MSFS is very nice, but is made to be more of a game than a simulator. Try X-Plane too -- it has a very good (and getting even better) flight model and an great amount of work has been put into realism, including the ability to fail any of the airplane's systems to see how you can recover. It has been used for generic (not specific to a single airplane model) full-motion simulators (these people are just building full size cockpit with X-Plane).
You are right in the fact that you can't really compare a simulator to the "real thing" because you can't look around, but it does seem to help. I only flew once so far (introductory flight), and the instructor kept his apendages off the controls for most of the flight (he did the final landing, though). He didn't believe me when I told him that I never flew an airplane before.
-- Petru Paler, January 5, 2002
I agree with Phil's observations here. Trying to fly 2-3 times a week works out less expensive and faster in the long run - assuming time to read and study between flights. Especially when, say, 3 planned flights a week might actually end up being 1 or 2 depending on weather and other last minute problems (plane hasn't returned from the previous person, instructor called in sick, etc., etc.). This is especially true when you start doing cross country flights.
Other things I found useful were:
- flying early. This won't be for everyone, but I liked lessons at 6-6:30am. The plane was always available and usually fueled, the instructor wasn't running late from another lesson. There was no/little traffic in the pattern and on the field - providing more time flying and less time taxiing or extending downwind. And the air was usually calm and cool - great while you're still starting out. Of course I still flew at other times of the day, but I loved those early mornings.
- Plan your own lessons. You may get an instructor who plans for you, but if my experience was typical, the instructor will more or less randomnly decide what to practice while doing pre-flight with you. I quickly found I could get *much* more out of a lesson if I proposed the activities for the day. E.g. 'before we do circuit work, can we do some steep turns? I'm not happy with how I handled them the other day'. or 'Could we work on short-field landings today as its been a while?'. Also, at the end of each lesson I would ask 'What do you think I should work on next lesson?'. I found that the instructor's response was usually much more appropriate then, after spending an hour or so in the cockpit with me, than just before the next lesson.
- William Kershner's Student Pilot's Flight Manual. For some reason this book hit a chord for me. I found the explanations really helpful and the practical techniques worked well. I read many many books while learning to fly, but this is the one I ended up using as my reference.
- Take the written early. Of course some schools require this. Mine didn't but I went ahead and did it after only about 15 hours of instruction. I found I benefited from this in many ways, and when the topics came up again in actual training I was able to get much more from them.
- 'Fly' while parked. It doesn't cost anything to sit in the plane on the ground, so if you can, turn up early for your lesson and run through the day's procedures while sitting in the plane (with everything off). While this is especially good for checklist procedures, I also found it useful for steep turn practice, cross control practice (e.g. slips), stalls and other manouvers.
- Try other instructors. I couldn't agree with Phil more on this - especially if you're blocked on something. E.g. I just couldn't get my Taylorcraft to touch down softly - until I flew with another instructor who suggested holding the yoke just between my thumb and forefinger. Magic! The T'craft was just SO much more sensitive than the Cessna 150 I'd been flying previously (that plus the bungie cord landing gear).
- Get some controlled field time early. I admit it - I had my Private's license and almost 250 hours before I really did any controlled airpot flying - and I was scared of screwing up! My lessons weren't at a controlled field and I only went into one once during training. If I was starting over, I'd insist on going to a nearby controlled field until I was truly comfortable with the radio procedures. The irony was, of course, that once I got used to it it was actually easier than an uncontrolled airport - albiet less convenient at times.
- Cut your lesson short if need be. Some days I just couldn't get my head into whatever skill I was learning. My instructor did me a favor and taught me to quit while I was ahead and/or before I learnt bad habits by trying more. It saved me money, gave me a chance to go home and study the manouver more, and generally the next time I flew it would all fall into place.
I hope these tips are useful...
-- Michael Mee, February 10, 2002
Check out what the talented developers of the open-source flight simulator FlightGear http://www.flightgear.org have produced. I consider it one of those great open source success stories like the Apache webserver - only no one's heard of it...yet!Cheers,
Mark Turner
-- Mark Turner, February 11, 2002
Some of the downsides of the Katana as a trainer:1) It is considerably more expensive to rent, per hour, than a typical 150/2 or Tomahawk (both of which are excellent learning platforms). Hello, money matters.
