Crossed over to the dark side

[Armchairflyer]

Why dark side?

Basically, from what I've taken from all pertinent discussions and my own experience, desktop flightsims (whether MSFS or X-Plane) are good for headwork and practising procedures (including R/T if flying online) but rather useless (some even say detrimental) for airwork and practising instrument scan.

My recommendations (supposing you buy FSX):

• Get a good add-on plane nonetheless, it's just more fun. The RealAir Duke (RealAir :: Introduction) for example is probably a good choice for armchair IMC flying aside from airline jets (get the package with the piston and turbine version).
• Also consider buying Active Sky (HiFi - Active Sky 2012) for better weather simulation.
• Join IVAO or VATSIM (disregard any discussions about which is the "better network", go where you have more traffic and controllers for your virtual flying area. Basically VATSIM for US, IVAO for Europe.)
• A nice book if you want some input on armchair IFR flying: Wiley: Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training - Jeff Van West, Kevin Lane-Cummings
• TrackIR TrackIR :: Premium head tracking Shop für pc-games :: Trackir 5 und Trackir 4:PRO - Bist Du Bereit Für Diesen Kick? Jetzt Trackir 5 kaufen is quite useful IMHO, but probably not necessary for "procedural IFR training".
• Last but not least prepare to invest some time in getting the whole thing to run smoothly and with everything set up as you want it.

Enjoy, it doesn't come that close to the real thing but can be very immersive and quite instructive. And regarding cost, it's certainly real aviation which represents the dark side .