S.T.Aviator
Well-Known Member
Here is a great article I found on using a computer sim to help in Intrument training.
The point where a lot of folks tend to get the wrong idea is when using something like the pc sim, time is not loggable, so they get this impression that the time is wasted. That's the biggest and most expensive mistake most folks make. Time=money when you are sitting in the school equipment, and for most folks, sitting at the pc does not cost money. You can learn a lot sitting at the pc. Especially if you are going to one of the 'rating mill' type schools, there's no shortage of other folks around doing the same thing, and most of them spend a lot of time hanging around the airport. Tee up with one, and go spend that time hanging around a pc, swap the 'instructor' and 'student' roles back and forth in half hour or one hour sessions. you are saving yourself the hourly rate for a 'real instructor' and the sim rental.
Things that should be 'second nature' before you even start spending money at the school.
a) Primary instrument scan. It's easy to get this to the point where its just second nature on the pc. Turn the turbulence way up, then focus on flying headings and holding altitude. It's hard, much harder than in the real airplane. It's much harder, requires a lot more concentration on a pc-sim because you have no 'feel' of the movement. Get this down pat, and when you get to an airplane, it's going to be easy. Work the scan on the primary flight group, you will know when you are 'ready' because it'll suddenly click, and instead of focussing on each instrument one at a time thru the scan, you will find yourself leaning back a bit, and absorbing the big picture in one go, by bringing all 6 of the primaries into a single look. It's not 'magic', it's just practise, and, it's going to take 15 to 20 hours of focussed effort before suddenly it just 'happens'. You will feel like a big light bulb went on, and suddenly it all just clicks together. That's when it's time to head off and start spending money, not before. That 20 hours spent in front of the pc is going to save you at least 5 hours of actual flying time.
b) Track an ndb, inbound, outbond, any track, with strong winds, and moderate turbulence. Again, time is money, you can spend the time on the pc for $0, or you can spend it in an airplane for $250, your choice.
c) VOR intercepts should be something you dont even have to think about any more, it's just second nature. Same for tracking.
d) Hold entries should be nailed down pat, you should be able to correctly enter any hold given the clearance 20 seconds back from the holding fix. Any type of hold, any type of entry. This is something you can practise hundreds of times on the pc sim, for zero cost. This is one silly little detail that costs most IFR students at least 2 or 3 extra flights in the airplane, they blow a hold entry, so the exercise has to be repeated. With pc sims being a dime a dozen, if you are tight on cash, it's absolutely irresponsible to head off flying an airplane if you are still 'wondering' and 'conteplating' a hold entry more than 10 seconds after you copy the clearance. Save one trip in the airplane here, $250 buys a lotta beer. Save 3 trips in the airplane here, pays the rent.
e) Localizer track to touchdown, in significant wind. Again, costs nothing to go do it again, keep at it till it's easy. Dont get to concerned about glideslope on a pc-sim, they all are way to sensative on glideslope when you get in close. If you can hold a pc-sim glideslope down to 300 feet, then you can fly a real one down to the ground.
There are two ways to approach the airplane part of the training if you have to do the minimum times anyways. Behind door number one, you can do it the traditional way, and start flying before IFR procedures are second nature. The trips will be hard, you will come back somewhat drained, and probably a little down on yourself. Behind door number 2, you can have the ifr procedures down pat before you go flying, then head off and actually enjoy flying a multi engine airplane for the first few times. it'll be a lot more fun, and, your focus will be the airplane, not the ifr procedures. If you have the IFR part down pat already, you'll find that you spend a lot more time flying around single engine, the instructor will indeed find ways to build up your workload. Since you are spending the money on the airplane, better to have your workload be airplane related rather than IFR related. In the end, by the time you have minimum times for the ride, it'll be a piece of cake.
Pick a school that's got a fine tuned rating mill in operation, one that grinds out ratings by the dozens. They have a system that's very well tuned to getting one up to standard, supplement thier system with a lot of homework on the pc-sim. A school that focuses on cloud tickets has seen it all, there's nothing you will do that can surprise them. If getting the job done in minimum timeframe is important, look at the fleet. Anybody that's been flying for a while knows the difference between a fleet of 2, and a fleet of 5 or 6 when one goes mechanical. If you are at a school with one or two airplanes available, and one goes mechanical for a week, well, you will be screwed. If they have 5 or 6, and one goes mechanical for a week, you probably wont even know about it. This of course assumes a common fleet, you do NOT want to end up at a school that has 3 airplanes, all different types. Switching types mid stream is just going to cost you more money, because you waste a trip learning the new type.
