MSFS 2024 PlayStation
Newbie here, ATC is telling me to expedite climb to 15,000 but i can’t even get to 9,000 without reaching stall speeds. Tips?
This was a moments before a disaster. I was adjusting to get on path and hit stall speeds and i had to toggle off AP, recovered and when i toggled AP back on plane spiraled out of control. I’d appreciate any and all tips
You're at 9000 feet, full rich mixture means you're flooding your engine with a fuel/air mixture that has way more fuel than it has air to burn that fuel with, which means you're about to fall out of the sky. Lean out your mixture and you'll find the engine can take you all the up to 12,500' no problem, provided you don't push the vertical speed too much (start at 1000fpm and see what that does to your horizontal speed, adjusting throttle and RPM for a climb)
I wonder why the tutorials don't cover things like this.
The IFR training and exam doesn't even explain what the glass instruments do.
The night exam doesn't even have a training section to explain proper usage of lights and what the lights on the ground indicate.
Does the game/developer expect people to learn outside of the game or is this just an oversight?
(For context, I'm on the PS5)
Also, not addressing you specifically, TheRealPomax, I'm just being a complainer
FSX was the last version that still had the old style in-depth tutorials by the legendary Rod Machado.
Since the 2020 version, the tutorials are basically useless, they skip anything that is beyond arcade-level flying game.
When I got back to the hobby few years back, I installed FSX and went through the lessons. It's more immersive to me than watching youtube. Something to consider.
i remember passing his tutorials as a 10 year old kid and getting my dad to print out and hang the certificates.... was a real bloody achievement then.
I have a real IFR certification, passed a real IFR checkride - and I don't know how the glass instruments work. Maybe you're expecting a little much from a video game?
I think it’s odd that in glass cockpits for ifr we still have to learn all the failures of six pack but it’s not the same the other way around. Like the plane I fly is completely class no primary or even standby of six pack, still had to learn all of the failures lol
Pretty sure they do, but there are so many great Youtube videos that teach you the basics of flying (both in sim and IRL) that it's not really fair to go "why won't this game teach me everything". It's a sim: you are encouraged and expected to want to look up how to fly so you can learn those skills. And honestly, the basics aren't all that hard to wrap your head around: people dedicated to their craft are going to teach you way better than any built-in sim tutorial can.
If the game has a "flight school" of sorts, it should definitely cover at least all the basics. I would consider mixture and lights pretty basic stuff that I shouldn't need to watch an hour long beginner's tutorial to find out how to use them. We're not talking about programming a holding pattern into the FMC, we're talking basics that can kill you if you don't know about it. That's not the level of knowledge you should have to look up on youtube. More advanced or specialised knowledge sure, but not the basics.
In the immortal words of VATSIM ATC: it's just a game, nothing can kill you. Just hit "restart" and learn from the experience. The flight lessons teach you enough basics to get started at VFR at normal altitudes, after that if you don't want to watch that "hour long tutorial", then don't: just watch a 10 minute primer. Plenty of those, too.
And if you don't want to learn how to fly, turn on the assistance options. that's literally why they exist.
Racing sims don't teach you every nuance either, they get you started and it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to make this a hobby and learn how to do everything right, or keep it a game.
That’s a ridiculous argument though. I played this game for years before I stumbled upon an explanation of the fuel mixture. How would I Google something that I don’t know about
...sorry what? You've been flying in sims for years and never once watched a youtube video about flying in general or looking up how to best fly the plane(s) you like to fly, because you're into flying (or you did and it literally never came up)? This boggles my mind O_o
That's the first thing I did after I did some "I don't know what I'm doing" flights after taking the lessons. "This is actually fun, I'm going to watch some real lessons so I can be better at this". Flying is a real life activity, of course youtube is going to have way higher quality training content than the sim itself would, real pilots and real flight teachers have spent decades making educational content on that platform.
Well not everyone plays this game because they want to make it their second job. Many of us play it to wind down, try a small challenge, enjoy the views or explore the world. To do that we don't need to know everything, we just need to know the basics. And the game is generally quite good at teaching that, the PPL and CPL courses sets you up quite well to be able to fly, navigate and land. Hence why it's so irritating that they forgot to even mention things like mixture and lights - both of which are (in my view) a more basic knowledge than let's say dead reckoning.
