Which is the better IFR PC Trainer
 

HI

I want to get a good IFR PC Flight Sim that I can practice all IFR procedures at home.
Which do you think is better - Jeppson IFR Flite Pro or Microsoft Flight sim 2004.

Appreciate you responses.

Well, just to not answer your question, I prefer X-Plane: http://www.x-plane.org/

I found the instruments in MS Flight Sim too jerky and lacking in detail, which was a bit of a pain. The panels in X-Plane have much greater detail and move very smoothly.

X-Plane doesn't have quite as many navaids as MS, but they can be added manually if needed. No scenery either, but basic scenery can be downloaded and added. You'll be flying in clouds anyway :)

I haven't tried Jeppesen's, but a PPRuNe search should dish up a few sim discussions.

I used FS2002 a fair bit while doing an IMC rating* here in the UK. While I never found it useful (or even fun!) for VFR work, setting the weather to a 500-foot overcast made it a very useful for IFR practice and i'd recommend it quite highly. The biggest problem I had was with the controls; I could never get my joystick (MS Sidewinder) configured well, so the aeroplane was always much too sensitive in pitch. Flyable, but a bit frustrating.

I haven't used X-plane, but it has got a very good reputation. Don't know anything about the Jeppesen simulator.

Another very good bit of software for learning IFR flying is RANT. It's not a flight sim as such, but a way of learning how to interpret the needles while flying IFR procedures (holds, precision and non-precision approaches, DME arcs and all that good stuff). If you're already familiar with all that then it's not necessary, but if you're learning then it's very good. Paid for itself many times over when I was training - much easier to learn on the computer than at £2 per minute in the air :)



* as you're in Oz and may not know, an IMC rating is a bit like a subset of an IR, with reduced, but still quite generous, IFR privileges (edited 'cos I can't spell!)

ASA On Top 8. The best simulator to fly holdings, arcs, procedure turn. Simple, but very effective!

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