Is there anything wrong about Microsoft Flight Simulator?

Question

I will be joining some flying school next year for a CPL license and i thought i can practice myself on Instrumental rating and I refer to Rod Machado's practical flying lessons and now you guys believe me or not, I can fly a Cessna like a pro, I can do high precision ILS approach, Holding pattern to a VOR of NDB, and can maintain speed, altitude and heading without much effort or even no effort. But lately one of my 'pilot' friends said u should not devote yourself to Microsoft flight simulator because it will destroy your skills for real flying. But the most embarrassing part is that i was told this when i most believed the simulator in improving my flying because I felt my own flying so magically improved with no more wagging altitudes, speeds and heading and great VOR and best ILS approaches I ever made or something I call really marvelous. But what i don't understand is why he says it will do much damage than good. Please tell me friends something sensible.

Answer 1

it's true, flying in FS is very easy cause they forgot to add a lot of factors so it will pretty much dull your skills in real life flying and u will be amazed that an aircraft kinda doesn't do all the things that u do in FS

Answer 2

Fly a Cessna like a pro in a real airplane or in MS flight simulator? Flight simulator is not the real thing. In many ways it's a toy.



For VFR flying, MS Flight Simulator is a toy and nothing more. You should not use it to practice "stick and rudder" skills as you will probably develop bad habits, like your friend said. Now, using it to learn how aircraft instruments work, how VORs work and what not, that's a different story.



If you already have a private pilot's license and are starting to work on an instrument rating, only then do I feel that MS Flight Simulator can be a valuable tool. I liked using simulators, when training my students for an instrument rating, because they are more unstable and harder to fly than a real airplane. This forces the student to develop a quick instrument scan. It also tends to teach the student that "less is more" when it comes to controlling a plane. Whenever I had a student who just couldn't handle flying an ILS or a VOR approach, I stuck them in our old, crappy simulator. That always fixed the problems because it was such a ***** to fly.



It's great that you've learned so much from using it, but remember, when it comes to learning the stick and rudder skills, nothing can replace a real airplane. Even the full motion level D simulators that airline pilots use are a joke when it comes to flying like a real airplane. For developing your instrument scan and enforcing what you read out of a book (like how a localizer works), simulators are great.



Lastly, don't forget that real airplanes have other distractions like other airplanes, ATC, turbulence, etc. You can't experience that stuff in a simulator.



Edit: Example: Holding patterns is something that I would teach a student in a simulator. There is no reason to go up and waste the student's money when I can teach them how to enter a hold in a simulator. Once they got the hang of it in the office, we'd do it in the airplane to see how they do with real world distractions.

Answer 3

"Flight Simulator" is a VIDEO GAME. Repeat, it is a VIDEO GAME. If you intend to actually obtain a private pilots license it will teach you some BAD habits that could be very dangerous if you performed them in a real aircraft. If you wish to play this GAME for personal enjoyment that's fine. It won't teach you how to fly a plane anymore than playing "Grand Theft Auto" will teach you how to drive.



Consider also that some of the answers you are getting are from 12-15 year old kids who are just pretending to be real pilots. They don't know squat about flying a real aircraft. I can spot them a mile away.



If you have any more questions about "Flight Simulator" please post them in the "GAMES" section where they belong.

Answer 4

I absolutely agree with Techwing and I want to add that flight simulator software, especially FSX with add-on aircraft, cannot be compared to the actual 'flying games' that so many pilots have a disdain for.



Those pilots haven't 'flown' MSFSX with all the bells and whistles. They don't know that any weather, visibility, turbulence, ATC and a whole slew of other things are included in the sim, including flying with other user flown aircraft in real time.



They don't know that actual weather for the location you are at, in real time, can be used and is downloaded every 15 minutes from Jeppeson's website. In short, they haven't tried it and aren't qualified to comment on it.



Flying games where you just fly around blowing the crap out of other planes and ground targets are just that.........games. Those are truly worthless for learning, but are simply fun for some.



Use MSFS as much as you can and apply the knowledge you learn to your pilot training. You can unlearn whatever you shouldn't be doing.

Answer 5

Your friend is wrong.



Desktop simulators, including Microsoft Flight Simulator, resemble real flight a lot more than they differ from it, and they can be useful training aids to help you understand many concepts involved in flying.



The weak points of a desktop simulator are the lack of movement, the restricted visibility (a computer screen doesn't offer nearly as much visibility as wraparound windows in real life), and the somewhat unrealistic feel of the controls as compared to most real aircraft (although real aircraft vary a lot in control feel, too, and a good joystick/throttle/rudder pedals can help a lot with control feel in the sim).



The strong points of desktop simulation are in IFR simulation, which can be extremely accurate indeed.



There's still an irrational minority of pilots who dismiss desktop simulators in a knee-jerk, emotional way. You will learn far more good habits than bad habits on a simulator, and even bad habits are not hard to unlearn for any person of normal aptitude. One complaint of flight instructors is that people who have "flown" a desktop sim a lot tend to spend too much time watching instruments, which is bad when flying under VFR (but good when flying under IFR). It's not a hard habit to break, though, assuming that it develops at all.



So go ahead and use the sim for learning. It's not a replacement for flying a real airplane, but it is a very useful supplement. For the best possible value, invest in add-on aircraft (which are far more realistic than the default aircraft) and consider joining an online flying network like VATSIM or IVAO in order to learn proper ATC communication and procedures.