Please post how you use your simulator for training. What programs do you use and equipment. I see places like Sporty's and others sell some add-ons for FSX and others. Do you use these and how do you like them?
Tony
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Please post how you use your simulator for training. What programs do you use and equipment. I see places like Sporty's and others sell some add-ons for FSX and others. Do you use these and how do you like them?
Tony
I've covered most of my hardware on the other thread, Tony, but I did want to add that one of the coolest things (an opinon) in FSX is the ability to Save and Load a flight. I use it to set up a scenario I will want to do again...like outside the outer marker on an ILS approach, with the weather set to my preferences, etc. Get it where I want it, save it, and I can finish the approach, and instantly get back to the same place with a couple of clicks to do it again till I get it right.Quote:
Originally Posted by 1600vw
Oh...and the "P" key is pretty handy too (pause) :-)
Jim
I used to regularly fly with a good friend and colleague, playing safety pilot for each other for instrument currency. We found that by sitting together in front of a PC and shooting all the approaches the day before made a huge difference in the real flight. I do the same thing when I'm flying cross country to an unfamiliar airport, preflying the flight in the sim to get a handle on various waypoints, runway layouts, basic geography - "the hill is over there and then there's a river that goes diagonally and then the airport is between the river and the town" that sort of thing - and I've always been glad I did.
It's remarkable what a little bit of familiarity can do to free up mental resources for other things during the actual flight.
I, too, find that using FS (and to a lesser degree X-Plane) to practice instrument skills before a flight is very helpful. Personally, I think it more useful than the Frasca at the nearby FBO, but I can't log FS or X for currency. Stop. Look around. Why did I do that? Look at the recording. Try again. Switchology, frequency familiarity…all without worrying about the clock ticking away renting the box and paying for the instructor. PLUS you can set the weather, or use real weather, or have it change on you. The ATC feature is also helpful. Even better…the FSD version of the O-2 for FS is actually MY airplane. (The designer got the instrument layout a bit wrong, using the C-337 rather than the O-2 layout, but there is a work-around for that.) Nothing like a simulator that actually simulates your airplane.
I also fly with the CAP in their G-1000 airplanes. G-1000, I think, has a very high knowledge decay rate if you don't fly with it often. In X-Plane, I can bluetooth connect my iPad to the simulator running the Garmin 1000 PFD App. Set up the iPad in front of the monitor blocking the view of the six pack and instant G-1000 cockpit, with a MFD that is very nearly the same size as the real display. Foreflight also runs in simulator mode with X-Plane. How cool is that for prepping for your next flight!
In FSX one can work the tower as ATC. I have not done this as of yet but am looking forward to doing this, not sure if its just an on-line thing. I will check it out once I get around a thousand hrs flying. I have about 900 hrs now. This is flying in both fixed wing and rotor craft.
Agreed completely, Hal! My wife and I are both pilots. We'll take the sim 182 'out' with the clouds and vis set low, and she'll take the ATC role and vector me for approaches, etc. It's a confidence builder, and I find most of it directly translates into the real cockpit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hal Bryan
This is great! back around 2000-2001 or so I was flying a lot with a Compaq PDA running the Anywhere Map software (way ahead of its time, in my opinion) and they had a tool to slave it to FS as well, which was a great way to learn. By the time I first used it in the cockpit, I was completely comfortable - all the settings were adjusted to how I wanted them, I had the menus memorized, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mayhemxpc
The local CAP squadron uses flight simulation as part of its Cadet Aerospace education program, with the Cadet Flight Orientation Syllabus. At least six senior members bring in their computers and controls, running FS or X-plane. We then run cadets through the stations with a CAP Instructor Pilot (IP/CFI.) We introduce the cadet to what they will see on their next orientation ride, see the airplane from the inside and outside, explain the purposes of the controls and all, and then let them fly the profile, with a CAP IP sitting on their right, talking them through it. As time allows, we also allow a cadet to review a recent orientation flight.
I can see the times when the lightbulb goes on, where they are able to understand the things they were introduced to in the airplane, but were too overwhelmed to process or ask questions. Similarly, a student approaches the orientation flight knowing what to expect: what the airplane will do and how it does it. They appreciate what is going on inside of the cockpit. In the sim, we can always hit "P" to address a question or to give a cadet a moment to collect themselves. That doesn't work in the plane. (Although I have been known to turn the autopilot on in a standard rate turn for that purpose. Doesn't work in the pattern, though.)
In the future, we plan incorporating that activity on the day of the orientation rides. Cadets will move from the sim, to the plane, and then debrief in the sim.