dlo Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 hello all, question on how usefull is simulator time??? is this a postive or negative thing for new pilots who want to become career pilots. I was looking at some flight schools that have made a " professional pilot career program" and they have added 1,800 dollars worth of simulator time into this overall price. I was thinking to myself, is this going to help me get my 200 hours needed to instruct or is this just going to be slightly cheaper for getting my commercial training. How does everyone feel about simulators, reality, cost and ect. are they very real??? from people that have used them, or are they just a really expensive video game. My uncle is a 737 pilot, and he instructs, pilots that he instructs, log simulator time as if it was real flight time , because the sim is faa certified, how do you all feel about these issues??? thanks jp Quote
brushfire21 Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 Good evening! I will add a few things that I have heard or seen. After spending a few hours in a sim flying a 206 with Goldy (active member on here) a few months ago at Twinair in L.A. and it was alot of fun. Other than having a whopping 1/2 hr of dual stick time under my belt at the time, I can't tell you how real it is. But Goldy got a real kick out of it as it was his first time, and he was taking his check ride later that day as I recall. The unit was housed in a medium sized trailer that had a cockpit setup, duel controls and a huge screen in front of you. If you added some wind, minor seat adjustment, it could have been real for all I cared. As I recall when talking with Yoyo, the owner at Twinair, he said that some of the sim time could be logged as flight time since his was a FAA certified sim. Other than this I don't have any informatin, Goldy step on in if your reading this. Twinair and some other school that I have looked use the Sim to help practice the routine motions and put them into your head and hands before and during your actual flight training time. And it sure seems alot more forgiving for making the beginner mistakes that all of us new guys make as well. In full down autos that we were practicing, it was hard for us to judge the ground height, so sometimes we would flare early or too late. I wouldn't mind doing some sim time again, but I bet for IFR work that its the way to go for trying the actual thing! Quote
Bassbone Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 Simulator time is usful for several things. IFR training and procedure training are two items that come to mind. I have used a IFR sim for my instument students to work out procedures before going up in the actual aircraft. This saves money as you are not over loaded when flying under the hood. Procedure training is another worth while use of a sim or more properly named a FTD (flight training device). For instance transitioning from a piston to turbine helicopter you can learn the turbine start and make mistakes in the FTD without burning up a turbine.......very expensive mistake!! As far as doing an auto on a FTD it is interesting to do once but will not help you at all in a real helicopter. Just my opinion. CFII(H) Quote
joker Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 OK, where do we start?! he said that some of the sim time could be logged as flight time since his was a FAA certified sim. Oh hell...this has come up before. Rather than re-write, here's a link to Fling's post some time ago. It pretty much says what I would have said. Previous Post by Flingwing All I can say, is be careful how you log your simulator time. Although we call it a 'simulator' the FAA does not. The FAA calls the thing you were in (FlyIt) a 'Flight Training Device (FTD)'. The time in one of these may not count towards your total flight time. So many people log this time wrong. Many get away with it - until they have an accident and their logbooks are scrutinised with a fine-tooth-comb. As to your question on usefulness, I point you to Rookie101's FAQ which has some links to threads about that. Rookie101's FAQ I remind all new users of this FAQ and the 'search' feature at the top of every page. Joker Quote
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