looking out the window
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It can be quite fun though if said instructor doesn't have a clue about your background.
Two didn't bother asking before the check ride, then launch into what they thought was a scathing debrief just to be proved on the white board and the POH that they are talking aload of ****e.
One instructor dug themselves a hole. The other one after a min asked whats your experence and scary thing after I said was "are you mad_jock off pprune?" then said you can take the plane.
Two didn't bother asking before the check ride, then launch into what they thought was a scathing debrief just to be proved on the white board and the POH that they are talking aload of ****e.
One instructor dug themselves a hole. The other one after a min asked whats your experence and scary thing after I said was "are you mad_jock off pprune?" then said you can take the plane.
but maybe not
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Sims vs. the real deal
Concerning the "prejudice" against sim pilots the problem is IMHO not so much any firmly ingrained bad habits as indeed entering real flying with a "Since I have hundreds of MSFS hours and passed all virtual exams, surely I am a hotshot expert pilot in RL as well" mindset as pointed out by P.A.. And for all its weaknesses, don't forget that sim-flying may have been the starter drug for some (e.g., me 
).
Granted, it's useless for learning or practising airplane handling, but apart from spending delightful hours going to places I could not afford to visit in real life (and without all the hassle of actual travel), in planes I could even less afford in real life, (online) armchairflying has benefited my modest skills in several areas, e.g.:
- considerably improved nav skills (starting from a very low baseline, though: according to my instructor I had the rare talent of getting lost in the traffic pattern), partly from practising, partly simply from getting a better feel for how the surroundings look from above and how maps translate into actual terrain;
- being very much at ease with VOR navigation;
- better feel for time and distances when flying;
- improved R/T fluency and proficiency, including VFR and IFR phraseology and procedures when flying from/to controlled airports (and including R/T in French);
- a sketchy grasp of the sometimes fundamentally different modi operandi for different types of airplane;
- a somewhat better feel for weather and terrain considerations;
- several harmless but humbling and quite insightful experiences of hopelessly getting behind the course of things and how quickly this leads to errors and omissions.
).Granted, it's useless for learning or practising airplane handling, but apart from spending delightful hours going to places I could not afford to visit in real life (and without all the hassle of actual travel), in planes I could even less afford in real life, (online) armchairflying has benefited my modest skills in several areas, e.g.:
- considerably improved nav skills (starting from a very low baseline, though: according to my instructor I had the rare talent of getting lost in the traffic pattern), partly from practising, partly simply from getting a better feel for how the surroundings look from above and how maps translate into actual terrain;
- being very much at ease with VOR navigation;
- better feel for time and distances when flying;
- improved R/T fluency and proficiency, including VFR and IFR phraseology and procedures when flying from/to controlled airports (and including R/T in French);
- a sketchy grasp of the sometimes fundamentally different modi operandi for different types of airplane;
- a somewhat better feel for weather and terrain considerations;
- several harmless but humbling and quite insightful experiences of hopelessly getting behind the course of things and how quickly this leads to errors and omissions.
Last edited by Armchairflyer; 2nd Sep 2012 at 14:58. Reason: Typos corrected
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I've only around 150 hours powered but I reckon VFR it's probably about the same as driving a car. The occasional glance at the speedo (altimeter in an a/c) and that's about it. I'm not ignoring FREDA checks here obviously. I think habits learned being originally a glider jock help, your neck really is on a swivel in a gaggle and you fly by airflow sound and the feel of the controls. Your flightpath should really be in your bonce before take off ie 'on this leg I'm looking to fly towards the power station next to the Y shaped lake' sort of thing. Saves gazing at the map every two minutes. Obviously this isn't practical in the great plains of Canada etc but in crowded England you can't go wrong really.
