Flight sim recommendations

[Dan208]

I am going stir crazy here in the - 20 degree weather . I am thinking I need to set up an awesome flight sim so I can fly every day . What is the best of the best now days . The last time I had any experience was Microsoft flight sim X . 

 I just bought a mean gaming desk top CPU with an enormous monitor.  Looking for ideas on what to get . I would prefer the most educational real world sim for learning real skills . Not so much flying fighters , although I do miss combat flight sim. I want to spend my very limited time learning and moving forward. 

 Thanks for your opinions.

[elimansour]

You should give X-Plane a look. It is very good platform for flight simulation and the realism will depend on how much you mod it (and spend).  Basically you can add terrain, aircraft and weather/ situational add-ons for greater realism and fun.  Some of the aircraft models are so detailed that every button and switch is modeled and works and the included POHs are as long and detailed as the real ones

There are great examples of the breadth of add-ons (both free and paid) at the X-Plane Org Site, and they even have pretty detailed Ovation  and M20J  models.

For practicing IFR procedures (once you have your favorite scenery / weather / aircraft model all set up) you have to try out PilotEdge.

if you want to go all out you can even get GPS replica bezels that work with your aircraft model at RealSimGear.

basically, the sky is the limit - 

[Dan208]

1 hour ago, elimansour said:

You should give X-Plane a look. It is very good platform for flight simulation and the realism will depend on how much you mod it (and spend).  Basically you can add terrain, aircraft and weather/ situational add-ons for greater realism and fun.  Some of the aircraft models are so detailed that every button and switch is modeled and works and the included POHs are as long and detailed as the real ones

There are great examples of the breadth of add-ons (both free and paid) at the X-Plane Org Site, and they even have pretty detailed Ovation  and M20J  models.

For practicing IFR procedures (once you have your favorite scenery / weather / aircraft model all set up) you have to try out PilotEdge.

if you want to go all out you can even get GPS replica bezels that work with your aircraft model at RealSimGear.

basically, the sky is the limit - 

That was what I was hoping for . Thanks I will look into all of that.

 

[FastTex]

5 hours ago, elimansour said:

You should give X-Plane a look. It is very good platform for flight simulation and the realism will depend on how much you mod it (and spend).  Basically you can add terrain, aircraft and weather/ situational add-ons for greater realism and fun.  Some of the aircraft models are so detailed that every button and switch is modeled and works and the included POHs are as long and detailed as the real ones

There are great examples of the breadth of add-ons (both free and paid) at the X-Plane Org Site, and they even have pretty detailed Ovation  and M20J  models.

For practicing IFR procedures (once you have your favorite scenery / weather / aircraft model all set up) you have to try out PilotEdge.

if you want to go all out you can even get GPS replica bezels that work with your aircraft model at RealSimGear.

basically, the sky is the limit - 

+1 on all that. I built one a few months ago using XPlane, I bought the J (even if I have an F but close enough...) and using Pilotedge. The only issue with the Mooney is the GPS: maps are old and cannot be updated. So, being an iFly user, I bought a small app to connect my Android iFly install to XPlane. I now have the latest moving maps on my phone when I fly...

[elimansour]

Have you tried downloading updated nav data from navigraph?  It should update the 430 in the Mooney.

Great point on connecting iPad to the sim for moving map.  X-Plane will interface with all EFB apps that have a sim mode (iFly, ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot) so you can really try out your skills using the same tools you may use in the cockpit.

I also forgot to mention that X-Plane will interface with several apps that will generate flight instruments / EFIS for ease of reference and interface with the sim.  For example, AirFMC, Avioware, and Air Manager.  

 

 

[patrickf]

Guys,

I can't argue with X-plane and I've heard it's good.

I was too invested in MSFS to change. Since I started flying in '97 (MS95?)  I've tried to get a copy of any new plane I've flown, customise as much as I could, and check the basics. Certainly helps with rough numbers and panel layouts etc.  

