smthlndr

I HAVE TRIED ALOT OF SIMULATORS IN THE PAST AND THEY SEEM TO HELPED A LITTLE, BUT THE ONE THAT WORKED FOR ME WAS THE FLIGHT SIMULATATOR 2002 PROFESSIONAL EDITION. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REMOTE YOU USE , BUT IT IS AS TRUE AND REAL AS YOU CAN GET. I PLAYED IT ALOT FOR TWO WEEKS AND I CAN FLY ANYTHING I WANT TO FLY NOW, THAT WILL FLY THAT IS! IT HELPED ME UNDERSTAND ALL FLIGHT DIRECTIONS AND JUDGEMENTS. I FLEW YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 23 MPH. WINDS AND I LANDED AND FLEW AS IF IT WERE CALM, ME AND MY BUDDIES COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. SO I'D RECCOMEND THIS TO ANY ONE FOR ANY TYPE OF FLYING. I HAVE'NT FLOWN A REAL PLANE YET THOUGH.

Cub_Boy

My Feedback: (6)

I agree that FlightSim 2002 is a great program, however it really does nothing for the R/C pilot. There is a huge difference between sitting in a plane (left is left and right is right always) and controlling the plane from a fix point on the ground.

The perspective issues are what we use a simulator for and to practice manuvers. Where I see the R/C pilots can get benefits from other flight simulators is in the area of throttle management, controlling decent rates and understanding aerodynamics.

Beyond that, those programs do not help us to fly better or learn the skills necessary to be an accomplished R/C Airplane pilot.

Being the President of an R/C club for several years now, I have seen newbies come out and profess their skills on FS 200X and other such programs. They think they can fly R/C because of that experience. They soon discover that they are not really prepaired and must learn new disciplines. Those that have used RealFlight or similar programs (where they have a R/C radio in their hands and learn the skills need) seem to learn and solo much quicker overall.

So you can take this as either "passing on knowledge through experince" or you can say "Blow it out of your tail pipe" either way you will learn your own truth in your own way and that will be the sum of your knowledge at that time.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Rick,

hmx

Rick,
I'll have to agree with you on this one!
Even though I have flown 6+ years, there are
times that I feel like it is my solo flight!!
This is especially true in an emergency situation!

All is fine when the plane is going away from you,
left is left and right is right.
When the plane is coming straight at you is when the
fun begins!

FMS is a great tool to help you learn without losing a plane.

I have recommended this to other club members and even
made an installation CD for them.

I just joined RCUniverse. It looks like a great place!!

C_Watkins

My Feedback: (10)

I think people forget, sometimes, that there is a "tower" view in the MS flightsim products.
There you have it... an RC flying sim, of sorts.
I agree that there are better alternatives, of course.

smthlndr

if you ever have played the 2002 fs proffesional edition. you have more views than any other r/c sim. out there. just dont sit in the seat. if you move the camera above and behind the plane on take off it looks just like rc. and you can fly it towards or away from you and in thousands of angles. i have to stick with this sim. it worked for me. although r/c sims give you the same remote you fly with, it doesn't change the directions in wich your going when you make a move. you can fly this sim in the camera mode as to where you have the most difficult times in judging direction. say for instance coming toward you. fly with the camera in that mode.

"fly like an eagle land like a feather"

rscamp

I have no doubt that certain things can be learned on a simulator with a joystick, but using a joystick won't do much to teach you move your thumbs instintively in the right directions on a Mode 2 configured R/C transmitter. I'm sure if you started to use an R/C transmitter you would pick it up quickly, but until then as we all know, if you have to think about your next control input you've probably already crashed.

Rob

rscamp

I just thought of a couple of other things. Have you tried an R/C simulator or a real R/C aircraft yet? It is like always flying from the ground or tower and NOTHING ELSE.

...and something else to consider. You would have to increase the simulation speed on Microsoft Flight Simulator between 3-4X to emulate the speed and responsiveness of a model aircraft.

Rob

smthlndr

rs camp i agree it is slower but it will help you if you have flown rc planes before and need to get better at slow subtle movements not over doing it. like i sid it helped me of course you can't start out on it. you need thumb coordination before it will help you in rc.

I JUST THINK YOU GET BETTER GRAPHICS AND FLIGHT MODES THAN RC SIMS, FOR YOU MONEY. I WOULDN'T GIVE A 100.00 FOR A FLIGHT SIM WHERE I GOT THIS ONE FOR 47.95. YOU CAN BUY 2 MORE PLANES FOR THE PRICE OF A RC SIM.

Scott Crownover

I use both FS2000 and FMS daily.

MS FSXXX is a very flexible program. I have flown hundreds of hours from both the cockpit (VFR and IFR) and tower views. The tower view offers good feel and fairly good approximation of r/c flight including heading right at ya. The graphics and sound are great, and any the choice of add-on aicraft is endless. But, waiting for the program to reload after a crash is a bummer, and everything happens in real time, so a single pattern to landing takes much longer than r/c. Speeding up the sim helps, but your Cub may fly like a Pitts. MS FS also does a great job with realistic takeoff, landing, and ground handling characteristics of high powered (or not) taildraggers. Try downloading my Blanik L-13 add-on from the SOAR website!

FMS is a great tool for r/c aerobatics practice because the reload is instant, the speeds and distances are more like the real r/c flying site, and the ability to use and program a variety of transmitters or transmitter interfaces better translates to control imputs you'd use at the field. Plus it's free! Ground handling characteristics are not very realistic though. I love playing with it, but so far only so much of what I do in sims helps my r/c flying. In FMS I am working on low, rolling inverted passes with jets. At the flying field I'm only just begining to explore rolling manuvers, and keep my trainers at safer altitudes (cept the Zaggi). I really need to pick up an interface so I can use on of my transmitters. I'm sure that will help the process. The Glider/slope soaring functions in FMS are awesome. THe graphics are great. But, I wish it had prgramable wind. I'm certain that some of the features on RealFlight G2 and other high end sims would be helpful, but FMS is one helluva freebie!

Scott

jrtmaser

My Feedback: (3)

Where can I get an interface for FS2000 simulator?

Dennis DiBona

Why
would you buy a program for one thing when you are trying to learn another. What I am saying is when there are products on the market that are designed for Us the RC community and they do work very well ( maybe the graphics are not quite what you want) Why go looking for ones that are not tailored for us.

The DiBo

Wright Flyer

If you get either this FMS USB interface or this Ripmax interface they'll allow a standard Tx to be used as if it were a PC joystick and this lets you control FMS or Microsoft Flight Sim (or ANY software that accepts a joystick) using your radio transmitter. I know for a fact that they also work with Cockpit Master Backyard Edition, Aerofly and Piccofly amongst many others.

This way you can easily fly FS2002 using your Tx. (though personally I prefer the "real" R/C sims, especially FMS).

Cliff