I guess all these CoD kids would also make great Special Forces soldiers over in Iraq. Jeez, every other month we get this same discussion going. Folks, one thing is to "fly" on a home simulator with one hand on the yoke and the other scratching your buttocks and another thing is to fly a real B737-800.

 

Heck, some people can't even make the move from a subcompact car to a SUV.

poor horse, he has been dead for years, yet some folks still think they see life. Maybe if these dreamers got into a real 737 then went to their toy, they could answer their question. Reality, Reality, it does not live on a virtual game/toy. :blink: 

 

Hey, 

 

I am (sort of) able to fly the PMDG 737 NGX. If I would learn that airplane in much more detail, could I (in theory) fly a real Boeing 737? , it should be possible to at least start, taxi and depart a real airplane, shouldn't it? 

Short answer: start-yes, taxi-no, depart-no that's if you have 0 RL flying experience.

If you have an PPL your chances would be better & you probably could, but it also depends on your personality type.

In the 2 pilot incapacitated scenario . I would give an FS hardcore NGX enthusiast a very good chance of landing the bird safely.

When the FSL's A320 gets out this discussion will be more interesting as the un-replicated yoke forces in FSX won't be a factor anymore.....until then gentlemen ^_^

Let me pose a follow up question to this old - re-occurring topic.

 

Say if you mastered the PMDG 737 or 777, then went to a flight school and took a LEVEL D 777 simulator -cold dark cockpit at the gate and set up the cockpit, taxied to the runway and did a complete flight (hand flying no auto pilot) -  the entire 45 minute flight form KJFK to KBOS and landing with 1/2 mile visibility, 400 ft ceiling at RWY 4R and stick the landing - then can you land the real thing??? - no help from the instructor either.

 

That is what I did on the 737, 767, 747 and 777 many times.  I also did difficult approached like KLGA Expressway Visual 31 and KJFK 13L Canarsie approach and nailed the landing every time.  Does that change your answer to yes - I can land the real thing?  Keep in mind I never flew for real.

Interesting and humourus thread.

 

While I'm under no delusions that I could handle all aspects of a pilots job, over the decades there's been plenty of examples of untrained people being put into the situation of landing an aircraft.  With the help of someone on the ground, they've been talked though what to do, and have done what was neccesary to save themselves or others.  As much as I wouldn't want to encounter that scenario, I would hope that if I were placed in that situation that I'd be able to fare as well.

 

In such a case, I could see that being acquainted with the basics could be an asset, however I would still be humble enough to follow all instructions given down to the letter.

I remember how a real I believe it was a NG driver said in the past when discussing the very same question that the biggest difference and what would set real drivers apart from FS drivers is the mental fact that when you're in the real thing you won't be able to hit pause or reset the flight after an unsuccessful event.

 

I think that is very true. Regardless the technical skill many of us in here possesses, knowing what every knob does, how every system and procedure works simply knowing you might not get a second chance would make many of us fail what we normally master in the simulated world and even more so when the 150 virtual passengers are replaced by 150 real souls depending on you back in the cabin.

Should add though to my last reply that if I was to choose between a veteran FSX NGX driver and someone who never sat behind a yoke that would be an easy choice if I was one of the real souls back in the cabin.

I don't think you can. When I first flown the Piper Seneca, and I'm a 170 hours pilot, man,  I didn't think I could get that machine back on the ground safely. No way! And I have thousands of FS hours. But maybe flying a Seneca is more difficult than a 737! Due to lack of Hydraulics, etc. I don't know

I know i'd most likely screw up, (I flew like sh*t the first time in a real 172  :blink:) but i would really want to try once :smile:

Has any FSXer ever gotten into a real b737 sim and flown it?  If so, how'd s/he do?

Has any FSXer ever gotten into a real b737 sim and flown it? If so, how'd s/he do?

I did many years ago and I did really good actually. I wrote about this earlier in this thread.

