Flight-Simulator Enthusiasts Confident of Real-World Skills (wsj.com) 179
Two anonymous readers share a report: When the ground-services employee who stole a turboprop airliner last week declined air-traffic controllers' piloting advice, saying he had played videogames, it was no surprise to some devotees of intricate home flight-simulation programs [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; an alternative source wasn't immediately available.]. Such software can mimic many phases of aircraft operations, including takeoffs, as well as how to respond to heavy weather and emergencies, pilots and software makers say. The simulators are also more affordable than pursuing a pilot's license and can help satisfy a lifelong obsession with flying.
Last year, two million units of vehicle-simulation games for PCs and consoles were sold world-wide, the most common being flight simulators, according to the market-research firm NPD Group. Home programs have evolved over more than three decades. They can represent all types of aircraft, from wartime bombers to modern-day passenger airliners. A setup can cost a few dozen dollars for a videogame to thousands for software with intricate renderings of cockpits and real-world environments. A new conference called FlightSimExpo held in Las Vegas in June drew around 1,100 people, its organizers said. FlightSimCon held its sixth annual gathering in Dallas in June, according to its website. Many hobbyists say they don't think of simulators in the same vein as traditional videogames, because they aren't trying to rack up points or compete. They simply focus on flying.
Last year, two million units of vehicle-simulation games for PCs and consoles were sold world-wide, the most common being flight simulators, according to the market-research firm NPD Group. Home programs have evolved over more than three decades. They can represent all types of aircraft, from wartime bombers to modern-day passenger airliners. A setup can cost a few dozen dollars for a videogame to thousands for software with intricate renderings of cockpits and real-world environments. A new conference called FlightSimExpo held in Las Vegas in June drew around 1,100 people, its organizers said. FlightSimCon held its sixth annual gathering in Dallas in June, according to its website. Many hobbyists say they don't think of simulators in the same vein as traditional videogames, because they aren't trying to rack up points or compete. They simply focus on flying.
To be fair, he did pretty well... (Score:5, Funny)
Not only did he manage to do a few barrels roles, but he really stuck the landing!
Re:To be fair, he did pretty well... (Score:4, Informative)
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BEST POST!!!
Where are those mod points.
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While some were describing his flight as possessing acrobatic skill, I'd describe it as unstable and erratic flying from the very beginning of the flight. The plane was described by witnesses as taking off with the wheels smoking and with the wings not level during the takeoff roll. The conversation with air traffic control was characterized by ignorance of basic flight operations. And he did not perform the most difficult part of flying, which is the landing.
If anything, I'd say what this showed is how poo
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With a "real" airplane, takeoff is trivially easy (throw the power to her, she will fly if not overloaded), climb out is a bit tricky but with no obstacles like high hills in your way you can just be conservative and pull that off as well. Straight and level flight, assuming you have nowhere to go, is also easy. If you have a destination, that complicates things a bit but since you can trim out and take your hands off the controls, you've got some time and both hands to deal with that if you know how.
Landin
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que calls to ban videogames...
Nah. That is too broad a maneuver. More likely, certain interests will call for flight simulator programs to be heavily restricted and only for use by certified instructors and flight schools.
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Or they'll be treated like guns, and you'll have to fill out forms, have an instant background check, and be put on records for purchasing it.
It might could also put you automagically on a list of people to "watch".
[sarcasm]
But if you're not guilty....what do you have to worry about, eh?
[/sarcasm]
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Or they'll be treated like guns, and you'll have to fill out forms, have an instant background check, and be put on records for purchasing it.
It might could also put you automagically on a list of people to "watch" ...
Game would have to prohibit autopilot, high-capacity fuel tanks, noise-reduction propellers. And the ability to rapidly click the mouse.
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> And the ability to rapidly click the mouse.
/sarcasm RIP Action RPGs like Diablo 3, Path of Exile, and "idle games" like Clicker Heroes, Cookie Clicker, etc. =P
--
For the record, I don't run any ad blockers. Basically, I consider them unethical -- Idiot and retard Lauren Weinstein
So, going to the bathroom is unethical???
