I can testify that flight simming does makes good flyers. I had the very fortunate opportunity to take the controls of a cessna skylane owned by a long-time client of mine and he exclaimed that I actually flew very well! I had the controls from about 5 minutes after takeoff til we were only about 5 miles from the airport (and about 2'000ft agl. During that time I had executed a number of climbs, turns, climbing turns, descents, maintained altitudes and followed a gps course (all without autopilot help). The plane's owner could hardly beleive I had never flown before. He said later that he didn't feel like he needed to take over at any time during the filght. I was pretty amazed myself and was impressed at how similar the controls felt in relation to my CH Yoke and rudder pedals at home, although there are some differences. The real controls feel alot more solid, and the rudder pedals were alot "beefier". Anyway, I just thought I'd relate my experience since this subject came up. And for the record, I have been an avid MSFS fan since FS5 so I already had several years of "computer flying" experience.Gabriel

>Talk about arrogance. ;-) So I guess it is the simmers that>make a large part of the I-got-my-PPL-in-40-hours crowd. :D >It took me 63 hours to get my PPL (USA national average: 67 or>69, don't remember).Yeah, your right. I'm a litte embarrassed after re-reading! I guess the epitomy of arrogance is not seeing you're arrogance in the first place. I still think an accomplished simmer should have an easier time of it. After all, stick'n'rudder flying in FS is, in a number of ways, much harder than in real life.

true, if you use real procedures and manuals in FS at all times it can help.But many people just don't do that. They take off, fly all over the place without any regard for procedures or their aircraft, and do everything else that would get you grounded or worse were this the real thing, then call themselves accomplished simmers...

Do a real life power on stall in a C 172 all the way up and kick just a bit of left rudder at the onset and see if it feels like FS as you go over very fast...now pull the power, stomp on the right rudder and lower the nose to recover...never in your life will you get that in FS. FS was a invaluable tool to learn and practice Instrument Flying, navigation, situational awareness, ADF, VOR and Radio stuff, it cannot substitute for real stick and rudders skills. That being said, anything that allows you to practice, practice and practice is a very good thing and I believe that FS Simmers with "good attitudes" are indeed way ahead of the curve in becoming betyter pilots.

Haha. Yeah. I think I got mine with about half the hours needed minimum for the commercial certificate. :-lol I'm at 130 now and still probably about 100 or so hours shy of getting my commercial ticket.----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>there are certainly bits and pieces that I may have completely>missed or never bothered with because "it's just a sim".Just don't think that you know how to communicate or what to expect with ATC just because you played MSFS. :-lol----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach