I played Flight Simulators for almost 5 years straight, learning everything I could from it, then decided to get my license. I was awarded my PPL certificate after only 37 hours in my logbook. I was the first person in my class of 30 people to get my license, first one to solo ect, all because of Flight Simulators. This saved me atleast 5 thousand dollars in training fees, all done from the comfort of my house. It is an invaluable tool in not only learning to fly, but also keeping proficient once you have your cert. Well worth the money to invest in a decent setup!
nice, for those who just start, I would recommend 2d side flight simulator called "737 Flight Simulator". Its for iPhone, with that one you can learn the basics, then switch to 3d sim which is more difficult to control.
Nice. That's what I'm planning to do too. I've been using flight sims for about 3 years now. First for fun and then I decided to apply pro features (charts, checklist...) and have learnt a lot of stuffs. Next step will be the PPL in about a year or two.
ATV821 - I also did mine in 37 hours. My CFI said we needed to fly around for three more hours of practice just to take my check ride, because you have to have 40 hours. I didn't realize how big of a deal that was, until afterwards, when he told me the average amount of hours it usually takes people to get their PPL, which in many cases is more than double that. Nice to know we're in the same frat. I was also using MS Flight Sim back then, but man it would have been a lot easier if there was an XPlane 11 back then. Cheers!
Finally someone who understands flight sims! You can learn a bunch of stuff from them, I haven't even started training and I already know how to shoot an ILS and more
Got vid But for real world flight training use a yoke,throttle quadrent rudder pedals If you think about it does a Piper warrior have a fly by wire system and a joystick No but love the vid
Heh. You actually just said that to the only person in the world who has operated a PA-28 with fly-by-wire and a joystick, but that's a whole other story.
Excellent video. Prior to becoming a career aviator in 1989 (U.S. Air Force), I began playing around with flight simulators in the mid-1980s, most notably, the four-color FS 2, in 1986, when I bought my first computer. After the usual hijinks like flying under bridges, I got serious and learned how to use all the instruments, fly instrument approaches, and follow checklists. I upgraded to FS 3 when I graduated college in 1988, and the practice I developed on that platform over the next year (a little more than 200 hours) helped me greatly with respect to basic "air sense" when I went through U.S. Air Force flight training in 1989. Roughly 30% of UPT (undergraduate pilot training) students washed out, which was fairly high. Having already developed good "air sense" and instrument cross-checks, that was one less thing I had to worry about in the midst of wading through stacks of regulations and constant checks of our knowledge on real-world aircraft systems and regulatory procedures. I retired in 2009, and while I maintain my real-world commercial flight credentials, I maintain my instrument proficiency the same way I learned it, on a flight simulator. Thanks to Nick Cyganski and Friendly Skies Film for taking the time to help bring the joy of flying (sim and real world) to others out there through his videos!
Great story, and thanks so much, mate. I'm so happy that you enjoy the videos, and that you really identify with the greater message behind them. This is why I read all the comments on my channel, and reply to all of them as well. It's all about the people :) Blue Skies, friend!
It's been such a long time since I used a flight sim. It did help me out tremendously during lags in my initial training. I would love to see more videos of instrument training on your sim. I'm thinking I need to get back into training on simulators as I'm working on my instrument.
+jason michaud Sounds like the perfect time to me. I've always thought that when I go for my instrument, it would be a great idea to get back into simming.
You cannot say "takeoff" until clearance, as it is a major source of confusion and a collision waiting to happen. The word is "departure". As for the posture in front of the computer, I always hated when playing FSX that the "joystick" is way too high. A flight simulator this sophisticated would require a better table. :))
Right. See the cause of the Pan-Am / KLM crash on Tenerife back in 1977..... Worlds biggest crash with the most casualties ever. Since then then the word 'Take-off' is only used in the actual clearance for the take-off.
One thing I'd recommend is reversing the position of your stick and throttle. In the left seat throttle's always going to be on the right. For aircraft with a stick, side sticks are on the left and you almost always use a center stick with your left hand. Even if you're using simming for an aircraft that has a yoke, your coordination is going to be for right hand throttle. Great video though! :)
+JS AIRSOFT Warriors all the way! I hope you're enjoying your training. Feel free to share any thoughts with us about your training. Almost time to solo, yes?
I thought this was everywhere (it comes form a number of fatal crashes over the years, including in the USA, where RT wasn't clear enough about a take-off clearance so now 'take-off' can only be used when the clearance is being for take-off).
ASTUESP That's true. You are never "Ready for Take-Off" but "Ready for departure". It's only when you are cleared for Take-Off that ATC will use this word. This to avoid misunderstanding.
I remember commenting here somewhere that I was even surprised I said that, when I would never say it in real life. I just read the documentation. It's a "bug" in the software. My life makes sense again.
"take·off [ teyk-awf, -of] NOUN 1. a taking or setting off; the leaving of the ground, as in leaping or in beginning a flight in an airplane." I can't find anything in the AIM that that prohibits me from asking for what I'm about to do, or suggests alternative phraseology.
+Frederic Woodbridge Thank you very much, sir! You know you can do your part in helping my channel grow! Sorry for the shameless plug... It has to be every once in a while and you got it :P
Couldn't agree more with the benefit of using a flight sim for supplemental training. If taken seriously, its a great way to practice checklists, memorize emergency procedures, sim approach to an airport prior to a real flight, ATC comms, inadvertent flight into IMC, etc. The RealityXP GPS is well worth it and the TrackIR is a must have for immersion!
Back in the day when I was practising for my instrument rating, I found the Microsoft flight simulator invaluable for practising instrument approaches. These approaches are all about the numbers and it helps you focus on the actual flight conditions if you don't have to waste time looking up times, distances, headings, heights and speeds because you committed these to memory whilst flying on the simulator. I guess the point I am making is that a desktop flight simulator does not have to be a flawless reproduction of the actual flying experience in order to be useful.
Hey, I'm 15, and I've been flying on VATSIM as well as air traffic controlling, since 2014. This Summer I will be starting my flight training at Hanscom Field (KBED), at Executive Flyers Aviation Flight School. Love your videos. Looking forward to flying in the Massachusetts area!
+Adar Polachek Sooo... I'll try to do this as nicely as I can, but where are you living in MA? I'd like to quietly recommend some other flight schools....
+Friendly Skies Film I actually don't live in the U.S, but I lived there for 9 years. I have family in Boston. I am planning of flying there a lot just for the flight training. I was also recommended ECAC, I haven't actually booked a discovery flight with anyone yet. So I can still switch.
The best thing I use the sim for is practicing holding patterns. My CFI is a real stickler about maintaining altitude when turning in a hold +/- 100 ft and speed within +/- 10 knots with the proper time on the inbound and outbound legs. Using a real yoke with real foot pedals in the exact plane you fly ((Cessna 172) in training in the same airport you train at (KUMP) with the real weather enabled with the real time makes it even more useful, especially with unpublished holds that the CFI makes me do. How to enter the pattern... all good!
"Realistic training" - uses joystick for rudder pedals and flight yoke... sigh. Whilst I appreciate what your doing and I'm not trying to troll, please, tell people to spend a little more and get at least pedals. Flying isn't about resting your feet on those "foot rests" in front of you. Unless you're an airline pilot who doesn't touch the controls at all except the take off and taxi. Especially if you're using a flight simulator to learn to fly helicopters. Pedals are a must!!! Fully agree with the IFR practice. In this case you don't even need controls because most of the time you will use an autopilot. So practising scans and procedures is all I've used the flight simulators for. If I want hands and feet, I'm a very lucky person that gets to use a 54 Million dollar sim (and the real aircraft). But I still use Flight Sim X when I don't have access to the sim :-)
Jesus fucking christ the price of all those things you mentioned can pay for a flight lesson and 1/2. Either way when he says "realistic", he means procedures and ATC. NOTHING compares to actually flying a plane.
ZOMG the instruments are on the screen! You can practice the IF scan. You can practice hand and feet coordination to a point. Yes I agree, it doesn't replace the real thing. But I have no idea why you are arguing with me over my comment saying he thinks this is realistic training. It is and it isn't because of the reasons stated. 🤦♂️
Very interesting indeed! I never considered Track IR as something valuable to increase my flight experience with the FlightSim, maybe because I am using FS for about 30 years without. I have rudder pedals, a Saitek yoke with several extra devices and a power quadrant in use but now I will add Track IR to my setup. Thanks a lot for your vids... - much appreciated!
You're welcome! :) I'm glad I could impart some useful information. Also, the response time of TrackIR in FS2004 is about 5-10 times after than in FSX, so the experience is that much more immersive.
Well, I disagree with calling this a realistic setup for serious training (except for the GPS addon which I frankly had no idea about). Here´s how it can be greatly improved, IMO: 1. Virtual Reality instead of TrackIR. TrackIR was good a few years ago. Now it´s 2017 and we have Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It´s probably the single most important piece of hardware if you want to feel like you´re actually sitting in a plane and flying. And it´s a much better way of spending around $500 than buying multiple 2D displays and pretending this is what it looks like in real life. 2. X-Plane 11 instead of old FSX/P3D. More realistic flight model, much better lighting system and equally good aircraft available. And if you care about the scenery then it will cost you much less than all these FSX addons you need since the stock scenery is so bad. 3. Talking to a machine is not realistic. Period. Vatsim is good. Pilotedge is the way to go if you´re serious about your training. It´s not cheap but this isn´t supposed to be cheap. It´s supposed to be good and realistic. 4. Using an actual yoke instead of a joystick seems logical if flying a Piper. And rudder pedals are a must if you ask me. How can you twist your joystick to fly a Piper and call it realistic flight training in 2016 ? 5. Use a realistic aircraft! This is just a toy from Carenado which is slightly improved by a global addon (AccuSim). It will never be as good as a well modeled single addon such as the Airfoil Labs C172 or the VflyteAir Piper PA28 Cherokee 140. And X-Plane has some very well modeled helicopters, too if that´s your thing (R22, Schweizer S300CBi, Bell 407, etc.) 6. Not essential at all, but looking at real scenery does help the immersion. In X-Plane, you can download photo real scenery for an area of your interest and then add realistically placed building and trees on top of it. For free. Definitely available in the western US which is the coverage area of Pilotedge. 7. Something you didn´t mention - a weather addon. Crucial if you´re practicing IMC, not so much when doing VFR but still improves the overall experience. SkyMaxxPro and xEnviro seem to be the best options for X-Plane. I seriously hope no one will follow your advice here because it can be done much better.
