After flying for 15 years, I decided that G2 should help me better my skills by flying in the winter. I have a TF P-51 and an Ultrasport 40 that I've been flying successfully for many years. But after flying these on the simulator and crashing a dozen times, I'm beginning to question my ability to fly my models.

I can three point land my Mustang without a bounce, but ground pound it every time on the simulator. Yet, my 7 year old nephew can land it without a hitch.

Think the cyber gods are giving me bad Mojo?

This concernes me a little.

I have purchased an Avistar 40 ARF and a Futab 6XAs and am planning (hoping) to teaching myself how to fly. I also purchased RFG2 to learn on. I have in a matter of a few evenings mastered the trainers pretty well. I can now even fly an aero (i.e. Xtra 300) with out crashing it, even landing. I do have landing set to realistic in the difficulty setting. I have been flying MS Flight Sim for quite a while, so I imagine it has helped me out somewhat.

I had "started" flying Heli's many years ago but never got real proficient at it. Could hover, Pirouette, Nose in and slow forward flight. Never transitioned to fast forward flight. I dusted off the Heli (Concept 30) and am in the process of getting it put back together. I have been playing with some of the Heli's in RFG2 and am finding it to faithfully recreate my experience with my Concept 30.

I was hoping that the Planes were very faithful to the real thing as well. But if what you are saying is true, how can it be realistic? If you can fly the real thing, but not the Sim, something isn't right.

Hmmm, I know that sims are not a replcement for real life, but I was hoping that the skills I gained from G2 would get me off the ground, or more importantly, back on it!!

To me, the landing part of G2 is far different because I cannot attain the depth of field. Sure it has great 3D graphics, but I cannot gage the planes attitude as I can in real life. I had the same problem when landing with the MS Flight sim compared to landing a real plane.

What is really helping using G2 is the aerobatics. I can do things on the sim to refine control and work on patterns that I couldn't do in real life.

hey scott... if you do ok on ms flight sim is it easier or more difficult to land a real plane????

So, I am assuming it is harder to land in G2 than real life?

I guess we are not really talking apples to apples here, sims are sims, real life is, well... real!

What is your opinion? If a person can land very well in G2, will it help when it comes time to try the Real Deal??

I know it is highly not recommended, but I am planning on teaching myself to fly this thing (Avistar 40). Problem is I live way out in the sticks, and know of no one who could instruct me. I also bought a buddy box for my setup in hopes of teaching my son how to fly one day. He is only 6 years old so for the time being I think his flights will be very limited. Who knows, he will probably out fly me in two months! That would be great because the woof doesn't mind me buying these toys so much if the kids are benefiting from them. I will give him the Avistar. Eventually I am eyeballing an Xtra 300!

I just bought him an EMAXX to run with my Savage 21, she had no problem with that. I wanted the EMAXX more than he did. He does very well with cars and trucks, especially only being 6!.

I've got G2 as well as a few other sims. The hardest thing for me was to figure out where the runway is once you have taken off. The 'look down' feature in G2 isn't as helpful as I hoped, as it doesn't always zoom back in on the aircraft.

I've figured out the landings in Realflight park by looking at the landmarks. By recognizing the trees and noting the position of the windsock, I can find the runway pretty easily now. Taildragger take-offs in G2 ( and other sims) are way too easy.

Its the aerobatics I have trouble with. Once the plane is airbourne and above any landmarks, it difficult to judge what orientation its in...

In short, real life is easier, but costs more if you make a mistake...

Jim,
Far as MS sim, landing on the sim was harder than landing the real thing because of the spacial relation to direction that you do not have with the sim. While working for my private ticket, our
instructor discouraged us from using the MS simulator for this
reason.
However, I think the simulator and a real plane are very different.
Landing a real plane is much more difficult than the sim in a way because of all the physical inputs involved as well as the mental. You just do not experience those skills with a simulator. So I say no, just because you can land on the simulator means you can land a real plane. And as I am finding out, vise versa.

RiffRaff,
My opinion is that the simulator is not a good tool to learn to fly on without at least having an instructor nearby to solo on.

The hardest part of learning to fly is keeping orientation of the aircraft and making correction inputs relative to keeping that orientation. The flight simulators do not give a good relation to this aspect. The simulator will give you "stick" time which you will be familiar with the control inputs without having to look down or think. But without an instructor, you will be taking a greater chance of losing your aircraft if you become disoriented.

If teaching yourself with G2 is your only option, then by all means use it. Depending on your aptitude, you may solo successfully.

Tiggerinva, go to view and click look from ground, this will help you see you plane from where you're flying, hope this help.
Joe