So I have a friend of a friend who passed her UAV Part 107 drone test and now has been bitten by the flying bug after seeing my hangar and sim. As we all (I'm guessing) enjoy doing of sharing the hobby and teaching others the fun of flying, I tried to ease her into simming using the WBSims C152. However, not all Air Manager gauges are available and for the life of me cant find a way to assign things like Carb Heat to my axis (where with other addon planes that provide a LVars I can) so I decided to just teach her in the A2A Comanche. 

I want her to learn on steam gauges so I replaced my G5 screens and my GTN750 screen with steam gauges providing a layout like pictured above.  I got to say, theres nothing like an A2A plane for when it comes to focusing on all the little stuff that matters most and doing it the best. I'm also a huge supporter of Black Square but for teaching a person basics, not glossing over important aspects because they are not modeled or poorly done, and reinforcing good habits and flows, A2A has a product that nails it.

We are just working on pattern work right now as she studies her ground school lessons via Sportys Pilot PPL course and thanks to Scott and A2As Comanche videos, she can learn more about the particular plane that she is flying. However, what makes me the most proud is never having to say, "well in the real plane..." "Its different in real life...", "You would normally do this IRL but its not modeled in this plane..." etc. I also have to credit Experimental Sims Avionics for their great work on all the Air manager gauges of which without them, my simpit would be nothing.

Other things about the Comanche is its highly customizable panel options. I have her setup with the 430 for now but we really havent left the airspace using KCRQ Carlsbad.  Great addon airport and for now I'm using Say Intentions for ATC services as she learns her radio work.  This week we are going to get out of the pattern and start learning slow flight and stalls.  By using all these great tools that are available we can have highly imformed debrief sessions post flight.  With Say Intentions showing the flights and com logs like below

 

To using my Garmin Pilot to export the flights into CloudAhoy as seen below:

 

My plans are to get her comfortable with her takeoffs and landings, go arounds and stalls and then have her do it solo. She will also need to be ready to go live on PilotEdge as we will leave SI for real ATC. Once I feel she is ready for all of that, then I will be able to monitor her from "dispatch". See my simpit is in a hangar (trailer) and about 1500 feet away I have my work office with my personal computer there. SO She will get her own PE subscription and I can log onto PE with my own and load up XPlane on the ground and be able to talk to her on Com2 just like RL while having the added benefit of seeing her on the PE live map and being able to see what freq she is on.

Once she has soloed, my plans are to trade her factory fresh aircraft out with a used club owned one thanks to A2A allowing the ability to age the plane. Since that would be more reflective of what a real trainer would be like. In doing so we will do a few more local flights and let her start to notice any squawks that might come up. I wont let her do any repairs or look at the MX tablet but she can tell me what the plane is doing and what she thinks needs to be fixed. Then I'll inspect the plane and fix what she tells me to. That way she will start to have a much better appreciation of  knowing the plane and have had time to fly a plane that is in perfect health.

Additionally, having lots of Vincents "vbazillio" amazing freeware airports in the area as well as all the payware ones, xcountry flights are going to be highly enjoyable. At that point, I will switch her to the GTN750 and G5s. We will then reposition the plane and start the PilotEdge Cat ratings. Lastly, I will use the OnAir checkride to provide a pre DPE PPL flight exam. By then it should be summer and she will will start her real flying training with one hell of a head start.

Something that might help is an engine management course (set of videos) I bought recently that uses the A2A Comanche to demonstrate the techniques.

Not cheap, but as I mainly fly airliners in the sim, it taught me a lot about how to fly GA aircraft and use the EDM-830.

Airplane Engine Operations

 

2 hours ago, flyingscampi said:

Something that might help is an engine management course (set of videos) I bought recently that uses the A2A Comanche to demonstrate the techniques.

Not cheap, but as I mainly fly airliners in the sim, it taught me a lot about how to fly GA aircraft and use the EDM-830.

Airplane Engine Operations

 

Nice find..thanks. I've used Pilot Workshop before so yes, I'll add this to my media collection for her and myself as I enjoy seeing if theres something to learn while also reviewing the things I know.

Cool setup!  I would also recommend Pilot Edge - it's a semi inexpensive subscription service for live ATC.  It's limited to a portion of the west coast though - but excellent for practicing all sorts of flying that you would encounter IRL.

As KCRQ native a suggestion! Runway 24 is right hand pattern not left 🙂

5 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

As KCRQ native a suggestion! Runway 24 is right hand pattern not left 🙂

Oh look at that RP 24 - I think I knew that from PE - has it always been that direction?