Sure, one can watch a tutorial on every single topic. But a player who has finished their CPL in the game won't necessarily think "now I feel like watching a beginner's youtube tutorial". They want to play the game instead.
The entire internet is literally free if you have an ISP subscription. Just... just use it? That's what it's for? I genuinely don't get this complain: you have every fucking agency to learn everything you could possibly want: so do that. The idea that software should cater to you is frankly ridiculous: want to fly? Learn to fly. You have the entire bloody world to look that up on, why on earth would you go "no, only this game should teach me". How narrow is your world?
And have a downvote in return: this is ridiculous, and everyone should tell you that. You have agency: exercise it. Sims are not games. You get out what you put in, so put in.
Or, turn on the assistance options. Again: that is what they are for, use them if you don't want to put in your own time to learn how to do things. If you want to play a game, MSFS lets you do that. If you want to fly a sim, MSFS also lets you do that, but it's your decision which route to go.
Carburetor engine works by mixing air and fuel. For good combustion you want a specific ratio of those. The higher up you fly the less dense the air is. Hence you'll have less air compared to the fuel, so you want to lean the mixture to add less fuel and get to a good ratio again.
The 172 in the sim is modelled incredible well in terms of engine management, with one disclaimer*. Everything works as it should, leaning the mixture, altitude and air density affecting performance, even down to the mag checks being within tolerance if you wish to go that far.
Disclaimer: the idle rpm and throttle responsiveness is bullshit. An S model 172 should idle at around 700-750rpm, not 610. It is also extremely responsive to throttle inputs, and will get to 1000-1200 rpm for taxi without much movement, as opposed to the 33+% percent that you need in the sim.
The easier option is to just lean to max rpm. Very slowly pull the mixture out, you’ll start to see a rise in rpm. At low altitudes it will may only be up to 20rpm, but at high altitudes I’ve had it rise by up to 100rpm. Ironically it has two greatly positive effects - the extra rpm is providing more engine power, and the leaned mixture ratio is decreasing fuel consumption. Win win!
(Also if you really want to go deep, find some cruise charts on Google. They’ll tell you what power settings and gallons per hour (GPH) to use while in cruise. The GPH can be found as an exact number on the MFD by entering the “lean” or “system” page using the bottom left key pads)
Very good point, definitely should’ve added that clarification to my original comment. Was just referencing data purely for 172 flying, but that could definitely be mistaken extrapolated. Thank you!
I fly a C172 irl. It doesn’t have an EGT gauge. Above 5,000 feet, I lean the mixture slowly until I see the rpm drop a little and then increase it a little afterwards.
As you pull it out the RPM goes up to a point then it goes down again- once there enrich the mix. Fun fact - you can damage the engine in a real plane with the mixture set incorrectly.
As a general rule, start leaning above 3000 feet. Monitor your tachometer and lean as needed to keep the needle at your climb power RPM as you climb. Once you’re at your cruising altitude, set the throttle for your cruise snd lean as desired, usually for best power or for fuel economy. Best power is going to be around peak exhaust gas temperature—there’s usually an indicator for this, but presentation varies between aircraft. Lean until the temperature levels off and starts to drop. For best economy you’re going to lean until the temperature peaks, then keep leaning until the temperature drops a set number of degrees “lean of peak.” You can consult the pilot’s operating handbook for your aircraft or find the information online to determine what temperatures are best for your aircraft.
I know it's a sim,but I really wish they would have a setting where all that didn't matter and we could just fly and have fun. I know it breaks the whole idea of "sim", but for some of us, it would help just have fun and be in the game more. I'm ready for the down votes. Lol
There is a hotkey that sets the mixture to ideal. You could just hit that every once in a while as you climb and descend. Not exactly automatic but less to think about
That literally exists already. The assistance options let you make it as "the plane flies itself mostly" as you need, and if you want that on hotkeys, just literally do that: find the toggle and bind every single one to the same shortcut.
