Simulator training useful for Sport Pilots?

[Paul Hamilton]

Additionally, hearing what qualified/seasoned CFI's DO NOT like about flight simulation for VFR pilots is most helpful for me to find solutions to these questions and/or problems.

I forgot who said "you have to know the problem before you can find the solution" but thankyou for the input.

[Paul Hamilton]

new Zenith STOL CH 750 airplane model up and it is pretty good. See bottom of page:
http://simulatorflighttraining.com/flig ... e-x-plane/

[Paul Hamilton]

We now have 15 flight lessons plus a checkride at the simulation flight training "flight school" section. These are similar to the actual flight lessons I do.
Main site is:
http://simulatorflighttraining.com/

and the flight school section where the actual lessons are located is at:
http://simulatorflighttraining.com/flight-school/

This has been a long time goal on mine to get this to the point where you could choose a LSA, get a good program running (X-Plane and FSX), utilize good hardware, modify the pilots view for VFR training (so you can see out rather than only be able to see instruments, and finally provide a complete flight and ground training system to FAA sport pilot standards.

[SSDriver]

This is an interesting thread. I'm a low time student but I've been a pretty serious flight sim junkie for the last 20+ years. I enjoy(ed) flight sims but one event in in my Flight training last month made me swear off the keyboard/yoke at least for now. I had my lesson on forward slips and initially it scared me to death. Nothing my CFI did wrong, it was just something I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for. I'm good with performing them now BUT after that initial lesson, I rushed home, fired up FSX and wanted to practice with it and for me, it was pointless and I couldn’t duplicate a reasonable/usable scenario to practice with.

The biggest advantage I had with Flight sim was prior to first lesson, I have complete confidence and familiarization with Navigation instruments and tuning radio, altimeter, etc.

The biggest disadvantage I had believe it or not was the Sport Plane I have been training in does not have an Artificial Horizon and I was really concerned about that first time I sat in the left seat. Another thing I had to adjust too was the incredibly slow reaction in the real world to the instruments compared to the simulator. First couple flights I had a hell of a time trimming the plane, I was like a dolphin jumping through the water until I stopped worrying about what my VSI was showing me.

I do see myself utilizing it probably when I get into cross-country training. Everyone is different and I do believe there is a place for Flight Sims. For Navigation and General familiarization for me?, was very helpful.

Hopefully the technology continues to improve even more in the future.

just my 2¢

[Paul Hamilton]

One area I have found that students need help with is the basic concept that the stick is your basic speed control, not the throttle.

Simply using the stick for speed control and the throttle for climb and descent rates (at a constant speed) is an important concept that must be learned and understood which the flight simulator can be of help for this.

[drseti]

As folks who have been following my posts for the past 3 1/2 years will know, I was a highly reluctant adopter of glass panels, being very much a six-pack kind of guy. It probably took me a year or more teaching with glass before I began to grasp its advantages, and learn how best to use it.

So it has been with simulators. I started out a simulator skeptic, believing only training in the actual aircraft was meaningful for the Sport Pilot. (Instrument training is another matter altogether, of course.). I'm now reconsidering my position, and actually contemplating purchasing a sim for my flight school. (My thanks to Paul H for opening my eyes in this regard.)

Which brings me to the AOPA Jay, introduced at SnF last month. Fully equipped with the accessories I'd need, it prices out at a very reasonable $3k. It looks as though it would be a great addition to my facility. Any opinions out there? Anyone have any experience with the unit? Your feedback would be of great value to me.

/s/ old dawg learning new tricks

[jnmeade]

Anyone who doubts that the stick controls speed should fly the glider simulator Condor.

[Jack Tyler]

Paul, I first met Jerry Gregoire at AOPA's Summit last fall and spoke with him again at S'nF last month about the Jay. We had one of Redbird's Jay sims at our RAF booth at S'nF, as well. Here's how I would describe the pro's & con's:
-- as I understand it, the two fundamental design parameters of the Jay were that it be as affordable as a full desktop computer system and that, as Jerry states it, 'simple enough my mother could open the box, turn it on and begin using it'. For a one-man band operation, I would think reliable, stable and easy to use would be especially important criteria.
-- what I admire about Jerry's approach to the entire Redbird business is that he doesn't see himself as a manufacturer so much as a training facilitator (even tho' building and selling the sims are his big business). What he's done with the new Skyport FBO at San Marcos, TX is eye-opening in multiple respects. It's especially true in their evaluating and redesigning of the training process - with real students in real programs - with quantifiable, substantial improvements in student progress & performance. I would expect these benefits have trickled down to the Jay.
-- folks who used the Jay in our booth seemed to think quite highly of it. OTOH we had the Redbird folks there most days, tweaking the system and even doing some OS updates, I believe. This is probably partially due to how new it was then, and also to the fact we were really using it in a demanding way, wanting it to provide landing and take-off practice into high elevation strips surrounded by mountains and definitely not the kind of runways flight training would focus on. So my buying advice would be to 'try before buy' to satisfy yourself it's mature enough to be a standalone system in your office or hangar. In fact, I'd consider involving a student in your evaluation process for that reason.