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That may be so; but that still won't stop them from trying. They could even attempt to make it an ex post facto law, like a group of traitors tried to push through here in Oregon recently (fortunately they failed). And nowadays, there are good odds that they could slip such a thing through.
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Check out the recently shut down IP43 that was making a lot of headway here before these traitors gave up. It made zero provisions for grandfathering in pieces residents of Oregon already had; and making one a felon by default if they did not remove affected weapons out of state or otherwise destroyed them. That would have been ex post facto.
And one thing you have to remember; here in Oregon, we have our own Brown Stain who is just as bad as California's (he's out now, isn't he?) who is more than happy to
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As for your computer... It's not really yours, you know.
Flightgear runs fine on Linux, and is as accurate as far as I can tell on the Cessna 172.
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As for your computer... It's not really yours, you know.
Flightgear runs fine on Linux, and is as accurate as far as I can tell on the Cessna 172.
So soes X-plane.
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"que calls to ban videogames..."
They already tried that after 9/11, those didn't study the landing phase as well.
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Que?
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Announcer's name was Wun Dum Duk
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An aileron roll is a negative-G maneuver, and I'm not so sure the plane was capable of such. The video that I saw showed only positive-G maneuvers.
Trainers (Score:2)
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pro gamers vs vets at call of duty is pretty meaningless. Sure the teamwork, strategy, and squad tactics generally translate, but the game world of call of duty is still going to heavily favor experienced gamers. Everything from how the guns work to how to land a grendade where you want it to injury mechanics & hit boxes, cover, crouching/prone, etc are all going to give an advantage to the people who spent hundreds of hours playing soldier in that 'world'.
the followup video is equally dumb; for the sam
Re:Trainers (Score:4, Insightful)
Most shooters are not simulating the aiming and firing of a weapon. They are merely doing an entertaining "arcade" variation where a targeting cursor appears in the middle of the screen. At best you might argue that there is some training in maneuvers and teamwork, but these are most often against unconventional enemies which require different tactics. Furthermore, most tactics are, over the course of time, highly optimized for specific situations or maps, and are not designed to improve survival and success outside of that specific scenario. This is kind of like the difference between studying for a test and studying for success. Additionally, the "respawn" mechanic drastically reduces the cost of "death", encouraging extremely risky tactics on the battlefield (such as using explosives to achieve greater height when jumping).
TL;DR, Flight Sims are documentaries, FPS games are unrealistic action movies.
Re:Trainers (Score:5, Informative)
All of this means that skills acquired in a flight sim are supposed to translate to skills in actual aircraft, that is the point.
Except that it doesn't really do that. I hold a pilot license, a PPL. I also have an elaborate FSX setup with pretty much all the gear Saitek sells, including 9 of the little LCD screens. Yes, it's fun to "fly" a 737 in the Alps in the fog. Yes, it's fun to position a fighter jet at 60,000ft and see it tumble until the "air" is dense enough to create some lift.
But nothing on a consumer grade flight sim will provide you with any skill. I once had to land with a pretty decent crosswind in a 172. About 6 months after earning my license. Me and the pregnant misses on board. No FSX will be able to recreate the stress-induced focus that I needed to put that plane down safely. Just me, one hand on the throttle, one hand on the yoke, two feet on the pedals, and the runway in front of me.
The one and only exception to that would be that the sim helped me with my ground school. Ground school you say? Yes: especially navigation. Have your wife, bf, gf or friend position your plane in a random position in the country at 5000ft, and try to determine your position using ADF or VOR/DME. It really helps you understand those navaids.
To me, FSX/X-Plane is just for fun.
Re:Trainers (Score:5, Informative)
I'm also a private pilot. Flight simulators these days are remarkably accurate and have the "feel" of flying. I'm not talking about flying a 737 through the Alps in the fog--just basic VFR flying. It is insanely easy to get an airplane off the ground and a flight simulator does a good job of teaching you how to do it.
