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#3085876 - 09/03/10 12:40 AM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Dart Offline
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart  Offline
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer

Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Our usual weather is temperature 98, humidity 95, winds 3-5 knots variable from the sides, 6 to 12 up and down.

smile

Throw in some nice gusts and it's a good time to learn.

That's what I mentioned in the article - Rise of Flight does a really good job on gusting. The best is when it gusts just after takeoff.


The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.com

From Laser:
"The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3086203 - 09/03/10 01:09 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 939
RocketDog Offline
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RocketDog  Offline
Member

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 939
Bath, England
Brilliant article Dart, very enjoyable!

I took up gliding after playing IL-2 for many years (this was before RoF came out). My experiences were quite similar, I could fly around quite well and had an intuitive feel for how the aircraft handled, but landings were a bit harder. You probably felt the first one across the Atlantic as a gentle ground tremor.

Cheers,

RD/Nick


Beyond gliding distance
#3086585 - 09/03/10 08:58 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,831
Chunx Offline
Senior Member
Chunx  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,831
Highly enjoyable read, Dart. Good luck on the future flying lessons.


Chunx
#3087257 - 09/05/10 12:16 AM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 13,364
Freycinet Offline
Veteran
Freycinet  Offline
Veteran

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 13,364
Loved this article, thx!

Why do they make a 7/8ths scale and not just a full-scale?


My Il-2 CoD movie web site: www.flightsimvids.com
#3087702 - 09/05/10 08:43 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Dart Offline
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart  Offline
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer

Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Weight and price.

By going 7/8ths scale, the weight of the airframe puts it into the ultralight category - and the engine/prop combo required goes way down. In my case I'll bust the ultralight weight (which is fine, I want more than a five gallon tank) by going to a nice four stroke 1800cc 90 HP VW engine with a reduction gear for the prop.

A modified VW engine (basically hotrodded with special camshaft, polished heads, etc) costs about 2500 USD. Add another zero on the end for a "certified" engine.

Plus it's a helluvalot less expensive to make. Area increases a lot over just a little bit of scale.

Rudder kit showed up this week. Now I just need to gather the stones to make that first bend in the tubing.


The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.com

From Laser:
"The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."
#3087898 - 09/06/10 07:36 AM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 26,557
wheelsup_cavu Offline
Lifer
wheelsup_cavu  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 26,557
Corona, California
Sounds like you are well on your way Dart.
Good luck. thumbsup


Wheels

Post #5025


Cheers wave
Wheelsup_cavu

Mission4Today (Campaigns, Missions, and Skins for IL-2)
Planes of Fame Air Museum | March Field Air Museum | Palm Springs Air Museum
#3087997 - 09/06/10 01:28 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 2,708
Paul Rix Offline
Senior Member
Paul Rix  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 2,708
NW of Austin, Tx
That was a great read Dart! I had been simming for several years before I learned to fly and your observations are spot on. Good luck with your training and airplane project!

May every landing be a greaser!


Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
Carl Sagan
#3088007 - 09/06/10 01:47 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 246
Subguru Offline
Member
Subguru  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 246
Alabama
Here's a video I took while doing practice takeoffs & landings Sunday. (And no, I wasn't trying to both fly and take the video at the same time... my instructor was at the controls).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11hoxgTyPo

Notice the various landmarks (small fields, lakes, water towers, buildings) used to mark turn-points and headings for the pattern. I've modified my FSX version of Ft. Meade airport to include those, so I can better practice my pattern work at home. In FSX I fly the France-VFR Socata TB9, for which I've adjusted the flight characteristics and instrument layout to better represent my training airplane. Also, I use Track-IR, EZdok camera addon, and NVidia 3-D Vision for more realistic visuals.

If only I had a 3-D motion platform....

#3088754 - 09/07/10 03:24 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: BigC208]  
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 9,859
mailman Offline
Hotshot
mailman  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 9,859
London
Originally Posted By: BigC208
Keep it coming Dart, good reading. I used to be a CFII myself and always wondered why they came up with the sportpilot license. It took my part time students between 15 to 25 hours to solo. The fulltimers did it in between 5 to 10 hours. Add the required cross country and solo hours and you are pushing the 40hr mark for the PPL. Most of my part time students got their PPL between 70 to a 100 hrs. Again the full timers did it mostly around 40-60 hr mark. I guess if you're a quick learner and have the cash to take three or four lessons a week you can do it in 20 hours.