Has any FSXer ever gotten into a real b737 sim and flown it? If so, how'd s/he do?

I've only gotten into Cessna 172/182

Apart from that I havent even been in a 737 as passenger...

Here are my 2 cents:

 

I have about a 1000 hours of sim time gathered during the last 5 years. During this time I have also flown an ultralight and a LevelD MD11 simulator.

 

How did I do?

 

With the ultralight, I was able taxi, takeoff, traffic pattern and approach until flare without having to give up controls to the instructor on my right side. Totally different experience to anything I have experienced in the sim. No camera shake can recreate the up und down motion you got on a hot sunny day.

 

On my LevelD MD11 ride, I was able to land OK (floated like mad on all attempts) in the slightest turbulence and 5kts cross wind. Takeoff and taxi, no problems. The one that surprised me was the control forces. Once in trim, you could control the aircraft with you finger tips. Get her out of trim and it was a very good upper body workout.

 

So would I be able to fly a passenger jet? Absolutely not! Sensory overload was the only way to describe both the real world flying and the full motion sim experience. I was able to execute simple commands and fly the aircraft, but that was about it. There was no way I could have done anything, that would have needed any sort of decision making when hand flying.

 

So that was my experience. I hope I caused at least a few facepalms

No, you won't.

Just because you can find your way around the inside of a car in a driving simulator, does not mean you will be able to drive around without crashing. You'll miss the finesse of doing things, the feeling of actually being there.

 

Unless of course you're talking about one of those multi million dollar Level-D simulators actual airlines use. That's a whole different ball game.

Not true. There are all sorts of real life simulators used in just about every field and their uses seem to be expanding. This is for good reason apparently. I've watched a few noobies sit in a flight deck of an actual B738 and know how to at least power up the jet. Now to perfectly follow the actual Boeing guidelines, FAA & airline procedures, panel flows, checklists, etc is an entirely different feat. But you can't really toss out the any experience of using a decent sim with the PMDG integration and not consider the experience at least of some value. And even some sim aviators are quite proficient at following those as well.

 

So the ballgame may be different, but the player will at least know where all the equipment is and I'm sure he'll be able to find homeplate. :rolleyes:

Let's suppose you can't drive. You practise in a car simulator for a number of hours and then get to drive a real car. Perhaps a slightly different model to the one simulated meaning that some switches and functions are not where you would expect. So, ok 10-15 minutes familiarisation and ready to go. For the first time in real traffic!!!!!!!!

How would you feel? That's how you would feel in an aeroplane.

Suppose you did get it down to 50feet and there was a strong gust. Do you have the inate instinct to go around that's been trained into you or would you not ever having been trained in real, I mean "Real" weather, either lose it or submit to get it down itis?

A PPL having never flown a 737 say, would have in my opinion a better chance than someone who has lots of hours on a PMDG desktop sim.  Why? Because they know when it's dangerous. They know also to ditch the FMC and fly manuelly. Yes the PMDGers can programme an FMC. They enter the flightdeck half way through the flight. Both crew are non compus, one in a fit of madness has deleted the FMC info. Now it's up to you. If you have no real flying experience then it's goodbye!

Kareem: Just in case you missed the gist of my post... We're actually talking about the same thing.

There are simulators that offer a level of complexity beyond what PMDG produces, especially in the way you'd feel things. However, those sims are not part of the original discussion.

Will you be able to get the plane down safely without any training but the auto didactical stuff you did with a PMDG add-on? As good as they are, I highly, HIGHLY doubt so. (And so do a lot of airline pilots within "my" company, to who I posed this very question. Even the "ex-simmers" kind of snickered at the idea.)

To be honest, there's a lot the average gimme doesn't know. There's even more where he doesn't know, that he doesn't know something. This is a pretty dangerous attitude. It gives you misguided confidence.

At the first day of training, one of our instructors asked the simple question "What don't you know?"

it's a perspective you don't often take under consideration, but it does open eyes.