Cool add ons. I used to fly the simulator. 10-12 years ago. Advancements are awesome. Keep up the great videos! PS: I have a 1965 Cherokee 180. The precursor to the Archer in the video.
Alan Waggoner Yeah, I just didn't know what years the A2A cherokee was modeled after. I'm not too familiar with the 180s, mostly the 140/160s I trained in, but I'm stopping by a 180 today to check it out for a project.
+Elios0000 I agree about the pilot edge. I've never purchased a subscription myself, so I guess it didn't come to mind, but I think that it can be a great addon to train with. It kind of fills in for having to pretend that someone is always watching you in the simulator, but you do pay for it. As for X-Plane, much like being a Piper guy and not a Cessna guy, I just prefer P3D, but I'll tell you my reasons; mostly the visuals. I think that the texture based ground visuals provide a much more seamless visual system for VFR pilots, while learning how to hunt down landmarks. I think the clouds also look better, but also the airport environments. With a cheap add-on or two, you can make the scenery and airport based markings and structures in P3D look much more realistic and have accurate properties compared to their real world counterparts.
+Friendly Skies Film free ortho scenery fixes that example i.imgur.com/fdyLi3T.jpg did i mention its FREE Pilot Edges has free trial too and 20 bucks a month is cheap in aviation world only things in Xplane i have paid for are aircraft, pilot edge and the Las Vegas scenery pack to get fsx/p3d up to level of xplane costs 100's
+Flying in Iceland I went for a discovery flight last week and when my instructor asked what experience I had, I said "For whatever it's worth, I flew in a Baron 58 when I was a teenager and have spent literally thousands of hours with MS Flight Simulator since I was 10..." He said that the flight sim was actually very, very useful towards becoming familiar with instruments and basic flight principles and would put me at a leg up versus someone with zero experience. The way I'm thinking, if it helps shave off a few hours in flight instruction ($), I've done myself a favor. :)
+Flying in Iceland That's exactly what I was hoping you guys would say! I had a very similar experience, but I always tell people that I credit that much to training with a flight simulator, not just messing around and having fun with it.
Friendly Skies Film m in atpl theory with people that dont have their ppl yet, what i have heard they dont use flight sim, they are telling me that they have upwards of 60 hrs and no ppl yet
+Nacho Soto I'm not on LM's payroll, I just work on addons for the simulator. I too was happy with the upgrade, but far from satisfied by the industry...
VR isn't ready imo, hard to run, and still pixelated to a point where it breaks imersion, for the reste sure it's great, but it's not ready to a point where i would necessarily want to have one
In real life you fly with your left hand on the yoke, your right hand on the throttle and your feet on the rudder pedals. WHY, in the sim world, would you fly with your right hand on the yoke, left hand on the throttle and your feet on the floor? This makes no sense. I know you said you couldn't afford to get rudder pedals, but honestly, if you get a yoke (with throttle, mix, trim) and rudder pedals, then you will REALLY feel like you're flying in real life. It makes a HUGE difference. Also, I see you are sitting way too low (as compared to the desk). You should try to adjust your seat so that the yoke is about where it would be in real life. I think you get my point ... you can still make HUGE improvements to mimic real life flight by getting things to match as closely as possible. Trust me, it makes a noticeable difference!
You make all really great points, I suppose I just wasn't as concerned with such things back then, and now I don't sim too much anymore now that I can hop in my own plane and fly anytime I want. I have told people that I credit flying with the joystick in my right hand with helping my transition to flying in the right seat so quickly, though! Thank you so much for your isnightful comment for those on here who can read and help advance their training to the next level!
Hey...he may want to fly a Pitts Special...with the throttle on the left ;-) good advice though...to get as close as possible to the real thing...sorry to crash your paty...anyone seen a sim with a varaible pitch prop?
Sailing from Switzerland thats because joysticks were made to play combat simulators. In most combat airplanes you flight with your right hand in the stick and your left hand in the throttle
Good video. I have the Saitek yoke, rudder pedals and the 3 lever-quadrant with my FSX-SE and I'm happy with them. The joystick shown is okay in some scenarios, like flying the F-18 Hornet, or one of the Airbus A32x aircraft, but it wouldn't feel right if you're flying most aircraft with yokes and everything else. I like the other add-ons that are shown in your video, like the one that has the real ATC communications (forgot the name) :)
Nice video. Great work. Love the head tracking! Nice to have 3 screens for realism. Pedals a must for muscle memory. Radio work has always been my weak point.
Thanks for the video. I've seen your videos where you are seemingly trying to spark some interest for flying in younger people. I commend you on that effort. I had no idea that you were a P3D developer. Being a real world pilot myself, I couldn't opt for anything less than 4 monitors; 2 in the front and 2 for side views. I have most if not all of the controls that are common for the type of aircraft that I've flown. I started out with a Force Feedback joystick back in 2003 that had many of the features you described. I earned my PPL in 2008 but I haven't flown since 2010 and I am not current. I've simply been busy with life's problems. I had a high dollar PC built in 2009 and it was great but it is way overdue for an upgrade. I have 2 unmatched video cards and only one of them is Direct X 12 compatible. Last time I had my "Flight Training Device" up and running I was limited to only one monitor using P3D and respect to Direct X 12. When I have time to upgrade, I will be going with the SS Drives this time around. In the future, I would really like to build my own home built Level C or D Flight Simulator.($$$$$) I want to see if I can actually become disoriented in simulated flight. LOL I think it would greatly improve home based Instrument training. I have a couple of pilot mentors one of which flies a King Air 200. He has taught me how to interpret Sid's, Star's and Enroute charts and I have actually navigated from one airport to another in IMC. That is exciting but once again my body knew I was seated at a desktop. LOL That's why I use the term "Flight Training Device" rather than simulator because we aren't actually simulating flight in a motionless desktop device. With no motion, all we have is a training platform for both procedural and operational performance tasks specific to the ground and flight training requirements for the ratings. Anyway, I enjoy your videos.
I'd recommend saitek throttle quadrant and t16000 joystick and use the t16000 with left hand and throttle with right. affortable setup and you will start getting your mindset to this setup from the beginning. Most GA planes are flown mainly with left hand in real life. Spend a bit more money and get a yoke, but if not, i'd recommend t16000 with saitek throttles over these HOTAS setups.
P3D with the A2A Cessna 172 is the way to go. You can do a pre-flight walk around, check the oil, and add oil. It's very detailed. PilotEdge offers the most realistic ATC experience.
Great Video! Another great Flight Sim with very realistic graphics and fully clickable cockpits is DCS (digital combat simulator) which can be found on bing or google. There is a lot of great videos on youtube as well. The A-10C Warthog is especially nice to fly.
TcO FrooZen I prefer Xplane 11 to P3D. The main problems I have with P3D are the lack of realistic flight physic's, not 64 bity like XP11 (They say they will be but aren't NOW) and cartoon looking scenery. I'm a real world pilot, and was not nearly as impressed with P3D like I was with XP11.
Just a little extra point; trackir can be very expensive, over here in the land of the tea drinkers and old chaps, it's about £150. An alternative to this is edtracker . The edtracker is £40, or you can chose to solder your own for half the price. Trackir will always be better as it tracks your head rotation, and also your x, y and z axis, whereas edtracker only tracks your vertical and horizontal rotation, but it's good nontheless.
I splurged on my FS setup about 6 years ago (new computer, FS software, yoke and pedals along with Track IR). Hooked everything up and used a home projector to view my images. Placed the projector behind me and my silhouette was displayed in the cockpit (interior view) in the pilot's seat on my home made 6 foot foam board screen! I was in heaven, felt just like Iwas flying the plane. Track IR was the key. And yes, now VR is about to change everything. Dramamine anyone?
It's a bit of an investment and not all simulators have full support, but flying in my HTC Vive is pretty insane. Room scale allows me to do a partial walk around of my plane (even mid flight if you want...) It's technically reductive training since you don't wear a huge headset whilst flying, but since it's for personal use and not certifying anything I don't feel it's an issue.
The last time I've ever played Flight Simulator was 98 when I was 7 years old. I loved the hell out of that game (And sucked at it lol). Did a random search tonight to see how far this Simulation has gone and oh my god....
You guys need to develop such an incredible memory in order to remember all commands....it's really difficult, seems like it requires a previous course before trying it and many hours available. That's why I haven't learned how to fly properly with these simulations yet. I'm a Racing simulation player but I can't stop admiring these flight sims.
Things have come far since my first time using a flight simulator. In 1969 I was going through Army rotary wing flight school. During instrument training, we used an old link trainer converted to a helicopter cockpit and all we had were instruments to look at. Our only assignment was to fly a holding pattern that was printed out on paper. No sounds, and only a little motion. Now anyone can have a great simulator on their desk top with all the controls, ATC, and the works. Do they have VR nowadays?
LOL all the comments from these "know it all's." Nick you really do a GREAT job with these videos. Lot of work and effort. I looked up this video because I'm going today to update my old system so I can practice approaches and holds, etc. on the Lockheed sim. Which I don't have yet. I had no idea about the head IR setup for situational viewing - wow, I almost jumped out of my chair !! : ) My wife laughed at me. She wants to learn to be a safety pilot, and how to land, etc. and after that commented this would be good for her also, although she has many many many hours of flying right seat and back seat through all types of conditions. Thank you for making these.
I'm a commercial pilot and I train every day with my old FS2004, no rudder pedals, no track ir which I find annoying and can be cheaply replaced by a cheap camera addon like active camera... but besides that for me it has been my best training pal specially for instrument flying.. I've seen many pilots dismissing FS but that's only because they just can't set it up correctly and that's the key point, the right addons, the right controls and I found even my FS9 as real as going up there in the real steel.
Hey man like your videos. You seem cool and down to earth. A lot of flight vloggers seem kinda cocky. I start my flight training on Tuesday for my ppl. And then my cfii eventually.
Just found your You Tube channel while looking for some instructional videos. Thanks for the great videos! I'm really enjoying them and picking up some good info!
Thanks for the video. I received FSX as a gift and have been waiting for the Saitek Flight Pro Yoke to come back in stock. Instead I just picked up the X52 and it looks like it will work out well. Next I'm going to check out the Multi Crew Experience and figure out how to get that set up. Afterwards, I will look to add TrackIR.
