Learn To Fly With Flight Simulator – Why It Helps

You want to learn how to fly, but you are “too young” or do not have the money to start flight training. A solution is to learn to fly with flight simulator! Flight simulator has been tremendously helpful for so many pilots over the years. The sad part is that potential pilots are not utilizing such a priceless “video game”. Even pilots currently in training are missing out on such a wonderful opportunity. Learn to fly with a flight simulator and I promise, your flying skills will improve.

Flying Skills

They are amazing flight simulators out there that do an excellent job replicating the real feel of actual planes. X-Plane, FSX and P3D are some of the most popular sims out there today. The similarities that were achieved between the simulators and real life is truly marvellous. If you continue to use flight simulator, your real-world skills will improve! Practising taxing, taking off and landing? These skills will transfer to the real thing. For those going into flight training, you can practice your stalls, steep turns and short-field landings with no problem. Just imagine going in your next training lesson already knowing how to perform the maneuvers step-by-step!

Aircraft Knowledge

When simmers want to fly a new aircraft, they can not just “jump in the cockpit” and know how every button works. If you want to know how to operate your aircraft, you actually have to study the systems and controls of the aircraft! The simulator is structured so that your aircraft is able to start at a parking spot with engines off, then land at another airport of your choice. Like real life, you would need to train yourself to learn how to turn on your plane, program your route and change critical systems. Most add-on aircraft have a manual, similar to a real pilot operational handbook. For example, let us say that I went ahead and got me a new MD-80 aircraft. I would then have to learn how to operate the systems on the aircraft, flight characteristics and more. It is not the same as flying an a320, for example. Everything from the operational uses of the switches, to flight planning, is substantially important. As you learn how different buttons and switches work, you will expand your knowledge of applications. Yes, there is a fuel pump switch, but because you are learning how the aircraft flies with it, you will learn where it is located, how it works and much more. This can be interesting when comparing different systems with different aircraft!

ATC Communication

For a lot of pilots, when they just start their flight training, they are nervous to speak to ATC (Air Traffic Controller). The fear of messing up or just not knowing what to say impacts their training. The good news is that using flight simulator can ameliorate your communication with ATC. A lot of flight simulators have ATC. They try to imitate how a real-life ATC would work. Using this feature on flight simulator will make you aware of phraseology and how ATC operates in real life. This is done by selecting certain text that would be said as a pilot and a computerised ATC will respond with instructions. Do not think that is real enough? There is now something called VATSIM, a community of ATC communication. With VATSIM, you can take to real people as ATC! Pilots and ATC on this platform try to be professional so that simmers can truly get a real-world feeling of traffic operations. Because the aim of VATSIM is to enhance the realism experience, you would need to know the phraseology and communication structure beforehand. However, simple mistakes are OK, because they only make you better.

Practice Emergencies

Because this is a flight simulator, you will not get hurt if you crash. So if you did not make a good landing for one of your flights, then you will not be physically impacted. This means you can practice emergency scenarios! Flight simulators allow for engine failures, fires, electrical failures, control issues and so much more to happen. You can practice these failures and prepare yourself for the real thing. After all, this is how real-world pilots train for emergencies. They use certified full-motion simulators to brush up on their emergency skills. Practising an engine failure or cabin fire in a simulator will have a positive impact on your real-life skills. You can even practice extreme emergencies like dual engine failures or multiple system failure in low visibility for fun.

Start Flying Today!

Some simulators might not replicate all aircraft like real life, but so much can be learned once you have a working PC. I have learned so much from using a flight simulator. I still use it today to brush up on my skills and learn something new. Not only is it such a beneficial tool, but its fun as well!