"RandyL"
Usenet Poster
rlink@cableone.net
Posted on:
Nov 12, 2007, 7:45 PM
Post #4 of 88
(230 views)
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Hi Figaro,
I like to think of myself as a "serious pilot" and have a private pilot
license with a glider rating, with about 95 hours logged in a Cessna 172,
and about 115 hours logged in sailplanes. But I also like to think of myself
as being a serious armchair PC flightsim pilot also. I don't think that the
two are mutually exclusive. They are both fun to me. I enjoy the heck out of
going out and renting a C172 and going flying for a couple of hours (well, I
don't enjoy paying the bill!) I also enjoy the heck out of booting up my PC
and flying a Grumman G21A Goose from a high mountain lake. Nothing gives me
the thrill of piloting a real aircraft. But then again, with MS FS I can
"fly" aircraft for free that in real life I could never even afford to sit
in, and I can fly them anyplace in the world and under any conditions that I
want. People make a decision - for various perfectly valid reasons - to fly
a flight simulator rather than go through the time, and significant expense,
of pursuing a pilots license. It is their decision to make.
One can argue the various merits of Microsoft Flight Simulator versus
X-Plane, or Flight Unlimited, or Flight Gear, etc. But it simply comes down
to each persons personal preferences. I have "flown" all of the major
civilian and military PC flight sims for the last 20 years, including
X-Plane and Flight Unlimited. X-Plane has a lot to to offer. Flight
Unlimited was way ahead of its time. However, it doesn't matter to me if
Microsoft Flight Simulator is not FAA-certified. You are not going to find
ANY flight simulator that is going to give you 100% of the experience that
flying a real aircraft does. But in my opinion as a licensed pilot Microsoft
Flight Simulator is the closest program overall to flying a real aircraft,
given the price of the program, the complexities of what it is trying to
model, and the capabilities of the computer system that it was designed to
run on.
Randy L.
--
Remember: Any landing that you can walk away from,
is a landing that you can be fined, sued, or prosecuted for.
"Figaro" <ponsellite@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1194908483.690423.245870@v29g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
>I am wondering...are you guys serious aviators who have (or are
> planning to get) your pilot's license or are content being armchair
> pilots the rest of your lives?
>
> As far as I know, Microsoft's flight sim series is great fun to play
> but is not FAA-certified as a pilot training tool. That honor goes to
> X-Plane. I also think Flight Unlimited offers better flight lessons
> for serious would-be pilots than Microsoft.
>
> Nothing wrong with flying (or golfing) on the computer. Just not the
> same thing!
>
> Figaro
>
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