Because I was tied to the MSFS world I jumped over to Prepare3D from Lockheed. It is very good and getting better, and I got to keep all my work.

For anyone flying Garmin GNS or GTS I can't recommend RealityXP : http://www.reality-xp.com/ too highly - they have an Xplane version as well.

Since we bought OVH I've put a bit of extra work to get the sim model as close as I can. This model is a stock P3D Acclaim modified with Mindstar G1000 and RealNAv data, custom performance data and custom textures. As real as it gets ?

When the weather is really ordinary I just put in some IFR time at home. Practicing button pushing on the ground in the sim is a lot cheaper than burning gas. The instruments and add on GPS simulators are very good now. My full setup is probably less than 2 AMUs.

The real trick is not to geek out too much and make sure you fly rather than fiddling with your set up - a challenge I occasionally fail!

 

[Seymour]

Timely topic.   Our local Pilots Association just installed a 3 screen X-Plane 11 setup.   For our next meeting, we're attempting to drum up interest by setting up a 4 minute (or so) scenario that every member can attempt the same challenging situation.  We'll be replicating the center screen HDMI to a projector so all can watch; it should be fun.   Unfortunately, I'm a sim novice and don't know where to find scenario information or set one up.

Anyone have a pointer to interesting XPlane 11 canned scenarios (or instructions for setting them up)?    Right now, we're looking at just using a demo flight but that's pretty lame.  

Thanks!

[EricJ]

I think one of the ATDs I used during my instrument training was based on X-Plane.  I preferred it to the Redbird that we also used.

 

[mike_elliott]

Mooney has a couple of these for sale. New they were over 65K, 2 are still crated from Redbird. NOTE: you need a large man cave for them, they can really move around! Have I ever spun a Mooney? Yes in this! If anyone has an interest in one for 1/2 price, let me know and Ill hook you up with the right guys at Mooney

 

[carusoam]

I used an X-plane based sim for doing a good part of the IR training...

Having a gross amount of time flying MSFS on the desk top at home.... Flying the X-Plane sim is quite easy....

 

Simulating a VOR approach... I goofed up the timing and ended up really high on the approach... initiating going missed was the proper cognitive response...  the actual cut the throttle, and maximize the resistance, drop like a stone to the runway, showed great imaginary flying skills!  

The low cost sim is a great for timing, procedures, hardware settings, and flying in IMC...  it is hard to judge height above the terrain on a 2D screen... managing energy, speed and altitude, becomes more of a numbers challenge...

 

It takes a bunch of AMUs to go from a single, flat screen, tiny monitor... to big screen, multi monitor, and motion....

 

PatrickF, Nice work! From my iPad, it is a challenge to tell the difference between the real and simulated VH-OVH!

Thanks for sharing the details.

Best regards,

-a-

[Dan208]

9 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

Mooney has a couple of these for sale. New they were over 65K, 2 are still crated from Redbird. NOTE: you need a large man cave for them, they can really move around! Have I ever spun a Mooney? Yes in this! If anyone has an interest in one for 1/2 price, let me know and Ill hook you up with the right guys at Mooney

 

I can see the look on my wife's face now . I think that would be the ultimate man cave Addition!!!

[SantosDumont]

I have Xplane 11 and a 3 monitor setup.  The one thing I wanted to train for was the transition from VMC to IMC during IFR flight, and I just wasn’t getting the experience I wanted with the 3 monitor setup.  So I bought an Ocukus Rift.  The amazing thing about it is that visually it gives the feel of being in the airplane. One thing that I didn’t expect as the realistic feeling of ballooning when I came in with too much speed to land, that had never translated to the feeling of floating with the 3 monitor setup. 

The downside to the VR is obviously you can’t use any external tools, Foreflight, charts, etc  

 

[tigers2007]

Here is a Frasca 142 with projector and it looks like it has a fully equipped panel with a Garmin 430. Auction is at $5000 (reserve not met yet)

https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=2299379