My father is 66 and wanted to fly for as long as I am alive. He has Played with RC through me but I no longer live close to him to help as often as I could. I have a spare computer I will set up for him.(which will be another adventure). I would like to buy him a SIM program for the computer but do not know which will suit him best.
We had a great day this past weekend with my Dads new plane of a month with three fatal crashes under its wing. After a tube of epoxy we got it up in the air for three great flights under my control. Dads turn lasted all of 12 seconds and we needed to get more glue, needless to say he is frustrated.
He is trying to fly the Wingo which I think is a really good plane but with the foam used was a little stronger so we wouldn't have so many pieces...

If anyone has a suggestion I would like the help
Thanks. Maybe there is HOPE for my DAD

I am getting back in RC after a 12 year layoff.
Purchased RealFlight sim and like it.

Has helped me re-gain confidence and get my left/right coordination back.

It may not be the simplist to setup. It has many options and you can configure the plane or field the way you wish.

However it does come pre-packaged with many planes and heli's and some good trainers.

It was recommended to me by a fellow pilot.
Flies very realistic and the landing difficulty can be set from easy to real.

It's great that your father wants to be active in this hobby. Sure hope you can get him past the fustration. I hope there is a good club in his area. Our club has many older people ( including me ) and it makes for some great days when we all help one another.

Good Luck .... see what others think.

I have tried three kinds, I like the Great Planes Real Flight one the best. FMS is a free sim you can download but you almost need the special cable adapter to go with it to use it. It too can be ordered very cheap. The other is much more realistick altho I have trouble finding the landing strip on any of them. Otherwise theyre ok.

Any sim would help. I like G2 the best of all I have used. I have it and use it for learning new things with my heli. The problem is you need a good computer to run it. If the system is old, it won't work. I got a top of the line, fast fast fast system from ecollege on ebay for $600 for the system. I had to use my screen, keyboard and stuff like that, just got the box, cd, cd burner and hard drive. it rocks and is loaded with as much ram as they could put on it. There are lots of good buys if you watch them. Kind of strange to replace my 2 year old system, but hey, the darn thing wouldn't run the sim so I got this one. It rock and rolls.

Might have to consider a fast putter if your old one is not fast enough to run the new software.

Realflight is far and away the most realistic Simulator. However, as has been said, it requires a serious bit of PC to run it, and it goes for around $200.

FMS is a free sim and is as good as any of the cheaper ones out there. I have RealFlight and FMS, and though you really can't compare the two, you can't compare the cost either!

There's a guy who makes and sells the interfaces to go between your transmitter and PC. He sells them, and includes the FMS software on a CD, all for about $22 delivered. Now that's a good deal!

http://www.mattclement.freeservers.com/fms/fms.html

Dennis-

i have flown with G2. it is great. but i use FMS. it has helped me a lot. i have been out to fly twice. 5 flights in all. i will solo very soon my insstructor said. he said a couple of landings and some deadstick and i am in. my instructors are blown away. the sim helped me tons. fms is good to train your thumbs and to get the perspective down. good luck.

Ditto on the G2. It's as close to the real thing that I have seen. I learned on it over a winter and soloed on my first flight with no help at all.

another vote for real flight

Thanks everyone for the information..
I will check out the FMS program to try while I'm waiting.
I think I have to take the plunge and go for the Real flight, Is G2 and Real Flight by Great plane the same? I read the two names but couldn't tell if they are two or one in the same.
I also was thinking of trying a heli and if not mistaken Real Flight also has a few to simulate.
Thank again
I have to say this site is new to me with this first occasion and everyone is very informative and interested in helping a beginner.

Yeah, Realflight G2 is the second generation sim. It's WAY better than the first but as mentioned earlier, you do need a fairly hot computer to run it. If it's jerky on your computer you can shut off most of the background stuff to make it run smoother. I have mine running on a Pentium II 450 with 128 megs of RAM and I had to shut off almost all of the background items to get the planes to fly smooth.

Thanks Stick Jammer..
My old computer isn't really that old and I tweaked it as much a possible, before I built my new one, it full 3d capable ram up the yingyang. Its my Dads ability of being able to turn the computer on and start the program that a have the concern.
any suggestions on where to buy? I found it in Hobby Lobby

Check your LHS or tower hobbies.

FMS, is free and if you like welding, you going to have some extra fun or go the easy way and buy the interface already made.

Another vote for RealFlight G2.

I used it to teach myself to fly, no club, no instructor, no nothing... The flights before I bought the sim were short but exciting, and after about 4 hours of RealFlight I started logging the same number of landings as take-offs at the local field.

Someone said they had trouble finding the runway with the sims. You have to stay fairly low to the ground so you can keep the background features in view. I you see nothing but sky, you have no idea where you are. That's great for practicing snaps and 8-point rolls, but the idea is to learn the pattern and land the thing. Also staying close to the ground sharpens your reaction time...

I think it handles the wind settings pretty well too...

Just my 3 cents.

Ed

I tried 'em both.

G2 is very pretty.

FMS is very capable and there are tons of free planes and helicopters available.

My son (12yo) has spent several hours with FMS and can handle a real plane quiet well. No problem taking off, flying around, doing a few simple aerobatics (loops, immelmans, split-esses etc.) and landing on the runway. Not bad after only a half a dozen flight with a real model. The only thing he has left to do is learn to start and tweak an engine before he flys his wings test.

While G2 is prettier and allows some crosswind practice, I thought the money could be better spent on another engine and flight pack.

Just my 1.4 cents (2 cents Canadian)

To all who wrote in.. Thanks again
I just broke out the plastic and ordered the real flight G2 I found that Tower Hobbies had if for the same price as everyone else but they are throwing in one of the add-on CD's. Not bad
The only thing I feel bad about is not going to My local hobby shop and purchase it there... But.. I figure I'll be there quite often anyway. He has seen me for the last 20 years

that was probably the best choice lol even though its a little pricey oh well uve got the best simulator out there..congrats..

I AM GRADUATING IN 2 HOURS !! WHOOHHOO

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DBCherry
[B]Realflight is far and away the most realistic Simulator. However, as has been said, it requires a serious bit of PC to run it, and it goes for around $200.

FMS is a free sim and is as good as any of the cheaper ones out there. I have RealFlight and FMS, and though you really can't compare the two, you can't compare the cost either!



you get what you pay for.G2 all the way.

Frog I just recently bought the RealFlight G2. I had no problems setting it up. Pretty much installed it and plugged in the USB controller. That was it. Also I got it from towerhobbies.com and it came with the add on volume 1 included and was like $198. Not a bad program. Works very well for me with no crashes. My system is a AMD 1.8 512mb Ram and GF4600 vid card. even while running other games at the same time I see no graphics or performance issues. just my experience with it.

The real issue with Real Flight is having a GOOD video card. It's the most important thing. jboy,
I'd normally agree with you. But, FMS is actually quite good, and at 10% of the cost, including the interface and shipping, I'd call it the better deal.

Have you tried it?
Dennis-

dennis,
i really don't know about the fms sim.the only one i've used is G2.i said that is because,thats usually that's the way it goes.cheaper is not always better
thanks john

Take a look at the Aerofly Pro as well. I have both the RFG2 and the AFP, but I prefer the AFP. There are threads on it in the flight sim forum. Hobby Lobby has it on offer now.