FSX skills versus real skills.

[Filler]

Hey guys, I'm new around here =)

I've been playing FSX for almost a year now and I think I'd really like to go for my private license. My question is this: how well would the ability to fly in a simulator translate to a real cockpit? How do people in the aviation industry react to FSX?

[teecee]

Apart from cockpit familiarity, and some navigational skills.. not much else.. the sim does not in any way reproduce the "feel" of flying for real.. that said though.. depending on the A/C you fly in the sim.. certain things like V speeds and landing speeds are learned, and useful.. and a thing to remember is this.. sim flying is forgiving..R/L flying is most definitely not. Teecee.

[lenniegordo]

I started in the sim and decided to get my PPL - just about to complete it.

If you use the sim as a training tool (and not a play thing) you can certainly cut down on hours I have probably save 20hours of Dual training which is about $3100.

it helps if you go through the lessons on the sim before you go out with an instrutor. Your instrutor will always tell you what you will be doing next, so does the traning hand book. He or she will be impressed that you have a good handle on the activity at hand.

The sim is good for

-circuits and what you need to be doing on each leg,

-dead stick landings but more the procedure than the skill of getting to the right paddock

-understanding of the "picture" on approach to landing. e.g. am I going to land long or short, am I high or low.

-If you have yoke and pedals it will help your x-wind landings a whole lot (good investment you could wast allot of time learning x-wind landings, with my pedals I got the first go, I've seen other students spend 10hours on them)

-VFR nav and IFR navs

-VATSIM can help with contorted airspace (ATC in fsx is not Australian standard)

The sim is certainly not as changeling as the real thing ,the pressure is reduced. Probably to do with the fact that your office chair does not bounce around on short final. There are thingS home sims can't do like give feed back.

All in all  I went solo at 5h, GFPT at 20h and nearly made PPL 40h, which is the legal minimum and from what otherS say quite an achievement.

I put it all down to the 70% sim - 15% model airplanes - 15% riding motor bikes

[squeeker]

FSX is great for practicing drills( Eg engine failure: FCMIT (Fuel, Carb Heat. Mixture, Ignition, Throttle).), and good for getting used to the concept of traffic patterns and how to enter and exit aerodromes. If you go online with others (such as VATPAC which conducts VFR flights) it's great to hone your radio skills, flight planning and procedures and improve your situational awareness.

If you haven't already invested in a yoke and pedals (and possibly a head tracker like trackIR), you'll find it will really enhance the experience. You may experience "environmental capture" though, where you get so used to reaching for the flap (for example) lever in FSX,  that when you go to do the same in real life and find that the flap is in a different place!!

As the flying progresses beyond the basics to navigation and beyond, the stick and rudder flying becomes less of an issue, it's at this stage that the sim can really help save some flying hours and dollars. You can practice the nav flight, or NDB intercept before you do it. In the old days good students did this without the sim ("chair flying"), but having FSX there is a real bonus (you can tune radios and actually see big features to help orientate yourself for example)

In my experience, many people (ie instructors and other real world pilots) who haven't seen recent incarnations of flightsim treat it sceptically - as a game not a synthetic trainer.

Providing that you are undergoing regular real life instruction, you shouldn't develop too many bad habits when unsupervised on the computer.

All things considered, I reckon that it's a great compliment to your real world training. You can't log hours in your logbook on these simple setups, but provided you take it seriously, your real world flying will benefit.

As Teecee said, it can't come close to duplicating the real world feel of the aircraft nor the potential danger. But I bet you find some strong similarities when you jump in a real plane..

As for the license - do it! It's challenging, character building and extremely rewarding. I'm not sure where you live, but you'll probably find a real world pilot willing to take you far a spin in this forum..Best of luck, Steve.

[Filler]

I live in Queensland near Archerfield airport. I understand it's about $5k to get a Private License (PPL?). That's definitely on the shortlist of things to do when I have the finance =)

As for ATC, how exactly does it differ? You mean the controllers don't talk in monotone american accents when they're repeatedly telling me I wasn't clear for takeoff? =P

[Tim Harris]

I live in Queensland near Archerfield airport. I understand it's about $5k to get a Private License (PPL?). That's definitely on the shortlist of things to do when I have the finance =)

As for ATC, how exactly does it differ? You mean the controllers don't talk in monotone american accents when they're repeatedly telling me I wasn't clear for takeoff? =P

i thought it was more like 30k to get a private license

[Matthew Webb]

It's about 5 grand for the GFPT (lets you fly with passengers but only in your training area and only taking off and landing at the same airport) and another 5 for the PPL (fly anywhere).  Give or take (mostly give!) a thousand for each, depending on your progress and the training school.

As for the sim "value", one of the Orbx staff said a while ago that when he started his flight training, his instructor asked for his "flying experience" so the Orbx staff member talked his sim experience.  The instructer let him fly most of the initial flight himself.

Cheers,

Matt.

[lenniegordo]

It was $3500 for me to get to GFPT including books and maps. It was another $4000 to get to PPL.

But our club has grate prices, with no landing fees.  It cost about 30 to 45k to get your CPL (commercial pilots license)

[lenniegordo]

As for ATC, how exactly does it differ? You mean the controllers don't talk in monotone american accents when they're repeatedly telling me I wasn't clear for takeoff? =P

Ha HA  sort of

The ATC does not accommodate different ATC procedures like GAAP CTFR TOWER  CENTER  RADAR C or D airspace.

Start up, taxi, Approach, Departure are all a bit different in almost all air ports in Australia depending on their available services and the amount of traffic they attract

For instance Albury is D class which is a controlled terminal aerodrome that does not have radar so the procedures are different to Melbourne Airport which is C class and has radar. Essendon is a controlled Terminal but has what they call "Tower Procedures" that allows GA aircraft in vir reporting points with out login a flight plan similar to a GAAP but the Radio calls are again different.

Moorabbin is [GAAP] and different again, and Ballarat is a CTAF where Pilots keep them selfs separated by radio calls that are only monitory if the aircraft has a radio - a CTAFR you need a radio before you can fly in to it. Most CTAF aerodromes have there own special requirements

The Australian procedures and calls are different to the US ones and the sim offers no variation In procedures. So the only way to really get it is to have a Human controller - like VATSIM. that being said unless the guy on the other end is aware of how a Aerodrome actual works he's probably just guessing it.

[Tim Harris]

hmmm 10k for PPL that sounds doable

now I have to memorize the colorblind tests :'(

[lenniegordo]

I  thought they would never let me fly. 1. because of my spelling    2. cause of mt eyesight. I found out that if you can pass a drivers eyes test you can get a CPL... the spelling i've just been hiding from them...   

different in the Air force I suppose