Hey, sorry I missed your comment for a few days. I wish UA-cam had a better system to show me unanswered comments and replies. Sounds like a good setup. I would have definitely loved to have a nice yoke for my training, but man do they consume a lot of desk real estate.
Thank you for well spoken, well presented video! Too many vid's on YouTUbe where the presenters waffle and never get to the point. Very refreshing indeed.
You say TRACK IR is great for the view. it's good but to move his head too this can make vibration and rapid movements that can make over time large video eyestrain for people watching you. We must adapt to this new product and the experience will bring all this precise movements. This is very interesting for drivers eager to learn on a PC. Thank you for all that information you just gave us. Visit your site. Fabulous you give a good detailed explanation. Thank you . Because you're a pilot in the real world. thank you for any explanations.
Rudder pedals are good to keep your foot in and also a flight sim Yoke with separate throttle positioned to your right side so you retain flight control command in your left hand which stops you becoming right hand dominant like you become using a system like the X52
Somebody asked me about that in person last week. I used to get worried about that effect too, but I always felt the feel of the airplane was communicable to the other hand pretty easily. Rudder peddles, I would love to have, though!
Thanks for your prompt answer about TrackIr. I`M using fs since it began in the 80`s. Now I have Highend one. About if I resemble Bob from Twin Peaks, I`m not familiar with that program only that was created in early 90`s by director D. Linch with is one of my favorite. You have absolutely a nice tutorial about aviation!. thanks again Emilio.
Good luck setting up TrackIR! If you have any troubles feel free to let me know :) David Lynch is a pretty special guy, I certainly agree. The show is coming back after 25 years if you want to get into it.
You should definitely use A2A products such as the 182, and comanche. They actually model damage and performance based on a lot of factors. It feels more real than caranado aircraft.
+Sam Host I have their 172, and I do enjoy the advanced systems. I just find that in our age of barely functional simulators, the problems that come with their complexity get in the way. I also wanted to demo this video with my exact airplane, which doesn't quite fit the bill for a cherokee 180, or a comanche.
I use the Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas 4 which has a throttle, many buttons, and twist for rudder. I am upgrading to a Saitek Pro Flight System which has a yoke, throttle quadrant, and rudder pedals.
It is spectacular. Sadly, I know a lot of people who are afraid of it. I try to tell them that the people running the online towers are literally paid to deal with your underdeveloped skills! XD
Just an FYI, the Garmin GNS430 simulator software for Windows doesn't work with 64-bit operating systems. The 430 is too old now that they are pushing WAAS. "As an instructor, I don't recommend my VFR students use much of the sim. From my experience, those who have used sims before flying an actual airplane know a decent amount about the instruments and instrument interpretation but all their focus is inside looking at those instruments." Possibly, but I offer this counterpoint: I earned my Private Pilot Certificate back in January of 2001. After 9/11 my airport (HEF) was grounded for a time due to being under Dulles Airport's Class B top tier. After the ban was lifted, the initial rules were so onerous that the joy of flying was basically stripped-away. In June of 2002 I flew my (as far as I was concerned) "last" flight. Over the ensuing years I "flew" using FSX and even bought the Carenado Archer model seeing as an Archer II was the primary aircraft I used in real life. I eventually joined one of the virtual airlines (VA) and "flew" 737-800s on routes mimicking the real airlines schedule. Our VA interfaced with the VATSIM controllers so my radio "chops" didn't totally atrophy. Fast forward to last month when I decided I wanted to get in the air for real again, then possibly work on an instrument rating as well. The chief flight instructor at the FBO I used took me up for closed traffic work at HEF (a towered airport) to see how much I had forgotten in almost 14 years. One planned go-around and one landing later, he practically called me a liar about not flying for 14 years. I don't claim to be any natural born pilot, but I spent so much time "head out of the cockpit" that I had to remind myself to check the instruments from time to time while in the pattern. Even with all that simulator time, I still found myself looking out the windows over 80% of the time. Perhaps it was due to the natural advantage the Cherokee-series has over the Cessna planes in closed traffic? No reason to look out the window in the pattern when the wing is blocking your view during the turn. X-D
Wow, you've written some really intense comments this afternoon! Thank you so much for sharing. Don't forget to join my facebook community too, as they seem to be very talkative and informed as well. That's a great story. I feel very close to your security expeiences, as Worcester Regional Airport is locked down as tight as fort knox. I also love your comment about Pipers versus Cessnas! Thank you for making the right choice! XD
a good flight simulator really does work if you take the time to make it a realistic as possible ... I remember my first flight with am instructor.. I did all the flying including the landing as he watched.. when asked how I knew how to fly on my first lesson I replied . well .. I have alot of flight sim time .. granted..the plane was a 172 and we had long wide runway so I had some wiggle room ..
I'm not usually one to bark back with something like, "Read the other comments!" but I just answered yet another person about PilotEdge this morning. Anyway :P What a great system they have setup there! I wish I could justify the costs for myself. Enjoy using it!
No worries man, Did a quick scan and did not see anyone else mention it. Clearly I missed something :p haha. Look forward so seeing more Cape Cod Flying, wish I could justify the cost of going back there (Used to go there with someone who worked out of Woods Hole in the Summers)
Hi, I really enjoyed your video! I heard you moaning about the expense of rudder pedals. They can be costly, but they don't have to be. I couldn't afford a decent set of pedals, but with a little creativity, I now have them. The hardest part will be interfacing. If you are reasonably, mechanically inclined, that's not too hard. The way I interfaced them was into my stick. I found wires from the twist axis, and simply wired them through a stereo headphone jack w/ speaker cutout. That way, you still have twist function when the pedals aren't connected ( I am not sure about your stick, but you may find an unused axis you can connect to). As for the pedals, you can easily build a decent set for about $30. I include a URL with good plans. It doesn't include toe brakes, but with a little ingenuity, there is no reason you cant add them. Mine are a little different, because I built with materials on hand, but everything you need except electrical components, is available at Lowe's and the minimal electrical components are readily available at Radio Shack, or on Amazon. Here is the URL drzonkow.neostrada.pl/rudder.html I hope you build them and that you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed your video!
Wow, those really are some good plans! If I was still into flight simming that much, I would probably consider doing something very much like that. It's also nice to hear somebody with mechanical/electrical intuition on here too! Thanks for sharing :)
Had 2 hours in the air. Humbling experience. Wasn’t scared, perhaps overwhelmed is the word. My first instructor got diagnosed with cancer. The second one officiated football with my dad. Neither gave me a great deal of learning. Only 2 times up, I’m expecting too much. Are these simulators useful? Would love to have some experience before I go through the process. Love watching you fly with Tyler. He seems like a total dick, but damn, I would love him to teach me. Dude is awesome, as are you.
I took a look into ebay.com and found some nice bundles or trackclip pro devices for a few bugs on top of the regular pricerange but for free shipping instead. Check ebay Item Number 201631247882
MemphisBelle291 This ad has the clip for $38.99 USD, and $25 for shipping! I thought shipping went by weight.. and on top of that, I have to convert it all to Canadian dollars.. that's 85 bucks!
bobbyrutz thats funny, when I was searching on my phonebrowser I found a track clip pro with the given item Number for free shipping, by using this number now on ebay.com it displays nothing...strange. 85 Dollars including shipping is wayyyyyyy too much
MemphisBelle291 That's what I'm saying! I've had the hat clip thing for more than a decade, I've lost it, found it, lost it again.. hah. I've been keeping an eye out for the newer style clip, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to find it anywhere for less. I like your name, btw. Great movie, great aircraft.
My Flight Training Device has 2 monitors in the front and one on each side. Side views are a must for realism. I use a yoke, trim wheel and rudder pedals. I have a 2 throttle bodies with 3 controls on each for Piper or I use panel mounted throttle, mixture and prop feather as found in Beechcraft or Cessna. I have 2 Comm radios, 2 Nav, Auto Pilot and transponder. I also have a Carb Heat knob for older models. I think the only place I might use a joystick is if I were flying stick or maybe fighters which I have no interest in fighters because I will never fly one. I would really like to build a motion platform with an enclosed cockpit to delve deeper into IFR. I've practiced a lot of instrument on my current device but movement in the clouds would take it to a whole new level.
Davebflying I got my start on FS98 and flight unlimited, but FS2004 was my first real love. Frankly... still probably the best written sim out there from a software developers perspective. FSX is a disaster under the hood! XD
Rudder on the joystick is not realstic Most important thing to train on a desktop sim, are procedure training when y start the engine, your main attention is on the instruments for the engine until its establish the desired rpm, fideling around with doors etc y do after when y turn the key for engine start, y want to spell out each position, till crank since you have the trottle in the ac to the right, one shld position the joystick to the left and the throttle to the right further more that trains a future capt in a joystick airplane from start the right way Phil
I've always wondered why FSX and FSX-SE don't have a tiller control functionality. I know X-Plane has it. In real life, most large commercial aircraft have the tiller mechanism for ground steering. I know we can the rudder pedals for ground steering, which is fine for general aviation aircraft, but not on large aircraft. Maybe there is an add-on.
Great video but I wouldn't call it necessarily "realistic", to me this is the bare minimum to make flight sim an enjoyable experience! But I would buy rudder pedals as fast as possible, they're a must have in any flight sim setup to help coordinate feet and hand input. You also skipped some important weather addons, and weather plays a huge role in flying, especially when it's very dynamic. Also, there's a huge change coming to aviation with Automatic Dependent Surveillance, everyone should be aware with that technology and the new Garmin GTN 650/750 trainer is probably more worth the time investment put into learning a flight GPS since those units are already ADS-B compliant and allow for new approaches to be taken :)
Love your videos! hope you keep them coming. Don't get mad at me for saying this, but you could afford a plane but not rudder pedals and a yoke? That's funny. Anyway this video is just what i'm looking for. I've been using flight sims since 2000. Ive always had an interest in flying and the sims taught me a lot. I just got my private license back in April 2016 ( 100 hrs now), And I am totally addicted. if I had money, I would be up in the air more than I'm on the ground. Unfortunately that's not the case. Thats where sims come into the picture. While I have learned a lot about flying by means of sims, I would love to use it now as a learning tool. Your video here offered some great suggestions. My biggest gripe about sims was the views, or lack of. That TrackIR is definitely on the wish list. Also, since I'm not that good on the radio, (my training was at an uncontrolled airport, N87) it would be great to use VatSim to sharpen my radio skills. Also, I bought the Sport's Instrument course and would like to use it on my own until I can afford the instrument training. THE PROBLEM: I have never been able to set up a system without a bunch of bugs happening. Its been so frustrating I usually give up. I actually find it easier to fly a real plane than a sim. I wish I could buy a turn key system that comes ready fly, but I have neither the space or the money. A desktop system would be best for me. But so far, I seem to be fooling around more with settings than flying. And even when I think I got it right, I find myself saying, "Why is it doing that?" I would love to get hands on training with someone who is a real world, and sim pilot, but, by me anyway, i've only come across one pilot who uses a sim, and of course, I lost contact with him. WHAT TO DO? HELP! PLEASE!
