Here we go!
Less Hair
Forget the game sim.
Here is some well done open MIT PPL course to prepare yourself:
Thanks for the link but these are FAA documents. Don't know if there are some variations between EASA and FAA but I believe there are.
rudestuff
whilst there are probably people out there who don't even have a licence but who have read the FCOM and FCTM back to front 10 times because it is their passion.
This is me.
wiggy
Just for completeness/being picky/pointing out a little knowledge might be a dangerous thing - in the context of that comment do you really mean a runway “accommodating cat 3” or do you actually mean a runway, which regardless of category, can accommodate an autoland?
If you mean the former then if you are unlucky enough to have your chicken eating crew fall ill in the final stages of a long sector then you may very easily find there is no airport “accommodating cat3” with the current range of the aircraft. A request for such would result in blank looks from ATC over large swaths of the world, including parts the States…
OTOH telling ATC you need a runway that will accommodate an autoland might be the better bet.
Yea didn't use the words there I agree. We can autoland on CAT1 actually couldn't we? Correct me if I am wrong but I think pilots practise autoland from time to time even when it's not necessary for example to test the aircraft or other reasons.
kghjfg
I did ask a few questions in my posts, out of interest, do you know what carb heat is?
do you apply it in the sim?
Never heard it before until doing some researches. I am wondering why it has never been mentioned in any of the lights I flew on the sim. That feature is not present on every general aviation airplanes is it? I mean it's always there but is it not made automatically? When researching for it I found out that many instructors were quite surprised and amused to see how very few simmers were able to explain what this is.
Wirbelsturm
Treat the 'real world flying' as a complete novice and I'm sure you will enjoy it and progress well.
Yes exactly and if with a bit of luck my instructor tells me something I learnt in the sim then it can only be beneficial but the sim won't be THE reference.
FlightDetent
Simmer community guidance (notable absence of stick measuring):
Simmer complaining it's hard to find (he knows he needs it):
Simmer trying to setup his HW to control it (MS shipped the game wrongly with non-discrete config):
Now I know what carbo heat is.
Fact I observed, that many of the community-based document packages for VATSIM or IVAO are much better detail and quality than your average airline books. Peer-reviewed and open-source, there's indeed far greater resource available to get it done nice and neat, compared to your average 40% under-staffed FlightOps engineering. No egos hurt, strength in numbers and enthusiasm
If they are then how comes that some people here are convinced that sim doesn't help AT ALL? I read tons of IVAO documents in the past, mostly for the exams I passed and you're saying that these documents are actually more detailed than airline books. Someone who studied really detailed books will definitely have a good background when starting his training, that seems obvious to me. As I said now thousands of times, I will listen to my instructor, not mention my sim at all and we'll see how it goes. I might have bad habits, I might have good habits, I don't know. I'll find out with my instructor.
All I can say is that I know many pilots who are still impressed by the level of realism just by flying on VATSIM and some of them are still using desktop sims to practise SOPs and flows.
There are limitations in the sim of course and I mentioned these already. I know I'm not a 777 pilot and can't land an airplane at the moment.
Wirbelsturm
In summary, as I've stated before, personally I don't think having 'sim' experience is a bad thing but please, please, please leave it at the door of real life flying, insert new cassette and begin learning.
Will do it
Uplinker
I've always found flying the real thing to be a lot easier than the Sim.
Thanks for your kind words. I have a friend flying in the desktop sim. He started flying in real life recently and was quite surprised by how easier it is to fly a real airplane in comparison to the sim. It's easier to land or just to maintain an altitude because you wouldn't do it only based on numbers (causing bad habits to only look at your instruments) but also on the sensations, the feelings and all the stuff you can't have on desktop sims. I remember how much he was struggling when we asked him to maintain an altitude. In real life, it's easy, a piece of cake. That's what he said and hopefully, it's gonna be the same for me.
A significant number of airline pilots and trainers have an attitude that they are cleverer and better than you, and they think that if you are new to the industry, you know nothing until they have taught you. This is true to an extent and you have an enormous amount of work ahead of you, but you have to let them have their ego - they will be signing your licence. So even though you might have more knowledge than some newbies, do not mention this or sim flying at all, and pretend not to know anything much about flying - certainly not anything deeply technical or operational, such as de-icing hold-over times etc. Be quiet, modest and unassuming. The instructor should tell you what to learn next, so follow their guide.
Let them have their ego and take away your ego that's the thing.
I should also have said that "flying" a desk-top simulator, is nothing like the real thing either. Nothing like it. If you have actual line experience of flying a big jet, then a simulator can be useful for procedural practise or checklist, or memory drill practise, but it really is not anything like the real thing. When flying real big jets, everything happens very very quickly; the novice on their first few hours on the line will find themselves running to keep up with the aircraft, and they go home mentally exhausted.
.
I fully agree.
kghjfg
How’s he going to achieve the next level if he is already at Correlation ?
Rebegin everything again! Always learning new stuff.
Wirbelsturm
This did make me chuckle! I see what you're trying to say but it's still has a slightly, shall we say, arrogant cast to it!
Just a little bit.
But I am not the only one being arrogant on this thread
Seriously, how could I be a 777 pilot when I never flew one? So many things that can't be simulated in a desktop sim like coms for eg. My knowledge is limited to books only. Now I have to practice in the real one if I want to be close to real pilots.
I've been flying the 777 for well over a decade and I am still learning!
I am too, even in the sim. Sometimes I can discover so many things in a small period of time that I say I know absolutely nothing about aviation. And sometimes, when a non-aviation enthusiast comes here and asks me something incredibly simple that I thought everyone knew like how to read a PFD, I feel like the king of aviation.
This industry is rich and you'll never stop learning. I don't think there is a king. You have to talk with people and accept to learn from everyone literally, even a poor guy who has never heard of airplanes before. Work as a team. That's how you will be a good pilot.
visibility3miles
None of this: Say again? Divert to… Look out for traffic at… Please follow… You are number three behind… Watch out for deer on runway…
I am wondering on which network you flew then. Okay, except for the deer.
SloppyJoe
Just to add to the above. In your initial contact were you banging on about how much flight sim flying you do and the 777? If you were then they probably think you will be too much hard work.
Never did it. Just said I wanted to study for my PPL. I think I answered that question previously but never mind.
RVF750
Good luck in your quest, just please please please don't try to impress your instructor.
I will try to impress my instructor... By flying like he wants me to fly
Uplinker
Best to keep quiet about your Sim and accept that you know very little about actual real flying; but do stay keen and open-minded to the training ahead of you. Good luck !
If I already know everything then my training course will be really boring. So many things to discover about my passion and that's what makes it exciting!
Uplinker
The OP should read the AAIB report for Light aircraft down in the Lake District , Cumbria, in the accidents thread:
Although this was a fatal accident, the report gives a really good explanation of all the issues and considerations involved with flying a light aircraft. I recommend that you read the report very thoroughly. It will give you a good overview.
I love reading reports!