CTP is fantastic. Don’t be afraid of big airports like JFK or AMS. There are time slots, gate assignments and multiple frequencies, so CTP isn’t as chaotic as many people think it is. In fact, it’s very well thought and organised event.
@@Badger373 the point is, it's a day chilling on your pc (only twice a year.. 2/365 days a year.. and thats if you do both) and doing a big event. if you don't like it, thats fine! it happens so rarely for a reason, which is why others do.
Have to shout out Blu and his F1 world tour it’s incredibly inclusive allowing you to participate however you want with any plane with or without atc. Each week we have been flying with the teams in real life to the track it’s not exactly ATP or simvinture but you don’t have to have a multi just to do it
i used to do totally long haul on GEOFS with all the FMC and AP++ added in, and flew the 787-9/10 with multiliveries on a lenovo computer. longest flight I think was SYD to DFW or HND to BOS. so much fun. Wish i could still do it, but my new computer can't handle it. sadder too that it would be much more fun now, with the new 777-300ER and A350-900 added in the game.
I’m finally able to fly this event, and I want to say I’ve done it at least once! Dusting off XP11 and making the A321neo XLR a flying gas can for this
I think overall Ctp is a important event where the community comes together. I personally don’t mind doing 8 hours sitting their. Pro tip also do 80s workout vids or something lmao
I always fly in the opposite direction. I enjoy seeing everyone going past me, if you fly in the same direction as everyone else you'll not see anyone!
That's the one thing that bugs me about flight simulator. Setting up, taking off, landing, all great. But the sitting around for a while or leaving AP on while you go do the dishes is just boring. That's why most of my flights tend to be short.
As someone who flies roughly 20hrs a week on VATSIM, for me CTP is 'just' annother flight on the network. I encounter very nice moments on VATSIM with other pilots and ATC during the year and Cross the Pond is no more than the EHAM-LTAI I do regularly...
What a great video! I appreciate your insights and perspective for the event. You are right it is not going to change my mind of participating but it does give me a little more to think about it. To make things worse I'm planning to do it in a beach craft King Air 350i. So I'm learning about how to do NAT routing. The good thing is I do have a slot!?
i rather fly short haul or control on vatsim, with controlling you have more kind of returning traffic and routines, also you have more of the benefit to disconnect as you want. Shorthaul is also very nice because the things the most interesting are climb/takeoff and descent/landing
I'm literally the same as you, I fly only short haul and rarely I do medium haul for my friends when I fly shared cockpit. And I'm working on my Academy to join a VATUSA ARTCC.
Hey! I do have to say, as a sim pilot who does very much enjoy long haul flying (I frequently do 7-8 hour flights), but the only thing I don't like are the timings. I like departing at about 1000 UK local time, fly for 7-8 hours, and then landing at 1700-1800, that leaves plenty of time for dinner and time with my family (I'm 15; it's not like I have kids). The thing I really do like about long haul (I fly the toliss a340-600 for xplane12, which I do recommend) is the satisfaction of having a perfect flight with a butter at the end (the cherry on top) as well as the oceanic procedures that I enjoy.
One more hot take: I think that events like Cross the Pond are more for the controllers than the pilots. Flying for 8 hours point to point is kind of the same whether there are thousands of planes in the sky or zero. Which is why I don’t participate in events like that. It’s a ton of effort that takes away other opportunities in prime time hours of the weekend that could spent doing other things, meanwhile I could just as easily test my computer’s endurance for such a long flight on a Thursday morning where there aren’t a ton of newbs clogging the NAT tracks.
