator of the original Flight Simulators in the late 70s & early 80s, people surmised that Meigs was chosen partly because Bruce was from Chicago, and also Meigs is a very beautiful airport jutting out into the lake surrounded by a marina with boats, yatches (although none of those are depicted in the original simulators) and world famous buildings.

In fact it was probably a no brainer choice as the default back then, as upon startup on Runway 36, the first recognizable thing you will see after take off is Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, and with nearby Chicago O'Hare International Airport & Midway International Airports to fly to.

It was a beautiful airport, but alas it didn't last. In 2003, the through a combination of some political madness, some post 9-11 panic and other reasons unfathomable to me, the Mayor of Chicago destroyed the airport by bulldozing the runway with large X's on it, even stranding some planes that are still parked the airfield.

What about X-Plane 10's Seattle-Tacoma International - KSEA?

 Well I can't find any info on why KSEA was chosen as the default start up airport in X-Plane, but it was a nicely detailed, nicely modeled airport, with an odd runway that slopes upwards so your horizon is shortened quite a bit. The scenery in X-Plane is also odd in that it comes with "built-up" data generated at random based on how the roads are and how likely a buildings are placed.

 Because I only had the X-Plane demo for a while, I don't know too much about X-Plane other than I love the demo, it has great visuals especially the lighting.

 X-Plane apparently also changes their default every version. In version 9, it is at LOWI - Innsbruck, Austria. In version 8 it was at KSBD - San Bernardino, California, USA.

Boeing's 787-9 Dreamliner & Airbus 350 Performance at Farnborough

Boeing's "Rehearsal" video That climb was 45 degrees, holding it for about 5 seconds and then a negative-G back to level. That, for an airliner is very impressive. And the 60 degree bank! For most airliners 60 degrees would most definitely upset the turn. Another maneuver is the touch n' go with a banking climb, which was eventually banned! Airbus 350 doing the "combat climb". The steep climbout is way shorter, and it turned to its right. No negative-Gs.

Practice on Approaches

I got to work more on my approaches. It seems that my trouble with most jets is that I tended to stall the aircraft on final approach because I came in too slow, dip a wing and poke a hole in the ground just yards away from the runway. -_-

Recovery with the keyboard to apply throttle is far too slow to react to the stall.

Just as bad, I overshoot the runway more than once too. Again, slow throttling with the keyboard means that I land in someone's backyard instead of the airport runway instead of going around.

I have most fun with the propeller Cessna 172p on FlightGear though, I can land it from any position in the air onto a runway nicely without any sort of problem at all, even in crosswinds.