It's the landing that is tough.
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I was literally asked by a colleague at work to set up Flight Sim '04 for him as he was practising for his license. Sure it's not quite the same as a real world situation, but modelling aerodynamics is pretty easy for a modern computer. The big old sims they use for actual pilot training are not much different from some consumer sims. Hell even KSP can give you the basics of flight control, one fly by wire system much the same as another.
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They always come down again.
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But nothing on a consumer grade flight sim will provide you with any skill.
I think that was actually good enough for the "pilot" we're talking about. Based on the transcripts of his conversations coming to a safe landing didn't seem to be much of a concern or maybe even intended at all. He seemed to want to know enough to get off the ground, do some crazy acrobatics and there was no real plan to get safely back to ground. I don't know if he deliberately crashed or not, but at "best" I'd say his plan was to try to land with a very low chance of success.
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But nothing on a consumer grade flight sim will provide you with any skill. I once had to land with a pretty decent crosswind in a 172. About 6 months after earning my license. Me and the pregnant misses on board. No FSX will be able to recreate the stress-induced focus that I needed to put that plane down safely. Just me, one hand on the throttle, one hand on the yoke, two feet on the pedals, and the runway in front of me.
The extra bit you needed to land wasn't skill, it was experience and confidence.
Flight sims provide training, just like practise for a sport. It's a great way to improve your skills but there's a small subset of things that you can only get from a real situation.
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Reminds me of my first high flight in a hang glider. Unless you're quite light, you generally don't have the luxury of flying with an instructor. So you learn control of the glider on small hills. You do hundreds of takeoffs and landings, concentrating on straight flight, crosswind, flare, etc. But when the time comes, you find the highest mountain you can (to give you maximum time to figure things out before you have to land) and go. Standard at my school was a 3000 foot peak, which gave you about ten mi
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The FAA certifies certain XPlane configurations for a fraction of flight training. There's a huge difference. Level 3 sims, with a robust training environment and program behind them, are certified for the full type rating, but the airlines and insurance companies still require an initial operational experience as the simulator program is still inadequate.
Re:Trainers (Score:4, Informative)
At best you might argue that there is some training in maneuvers and teamwork,
The US Army evaluated first-person shooter games for any real-life skills they might teach, as part of making their own game. They found that the only useful skill learned was to be mindful of ammo remaining, and reload as soon as practical.
The America's Army game was designed to emphasize teamwork and communication, hoping that could be helped as well. You do see that in normal games as well, but it's pretty rare. Competitive play in CS was all about teamwork and communication, as least when I used to follow it, but competitive CS play looks nothing like normal CS play. Even in those two, though, they miss just how hard it is for the human voice to be heard over gunshots.
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Real Pilots train in them... (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course they are useful to non-pilots for training, real pilots train in simulators, especially for practicing the dangerous or simply procedural things. I learned how to fly various IFR approaches, going though the procedures at home instead of paying for flying hours in real aircraft. Saved me a bundle.
However, they do not train you on what it really looks, sounds and feels like when you fly. There is a lot of information you need when flying that comes from the seat of your pants and though the windscreen that is really hard to simulate at reasonable cost at home. Also, it's really hard to accurately simulate the visuals during approach and landing, especially when you get into the ground effect just before touch down. It's just not the same.
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X-Plane 11 VR Gameplay [youtube.com]
Is X-Plane 11 with native VR support the best Virtual Reality Flight Simulator of 2017? Today I'm trying out the advanced X-Plane 11 VR Flight Sim on HTC Vive, flying a realistic Cessna 172 Skyhawk airplane in central Chicago. Is this the best VR Flight Simulator? Let's find out!
Re: Real Pilots train in them... (Score:3)
I doubt that. It's a thousand times more difficult to land a helicopter in a Sim than it is to land in person.
VR can't simulate gravity and the perception your cochlea produce.
