Why I Believe in Flight Simulators

After 2 weeks I finally returned into the cockpit on a strong easterly wind and shifting crosswinds on final, note that this was all the day before yesterday (12th March). The return into flying was actually much smoother than I anticipated, after the first two circuits I was really managing to pull off some decent greasers with little to no side load despite the crosswind.

This surprised me pleasantly, given that 2 weeks is a significant amount of time away from flying, however upon closer examination I thought, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised!

Why? Because I was always a flight simulator fanatic and an advocate for flight simulation as a flight training aid whether or not you fly VFR or IFR. Yes, you read that right, I believe strongly that simulators help with VFR flying as well, especially the procedural side of things.

However, this being said I as a pilot do very well understand the limitations of a flight simulator, especially the one I use at home (MSFS/FSX). There is no substitute for real training, I agree however with good add-ons and good hardware you can be pretty darn close to the real thing!

During my time away from flying, I used FSX and flew anything from local flights in Hong Kong or even cross country flights around Moorabbin, the airport I originally trained in and I will return to this November for my CPL and Instructor Rating. Now I have the Orbx Australia and specifically scenery for Moorabbin airport and other airports as well and while I was flying into the training area I was reminded about how close the simulator's scenery is compared to real life. I have Pakenham on the left as I track east into the training area, I see the waste-water treatment plant and I see the golf course that marks 3 miles away from Moorabbin, or the boundary of the Moorabbin CTR.

Flying over Tolo Harbor in FSX with Hong Kong by Scenery
On Demand

You see, my point here is that simulation technology has grown so much and so quickly in the past decade that the visuals and flying dynamics are so close to the real thing! Returning to Hong Kong, I can fly the circuit at Shek Kong Airfield at exactly the same power settings, speeds and configurations and land just like I do in real life. One should also note that I am using A2A's excellent Cessna 172R Trainer which is probably the most over-the-top meticulous simulation of the real 172R. Of

Approaching Albert Park Lake for a City Orbit over the Melbourne CBD.
Scenery by Orbx

course, there's no force feedback like you get in real life but it comes pretty darn close to the real thing. I mean sure, if you use the simulator with no prior flying experience there is a potential for developing bad habits but if you use it for a genuine reason during flying it will help you save money so much as you are actually "flying" somewhat and staying proficient.

Both the in game pictures shown on the left are from the simulator, and scenery addons are used and also the aircraft used is the A2A Cessna 172R Trainer, a study level simulation of the Cessna 172.

Of course, my computer is pretty rubbish and with a better system (that I hope to get by the end of the year) my simulator experience will be upgraded to an entirely new level, and I urge everyone to invest in a simulator and these highly acclaimed add-ons.

In a nutshell, simulators are great learning tools and a great way to stay proficient on those dark days without flying and with proper instruction can and will be used to its fullest potential and original intention of providing a safe, on-demand and realistic training environment in order to better develop flying skills and "experience."

So that's it for this week!

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard