I am surprised that so many people are so sceptical here - I can only look at my experience flying a full flight 747-200 sim around 8 yrs back. At the time I only had flight sim experience (since the beginning!) and some tips from my brother (who does fly 747s for real).

It was incredibly easy but only once I got the feel for it, how to trim properly and how to judge the right level of control input and smoothly enough. Apart from that and it bring a lot more physical than I expected it was simple stuff.

I had another go a year later and was challenged by engine failures on take-off, 30 knot crosswind landings and of course the good old Kai Tak approach at HK, all without a hitch.

So going back to the beginning of this, taking into account the immense and brilliant realism with PMDG, I think landing one of these in the real world would be quite easy - forget any auto lands!!!

I can see you on the flightdeck after the FA's call you in - "I really should autoland this baby...but hey, when will I get another chance to hand-fly a real 737!"

 

Has your brother seen the NGX or the FSX PMDG 747? What does he think?

 

The ex-boeing aeronautical engineer I had test landing my PMDG 747 for my little study two years ago (mentioned about 200 posts back) was pretty amazed that the sim both had an FMC/CDU and that I could actually program it - he knew the concepts but didn't really know which buttons to push or which numbers to enter (he was a 'wing guy' as an engineer, but was also had his CPL rating).

Yes as someone who spends 000's of hours in the real aircraft he was pretty amazed at the complexity and realism. He doesn't use flight sim himself these days though as I think he spends too much time on the real thing - I will tempt him back with the new pmdg 748 maybe!

Are you a RL Pilot ?

 

PPL

I am surprised that so many people are so sceptical here - I can only look at my experience flying a full flight 747-200 sim around 8 yrs back. At the time I only had flight sim experience (since the beginning!) and some tips from my brother (who does fly 747s for real).

It was incredibly easy but only once I got the feel for it, how to trim properly and how to judge the right level of control input and smoothly enough. Apart from that and it bring a lot more physical than I expected it was simple stuff.

I had another go a year later and was challenged by engine failures on take-off, 30 knot crosswind landings and of course the good old Kai Tak approach at HK, all without a hitch.

So going back to the beginning of this, taking into account the immense and brilliant realism with PMDG, I think landing one of these in the real world would be quite easy - forget any auto lands!!!

 

What make me sceptical is the difference between the real world environment and simulation. In the real world pilots are trained by instructors over time to slowly increase their capacity in the air. At first even the simplest task is extremely difficult whilst flying at the same time.

 

It is very easy to overload or become transfixed on a single task. It is an entirely different environment, full of forces which tend to keep changing, insults to the senses and then there is the factor of fear. In many situations these are coped with in the real world by training and more training so they seem routine. That is why I personally think someone with no real world experience simply could not land an airliner unassisted. It is to me not a question of whether they understand the systems, it is a question of would they have the spare capacity whilst actually in the air in real time to operate them in what would be an extremely stressful and alien environment.

 

Still, I'm a huge advocate of sims, I believe strongly though the best comes from both. Real world experience with consolidation of what has been learnt in sims makes me realize just how good sims like FSX actually are. However real world experience has also taught me that simulation cannot replace real world training regarding actual flying, it can only compliment it. For sims to compliment real world training, it also takes an intelligent approach to using the sim, so bad habits and misconceptions are avoided.

Hey guys,

 

I let one of my friends from work have a go at flying the Cessna 172 today around Las Vegas. We took off and flew out to Lake Mead over Hoover Dam. His only experience was in simulators, if I recall correctly.

 

After we began the El Cortez arrival, I was going to let him try to land it on his first go, but I discarded that idea once I saw the PAPI on 12R all white with the throttle still in the green arc. I know comparing a Cessna 172SP to a Boeing 737-800NG is like comparing a row boat to a Cruise Ship, but just to help continue our debate here, I went in on this flight with the full intent to let this guy try and land, but just wasn't comfortable with how things were going that last 200 or so feet.