Re:Real Pilots train in them... (Score:4, Insightful)
There is the human factor as well. While using a simulator, there is no fear of death or injury. When you are actually flying, then the gravity (no pun attended) of the situation is in play. A muscle memory action in a simulator becomes a deliberate action in real life. Where shaking from turbulence or g-forces from the flight will affect you in ways that actual real life practice is needed.
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There is the human factor as well. While using a simulator, there is no fear of death or injury. When you are actually flying, then the gravity (no pun attended) of the situation is in play. A muscle memory action in a simulator becomes a deliberate action in real life. Where shaking from turbulence or g-forces from the flight will affect you in ways that actual real life practice is needed.
Good simulators can be quite realistic and you can find yourself actually forgetting you are in a simulator. My Dad worked at a major airline's pilot training center, repairing their simulators which had full motion and very high fidelity even for the 70's. I can tell you that from personal experience, it can be almost as stressful and immersive as the real thing. There are things they simply cannot do all that well, but the pilots who are at this level have enough stick and rudder skills already from tho
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I remember a story about the Tornado simulator the RAF used to use to train pilots, back in the early days of that aircraft deployment. The mission was terrain-hugging at near-supersonic speed for low-level attacks. There are far more sophisticated and computerized simulators now, but the first simulator was built in the 1970s, so instead of software it was literally a TV camera with lenses and mirrors that moved over a physical diorama that was very small scale. What the pilot saw was a view as though they
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Seems VR would alleviate your concerns about visuals: X-Plane 11 VR Gameplay [youtube.com]
Is X-Plane 11 with native VR support the best Virtual Reality Flight Simulator of 2017? Today I'm trying out the advanced X-Plane 11 VR Flight Sim on HTC Vive, flying a realistic Cessna 172 Skyhawk airplane in central Chicago. Is this the best VR Flight Simulator? Let's find out!
The visuals are just part of the problem. The issue is that as you approach the landing, you enter the "ground effect" which changes how the aircraft handles and as you approach the ground the visual picture is ever more important. Both of these conspire to make the flare (pulling back just before touch down to make it gentle) hard to judge in a simulator. It doesn't look or feel the same. It's hard to model the aircraft movement and hard to render the visual details close enough to make it seem real to
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You make a good point.
It is much more accurate to say that real-world flight training prepares you for flight sim training rather than the other way around.
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I have played with flight sims on a small screen, in VR, and I fly real life light aircraft.
VR is a big step up over the small screen, if only for the ability to look around you. It actually looks like flying, and that alone is, I think, a great selling point for VR. But still, we are in video game territory, There is no way you are going to skip these flight hours if you want to fly actual planes, it simply doesn't feel the same.
Instrument training is another matter. IFR is all about looking at gauges and
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Yes, (some) real pilots train in simulators. The article however is about video games - which are to those simulators like a skateboard is to a F1 racer. Still useful for some things, but not even remotely the same thing.
Re:Real Pilots train in them... (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't exactly true. The average person uses "video game" to describe flight simulator software all the time. The FAA permits the use of flight sims for pilot training. That means X-Plane, where you can get the non-FAA certified version, fully tricked out, for under $2,000 -- including the beefed up PC But, you can START for just $60 -- and there isn't much real difference.
The FAA Certified version is mostly a USB dongle that enforces frame rate control and a bunch of settings. You can do all that manually on the $60 version.
https://www.x-plane.com/pro/ [x-plane.com]
Re:Real Pilots train in them... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, (some) real pilots train in simulators. The article however is about video games - which are to those simulators like a skateboard is to a F1 racer. Still useful for some things, but not even remotely the same thing.
I trained using a video game, as a private pilot going for my IFR rating. So Yes, real pilots train in video games, I did. I will note that my "procedure training" was NOT logged as simulator time in my log book, but I used it as a study aid. I punched up my local airport and setup to fly the various approaches as a learning tool. I flew every approach I could in the possible exam area as preparation for the check ride too. This repetition fixed the process, frequencies to tune, headings to fly in my head. It was of great help to be familiar with all possible approaches the examiner could ask me to fly.
