An educators view...

[dokelly07 0]

I am a middle school Science teacher outside of Houston. I have had my PPL for about 5 years. I am just shy of my instrument, but the increasing cost of flying has slowed that progress a bit. I still fly out of Hooks Memorial (KDWH) and Lonestar Executive (KCXO). I have been a simmer since 7th grade when I jumped into and older version of flight sim, say circa 1992..?? Not sure what version that was, but I pretty much spent my entire flight time at Meigs field doing touch and go's and modifying my custom aircraft design....I didn't pursue my PPL until 2006/2007 after really enjoying the differences between century of flight and FSX. I was given a discovery flight as a birthday gift after which I was hooked. I used FSX as a training tool to help me with confidence in my maneuvers. I checked out at 40.2 hours and have loved every minute of flying since.I teach 5th and 6th grade Science, and have to say that I love it more than flying....I decided to create a mini 4 week curriculum about 2 years ago that would introduce the concept of flight to my students. It was a perfect fit for our discussions on physics and aerodynamics. I used FSX and brought my simulator rig to school each day (nervously). Saitek yoke, pedals, throttle quadrant all running FSX loaded with every add-on you could imagine. I taught my students Bernoulli's principle, lift, drag, thrust..etc.. They ate it up, and loved every minute of it.We went into how to read the sacred six, how to taxi, how to track center-line, rotation, climbing, decent, emergency procedures....the whole nine-yards. The students had to pass each criteria before advancing. One student was the "co-pilot" while another was pilot. Fun?....yes, but exhausting with over 110 students to see each day. One thing was slightly missing though....FSX with all my add ons and my close to 2 grand invested in hardware, made it slightly out of reach for my middle school students. These kids are mainly console and iPad gamers.....I am converting quite a few, but its hard. All of my students wanted FSX, but did not have the horsepower to see it the way they saw it in my classroom - and the setup has always been a bit daunting. Try explaining a config file modification to an 11 year old.Just under 225 students have gone through my flight program, but none more excited than my current group. Last week after testing Flight for myself, I told my students about MS Flight. I showed them a couple of videos and provided the download link. Most of my students have a 1-3 year old computer at the house. Very few have joysticks, and none have a yoke/rudder setup. This week (yesterday) many students came back telling my how much fun they had flying at home. Something very few were able to ever do before (aside from the google flight option in google earth). They said they remembered all of the information from our lessons at school, and even learned more along the way. Students that would probably have just camped out in front of the television or BF3/MW3 etc.....were flying, learning, and excited. Obviously as an educator, this it what I love to see. Now sure, my kiddo's have short attention spans and will move on. But....it had them excited and they are also fired up to hear about DLC. All of my students are familiar with that concept and it looks like it will work pretty well.Sure...I miss REX style clouds, Orbx, ATIS for sure, autopilot, heavies, road/air traffic, and a few other things I'm not able to think of at the moment. But what I love is the fact that my students can grab this for free with ease and fly around a fairly hi-res environment that moves smooth and simulates GA very well in my opinion. Because my lessons were tailored in a Cessna 172, I like the fact that they can't jump right into a jet. Rather, they have to take real world steps. Granted there is no 172, but the amphibious aircraft does a good job filling that gap and is quite forgiving - especially for the novice sim pilot. I have a ton of respect for the training missions in Flight. I would have killed for those last year during my sim lessons. I had to create my own saved flights for my students, while Flight has it included.On another note: I was flying last night, and have to be honest - I had to really work while hand flying my aircraft down. It seemed to get caught in ground effect, I had to make small precise corrections, it was a blast. It was obvious I was not flying on rails. Not that FSX was ever rail flying, but I just feel that Flight does a better job in the GA department with this end of the simulation. Takeoffs and landing are not automatic anymore, and present a challenge that prior I have only felt when inside the cockpit of a real 172. Please don't get me wrong, they were done well in FSX, but I always felt like things were just too stable. Flight just moves more and feels more real to me. And it is still in beta stage....(am I right)?? In my opinion it can only get betterI have both, will always have both - and like them equally at the moment. FSX is great for me with its semi complex setup and countless add ons (providing I have the income to support it). But as far as GA is concerned, I think I will be flying Hawaii for a while. For my students, console converts, adults, and real world pilots, I can see this as a stepping stone. A stepping stone that has the ability to become so much more. I am seeing it daily, first hand. You should see their faces when they tell me about where they flew....it is priceless.Danon -

[kama2004 74]

Refreshing reading after all those mentions of dumb kid gaming around.....Thanks for sharing your experience....

[Gibbage 199]

Nice story, and I think thats the key to Flight. Bringing more people into simming. Once a healthy user-base exist's for simming, then it can support more advanced sims! These things cost a LOT of money to produce, and that cost cant be carried on the back and shoulders of a few remaining "hard core" simmers. Flight is no longer in Beta, but its going to be actively developed and improved as long as the user-base can support it. Thats the good thing about the DLC style. MS is not going to dump a product on you, and move off onto the next version. Flight will be added onto for what I can only hope is years to come.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Hello Danon,Thank you for sharing that perspective with us. That is gratifying to read and brings real hope for the flight simming future.Kind regards,

[dokelly07 0]

Refreshing reading after all those mentions of dumb kid gaming around..... Thanks for sharing your experience....

