5 ms·
Someone successfully hijacked, flew, and did a barrel roll on a plane just from learning from video games, though it's not clear if it was Microsoft Flight Simu
by ipsum2 3y ago
Someone successfully hijacked, flew, and did a barrel roll on a plane just from learning from video games, though it's not clear if it was Microsoft Flight Simulator:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/video-games-pilots-wonder-how-plane-thief-learned-to-do-aerial-acrobatics/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/video-games-pilots...
Though there's some skepticism here:
> Some of Mr. Russell’s actions, such as knowing to be at a certain elevation to perform certain aerial moves, suggested he may have learned them from a flight simulator, Mr. Todd said.
> “It’s highly improbable, but not impossible, that he never had a lick of flying except other than in a virtual world,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/richard-russell-q400-flight-simulator.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/richard-russell-q400-f...
- n2d4 3y agoSimilarly, the Barefoot Bandit, who stole several airplanes (his first at the age of 18): > It is believed that he learned how to fly small planes by reading aircraft manuals, handbooks, watching a "How to fly a small airplane" DVD, and playing flight simulator computer games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colton_Harris_Moore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colton_Harris_Moore
- morkalork 3y agoThat's absolutely wild and tragic. If not from video games, then from where? I can't see the 2nd article but the first mentions that he had no formal training! Did he mean to crash at the end? Was it some elaborate "going out with a bang"? I have so many questions after reading that, the story is like every idle and intrusive thought come to life at once.
- bombcar 3y agoSkyking! He eventually intentionally crashed the plane in an uninhabited area. Apparently at other times he considered crashing into inhabited areas.
- morkalork 3y agoI looked it up after and damn... >Just a broken guy; got a few screws loose, I guess >I wasn’t really planning on landing it
- sholladay 3y agoHe crashed, more than once, because all he had was gaming experience. He basically learned on the job. It’s impressive, but not so surprising to me.
- jameshart 3y agoRichard Russell only crashed once. He did not walk away from it. You are probably thinking of Colton Harris Moore, the "Barefoot Bandit" referenced in sibling comments, who crashed stolen Cessnas maybe 3 times?
- wutwutwat 3y agoApparently Microsoft Flight Simulator was used preparing for 9/11 as well. Not a testimonial they are slapping on the box art though.
- dehrmann 3y agoI've been on a ride in a jet trainer. It took minimal instruction to do an aileron roll, and it was easy enough to fly. My skepticism comes from motion sickness. You can do all the aerobatics you want in a flight sim, but it doesn't prepare you for the world shifting in ways you don't expect, even when you're the one behind the stick.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- DennisP 3y agoX-Plane has a professional version that's used in FAA-certified flight simulators. The home version on a laptop runs the same simulation code. Most flight sim games, including Microsoft's, start with performance data on the airplane. X-Plane starts with the shape of the airplane and physically models the airflow. It's even used by aircraft designers.
- giantg2 3y agoI was going to say, I've heard that x-plane is supposed to be the better sim between the two. But I don't have the background to make a comparison.
- selectodude 3y agoThe modeling in X-Plane works great on fake experimental aircraft but lookup tables have their place too, especially for real aircraft where every single small performance characteristic is known to several decimal places.
- ic_fly2 3y agoWithin the normal flight envelope this holds. But getting into a spin in a glider in ms fs shoes you the limits of lookup tables / their implementation as the behaviours is completely wrong. ( At least ask the way up to fsx)
- whycome 3y agoIn another universe these software were banned after 9/11
- squarefoot 3y agoIn this universe these games are closed source and there's no guarantee that, if someone for example uses them for training to crash airliners, a red flag isn't raised somewhere.
- Cupprum 3y ago
- david422 3y agoSome guy wrote a song about Mr Russell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qNi5IFdXaM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qNi5IFdXaM
- daguava 3y ago[dead]
- panxyh 3y agoHe was suicidal. Took a shot at it without expecting to succeed and almost crashed upon completing the barrel roll. Of course you can get a plane up in the air just by learning from sims, it’s not highly improbable at all. But that doesn’t say much about wether they are a good aid for learning to fly properly or not.
- jve 3y agoJust listen to the live audio between controller and Mr. Russell. Yeah, he confesses he has played videogames and such... his dream came true for a little while. The most impressive thing is he pulled off successful loop in the sky. Edit: better link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYpaf8WdppM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYpaf8WdppM