Need Advice: Real World IR training & controls

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ssdriver
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Joined: 09 Sep 2012, 00:30
Location: Asbury Park, NJ

Need Advice: Real World IR training & controls

Post by ssdriver »

Simmers,
I'm trying to determine what the best bang for the buck to use in FSX to supplement my Instrument training. I've always flown with my trusty cheap "wingman pro" stick and I'm wondering if it's time to step up to a Yoke/Pedals. We know the limitations of FSX so curious for opinions on whether it's worth spending the money on controls or putting that towards something like the Radio Stack enhancements and/or electronic instruments (like those little Siatek pods). Immersion is always nice so a yoke and proper pedals would be neat but I don't know that FSX is going to be of any benefit in terms of more precision flying (alt holding/course) vs. using it for practicing procedures.

(my primary training a/c is a 172M, 430, No Autopilot)


I'm wide open, lemme have it :)
Thanks for your time.
Drew
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ft
Staff Sergeant
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Joined: 01 Feb 2005, 08:13

Re: Need Advice: Real World IR training & controls

Post by ft »

I've got both stick and yoke. If I don't have the yoke plugged in for whatever reason, I prefer to restrict myself to stick aircraft in the sim. The difference is enough to screw up my immersion when flying what I fly with a yoke in RL with a stick in the sim... and vice versa. Can't imagine being without pedals either. For IR training they're not essential of course, but I'd worry about volume training at home resulting in dead feet syndrome when things get hectic back in the aircraft. Muscle memory is not to be taken lightly.

As for the panels, they're probably nice to have and I plan on getting one or two one day, but swapping frequencies isn't the part of IR flying that I feel requires practising at home.
Be warned: Aero engineer, real life pilot, sim programmer. Nothing good can come out of that.

William Hughes
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Re: Need Advice: Real World IR training & controls

Post by William Hughes »

The sim does not really provide actual stick and rudder skills in a given aircraft. I primarily use A2A and FSX to practice my IPC flights, and approaches into places I haven't been before, so I can get a feel for the workload and timing. I use rudders, yoke, and a TPM module and it works very well to represent the time required and distraction level in a real cockpit. Next thing on the list is a radio module with actual knobs as fiddling with the mouse in the virtual cockpit is nothing near as fast as the actual knobs. I have also found that the virtual cockpit radio interface is very distracting compared to actual IFR flight.

A controller can rattle off a new frequency and I'll have that half-way into the radio before he is done talking, and then read it back right off the radio display, with only a few glances away from the AI. After a while you can do it by counting the clicks, and then just glance over to check it.

In the virtual cockpit it is quite a bit of very fiddly mousing and wheel-rolling. Entonces, a radio module is next.

Interestingly enough, I find IFR in the simulator considerably more difficult than actually flying IFR.

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