Continuing SPAACARS flights after simulator crash to Desktop (CTD)

Pilots,

I've not covered this issue recently, but it's probably worth reviewing again since I've been having some CTD problems lately with MSFS after last update.

You can salvage your flight if you have the paid version of FSUIPC.  The paid version of FSUIPC offers an "Auto-Save" function that will save your flight data every few minutes and you can adjust how often your flight status is saved.  I think I left it at the default setting.

Anyway, when your simulator crashes, SPAACARs will start making a repeated bell ringing sound indicating a simulator disconnect.

Just ignore the bell and reboot your simulator, leaving SPAACARS up and running.  You will find in your saved flight files directory a list of the last saved flight states for your flight.  Pick the latest flight saved (or if near the ground on approach for landing, then a few saved flights before the latest one so you have some altitude).

When your simulator loads the flight your plane will by flying at the point it was saved.  SPAACARS will automatically note the simulator reconnect and immediately give error messages about incorrect fuel settings and/or time settings.  Again, ignore SPAACARS for the moment until you get your aircraft under control.  Many settings might be incorrect so be prepared to juggle the throttles to regain airspeed, reset autopilot and nav settings, etc.  Once your aircraft is stabilized pause the simulator and bring up SPAACARS window.  You can now address the SPAACARS error messages by setting the time and/or fuel values in your simulator to those stated in the SPAACARS error message box(es).  When you set the values in your simulator to the approximate values listed in the SPAACARS error message(s), you can then close the error messages and they won't pop back up again.  

You can now resume your flight as before the simulator CTD.  SPAACARs will continue recording your flight time as if no simulator crash has occurred.

I had two crash to desktops of my MSFS on my flight from KMSP to KORD this morning and was able to restore my flight and SPAACARS setting to that the flight would continue and the pirep auto-sent to the website.  The only problem is that the plane may be forced to recover airspeed and altitude in a way that causes G-Force issues with the passengers, resulting in a penalty for the flight in Econ mode.  This was the case of my flight this morning, but it was better than losing the flight or having to manually enter the flight data.

Hope this helps ease some frustrations regarding simulator crashing by allowing you to recover your flight and continue flying.

Let me know if you have questions or problems.

John