Here's an interview, done several years ago by Craig Fuller, that provides a bit of backdrop. The value of it is in seeing the person behind the company and also seeing how he's followed thru on what his initial plans & intentions.
http://aopalive.aopa.org/?watch=E1M2ZwM ... xfOAcodJqL

I can't say enough about Jerry Gregiore's commitment to GA and his willingness to try innovative approaches (and not just with hardware and training methodologies) at his own expense to foster improvements in GA trends. I'd just suggest you approach this like you would any other similar, investment-type purchase. I'd love to see the Jay, just like the Redbirds themselves, have a real significant positive impact on GA.

[drseti]

OK, gang, I'm taking the $3k plunge. See:

http://avsport.org/cfi/simulate.htm

[deltafox]

Great! I'm anxious to see how this can be utilized.

My Navy training included two types of simulators. A static, cockpit setup was used to practice checklists and "knobology", full motion sims were used for IFR procedures and tactics training. In both cases the sims were setup to mimic the aircraft being flown. Obviously this won't be setup like a SportStar so cockpit familiarization is out, as is IFR training.

Where do you see the advantage?

[drseti]

this won't be setup like a SportStar

Don't be too sure of that, Dave! The Jay comes out of the box with a J3 Cub model, so there's no reason I shouldn't be able to write a software model of the SportStar, in time. I'm ordering the software developer's kit, so we'll see.

[N918KT]

Has there ever been a full motion flight simulators for LSAs besides the J3 Cub? Can the Jay Redbird Sim also include one of the LSAs besides the J3 Cub?

[drseti]

The WW2 vintage Link Trainer, which was full motion, was pretty close to the J3 Cub. I don't know of any other LSA full-motion sims (and the Jay isn't motion). However, it doesn't look all that difficult to model any LSA for the Jay. Ask me again in three or four months, after I've had a chance to learn the SDK.

[drseti]

this won't be setup like a SportStar so cockpit familiarization is out, as is IFR training.

Art Tarola at AB Flight (SportStar dealer) did some digging around for me, and found a SportStar software model that should work. It was written for Microsoft FSX, but since the Redbird uses Lockheed-Martin Prepar3d, which is based on FSX, I'm pretty sure I can make it play with maybe a few tweaks. You can see their representation of the SportStar toward the bottom of my sim page:
Http://avsport.org/cfi/simulate.htm. (It's even the same paint scheme as my plane!)

For those interested, I've posted my Press Release to:
http://avsport.org/press/pres1304.pdf

[drseti]

Some of you have asked me (off-list) about my business plan, as well as my motivation, for the AOPA Jay simulator acquisition. I figured if I went public with my response, perhaps others would benefit.

Psychologist and author Thom Hartman says people can be divided into two categories: hunters and farmers. In prehistoric times, the hunters were the risk-takers, placing themselves in harm's way in hopes of bagging the wooly mammoth, while the farmers settled for more modest returns, tending their crops and their herds in relative safety. There was an evolutionary niche for each strategy, so both were sustained in the gene pool. In modern times, the hunters are the entrepreneurs and CTOs, while the farmers are the CPAs, MBAs, CEOs, and COOs. Industrial society needs both, and in fact the most successful companies are partnerships between a hunter (the idea person) and a farmer (the implementor).

I am by nature, and have always been, a hunter. A serial entrepreneur (actually a repeat offender), I have launched four start-ups in my career, essentially one per decade. If I'm lucky, I can bag a sabre tooth cat, drag it back to the village, and turn it over to a farmer, saying "here, hold this while I go get another one." (That's why AvSport needs to have adjunct flight instructors.). I realize that the appeal of this simulator project is that I get to be, once more, in hunter mode.

Which brings me to the Jay. Between the use of online self-scheduling, packaged scenarios, multiple coded aircraft, and automatic updates, the Jay pretty much runs unattended. In other words, it farms itself, freeing me up to hunt down the next woolly mammoth.

Like most hunters, I'm placing myself in harm's way, in hopes of making a big score. Fortunately (and unlike flying an actual aircraft), the only risk I'm taking is financial.