Well, well, well.... It seems you have predicted one of my next videos that I'm making. It's all about how flight simulation is actually a horrible, expensive, and incredibly addicting industry where you will through your entire life away tweaking something that will never work, because the software is so flawed that nothing you can do will ever produce a usable experience. Ha. Ha. Ha. ... The best part is that you hit the problem on the nose in your first remark without even knowing it. I could stand how broken the simulation was, so rather than waste my money on a stinking set of rudder pedals, I bought the whole darn plane instead, and somehow that was EASIER!! Stay tuned. If you have anything else you'd like to share that I might use in this video, please feel free to email!
Finally! Someone that understands me! I have felt this way for years. Always hoping the next version would get better. I see a lot of simmers online that claim to be real world pilots, even CFI's that use sims for training, and seem to be very happy with their experience with simming. When I go on the forums, its seem like people are more interested in tweaking settings and frame rates and everything else but training. Its seems that they are more of computer geeks than pilots. They talk bout realism all the time, yet try taxiing the Cessna 172 and taking off in X-PLane 10. The wheels screech unbelievably, like your putting a heavy side load on the gear. That is so unrealistic and annoying. I have used every version of MSFS since 2000, and was never really satisfied. Although I must say, I learned a lot from the lessons. Then I switched to X-Plane 10 and I was very disappointed. The interface to set up a flight was no where as nice as MS. There is no way to Slew in X-Plane either. I loved that feature. But I heard that there would be no more support for MS since they discontinued it. Now I hear that LockHeed Martin bought the MircoSoft Program and made it much better. Yet I still hear people talking about problems and tweaking setting. Will this every end! Very much looking forward to your video on this. Thanks for all you do!
Thanks, mate :) Yeah, I've been living the same horror since MSFS95. I'm not kidding when I say that it drove me to get my pilot's license. There are no stutters and the frame rates don't drop in the real world while flying over an international airport with lots of traffic. When will it stop? Sometimes I literally think, much like other technical problems I've encountered as engineer, it will only stop when I invest my own money to solve the problem for everyone else. I've realized recently while working on ACAP how close my team is to reinventing the flight simulator... I swear, I will buy a game company and fix it in 10 years if nobody else does.
I fly with a 980ti powering the graphics, nice to have great graphics without studdering. I also use the old Sidewinder FF2 joystick that gives great feedback. Would be great to have improved autopilot nav markers though. When flying to some locations I find I'm directed to navpoints that don't logically relate to the track I'm flying. Sometimes when approaching my airport I find that I must make and extreme turn to approach which is not realistic.
thank you very much For all this information About and joysticks! Of your cap with a very elaborate system! Interesting as practical for the pilots and pilotes of the world. very good Very good video quality professional. You are a pro thanks. For all these precise data.
AWESOME! Bro, you got the same joystick i got. I got a home cockpit setup myself. 8 23 inch led screens, A boss of a computer (powerful enough to play triple A titles like GTA V at 60fps or more), Saitek Pro flight rudder pedals, throttle quadrent from CH Products, VR Insight M panel, Saitek radio panel and switch panel. I also use my android tablet as a FMC using IFMS. Not only that but i also use FSMap from aerosoft, Plan-G3, FSUIPC WideFS for using my other computers to help navigate, and the sim i use is FS2004. The program i use for charts, is Simplates X Ultra. I switched to digital about 2 years ago cause i was printing off all my charts and filling up a 5 inch binder and spending alot on paper and ink. Also can use it on my tablet and phone as well. Just to give you an idea of how many hours i have, ive been playing FS9 since 2005. 11 years and probley have logged 15,000 hours or more on FS with multiple aircraft types. I know that doesnt count for real hours but i just enjoy playing FS9 the most.
Great setup! But gee, I can't believe you use FS2004... it's almost 13 years old at this point, horribly antiquated, and THE BEST FLIGHT SIMULATOR EVER!!! :D It has the best performance, great graphics, you can have all the AI you want, and tons of planes! Great choice! :D
Well i would go FSX but something is causing the stock install to crash and yes i spent alot on FS9. I use REX too so it looks pretty close to FSX. Plus some of the addons i have arent supported in FSX anyways so whatever.... I can see you are using P3D in this video. I have that but dont have money to pay for all the addons again. At least some of the scenery developers i bought my stuff from offer free upgrades to FSX for my orders. Others are just greedy and dont do that.
Nick Chinn Sounds about right to me. I use P3D when I'm showing people GA stuff, but then us FS2004 for myself when I fly the heavy iron for those exact same reasons.
As a developer for Lockheed Martin's Prepar3d and a real pilot as well, you sure do know what you are talking about.... Cool! For me, I started last year with FSX and DCS world. And because of the graphic quality of DCS, I wanted something similar with flying a civilian sim as well. So I made the transition from FSX to Prepar3D. As a head tracker, I use a trackhat clip, which is quite similar to TrackIR. And here comes my question: How did you setup your trackIR with P3D? Can I find this setup in the software of p3D?
Thank you very much, sir! :) Hmmm.... Good question. Ah, I remember! It's not actually connected to P3D, it's connected to EZDOK. That in itself is a little tricky, but definitely doable at this point.
My setup is quite similar to his, so you may take my price list as a guide: Track IR: USD 145.00 Joystick (Phantom Hawk) : USD 80.00 (USD 150.00+ if you want his); Kensington Orbit Trackball wif scroll ring: USD 40.00; FSX steam edition: USD 20 (could be cheaper now if you buy from steam website). Other Items (I've already owned): 1. lenovo all-in-one desktop PC, size 24", i7-3770, 16gb DDR3 ram; 2. 1tb SSD; 3. 1 cheap China made earphone; 4. 1 cheap china made tablet.
I played Flight Simulators for almost 5 years straight, learning everything I could from it, then decided to get my license. I was awarded my PPL certificate after only 37 hours in my logbook. I was the first person in my class of 30 people to get my license, first one to solo ect, all because of Flight Simulators. This saved me atleast 5 thousand dollars in training fees, all done from the comfort of my house. It is an invaluable tool in not only learning to fly, but also keeping proficient once you have your cert. Well worth the money to invest in a decent setup!
nice, for those who just start, I would recommend 2d side flight simulator called "737 Flight Simulator". Its for iPhone, with that one you can learn the basics, then switch to 3d sim which is more difficult to control.
Nice. That's what I'm planning to do too. I've been using flight sims for about 3 years now. First for fun and then I decided to apply pro features (charts, checklist...) and have learnt a lot of stuffs. Next step will be the PPL in about a year or two.
ATV821 - I also did mine in 37 hours. My CFI said we needed to fly around for three more hours of practice just to take my check ride, because you have to have 40 hours. I didn't realize how big of a deal that was, until afterwards, when he told me the average amount of hours it usually takes people to get their PPL, which in many cases is more than double that. Nice to know we're in the same frat. I was also using MS Flight Sim back then, but man it would have been a lot easier if there was an XPlane 11 back then. Cheers!
Finally someone who understands flight sims! You can learn a bunch of stuff from them, I haven't even started training and I already know how to shoot an ILS and more
That's how I see it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I love Flight sims, especially P3D. Without them and VATSIM there's no way I would've soloed in 10 hours.
+GSOaviator That's the spirit! Thanks for the backup and sharing your experience. If you have anymore suggestions for future pilots, please share!
Got vid
But for real world flight training use a yoke,throttle quadrent rudder pedals
If you think about it does a Piper warrior have a fly by wire system and a joystick
No but love the vid
Heh. You actually just said that to the only person in the world who has operated a PA-28 with fly-by-wire and a joystick, but that's a whole other story.
Excellent video. Prior to becoming a career aviator in 1989 (U.S. Air Force), I began playing around with flight simulators in the mid-1980s, most notably, the four-color FS 2, in 1986, when I bought my first computer. After the usual hijinks like flying under bridges, I got serious and learned how to use all the instruments, fly instrument approaches, and follow checklists. I upgraded to FS 3 when I graduated college in 1988, and the practice I developed on that platform over the next year (a little more than 200 hours) helped me greatly with respect to basic "air sense" when I went through U.S. Air Force flight training in 1989. Roughly 30% of UPT (undergraduate pilot training) students washed out, which was fairly high. Having already developed good "air sense" and instrument cross-checks, that was one less thing I had to worry about in the midst of wading through stacks of regulations and constant checks of our knowledge on real-world aircraft systems and regulatory procedures.
I retired in 2009, and while I maintain my real-world commercial flight credentials, I maintain my instrument proficiency the same way I learned it, on a flight simulator.
Thanks to Nick Cyganski and Friendly Skies Film for taking the time to help bring the joy of flying (sim and real world) to others out there through his videos!
Great story, and thanks so much, mate. I'm so happy that you enjoy the videos, and that you really identify with the greater message behind them. This is why I read all the comments on my channel, and reply to all of them as well. It's all about the people :) Blue Skies, friend!
track camera is absolutely ingenious :)
It's been such a long time since I used a flight sim. It did help me out tremendously during lags in my initial training. I would love to see more videos of instrument training on your sim. I'm thinking I need to get back into training on simulators as I'm working on my instrument.
+jason michaud Sounds like the perfect time to me. I've always thought that when I go for my instrument, it would be a great idea to get back into simming.
You cannot say "takeoff" until clearance, as it is a major source of confusion and a collision waiting to happen. The word is "departure". As for the posture in front of the computer, I always hated when playing FSX that the "joystick" is way too high. A flight simulator this sophisticated would require a better table. :))
Pavel Adamek I
There not in europe
Right. See the cause of the Pan-Am / KLM crash on Tenerife back in 1977..... Worlds biggest crash with the most casualties ever. Since then then the word 'Take-off' is only used in the actual clearance for the take-off.