2) The thing doesn't fly or, especially, land like almost any conventional airplane in the GA fleet. That's because it's a quasi-glider. It floats, a lot. Most private pilots will transition from trainers to middle-of-the-road Cessnas (172s) or Pipers (Cherokees); the more adventuresome and well-heeled will go the way of Mooneys, Bonanzas, etc. (No one without a good bit of experience should think about getting into a Lancair or something like that -- wonderful, wonderful airplanes, but they are decidedly high-performance and need an experienced stick.)
And that's why Cessnas and Pipers -- and primarily Cessnas -- still dominate the training fleet. Why spend almost twice as much on a Katana when you're going to have to relearn so much in transitioning to 99.5% of what's out there?
I suppose what bugs me about this flying section is that it is written by someone who took the 'golden road' to learning and treats that experience as if it's ordinary or even necessary. Having learned how to fly as a teenager in a Champ, paying as I went along by mowing lawns and what-not, this talk of Sennheiser headsets and $80/hr+ aircraft rentals is just plain silly.
We need to encourage young pilots and take into account the fact that young pilots -- and, for that matter, most pilots -- are not wealthy dot-com types. I fly far nicer ships these days, but the basics are the basics.
-- george day, May 2, 2002
I learnt to fly in San Diego in 1997. It took my 25 hours and 119 landings to go solo, and 55 hours total until I took my test over a period of 5 months. From talking to other people this is about average. I wrote down everything on spent on learning to fly in the back of my logbook, and the total came to $4650. In term of planes I would tend to recommend the 172 or Cherokee. They both cost a bit more than the 152 or Tomahawk, but are more stable, and more comfortable which helps keep the hours down. Later I learnt alpine flying ;while working in Switzerland; in a Katana and would thoroughly recommend the Katana. The visibility from the cockpit and the improved performance and feel over a Cessna 152/172 made flying more enjoyable for me.I would recommend using several instructors and different airfields, pay per hour, and never block buy hours. You can stick with a good instructor until you come up against a block in your learning, but then it is best to switch staight away. These guys will sit with you all day even if you are not learning anything, most are motivated just to build hours.
Passing the test doesn't make you a good pilot and you need a lot more hours to build confidence. Keep well within your limits for the first few hundred hours. If you get over confident and encounter a bad situation you can scare yourself out of flying forever.
Try to have a clear idea what you want to do with your flying after you pass the test. My plan was that as I travelled the globe working on short term contracts I could fly in different countries; and I did this in Belgium, Switzerland, Australia and Kenya. However, I since stopped flying as I no longer find it enjoyable having to go through all the requirements to fly and hire planes in each country. I hope I can get back to it if I stay in one place for a while.
-- Mike Bulcock, July 28, 2003
I flew a "discovery flight" in a Cessna 172, and my lessons have been in a Katana. Both planes were relatively new. (My school doesn't keep them more than 3 or 4 years, tops.)The Cessna was enough to put me off flying. It was like a rickety old schoolbus. I didn't feel like I was "flying" so much as "making vague suggestions to the airplane", which it would take under advisement and possibly obey when it got around to it. The Katana does what I tell it to do.
I guess there are cheaper ways to fly. I pay $90 for a nearly new Katana. But their Cessna is $120 per hour. (Gotta love that $4 per gallon avgas.) I could save a little by finding a "school" with a tired old 152, but I wouldn't enjoy it as much...and since I'm only in it for the fun, enjoyment is everything. The lessons ARE my hobby, not just something I have to endure in order to start a hobby.
I like the Katana. It is what it is, though. It's not a cargo plane, by any stretch. And, at 6'3", a couple of hours in the cockpit is all I can tolerate. It's clearly not the plane I'd want to own in the long term, but for learning purposes it's great.
-- Eric Anderson, July 4, 2006