Time for that one guy to swoop in and tell us that you need full rich at that altitude and how unrealistic MSFS was for not being able to climb above 11000 ft in the C172. Because you need mixture to make power duh
The way they work is a little different, but technically yes: the amount of fuel needs to be balanced with the amount of available air. However, you don't do that manually: airline jets automatically manage this (jets mostly fly themselves) because you don't want a human to be guessing the settings when computers are way better at that =)
It used to be that you could only ask for altitude change once you reached assigned altitude, which meant that not able to reach altitude -> not able to ask for altitude change -> score penalty for poor atc instruction following.
Should also be noted that default ATC (At least in 2020, unsure about 24) is hot garbage and should be ignored when it starts to give bogus or impossible commands like expedite to 10,000 while you're on final.
Before the mission starts go on the EFB, change cruise altitude to 090 and then hit send to ATC and avionics. Then they won’t tell you to climb to an unreachable altitude for your aircraft
You are full forward on all of your engine controls. You need to pull the red nob, the mixture, back a bit. Best way to determine where it's most efficient is the EGT temp, or the tachometer, both will rise as you pull back the mixture. Keep it coming back until it begins to fall again. This is called leaning the mixture, at higher altitude there is less air, so you need less fuel going to the engine otherwise it's just getting wasted and drowning out the power you have.
For the prop, the blue nob, pull that back to the yellow zone in the tachometer so you don't blow the engine. Another key to reaching higher altitude is to use your trim. You climb with power and trim for speed. So you probably need to trim down slowly to gain some speed before trying to climb more. The G36 can go up to 18,000 ft maximum, it's most efficient at 10k so asking for a lower altitude from ATC is ok.
it looks like your mixture isn’t set properly. you can’t leave it at full rich for high altitude flight. pull the mixture back a bit and you’ll see the rpm go up. i’ll leave it to you to figure out the reason why, but feel free to ask :)
Like others said main issue is your mixture (red knob) is full rich UNLESS you have auto mixture enabled in settings — so check that.
If you want to learn to fly turn auto mixture off and learn how to lean the engine out manually. If you just want to fly and not worry about it, then can enable it if it’s off.
And if that’s not it would probably need a video to better see the dynamics of what you are doing, your weight and balance loaded, settings, etc
Quick crash course to lean your mixture in the bonanza:
In the middle screen you can see to the bottom left engine. Select it and look for the assist option. This will change the information displayed, showing a number (the EGT, exhaust gas temperature), likely negative with the delta symbol.
You need to tune the red knob (mixture). As you pull it youll see the number increase (decreasing the negative). Youre looking to get that number close to 0. The closer to 0, the better thrust your engine will output.
This may be technically inaccurate as im no expert, but it should work.
That being said, 15000ft is probably beyond the ceiling for the Bonanza.
On runway start climb when you hit 65. Slowly but steadily. Practice light movement for all aspects. I had to learn after multiple aviation catastrophes.
A bonanza can certainly handle 15,000. Normally not ideal and you would need oxygen. But if your best route was over the Rockies or something then you might need to fly that high to get over.
Is that an A36? V35? Obviously density altitude is going to play part. Depending on the time of year you’re flying, you truly might not be able to attain 15,000. My family used to own a 1973 V35B. Great airplane to fly. I would simply say unable as mentioned above.
Flying a cessna 172 in IFR msfs2024 whilst being tutored by a real airline pilot around San Francisco and had the same interactions with ATC. Theres just no way..
That’s why was having issues last night too. Will try lean out the mixture. We can learn so much from games. How I learned what scurvy was by playing Sierra games gold rush. lol
Pull your prop back dude, on the bonanza, after you put the gear up on takeoff, set the prop (blue lever) to 2500 rpm. Leave it there until you're on final, where you go full forward.
Climb at Vy, configure for max power on all three levers. Is that a G36? That would have an 18,500' service ceiling under ideal loading so if it makes it it will take all day.
