Crashing a Simulator
 

Lame question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.

What happens if you crash in a simulator? What does the display do? What do the motions do? Is it just a case of press a button and have another go?

Also, how detailed are the visuals in modern simulators nowadays?

I had a "go" in a 737-200 sim at cranebank a number of years ago and the detail was pretty poor - I presume they're better these days? Also the instructor was very insistant that I didn't crash it, as he reckoned it'd take hours to reset it, hence my first question!

The instructor can usually rewind/reposition/reset the sim depending on the make/model/age of the sim.

Visuals has come a long way.. have a look on the latest visual system used on the sims at the lufthansa training center in Berlin .. very impressive :ok:

http://www.lft-berlin.de/english/visual.htm

Yeah, well it depends...
 

On some of the older sims, it does get a bit touchy.

I recall one occasion with a TriStar sim, the pilot tried a go-around saying thus...

>>Maxzimum power, flaps 22, ze gear up....first ve puuush, then ve pulll...<<

Therein followed several wild gyrations, ending with the sim 45 degree nose down, absolutely frozen solid, the power went off, and all concerned had to climb down the ropes...just before the halon went off.

Not a nice day.:sad:

744 sim freeze the motion and display once you crash it, don't ask me how I found out.:oh:

BritAir's ATR sim at Morlaix turns visual to bloody red and displays "GAME OVER" on ADU (that's small CRT showing autopilot modes for those of you who never had a masochistic pleasure of knowing ATR intimately) if you crash it while ATR sims at Toulouse just freeze.

I was curious what would happen too:}

Ever tried typing "assshole" into the FMC/CDU .. it will display "Wrong entry/Invalid entry" :}

The old 146 sim used to show The red screen of death and motion stopped.

717 Sim, crashing sound, can't remember the visuals.

The best visuals (non-crashing) that I've experienced were in the YSSY DH8 sim. Cars could be seen driving past the airports, other aeroplanes, buildings, mountains, etc were very realistic. Flying under the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a hoot, except the visuals had poor detail of the underside of the bridge.

It was known to be left in the car park at YBBN, or on a hill top overlooking YBCS or YLHI, from time to time. :E

I have been in an A320 sim when it crashed. We were 'flying' along happily when I received a severe thump in the backside. The sim had fallen on its jacks from a height of around 6 feet. All three of us looked a bit shocked. The training captain called the engineer on the internal phone and we climbed out for a cup (plastic beaker) of coffee.

As far as crashing, as in to the ground, the sim will just freeze, sometimes at an unusual angle. I have never operated the instructors station but I believe there is just an unfreeze button which is pressed when the sim has levelled itself.

Once saw the runway from underneath after a simulated gear up landing in a FS BE20 simulator! Severe scrapeing of underside noises added to the effect.

I was in a VC10 simulator that crashed. I was sitting on a bentwood chair behind the two pilots when the nose went down, alarms went off, the altimeter unwound and eventually there was a bump, I fell off my chair and the pilots gathered up their stuff, saying 'well that's buggered then, time for a cuppa' and shambled off.

Ah yes, the Sydney Dash 8 sim. The daytime visuals are a bit blurry I suppose, and definitely not up to scratch when compared to a modern PC game. But the feel of realism is still excellent, particularly at night. The visuals are much more believable at night.

This one time, at Dash camp, I was doing my cockpit prep and looked out the front. I was surprised to see what looked like a dodgy overtaking manoeuvre on the highway running next to YBCS. For a moment there I really thought I was watching some idiot overtaking into oncoming traffic. Then I remembered that the highway is two lane, so the car was gonna be ok!

The thing I find least believable about the sim is banking and turning, it always feels a bit out of balance.

If it wasn't so stressful, it'd all be a lot of fun :).

Have flown? both the Bell 412 and Puma sim. Both make a crashing noise followed by the black screen of death. The reset takes between 5-30 sec depending on what emergency caused the crash. Graphics are pretty good although trees tend to turn to face you which is a little strange. Managed to get my NHP to scream once after attempting a 4 point roll in the 412, it really didn't like being inverted.

Big (really...) BANG and bloody (red) windshields on the ARJ if I remember well (though never managed to pass the boomerang, too much power :{ on one side?).
My actual mount just freezes and goes black... and my face red :\