I also did a lot of partial panel flying in the video game, though I found that to be much less valuable w/o having the motion. It was helpful for compass only flying, where the DG and artificial horizon was out of service, but I found partial panel flying proficiency really required air time.
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Yes, (some) real pilots train in simulators. The article however is about video games - which are to those simulators like a skateboard is to a F1 racer. Still useful for some things, but not even remotely the same thing.
Flight simulators have been their own class of "games" for decades, they're kinda like some survival games it's not really about conquering or achieving anything just mastering it and not dying is the game. I remember we used to play Microsoft Flight Simulator [wikipedia.org] as kids, it was notoriously hard and we never managed to land properly. But we did manage to take off, occasionally do a few tricks in the air but just as often go into a fatal spin, crash into building or whatever. Since then they've only gone furthe
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The article however is about video games - which are to those simulators like a skateboard is to a F1 racer.
I'm not sure your mental picture of "video games" has quite advanced with technology.
Check out some of the cockpit control setups people have made at home for their video game software:
https://www.reddit.com/r/homecockpits/ [reddit.com]
People have made everything imaginable from simple 6 spot control inputs, all the way up to people who buy actual plane cockpit frames from airliner junk yards and rewire as input devices for PCs...
"video game" need not be limited to the guy in front of their TV with nothing but an xbox c
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Re:Real Pilots train in them... (Score:5, Interesting)
After struggling to fix the issue for two days, I called the client and told him I would miss the delivery date and that he'd have to wait a few more days while I exchanged some defective hardware. He asked me what the problem was, and I explained how it was pulling to the left. He swore, and said he didn't realize the simulator was going to be that realistic - the real plane he was training on did the same thing. That's when I realized the torque and gyroscopic effects from the single-engine plane [boldmethod.com] was what was causing the yaw to the left, and X-Plane was faithfully simulating it.
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The third one is the air vortex the propeller creates hits the rudder on the left side also contributing to the left turn as well. You listed 2 of the 3 reasons, thought I'd give you the last one.
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Yup, it's called "P-Factor" and you have to stand on the rudder peddle to keep the ball in the middle at high power and high angles of attack.
I agree, this kind of thing is "seat of the pants" stuff that you just have to do without thinking. Uncoordinated flight is something that is really hard to simulate the forces on your butt for, but good pilots just feel and correct. It's like keeping a car in the middle of the lane when driving, you just do it, you don't have to think about it. That takes air time
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I agree, One thing to add.. My CFI told me that very flight start and ends VFR, even if it's IFR in between the two ends. He's right, unless you are flying CAT3 approaches.
but that is very, very rare to have the ground equipment in operation, the aircraft equipment certified, a pilot who is current with CAT3 and weather necessary to use it. And then, you may land, but good luck with the taxi to the gate with RVR's that low.
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In the early days of flight training, I can't tell you how many times I heard the instructor yell "Right rudder! Right rudder!"
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One wonders if it may also affect the qualifications for pilots in a future era of self-flying aircraft. If the pilots only train on simulators, and have little real world experience, how will they handle the aircraft when the sel
Depends on the Simulator (Score:2)
Hopefully, this will drive the point home to anybody else who might consider attempting to fly an aircraft with only simulator experience.
The experience depends heavily on the quality of the simulator. Airline pilots who have trained on a new aircraft will fly it for the first time with only simulator experience on it. Of course they train on commercial simulators which are quite a bit more realistic than what your home PC can manage and they have to pass rigorous tests on the simulator. Nevertheless, they initially fly with only simulator experience of the plane.
I doubt that pilotless passenger aircraft will become a reality for a long t
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This guy crashed the aircraft. It made headlines. Hopefully, this will drive the point home to anybody else who might consider attempting to fly an aircraft with only simulator experience. Worst thing that could have happened would be him having succeeded in landing the aircraft. One wonders if it may also affect the qualifications for pilots in a future era of self-flying aircraft. If the pilots only train on simulators, and have little real world experience, how will they handle the aircraft when the self-flying mechanism fails?