I believe its different in Europe vs US
One thing I'd recommend is reversing the position of your stick and throttle. In the left seat throttle's always going to be on the right. For aircraft with a stick, side sticks are on the left and you almost always use a center stick with your left hand. Even if you're using simming for an aircraft that has a yoke, your coordination is going to be for right hand throttle.
Great video though! :)
Wow! never thought of track ir.. Thanks so much!
I definitely enjoy! Good luck :)
Hi , I am currently 15 hours into my training , thanks for providing me with this great content (. I fly piper warrior ii and pa38 tomahawk )
+JS AIRSOFT Warriors all the way! I hope you're enjoying your training. Feel free to share any thoughts with us about your training. Almost time to solo, yes?
Nice video. btw In Europe we can't say ready for takeoff to atc. we have to say ready for departure.
I thought this was everywhere (it comes form a number of fatal crashes over the years, including in the USA, where RT wasn't clear enough about a take-off clearance so now 'take-off' can only be used when the clearance is being for take-off).
they dont follow icao phraseology in the us if i remember correctly
ASTUESP That's true. You are never "Ready for Take-Off" but "Ready for departure". It's only when you are cleared for Take-Off that ATC will use this word. This to avoid misunderstanding.
I remember commenting here somewhere that I was even surprised I said that, when I would never say it in real life. I just read the documentation. It's a "bug" in the software. My life makes sense again.
"take·off
[ teyk-awf, -of]
NOUN
1.
a taking or setting off; the leaving of the ground, as in leaping or in beginning a flight in an airplane."
I can't find anything in the AIM that that prohibits me from asking for what I'm about to do, or suggests alternative phraseology.
Rapidly becoming one of my favorite UA-camrs. Keep it up.
+Frederic Woodbridge Thank you very much, sir! You know you can do your part in helping my channel grow! Sorry for the shameless plug... It has to be every once in a while and you got it :P
Oh I have been sharing, believe me. :)
Frederic Woodbridge
Muy Excellente! Thank you very much :)
wow, great job. Lots of useful information. I will be in contact and now following.
Excellent! Glad you enjoyed :)
If you don't have the flight stick in between the legs then you are doing it wrong. (no homo..)
Couldn't agree more with the benefit of using a flight sim for supplemental training. If taken seriously, its a great way to practice checklists, memorize emergency procedures, sim approach to an airport prior to a real flight, ATC comms, inadvertent flight into IMC, etc. The RealityXP GPS is well worth it and the TrackIR is a must have for immersion!
Excellent! Glad you agree :)
Such a wonderful channel!!!
Yay! Thanks, mate :)
Back in the day when I was practising for my instrument rating, I found the Microsoft flight simulator invaluable for practising instrument approaches. These approaches are all about the numbers and it helps you focus on the actual flight conditions if you don't have to waste time looking up times, distances, headings, heights and speeds because you committed these to memory whilst flying on the simulator.
I guess the point I am making is that a desktop flight simulator does not have to be a flawless reproduction of the actual flying experience in order to be useful.
Need to do something about that joystick positioning. hand its to high. looks uncomfortable
Comfortable for me :) I can see how it looks like it might be awkward, though ;P
Hey, I'm 15, and I've been flying on VATSIM as well as air traffic controlling, since 2014. This Summer I will be starting my flight training at Hanscom Field (KBED), at Executive Flyers Aviation Flight School. Love your videos. Looking forward to flying in the Massachusetts area!
+Adar Polachek Sooo... I'll try to do this as nicely as I can, but where are you living in MA? I'd like to quietly recommend some other flight schools....
+Friendly Skies Film I actually don't live in the U.S, but I lived there for 9 years. I have family in Boston. I am planning of flying there a lot just for the flight training.
I was also recommended ECAC, I haven't actually booked a discovery flight with anyone yet. So I can still switch.
Adar Polachek
I would definitely recommend ECAC or Perception Prime at Beverly. I was just at East Coast this week, and they were great to me.
+Friendly Skies Film Alright great thanks!
I use Aurofly 2 with Vive VR, its the closest to reality you can get.
What an impressive tutorial, well-expressed and relevant. You've got me interested in updating my kit and flying simulator again. Thanks.
you should now play xplane11
The best thing I use the sim for is practicing holding patterns. My CFI is a real stickler about maintaining altitude when turning in a hold +/- 100 ft and speed within +/- 10 knots with the proper time on the inbound and outbound legs. Using a real yoke with real foot pedals in the exact plane you fly ((Cessna 172) in training in the same airport you train at (KUMP) with the real weather enabled with the real time makes it even more useful, especially with unpublished holds that the CFI makes me do. How to enter the pattern... all good!
"Realistic training" - uses joystick for rudder pedals and flight yoke... sigh. Whilst I appreciate what your doing and I'm not trying to troll, please, tell people to spend a little more and get at least pedals. Flying isn't about resting your feet on those "foot rests" in front of you. Unless you're an airline pilot who doesn't touch the controls at all except the take off and taxi. Especially if you're using a flight simulator to learn to fly helicopters. Pedals are a must!!!
Fully agree with the IFR practice. In this case you don't even need controls because most of the time you will use an autopilot. So practising scans and procedures is all I've used the flight simulators for. If I want hands and feet, I'm a very lucky person that gets to use a 54 Million dollar sim (and the real aircraft). But I still use Flight Sim X when I don't have access to the sim :-)
Jesus fucking christ the price of all those things you mentioned can pay for a flight lesson and 1/2. Either way when he says "realistic", he means procedures and ATC. NOTHING compares to actually flying a plane.
ZOMG chill out idiot. Pedals aren't that expensive. Grow up.
Still, technicals like communication and instruments are way more important than physical control devices.
ZOMG the instruments are on the screen! You can practice the IF scan. You can practice hand and feet coordination to a point. Yes I agree, it doesn't replace the real thing. But I have no idea why you are arguing with me over my comment saying he thinks this is realistic training. It is and it isn't because of the reasons stated. 🤦♂️
So now your saying this IS realistic training while in your first comment you stated that it *wasn't* because of the lack of Rudder pedals and a yoke.
Very interesting indeed! I never considered Track IR as something valuable to increase my flight experience with the FlightSim, maybe because I am using FS for about 30 years without. I have rudder pedals, a Saitek yoke with several extra devices and a power quadrant in use but now I will add Track IR to my setup. Thanks a lot for your vids... - much appreciated!
You're welcome! :) I'm glad I could impart some useful information. Also, the response time of TrackIR in FS2004 is about 5-10 times after than in FSX, so the experience is that much more immersive.
Well, I disagree with calling this a realistic setup for serious training (except for the GPS addon which I frankly had no idea about). Here´s how it can be greatly improved, IMO:
1. Virtual Reality instead of TrackIR. TrackIR was good a few years ago. Now it´s 2017 and we have Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It´s probably the single most important piece of hardware if you want to feel like you´re actually sitting in a plane and flying. And it´s a much better way of spending around $500 than buying multiple 2D displays and pretending this is what it looks like in real life.
2. X-Plane 11 instead of old FSX/P3D. More realistic flight model, much better lighting system and equally good aircraft available. And if you care about the scenery then it will cost you much less than all these FSX addons you need since the stock scenery is so bad.
3. Talking to a machine is not realistic. Period. Vatsim is good. Pilotedge is the way to go if you´re serious about your training. It´s not cheap but this isn´t supposed to be cheap. It´s supposed to be good and realistic.
4. Using an actual yoke instead of a joystick seems logical if flying a Piper. And rudder pedals are a must if you ask me. How can you twist your joystick to fly a Piper and call it realistic flight training in 2016 ?
5. Use a realistic aircraft! This is just a toy from Carenado which is slightly improved by a global addon (AccuSim). It will never be as good as a well modeled single addon such as the Airfoil Labs C172 or the VflyteAir Piper PA28 Cherokee 140. And X-Plane has some very well modeled helicopters, too if that´s your thing (R22, Schweizer S300CBi, Bell 407, etc.)
6. Not essential at all, but looking at real scenery does help the immersion. In X-Plane, you can download photo real scenery for an area of your interest and then add realistically placed building and trees on top of it. For free. Definitely available in the western US which is the coverage area of Pilotedge.
7. Something you didn´t mention - a weather addon. Crucial if you´re practicing IMC, not so much when doing VFR but still improves the overall experience. SkyMaxxPro and xEnviro seem to be the best options for X-Plane.
I seriously hope no one will follow your advice here because it can be done much better.
Cool add ons. I used to fly the simulator. 10-12 years ago. Advancements are awesome. Keep up the great videos! PS: I have a 1965 Cherokee 180. The precursor to the Archer in the video.
+Alan Waggoner Ahh cool. Is it something close to the A2A Cherokee 180 that everyone is talking about?
+Friendly Skies Film I guess I don't know about that. I have a real 1965 Cherokee 180. N8100W. I bought it December 2006.
Alan Waggoner
Yeah, I just didn't know what years the A2A cherokee was modeled after. I'm not too familiar with the 180s, mostly the 140/160s I trained in, but I'm stopping by a 180 today to check it out for a project.
+Friendly Skies Film i think my engine the O-360 has an A3A designation.
why not use Xplane its VASTLY better for GA and Xplane has out of the box things you pay 100's for in p3d
Also no mention of Pilot Edge?
+Elios0000 I agree about the pilot edge. I've never purchased a subscription myself, so I guess it didn't come to mind, but I think that it can be a great addon to train with. It kind of fills in for having to pretend that someone is always watching you in the simulator, but you do pay for it. As for X-Plane, much like being a Piper guy and not a Cessna guy, I just prefer P3D, but I'll tell you my reasons; mostly the visuals. I think that the texture based ground visuals provide a much more seamless visual system for VFR pilots, while learning how to hunt down landmarks. I think the clouds also look better, but also the airport environments. With a cheap add-on or two, you can make the scenery and airport based markings and structures in P3D look much more realistic and have accurate properties compared to their real world counterparts.
