Flight Sims As Effective Pilot Learning Tools

Thanks to Wired News for their article discussing the increasing use of PC flight simulators in educating real-life pilots. It references Microsoft's newest Flight Simulator 2004, and mentions: "The Navy decided to see if using Flight Simulator would help... students. It found that trainees who used the program did better in their training, prompting the Navy to issue customized versions of Flight Simulator to all of its flight students." There are still issues with using retail PC products: "Flight Simulator's limited field of view from the cockpit, and the resulting focus on the instruments that it encourages, can cause problems that need to be corrected in flight training", but overall, Microsoft's product is described as "...a highly effective tool to help student pilots learn how to fly."

FS helped me

[Hee Hee Hee]

I have been through private pilot training, and have soloed (didn't get my license - got married instead - sheesh!). I used FS before I started my training, not intending to use it as a supplement, but just for fun. It really did help in getting me accustomed to the instruments that I would see, how the plane would respond to certain control inputs, etc. I can't see it being a complete replacement, but it is a good introductory learning tool.

Re:X-Plane

[igabe]

X-Plane Link for above post: http://www.x-plane.com/descrip.html [x-plane.com]

useful in private training...

[orn]

I'm a pilot and just recently got my instrument rating.

When getting my private pilot license, I picked up a copy of MS Flight Sim 2000 and used it a bit. 2004 came out shortly after getting my rating.

Learning to fly has a lot of facets to it. It's something that anyone can do, but it's a large quantity of knowledge that you have to get your mind around.

One of the most important is learning the muscle motor responses necessary to control the plane: how does the plane react when I do X.

To learn that, the best method is to fly real airplanes. But that's not enough. After flying, you need to go back in the privacy of your own brain and remember what you did. You need to go through the motions of landing (and other procedures) in your brain where you have the luxury of being able to stop time and analyze what's going on.

This is called "armchair flying" and it is a very importat part of the process.

The Flight Simulator is a great tool, but it doesn't replace arm chair flying. It does give you that ability to try various procedures and stuff that you can't do in a real airplane.

But most of all, what I found was that it is the most help in learning instruments. Hence, its use for VFR flight (what your private pilot ticket gives you the right to do on your own) is minimal. But it does keep you thinking about things.

On the otherhand, its use for learning to fly an instrument approach is fabulous! I've always found the computer controls to overcontrol the plane or to just not "have the right feel." But that's not a bad thing - it forces you to rely on the instruments which is exactly what you should be doing in IFR flight.

So, large grain of salt in hand, flight simulators are great!

While this article

[KMAPSRULE]

is a bit biased to MS-FS and other alternatives arent really Mentioned, Simulators do and will increasingly play a major role in training Pilots- Commercial, military or private
The main benefits arent so much handling the aircraft although a full motion sim is helpful for this as they are in learning the instrumentation of the aircraft and how to operate the aircraft...learning how to properly divide your attention amonst the myriad things going on in the cockpit.

I work in the military flight simulator field and it is a growing industry

Re:Linux Please?

[Carnildo]

Part of the reason Microsoft's flight simulator is so good is that they purchased it from SubLogic -- the guys who made your C64 flight simulator.

And did you ever manage level flight in that SR-71?

Re:Flight sims (generic term) do help - sometimes.

[EABird]

I can't see how X-Plane helped on spins and landings. X-plane is great for procedures, instrument enroute and general flying work; but should not be used for training for spins, stalls or slow flight. X-plane utilizes flow algorithms that assume laminar air over the surface of the aircraft, including the airfoils. This means that it does not model the edges of the speed envelope.

The problem with all PC simulators is the inability to teach real world landings. There is no cheap method to create the proper perspective with a PC simulator. I will always remember my instructor yelling at me for landing like I was flying a PC.

I do agree that it does serve as a useful supplement to actual flying (so long as you turn it off when you reach decision height) and I attribute MS Flight Simulator for allowing me to finishing my ticket in 41.3 hours. I continue to use it for approach and enroute practice. I often fly approaches on MS FS before flying them in real life, and I am often amazed at the likeness between the two.

PC flight sims are bad

[Tracy Reed]

I am an instrument rated pilot with 550 hours and *almost* commercial rated (I've got more than twice the experience required, just need to sign up for the test) and I fly a Cessna 210 or a Cirrus several times a week.

I encourage people NOT to use flight simulators to prepare for initial private pilot training. It is next to useless and teaches bad habits. The private pilot training is all about teaching you how to eyeball it. You fly in VFR (Visual Flight Rules). You barely need the instruments. It is all about looking out the window and learning about weather, judgement, physics, etc. PC based flight sims don't teach you any of this. The view (the most important part) is extremely limited even with todays modern graphics, tuning VOR's with the mouse is just not realistic, and you don't have any control forces or wind noise. Rudder is completely ignored in PC flightsims. You end up relying totally on the instruments without learning anything but how to read instruments which is a trivial skill taught new pilots in just a few minutes.

Flying a PC with a cheap plastic joystick in your hands is nothing like flying a noisy, vibrating, machine where you have a huge view all around you and can feel the aerodynamic forces on the yoke in front of you and the G's on your butt and while trying to keep track of exactly where you are in relation to that class bravo airspace with controllers barking instructions at you on the radio. And this is just stuff the first time student pilot has to learn to deal with to say nothing of actual instrument flying in bad weather.

Before I started flying I used to play with PC based flight sims and I liked to think it was something like the real thing but now that I can look back on it I realize I was fooling myself. I learned a *LOT* more about how to fly an airplane from radio control airplanes. Build the plane yourself, learn something about airframes, control surfaces, flutter, weight and balance, etc. Then actually fly it and learn something about preflighting, takeoffs and landings, airspeed/energy control, the need to be smooth on the controls, making timely corrections, spins and stalls, etc. Much more educational to the potential pilot.

Of course as long as you use consider the PC flight sim as nothing more than a sophisticated game then it's pretty good. They have certainly put a lot of work into things like MS FS. I first used it on my Apple ][c way back when SubLogic produced it.

All that being said, I live in San Diego and fly out of Montgomery Field and I am always looking for people to join me in the cockpit so if anyone wants to go up for a short little spin around town and have a go at flying the airplane (Yes, I will give you complete control of the plane if you are willing) just drop me a line at [e-mail] and check out my photo gallery of flying pics at:

my flying photo gallery [ultraviolet.org].