OK here is a SIM trained pilot, I am 47 years old and never even touched a transmitter of an RC airplane in my life. I wanted to fly, bought a H9 P51 trainer, a Great planes Chapman 580 and a Real Flight G3 While I built the P51 I started using the Sim, at first I was convinced the Sim was too difficult, that flying could not possibly be this hard, after a half an hour I was actually flying for as long as I like but still could not land, 2 hours later I was not only landing but flying inverted, using the rudder and landing in both directions. I continued on the sim for the next week spending as much as 3 hours at a time just shooting landings and adding more and more realism from the Sims data base. I added wind, then cross wind, then wind gusts, I added random flight failures and performed countless deadsticks. I was very confident on the sim and flew every model in the thing. Then I grabbed my new trainer and went to a local soccer field. I fueled my plane checked my controls and taxied it around for a couple minutes. The ground handling was strangely familiar as if I had done it before. Hmm well I guess I had sort of. I re-fueled and with a big lump in my throat I rolled out and added throttle watching the plane bounce along in the overly tall grass. It continued to gain speed and as it hit a bigger then normal bump it was airborne. I pulled back on the elevator and pinned the throttle wide open. The plane was very badly out of trim but I was flying it and controlling the climb while holding almost full left aileron to maintain level flight. I reached across with my left hand and dialed in some right trim and the plane remained level and I made several large orbits moving the elevator and ailerons slowly about getting a feel for the plane. It needed a tad more trim in the elevator and once I did that it would fly hands off at 3/4 throttle. It flew exactly like the simulator. I decided to perform a mock landing shot at altitude to see how the low speed characteristics were so I turned towards myself and at 150 to 200 feet of altitude I pulled the throttle back to 1/4 the engine slowed and the plane did as well. It was flying level but very nose high with quite a bit of elevator needed to maintain level flight. This was awesome. I added throttle and made a nice banked turn using a slight amount of rudder to hold altitude and set up for my first landing. I lined up for a nice left to right shot and started pulling the throttle back, just as before the plane slowed quickly and this time I did not try to maintain altitude but just held attitude and let the plane settle. Then the engine died......Now I had been so tight and nervous this whole flight and when the engine died I almost did as well. However I was on a nice approach but a little further away then I wanted so just like in the simulator, I pushed the nose down and gained a little airspeed leveling off at about 50 feet up and again let the plane just settle towards the ground not bringing up the nose and as it got to about 5 feet off the grass I pulled the elevator back and the plane flared gaining maybe a foot of altitude but then settled right down and landed perfect on a nice 3 point landing as this is a tail dragger.


I had no instruction, no buddy box nada. Just my sim. I did not even have the experience of watching other flyers fly. ever.....Well that was 15 weeks ago. I have now graduated beyond the trainer, as well as the Great Planes Cap 580 to a 50 cc gas plane. I fly fairly well and have a ton of confidence. I still have never had a single lesson from anyone I have never had a buddy cord hooked to a transmitter I was operating. I am fully Sim trained.

So in closing, I fly a $2500 Giant Scale Gasser with less then 4 months of experience and owe it all to my Simulator.

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