Flight sims can be useful for instrument training. I recommend checking out VATSIM. It's a network of controllers and pilots where you can really get a feel for comm procedures as well.
http://www.vatsim.net/
http://www.vatsim.net/
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flight simulator...?
- Thread starter ReapersGF
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Geese
You guys are dangerous.
flight sims generally don't help you learn VFR skills and stick-n-rudder skills. It's a limitation that they can't really get over (you can't feel forces, and you have no real reason to be "looking outside" nor can you).
flight sims do offer some great practice for instrument students, being able to practice proceedures in similer aircraft is a great thing, and in this case, it's not too different from what you are doing in the aircraft for real.
As a CFI/CFII, I must warn you, by flying simulators like MS Flight Sim you are going to seriously piss off your flight instructor, because he will be trying to teach you how to fly WITHOUT looking at the instruments and by looking OUTSIDE (pitch attitudes, bank, etc), which is the OPPOSITE of how you fly computer based simulator. I know this all too well, I did it myself.
flight sims do offer some great practice for instrument students, being able to practice proceedures in similer aircraft is a great thing, and in this case, it's not too different from what you are doing in the aircraft for real.
As a CFI/CFII, I must warn you, by flying simulators like MS Flight Sim you are going to seriously piss off your flight instructor, because he will be trying to teach you how to fly WITHOUT looking at the instruments and by looking OUTSIDE (pitch attitudes, bank, etc), which is the OPPOSITE of how you fly computer based simulator. I know this all too well, I did it myself.
One sim that is getting a little dated, but I have been told is accurate is Jane's F/A-18 Superhornet... You fly the E model and if you put on all the realism settings and and make sure none of the cheats are enabled (although I like the voice hints sometimes, I just say that it's my NFO talking) you get a pretty accurate flying sim. Case in point, my girlfriend's dad (an F/A-18 pilot) took me to his sim at his NAS one day and I was surprised at how much I knew just by using that sim... I even caught the 3 wire on the real Navy sim, that I'm pretty sure does count for actual flight hours (or so the civilian contractors said). He was even surprised at what I knew, you know the only hard part was getting acquainted where and what all the buttons and stuff in the actual cockpit that you wouldn't use on the game (ie: the friction resistor things on the throttle before you go to full burner, as well as a few other minor things) and the actual amount of force that it took to move the stick. That was a welcome surprise though, because if you have a fairly loose joystick (yeah I know that comes out bad), for any game really, the flight controls are a little tedious. But yeah, it's a fun game as well, and these days I'm sure its wicked cheap (less than 20 bucks).
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