Really just shows how easy it actually is to fly a plane. Flying one well (and safely) and landing is what is hard, as well as preparing for one of the thousands of ways that a plane can break or things can go wrong and kill you. But when your only goal IS to kill yourself, or just get in the air, it's not that difficult. You can find aircraft limitations and V-speeds online, as well as cockpit control layouts and required takeoff procedures and positions without ever even touching a flight sim. I've fl
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However, they do not train you on what it really looks, sounds and feels like when you fly. There is a lot of information you need when flying that comes from the seat of your pants and though the windscreen that is really hard to simulate at reasonable cost at home. Also, it's really hard to accurately simulate the visuals during approach and landing, especially when you get into the ground effect just before touch down. It's just not the same.
Exactly. You do not get the tactile or visual feedback that you get in the real world. Real world experience lets you develop that seat of the pants feel for what is happening beyond what you see on instruments; and allow you to correct even before the instruments show what is happening. That's the difference between a landing and an unplanned impact with the ground.
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Centripital acceleration [uwinnipeg.ca] is equal to velocity squared over the radius of the turn.
The slow speeds of a glider or private plane require a
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However, they do not train you on what it really looks, sounds and feels like when you fly. There is a lot of information you need when flying that comes from the seat of your pants and though the windscreen that is really hard to simulate at reasonable cost at home.
Pilot here. Can say the same. But remember that natural-born pilots fly with the guts, literally. You feel the flight in your stomach. You begin flying with glider planes.
This lack of gut-flying, and excessive reliance on simulators for everything, caused the crash of Air France 447: the pilot didn't feel the plane's attitude [falling while leveled] with his guts.
In addition, the flight control system design added to the problem, such as stopping stall warnings at high AoA and the restarting them as the pilot pushed the nose down, resulting in confusion about what was actually happening. As a result, when presented with conflicting information they failed to put the plane in an configuration they knew was level flight while they sorted out what was happening.
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Pilot here. Can say the same. But remember that natural-born pilots fly with the guts, literally. You feel the flight in your stomach.
That's what got John F. Kennedy Junior killed, Anonymous Coward. He 'felt' the flight instead of using his instruments - his gut wrongly told him he was in a level descent, when he was in fact in a spiral. Had he used his artificial horizon, he would have realized his mistake.
The graveyard spiral is a likely scenario in this accident. "An observed loss of altitude dur
VR tiddies = competence (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure people who jack-off a lot to porn think they'd be pretty good at sex, too.
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"I'm a great lover, I bet." - Emo Philips
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Spotted the incel.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:RIP Skyking (Score:5, Insightful)
Disagree. He was one of the many people of the present day who think that being sad is a legitimate excuse to commit a serious felony and cause a massive public calamity. Let's not forget that he destroyed a multi-million dollar piece of machinery because he was sad and wanted attention, in a way that could have killed hundreds of people.
Not to be a dick, but I don't think we should be condoning behavior that essentially boils down to "if you're ready to end your life, then it's totally fine to turn life into a game of grand theft auto and cause a massive and absurdly dangerous calamity that might kill people."
Point (Score:2)
I think the point being made is that the guy had true freedom for a short period to do what he wanted to do. Freedom has MANY problems. As a commentary on the society, there are multiple ways one could interpret the posting.
It says something about our society that sad people like that think they can do such things; after all, they are free from consequences once they no longer fear death. Imagine what many people would do if there were no consequence? If you had the power of god... what would you do? Most
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It most likely is, indeed, far more complicated than that. It still doesn't justify felonious behavior.
I get what you're saying, that in utterly shucking all social mores, societal constraints, and even a desire to live, he's finally, truly 'free' to act purely on volition, with no 'rules.' I don't agree that this is somehow laudable or a noble goal.
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When it's so expensive to get psychological help and when there's a stigma attached to it, you can't really be surprised when things like this happen.