The point where a lot of folks tend to get the wrong idea is when using something like the pc sim, time is not loggable, so they get this impression that the time is wasted. That's the biggest and most expensive mistake most folks make. Time=money when you are sitting in the school equipment, and for most folks, sitting at the pc does not cost money. You can learn a lot sitting at the pc. Especially if you are going to one of the 'rating mill' type schools, there's no shortage of other folks around doing the same thing, and most of them spend a lot of time hanging around the airport. Tee up with one, and go spend that time hanging around a pc, swap the 'instructor' and 'student' roles back and forth in half hour or one hour sessions. you are saving yourself the hourly rate for a 'real instructor' and the sim rental.
Things that should be 'second nature' before you even start spending money at the school.
a) Primary instrument scan. It's easy to get this to the point where its just second nature on the pc. Turn the turbulence way up, then focus on flying headings and holding altitude. It's hard, much harder than in the real airplane. It's much harder, requires a lot more concentration on a pc-sim because you have no 'feel' of the movement. Get this down pat, and when you get to an airplane, it's going to be easy. Work the scan on the primary flight group, you will know when you are 'ready' because it'll suddenly click, and instead of focussing on each instrument one at a time thru the scan, you will find yourself leaning back a bit, and absorbing the big picture in one go, by bringing all 6 of the primaries into a single look. It's not 'magic', it's just practise, and, it's going to take 15 to 20 hours of focussed effort before suddenly it just 'happens'. You will feel like a big light bulb went on, and suddenly it all just clicks together. That's when it's time to head off and start spending money, not before. That 20 hours spent in front of the pc is going to save you at least 5 hours of actual flying time.
b) Track an ndb, inbound, outbond, any track, with strong winds, and moderate turbulence. Again, time is money, you can spend the time on the pc for $0, or you can spend it in an airplane for $250, your choice.
c) VOR intercepts should be something you dont even have to think about any more, it's just second nature. Same for tracking.
d) Hold entries should be nailed down pat, you should be able to correctly enter any hold given the clearance 20 seconds back from the holding fix. Any type of hold, any type of entry. This is something you can practise hundreds of times on the pc sim, for zero cost. This is one silly little detail that costs most IFR students at least 2 or 3 extra flights in the airplane, they blow a hold entry, so the exercise has to be repeated. With pc sims being a dime a dozen, if you are tight on cash, it's absolutely irresponsible to head off flying an airplane if you are still 'wondering' and 'conteplating' a hold entry more than 10 seconds after you copy the clearance. Save one trip in the airplane here, $250 buys a lotta beer. Save 3 trips in the airplane here, pays the rent.
e) Localizer track to touchdown, in significant wind. Again, costs nothing to go do it again, keep at it till it's easy. Dont get to concerned about glideslope on a pc-sim, they all are way to sensative on glideslope when you get in close. If you can hold a pc-sim glideslope down to 300 feet, then you can fly a real one down to the ground.
There are two ways to approach the airplane part of the training if you have to do the minimum times anyways. Behind door number one, you can do it the traditional way, and start flying before IFR procedures are second nature. The trips will be hard, you will come back somewhat drained, and probably a little down on yourself. Behind door number 2, you can have the ifr procedures down pat before you go flying, then head off and actually enjoy flying a multi engine airplane for the first few times. it'll be a lot more fun, and, your focus will be the airplane, not the ifr procedures. If you have the IFR part down pat already, you'll find that you spend a lot more time flying around single engine, the instructor will indeed find ways to build up your workload. Since you are spending the money on the airplane, better to have your workload be airplane related rather than IFR related. In the end, by the time you have minimum times for the ride, it'll be a piece of cake.
Pick a school that's got a fine tuned rating mill in operation, one that grinds out ratings by the dozens. They have a system that's very well tuned to getting one up to standard, supplement thier system with a lot of homework on the pc-sim. A school that focuses on cloud tickets has seen it all, there's nothing you will do that can surprise them. If getting the job done in minimum timeframe is important, look at the fleet. Anybody that's been flying for a while knows the difference between a fleet of 2, and a fleet of 5 or 6 when one goes mechanical. If you are at a school with one or two airplanes available, and one goes mechanical for a week, well, you will be screwed. If they have 5 or 6, and one goes mechanical for a week, you probably wont even know about it. This of course assumes a common fleet, you do NOT want to end up at a school that has 3 airplanes, all different types. Switching types mid stream is just going to cost you more money, because you waste a trip learning the new type.
I've got the CH Products yoke , pedals and throtle quadrant but the Elite and Cirus stuff seems much better. Oh well I'm not gonna give up yet on ebay 
