Flight simulators
02-05-2006 | 05:15 PM
#2
RCU Forum Manager/Admin
My Feedback: (9)
RE: Flight simulators
JEDIDIAH,
Instead of retyping the answer to the same question you asked in the other thread, I'm just going to cut and paste the same answer I gave in the other thread:
Ken
Instead of retyping the answer to the same question you asked in the other thread, I'm just going to cut and paste the same answer I gave in the other thread:
I usually catch a lot of heat when I say this, but it's my opinion that students wait until they at least meet an instructor before they start using a simulator. The reason I say this is because it's possible to teach yourself bad habits on the simulator. Then when you start with an instructor those "bad habits" need to be un-taught. I'm not saying that this happens with every student that uses a flight simulator, but there is a good chance that it's going to happen. Here's an example. I had a student that I was teaching to fly. When he started his landing approach he would dive at the ground and pull out about 10'-20' from the ground. I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he did that on the simulator because that was the only way he could find the runway in the simulator. It took me about 2 weeks worth of work to "un-teach" this bad habit.
Simulators are a great tool in teaching students when they are used properly. By this I mean that they are used to practice what you have already learned. Take what the instructor teaches you each week and practice it at home on the simulator and you'll be surprised how quickly you solo.
Simulators are a great tool in teaching students when they are used properly. By this I mean that they are used to practice what you have already learned. Take what the instructor teaches you each week and practice it at home on the simulator and you'll be surprised how quickly you solo.
02-05-2006 | 08:22 PM
#3
Senior Member
My Feedback: (2)
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 171
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Fairbury,
IL
RE: Flight simulators
I am getting a rc simulator with my plane so that I dont run it into the ground the first time I get it up.So as my view I would get one.And I do not have instructors around here cause i live in a town with 3600 people.
02-05-2006 | 09:20 PM
#4
Senior Member
My Feedback: (12)
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 654
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Diana,
TX
RE: Flight simulators
Jedidiah:
Do you already have a trainer plane? Do you have access to a club and instructor? RCKen is right. If you have access to an instructor where you can get in two or three buddy box flights, do so. This will give you an indication of
how the instructor is going to teach you.
My instructor basically started me off with just the right stick (ailerons and elevator) teaching me to make gradual turns using aileron to attain bank and elevator to maintain altitude. Had I used a simulator prior to my instruction I might have tried to learn both left and right sticks and like RCKen said developed some bad habits (example) such as trying to maintain altitude in turns using rudder and not elevator.
Take a couple of flights, see what your instructor wants you to learn first, then go home and practice that on the
sim. Use your sim to work on the steps as your instructor assigns them to you.
I have had about 6 flights on buddy box. (slow learner, I guess, but I am 61 yrs. young) Now, I am learning to use the throttle to control descent and ascent (altitude), and beginning to use rudder to coordinate the turns better.
Taking each control function step by step has made it easier for me. I am not driving my instructor crazy because I am
trying to do things that I have no idea of what the outcome is going to be. My instructor has had to use the "trainer" switch one or two times to help me regain control of the plane. Both times was due to difficulty with the orientation of the plane
at a distance and not because I had exceeded my skill level.
I have just recently purchased a sim. I cannot get to the field very often because of time and distance constraints. I am
practacing on the sim just what my instructor has been teaching me at the field.
Go slow, use your sim to enforce and perfect what your instructor has assigned you. I know that we will be better, safer
pilots if we learn the basics right the first time. I want to pattern fly. I am going to perfect one or two things at a time.
I know it will all come together sometime. Someday I will be doing things I never dreamed of, and it will be by instinct.
I want to be a"natural."
You are new to the forums. Pay attention to what RCKen and MinnFlyer say. They are pro's.
Do you already have a trainer plane? Do you have access to a club and instructor? RCKen is right. If you have access to an instructor where you can get in two or three buddy box flights, do so. This will give you an indication of
how the instructor is going to teach you.
My instructor basically started me off with just the right stick (ailerons and elevator) teaching me to make gradual turns using aileron to attain bank and elevator to maintain altitude. Had I used a simulator prior to my instruction I might have tried to learn both left and right sticks and like RCKen said developed some bad habits (example) such as trying to maintain altitude in turns using rudder and not elevator.
Take a couple of flights, see what your instructor wants you to learn first, then go home and practice that on the
sim. Use your sim to work on the steps as your instructor assigns them to you.
I have had about 6 flights on buddy box. (slow learner, I guess, but I am 61 yrs. young) Now, I am learning to use the throttle to control descent and ascent (altitude), and beginning to use rudder to coordinate the turns better.
Taking each control function step by step has made it easier for me. I am not driving my instructor crazy because I am
trying to do things that I have no idea of what the outcome is going to be. My instructor has had to use the "trainer" switch one or two times to help me regain control of the plane. Both times was due to difficulty with the orientation of the plane
at a distance and not because I had exceeded my skill level.
I have just recently purchased a sim. I cannot get to the field very often because of time and distance constraints. I am
practacing on the sim just what my instructor has been teaching me at the field.
Go slow, use your sim to enforce and perfect what your instructor has assigned you. I know that we will be better, safer
pilots if we learn the basics right the first time. I want to pattern fly. I am going to perfect one or two things at a time.
I know it will all come together sometime. Someday I will be doing things I never dreamed of, and it will be by instinct.
I want to be a"natural."
You are new to the forums. Pay attention to what RCKen and MinnFlyer say. They are pro's.