+Friendly Skies Film free ortho scenery fixes that example i.imgur.com/fdyLi3T.jpg did i mention its FREE
Pilot Edges has free trial too and 20 bucks a month is cheap in aviation world
only things in Xplane i have paid for are aircraft, pilot edge and the Las Vegas scenery pack
to get fsx/p3d up to level of xplane costs 100's
I literally just got back from a flight from LEB-ORH-LEB in a 182RG. Your home airport is really nice especially the brand new FBO!
+Sam Lutz Let me know next time you're in town! I can pick you up and go down the hill for a smoothie :) Sorry, my favorite snack of choice.
+Friendly Skies Film definitely! same goes for you if you ever come up to KLEB or KVSF let me know.
I managed to finish my ppl training in only 45 hrs (47 if you count the checkride), and i can thank that to flight simulators,
+Flying in Iceland I went for a discovery flight last week and when my instructor asked what experience I had, I said "For whatever it's worth, I flew in a Baron 58 when I was a teenager and have spent literally thousands of hours with MS Flight Simulator since I was 10..."
He said that the flight sim was actually very, very useful towards becoming familiar with instruments and basic flight principles and would put me at a leg up versus someone with zero experience.
The way I'm thinking, if it helps shave off a few hours in flight instruction ($), I've done myself a favor. :)
+Flying in Iceland That's exactly what I was hoping you guys would say! I had a very similar experience, but I always tell people that I credit that much to training with a flight simulator, not just messing around and having fun with it.
Friendly Skies Film m in atpl theory with people that dont have their ppl yet, what i have heard they dont use flight sim, they are telling me that they have upwards of 60 hrs and no ppl yet
+Friendly Skies Film it even helped me with INS in ATPL theory, the PMDG737 helped me alot to understand the complex system of a jet
Flying in Iceland
The 737 is a beautiful machine, what more can I say? :)
I had no idea you worked for prepar3d, that's awesome! I recently moved to it from FSX and I'm really happy.
Thanks for the video :)
+Nacho Soto I'm not on LM's payroll, I just work on addons for the simulator. I too was happy with the upgrade, but far from satisfied by the industry...
buy a VR set dude
there bad
No, they aren't.
VR isn't ready imo, hard to run, and still pixelated to a point where it breaks imersion, for the reste sure it's great, but it's not ready to a point where i would necessarily want to have one
Hey man, great video. I fly Blackhawks in the Army and my similar setup has helped me tremendously. Keep up the good work.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing, and thank you for your service, sir. Glad you enjoyed :)
In real life you fly with your left hand on the yoke, your right hand on the throttle and your feet on the rudder pedals. WHY, in the sim world, would you fly with your right hand on the yoke, left hand on the throttle and your feet on the floor? This makes no sense. I know you said you couldn't afford to get rudder pedals, but honestly, if you get a yoke (with throttle, mix, trim) and rudder pedals, then you will REALLY feel like you're flying in real life. It makes a HUGE difference. Also, I see you are sitting way too low (as compared to the desk). You should try to adjust your seat so that the yoke is about where it would be in real life. I think you get my point ... you can still make HUGE improvements to mimic real life flight by getting things to match as closely as possible. Trust me, it makes a noticeable difference!
You make all really great points, I suppose I just wasn't as concerned with such things back then, and now I don't sim too much anymore now that I can hop in my own plane and fly anytime I want. I have told people that I credit flying with the joystick in my right hand with helping my transition to flying in the right seat so quickly, though! Thank you so much for your isnightful comment for those on here who can read and help advance their training to the next level!
That depends on which seat you are flying from. So while it might be true in the left seat, it surely is NOT true of right seat flyers. Touche!
Hey...he may want to fly a Pitts Special...with the throttle on the left ;-) good advice though...to get as close as possible to the real thing...sorry to crash your paty...anyone seen a sim with a varaible pitch prop?
Sailing from Switzerland thats because joysticks were made to play combat simulators. In most combat airplanes you flight with your right hand in the stick and your left hand in the throttle
Thank you!! I'm a private pilot with low flying time. Love the TrackIR idea. Never seen it before.
I do what I can! :)
Good video.
I have the Saitek yoke, rudder pedals and the 3 lever-quadrant with my FSX-SE and I'm happy with them.
The joystick shown is okay in some scenarios, like flying the F-18 Hornet, or one of the Airbus A32x aircraft, but it wouldn't feel right if you're flying most aircraft with yokes and everything else. I like the other add-ons that are shown in your video, like the one that has the real ATC communications (forgot the name) :)
Nice video. Great work. Love the head tracking! Nice to have 3 screens for realism. Pedals a must for muscle memory. Radio work has always been my weak point.
Thank you for this! Many of the sim videos give you the impression that you can't do this without investing 100's to start.
Thank you! :) Good luck!
Thanks for the video. I've seen your videos where you are seemingly trying to spark some interest for flying in younger people. I commend you on that effort. I had no idea that you were a P3D developer. Being a real world pilot myself, I couldn't opt for anything less than 4 monitors; 2 in the front and 2 for side views. I have most if not all of the controls that are common for the type of aircraft that I've flown. I started out with a Force Feedback joystick back in 2003 that had many of the features you described. I earned my PPL in 2008 but I haven't flown since 2010 and I am not current.
I've simply been busy with life's problems. I had a high dollar PC built in 2009 and it was great but it is way overdue for an upgrade. I have 2 unmatched video cards and only one of them is Direct X 12 compatible. Last time I had my "Flight Training Device" up and running I was limited to only one monitor using P3D and respect to Direct X 12. When I have time to upgrade, I will be going with the SS Drives this time around. In the future, I would really like to build my own home built Level C or D Flight Simulator.($$$$$) I want to see if I can actually become disoriented in simulated flight. LOL I think it would greatly improve home based Instrument training.
I have a couple of pilot mentors one of which flies a King Air 200. He has taught me how to interpret Sid's, Star's and Enroute charts and I have actually navigated from one airport to another in IMC. That is exciting but once again my body knew I was seated at a desktop. LOL That's why I use the term "Flight Training Device" rather than simulator because we aren't actually simulating flight in a motionless desktop device. With no motion, all we have is a training platform for both procedural and operational performance tasks specific to the ground and flight training requirements for the ratings.
Anyway, I enjoy your videos.
I'd recommend saitek throttle quadrant and t16000 joystick and use the t16000 with left hand and throttle with right. affortable setup and you will start getting your mindset to this setup from the beginning. Most GA planes are flown mainly with left hand in real life. Spend a bit more money and get a yoke, but if not, i'd recommend t16000 with saitek throttles over these HOTAS setups.
Lazengogh
This will be my next purchase for sure. Thanks a lot man.
Glad I could help you spend your money! XD
A real tutorial on youtube, thanks! 👌👍
P3D with the A2A Cessna 172 is the way to go. You can do a pre-flight walk around, check the oil, and add oil. It's very detailed.
PilotEdge offers the most realistic ATC experience.
If you're computer can take it and you're flying a Cessna, of course :)
Great Video! Another great Flight Sim with very realistic graphics and fully clickable cockpits is DCS (digital combat simulator) which can be found on bing or google. There is a lot of great videos on youtube as well. The A-10C Warthog is especially nice to fly.
Adam Graves Till this day I still love DCS A-10c and Black Shark, what an insane game, so much realism and all buttons are clickable.
Adam Graves its just a shame the flight model is just so out of date :(
TcO FrooZen I prefer Xplane 11 to P3D. The main problems I have with P3D are the lack of realistic flight physic's, not 64 bity like XP11 (They say they will be but aren't NOW) and cartoon looking scenery. I'm a real world pilot, and was not nearly as impressed with P3D like I was with XP11.
Just a little extra point; trackir can be very expensive, over here in the land of the tea drinkers and old chaps, it's about £150. An alternative to this is edtracker . The edtracker is £40, or you can chose to solder your own for half the price. Trackir will always be better as it tracks your head rotation, and also your x, y and z axis, whereas edtracker only tracks your vertical and horizontal rotation, but it's good nontheless.
Very interesting. I wonder if it's the shipping that kills you over there. Thanks for posing the alternatives for other folks outside the US!
I splurged on my FS setup about 6 years ago (new computer, FS software, yoke and pedals along with Track IR). Hooked everything up and used a home projector to view my images. Placed the projector behind me and my silhouette was displayed in the cockpit (interior view) in the pilot's seat on my home made 6 foot foam board screen! I was in heaven, felt just like Iwas flying the plane. Track IR was the key. And yes, now VR is about to change everything. Dramamine anyone?
Nice video man! Love using simming to train, so much fun!
+Josh McCorquodale Good! Keep up the good work and get your pilot's license!
+Friendly Skies Film I'm waiting for the magic 17 years old to come :)
It's a bit of an investment and not all simulators have full support, but flying in my HTC Vive is pretty insane. Room scale allows me to do a partial walk around of my plane (even mid flight if you want...) It's technically reductive training since you don't wear a huge headset whilst flying, but since it's for personal use and not certifying anything I don't feel it's an issue.
The last time I've ever played Flight Simulator was 98 when I was 7 years old. I loved the hell out of that game (And sucked at it lol). Did a random search tonight to see how far this Simulation has gone and oh my god....
great vid! the second monitor is such a good idea
Glad you found it helpful.
You guys need to develop such an incredible memory in order to remember all commands....it's really difficult, seems like it requires a previous course before trying it and many hours available. That's why I haven't learned how to fly properly with these simulations yet. I'm a Racing simulation player but I can't stop admiring these flight sims.
Things have come far since my first time using a flight simulator. In 1969 I was going through Army rotary wing flight school. During instrument training, we used an old link trainer converted to a helicopter cockpit and all we had were instruments to look at. Our only assignment was to fly a holding pattern that was printed out on paper. No sounds, and only a little motion. Now anyone can have a great simulator on their desk top with all the controls, ATC, and the works. Do they have VR nowadays?
LOL all the comments from these "know it all's." Nick you really do a GREAT job with these videos. Lot of work and effort. I looked up this video because I'm going today to update my old system so I can practice approaches and holds, etc. on the Lockheed sim. Which I don't have yet. I had no idea about the head IR setup for situational viewing - wow, I almost jumped out of my chair !! : ) My wife laughed at me. She wants to learn to be a safety pilot, and how to land, etc. and after that commented this would be good for her also, although she has many many many hours of flying right seat and back seat through all types of conditions. Thank you for making these.
