Question about real-life flight schools

Hi, I'm hoping for some advice on this. I have no money to put myself through a flight school, and was wondering what impact it would have if I went through these two books (and simulated trainng scenarios) before contacting a flight school? I would be able to demonstrate proficiency through written exams, and by accompanied flights.

 

Obviously I’d be better prepared for learning, but would I get any actual concessions, eg, less required lessons/flight time before being allowed to take the exam, and therefore cheaper?

 

The books are:

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training - Jeff Van West, Kevin Lane-Cummings

 

Scenario-Based Training with X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator: Using PC-Based Flight Simulations Based on FAA-Industry Training Standards - Bruce Williams

 

Currently using a ps4 controller but will upgrade to proper sim equipment if it looks like I'm going to be serious about it.

Short answer: no.

 

Long answer:

No simulator can prepare you for the reality of a flight school. You may get some idea about what to expect, but in reality the knowledge required to get a PPL is beyond the sim. I suggest that you ask the flight school what kind of written material they recommend to prepare for the exams, and work through that, using the sim as a playing ground to try things out that you have learned. But neither will get you any benefits when you finally enter the school. And the most expensive part is very much independent of the sim anyway - the question if you actually can fly. This is just like with the driver's license, there are people who can handle the physical aspects of driving pretty easily, and then there are those that have to take practice hour after practice hour. And those hours cost a fortune in an airplane. Don't know where you live, but in my country, getting a PPL is an affair of roughly 10.000€.

Oliver chirped it -- the major expense isn't the books/study/written stuff. Aircraft and instructors are the really expensive part. And, as he also says, there is so much material that you can't come up with in any of the sims, even the FSX lessons, that are required for a Private -- things such as regulations, weather, an actual understanding of aerodynamics, proper ATC procedures, to name a few. And even the stuff that you can kind of pick up in the sim is generally more extensive in the real world requirements for a license.

 

All that being said, the real value of the sim, other than having an advanced general understanding, is in being able to try some things you learn in real life, pause to analyze and evaluate them, then try again. Instrument flight (under the hood in real aircraft), VOR navigation and orientation, traffic patterns and a few other things (no, not ATC) can be practiced in the sim. This is, of course, provided that you have a sim aircraft that behaves much as real world aircraft do (many of them don't, especially in slow flight), so that your expectations are properly set.

 

But even that is dependent on not getting mistaken notions, such that a CFI will have to train you out of the mistakes, then back into correct procedures/operation (this could cost more).

 

I doubt the books you listed will help a lot (perhaps some), but if you're in the U.S. then going to the FAA website and downloading the FAA study materials that are likely to be of more benefit to you. If you go to this FAA page you'll see downloads for the Aircraft Flying Handbook, the Student Pilot Guide, the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, and more, all free for the downloading.

The Trevor Thom books are all you need for the theory and the associated exams (there are 6 of them). Then you need to learn the radio telephony side - there is another book for this (FSX is hopeless when it comes to radio telephony).

 

FSX will not help with your flying hours - there is a minimum but in practice, very few get their licence with the minimum hours.

 

Also in practice, assume everything in connection with flying will take you twice as long and everything you have to pay for will cost twice as much as you expect.

 

Also consider the amount of flying you need to do to keep up your licence. Don't know what it is where you are but in the UK it was 10 hours per year, but also a minimum number of landings per month to allow you to carry passengers. Before the JAAR rules came into effect, only 5 hours per year was needed and no minimum number of landings so much easier for the licence upkeep.

 

IAN

Not a RW pilot (thought about it decades ago) but have flown in a few trainers - nothing in a sim can equal the RW turbulence, G Forces, and a sense of vertigo upon decent... Just learning proper ATC communication takes a lot of practice...

As was said, "experience" on Flight Simulator won't give you any discounts, etc...

 

Flight Simulator is actually bad in the sense that it makes you focus more on the instruments, whereas real flying on Single Engine aircraft is more about looking outside....

As a real world flight Instructor I can confirm all the information given above. Flight simulator is great as a procedures trainer (ils, vor, etc) but in actual flying there is a lot more. For example straight and level flight in calm condition as simple as it might sound doesn't come easy to a few students due to needle chasing and not flying by looking outside, I also see students who already have a ppl still very nervous speaking on the radio.

So for me I'll give desktop flight sims about a 20% importance for New students.

 

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As a real world flight Instructor I can confirm all the information given above. Flight simulator is great as a procedures trainer (ils, vor, etc) but in actual flying there is a lot more. For example straight and level flight in calm condition as simple as it might sound doesn't come easy to a few students due to needle chasing and not flying by looking outside, I also see students who already have a ppl still very nervous speaking on the radio.

So for me I'll give desktop flight sims about a 20% importance for New students.

 

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

 

As a former CFII, I'd cut that 20% down a bit, but in any case, I'd have to agree with your statements except that I'd comment that straight and level is one of the harder maneuvers to do in real life, until you finally get the hang of letting the airplane do the work. The sim world is deceptive in its simplicity, and the PAUSE key doesn't work, just as the SPOT view doesn't work, either.

 

On the other hand, real life, once you're properly trained, is easier in a lot of respects -- it's just that potential consequences of ill-advised actions are a tad more severe, and once you're on the ground, real life isn't as forgiving as the sim would make it seem.

 

Back to that 20%, you can accomplish a lot of that without the sim. I always told my students that when they got home after the lesson, they should sit in a comfortable chair, close their eyes, get a (mental) stick/yoke and throttle in their hands, (mental) feet on the rudder pedals, and re-live their flight, moment by moment. Do that a few times and you have soaked much more of that lesson into your muscles, which is largely what you are trying to train as far as the physical part of flying goes.

 

But the VOR/hood time practice in the sim can still be very helpful, as can just thinking over what you've learned.

 

Hmmm... I see we're diverging from the OP's original question, and there are good answers above. I note that some speak from a U.S. perspective (as do I), while some speak from a U.K. perspective, and maybe somewhere else. So back to the OP's original question, study materials need to reflect the country where you live, the rules under which you'll have to fly -- even though the physical flying basics don't change, everything else does.

 

And, I don't see an additional post from the OP -- it would be good to hear...

Flight simulator I found really helped me in real world aviation skills, especially for my IR training.Its great for navigation training too.Get your Chart out and utilize it with FS, Dont count on it for certain maneuvers though. One of the best services out there to use with FS is Pilot edge, for ATC comms training. As far as books go,I would stick with studying Jeppesen. I would not divert to other books. If you are in the U.S. I would also stick with Gleim,the AIM, Airport directory, to name a few.