Channel 5 (UK)

[PE_Kras]

S! all

i just recieved a SMS at 20:10 saying: Quick look @ Ch5. The Gadget Show 19:30 is talking about Flight Simulators.

second SMS was: wooops missed it.

Did any of you guys see it?
Was it any good?

[yamangman]

I saw this posted on the lo-mac.com forums, and, I made a specific note of watching it.




I missed it...

[Hat]

caught a bit of it... only the bit where a guy who had been flying by sim took a real plane up with instructor and was commenting on the differences.. looked interesting but was too knackered to keep my eyes open.. the wonders of middle age, being male, a full stomach and a comfy sofa

[luap.h]

Some guy who has only played flight sims (looked like MS to me) was challenged to land a small plane. They made sure he knew what the controls were, and found the cockpit layout in his sim was pretty much the same as the real plane. So they took him up and left him on finals and he seemingly landed it by himself all ok. The conclusion told otherwise, he apparently got a little flustered after the 'flare' and the real pilot had to adjust a few things to prevent a hard landing. The computer guy concluded flight sims are nothing like the pressures of the real thing and he's off to sell his joysticks and kit to pay for lessons

[dkmech]

Aye. They did mention IL-2 and Lock On as the best combat flight sims around, and showed a bit of footage from them.

I think it's fair enough that having not done it before he was close to doing it well. Obviously he wasn't sure when exactly to flare and how hard to do it. I reckon he would've landed alright if he had to, its just that the instructor obviously corrected when he deviated a little more than the instructor was comfortable with.

Its like driving a car on a pc and in real life - there's just so much more to take care of and at the same time so much more information through the movement, the g-forces, vibrations, etc.

[MA_Moby]

The computer guy concluded flight sims are nothing like the pressures of the real thing and he's off to sell his joysticks and kit to pay for lessons

Sounds like me I've a thread going on the Marlins forum comparing learning to fly real planes to 'flying' Forgotten Battles.

I do find it interesting how IL2 FB is comparable for some things, it's undoubtedly an excellent sim. I did my first lesson in Navigation yesterday - and IL2 has definitely given me experience of map reading and interpreting ground features. Though learning to flare and hold off for landing takes a heck of a lot of practice, and without the depth perception of real life I doubt think you can ever really learn to do it properly through a sim. My landings in FB have improved greatly though since I started Real Life lessons, if anything I'm carrying the RL skills into the virtual world rather then the other way round.

So it's real life for the flying and IL2 for the combat and silly inverted stuff

[Zak33]

But Moby...when you take me up I WANNA go inverted

[PE_Kras]

shame i missed it...sounded interesting

@Moby: could 3k see you though your PPL?

would like to get mine one day

[Nick]

Kras, used to work in the PPL lesson front... you need about 6 grand to get a licence. Of course, they TELL you that they can do it for X amount, but what they don't tell you is that that is the MINIMUM hours needed to get a PPL (40). Most people pass their PPL at between 60-80 hours... Of course, there are exceptions to this, going either below or (more often) well above even those hours.

In my experience, sims help in getting a grasp of what a plane does and how it works, how it reacts and what all the knobs and buttons do.... The biggest problem with an experienced simmer starting flying is getting them to NOT fly on instruments and to fly 'by the seat of their pants'. The majority of your time should be spent looking OUT of the cockpit, not chasing the AH or AI.

Sims, like Moby says, are very good for the more technical aspects of flying, such as navigation, instrument flying, night flying and even stuff like stall and spin recovery. The one thing sims can never do is give you a true 'feel' for flying.... once you've done your first stall you'll know what I mean.... there aint a sim in the world that can recreate the feeling of your stomach leaping into your thoat!

[MA_Moby]

shame i missed it...sounded interesting

@Moby: could 3k see you though your PPL?

would like to get mine one day

Like Deckard says! There are so many variables. It's likely I'm going to complete somewhere between 45 and 50 hours (45 being the minimum for a JAR PPL). There is also the NPPL, which is for the UK only, and requires only 32 hours - but it's really unlikely you'll complete in such a short period of time. Cost depends on so many things - type of aircraft, location in the country, how much competition the school has. If, like me, you're at a place that charges landing fees, it can get very expensive when you start to train for circuits. I reckon you should budget for about 6K, and think ahead as to how you're going to afford it as a hobby after that (it isn't cheap!). But the first step, go and do a trial lesson or two and see if you like it or not!

[PE_Kras]

thnx for the info guys, sounds all so exciting. 6k is a lot to save up, and like you say...to follow it up after you pass your PPL isnt cheap either