My son is only two years old, but he is already wanting me to show him how to fly....which gave me an idea. With all of the real-world pilots in here, wouldn't it be a good idea if there was some type of organized group here at Avsim that helped to teach up and comers how to fly properly. I think it would be great to have scheduled online sessions in FS9 where people can give instruction, or perhaps even in FSX with the ability to share a cockpit. There can even be advanced sessions for those of us who are a little further along than others. Just a thought.

The flight lessons within FS9 are just what you are lookingfor, though the teacher has particular sense of humor. Thereare very comprehensive starting point.

I agree, these lessons would be better than having a bunch of us real pilots teach your kid. At times we can't even agree to disagree.:-) John M

I may be wrong but I understand that Brians idea is to initiate an online flying school in general, not for his son in particular.While I agree on the quality of the FS9 default instructor, I can imagine that flying with a more experienced real human pilot online, preferably on the right seat, would be a very rewarding experience - given ervyone behaves nice.I give it a thumbs up.

The lessons in FS9 are sub par at best. I can get away with a whole lot more in the FS9 lessons than my instructor would have ever allowed. As Michael said, it is an online flying school that I was thinking of, perhaps with a variety of sessions for different skill levels.

Is this possible?Barry

It is possible. Within Hovercontrol, which is has many pilots, they provide a facility(teamspeak) that allows a pilot to view attempts to fly helicoptersand speak to a user. You need to download and install software to enable the teamspeak You set up a time for training and someone sits in and helpswhile watching the flying. It basically uses the multi-userinterface to FS9.Hovercontrol has a set of lessons and tests which need to be passedand allow a user to develop from a novice until the eventually reach the level of instructor themselves. You could use thisas an example system.Tom

That's exactly what I'm talking about Tom. We use Teamspeak at Transload VA and it seems to work well.

I understand FS9 multiplayer (using either FSHost servers or Vatsim) and also understand Teamspeak -- but how do 2 people sit inside the same a/c??Barry

The whole shared cockpit idea would only work in FSX, but FS9 still yields plenty of promising possibilities for flight training. In a multiplayer environment the instructor could position himself so that he can watch the student follow the traffic pattern, perhaps from near the tower. Using something like Teamspeak, the instructor can walk the student through the proper procedures and watch from ground level. As the student progresses, the instructor can takeoff and follow the student, this would be good for a cross-country session. I think that the biggest benefit of having a program like this is the verbal communication, which will allow the student to ask questions and become more comfortable flying.

>Much snippage ...>I>think that the biggest benefit of having a program like this>is the verbal communication, which will allow the student to>ask questions and become more comfortable flying. >Indeed, this could be what I thought I'd be getting with the lessons in FS9. I knew that it wouldn't be a real person sitting there but did think I'd get better "interaction" from the instructor. Dogmatically always correct is my assessment of the real situation.:D

Have you looked into the many training CD's that are available? Some are even FAA approved.Jeppesen makes a pretty good beginner training program called "Private Pilot Manuevers". I believe it's still available at PCAviator or Flight1. I can see your point about interactive flight training, but the beauty of a flight simulator is that one can practice over and over again by themselves without hurting anyone, or their pocket book. A good tutoral program can assure that you would be doing it right.Just a thought.John M

Yes, I have quite a collection of training aids that I used when I got my PPL, but they all lack one feature that I think would be most beneficial...the ability to ask questions. I am currently working on a series of missions for FSX that were inspired by the Cessna Pilot Center Multimedia Training System, but with my lack of mission editing skills it will take awhile.