I’ve noticed something recently that I think is worth mentioning. A lot of flights are going through restricted or closed airspaces like Iran, Iraq and Ukraine and other closed airspaces, and it kind of takes away from the realism that Infinite Flight is known for.
For many of us, the whole point of the simulator is to try and mimic real-world aviation as closely as possible. This not only includes flying the planes correctly but also includes things like proper flight planning . For instance, in the real world, many airlines try to avoid flying through closed airspaces.
It’s a bit ironic that we try to focus on realism with things like procedures and ATC but not really with the routes that we fly. This isn’t meant to pick on anyone or anything like that; it’s just a friendly reminder that it does add to the realism for everyone.
Unfortunately, a lot of people do not file “realistic” flight plans that avoid these airspaces. Either they just do “origin airport, destination airport” with no waypoints in between (possibly a SID, STAR and APP procedure and that’s it) or just file a bunch of random waypoints in roughly the right direction without caring where they fly over, etc.
There’s definitely been an uptick in realistic plans since Simbrief integration was implemented. Unfortunately, the sort of flight plan enforcement strategies that VATSIM employs aren’t really very feasible in Infinite Flight. I guess we could have a button on the ATC side that effectively says “please file flight plan that complies with real world routing”, however that still wouldn’t completely solve the issue, and I think a lot of people would have issue with that sort of instruction.
Edit: for some reason Simbrief does still provide flight plans that go over Iran/Iraq, but that’s probably because it’s a relatively recent closure and those plans are still in their database rotation. Depending on how long the closure lasts, they will likely be eventually filtered out.
Yeah, I get what you’re saying — a lot of people don’t file fully realistic flight plans, whether it’s just origin to destination or random waypoints without really thinking about the route.
SimBrief has definitely helped improve that, but even then it still gives multiple route options. You can usually pick one that avoids restricted or closed airspace — it just takes a bit of extra attention when choosing your route.
I know it’s harder to enforce compared to something like VATSIM, and not everyone will want strict rules like that, but I still think it’s something people can try to improve on individually to make things more realistic overall.
I mean in real life aircraft pilots are always monitoring the flight airspace ensuring no closures but when we fly we often do something else or are sleeping hence we won’t be able to change our route to avoid closed airspace’s which is actually the majority of people, I mean not everyone thinks about closed airspaces or use simbrief. People who want can avoid the airspace but it’s not worth enforcing any rules since people don’t think much about the flight while it’s happening in the baground. Majority just takeoff put a direct flight plan and just turn on autopilot plus without checking any airspace closures.
Summary is people don’t care, and there’s nothing we can do to everyone especially when they are not available or sleeping while aircraft flies on AP+
one feature that i think in mind will increase realism is where there can be red barriers saying AIRSPACE CLOSURE around a certain airspace just like NOTAMs which a Red Circle, if something like that could be added into this game it will increase realism, and those who enter the Closed Airspace Should be disconnected automatically if you are in a Closed Airspace for 5 minutes.
What about if they are asleep and fly into it? I think it will cause more problems than it would solve similar to the Speed below 260 knots below 10K feet
Simbrief has the feature to conveniently avoid certain airspaces, though it requires a subscription. (The free version should also work but it’s very slow and inaccurate)
This would be really hard to implement as there are tons of exceptions. For example, domestic routes within Russia, Chinese carriers’ flight to Europe, and military operation simulations within the war zone. These flights are well within the boundary of realism despite inside a “closed airspace”.
I see where you’re coming from, but in all honesty not much can be done when it comes to other players and their desired flight plans. I am aware there ARE tools that enforce certain rules, but when it comes to airspace, that kind of becomes a more convoluted issue.
I may be wrong, but wouldn’t closing airspace deny other players the experience of flying realistic routes into destinations that are within said airspace?
For example, if they closed Ukrainian airspace for the sake of realism, what would it mean for players who enjoy flying commercial routes in an out of Ukraine? Are they to deny themselves an experience they likely want to have so other players can have a more realistic experience? It kind of feels like a give-and-take type of thing if you ask me.
Striving for realism is a good goal, but again, there’s no guarantee that this will always be possible. I mean, some of the most strict and hardcore players here likely flew the iconic KLAX-KNUC route.
Absolutely take those things into account if it’s your cup of tea, but disconnecting or giving someone a violation for not getting a full NWKRAFT briefing for a simulated flight on their phone is a bit ridiculous. Sometimes doing things you can’t do with the red tape and regulations in real life is part of the fun.
Just because of this post I’m gonna hop on the game and fly through every restricted and prohibited airspace, every MOA, every TFR, and every closed airspace. In game of course…
Sometimes being unrealistic is part of the fun. Not everyone has the capability or even the desire to fly hyper-realistically like pilots do in real life or on VATSIM.
I find it funny, when people who complain about the lack of realism from some other players, don’t follow the rules themselves…
You started from Abu Dhabi going westbound on FL350 - westbound flighlevels are even, eastbound uneven. Later you corrected that to FL340
You crossed right over Israelian Airspace, which is closed right now
Etihad is not offering any direct flights from OMAA to TBPB
Mostly only these routes are possible:
• OMAA → Doha → London → Barbados
• OMAA → Europa (z. B. London) → Barbados
• OMAA → USA → Barbados
I think you kind of missed the point of what I was saying.
About the flight level , I didn’t know. I’m not an aviation student, thanks for teaching me though you learn new things everyday.
You pointing out small mistakes I made doesn’t really change the overall argument. If anything, it proves it — even when someone is trying to be realistic, things can get missed. So people who don’t even try are obviously going to ignore it completely.
As for Etihad not flying that exact route, that’s not really relevant. If we’re going to be that exact, then we’d also have to follow real-world departure times, schedules, and everything else exactly — which nobody does. People fly routes airlines don’t operate all the time in IF, and that’s normal.
So yeah, I’m not perfect, but that doesn’t make my point any more wrong.
I agree with this too. I usually take fpls from simbreif. Many of them are fpls which avoid iran airspace, I only select them. But if infinite flight could do something they must close the airspace, and only on expert server when an aeroplane in expert server goes through a closed airspace they must give 20 minutes to exit the airspace or ,they will still flying but after those 20 mins they will be flying offline and solo.
Or some sids to go around the airspace from different directions. But the disadvantage of this is that when just imagine somepeople from iran or some other country want to fly to iran they can’t do it in expert server. So the thing is that they can’t land or take off in their airport in expert server.
I don’t know if this is a stupid idea or what. But I’m sure you can make an idea out of this
