The State of Flight Simming

[Jim Young 2,356]

On 4/25/2018 at 7:54 AM, Sticky said:

I think FSW failing is far more significant than add-on sales.

It is sad the community is losing further development of FSW but others will be born in the future.  FSW is not completely gone as you can still use the sim for as long as you want (just like we did when they stopped development of FSX!!).  It  will no longer be updated.  One can use it as much as they want and it will soon be freeware.  Right now P3D and X-Plane are the future with Aerofly gaining more support with updates/upgrades - https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/467-the-aerofly-simulator/ and Outerra 3D planetary engine - https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/715-the-outerra-3d-planetary-engine/.  We have had other simulators like ProPilot that have come and gone and FS is still alive and well.  As I stated earlier, I remain excited with flight simulation today as well as the distant future.

 

[jcomm 5,939]

Jim, congratulations for your clear an concise view!  I couldn't agree more.

[Lorby_SI 2,042]

On ‎4‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 5:08 PM, SpiritFlyer said:

Interesting,

I hope P3D flight simulation offerings are doing well in it's central market place among the real-world flight instruction and educational aviation industries. Does anyone here know how they are doing outside of our own circles?

Other than the strictly controlled P3D webpage, is there much notice or information elsewhere?

Kind regards,

Spirit Flyer 

Stephen

 

Hello Stephen,

Speaking from my own limited experience, most commercial applications don't boast the type of simulator they are using - they advertise what they are doing with it, their own core business. If I would only look at my own commercial customers, then I would have to conclude that P3D is seldom used for what you might assume is natural - pilot training. For example, one of my customers offers flights in a full size Airbus cockpit to anyone, another has built a Panavia Tornado shared-twin-cockpit sim at a museum. And I know of applications of P3D as a training device for AAOs with aerial fire fighting units.

In those instances where it was actually used as a pilot training sim, that was for low-cost installations of more exotic aircraft. Low cost in the sense that a custom built simulator, even with a full sized cockpit, hovers around the $100.000 mark, whereas a full motion package is in the 8 figures range - more, if you require it purpose built to simulate some exotic plane. If a company or government agency figures this out, it is a no-brainer. They are not training pilots anyway (they have real aircraft for that), they just need a low-cost option to familiarize people with a particular aircraft - or with the practical application, where it doesn't really matter if the plane is simulated 100% accurately. The AAO doesn't care how the plane flies (he is not flying it anyway), he has to manage 12 different aircraft converging on the same wildfire, coordinate with ground, dispatch etc..  There is no other platform that does lend itself that well to simulating these things with comparatively little financial effort.

Best regards

Edited April 27, 2018 by Lorby_SI