 

He definitely knew all about the airplane though - probably just as much or more than I did, for what it's worth.

 

As an aside, if anyone from McCarran's FAA Tower reads this board: Thanks for being so kind to us on approach/119.4 today. We gained and lost altitude, went left and right 20+ degrees, and all you did was give us more leeway by letting us fly almost any altitude we wanted. +1 to you folk for that.

It's just like driving a car... driving in a simulator is far different from the real car...

You can learn procedures and instruments in NGX, but you will never had the real feeling of handflying....

Folks,

 

I don't think I could walk into the cockpit of a B738 and make an acceptable landing, especially at night. The hand flying and instrument flying would be easy enough because all large Boeings fly about the same. The problem would be at the bottom. There is no doubt that I would not get the flare correct. It would most likely be way to high unless I had someone sett'n in the other seat telling me "Don't even think about it." With a B738 IP set'n next to me I could do ok, not so good if I was alone.

 

Don't beat on me too bad, I been do'n this aviating thing in the Military and Commercially over 40 years.

 

Billy Bluestar

We are currently driving down to Orlando via I-95 and even though driving a car and flying an aircraft are two different things, their are similarities as far as sitting behind a control wheel and handling a machine.

 

Going down the highway at 70+ mph, with so many variables affecting the handling of the car such as ground friction, wind, trucks passing at high rate of speeds and their drafts affecting your vehicle, the normal swaying of the vehicle, etc. Your body and senses always being bombarded with signals which make you take corrective measures to maintain your vehicle in it's lane and prevent your car from weaving and catching the attention of one of my brothers in blue thinking you are DUI.

 

Like I said, there is a huge difference between driving a 335i leisurely down the Interstate and flying a Boeing 737 but without fear of being called out I must say that those who think they can safely land a crew-less Boeing 737 in a stressful situation with just sim experience on a home flight simulator game, can in my best imitation of Eddie Murphy, "from the bottom of my heart, kiss my &@($*!".

 

- Sent from my rooted, Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE smartphone via Tapatalk because haters gonna hate.

 

 

Well, at least the Boeing 737 doesn't have the problem of trucks passing at high rates of speed.

Well, at least the Boeing 737 doesn't have the problem of trucks passing at high rates of speed.

 

Obviously you've never landed a 738 on a freeway before.

Physiological stress would likely lead to adverse human performance factors with possible deleterious outcomes (translation: some of you are soft - and would crash your 737 into a smoking ball of metal after you freak out).

 

That's why I'd stick to using ILS and autoland the plane. It takes away most of the potential for me to do something stupid under pressure.

 

I think there is generally consensus that sims are good for teaching procedures. I honestly think I could work through the steps I 've done 100's of times in the NGX - program the fmc with the right airport, possibly fly with hdg select and lvl change to intercept to localiser (as it's a bit simpler than trying to use vnav), right frequencies and course programmed, check vref etc etc

 

Yes, it would be stressful. But one of the points of repetitive simulation-based training is to attenuate the natural and counterproductive stress response that everyone - including the real pilots - gets in an emergency. If you've performed a procedure in the sim until it's second nature, your brain is much more likely to be able to remember the right steps when your adrenal glands are screaming 'run for the hills!'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You all seem to miss the main point as " Bimmercop" has mentioned above, flying the sim and actually flying the actual 737 are two different things so one cant compare one to another. You may think you can land the 737 without any training in the real 737 but actually being up all alone trying to land whilst trying to contend with the visbility and weather conditions are alot different than sitting in front of your pc. And to all those who say they can land the 737 without any problems should apply to the Airline Industry for jobs for Pilots iam sure they be looking for your experince

PPL

 

 

cool.

 

Which GA aircraft ?

cool.

 

Which GA aircraft ?

 

I'm going for the fastest ever reply on Avsim as I just happened to be sat here when you posted!

 

PA-28 161 Warrior and Super Cub