Anyone use a sim at home?

[cofford]

I use X-Plane 11 and interfaced it myself to my GRT HXr. Works great.

[jcarne]

I play around on x-plane 11 but can definitely say I will spend what ever it takes to get that Flight Simulator 2020!

[mbauer]

Great for instrument procedures, not for seat of pants flying.

Big issue is you just can't look out a window and see the runway, you have to remember the keys to view the different angles. Or just go to a chase view to see where you are when landing.

Flew for years on a sim, lost my medical, only way to fly. X-Plane. CH Product controls, yoke/rudder.

Thinking it did help keep the head thinking about flying, does help with the scan! By changing aircraft you can get different panels, practice scanning, by having to actually look to see what each instrument is.

The really nice thing about X-Plane, free download aircraft! Plenty to purchase too.

Want to fly a F22? Free download....

Plenty of tutorials on how to do things, you can design and fly your own airplane.

Used the tutorials to learn about "PlaneMaker". Then brought in a couple of existing aircraft, modifying them for faster flight.

Possible to do hypersonic flight in a B1 Bomber, with modifications.

Understand the airframe would never survive, but interesting to see how high you can go before controls loose effectiveness. The faster you go above 120,000MSL the longer and higher you can go before the controls stop working and you start to tumble or roll uncontrollably.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer

[RV8JD]

You might want to check out this thread. I'm pretty pleased with the RV-8 taildragger Sim that AoA Simulations developed for X-Plane 11. Haven't flown their RV-8A tricycle gear Sim.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...&highlight=sim

[dreed]

Originally Posted by mbauer

Great for instrument procedures, not for seat of pants flying.

Big issue is you just can't look out a window and see the runway, you have to remember the keys to view the different angles. Or just go to a chase view to see where you are when landing.

I think there is progress being made in this area. With the newer VR stuff, you pop on the headset and you should get that immersive experience. Not sure how it'll work with interacting with the panel if you had a realistic one.

Obviously no substitute for the real thing.

[rv8ch]

As mentioned in the other thread, I have a VR setup and I really like it.

http://www.rv8.ch/vr-flight-simulator/

Totally real feeling out the window. You can see everything, and it feels completely natural and smooth.

I spent several aviation units on this setup to ensure that there would be no lag, and there is no lag.

My #1 goal was to feel more natural taxiing, landing, and taking off with a taildragger, since all the rental planes I fly are nosewheel. More just to train my foot-eye coordination.

I use DCS world, since it has the most realistic ground handling of all the sims I tested. I have good rudder pedals which feel similar to my RV8, which is not yet flying, but I can sit in the cockpit.

One of the more interesting things I do now besides training my feet is to practice engine failure shortly after takeoff in various aircraft. Of course it may be completely different in a real aircraft, but it at least can help with the sight picture.

With even this current generation of VR being so real, the next gen will be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Some advantages of the sim:

• no drive to the airport
• can be flying in 3 mins
• can do 20 takeoffs/landings in an hour
• can fly 4-5 different aircraft in an hour
• can fly in any weather
• can practice stuff too dangerous in real life
• no hourly cost

the things I miss:

• no aircraft or airport smells
• no bragging to my buddies after an amazing landing
• g-forces and little hints of slipping/sliding when landing
• freezing hands during preflight

If you have spare 4-6k laying around doing nothing, I recommend buying one of these setups. As a bonus, my kids and their friends like to play the VR games, so I get to see them more!

[Auburntsts]

I have a Redbird TD configured as a G1000 panel. I bought it so I could legally log 61.57 IFR currency requirements. I was having real trouble maintaining currency after moving here to FL and I’ve never come close to maintaining proficiency after I got my ticket. The Redbird is crazy expensive but worth every penny for me.

[NewbRVator]

Is the new MS 2020 release slated for certification so it can be used to maintain IFR currency?

How much is a certified system?

[Auburntsts]

Originally Posted by NewbRVator

Is the new MS 2020 release slated for certification so it can be used to maintain IFR currency?

How much is a certified system?

I don’t think so, not at least off the shelf. It has to be, at a minimum, a packaged BATD with a LOA from the FAA. Theoretically you can roll your own BATD and have the FAA come out and certify it, but I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze. The cheapest BATD I’ve seen is in the $5K to $6K range. Probably get it cheaper used.

[flyboy1963]

as you've all said, sim is NOT for, ah, recreating the flight experience.....it's for 'simulating' many, many things that you either can't, or don't usually do in the air!
You can try over, and over, and over to learn why you can't land on that 400' strip, or in a 40 knot crosswind!
..and for realism, or at least, enjoyment, the view is always the weakest link in immersive reality.
Yes, the Oculus Rift and other $$$ 3D goggles are great, but the Track IR has been around for years, and does a pretty good job, once you get used to it!...for minimal bucks.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/

( sadly, my sim stuff just doesn't work without several IT engineers and a dozen teenagers to get it all working on the latest version(s) of windows, which is a PITA!)