So glad you enjoyed! :) So far I have a great passenger to safety pilot to actual pilot conversion rate! XD
I'm a commercial pilot and I train every day with my old FS2004, no rudder pedals, no track ir which I find annoying and can be cheaply replaced by a cheap camera addon like active camera... but besides that for me it has been my best training pal specially for instrument flying.. I've seen many pilots dismissing FS but that's only because they just can't set it up correctly and that's the key point, the right addons, the right controls and I found even my FS9 as real as going up there in the real steel.
GO FS2004!!! So nice to hear my favorite sim still vindicated in 2016!
Hey man like your videos. You seem cool and down to earth. A lot of flight vloggers seem kinda cocky. I start my flight training on Tuesday for my ppl. And then my cfii eventually.
Thanks, so much. I try. Congratulations on starting your training! Let us know how it goes. Next video is going to be about flight sims again, btw.
Just found your You Tube channel while looking for some instructional videos. Thanks for the great videos! I'm really enjoying them and picking up some good info!
Thanks for the video. I received FSX as a gift and have been waiting for the Saitek Flight Pro Yoke to come back in stock. Instead I just picked up the X52 and it looks like it will work out well. Next I'm going to check out the Multi Crew Experience and figure out how to get that set up. Afterwards, I will look to add TrackIR.
Hey, sorry I missed your comment for a few days. I wish UA-cam had a better system to show me unanswered comments and replies. Sounds like a good setup. I would have definitely loved to have a nice yoke for my training, but man do they consume a lot of desk real estate.
Thank you for well spoken, well presented video! Too many vid's on YouTUbe where the presenters waffle and never get to the point. Very refreshing indeed.
I try :) Thanks for noticing.
Very interesting. (can't see why someone throws dislikes on something so well done)
All over my channel, they just be haters :)
You say TRACK IR is great for the view. it's good
but to move his head too
this can make vibration and rapid movements that can make over time large video eyestrain for people watching you.
We must adapt to this new product and the experience will bring all this precise movements.
This is very interesting for drivers eager to learn on a PC.
Thank you for all that information you just gave us.
Visit your site.
Fabulous
you give a good detailed explanation.
Thank you .
Because you're a pilot in the real world.
thank you for any explanations.
And thank you for your kind remarks! :)
Rudder pedals are good to keep your foot in and also a flight sim Yoke with separate throttle positioned to your right side so you retain flight control command in your left hand which stops you becoming right hand dominant like you become using a system like the X52
Somebody asked me about that in person last week. I used to get worried about that effect too, but I always felt the feel of the airplane was communicable to the other hand pretty easily. Rudder peddles, I would love to have, though!
Thanks for your prompt answer about TrackIr. I`M using fs since it began in the 80`s. Now I have Highend one. About if I resemble Bob from Twin Peaks, I`m not familiar with that program only that was created in early 90`s by director D. Linch with is one of my favorite. You have absolutely a nice tutorial about aviation!. thanks again Emilio.
Good luck setting up TrackIR! If you have any troubles feel free to let me know :) David Lynch is a pretty special guy, I certainly agree. The show is coming back after 25 years if you want to get into it.
You should definitely use A2A products such as the 182, and comanche. They actually model damage and performance based on a lot of factors. It feels more real than caranado aircraft.
+Sam Host I have their 172, and I do enjoy the advanced systems. I just find that in our age of barely functional simulators, the problems that come with their complexity get in the way. I also wanted to demo this video with my exact airplane, which doesn't quite fit the bill for a cherokee 180, or a comanche.
this is the best i have seen so far :)
Thanks great video, soon as I get the money I need I'm buying this.
Nicely done and very informative.
Thanks, mate :)
WOW the Track IR is a wonderful tip. THANKS!!!
Glad I could help :)
I use the Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas 4 which has a throttle, many buttons, and twist for rudder. I am upgrading to a Saitek Pro Flight System which has a yoke, throttle quadrant, and rudder pedals.
I'm a BIG fan of PilotEdge air traffic control... It's $20 per month, but has been incredibly helpful...
It is spectacular. Sadly, I know a lot of people who are afraid of it. I try to tell them that the people running the online towers are literally paid to deal with your underdeveloped skills! XD
Amazing simulator and accesories. cool
Glad you enjoyed :)
Great lesson. Many thanks.
Nicely done sir, nicely done.
Thank you very much :) That means a lot.
Just an FYI, the Garmin GNS430 simulator software for Windows doesn't work with 64-bit operating systems. The 430 is too old now that they are pushing WAAS.
"As an instructor, I don't recommend my VFR students use much of the sim.
From my experience, those who have used sims before flying an actual
airplane know a decent amount about the instruments and instrument
interpretation but all their focus is inside looking at those
instruments."
Possibly, but I offer this counterpoint: I earned my Private Pilot Certificate back in January of 2001. After 9/11 my airport (HEF) was grounded for a time due to being under Dulles Airport's Class B top tier. After the ban was lifted, the initial rules were so onerous that the joy of flying was basically stripped-away. In June of 2002 I flew my (as far as I was concerned) "last" flight. Over the ensuing years I "flew" using FSX and even bought the Carenado Archer model seeing as an Archer II was the primary aircraft I used in real life. I eventually joined one of the virtual airlines (VA) and "flew" 737-800s on routes mimicking the real airlines schedule. Our VA interfaced with the VATSIM controllers so my radio "chops" didn't totally atrophy.
Fast forward to last month when I decided I wanted to get in the air for real again, then possibly work on an instrument rating as well. The chief flight instructor at the FBO I used took me up for closed traffic work at HEF (a towered airport) to see how much I had forgotten in almost 14 years. One planned go-around and one landing later, he practically called me a liar about not flying for 14 years. I don't claim to be any natural born pilot, but I spent so much time "head out of the cockpit" that I had to remind myself to check the instruments from time to time while in the pattern. Even with all that simulator time, I still found myself looking out the windows over 80% of the time. Perhaps it was due to the natural advantage the Cherokee-series has over the Cessna planes in closed traffic? No reason to look out the window in the pattern when the wing is blocking your view during the turn. X-D
Wow, you've written some really intense comments this afternoon! Thank you so much for sharing. Don't forget to join my facebook community too, as they seem to be very talkative and informed as well. That's a great story. I feel very close to your security expeiences, as Worcester Regional Airport is locked down as tight as fort knox. I also love your comment about Pipers versus Cessnas! Thank you for making the right choice! XD
I am late today but thank you for uploading another great episode!
+Alex Тorres Hey, I'm late to answering comments today, so no worries :) Thanks for commenting, old friend!
I mostly play PCars on my PC with an Oculus Rift DK2, pretty useful, hopefully most flight sims will also support Vive/Rift or other :D
a good flight simulator really does work if you take the time to make it a realistic as possible ... I remember my first flight with am instructor.. I did all the flying including the landing as he watched.. when asked how I knew how to fly on my first lesson I replied . well .. I have alot of flight sim time .. granted..the plane was a 172 and we had long wide runway so I had some wiggle room ..
Yup, heard that story before. It's true! :)
Don't forget PilotEdge ATC. Really a great tool I am using for Radio Communication work.
I'm not usually one to bark back with something like, "Read the other comments!" but I just answered yet another person about PilotEdge this morning. Anyway :P What a great system they have setup there! I wish I could justify the costs for myself. Enjoy using it!
No worries man, Did a quick scan and did not see anyone else mention it. Clearly I missed something :p haha. Look forward so seeing more Cape Cod Flying, wish I could justify the cost of going back there (Used to go there with someone who worked out of Woods Hole in the Summers)
great tips! 100% helpful! Thanks!
Excellent! Glad I could help :)
Great Video - nice work!
Thanks, mate :)
Hi, I really enjoyed your video! I heard you moaning about the expense of rudder pedals. They can be costly, but they don't have to be. I couldn't afford a decent set of pedals, but with a little creativity, I now have them. The hardest part will be interfacing. If you are reasonably, mechanically inclined, that's not too hard. The way I interfaced them was into my stick. I found wires from the twist axis, and simply wired them through a stereo headphone jack w/ speaker cutout. That way, you still have twist function when the pedals aren't connected ( I am not sure about your stick, but you may find an unused axis you can connect to). As for the pedals, you can easily build a decent set for about $30. I include a URL with good plans. It doesn't include toe brakes, but with a little ingenuity, there is no reason you cant add them. Mine are a little different, because I built with materials on hand, but everything you need except electrical components, is available at Lowe's and the minimal electrical components are readily available at Radio Shack, or on Amazon. Here is the URL drzonkow.neostrada.pl/rudder.html I hope you build them and that you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed your video!
Wow, those really are some good plans! If I was still into flight simming that much, I would probably consider doing something very much like that. It's also nice to hear somebody with mechanical/electrical intuition on here too! Thanks for sharing :)
Really good video, I enjoyed it a lot thankyou
Thanks, mate :)
That vr tracker thing is awesome
Had 2 hours in the air. Humbling experience. Wasn’t scared, perhaps overwhelmed is the word. My first instructor got diagnosed with cancer. The second one officiated football with my dad. Neither gave me a great deal of learning. Only 2 times up, I’m expecting too much. Are these simulators useful? Would love to have some experience before I go through the process. Love watching you fly with Tyler. He seems like a total dick, but damn, I would love him to teach me. Dude is awesome, as are you.
by using the TrackClip Pro, you dont need the cap anymore, just attach it to the headset and you´re good to go :)
You know, I looked into it.. and the cost of shipping one of those units from NaturalPoint is ridiculous!
I took a look into ebay.com and found some nice bundles or trackclip pro devices for a few bugs on top of the regular pricerange but for free shipping instead.
Check ebay Item Number 201631247882
MemphisBelle291 This ad has the clip for $38.99 USD, and $25 for shipping! I thought shipping went by weight.. and on top of that, I have to convert it all to Canadian dollars.. that's 85 bucks!
bobbyrutz thats funny, when I was searching on my phonebrowser I found a track clip pro with the given item Number for free shipping, by using this number now on ebay.com it displays nothing...strange.
85 Dollars including shipping is wayyyyyyy too much
MemphisBelle291 That's what I'm saying! I've had the hat clip thing for more than a decade, I've lost it, found it, lost it again.. hah. I've been keeping an eye out for the newer style clip, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to find it anywhere for less. I like your name, btw. Great movie, great aircraft.