Yea...I read many of those comments. Because of my sim lessons last year, I have some clout with my gaming students. Respect, if you will. They saw that I was interested in it and jumped right on board. Some have told me today that they intend to grab a joystick this coming weekend. Report cards go out in 2 weeks, and I have students saying they are going to see if they can grab the add-on as a good grade reward.....Sometimes it takes looking at things from a different perspective. I get almost as much joy out of seeing fired up, as I do flying in the sim.Danon

[HiFlyer 9,373]

Tell your students to hook up in multiplayer sessions, and fly together. The added social aspect will triple their enthusiasm. B)(they will be very used to such interaction, from their other games)

[dokelly07 0]

Tell your students to hook up in multiplayer sessions, and fly together. The added social aspect will triple their enthusiasm. B)(they will be very used to such interaction, from their other games)

They already have.... :) Heck, they will be showing me stuff in a few weeks....no doubt.

[n4gix 4,955]

Wow! Thanks ever so much for sharing this with the community. I hope more and more folks will finally "get it" with respect to Flight and what it is...The vision of Joshua Howard and the rest of the team is slowly being visualized and understood. There's a "story to tell," and thus far we've only seen the Preface. The remaining Chapters have yet to come.

[N60JBravo 27]

What a fantastic post, truly a refreshing read in the midst of so much negativity (less here than other sites).It is nice to see folks respecting Flight for what it is, and what it can/might be, as opposed to what it isn't.Keep up the good work with your students, you are a world-shaper.regards,Joe

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

I am seeing it daily, first hand. You should see their faces when they tell me about where they flew....it is priceless.

Danon,This is the kind of activity that AVSIM has supported since day one of its existance. Is there any thing AVSIM can do to support you (or any other middle school teachers reading this)? If so, send us an email at bod at avsim.com.

Today, 01:12 PMNice story, and I think thats the key to Flight. Bringing more people into simming.

Exactly.

[dcfox 0]

As a newbie to any flight sim, this got me into it and i'm hooked. I had no experience and have now have the basics down. Had no idea what VOR or radio nav was but after googling have that down. I think this will grow and people like me will learn and buy the new dlc. It may even get to the point to sastify the "hardcore simmers". I would rather start at 20 bucks here, 20 bucks there then dish out 200 bucks for planes and areas I don't like. Now that the all the arguing has seemed to slow down there are good post starting to help us newbies with the basic questions.

[dokelly07 0]

Is there any thing AVSIM can do to support you

Wow! Thanks Tom,I have been sending my students this way for assistance and help. Contrary to the view most have of middle school students, mine are quite knowledgable and mature. Just having a welcoming forum where they can see that they are not alone in their passion for flight, would be great. I had another student today come to me and say how much fun she had flying around Honolulu yesterday evening. I love the fact that both my male students and female students have taken hold of it. When I taught my flight school lessons last year, my female students were actually better than most of my guys. They had a more delicate touch and didn't try to over control the plane.I will surely ask for some assistance or ideas next year when I do this flight unit again. I have the same students for 2 years and only do my flight unit in 5th grade. It will be around April of 2013 when I am at it again with my new students.I appreciate the responses I have gotten, and the words of encouragement. They are much appreciated.-Danon

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Wow! Thanks Tom,I have been sending my students this way for assistance and help. Contrary to the view most have of middle school students, mine are quite knowledgable and mature. Just having a welcoming forum where they can see that they are not alone in their passion for flight, would be great. I had another student today come to me and say how much fun she had flying around Honolulu yesterday evening. I love the fact that both my male students and female students have taken hold of it. When I taught my flight school lessons last year, my female students were actually better than most of my guys. They had a more delicate touch and didn't try to over control the plane.I will surely ask for some assistance or ideas next year when I do this flight unit again. I have the same students for 2 years and only do my flight unit in 5th grade. It will be around April of 2013 when I am at it again with my new students.I appreciate the responses I have gotten, and the words of encouragement. They are much appreciated.-Danon

How about a student's forum? We could have mods who are educators (did I see you raise your hand?... :Idea: ) who might want to contribute to the learning experience. Maybe even a teacher's forum (by invitation) where syllabus could be created, discussed etc. We have wanted to do this type of thing for some time, and have in fact attempted it in the past. We didn't get much traction. Maybe FLIGHT is the door opener that has been needed to make this happen... Any ideas from any community members would be appreciated.

[dburne 2]

As a newbie to any flight sim, this got me into it and i'm hooked. I had no experience and have now have the basics down. Had no idea what VOR or radio nav was but after googling have that down. I think this will grow and people like me will learn and buy the new dlc. It may even get to the point to sastify the "hardcore simmers". I would rather start at 20 bucks here, 20 bucks there then dish out 200 bucks for planes and areas I don't like. Now that the all the arguing has seemed to slow down there are good post starting to help us newbies with the basic questions.

Welcome aboard dcfox, I think you will find Avsim an awesome community with a great group of people with a love for flight simming - be careful though, you will get hooked and it will become addictive!Btw, I consider myself one of those " hardcore simmers", have been doing it for years, have had multiple versions of MSFS - and frankly I am enjoying the heck out of Flight! I do believe it has a little something for everyone, and appears it will have a lot more down the road.Have fun, and don't hesistate to visit the forums and post any questions you may have - and likewise any tips you may run into.

[EagleSkinner 36]

Just a slight hint Danon...You might look at the book "How Planes Fly" by David Anderson and Scott Eberhardt (Fermi labs). They now teach theory of flight to Newtonian rules. As an aircraft engineer I was always disatisfied with Bernoulli - the math just never gelled. Under Newton, everything fits perfectly now.As I like to say: "Bernoulli sucks, Newton reacts!"