The current issue of Flying Magazine has a very positive column about MSFS and sims in general as regards their usefulness as practice and training aids for r/w pilots. It's a follow-up to an article in the same mag last month or the month before in which the columnist commented on his discovery that MSFS was good for practicing mountain flying and so forth. Personally, I don't really need r/w aviation recognition to know that this is the case - I know it already just based on the huge amount I myself have learned from the sim, but it's nice to see that the sim is "mature" enough that it is gaining some recognition as being potentially more than "just a game."

I just subscribed to Flying but my first issue is July - fortunately I'm driving by a chapters tomorrow so I'll stop by and pick a copy of Flying up then. I read the article from last week and though some of the information was a bit misinformed (such as terrain mesh supposedly improving cities lol), it was overall nice to see FS not getting snubbed down upon.The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA - Canadian version of AOPA) actually has a Flightsim column in each monthly newsletter.

Good article,Many good points about stuff we were aware of. A lot of Real Life pilots realize the use of these sims as training aids, I know that is what keeps me fresh, especially on procedures. Repetition of procedures is a good planning aid.And as it said:Training,"Avaitions Best Kept secret"Pretty much sums up my feelings as well. I also run flight plans on the sim before reality flights, so It is very useful.Thanks for pointing this out.Regards,Joe Grab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Joe,Do you fly on VATSIM or IVAO? Just curious.Shez

Hi Shez,I have a Vatsim account, but it has been quite a while. I fly almost always GA Aircraft, and I understand Vatsim is getting some pretty good coverage and events for GA, so maybe I'll be back on there again sometime.I've never tried IVAO.Regards,JoeGrab My FREEWARE Voice recognition Profiles here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a][a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=60740]FSD Avanti Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]