Til nye flysimmere

[Øystein Eker]

Her er noen visdomsord til nybegynnere:

 

Simming Step By Step

By Bill Stack

"I'm just not cut out for this flightsim stuff," a new flight simmer told me not long ago. It wasn't the first time I had heard something like this, and I doubt it will be the last. I often hear from flight simmers who are frustrated and discouraged, and I usually determine after listening to their stories that they are trying to do things they aren't ready for.

These new flight simmers say they can't maintain straight and level flight without their autopilots, because their aircraft keep pitching up and down. They can't align their airplanes with runways for landing. Instrument procedures are an obstacle course. Turning is impossible without losing a lot of altitude. These frustrated flight simmers are failing these common flight maneuvers in jet airliners and with overcasts, winds and turbulence.

Sure, flying jetliners and flying on instruments is more challenging than flying little single-engine aircraft in clear, calm weather. And therein lies the problem. Flying on instruments, flying big jetliners and flying in poor weather are advanced challenges that require advanced skills learned after mastering numerous supporting skills.

We flight simmers need to know a lot of things about basic flying before we can tackle the major challenges. Indeed, airline pilots spend years honing their skills. We don't need to spend years on it, but we ought to learn the basics of flying the airplanes and following common procedures before facing the advanced levels.

Some of these simmers actually tell me that visual flying and visual navigation are too simple for them. So they pass over these basic skills and confront the big challenges head on. Unfortunately for these anxious simmers, the big challenges require those "simple" skills used in visual flying and navigating, so anyone who tries to bypass those levels ends up failing instead of succeeding.

Besides, visual flying isn't so simple. Try it and see. Take off in a Cessna, fly to another airport at least 100 nautical miles away, use its traffic pattern and land there without using any radio navigation aids at all. And do it with mild winds such as five to ten knots. After trying to maintain altitude without your autopilot, trying to locate ground references with your limited views, being pushed off course by winds and finding your destination airport visually, you will appreciate that visual flying is challenging in its own right.

Here's a simple step by step process to enjoying flight simming the way real pilots enjoy real flying: 1. Learn how to fly the airplane, including how to climb, maintain straight and level flight, descend and turn. 2. Learn how to navigate visually first, then on instruments. 3. Learn to use official aviation charts. 4. Practice these skills in small airplanes, and move up to larger airplanes when you honestly feel comfortable with your performance. 5. If you find yourself getting frustrated, fall back to a previous level and practice until you master the skills needed for the next level.

I do believe that anyone who feels frustration with realistic flight simming will enjoy the game much more than they ever thought they could by doing it step by step instead of leaping past essential experiences.

Bill Stack is author of several popular books about flight simming.

http://www.topskills.com/flitsim.htm"'>http://www.topskills.com/flitsim.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.topskills.com/flitsim.htm

fsbooks@topskills.com

 

[Ivar Amundsen]

Hei Øystein!

Jeg er jammen ikke sikker på at det bare er nybegynnere som trenger å lese den lista. Kanskje er vi endel som hadde trengt et lite step tilbake av og til? (eller to?)

mvh

Ivar