Originally Posted by
dr_peter
I just spotted this
on X-plane web site
X-PLANE GETS FAA APPROVAL FOR TRAINING
TOWARDS AIRLINE TRANSPORT CERTIFICATE
WHEN USED IN A MOTUS FULL-MOTION PLATFORM!
Wow.
That should save some money, when are they going to do it for Helicopters, that's what I want to know.
What Joystick do you guys recomend? there is so much to choose from.
Note that although they don't mention it anywhere, the Fly-It helicopter simulator - which is approved for 7 hours of VFR time towards the FAA private pilot rating - uses Microsoft Flight Simulator. X-Plane gets a lot of marketing mileage out of the Motus thing, but note that the developer made a lot of custom changes to assist in getting the Motus sim certificated.
re: joystick - get the CH Products Combat Stick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals. They are excellent and work well with any simulator.
BUT - other than the basics a PC-based sim is not going to help you learn to fly quicker. In fact, I experienced a bit of "negative transferral" of skills when I was getting the private pilot rating, even though I have a complete set of helicopter controls from Flight-Link.
What a PC-based sim is best for is learning navigation skills, particularly for the instrument rating.
Dave Blevins