Right, so after owning the PMDG 777 and NGX for a while I have noticed something. 

 

Is it normal with their products to now claim to be able to fly the 777 and 737 in real life?

 

Can I please now go and tell people that I can fly these birds?

Nop

It's a simulation that will give you an INSIGHT into how a pilot flies the aircraft. It isn't a training aid, despite its accuracy and in-depth system replication...

No, so don't go stealing a 737 and try to fly it.

I would think the feel of inertia alone would make you forget moat of what you thought you knew.

 

I flew FlightSim before I got my PPL. Thought I knew enough to breeze through and be the shining student. Well. Book/Ground School wise I was ahead of the game, top of the class.

 

Real PIC time, lol. Let's just say, we are all happy Cessna puts a lot of work into their gear. Greasers on the first try are only in FlightSim.

 

I thought I broke something my first time. My CFI even joked that I tested the prop bolts. They held.

 

 

Sent from my Apple communications device.

Right, so after owning the PMDG 777 and NGX for a while I have noticed something. 

 

Is it normal with their products to now claim to be able to fly the 777 and 737 in real life?

 

Can I please now go and tell people that I can fly these birds?

 

Yes, you can. I passed a fictional checkride on a 737NG sim (real sim, real examiner, real MCC) without problems, all memory items checked, with 'only' about 2800hrs logged on the PMDG 737 for FS9 and the NGX and about two yours on the moving 737 simulator before doing the checkride-stuff. I must admit it wasn't easy at first. Especially the speed at which everything happens and the pressure this puts on you is much higher than it occurs to you while sitting behind your desktop. But I, and many airline pilots with me, consider it doable. 

 

That said, William is right it doesn't help you much while doing PPL. The perspective at first is completely different, and the most important difference for me was that in flightsim, one flies by the numbers. Your instructor on the real world C172/Pa28 will teach you to fly with nose pitch and so forth, something you don't learn in the sim and that might actually make it harder to learn proper VFR flying, at first. Furthermore, the hours spent on the Carenado SR22 helped me nothing the moment I actually flew the aircraft for the first time. So I guess it doesn't work for all airplanes. But for the 737, while not having a rating on it, I am fully confident I will land a 737 NG safely in real life, especially since I know how to set-up for autoland ;-).

 

EDIT: I want to add that the difficult part is the landing of course. Remember the 9/11 hijackers who flew the airliners to their targets with only cardboard mockup training. The landing is the most tricky part. Flying a Cirrus or a 737 isn't  difficult. Doing a difficult approach with turns short before final and touching (not bouncing!) on the numbers is what makes your armpits wet.

In  a way this post reminds me of this video

 

I remember that video. One of his landings (I think the first) was a real kidney crusher. I was actually surprised to see how hard he set it down.

 

 

As for the OP's question....

 

I think you'd be more aware of where everything and how it all works compared to someone who's never been in a cockpit (obviously). As the others have stated, landing would be the most difficult part by far. Cruise would be just nerve racking at most as long as the AP was functional and you knew how to use it.

 

But if it came down to a "YOU need to land the plane" situation, the sensation of flight coupled with the stress of knowing that if you screw up you could injure/kill everyone including yourself, most, if not all, of the knowledge you have would probably be overlooked. 

 

It's one thing to screw up an approach in FSX because you can just firewall the throttles and go around or at least crash and understand why. IRL, I could see panic setting in. Especially in a situation where you're below the G/S and a warning goes off, or the stick shaker starts rattling your teeth. Or on the opposite end where you're too high and/or fast and your anxiety gives you a severe case of "get down-itis".

 

If a full-autoland was available you may be able to configure for it and pull it off, given enough time to prepare and configure. If not, well......good luck. Something really simple such as lowering the gear/setting autobrakes/lowering flaps at the correct time/setting up VREF and actually remembering to set VREF+whatever would possibly be overlooked. 

 

 

Of course we'd all like to think that if SOMEHOW both pilots were unable to fly and NO ONE else had any flight experience at all, that we'd be able to pull it off. But in a situation like that we're all probably at risk of succumbing to the mass-hysteria that would no doubt be circulating through the cabin.

