hi all

 

Is it just me or do others too look at the instruments too much, I have been doing this lately especially when taking off, once i press the toga switch i am looking at the instruments all the time making sure I have positive rate, flaps, looking at the pfd etc,  till i get up and clean in the 737, then i look out and i am in the clouds, is this also in real life? or is it just a bad habit i have started?

 

 

In real life the PF only looks outside and the the other one will be monitoring the instruments. It's best to keep your eyes on the road. When you are in a real cockpit you will find that looking at your instruments will take your head in such a different angle that you won't see anything outside. At 140 knots you dont want that to happen. So I usually wait for the V1 call out, rotate and only start to look at my instruments after positive rate.

yes i suppose it is kinda hard with one pilot flying the 737 where i suppose you have to do both.

80% outside, 20% instrument scan.... unless you are solid IFR

You can't feel your simulated aircraft, so you have to check the instruments even closer.

In IMC even real pilots have to fly strictly on instruments.

Plus the panel scans, no matter whether your plane is real or simulated, no matter "weather" you're VMC or IMC.

 

Nothing wrong with your flying style, as long as you do NOT get fixated on a single instrument.

Also, ATC (controllers) are watching and there is always audio terrain  / traffic warnings / fire if you get into trouble.

yes my main issue when taking off and after rotate is making sure my speed is good and that I am getting positive rate, however with the PMDG 737ngx this is always done well, because that plane is a really nice plane to fly.

 

Then I keep looking at the PDF to see when I have to start retracting flaps etc.

If you make the aircraft heavy ... MTOW ... as when testing .. learning the panel and traffic scans ... everything happens a little slower.

Longer T/O roll, slower initial climb etc.

 

And, use the Pause key ... that helps while testing,

Real world flight instructors say they can always tell when they've got someone who uses flight simulators:  they fixate on the instrument panel.  This is at a time in the instruction when the instruments haven't even been described yet and the eyes should be outside the cockpit 100%.  (The CFI will tell you if you're outside flight parameters if you can't figure it out because the horizon is at a funny angle.) 

 

It takes effort and practice to break this habit.  I suggest something like the A2A J3 Cub which basically doesn't HAVE any instruments to fixate on.  It's got a wet compass and an airspeed indicator, and in this particular aircraft the oil pressure gauge is probably more important than the ASI.  Eventually you'll start taking your cues from the outside view and only using the instruments occasionally for verification of what you already know.  TrackIR helps tremendously in this exercise.

 

As for "feel", you guys must have some pretty delicate heinies.  At no time in a real aircraft, even when I can see the pilot is intentionally flying uncoordinated, have I been able to feel a slip or skid.  If you jerk back on the control, sure, you might feel some momentary G forces, but they're probably less than what you're getting from turbulence.  On an airliner I can feel some G force in a turn, but I've got nothing else to concentrate on at the time.  I just don't feel it in a 172.

 

In an airliner you'll have to spend more time looking inside, but even then it should only be a verification that you're doing things correctly.  You should never fixate on an instrument and "chase" it with the controls. 

 

How much time do you spend staring at the speedometer in your car?  I spent a second too long doing that on my motorcycle once, and I'll never do THAT again, lemme tell you.  The good part is my new motorcycle was a much better one.

 

Hook

I disagree... if you fly IFR, especially in IMC, you do instrument scan pattern and correcting aircraft tendency to drift off intended path. Yes, it's good to watch outside as much as you can, but that's not primary task at all.

Real world flight instructors say they can always tell when they've got someone who uses flight simulators:  they fixate on the instrument panel.  This is at a time in the instruction when the instruments haven't even been described yet and the eyes should be outside the cockpit 100%.  (The CFI will tell you if you're outside flight parameters if you can't figure it out because the horizon is at a funny angle.) 

 

I had this happen to me i went for a joyflight (in my profile pic) and he said the same thing.