Freeware Headwind Delta A330 KJFK-EGLL is my plan for CTP, almost the shortest flight across the Atlantic possible, and a plan that does it IRL Edit: Got a new plan. I will be in the JetBlue A321neo from Heathrow to Boston. EGLL-KBOS
I didn't even know CTP was on and I was flying from KMIA to LIPE for my F1 2023 tour and it felt like I was dodging bullets the whole way with the amount of aircraft coming towards me 😂
The lack of long haulers for msfs was on point. Currently we have A310, PMDG’s BBJ… that’s it? Salty 747 and Heavy Division 787 aren’t there yet in my opinion, and don’t even get me started on craptain scam. You can also stretch the A32nx with full fuel and barely any payload, and in that case since it unrealistically burns less fuel than a neo and uses default Asobo engines, fenis as well 😂
I like the event, but probably won’t take part in one until VR flying becomes more reliable, and then I’ll just do it once W-E. All the points you make are valid ones, but I think that such events just have the ability to pull us together and make me at least feel gratitude and more for things we often take for granted. If you want a taste of reality - sit overnight in the under-stairs cupboard with the lights out with a hoover switched on shining a torch at the electricity meter for eight or more hours! 😂
I've never partook in the crossing part of x the pond... instead I load up in the area of a big airport in a GA and add another variable to the controllers workload
Sometimes they even enjoy it,ofc when its fluid and not fully busy. Like, they always have a 737 doing the ILS and when suddenly theres a TBM, King Air or a Bonanza, makes it fun for them too.
I did across the pond eastbound going from LaGuardia to Heathrow. When I sat at LaGuardia for an hour and a half, after my scheduled time to takeoff, I quit. It was absolute pandemonium, trying to fly and listen to ATC while everybody else steps all over everybody. It only takes one dumbass to taxi down the wrong taxi way, or takeoff the wrong direction or takeoff on the wrong runway or any of the other stupid ass things that a person can do to ruin the entire experience for all that’s involved. If you like sheer craziness with no control, then go for it but otherwise, I’d rather just fly elsewhere and stay away from there.
I thought of it more as a medium range aircraft since it doesn’t have the range of a 777. As he said with the 737 BBJ it applies similarly to the A310. I tried flying it from Anchorage to Beijing with barely any payload and max fuel and even though it falls in the range of the A310 (on the book) I was still struggling to make it there and made it there running on fumes lol I wouldn’t count the A310 as a long range bird
@@sn0wm4n94 What about the A330? I’ve been studying up on that aircraft recently. Hell even the A321Neo LR would be good enough, but that of course has to take multiple things into account. Where you fly, how you fly and weather conditions as well as what your payload looks like.
If you want to have ATC over the Atlantic, i cant recommend IVAO more than enough. There is often Gander/Shanwick ATC online with no connection to any event.
I will never fly CTP because it's such a long flight. I don't have that much free time. Being "stuck" in a slot and waiting a long time for clearance and departure doesn't thrill me either. Shorter flights are more my kind of thing and fit my schedule better. Kudos to the folks who can handle and enjoy CTP. It's just not my "cup of tea." 😉
Well, I partook in CTP Westbound, and yes, very time consuming. But you can ask the oceanic controller for an 1-2 hours off the cockpit. Vienna to Atlanta took 10 Hours for me. Departed 12pm, arrived 10pm as the first person from CTP to Land there.
I fly Prepar3D exclusively. And I never participated or wanna participate CTP. I pref. flying offline, because this gives me calmness. CTP is too much stress for me. But ya, I know how to do VATSIM and I have high fidelity planes.
At first I thought this was going to be a negative video just bashing the event, but I agree with pretty much all those points. Maybe a little clickbait on the title. Lool. But like you said, it's still a popular and great event, but not everyone's cup of tea. Personally, my main reason for not doing it is the first point. As much as I absolutely love flight sim and aviation, sitting there for 8 hours just watching clouds, ocean and my aircraft on autopilot isn't what I'd consider enjoyable. Like @sdeijio commented, I would use the opportunity to do a shorter flight wherever I choose with ATC. That's more enjoyable for me personally.
Ok but hear me out, simbrief told me that I can do this and going from west to east across the USA its FL340. Great video @hochmania keep up the content
You don't have to fly the event. If you want this level of ATC and busy airspace - go to Europe and fly their evening. Fly out of Gatwick into Germany. And never start a flight online - go to sleep and get up to complete it. It's against the VATSIM Code of Conduct and it's just not realistic. Anyway - go fly in European events and then post your reaction to that.
