Flight simulator training.

[Richard]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your recent answers on medical/eyesight/keratoconus issues
and the recommendation to take it to the AOPA. This sounds like a
winner which I'll pursue.

Since I don't anticipate being able to actually pay real money to fly a
real bird and pursue my ticket until earl-ish in '07 I'd nonetheless
like to gain a little experience with the instruments and flight
characteristics. Keep in mind that from skydiving I would estimate that
I have (based on avg climb to jump altitude) about 150hrs in
C-182/205-6/210 + 150hrs in Twin Otters + 150hrs in King Air/Twin
Bo...all as passenger but usually I'm up front (video guy) and paying
attention...and I have spent some time in the right seat (and flown) the
182/210 and the Twin Otter. I have some feel for the aircraft. On the
humorous hand I have only a handful of landings in any aircraft from the
right seat or anywhere else in the aircraft come to think of it. Remind
me to tell you guys what happens in Cessna 402(?) (twin- low wing,
business, tiny door) when you stick 9 jumpers + 1 pilot + full fuel +
August in Houston + no wind (can you say air density altitude? <g>).

Would something like Microsoft's Flight Simulator be a benefit to
familiarization? Or would it be a detriment to overcome when training
actually starts?

Thanks again and blue skies!

Richard Smith
D-11950

[Peter Duniho]

"Richard" > wrote in message
...
> [...]
> Would something like Microsoft's Flight Simulator be a benefit to
> familiarization? Or would it be a detriment to overcome when training
> actually starts?

See previous threads on the topic for details. It comes up every now and
then.

Short answer: PC flight sims can help with learning procedures, but they are
harder to fly than real airplanes, and you can get into some poor habits
with respect to focusing on the instruments rather than looking outside.

IMHO, as long as you're aware of these issues they are not big problems.
But you probably aren't going to gain a whole heck of a lot from using a PC
flight sim either. You can learn some things, but you'll spend as much time
unlearning some things as you gain in other areas through early exposure.

If you want to fly a PC sim ahead of time for the fun of it, by all means do
so. Don't worry too much about it hurting you in the long run. But don't
expect it to help you much either.

Note that using it *during* flight training can help you learn procedures
faster, and without causing bad habits to become ingrained as well (since
you'll be learning the good habits simultaneously, or even in advance).
Last I heard, the Navy was still incorporating MSFS into their flight
training program with good success.

Pete

[Chris Ehlbeck]

Richard wrote:

> Gentlemen,
>
> Thank you for your recent answers on medical/eyesight/keratoconus issues
> and the recommendation to take it to the AOPA. This sounds like a
> winner which I'll pursue.
>
> Since I don't anticipate being able to actually pay real money to fly a
> real bird and pursue my ticket until earl-ish in '07 I'd nonetheless
> like to gain a little experience with the instruments and flight
> characteristics. Keep in mind that from skydiving I would estimate that
> I have (based on avg climb to jump altitude) about 150hrs in
> C-182/205-6/210 + 150hrs in Twin Otters + 150hrs in King Air/Twin
> Bo...all as passenger but usually I'm up front (video guy) and paying
> attention...and I have spent some time in the right seat (and flown) the
> 182/210 and the Twin Otter. I have some feel for the aircraft. On the
> humorous hand I have only a handful of landings in any aircraft from the
> right seat or anywhere else in the aircraft come to think of it. Remind
> me to tell you guys what happens in Cessna 402(?) (twin- low wing,
> business, tiny door) when you stick 9 jumpers + 1 pilot + full fuel +
> August in Houston + no wind (can you say air density altitude? <g>).
>
> Would something like Microsoft's Flight Simulator be a benefit to
> familiarization? Or would it be a detriment to overcome when training
> actually starts?
>
> Thanks again and blue skies!
>
> Richard Smith
> D-11950

For learning to fly, definitely NO. I "flew" MS Flight Sim for a long,
long time before really learning to fly.

But....it does do a decent job of teaching what the flight instruments
do and how they all work together. It does however have you keeping
your head in the cockpit. When learning you'll be VFR so you'll need to
be looking outside. As your training progress and maybe even to the
instrument rating I think it really shines there, especially for about
$40 or less! You'll be able to intercept and track VORs pretty
realistically. Once you start your training though I'd stay away from
it until you start doing your cross countries.

Just my 2 cents worth,
Chris