4 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

Oh look at that RP 24 - I think I knew that from PE - has it always been that direction?

For the last 27 years at least as far as I remember  . I think ATC would work 3-4 aircraft on the right pattern  and then put “overflow” to left . Those “lucky” left traffic would likely get squeezed into short approach or dragged to the lake San Marcos to join final 

Yeah SI ATC gave us both left and right on various circuits but also prior to introducing SI to her I had her doing left hand for obvious reasons. 

2 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

Cool setup!  I would also recommend Pilot Edge - it's a semi inexpensive subscription service for live ATC.  It's limited to a portion of the west coast though - but excellent for practicing all sorts of flying that you would encounter IRL.

Not sure if you read my full post but yes as a long time dual coverage area member, PE is a must for proper ATC. However, I'm easing her into it with SI since my simpit isnt dual controls. I can key the mic and work the radios for her but dont want her to be overwhelmed right now nor cause issues with other PE pilots. But yes, she/we will go through the CATs rating hence why I'm making her get her own sub since I already passed the CATs and IFR ratings and they wont let a member retake the ratings on a pass/fail monitoring program.

Also with her having her sign in and me having mine, I can log in on my other computer in XPlane and dispatch for her as I watch the PE live map screen. Just sit on the ground with the engine on so the battery doesnt die and when she gets out of radio range on xc flights, just move my plane to another airport thats in radio range.

6 hours ago, flyingscampi said:

Something that might help is an engine management course (set of videos) I bought recently that uses the A2A Comanche to demonstrate the techniques.

Not cheap, but as I mainly fly airliners in the sim, it taught me a lot about how to fly GA aircraft and use the EDM-830.

Airplane Engine Operations

 

I picked it up and its really well done and informative. Thanks for posting as I didnt know about it.

11 hours ago, Ident said:

I picked it up and its really well done and informative. Thanks for posting as I didnt know about it.

I was most impressed that the spark plug cleaning method demonstrated in the videos worked in the A2A Comanche. You can watch it work in the tablet engine monitor.

1 hour ago, flyingscampi said:

I was most impressed that the spark plug cleaning method demonstrated in the videos worked in the A2A Comanche. You can watch it work in the tablet engine monitor.

Yeah I was in the camp that I would just turn on the fouled magneto and not use both when clearing a spark plug. However, as laid out in this video, I see why thats not the best practice. I had a rather different PPL schooling from the traditional way most get their PPL but in doing both online ground schools of King School and Sportys, they never went this far indepth.

While they use a sim to demonstrate the lessons and actions (saving on production cost while using a plane and sim platform that allows to see cause and results) these lessons are designed for RL use. Which is funny to me that I feel like I've learned more watching A2A and Black Square videos on things like how to deal with vapor lock, back firing etc then in actual ground school. Dont get me wrong, both online course go over the broad aspects of all the planes systems but I find the indepth videos with walk throughs to deal with them way more informative and am able to take away a better understanding of the whys and hows.

So shes been working on her TnG's and I realized that the Comanche was a lot to learn on for getting the basics down. She hasnt done any ground school leassons but I have been using each lesson to introduce various stuff to her that would fall under ground school. So I switched her out of the Comanche and into the Cessna 172 in MSFS and then The C172SP with REP in Xplane12. I gave her the option of which 172 she liked and she said the Xplane on.

Anytime I've let ppl use my sim, its almost always been a real pilot friend and they just need to learn the sim, or a sim pilot friend who gets it. So watching her as someone who is very focused on learning but making all the learning pains I remember seeing in myself when I was completely green, is a refreshing feeling. I get where her head is and it allows me to relive my student days. Shes nailing her landings but going to Xplane12 with the REP for the default 172, with the knowledge that XP is known for its better physics, I can tell it certainly handles more realistically then the MSFS C172,

Now the A2A Comanche is a heavier plane with a wider main wheel base so the ground roll feels right for it but she is struggling (like a new ppilot would) learning how to dance on the pedals and stay in front of the plane on the rollout. I didnt have the REP prior to her and have been looking for a reason to get back into flying XP as I enjoy it for different reasons as much as MSFS. We will get back into the Comanche at some point to do cross country flights using the real world below and go old school with no GPS, no moving maps and sectionals as I find that important to know and easy to practice in the sim but with the XP C172 with REP its also a great trainer.