Simulator training

[Old Koreelah]

The big boys use them extensively, but how many of we recreational aviators get some training in a flight simulator? Perhaps we could learn flying skills that are currently forbidden territory.

 

Yes, I know about the huge expense, but perhaps an hour of two with an instructor in a sim each year would be worth paying for.

 

There must be spare simulator time available, or a few older, unused ones. I know that "Fearless Flyers" (courses for people terrified of flying) can get access, so perhaps the rest of us might also.

 

 

[rdarby]

There are also cheaper simulators out there. I have seen one that just has you flying finals and along the runway to practice cross winds. That would be worth it. Red Bird I think it was called. I had a few goes at Sun n Fun last year. Generally unless it is a lot cheaper I found a flying lesson to be better.

 

PC based simulators didn't help me at all with the basics like I had hoped, I needed to feel the plane. But a PC based one could be good for practicing procedures though.

 

Ryan

 

 

[facthunter]

Simulators have their place but the more basic your plane and the more conscious of the plane's "feel" you use in your flying style, the less it will help on things that aren't procedural. Sims save a lot of lives in training abnormal and emergency procedures where their fidelity with speeds and performance is right on. Complex systems are able to be learned and they are extensively used for check purposes also, very effectively. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Nev that's why I suggested they have a place in training us for situations that we are not currently allowed to get into.

 

 

[ben87r]

I find the sim useless for anything "flying" related. Even just this morning I was in a multi million dollar sim couldn't hold heading or altitude because I couldn't get it trimmed out and have been told that "it's just a bit like that". Mind you for getting to know the avionics ect and of course IFR procedures its great.. . I still can't get my head around a circling approach in the sim because I've no visual reference to height.

 

 

[facthunter]

Simulators save a lot of lives. Training accidents in multi engine planes were often the cause of a worse level of losses than operational hours, in wartime. Usually failure to attain/maintain VMc(A) and resultant loss of directional control. When you jump into a Sim you should say something like" let's play zee game". The best flyers of simulators are simulator instructors and the more recent flying you have done the worse the sim will feel to you when you get out of the actual plane into the sim.. As an aid to training, top marks to them especially the best of the Airline stuff properly maintained. With Motion and full screen vision you can do anything pretty well including route flying, ( boring as it is too slow), so they chuck in heaps of failures to keep you awake, and make the time seem to pass quicker( considerate chaps). You can hop out of one on an endorsement and get into the real thing and just fly it like you have done it all before, even IF you have never even sat in one . Nev