Flight sim, or anything else out there... sim virgin needs help

[Ellie Vater]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this, so apologies if it isn't

I would like to use a flight simulator for a pc to practice IFR/procedural flight on, (NDB holds, ILS approaches, etc). I feel I just don't get enough practice in real life, especially at the moment.

Have never used a sim before, and have no idea of what is out there, (apart from microsoft), what to get, and how to actually use it.

I have often wanted to try and improve this way, but have not got a clue how to set up and use these things.

Can anyone offer some advice as to what to get and how to utilise it, (simple, uncomplicated set up only)??

[funkydreadlocks]

Oh my dear Ellie, the sim world is a huge and amazing one. There are loads of things to consider. Understand that although you might only start off for procedure training, it's quite likely you'll quickly get bitten by the bug and become hooked!

There are 3 main flight simulators today: X-Plane 10, Microsoft Flight Simulator X and P3D. I'd say forget the last one as it's simply a modified version of FSX by Lockheed Martin and costs a whopping $200!

If you have a PC that can handle it and you want minimum fuss, I'd recommend X-Plane 10. They use a physics render that simulates aerodynamics realtime so even the default airplanes have decent handling simulations, even if not all aircraft system are simulated (enough for procedure training). Be warned though that X-Plane's user interface is far from user friendly, but it is easier than it looks at first. So just take a deep breath, relax and take your time setting things up.


In terms of hardware you'll need to spend some money. Get a joystick with throttle control and pedals. In terms of joysticks you don't really need anything fancy, although the Logitech ones make quite a fuss in terms of quality/price ratio.

For the pedals I'd recommend the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder pedals. They work great and are reasonable priced as far as pedals go.
If money is too tight then instead of buying pedals opt for a joystick with twist control.

Including hardware and simulator (including pedals) you're talking of a budget of about £200

Now although I recommend X-Plane 10 understand that it's a modern sim gaming software. So it does require a good PC. Could you post your PC specs here?


Happy flying!!

[Tinstaafl]

There is also Flightgear, a free, open source flight simulator. It's a very capable program.


Re pedals: Why is that some of the most common sim pedals on the market are....wrong? They're obviously designed for the user to rest his or her whole foot, heel included, on the pedal. Some even have a lip at the bottom to stop your foot from sliding off. Not exactly the correct way of using real rudder pedals ie heel on the floor far enough back so that the brakes aren't being ridden, with te ball of the foot on the pedal

[dirkdj]

I concur with the recommendation for X-Plane. if you have an older PC you can run an older version that is less demanding but will still do the job. With X-plane you can download the full version, it will run in demo mode for 10? minutes and then you have to restart the program; this allows you to see if your installation is working on your PC (WIN, Mac or Linux). I started somewhere with version 6 and now version 9 which does everything I require, mainly IFR procedure training.

[Ellie Vater]

Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated.

At the moment, I have an oldish (4years) Acer machine. Am not at home at moment - typing this on ipad - so without looking, can't remember specs offhand. It's on Windows 7, and reasonably runs somw quite memory hungry applications, but not at lightening speed..... If it's not suitable, I will probably get another, so what would be a reasonable spec, and price to pay?

Is x-plane available as a totally working, (albeit for a short time), full spec download? I tried microsoft flight sim on a friends PC once, but still remain pretty clueless. A few people I know have tried a sim, but have given up, as they cannot get the hang of it. (So I can't ask them anything usefull)!

On the subject of the pedals, I was thinking of not getting any, and just getting a good joystick.

One other question - do these simulators run in an autopilot mode, so you can observe whats happening as well?

Apologies for all the questions, but its a minefield out there for people like me

[funkydreadlocks]

Most rudder pedals don't have that issue. The saitek cessna pedals allows me to heel down and so do the saitek pro flight, saitek combat pedals and the goflight pedals. Those are the bigger contenders really.

[RTN11]

There are flight sim forums, if you go for google, you will find some decent resources out there.

I used Microsoft 2004 a bit during my training, didn't get on too well with it to be honest. Always ended up sticking the autopilot in and then just putting the aircraft in different places so I could see what the instruments indicated. Helped me get my head around the indications, but that was about it. You'll find some experts somewhere with some decent tips.

[dirkdj]

I suggest you download the demo version of X-plane 9 from X-Plane 10 Global | The World?s Most Advanced Flight Simulator | X-Plane.com (http://www.x-plane.com). It is free, with a limited scenery but everything is functional but time-limited; You need a good graphics card such as NVIDIA with the OpenGL drivers installed. I use GT-650i for less than 100€. You will find the specs on the website.
There is also very good community user support at Flightsim Community for X-Plane &reg (http://www.x-plane.org)

You can use the included planemaker to customize the aircraft you fly by rearranging the instruments etc.