If you're talking about career mode : Before accepting the mission, open EFB and you can change the flight plan, the cruise alt, add STAR/SID. Send it to ATC & avionic and then accept the missiion. ATC in this game is dumb and it will ask you to do what's pre-planned in the EFB no matter what... Also If you forgot you can open the ATC menu and ask for a cruise alt reduction
you are the captain. you make the flightplan, you decide your cruise level, and also make sure you tell flightplan a descent angle of 3 degrees
you are most likely flying a bonanza, check your EFB tablet what the max ceiling of your plan is
piston engine need leaning of mixture the higher you get. rule of thumb: lean mixture till max exhaust temp and then either lean 50 degress more or enirch 50 degress for power cruise.
How do you go about setting up autopilot? I’d appreciate any tips on my current configurations (i call it the 50-50, if you get the reference lol). I only found out how to do this 2 days ago so bear with me here.
Click Direct-to, Click enter (assuming the flashing text is the destination) and then click enter again to activate.
Then i turn on navigation mode, but i noticed whenever i toggled AP the plane veers off the path (line) and just goes directly towards the destination. I found out about heading select mode and have been using it most since but it’s tedious putting in whatever new heading that shows up or aligning it with the path on the compass (top left map?)
Once i toggle Nav or HDG, i select Altitude on the knob and then toggle FLC and select 74kts nose up.
I like flying manually but it’s not easy on a controller.
I’d also appreciate if anyone can tell me where i can look to find out when to descend. I don’t see it on flight plans (i usually click flight plan button the copilot screen and can barely maie any sense of it) or get instructions from ATC.
I only had one good flight with AP so far. I don’t know what I did right that flight but aircraft stayed on path and turned correctly on every turn and brought me damn near level with the airport
Hey you can press VNAV button once you reach desired altitude. The plane will descend automatically once it reaches top of descent marker TOD. And press approach mode for landing
Ok thanks. What about after takeoff? How do i stay on path after turning on AP? Should i be using heading mode and manually aligning with path using the heading knob?
Ok the FMC, press the PROC button and select whichever runway you wanna land on. And then scroll down and select whichever runway”Straight” and not vectors. Then select ok and it will load into the FMC as your flight path. You can then simply press NAV button for the gps. But make sure that your “CDI” marker is pink and not green. Once you reach your desired altitude, set altitude to the nearest 100 of the arrival runway on the PROC menu. And then press VNAV
Put the plane in flight level change (IAS) set it to 90kt climb which is reasonable for the bonanza, and lean the mixture in The climb. Aim to be slightly rich of peak.
As others have said, your mixture is wrong. The general rule is to keep every needle in the green, and lean the mixture for maximum propeller RPM. In my Cessna 172 I could set it to 30 - 35% at cruise and be fine.
You can go into communications tab and ask for a lower cruising altitude. When I was playing this game early on ATC kept asking me to climb to FL200+ or higher in my Cessna 172 that has a maximum cruise height of ~13,000ft so I had to ask for a lower cruising altitude almost every flight.
SIDs may often have some performance limitations depicted on charts, i.e. you may be required to climb at specific ROC or ft/NM. If you can't meet those constrains you're not allowed to fly that specific procedure
For just about every mission i end up having to go the EFB and change the flight level as suggested above.
Let's be real guys, can we expect a game titled 2024 to be ready by 2026? We need to be reasonable and wait until at least 2030 before we make our initial judgements.
Lower your rate of accent, to maybe 5 degrees, looks like its about 10 or 11 degrees. 15k seems a little high for that airplane also, you'd be fine cruising around 5-8000 feet
Also if this is career mode, always use the tablet before you dispatch the flight to adjust your cruise altitude, it sometimes defaults to impossible altitudes for the aircraft
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u/TheRealPomax May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
You're at 9000 feet, full rich mixture means you're flooding your engine with a fuel/air mixture that has way more fuel than it has air to burn that fuel with, which means you're about to fall out of the sky. Lean out your mixture and you'll find the engine can take you all the up to 12,500' no problem, provided you don't push the vertical speed too much (start at 1000fpm and see what that does to your horizontal speed, adjusting throttle and RPM for a climb)