You are unwilling to listen to experienced people who truly know what they are doing trying to help you; after all, you can fly a 777 on a computer. Most of the people here don't have a wide-body jet type rating. Oh, wait. Neither do you. Oh, you've sim'd a Piper too. So, that makes it all good. (That's sarcasm.)
Never did I say you or any people there were wrong. I am just trying to share with you my thoughts and let professional pilots correct me if I am wrong.
I said "
I don't think I could stop flying the 777 entirely though. I believe it's possible to do both at the same time" and now that I am taking a step back I do realise that it was quite an arrogant response but again I didn't say that you were wrong. This is what I believe (or believed) and that's why I'm writing it down here. If I'm wrong then say it and please tell me why. I think it's more constructive to get someone to be a bit more defensive than having a person who stupidly says yes all the time to everyone without asking questions.
I am always trying to be open-minded. Aviation is a humbling experience and if you become arrogant you won't go anywhere and this thread is a great example to demonstrate it.
Stopping all of a sudden from flying jets in the sim will be difficult for me because I love doing it and I have been doing it for years but if my instructor tells me that I should stop, then I will stop if necessary.
Yes, I thought about that Piper.Classique, but whether a troll or not, the advice is good and solid.
Believe it or not, I am not a troll. Just someone who's about to start his flight training and somehow it already started there...
Cheese us! That's at LFSJ Sedan-Douzy, right? Two hours' stiff driving from Brussels? Excuse me for becoming more and more sceptical. Yes, the hourly rate for the plane may be cheaper, and the French have a strong tradition of disciplined training, believing very much in self-control. But will the difference in rates make up for the road trips?
Also, be aware that a PPL gained in France may allow you to fly in Belgian airspace, but like as not you will learn the radio in French which is neither legal nor practical in the rest of Europe - Belgium included. Get the facts straight before spending money!
Based on my calculations yes. Now I took months to take that decision, consulted tons of people and I was really hesitating between the two. Also, my friend who's flying here is living in Charleroi so we would most of the time make our way together reducing car fuel prices quite a bit.
If you are convinced that I'm making a bad decision, then I don't know who I should be listening to.
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Just to clarify: I know I can't fly an airplane and can't land a 777 nor even a C172 like a type rated pilot would do. I'm conscious about the fact that most of the guys here are way much more experienced than me and I am not trying to teach them how to fly their airplanes just based on my desktop simulator experience. What I thought before opening this thread was that my flight sim experience could help me during my training and my career as an airline pilot.
Short story :
Whenever I am travelling, I write a small letter and send it to the flight deck. This letter basically tells the pilots I want to join them during the flight if they get time. Once, the captain who was a type rated instructor in Brussels Airlines took me in the flight deck shortly before leaving the blocks. He asked me tons of questions about myself and then proposed me to do the comms. I was quite surprised by that proposition. I was about to say no but he didn't even give me the time to do it. He showed me the PTT and gave me the headset and told me that we would shortly switch to Langen Radar when entering Germany. I asked for the callsign and he wrote it on a paper that he gave me after the flight for memory. This is how I did my first and my last communications with real ATC from the climb all the way down to the terminal. All the time they both told me that they were impressed by my radio communication, saying that I don't make common mistakes that many students do. All of that wouldn't have been possible without practising in the sim. There are other reasons why I thought simming could help for my courses, mostly based on outcomes coming from your trained colleagues or student pilots already flying. A few people think that I'm trolling and probably won't believe that story. That's your choice.
Like I said hundreds of times, I am consciously reading every single one of everyone's posts and will start my training with a different mind than I would if people here wouldn't have mentioned my flight MSFS experience. I do not intend to prioritise my flight sim habits over advice from experts if it turns out that the way I am flying airplanes isn't correct.
If I was the king in aviation, I don't think I would be there inquiring...