PC flight simulators

[MissedApproach]

[ QUOTE ]
I used FLY! by Terminal Reality for procedures training, during instrument training mostly, and I think it helped quite a bit. I had already done 20+ holds before I ever did one in the plane. For me, there was no one thing about instrument flying that was difficult, but there were 20 or so easy steps that must be done at the right time, and that was tough. Doing it over and over on the computer helped.

[/ QUOTE ] Yes Fly! is so much better and loads more entertaining than that goddamned MSFS. For one, it offer's only a few planes and does each of them very well (as opposed to microsoft's quantity not quality approach). Instead of pushing the "E" button to engage the engines you actually have to learn the steps to do it. For instance in the Hawker there's about 40 switches/buttons/levers that you have to influence before you can start an engine. When a friend of mine showed me his FS2002 pro I was baffled as to how it is so popular (marketing?). I haven't seen FS2004 pro yet but if it's anything like FS2002 I'll save my money and wait for the third edition of Fly!.

Also if your looking for a good affordable helo sim Fly2 has the best one IMHO.

 

[JDMcFly]

I find flightsim extremely boring for the most part, except for when there is some interaction (be it Vatsim or what not)..

There isn't really much to 'do' in flightsim but stair straight ahead, and clicking the mouse on specific buttons just doesn't quite simulate much fer me.

 

[Vyse]

What are the minimum hiring requirements for a virtual airline? or are they furloughing as well? <j/k>


Serious question: is it worth upgrading from FS2002 to FS2004? It only seems like a few months ago that I got FS2002, and they've come out with yet another Microsoft upgrade (tm)

 

[JHines]

Worth upgrading if you use it much for instrument procedures practice. You have more options when shooting approaches, and you can "air-file" flight plans. Also, the GPS is a simulation of either a Garmin 295 or 500 depending on what plane, istead of the fake generic GPS, and you can fly approaches with it. The weather model is nicer (3-D clouds). The historical planes are very well done, and they put virtual cockpits in all the planes.

Otherwise, the basic quality of the flight model is no different or better.

 

[aloft]

Agree, and the weather engine is a quantup leap forward. Check out the review at Avsim.com, it spells out all the reasons you should upgrade from 02 to 04.

 

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
What are the minimum hiring requirements for a virtual airline? or are they furloughing as well? <j/k>



[/ QUOTE ]

Some are starting to swing back. One of them is slated to begin recalling virtual pilots this spring, with these pilots able to bid reserve routes. One guy I was reading about was so relieved to be getting his "job" back.

 

[MissedApproach]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What are the minimum hiring requirements for a virtual airline? or are they furloughing as well? <j/k>



[/ QUOTE ]

Some are starting to swing back. One of them is slated to begin recalling virtual pilots this spring, with these pilots able to bid reserve routes. One guy I was reading about was so relieved to be getting his "job" back.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah the virtual airlines have been hit pretty hard with the recent virus attacks. It seems virtual passengers are simply afraid to fly. The regional virtual airlines have been doing alright though, some even have orders for 80 seat CRJ-900's. The virtual ALPA hasn't been to happy with this violation of scope clause but in these tough virtual times there seems to be little that they can do.

 

[bluelake]

are you referring to the virus that (in mid-august) made my vritual airline employer unexpectedly shut down and then re-start again on its own???

 

[Wm226]

What is the Virtual TSA doing about all this?

 

[pkloop]

MSFS 2004 is very useful in instrument training as stated above. In fact (don't know if this is a good thing or not IR pilots please comment) when I entered my first cloud I was able to completely block out the outside and focus on the instruments as if it wasn't "real" as if I ws sittin at the putter doing it on flight simulator. Really helped me overcome spatial disoriantion feelings.

 

[bluelake]

well, as a simmer who flies in the real world, do you REALLY look out the window enough, even when VFR??

This is what I see when I fly with new students who are simmers. And this statement comes a CFI who loves using MSFS .

One time I had a bout where I had done LOTS of simming and not much real flying, and then when I got into the ol 172 again, I found my left thumb pressing the top of the yoke as if I was re-trimming the plane ala CH Products. Except in real life I was hitting the press-to-talk button

True story.

 

[JHines]

[ QUOTE ]
when I entered my first cloud I was able to completely block out the outside and focus on the instruments as if it wasn't "real" as if I ws sittin at the putter doing it on flight simulator. Really helped me overcome spatial disoriantion feelings.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had a lot of MSFS "time" when I started PPL and my CFI could hardly get me to look out the window. Not such a good thing for see-and-avoid operations.

On the other hand, when I did my IFR training I had no problem at all with basic airplane control and was easily able to focus on instrument scan in IMC, just like you experienced. In fact, my first IFR lesson was approaches.

I think sim experience is extremely valuable from that standpoint. The downside is, I think this occurs because all PC flight simulators are so bad for VFR flight that you have to choice to basically fly them "heads down". I think it is mostly a function of the lack of visual field provided by a single monitor. I'd love to see a low-cost 180 degree projection monitor for home use. Of course, I might never leave the house then.

 

[DanTheMan]

FS2004 has helped me out with my Instrument training, because if I know what approaches I'll be doing on my next lesson, I'll get out the approch plates and fly them on the simulator first in the 172. (same plane as real life) But then I will fly them in the Baron58 or the Kingair350. This helps out because everything happens so much faster in the bigger planes, then when I hop into the real 172 things seem to go easier because its at a slower speed. I don't know if that works for anyone else, but it seems to help me a little.