3 ms·
25 years I gave up my airline ambitions due to bad eyesight after obtaining both american an european CPLs and flight instructor certificates. During the lockdo
by zeroc8 6y ago
25 years I gave up my airline ambitions due to bad eyesight after obtaining both american an european CPLs and flight instructor certificates. During the lockdown I decided to give XPlane a try and now I'm hooked. I'm regulary shooting IFR approaches down to minimums in dense fog at night in mountainous terrains in modern jets. Add VATSIM or Pilot's Edge and the thing is as real as it gets. I'm now a more proficient pilot than I've ever been in real life. If I was based in the US, I'd try to make a business out of teaching people learn to fly on XPlane. It's crazy if you think about it. I believe you can train pilots up to airline standards using equipment costing no more than 5000 Dollars.
- makeset 6y agoDefinitely useful for IFR procedures and such, but so much of basic skill is VFR, looking outside. Last I tried a sim on screens, it was like watching a movie through a keyhole. I guess VR goggles are finally an option now, but even then, you don't get bodily feedback. Can you really learn turn coordination without having felt it in the seat of your pants?
- zeroc8 6y agoWell, in the end there is some real world flying to be done. But seat of the pants flying is the easiest part. The hard part is all the procedural and system knowledge you need to fly professionally. Unfortunately, I'm out of the game now. But if I was still active, I'd be really interested to see how far I could take a student using nothing but some basic XPlane setup.