Very nice job sir I'm impressed
Glad to hear it. Thanks for letting me know :)
My Flight Training Device has 2 monitors in the front and one on each side. Side views are a must for realism. I use a yoke, trim wheel and rudder pedals. I have a 2 throttle bodies with 3 controls on each for Piper or I use panel mounted throttle, mixture and prop feather as found in Beechcraft or Cessna. I have 2 Comm radios, 2 Nav, Auto Pilot and transponder. I also have a Carb Heat knob for older models. I think the only place I might use a joystick is if I were flying stick or maybe fighters which I have no interest in fighters because I will never fly one. I would really like to build a motion platform with an enclosed cockpit to delve deeper into IFR. I've practiced a lot of instrument on my current device but movement in the clouds would take it to a whole new level.
Oh god, your simulator sounds like a dream come true!
I started out with one CRT monitor in 2003, a Force Feedback joystick and FS 2002. It only takes time and money.
Davebflying
I got my start on FS98 and flight unlimited, but FS2004 was my first real love. Frankly... still probably the best written sim out there from a software developers perspective. FSX is a disaster under the hood! XD
Great presentation.
Thanks, mate! :)
Rudder on the joystick is not realstic
Most important thing to train on a desktop
sim, are procedure training
when y start the engine, your main attention
is on the instruments for the engine until
its establish the desired rpm, fideling around
with doors etc y do after
when y turn the key for engine start, y want
to spell out each position, till crank
since you have the trottle in the ac
to the right, one shld position the joystick
to the left and the throttle to the right
further more that trains a future capt in
a joystick airplane from start the right way
Phil
I've always wondered why FSX and FSX-SE don't have a tiller control functionality. I know X-Plane has it. In real life, most large commercial aircraft have the tiller mechanism for ground steering. I know we can the rudder pedals for ground steering, which is fine for general aviation aircraft, but not on large aircraft. Maybe there is an add-on.
Great video but I wouldn't call it necessarily "realistic", to me this is the bare minimum to make flight sim an enjoyable experience!
But I would buy rudder pedals as fast as possible, they're a must have in any flight sim setup to help coordinate feet and hand input.
You also skipped some important weather addons, and weather plays a huge role in flying, especially when it's very dynamic.
Also, there's a huge change coming to aviation with Automatic Dependent Surveillance, everyone should be aware with that technology and the new Garmin GTN 650/750 trainer is probably more worth the time investment put into learning a flight GPS since those units are already ADS-B compliant and allow for new approaches to be taken :)
Very good video.. I really enjoyed..... Greeting from Venezuela..!!
Hi friend! :D
I use the Seitek flight yoke with rudder pedals. I also have the Seitek switch panel for my flight simulator.
Love your videos! hope you keep them coming. Don't get mad at me for saying this, but you could afford a plane but not rudder pedals and a yoke? That's funny. Anyway this video is just what i'm looking for. I've been using flight sims since 2000. Ive always had an interest in flying and the sims taught me a lot. I just got my private license back in April 2016 ( 100 hrs now), And I am totally addicted. if I had money, I would be up in the air more than I'm on the ground. Unfortunately that's not the case. Thats where sims come into the picture. While I have learned a lot about flying by means of sims, I would love to use it now as a learning tool. Your video here offered some great suggestions. My biggest gripe about sims was the views, or lack of. That TrackIR is definitely on the wish list. Also, since I'm not that good on the radio, (my training was at an uncontrolled airport, N87) it would be great to use VatSim to sharpen my radio skills. Also, I bought the Sport's Instrument course and would like to use it on my own until I can afford the instrument training. THE PROBLEM: I have never been able to set up a system without a bunch of bugs happening. Its been so frustrating I usually give up. I actually find it easier to fly a real plane than a sim. I wish I could buy a turn key system that comes ready fly, but I have neither the space or the money. A desktop system would be best for me. But so far, I seem to be fooling around more with settings than flying. And even when I think I got it right, I find myself saying, "Why is it doing that?" I would love to get hands on training with someone who is a real world, and sim pilot, but, by me anyway, i've only come across one pilot who uses a sim, and of course, I lost contact with him. WHAT TO DO? HELP! PLEASE!
Well, well, well.... It seems you have predicted one of my next videos that I'm making. It's all about how flight simulation is actually a horrible, expensive, and incredibly addicting industry where you will through your entire life away tweaking something that will never work, because the software is so flawed that nothing you can do will ever produce a usable experience. Ha. Ha. Ha. ... The best part is that you hit the problem on the nose in your first remark without even knowing it. I could stand how broken the simulation was, so rather than waste my money on a stinking set of rudder pedals, I bought the whole darn plane instead, and somehow that was EASIER!!
Stay tuned. If you have anything else you'd like to share that I might use in this video, please feel free to email!
Finally! Someone that understands me! I have felt this way for years. Always hoping the next version would get better. I see a lot of simmers online that claim to be real world pilots, even CFI's that use sims for training, and seem to be very happy with their experience with simming. When I go on the forums, its seem like people are more interested in tweaking settings and frame rates and everything else but training. Its seems that they are more of computer geeks than pilots. They talk bout realism all the time, yet try taxiing the Cessna 172 and taking off in X-PLane 10. The wheels screech unbelievably, like your putting a heavy side load on the gear. That is so unrealistic and annoying. I have used every version of MSFS since 2000, and was never really satisfied. Although I must say, I learned a lot from the lessons. Then I switched to X-Plane 10 and I was very disappointed. The interface to set up a flight was no where as nice as MS. There is no way to Slew in X-Plane either. I loved that feature. But I heard that there would be no more support for MS since they discontinued it. Now I hear that LockHeed Martin bought the MircoSoft Program and made it much better. Yet I still hear people talking about problems and tweaking setting. Will this every end! Very much looking forward to your video on this. Thanks for all you do!
Thanks, mate :) Yeah, I've been living the same horror since MSFS95. I'm not kidding when I say that it drove me to get my pilot's license. There are no stutters and the frame rates don't drop in the real world while flying over an international airport with lots of traffic. When will it stop? Sometimes I literally think, much like other technical problems I've encountered as engineer, it will only stop when I invest my own money to solve the problem for everyone else. I've realized recently while working on ACAP how close my team is to reinventing the flight simulator... I swear, I will buy a game company and fix it in 10 years if nobody else does.
I fly with a 980ti powering the graphics, nice to have great graphics without studdering. I also use the old Sidewinder FF2 joystick that gives great feedback. Would be great to have improved autopilot nav markers though. When flying to some locations I find I'm directed to navpoints that don't logically relate to the track I'm flying. Sometimes when approaching my airport I find that I must make and extreme turn to approach which is not realistic.
thank you very much
For all this information
About and joysticks!
Of your cap with a very elaborate system!
Interesting as practical for the pilots and pilotes of the world.
very good
Very good video quality professional.
You are a pro thanks.
For all these precise data.
Too kind. You're the best, friend.
Great video :) few tips that will help me here for sure
Glad you enjoyed! :)
+Friendly Skies Film thanks for responding. Always awesome to see a larger UA-camr interact :)
AWESOME! Bro, you got the same joystick i got. I got a home cockpit setup myself. 8 23 inch led screens, A boss of a computer (powerful enough to play triple A titles like GTA V at 60fps or more), Saitek Pro flight rudder pedals, throttle quadrent from CH Products, VR Insight M panel, Saitek radio panel and switch panel. I also use my android tablet as a FMC using IFMS. Not only that but i also use FSMap from aerosoft, Plan-G3, FSUIPC WideFS for using my other computers to help navigate, and the sim i use is FS2004. The program i use for charts, is Simplates X Ultra. I switched to digital about 2 years ago cause i was printing off all my charts and filling up a 5 inch binder and spending alot on paper and ink. Also can use it on my tablet and phone as well. Just to give you an idea of how many hours i have, ive been playing FS9 since 2005. 11 years and probley have logged 15,000 hours or more on FS with multiple aircraft types. I know that doesnt count for real hours but i just enjoy playing FS9 the most.
Great setup! But gee, I can't believe you use FS2004... it's almost 13 years old at this point, horribly antiquated, and THE BEST FLIGHT SIMULATOR EVER!!! :D It has the best performance, great graphics, you can have all the AI you want, and tons of planes! Great choice! :D
Well i would go FSX but something is causing the stock install to crash and yes i spent alot on FS9. I use REX too so it looks pretty close to FSX. Plus some of the addons i have arent supported in FSX anyways so whatever.... I can see you are using P3D in this video. I have that but dont have money to pay for all the addons again. At least some of the scenery developers i bought my stuff from offer free upgrades to FSX for my orders. Others are just greedy and dont do that.
Nick Chinn
Sounds about right to me. I use P3D when I'm showing people GA stuff, but then us FS2004 for myself when I fly the heavy iron for those exact same reasons.
Il be posting FS9 videos soon. Im just rebuilding FS9 since my HDD failed with it on it and i didnt have a backup.
Where can I buy a home cockpit on the internet?
I like the Logitech Extreme 3D pro.
just got mine today good for dcs world
As a developer for Lockheed Martin's Prepar3d and a real pilot as well, you sure do know what you are talking about.... Cool!
For me, I started last year with FSX and DCS world. And because of the graphic quality of DCS, I wanted something similar with flying a civilian sim as well. So I made the transition from FSX to Prepar3D. As a head tracker, I use a trackhat clip, which is quite similar to TrackIR. And here comes my question: How did you setup your trackIR with P3D? Can I find this setup in the software of p3D?
Thank you very much, sir! :) Hmmm.... Good question. Ah, I remember! It's not actually connected to P3D, it's connected to EZDOK. That in itself is a little tricky, but definitely doable at this point.
you forgot to mention with xplane you can attach foreflight and use it as if in flight
That is true. You can also do it in P3D, so I've been told.
You are really so amazing... I'm an aero enthusiast. I guess the hardwares would be very expensive
My setup is quite similar to his, so you may take my price list as a guide:
Track IR: USD 145.00
Joystick (Phantom Hawk) : USD 80.00 (USD 150.00+ if you want his);
Kensington Orbit Trackball wif scroll ring: USD 40.00;
FSX steam edition: USD 20 (could be cheaper now if you buy from steam website).
Other Items (I've already owned):
1. lenovo all-in-one desktop PC, size 24", i7-3770, 16gb DDR3 ram;
2. 1tb SSD;
3. 1 cheap China made earphone;
4. 1 cheap china made tablet.