I signed up a few days back and am rarin' to go. Can I just use the standard airports and aircraft in FSX? (For SIDs, STARs and airports I subscribe to Navigraph Charts)
I have flown on PE for a year using default FSX airports & scenery. Only rarely has the difference between real world and FSX airport layouts been an issue.
However, it doesn't matter to me what the airport looks like as long as the runways and taxi ways are accurate enough to follow ATC instructions. Also, I mostly fly IFR.
From my own part, one of the things I found most lacking about using a default FSX setup was the poor weather in FSX. Often I found HUGE difference between FSX weather and real world weather. I ended up getting REX.
I found REX to be an improvement regarding weather but it hurt my system stability.
I do have an add on aircraft which I fly often (PMDG JS41).
My advice. Don't let the fact that you are running default FSX stop you from enjoying flying on PE.
Thanks, wmburns, that's precisely the information I needed! Am going to proceed with standard FSX and the standard Cessna 172.
I bought Rex some months back but am yet to install it (am waiting till I become facile with basic ATC communication as well as landing the Cessna reliably) ---
The AVSIM file library has some good updates to taxiway sign/layouts at many of the airports in SoCal. If you plane to base your flying out of a particular airport, it would be good to download an update to the stock FSX layout. Sometimes the discrepancies are pretty ridiculous.
Julio Elizalde PilotEdgeAir Traffic Control Specialist & Controller Instructor PP-ASEL
You'll be looking to update the AFCAD files. Just look it up in the AVSIM file library (the last airport I updated was SBP, San Luis Obispo). Follow the directions in the downloaded file and it should be a bit more accurate than the stock FSX taxiways.
Julio Elizalde PilotEdgeAir Traffic Control Specialist & Controller Instructor PP-ASEL