"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:11:47 GMT, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote:
..

The problem with most "sims" is the lack of tactical and perceptual
feedback. It's difficult to "hover" a sim based solely on visual cues
from a 2 dimensional viewscreen. The lack of peripheral vision and
the seat of the pants stuff is quite apparent in a sim like this.
Unless you're sitting in a multi-million-dollar full motion sim,
you're not going to get all the sensory input you need.

Exactly. Today's PCs have the power to easily run multiple screens and
provide tactile feedback. Just because it is difficult to do does not make
it unimportant.

Today I "flew" with a really cool older guy who flew CH-3s and UH-1Bs
(Hueys) up until 1991. Hadn't flown a thing since. He flew the demo
"mission" almost perfectly.

That is very encouraging, just the the test I was talking about. Did
you happen to ask him if he had any experience with computer sims?

On the converse, I watched a guy who
recently came out of the service with over 2,000 hours in Cobras and
Apaches he had a difficult time with it. I spoke to him a bit after
his session and he mentioned the same things I mention above.

One wonders how he would do in a real R22?


I agree that the sim would be very helpful for practicing instrument
procedures, but it also teaches the fundamental relationships between
control inputs.. More collective, more pedal etc...

That depends on the quality of the sim.

I taught my 10
year old the basics in one of these things in about an hour and with a
little coaching from me, she damn near pulled off a landing from about
500' "AGL" in a MD500. If not for the small sideways movement that
roller her over on touchdown, she'd have done the entire flight by
herself. Kinda tosses the "experienced pilot" bit out the window,
doesn't it??

No, not at all. Your daughter could probably outdo most any adult at
most any video game. That in no way measures how well you are modeling a
real piloting task.

For now, I have given up on flight sims for myself and my students, but
I remain hopeful for the future. I have had mixed results with flight
sim-savy students. I have had students that could fly a flight sim well,
but were clueless in the cockpit, but when I sit down at their sim (which
they can fly well) I am incapable of safely performing a simple pattern
flight. I finally came to the conclusion that whatever the popular home
sims were modeling, it was not flight.

On rereading my original post, I find myself concerned that you may
have intrepreted it as a shot across your bow. That was not my intent! I
was just trying to touch off a fruitful discussion and figure out the
current state of the art.


Vaughn