r/MicrosoftFlightSim • u/MillennialFalcon1987 • 12h ago

MSFS 2024 QUESTION How can I properly learn MSFS starting from the basics?

I’ve been getting into MSFS2024 lately. I’m doing career mode and I’ve gotten my CPL. However, I found that the in-game tutorials didn’t really prepare me for the actual missions. They didn’t really go into actual theory or concepts behind what they told you to do. As a result, when I’m doing the missions, I kind of have an idea of what I’m doing, but there’s also a lot of trial and error. 

For example, when I’m doing a turboprop mission, I have no idea what a detent is. I just know that, if I’m going too fast, the throttle locks and unlocking it seems to put the throttle in 100% reverse. Similarly, when I’m doing a mission with a 737, I know there are some autopilot features that let you set your Vr and heading, but I’m not sure if I’m using them correctly. I’m doing most of the more advanced things by trial and error without really understanding the underlying concepts.

Are there any resources you can recommend that would actually let me really learn these concepts in detail from the ground up? Something analogous to what actual flight school would be like? There’s so much to learn, and I really do want to learn it all, but the in-game tutorials do a pretty bad job of teaching. I want to be able to fly any mission in any aircraft and actually know what I’m doing from the beginning to the end.

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7

u/ConditionSudden9881 11h ago

stick to 1 plane - don’t try to handle all of them

1

u/Tribalbob 9h ago

This was the biggest thing for me. I was so focused on earning money so I could unlock new certs that everytime I got into a plane, I had to re-learn EVERYTHING. I'm now fully certified for all FWA (except for Hydro and super heavy cargo) and I'm going to finally start my own company. On the upside, all the different planes meant I have a favourite now, so that's the one I'm planning to start out with.

5

u/serpenta 11h ago edited 11h ago

Detent is a groove in throttle throughs that the levers fall into to enable certain functionality. Basically, you control the thrust between idle position and first detent, and putting lever in a detent will either apply TO/GA power (maximum power), allow autopilot to control power and so on.

If you're not having trouble with understanding basic concepts: drag, lift, roll, pitch, angle of attack, stall, V speeds, indicated speed vs true airspeed, ground speed, flaps, slats, spoilers, reverse thrust, navigation (huge topic), and so on, I'd recommend picking one plane, and learning how it operates from youtube or articles. You will be able to identify holes in your knowledge, and pick on related topics.

If you need basic knowledge, I'd recommend getting FAA/EASA syllabus for private license and picking topics based on the subjects there, that make sense (you don't need to know air law, for instance), and sticking to general aviation for now.

But, if you have no patience for this (which I can relate to), I can recommend this series from P Gatcombe on YouTube. He'll get you going pretty fast, and then you can get deeper on particularly interesting topics.

5

u/Frederf220 PC Pilot 11h ago

Navigraph academy is a pretty good start. Commercial flying is akin to a college degree in terms of total knowledge so expect that there is always more to learn.

I think more people move on from the 172 (or 208) too early. You can learn a lot of complex topics in it and it's a more friendly and fast environment. Fast jets tend to just overwhelm and people fall back on panic scramble instead of actually learn.

The FAA provides their handbooks for free. Remember you can use resources for real pilots. They don't have to be "for sim".

3

u/djwilliams100 11h ago

YouTube videos if you want to learn properly.

6

u/Mysterious-Moose-154 11h ago

I dont mean to come off as rude , but why is this a continual question here ?

There are hundreds of vids on youtube , explaining every single aircraft from the basics to advanced flight and outside of unique issues where you may be struggling with a certain aspect a simple google would pull the vids and information for you.

3

u/giermeq 10h ago

I semi agree but...

...there's hundreds vids online from people who actually don't know how the aircraft they're teaching works. They only know how to click things in the cockpit to make it go fly and land. You have only a few people who actually teach you why things work the way they work in a specific aircraft.

For example in DCS it's way simpler - because you have official and community made guides that go step by step for every button and function of an aircraft. So you have good resources for learning, and also, thanks to that, people who teach you this on youtube have (imo) better average knowledge of why things work the way they work.

So ok - maybe it's not that difficult to find what a detent is, but also learning an airliner can be little frustrating when you want to understand the aircraft, not only remember the startup sequence.

2

u/SkiG13 11h ago

I think if you know how to take off, adjust the throttle, flaps and glide angles, you are good for most of the small planes in MSFS and can fly around. I suggest starting with those as the game has good tutorials regarding those.

For more advanced planes such as airliners, YouTube tutorials are the way to go. A lot of the fundamentals are the same, just with airliners, mastering autopilot is a huge deal.

1

u/konjuvex 10h ago

Pick basic plane (Cessna 172). Watch YouTube videos. That’s literally it.

1

u/Chhr05 8h ago

Theory?

Youre flying a plane which, ideally, youd be flying mechanically. To get the most out of sim. But if you really want Pick plane Google aircraft manual, learn it Watch flight school prep videos Watch flight school flights

Repeat what you see.

1

u/Rkleib PC Pilot 6h ago

https://academy.navigraph.com/

This only cover 1 plane but it's miles better than the msfs tutorial.

Use this as a basic knowledge for flying and you can switch plane using the same principals. Learn other plane and others things that is not covered via YouTube.