 

In a situation like the video above, that was strictly controlled and supervised, we could probably pull it off with about the same quality of the guy in the video. But I would definitely remember to apply extra deodorant that morning.

Yup even in the video they said that flying the real thing, especially landing is totally different feeling than in the simulator because the simulator cannot accurately depict certain characteristics/handling of the aircraft. So thanks to PMDG you could be able to get it started, set the systems up and takeoff, but the tricky part would be the landing which is the most important thing. I remember a saying that went something along the lines of, "you dont HAVE to takeoff, but if you do, you HAVE to land"

In the UK a week ago a man of I think 76(with no or very little flying experience) landed a Cessna at Humberside airport after the pilot collapsed and sadly died.  No autoland of course and he was talked down by a flying instructor. All in all a sad but amazing story.

In the UK a week ago a man of I think 76(with no or very little flying experience) landed a Cessna at Humberside airport after the pilot collapsed and sadly died.  No autoland of course and he was talked down by a flying instructor. All in all a sad but amazing story.

 

Video was just released today showing that landing. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24534013

 

As any landing you can walk away from is a good one, I'd call that good.

Yes, you can. I passed a fictional checkride on a 737NG sim (real sim, real examiner, real MCC) without problems, all memory items checked, with 'only' about 2800hrs logged on the PMDG 737 for FS9 and the NGX and about two yours on the moving 737 simulator before doing the checkride-stuff. I must admit it wasn't easy at first. Especially the speed at which everything happens and the pressure this puts on you is much higher than it occurs to you while sitting behind your desktop. But I, and many airline pilots with me, consider it doable. 

 

That said, William is right it doesn't help you much while doing PPL. The perspective at first is completely different, and the most important difference for me was that in flightsim, one flies by the numbers. Your instructor on the real world C172/Pa28 will teach you to fly with nose pitch and so forth, something you don't learn in the sim and that might actually mak e it harder to learn proper VFR flying, at first. Furthermore, the hours spent on the Carenado SR22 helped me nothing the moment I actually flew the aircraft for the first time. So I guess it doesn't work for all airplanes. But for the 737, while not having a rating on it, I am fully confident I will land a 737 NG safely in real life, especially since I know how to set-up for autoland ;-).

 

EDIT: I want to add that the difficult part is the landing of course. Remember the 9/11 hijackers who flew the airliners to their targets with only cardboard mockup training. The landing is the most tricky part. Flying a Cirrus or a 737 isn't  difficult. Doing a difficult approach with turns short before final and touching (not bouncing!) on the numbers is what makes your armpits wet.

Fully confident huh? Very interesting Sir. However Ive seen a handful of airline vets get humbled, and I'm talking about rated pilots with thousands of REAL flight experience, not fictional checkrides. I do admit, I like your confidence however anybody in the airline business is very aware of how different a level D sim is in comparison with the real thing. So before you make a claim like that you should think about it first.

The only way one can learn flying the real one (or at least get the ability to handle the real one in case one has no other choice) with the simulated one is if you already got flying experience.

Joining training for the PPL-A after I did 280 flights in the PPL-C training already and after thousands of hours in the simulator, including many on A2A's C172, I had been able to fly the C172 properly on the first attempt, but of cause there is much room for doing things better.

I believe that if I would actually have to take control of an airliner I could be able to get it down. But even though I got flying skills in real world GA planes I would still prefer doing an autoland in the 737 or 777 simply because it is safer and in the end I would like to stay alive.

 

Not sure if I could handle it if things go wrong though.

Just think about IMC: Will you fly a real plane strictly by the instruments the first time you encounter IMC IRL?

 

I reckon it's way easier to concentrate on your instruments when you're sitting in front of your computer and g-forces, spatial disorientation and sensory illusions aren't trying to pull your leg.

Interesting topic and one I am sure we have all asked ourselves.  After many years of 737 sim flying I got the opportunity to play in a real NG simulator and what I found out was that yes I knew where everything was and just about knew the real world order of what to do actually flying it is a whole different ball game. Did ok though and after a few missed approaches I safely landed.  Far from a desktop sim experience which seems more forgiving.

 

Happy Landings

 

Goose