Good Cessna 150 or 172 FS 9 model to practice in for pilot in training

[greg100o 12]

My 16 year old daughter is learning to fly in the Cessna 150. I don't find the FS9 generic 172 model very realistic in terms of flight dynamics. It seems very unstable with minimal input from the controls is all over the place.Does anyone know of a good freeware or payware model for the Cessna 150 or 172 that would have reasonably realistic flight dynamics, and cockpit layout that my daughter could use to do some practicing of her flight skills in?Thanks,Greg

[Guest]

Flight1 has a 152 and a 172

[Guest BiggBaddWolf]

You might also check out the new Cessna 182Q by Carenado. It's really good toowww.carenado.com

[Manny 1,293]

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=c152-1

[aerdt 0]

I second the Flight1 152 and 172. They're both excellent and I use them regulary to review real life GA flights or to prepare for a x-country.Good luck,Pat

[Guest TPT82]

I concur! The Flight 1 panel is almost identical to the real C152 I am training on. I used the F1 C152 along with FS9 to practice my first X-Country. Everything went very well. I felt like I had already been there and done that. :-)I use my real checklist with the F1 panel also. For me, FS and the F1 C152 has been a great training tool.Nick

[Moose4 0]

The F1 172 is excellent. There is also a freeware FDE modification, by RealAir, for the default FS2004 C172. It makes the flight model a LOT better; if you don't want to spring for the payware, you can download the RealAir 172 mod from here on AVSIM.Lewis "Moose" GregoryRichmond, Virginia

[Guest guyjr]

Carenado has a free 152 available here: http://www.carenado.com/html/freeairplanes.php3

[zfehr 1]

>Carenado has a free 152 available here:>http://www.carenado.com/html/freeairplanes.php3Yes they do... I wouldn't recommend it though for someone taking real life flight training because the flight dynamics were designed for FS2000, it is not optimized for FS2004 and while it looks nice it could cause a student pilot to pick up some potentially bad habits.The Flight1 Cessna 152 would be my first choice since that is what your daughter is training in and Steve Small's flight dynamics are very good. Just Flight also has a Cessna 152 with good flight dynamics that you can either get seperately or as part of the their Flying Club set.

[windycloud 30]

I would say don't use FS9 for practice to aid PPL training. Instrument procedures maybe, but it's more distracting than helpful for basic maneuvers IMO. For the same reason desktop simulators are only used in instrument training in real world. You don't want your daughter to keep thinking how it's done in FS9 when she practise landings and power-on stalls. It might do her really bad.Just my opinion.Jason

[brucek 38]

Hi Jason,While there are many distortions in the FS world that are related not so much to flight modelling, but rather the larger issue of projecting a 3D world onto a 2D screen a few feet in front of you, there is a place for real world training in any sim, FS9 included. The trick is to be able to seperate the virtual and the real worlds in your mind. Nothing short of a full level D (or similar) is going to give you the actual feel of flight, but if you can compensate accordingly then I think FS is a great tool. Of course it shines for instrument training, which is understandable as the real world has only several feet of perception depth as well (in the clouds).I would be cautious about landing practice when everything is so geared to visual and inertial perception. But other than that, I think it is possible to use FS as a learning tool. It's learning where the real world ends and virtual one starts, and the limitations of virtual flight, that's the trick.Bruce.

[windycloud 30]

Hi Bruce,I agree with what you said. However, for licensed pilots with good experience in "both worlds" it's much easier to see and feel the differences, put them in perspective and work with them. But for a student pilot for whom every thing is new in the air, I'd say just focus on real world training. New pilots learn to fly by the feels before they can fly by the numbers. And the "feels" is the weakness of a basic simulator. She can use FS9 for really basic things like instrument placements but when she tries to go in depth the inevitable differences will become more and more magnified and distracting.With that being said, within the FS9 limitations I think the F1 152 is nicely done. I'm not so positive about their 172. Its low speed performance is quite different from a real 172. Also for some reason I find it hard to find a small piston plane in FS9 that's able to do a coordinated turn correctly. The turn coordinators in many addons act quite differently from a real one.Jason

[FlyingsCool 3]

I agree with Jason. When I was going for my PPL, switching between the simulator and real life there was a very noticeable difference in flying the plane. I agree with Bruce, though, in that, even for PPL, practicing procedures and how to use the instruments is very useful, i.e. learning how to use the ADF/VOR, getting used to the panel, planning a flight and flying it, which you can do over and over, is very useful, I believe.I suggest taking a picture of the panel of the plane she flies most often and making a panel to match it. It's not that difficult for a Cessna, most if not all of the gauges should be readily available. I like to use FS Panel Studio to do it.Also, how come nobody recommended the freeware RealAir 172 available here at Avsim? http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?FileName=ras172_fs9.zipShe may want to check out my site below, as it is geared to introducing people to flying through flight simulator. Thinking about this gives me some ideas on features I can add to the site. For instance, if she hasn't already done this, and I imagine you have because you sound like a pilot yourself, but I say this to help others in the same boat, if you live in the USA, I highly recommend joining AOPA and taking advantage of the resources they make available, and getting a copy of Golden Eagle Flight Prep (free) for flight planning at http://www.flightprep.com/rootpage.php?page=infogoldeneagle for info and download at http://www.flightprep.com/rootpage.php?page=gefp_dl_pgmdataThomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[LAdamson 240]

>With that being said, within the FS9 limitations I think the>F1 152 is nicely done. I'm not so positive about their 172. >Its low speed performance is quite different from a real 172. >Also for some reason I find it hard to find a small piston>plane in FS9 that's able to do a coordinated turn correctly. >The turn coordinators in many addons act quite differently>from a real one.>I think that some get stuck on turn coordinators too much!Just get the general purpose in your mind, then realize that a Piper low wing is going to take less than a Cessna high wing. A Diamond DA40 with those long almost glider like wings might take a lot, and an RV experimental is going to take almost none thanks to frize ailerons.So push on that rudder pedal in FS9 to serve the purpose, and let it go at that. No reason to stare at a monitor sized instrument trying to get the ball centered.And BTW, some addon's for MSFS offer exceptional rudder control. It's important to use rudder pedals for the full effect in forward/side slips, spin recovery, and aerobatic type manuvers.As a pilot and sim enthusiast, I say go with flight simming through the PPL. Just get a grasp on what's going on. IMO, the old tales of being stuck on the panel, and so forth, are just that. Just a bunch of old fashion balony! L.Adamson

[brucek 38]

We're both at the same place, Jason. :) FS makes a poor substitute for real flying, but it does add some knowledge as long as one is aware that you're still sitting a computer desk and not 3,000' above the ground, or (worse) trying to land the a/c. :)It's the people that can fly FS and think they are actually are a pilot, with no FAA or other agency accreditation or flight experience at all, that are the ones that should not merge real flight with FS. Bruce.