Any Flight Simulator weenies here?

So I scored an XBox Series X for crazy little money at Walmart the other day. I've wanted to restart my private pilot license for quite awhile, and I thought this would be a good way for me to get warmed up again.

Now, researching controls. Any input on that? So far, Honeycomb seems to be the good stuff. It gets pricey tho!

I think I want to stick to Cessna style controls, if possible.

 

I like watching the "Growling Sidewinder" channel on Youtube.....he played DCS. Its interesting content.


Airforceproud95's content on Youtube is pretty funny to watch as well. He just puts up the regular Flight Sim content.....funny content that is. I find his older stuff better than the new stuff.

 

I picked up MSFS 2020 and some mid-end flight controls during COVID. Got pretty good at it, even doing the planning and charts and stuff, but never took it anywhere with actual flight school.

Logitech Saitek G - this is the yoke kit I got. Definitely feels plasticky, but at the same time is loads closer than your typical "game" game stuff. https://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/13358

 

Go get your class 3 medical next week, schedule a lesson, then schedule a second lesson within a week and buy a set of David clark h10-13.4

sell me your cheap Xbox for flight time

 

This.

The home simulators have some value for your instrument rating, but I can’t see any significant benefit for your private. If you just want to do it for fun… go for it. But for your private it will probably do more damage than good.

 

Agreed

More fun than anything else... and, I'm still trying to talk myself into flying again. My little spot here in Montana is quite dangerous.

 

After getting pretty close to actually getting serious about flight lessons, I ended actually talking myself out of them. I would go watch various flight videos on YouTube and etc and on one hand I 1000% understood and agreed with and knew all the safety planning and rules and Never Exceeds and limits and etc.

But on the other hand, the thought of going past those limits never scared me. I knew why I shouldn't, and I knew I probably wouldn't.. but without that layer of visceral DONOTFUCKINGDOTHIS self-preservation instinct, I figured maybe flying wasn't actually for me.

 

I have a couple of sets of DC 's if interested .......

 

I don’t want DC .. I’m a Bose man!

 

just do lessons until you’ve solo’d then hang it up if you want but you can say you’ve flown a plane by yourself .

3 take off and landings around the airport is all you need

 

I liked the bose but they did not last long in the fleet airplanes.Maintenance was always sending them back to bose for repair.

 

I gave serious thought to taking up flying before jumping headlong into motorcycles again. My neighbor has an Extra 300L (fully aerobatic) and became a licensed A&P (mechanic) recently. My bicycling buddy is a captain for AA and a CFI (instructor). So I would potentially have lots of support.

Anyway, after lots of research, I came to the conclusion that the only way to be truly safe was for flying to be Your Thing that you do all the time. It's a perishable skill. Even then, the forums are filled with stories of extremely experienced pilots having one bad day and that's all it takes.

 

You’re not wrong.

 

Airplanes don't care if you have 1 hour or 1000 hours. They will toss a challenge your way when they choose.

 

As they say "The Best Safety Device in Any Aircraft Is a Well-Trained Crew. "

 

Thats part of the draw for me. Ok I just took off. Its up to me and some luck to still be alive when I get back on the ground.

Kinda like roadracing.

 

Wait, you gotta land?

I had a foreign instructor who left a bad taste in my mouth confidence wise. He just didn't communicate well and seemed to miss info from the tower.

 

Schedule got switched to a 20 hour in Key west instead of Valdosta ga. Sometimes you get a win

 

They have not left one up there yet!