I flew with a colleague recently in a PA28 who has thousands of hours msfs sim time.
When I let him take the controls he was having a massive problem keeping the wings level or the pitch constant.
After 5 minutes of porpoising around the sky we discussed what was going on.
He’s quite a nice chap and it was enlightening, he said
The yoke didn’t have the effects he was used to, he couldn’t believe how responsive a real plane is, how it feels when you do things, and how hard it is.
The instrumentation wasn’t as clear, I explained we had a much better horizon out of the front window and we don’t really fly along just looking at the panel as he was. We glance at it now and then. He was trying to watch it.
So, what he was actually trying to do was fly as if in IMC without being trained in the proper way to do an instrument scan. He was randomly looking around the panel.
of course, you can manage a flight sim randomly looking around the panel, even with the small bit of IMC training I have, I know a proper scan is important in a real aircraft.
his last point was about feelings, he thought it odd being able to feel the plane moving.
I heard him telling someone a few weeks later
”I’m not sure I’d do it again, at one point we must have dropped about 2000 feet”, which would have been a neat trick when we were flying about 2500’ AGL!
Anyway, a message to the OP, I’m sure you’ll be fine, I’d post more, but I’m off to have a go on my Formula One sim, I can nearly do the same lap times as Lewis Hamilton, I’m pretty sure therefore I’d be able to actually drive an F1 car in real life, my sim is after all very realistic.
I know that sounds a bit like I am being sarcastic (I am), but really it’s just an insight into how people view someone who says they can fly real aircraft because they are good at msfs.
You’ll love real aircraft, but I’d forget about the simming for a bit whilst learning to fly.
Out of complete interest, and genuinely not trying to belittle you, you say you have a sim IR. What is the order of your scan? Was you taught one?
One other thing, simming without pedals and calling it flying may kill you.
If you have ever done stall recovery incorrectly, and picked up a dropped wing without use of your feet, in a real aircraft if you try that you’ll be spinning towards the ground.
I presume you’ve done stall recovery if you have an IR?
Again, I’m not having a go at you, I’m interested in how the simming world views itself and how it views real flying.
I may play the odd F1 game, but I am aware I could not drive a real F1 car.
Last edited by kghjfg; 5th November 2021 at 01:35.