I flew up to Fadmoor (an interesting pair of grass runways, more like ski jumps....great pub about a mile away The Royal Oak Inn) in the North Yorks National Park on Thursday. I had to take avoiding action twice on the 50 minute or so flight up there. Not 'Jeezus' and hard over avoiding action but 'He's heading my way I'll shift' avoiding action. This on traffic that ATC had notified as being several hundred feet above/below. Had I not had my neck out of the cockpit and the other pilot not seen me then it would have at least been an airprox and at worst a bit of tin welding.
It really does get crowded up there, especially if it's a good day.
I flew up to Fadmoor (an interesting pair of grass runways, more like ski jumps....great pub about a mile away The Royal Oak Inn) in the North Yorks National Park on Thursday. I had to take avoiding action twice on the 50 minute or so flight up there. Not 'Jeezus' and hard over avoiding action but 'He's heading my way I'll shift' avoiding action. This on traffic that ATC had notified as being several hundred feet above/below. Had I not had my neck out of the cockpit and the other pilot not seen me then it would have at least been an airprox and at worst a bit of tin welding.
It really does get crowded up there, especially if it's a good day.
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Maybe instructors are missing a trick with the sim experts. Somebody with 500hrs on FSX who has been flying all over the place will know how to fly from Goodwood to Manston, whereas the standard clean-sheet punter won't even know how to spell these places. When I started my PPL I didn't know the elevator halves go up and down together (I thought there were ailerons on the elevator as well 
). So why not capitalise on what these punters already come with and concentrate on the remaining stuff.
). So why not capitalise on what these punters already come with and concentrate on the remaining stuff.
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We really don't care what they do with any sim they like after they have mastered exercises 1-14.
Its the untraining of instrument fixation which is the issue along with thinking its normal to fly out of trim all the time. Control input forces can also be an issue.
Its the untraining of instrument fixation which is the issue along with thinking its normal to fly out of trim all the time. Control input forces can also be an issue.
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You should see some of the guys that look after the commercial sims.
Mostly they would have no problem whatever passing a type test.
Heard a TRE bitch over a coffee when he tech'd a BAe 146 sim. The tech jumped in and flew a single engine approach single crew drinking a cup of coffee and pronounced there was nothing wrong with it.
Mostly they would have no problem whatever passing a type test.
Heard a TRE bitch over a coffee when he tech'd a BAe 146 sim. The tech jumped in and flew a single engine approach single crew drinking a cup of coffee and pronounced there was nothing wrong with it.
You need a type rating for the BAe146...
I flew one the Microsoft Flight Simulator...Papa Alpha Niner- Cleared as Filed...To MIA...Direct WAVEY thence, as filed Climb to 5000ft contact NY departure on 123.75-squawk 8888,....
be advised to expect holding enroute...
Forgive me Father for I have sinned
I flew one the Microsoft Flight Simulator...Papa Alpha Niner- Cleared as Filed...To MIA...Direct WAVEY thence, as filed Climb to 5000ft contact NY departure on 123.75-squawk 8888,....
be advised to expect holding enroute...Forgive me Father for I have sinned
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Very impressive, but I'd be somewhat wary about the learning part, reminds me of a passage from Derek Robinson's "Piece of Cake":
(p. 516, Paperback edition 1984, Pan Books)
(p. 516, Paperback edition 1984, Pan Books)
(...) the adjutant said. "I remember people went in fear and trembling of the Camel for a while. They said it would spin if you looked at it sideways. Definitely couldn't be aerobatted, that was certain death. So everyone flew it very straight and level, until one day some bright spark took off and stunted his Camel all over the sky with the greatest of ease."
"End of rumour."
"End of several Camel pilots first, I'm sorry to say."
"End of rumour."
"End of several Camel pilots first, I'm sorry to say."
Last edited by Armchairflyer; 2nd Sep 2012 at 14:58.
I have a rare autobiography from an original Airmail Pilot---that I stole from the Library...Also Admiral Byrd's pilot...I don't think he thought too highly of him though...and believe you me he makes us all look ...Yellow...