Re:RIP Skyking (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a major difference between 'being sad' and suffering from depression and having a psychotic break, which is what happened to this poor bastard. Despite obviously not thinking clearly, 90% of his flight time was over uninhabited areas and water. That's not to say that there wasn't a risk or that he didn't spend any time of areas where people were, but going out in a blaze of glory and taking people with him was clearly not his intention and if you listen to the actual ATC radio in its entirety, you can hear him say so as well as apologizing to everyone.
I don't think anyone was condoning his behavior, but to say he used "being sad is a legitimate excuse to commit a serious felony and cause a massive public calamity" is not only a dick thing to say, it's misunderstanding the REAL issue at hand, which is the sad fucking state of mental health in this country.
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No, NOW he's as free as all of us will eventually be. Being a suicidal jerk doesn't make one free, it makes one a suicidal jerk.
If you're going to kill yourself, at least have the decency to minimize the impact your death will leave on those you leave behind, rather than (potentially) maximizing it.
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There's a Rick that held a factory hostage after murdering his boss and several coworkers.
The factory made cookies, flavored them with lies.
He made us all take a look at what we were doing.
And in the bargain, he got a taste of real freedom.
We captured that taste, and we keep giving it to him so he give it right back to you, in every bite of new
Simple Rick Freedom Wafer Selects.
Come home to the unique flavor of shattering the grand illusion.
Come home to Simple Rick.
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GroundPound69 (Score:2)
This is the tower, we have a hot air balloon coming in at MACH 1!
You a pilot? No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Exp (Score:2)
Might as well (Score:1)
I'm a "mid-range" flight sim enthusiast (I have a hotas and headtracker, no. VR or customized chair, about 600hrs in fsx/fsw/il2/dcs). I'm 99% sure I could take a small plane for a spin (take off, fly according to flight plan, land) with minimum assistance under ideal conditions. By that I mean - day, nice weather, calm wind, smaller airport that's not busy, no stress and someone who can take over if I start panicking or making wrong decisions. As my middle age crisis I'm probably gonna a get an ultralight
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I had done a fair amount of sim time. Just got my PPL last year at age 49. The sims can definitely help with a lot of stuff, but they also hurt with some things. Learning instruments, where things are, how stuff works, and general flight is helpful. However landing the real thing in anything other than dead calm, on a perfect day, is not really like a sim. Several of the instructors at my flying club have told me they can tell sim guys by the fact that they dont look outside. One way of dealing with that is
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Similar here - I'd also describe myself as a mid-range flight simmer. I've got X-Plane hooked up to my 58" living room widescreen, and fly it routinely, and DCS once in a while too. I'm also currently 4 lessons in at a local flight school, aiming to get my PPL later this year. IF you use the sim as a learning tool, instead of a messing-around tool, they are a valuable aid to learning how to fly the real thing. The very first time I took the controls of a real 152, basic control over the aircraft felt na
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The sim is simply a tool. Used correctly, it is an exceptional tool. Used incorrectly can lead to results. Other than the complexity, this is no different than using a high precision mill. Using one, doesn't make you a machinist, but with the right training you can create amazing parts.
Assuming adequate ground training, the place the sim and the real world really diverged was when you had to "feel" the airplane. This happens with turbulent air, crosswind landings and the landing itself when you correct
Basic flight is actually pretty easy, but... (Score:3)
That only gets you so far. I've flown in a few different varieties of light aircraft and had a chance to "take the controls" several times and have been able to manage to keep the plane level, do basic turns, etc with no issue. One of the people who took me up for one of the flights remarked that I was doing better than the expected for a full novice and I mentioned that I'd used a lot of flight sims/sim-ish games and the basic skills seemed to translate fine.
That said - these flights were in a small aircraft with basic controls, at relatively low speed in uncrowded airspace, and on days with calm, near perfect weather. Under those conditions I would expect anyone who can drive a car could fly those types of plane in a straight line or a gentle turn with very little coaching. I would NOT expect that they would be able to land easily without someone experienced sitting idle at the controls right next to them talking them through the process. Also on flying in a straight line, add any inclement weather or heavy turbulence to the mix and the novice will probably commit some sort of fatal mistake not long after.