That is an interesting observation there BigC. I did my first solo in 12 hours, had my restricted in 40 and full pilots licence in 52 hours. Actually got quite bored after I first solo'd because I had to do a block of 10 hours of touch and goes...but the cross country flights were da bomb! biggrin

When someone asks me about learning to fly I always tell them to make sure they buy hours in blocks because in the long run that works out cheaper and their learning is much more efficient than doing an hour here and an hour in 6 weeks time!

For me I used sims for a couple things;

1. Learning my pre-flight checks and cockpit familiarisation. The less time spent on the ground meant the more time spent in the air cause lets face it, you pay as soon as the engine starts until it stops (ignoring the engine stopping in the air of course:) ).

2. Airfield familiarisation. In NZ I was quite lucky to have access to some VERY accurate terrain! If I was flying somewhere Id never flown before Id have a look at the approaches using the sim (which If fly to using my navigation charts).

Actually...thats it really.

What amazed me when I started to fly was how much harder it was to land in a flight sim! smile

Regards

Mailman

#3089570 - 09/08/10 04:37 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 360
Wired Offline
Member
Wired  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 360
Pennsylvania, USA
Dart,

Great read! I couldn't agree more about your first real flying experience. A friend of mine is a Cessna flight instructor. He knew I flew as a hobby Microsoft Flight Simulator for 15 years, and he also used it himself for brushing up on his instrument flying. He told me he would fly in some time where I live and let me fly. Well one morning about five years ago, he knocked on my door and drove me to the airport and up we went. Once in the air he turned the aircraft over to me. It was quite an experience and yes it is difficult to spot other aircraft even on a clear day flying at a slow hundred and twenty knots. The radio chatter was more than I expected and the need to stay in my own air space was also a new experience. My pilot friend said I did very well in banking the Cessna and keeping it at altitude as I flew for about twenty minutes.

I look forward to more articles about your transition from Sim pilot to sport pilot.

Wired


Win 10 64bit Pro; Sys Info: Case Cooler Master 690; PSU Antec 900Watts; Motherbrd ASUS Sabertooth 990FX; CPU AMD FX 8350 4.2Ghz; 16GB G Skill DDR3 1600; HD 2TB Hybrid; VideoCard EVGA Superclock Geforce GTX 750Ti,2GB,PCIe X16; Display Drvr 353.06; SoundCard ASUS XonarDX; Logitech Speakers G51, 5.1; Logitech G35 7.1 Hdset; Saitek CyborgX Stick & CH Fighter Stick/Pro Pedals; TrackIR-5; Monitor 22" Widescreen SyncMaster Samsung 2233BW
#3560892 - 04/22/12 03:52 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 457
Masaq Offline
T&T Admin
Masaq  Offline
T&T Admin
Member

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 457
UK
This is going to be one hell of a necro, and for that I apologise...

But yesterday I had my first ever flying lesson, in a Schleicher ASK-13 glider. I had been pretty unconvinced that the (many) hundred hours' flight time I've had as a virtual pilot would be of any value at all, but my instructor had been pretty complementary about my turns and remarked that they had been very good for a first timer. That suddenly got me thinking back to having read Dart's article about his transfer from Sims to real aviation, and I went to re-read it.

Very similar experience in some ways, although I had only 30 minutes airborne and about 15 in control (more a taster than a lesson). Very little need to explain the controls & principles of flight, and flying with FFB stick & pedals on the PC with the sensitivity turned way up high had clearly helped as I was very smooth (if I say so myself) rather than massively overcorrecting or yanking it about as I was expecting I probably would.

As with Dart's write-up - landing is a whole other issue in the real world and thank god I wasn't trying it, is all I can say. With no ability to make a pass and second attempt in a glider, getting the bird down where you want her the first time around is bloody important - so the approach was short, steep and frankly - bloody terrifying! 50kts never felt so fast.

Loved it. Can't afford to take regular lessons, can't afford the club membership fees, but I get three months temporary membership included with the trial and I intend to get a few more flights in before it ends. Even if it will only make it harder to stop at three months having briefly satisfied the urge to fly. Strongly recommend every other virtual pilot out there who hasn't flown for real to give it a try, even if only the once. It's amazing.

#3561064 - 04/22/12 09:59 PM Re: Feature: Flight Sim to Flight Line - My Journey from Sim Pilot to Sport Pilot [Re: citizen guod]  
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 630
SC/JG_Oesau Offline
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SC/JG_Oesau  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 630
Sydney, Australia
Loved the article as with many others here, brought back more than a few memories and good to see the southern cross area being represented.


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TrackIR-4, Thrustmaster Warthog, MFG Crosswind Pedals, Satiek Quadrant, Saitek Switch Panel, Logitech G510 Keyboard, Win 7 Home Prem 64bit
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