The solution to avoid having to sit 8 hours on the computer : establish at cruise, stay there fore some time, and when you feel done cruising, use the « Travel to DESCENT » option. I do this on all my long haul flights, cuts them to 1h30-2h00 of TFT
Concorde isn’t considered event traffic. You don’t get a slot and everyone else gets priority over you and you will end up with a ground delay or holding ad nauseum.
It is very overrated, and I’ve done a ton of them. It’s far too crowded to the point where it’s not realistic because it’s too many people at once. Also, the 787, the 747, and the A330 for MSFS are more than good enough for CTP.
Got the time? Got the challange. It's still a Game with reality reference. You fly, you learn. It's kinda challanging but its challange yourself. It is not let's Play fortnite, it is doch I Do the right think, doesn't matter you newbee or pro, don't care ask twice. It's still sim not need to study Level this all.
Hochmania, I don't think I'm understanding your video. Look, what do I know? Maybe there's a market for this type of info and I'm not it. For me, it's unbalanced and too biased toward the negative and the context therein is not made as a standalone point but instead as an aside, and it's somewhat lost because of that. That's my feedback. I'm commenting on how that this video presents CtP generally and especially to new flyers looking for information. I do not believe it properly represents what CtP is about. Also, for the record, I have not flown in, do not represent nor have I any association with any entity involved in the organization or execution of CtP. Is it a fair assumption of mine that you have flown CtP yourself and are speaking from a position of experience and 1st hand knowledge? I'm unsure but wish to give the benefit of the doubt on that matter. It's not critical that you have personally flown CtP specifically by the way but should you have, then I think it's fair to say that it would lay some weight to the points you lay out in your video. You have some cool content, but this one video ... not so much! Concerning the points you do make ; - Pre-requisites for this type of event do demand a good degree of competency. You mentioned A-game. 100% true. Why would anyone consider doing it otherwise. And yes, 8+ hours in sim is an aspect a sim pilot needs to be prepared for also. You correctly called it .... Just avoid CtP events ( or other long time commitment events) and avoid any supposed suck... right? Again none of this is a reason that CtP itself sucks. Organization is of course necessary and calls for slots and planning. This is a nod to real world operations also I would say and part of the overall experience. If you are a casual pilot who is not proactive and prepared, then frankly, you absolutely do need to ask yourself if you should be doing it in the first place. Again, as you do mention, there are other sim flyers to consider. However, organization is not a justifiable reason as to why CtP sucks? You do rightly point out that MSFS2020 is lacking re: aircraft and here's hoping this situation changes asap. This will of course happen and never soon enough eh? Your video title may well have benefitted from the addition of the words "on MSFS2020" after the word 'SUCKS' but this would also have required a redo of your video. As for sim crashes, indeed, when do they not suck and doubly so when on a long haul and the likes of a CtP event? Not seeing a reason why CtP gets singled out here thought. Feels a little scraping the bottom of the barrel, that one! Take care. S!
Cross the pond sucks partly because there is no good long haul airliner for mfs?? That says more about mfs and the users thereof than it does about CTP. There are other simulators out there Sorry but that one reason is bull…
The clickbait title and general wrongness of this video is too high. The problems you talk about here are not related to CTP itself but things around CTP. This video really should be titled "Why flying long haul on MSFS sucks" or "Why I hate flying long haul" and then all the CTP related content blacked out.
@@hochmaniac I'll say this, you are either flying in to airports that are desert wastelands, or you're stuck in line waiting a half hour for Dallas Tower to solve their comms issues and finally clear you for takeoff. Not impressed.
@@ChrisVirgilio I guess you can try Pilotedge but make one small mistake on a SID or STAR and you are screwed. At least that's what I've heard haven't tried it yet.
I think y’all are just dramatic and are talking really bad about the event but it really is fun and you shouldn’t discourage people on participating just because you don’t like it.And BTW your Arguments sucked what can vatsim do if Theres no long haul plane for Msfs? I think you just don’t like Long haul flying but that shouldn’t give you reason to say cross the pond sucks.
As I said in the video, I didn't want to discourage anyone from participating in the event. Just wanted to highlight some downsides. Thanks for watching!