Suitability for flight simulation program for PPL?

C

CaliforniaSonoma

New Member
Gearing up to do my PPL. Have some limited hours from a military flying club when I was in the service....but for the most part am starting at zero point.

How helpful is a flight simulator program to assist in training?

And, if you think they're helpful what might a good one be? Perhaps one with 'realistic' controls? And what might one expect to spend?

Thanks
 
I have my PPL now and Flightsim is what got me all started for my love of flying. The cheapest ones on the market Flightsim and X-Plane. I've never played x-plane so I can't tell you a whole lot except that it has more refined, accurate aerodynamics supposively than FS but lacks in the eyecandy that FS has to make your flying world feel more real. They aren't bad for instrument training but they are not very good for your PPL. While they can all simulate manuevers you will have to do for the PPL like stalls,slow flight, turns around a point, short and soft field takeoffs and landings, etc. you can't get a feel for the aircraft and an FS plane handles differently than a real world plane. While it will help outline some of the basics, it can make you develop some really bad habits one for me was not looking out the window enough and not referencing the horizon when I first started and of course I had to develop a feel for the aircraft that FS never taught me. If you want to make FS as real as possible without spending a boatload, then get the yoke or a high quality joystick and rudder pedals and there are plenty of solid payware aircraft addons for planes like the 172, 152, cherokee, etc. planes you might be training in and those give you a pretty accurate portrayal of the cockpit. In terms of price for all this look at around 200 bucks for all the hardware and software. Once again though the only way you'll become a good pilot is to develop a feel for the aircraft and that only comes through real world flying experience.
 
Do a search on this forum for flight sims, xplane, and MSFS. Should bring up some good reading.

For flight sims at home, there are really only two: Microsoft Flight Simulator (Buy 2004 for $19.99 or wait for the new one this winter), or X-Plane. X-Plane has been refuted to have more realistic physics.

Personally, I have had great success using both for practicing cross-country trips. As far as the learning to actually fly the plane part, I believe not much can be gained from them.
 
I've used both.

As pure sims go, I prefer X-plane, however, to really make it shine, you need to have a ton of processing and video card power. X-Plane works beautifully on the Mac, as well, if that's what you use. I like the weather effects and turbulence of X-plane, too, which MSFS doesn't seem to do as well.

<shrug> Both are good for teaching BASIC instrument concepts.

Also - you should know there is a version of X-plane blessed by the FAA for sim training.
 
For your PPL, fligth sim does little to no good and I would venture to say more harm.

For the IR, it works great for procedural stuff, holding, shooting approaches, etc....
 
I suggest getting Vatsim. great program really teaches you how to read charts and talk to the atc.
 
I suggest getting Vatsim. great program really teaches you how to read charts and talk to the atc.
Click to expand...

Ehh, I'd caution against that. I've heard some real bad slang and unusual procedures not common to real-world flying. Could create bad habits. And of course we all know, un-learning something is much more difficult than learning.
 
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