Flight Sim software?

[Zordah]

Another silly question :)

 

Would there be any benefit to a REAL pilot to the flight sim software like the Microsoft Flight Simulator software?

 

Is it worthwhile to purchase or is it just a game purely for entertainment?

 

 

[Guest just Mal]

MFS is terrain and geographicaly realistic so practising a cross country is an example of sim's being useful to a pilot. MFS offers a built in flying school , live weather, lots of airports, great aircraft panels and a surprising amount of info on instruments, aircraft specs, ATC, laws & regs (US- but similar to ours) and all things aviation. As well there are third party add ons with photo realistic airports, Vatsim(live atc) etc.

 

Your computer desk is not about to rotate at 65 Knots anytime soon but for me Sims are worth the expense and effort it takes to install them.

 

 

[Zordah]

Cool - Is it USA focused or are places in Australia (Brisbane area in particular) covered as well?

 

 

[Guest just Mal]

Microsoft has a USA focus but,- The majority of aussie airports are covered. Waypoints and NDB's are in the GPS as well and VOR is available also.

 

welcome to the forum.

 

 

[sixtiesrelic]

My answer is YES you can get a huge amount out of Flt Sim

 

Flt Sim 2004 has very realistic addons for the Australian scenery.

 

Each new version takes a lotng time to have people building scenery of their area and then putting it on the net.

 

Regularly a new version won't take the old scenery and those builders who have learned how, can't be bothered going through it all again.

 

 

[naemick]

FSX is starting to fet some fantastic add-ons now - as can be demonstated with:

 

http://1300fltsim.com/product_info.php?products_id=1269&osCsid=414k26q16cnknjdm21pq6d4gr6

 

 

[Degrees]

Flight sim is great especially for learning cockpits and FMS. There are some highly realistic ones out there. I know of people who have gone on type ratings and used FSX to practice at home. You need to buy an addon for the type of aircraft you want to fly. For Example: http://www.leveldsim.com/sevensix_home.asp Do not waste your time with the trash that comes with the game, it's been dummbed down for kids. You can get great addon scenery for Australia. Look for ORBX FTX. You need a really good computer.

 

 

[Zordah]

I purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator X (gold edition) and a good joystick for about $100. It's good for getting in some practice between lessons and even has a flight school section which has been pretty close to what is taught at the flying school I am attending. Good reinforcement value.

 

The plane in FSX is a Cessna 172 which is a little different than the 150 I am learning on but its still good practice in reading the instrumentation.

 

I had a go at installing a Cessna 150 in it but the gauges came out all screwy. Oh well, I will mess with that later :redface: