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View Full Version : sim time vs actual flight time


buzzc152
30th Oct 2003, 23:58
I'm sure this has been asked lots of times before but I can't seem to find previous threads.

What is the general opinion on sim time as part of a IR course. Is it more desirable to have more actual flight time than sim time ? For example, the AFT IR course is 40 hours in the sim and the rest in the air. What are the advantages of this ? It certainly doesn't seem to bring the cost down.

wobblyprop
31st Oct 2003, 16:40
a max of ?35hrs? can be counted to your TT.

For me the best thing about the sim, at the start, was the ability to pause look at the hold/ils/ndb apr and actually see what you did. Then you get a chance to get your head straight before having another go at it.

I think i did about 20hrs in the sim before going to southend. Arriving at southend for the first time didn't seem too daunting.

The sim also allows you to practice the routes you will fly from the test airfield. There is no way you would be able to that, without a shed load of cash, in the plane.

good luck

wobbers

mad_jock
1st Nov 2003, 09:10
flying hours every time in the log book.

Sim hours are good training but are worth **** all on your CV.

MJ

Aeromentor
1st Nov 2003, 10:31
1/ It is vital to know all about what you are about to practice, with adequate ground briefing, otherwise you are wasting money.

2/ You will increase your skills lots quicker and cheaper in a good simulator, providing you have a good IFR instructor, otherwise it will be a major exercise in frustration for you. If you find yourself continually behind the simulator chasing the instruments with the work load getting out of hand, its because the instructor himself has never been taught, or is too lazy to teach you, what instrument to look at and when. (I found the same ignorance shown to me when I was being taught in the airlines to be an airline sim instructor)

Don’t blame the simulator when you find yourself over controlling, as it also happens on a 40 million dollar B747 flight simulator. (It also gets worse when you are stressed).

3/ The quickest way I have found in IFR teaching to improve to fast correct instrument scan (once you know what instruments to look at & when, is coping with an engine failure in a twin simulator, at rotate, on instrument takeoffs, one after another. Don’t try that in a light twin though, as many a good pilot has wiped themselves out trying.
I was also able to prove to CASA, that less than 1 in 10, current, twin engine, general aviation pilots could cope with an engine failure on rotate, because they never had regular practice in a good sim (Most in fact, have never had that essential practice at all).

4/ So then having got completely on top of all the exercises in the sim, the flying will be easy and you will finish it in minimum time, with a far higher standard. (The airlines call it nil flight time training).

5/ E-mail me if I you need further help.