Recurrent Training. The dreaded...

I don't fly at your level, but love sim training. You get to practice stuff you'd never want to try for real, you can rapidly go back to the phase of flight you are having trouble with, rather than actually flying back to that point, and for we GA guys in summer the sim is not hot.

I can see the PITA factor of time and expense, and maybe there are facets of this level of sim that make it extra annoying, but what's not to like about any training (other than the inevitable embarrassing f-ups)?

 

There are 3 things pilots can count on in life...death, taxes, and recurrent training.

 

I enjoyed it. What I didn't enjoy was the checkride, particularly the circling approach.

91, if you can do progressive training, then it can be quite fun. Especially if you have a good instructor.

I just do in-aircraft training for now, which has the major benefit that I don't need to go anywhere to do it, and there are a few really excellent instructors who I use. But, that said, I miss being able to do some of the things you can do in the sim that you can't do in the airplane.

 

Me too. You can do things that wouldn't be safe in your plane.

Art

 

5mg of valium 30 minutes before your sim...works for ball sugery too!

 

One thing which makes any sim harder to fly than the airplane is the absence of g-forces. In an airplane, you feel when you pitch, even if it's subconscious, but the simulator gives you no such feedback.

What you have to do is try to mechanically nail the pitch. That will help in just about every aspect of hand flying.

Can you use the autopilot on the circling approach? I always found that greatly reduced the stress level as well.

 

Question, since I'm on the fringes of sim trainers; I've been told the Flight Training Devices (FTD) are stationary. So, no real g-forces. However, the opposite would be true with full-motion simulators, yes?

 

Full motion simulators can generate some forces, but they can't push you down in your seat when you pitch up, nor lift you from your seat when you push.

The best they can do are some lateral G forces, and a little bit of pitch from turbulence.

 

I go into the sim every 6 months......and hate it every time. I ace the sim training in my sleep. Its the Jeopardy questions during oral that I hate. In the end 90% of the stress is self induced.

So I feel your pain brotha.

 

What I always hated about sims was the visual approach. Half the time, it made me sick. Oh, and taxiing. I had an instructor in the Falcon 50 who made us taxi all the way from the ramp... ugh!

 

Okay, thanks for the insight.

Question, would it be worthwhile (i.e. improve the simulation experience) to convert the FTDs into full-motion simulators?

 

I guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

One thing which full motion simulators can do pretty well is simulate the loss of an engine on a multiengine airplane. When I've flown FTDs, that's where I really noticed the difference. In the FTD, you really didn't feel anything, and just saw the ball move. In a real simulator, you feel the yaw.

 

I enjoy SimCom every year.

 

Recently finished my first type rating in my Eclipse Jet. The factory, as an alternative to the sim, offered an in-plane training program. I jumped at that as I wanted to build hours in the actual plane, and some RVSM time...my last plane only went to FL280.

Three weeks, 81 approaches, and countless re-fuels later, I took my check ride. By that time I was sick of the hotel, sick of the plane, scared out of my wits at the oral and the checkride...but I passed. First time I actually got to experience a flight with BOTH engines was the trip home.