So yeah, getting the plane in the air under good conditions isn't really hard. It's the stuff that comes after getting it up there that is where the issue lies.
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I was a flightsim junkie before I got my IRL pilot's license. I was able to take off, fly the pattern, and land without aid the first time I went up. The instructor's hands were on the controls, but he claimed he added no input. I didn't feel him doing anything, so I tend to believe him. This was in a Cessna 152 on a fairly calm day with only minor convective activity. I spent tons of time prepping for that flight, probably having flown the same pattern at the same airstrip in MS Flight Sim two dozen ti
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> And I think the confidence that the sim experience gave me was instrumental (no pun intended) in helping me succeed at that initial flight and through the entire flight training process.
Totally agree. I would expect people who have played flight sims, or even just sim-ish games would have a good understanding of most of the basics and even know basic procedures to get out of simple problems. For example if you push the stick or yoke forward and pitch the nose down, someone with flight sim experience
If it should ever come to that. (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmmmm...I've done many simulations of sex with stewardesses online. I think I will be good at it too!
dangerous trend (Score:2)
I've noticed a dangerous trend, far beyond this ... heck, people seem to think they can learn any skill just from YouTube videos, not just simulators.
(Now some skills, you can - e.g. HTML, PHP, whittling a moose from a block of wood, etc. Or some people can, anyway. I wouldn't want to take the chance on "piloting an aircraft", though.)
Falcon BMS (Score:2)
I could fly a helicopter before my first flight le (Score:2, Informative)
When I decided to become a commercial helicopter pilot, I first spent a few months reading books and practicing in Microsoft flight simulator and X-plane. ...it was an effortless transition. In fact, flying a helicopter IRL is way easier because you can rely more on proprioception.
On my first day of flight school, the instructor gave me the controls and I could fly. End of story.
I never went through the rodeo
The flight school thought I was an undercover FAA inspector doing a safety audit.
And this is not wan
Proper simulators count as real flying hours (Score:2)
And having been in the pilot seat of a 30-year-old 747 simulator I can tell you that was ultra-realistic which is why hours in them count as hours flying the real thing.
By the way, putting a 747 into a dive from 10,000 feet because you approached the runway too high doesn't work just in case someone wants to try it in real life.
The disadvantage is.. (Score:2)
Anecdote. I started taking lessons to get my license after thousands of teenage hours spent in flight simulators. Sitting in the plane I felt like I'd been there before. Even the ATC calls, courtesy of radio chatter mods, were as I expected. The first lesson was great. We flew around and saw where I lived from the air, all cool stuff.
It's time to go back and the instructor asks if I can find my way back. I said yes, tuned the GVE VOR and started flying to the radial back to KCHO. I explained what I w
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You mean Grand Theft Auto?
https://kotaku.com/idiot-steal... [kotaku.com]
Plenty of people blaming games for all sorts of thigns.
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1. They are not too many driving simulators out there that are accurate like a flight simulator.
2. Driving is 2d movement. There is extra thought on the third dimension.
3. Driving failures can normally be corrected with hitting the break petal. During flight you need to keep moving.
That all being said, Playing Test Drive back in the 1980's with sports car with manual transmission (Press Z or A) , did little to show me how to drive manual.
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1. They are not too many driving simulators out there that are accurate like a flight simulator.
There are plenty, but they're not easily available like X-Plane. They're more like real training simulators, and just as out of reach. A good Formula 1 simulator costs more than a nice sports car.
Driving is 2d movement. There is extra thought on the third dimension.
Never seen rally, then. Though, if your yump lasts more than about half a second, you will not be finishing the race today. Even when not airborn, tough, rallt driving is very 3D, as everything changes when cresting or bottoming a hill, turning into a road with bad camber, and so on. Even the simcade games hav
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That's why this guy went SPLAT!.
No, it seems pretty clear he went splat on purpose.
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