Hey!! Ok, fair enough, many flightsim users are in danger of getting delusions of grandure when they get into the real thing. I myself suffered from this WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN!
As Mr Localiser points out, many bad habits can be created, before you've ever set foot in a Cessna, by flying home simulations. The worst being an 'I know how to do this' attitude. Anyone who thinks this after 500hrs or whatever on FS98 is kidding themselves.
HOWEVER, I have found this program inparticular to be very useful. I have learned a lot about flying by flying this sim, using all the IFR charts, enroute charts , basic FMS programs etc etc. My mental arithmatic ability has quadrupled, but not only that. It has also taught me to look out of the windows!!!
This is a major gripe with flightsimmy folk, that they get in a plane and spend the rest of the flight tranfixed on the instruments. You get no feel with a flight sim. Fair enough but, you do find out how to handle the plane on a basic level i.e, how to control speed/alt etc in turns, climbs, decents and on approach. I learned how to position an aircraft a circuit visually and set up a good approach at the correct speeds, altitudes etc and not just on the instruments!!
ALERT! Real world story coming up, of the 'I can do it' variety. Blast shields up.
I took an introductory flight at Blackbushe in a 152. I taxied, lined up, took off at 60kts, accelerated to 80kts for the climb and then did basic handling stuff for half an hour. Absolutely great, and no problems (until I got distracted on lookout and lost a few hundered feet unintentionally, oops!). The instructor, beyond and few "don't worry"s didn't touch a thing. Then it came time to land and to my delight he let me fly the whole thing. And fly it I did. I flew the approach, straight in on the base leg of the circuit, turned in and started the descent, trimming for 65kts after the final stage of flap. There was also a significant crosswind and we therefore had to fly the centre line with a heading correction for the wind (something else I learned to do in FS98).
Landing a light aircraft is something I believe FS98 cannot prepare you for, though it can help you make the necessary corrections with a certain amount of instinctiveness.
At 20ft or so above the runway the crosswind dissapeared, and with it went a good amount of our airspeed. To me it seemed that the plane suddenly went into freefall (I'm sure to the instructor it was normal, but it did seem to take him a bit by surprise). In the same motion he and I shoved the throttle in (FS98 does not teach you about rich cuts) and hauled back on the yoke, arresting the sink just as we hit the tarmac. On the rollout I half asked, half told him,'That wasn't my fault right?', 'No'.
Good. Best thing is I didn't panic, it all seemed very matter-0f-fact. Jelly legs on the way back to the car though!!
Through all this rambling (should anyone actually bother to read it all
) is that without my time on FS98 I wouldn't have been able to do anything at all. As it was, the instructor (as far as I know) didn't touch the controls until the final part of the landing approach, and most of this was done VISUALLY! I didn't look at the instruments unless it was to confirm my speed or altitude, and then only when necessary. I kept a lookout when I was told, which was most of the time, and was able to position the aircraft, in a crosswind, for a good approach and landing. All of this with 2hrs experience on light aircratf and all because I have a good idea of what a visual circuit aught to look like from the plane by using FS98!!
My conclusion:
IMHO If used properly, flight sims are not just instrument proceedure trainers. They can give a no time pilot a good grounding in how to handle the controls to achieve desired alt , speed etc and how to maintain these during manouvers.
Sorry to go on at lenghth, but I do get fed up of those virtuall rolling eyes everytime I mention PC flight sims.
VS