Flight simulators equal real aircraft?

Question

I know many of you very experienced pilots believe that computer based flight sims are nothing like flying a real aircraft, and have no value in training. I was wondering why you feel this way? Have you ever flown one? What did you feel was different? Have you ever looked at some of the studys done by ERAU and others to see if they helped in training? Do you know of anyone who learned how to fly a desktop sim and had problems with real aircraft training? I'm not trying to be disrespectful, I just wanted to find out why many experienced pilots feel that flight sim programs are poor teaching tools. Thanks.

Answer 1

I guess I'm equally as old and set in my ways.  I've "flown" quite a few; they are fun, and can teach some basic lessons:  what the instruments are describing, how they relate to each other, and basic panel scanning.  I firmly agree that they can also teach bad habits.  Habits that can be difficult to "unlearn" later.

I think the biggest limfac, is they don't teach "airsense", or feel.  AFA air combat sims, they can teach switchology, but fail at conveying the experience of being there; primarily due to the lack of spatial relationships; which are crucial in air combat.

Airsense, airmanship, situational awareness can ONLY be learned in an aircraft, coping with the actual physics of aviating, navigating and communicating.

Answer 2

Headline:  Cranky old Gray Haired Female Pilot Likes the Answers Above!

Good answers, guys!  I have a neighbor who has MSFS with one of these control panel things with handles and switches, rudder pedals, and the whole process.  It's cute, and fun to play with.  It was neat to be able to shoot some of the famous instrument approaches without burning a gallon of fuel or getting further than a few steps from the bathroom.

But the student pilot who says he/she does not need to learn anything new because of simulator experience is in for a rude awakening.  First, what color is 100LL gasoline?  Why do you need to know?  Explain what a gascolator does and how to check it to make sure it is working properly.  How do you tell if the brakes on an airplane are showing signs of wear?  And a thousand practical details you will get into when you get close enough to smell the gasoline and the rubber.

The main thing is that the real airplane gives you a thousand sensations, while the simulator feels like a desk chair.  Have you heard the old saying "flying by the seat of your pants?"  It means something.  You can tell, for example, whether a turn is coordinated or uncoordinated by the way the centrifugal force pulls on your lower body.  Especially if you are a girl.  You literally feel it in the seat of your pants.

Obviously, you don't get that feel in the simulator, which remains flat on the floor.  There are full-motion simulators that do it, but they cost millions of dollars and are found in airline and military training centers.

Instructors work hard to teach students not to lean out of a turn.  When you make your first turns steeper than about a 30 degree bank, you will find you have an instinctive reaction to lean toward a visually upright position.  That makes for sloppy turns, bad feel for the airplane, and inadequate instrument flying.

So you have to un-learn leaning out of turns.  You can't have that experience in the computerized simulator.  Those are just a couple of examples to say what it means that the simulator does not teach a person to fly, and may teach bad habits.

Chad:  Wait until you handle the radio stack with one radio working intermittently and the turbulence moderate-to-severe so it takes all your concentration just to grab the right k**b.  And wait until you have to start a hot fuel-injected engine before you decide you "know how to start an airplane."  Get out there and fly, son!

So except for that one person, those are good answers, guys, and the point is let's encourage interested people to become real pilots.  Then we will have spread the joy!  Right?

Answer 3

This is the way I feel: If you use it for training it's good for training. I don't think it's good for practicing various landings, takeoffs, stalls, and other maneuvers. I do believe that it's great for practicing instrument flying. You can really learn a lot of instrument on there. I don't think maneuvers are good because I believe you need to feel and experience them to understand them. That's my piece on Flight Simulator.

Answer 4

I think opposite, I think they are a great tool to learning how various approach procedures work and the radio stack and all that, of course if you do the manual changing of the k***s yourselves like I do.  I start my plane up from the gate all the time unless I'm just lazy and would rather start on the runaway.  But I do know how to start a plane compared to other simmers.

Answer 5

As much as you try a sim is still a computer model. I have played around on the computer before and had a lot of fun. As far as training the only real use is for instrument training (building a scan). When I was instructing I had a few people that came in telling me they had a lot of hours on the sim and didn't need me telling them how to fly a plane. Most had no idea how to even start the plane and it only go worse after that. As far as ERAU goes... do a lot of training in Flight training devices (sims) so they are going to say it works well but nothing replaces the real thing. Even in a 20 million dollar sim the airlines use you can tell a big difference between that and the real thing.

happy flying

Answer 6

Computer based sims like MS FS have good and bad points. Bad in that they can't teach the real "feel" of aircraft and can ingrain bad habits into you if you have never learned proper habits and methods from a Certified Flight Instructor. Good in that once you have some lessons under your belt, they're great for cheap practice of cross country flights, instrument flight procedures etc. And, they're fun, as long as you remember it is primarily a game with some good features.