Flying a Level D Simulator

[1251452 0]

Hello everyone,

 

I have recently gotten the chance to fly FlightSafety St. Louis' Level D Embraer 170 simulator.  The staff there are amazing allowing a kid like me at only 14 to fly the real deal!  I would like to thank Mr. Edward Donegan for this incredible opportunity.  Flying the sim gave me a feeling that desktop flight sims just don't create.  The motion while going through turbulence along with my terrible landings gave a sense of realism that flightsim with ezdok can't do.  The control loading while flying (through the St. Louis arch and having to pull up stalling a bit at the end to clear the buildings) complements this realism allowing me to feel what I'm seeing.  It can't compare at all with the little Saitek yoke I have.  The perspective from the real Level D is different from that of flight sim.  I'm only 5"6 and able to get a little bit of my head over the glareshield.  When landing, waiting for the 50, 40, 30... the view makes me feel lower than the plane actually is, I would always overflare, float, stall, then crash down at 400 some fpm.  The perspective from the left seat over the glareshield is a lot lower than in flight sim.  In flight sim, myself, and I observe countless people, have their views set to about where the headrest is and wide enough as to show all the instruments as far as the gear handle.  When flying the level d, however, I found that I could see only the instruments at one time or out the glareshield at another.  I guess this is a necesesity of flight sim though because we need to see to click.    This new perspective is one I would try to accomplish in my home setup with some extra screens.  In conclusion, the Level D of FlightSafety St. Louis, along with their staff, are absolutely amazing.  The building is clean and modern, the staff are well trained and helpful, and the sims are as spectacular as I have rambled on above.  To anyone older than I and able to get an ATP, I highly recommend this fine establishment.  I can't even begin to express my thanks to the staff for giving me the chance to fly the Level D and having me share it with you guys at AVSIM.

 

Thanks for reading this gigantic post,

1251452

ps:  I wasn't sure weather to put this in hanger chat, or in flight schools.  Move if necessary. Thanks!

[Murmur 3,941]

Nice post Matthew! I enjoyed reading it, you made some interesting observations about the differences between PC flight sims and a Level-D simulator. Above all, your enthusiasm was showing through in every word of the post. :smile:

[1251452 0]

Thanks for reading!  It really was an amazing experience, which I tried to capture in the post. 

[x-plane 123 61]

Sounds like a lot of fun Matthew! I wish I was able to do something like that when my dad worked for an airline. Instead, I get to do a 737 simulator next week, although it's doesn't have motion.

[michal 44]

Good post. I also had a privilege once to fly a Level-D Boeing 757 sim. Because of that and my other real world flying (I fly small aircraft) I decided that the flight simming available on PCs is so distant from real flying that I no longer use FSX or any other similar 'games'. The only time these days when I fire a simulator on my PC is when I want to practice Garmin G1000 procedures - but for that I use the real Garmin training software.

[19dcavscout 39]

Thats an awesome experience! Now wait until one day where you fly the sim then the actual aircraft and you look at the sim like "whoa this doesn't feel like the real plane at all!"  Keep the passion alive!

[cmpbellsjc 2,961]

It's always amazing how much different flying a real plane or a Level-D sim feels if the only experience you've had is on desk top sims.

 

I've always considered flying the real thing much easier than any desk top sim as far as control and feel is concerned.

 

Btw Matthew, what do the numbers 1251452 correspond to? Is that a Vatsim Id?

[1251452 0]

Thank you all for reading and your responses,

 

x-plane123:   Have fun on the 737!  I had the chance to fly a fixed base one too with flightexperience at Boston.

 

michal: Yeah, I guess if you have the real deal, then go for it!  ^_^  I know some pilots at flightsafety that use mfsx for procedural training.

 

19dcavscout: That would be awesome. When I was at the flightsafety, the instructor was explaining how everything is totally accurate except the motion feeling.  He said that it was close, but doesn't compare with turbulence, 20kt crosswind, rain, and a cat III landing.   :o

 

cmpbensjc: I noticed that too with the controls, I could feel the weight from the control loading, and trim correctly.  It is a lot smoother and easier to make small adjustments.  1251452 is in fact a vatsim id.  If you want to find out about me that's where it will be.  There you will find everything about me!  (poetry class coming up)

 

Thanks for the replies,

1251452