I think Maximum has basically hit the nail on the head here. Everyone should re-read his posts. Flying the real thing IS more difficult than the the any PC based sim.
I too have fallen into that trap. I do actually have difficulty landing PC aircraft, largely due, I think, to the relative lack of visual cues which we use for the real thing and to some extent the lack of feel in the controls compared to a real aircraft. That is common with many real pilots attempting to land PC sims.
But apart from that, flying a PC no matter how accurately the it replicates anything is quite simply easy. The real skills involved in flying PC sims is in mastering it's add on complexities which simulate that of full size aircraft but don't replicate them.
There is almost no comparsion to real world operations. Maximum's scepticism about Aussierotor's son apparent lack of difficulty except straight and level highlights.
Quote "so he just knew the take-off speeds, flap retraction profile, power settings, attitudes for various phases of flight, flap extension speeds, approach profile and attitudes, gear limiting speeds and flare and landing technique intuitively did he? Oh no - let me guess - he read about it or a friend who flies the aircraft told him before he went in. And that's on three aircraft types. I'm sorry, no offence, but this doesn't correlate to what I see from professional pilots converting in the sim. .Usually the "no problem" type of comment you make comes from a great lack of awareness of the kind of standards actually required."
Sorry Aussierotor I'm not picking on you, but that's the truth of it.
The last sentence being the crux of it. Ask any pilot who moved from even a turboprop onto line training on jets and they'll tell you it's hard and many a pilot has fallen at this hurdle. These being experienced pilots too.
Many airline pilots trying out a PC sim, will sit down at at tiny monitor with a bitty plastic control yoke, have a go at flying the virtual aeroplane, make a shambles of it and declare: 'Gaaah it's harder than the real thing.' Forgetting that it took many hours to perfect their skills in the real thing. Sims are the same as anything, you have to spend time learning the tricks of the trade before you become any good.
PC based flight sims can help. I wish they were around when I started flying but they are certainly no substitute for real world flying and can be misleading to the uninitiated.
As for terrorists, the basics of flying is they needed. Any PPL could do what they did.
I think Maximum has basically hit the nail on the head here. Everyone should re-read his posts. Flying the real thing IS more difficult than the the any PC based sim.
I too have fallen into that trap. I do actually have difficulty landing PC aircraft, largely due, I think, to the relative lack of visual cues which we use for the real thing and to some extent the lack of feel in the controls compared to a real aircraft. That is common with many real pilots attempting to land PC sims.
But apart from that, flying a PC no matter how accurately the it replicates anything is quite simply easy. The real skills involved in flying PC sims is in mastering it's add on comple