Join Me For After-Hours Closed Traffic On PilotEdge

Regular readers probably know that most recent Saturday mornings (US time) I join a group of other simmers on PilotEdge to do pattern work and practice radio skills together. The group is called “ACT,” for After-hours Closed Traffic (as the PE air traffic controllers are offline when we begin), and it’s been a lot of fun. The general plan each time is to start at a non-towered field, do some touch-and-gos, fly to another non-towered field, and repeat. After a few stops we then typically head to a towered field in PilotEdge to land under ATC control. There are usually four or five of us online each week. Here’s the schedule for this Saturday at 9 AM ET (all of which are fields in the greater Portland area):

W04 (Ocean Shores)
14S (Westport)
2S9 (Willapa Harbour)
7W1 (Port of Ilwaco)
KAST (Astoria)
KPDX (by MisterX – an excellent designer of freeware X-Plane scenery)

If you’ve never tried PilotEdge, I think you should consider joining us, even if just for the non-towered part of the flight. It’s a great service, and ACT is a great way to begin to learn the ropes. PE has a two-week free trial, so there’s no fee for entry, and we can talk you through the radio calls, so it would be a learning experience as well. If you’d like to give it a try, sign up for a free trial and download the software for your sim. Then, next Saturday at 9 AM ET, just position your plane at W04, connect to the network, tune your COM1 radio to 123.45, and fly with us. It’s a great way to learn the system and have some fun at the same time.

Finally, the hyperlinks in the list of fields above are links to the latest custom X-Plane scenery for each field, should you want them. Be sure to download the latest version as there are multiple iterations.

I hope to see you there!

5 thoughts on “Join Me For After-Hours Closed Traffic On PilotEdge

  1. Sat, 1000 EST

    This looks like great fun – wish I could have joined you. But as I understand it the free 14 day trial is for the core SOCAL area only, and the new expanded area , including PNW is not included.

    Besides, I had to spend time this morning getting ready for a winter storm.

    Anyway, I’m watching this on the PE Map, watching as you made the crosswind landing at Willapa Harbor.

    As it happens, I’m (virtually) in the area with Mooney N2442P parked by Lana’s Cafe at Bowerman (KHQM) in the wonderful Orbx PNW scenery. I fly with VoxATC, which is pretty good, but I am interested in giving PE a try, though since I usually fly closer to my home base (KFRG, Farmingdale, NY) I wonder if I’d get enough use to justify the membership.

    Will try to join you for one of these Saturday morning jaunts, though. Please annonce them as you did this one.

    Also, I hope you filmed this, or part of it; I’d love to see it, not least of all to see how X-plane compares with FSX+Orbx.

    Ken

    1. The expansion is free for a little bit longer if you want to try it. We would have enjoyed having you along.

      I didn’t video it. With photorealistic underneath it looked great. I find the default XP textures quite good, and even better with World2XP. That said, nothing compares to custom ORBX regions. Of course, nothing costs like them, either, and all this XP stuff is free.

      1. Thanks “BFG”. I’ll try the PE free trial period. What and when is the next jaunt? I’m at KSEA now. (I usually do not use the “go to airport” function – if I want to be somewhere I (virtually) fly there. It took me three weeks to get from FRG to SOCAL, via Texas – so wherever the start point is, I’ll want to fly there).

        By the way . . . I love your videos, and find them very helpful. I am especially indebted to you for pointing out the Desk Top Aviator Fuel Tank Select panel – I got one right after you featured it and I love it.

        Ken (Mooney N2442P at KFRG)

Leave a Reply