Husband recently upgraded to Microsoft Flight Sim X and so I got his old copy of the Century of Flight release. He had me "play" it a few times a while back, before I was even considering actually learning to fly. It was a game then.
It has a greater purpose now.
It's not very realistic since there are no rudder pedals, no carb heat (the Cessna 172 models that come in the game are more advanced than 388), no seat-of-the-pants feeling, etc. I have been unable in an hour and a half of flying in it to successfully set the trim without having to retrim within 15 seconds.
What I did like about using it last night was the chance to experiment with different control changes during a steep turn. Husband has emphasized that it's a good tool for learning to use the instruments, and that's what I was focusing on.
I got up to 2500', reduced airspeed to ~100 kts and rolled into a steep left turn. There were several learning points here.
First and foremost, I was using the indicator incorrectly to attain a 45 degree bank. The markings "on the ground" in the indicator show 30 and 60 degree bank angles; I had thought the "tighter" line was a 45 degree indication. You have to interpolate between the 30 and 60 degree markings when aiming for 45. Similarly, the notches in the arc above the indicator don't depict 45 degrees; they show 10, 20, 30, 60 and 90 degrees.
When I'm actually in the plane, it's obvious what angle the horizon is in relation to the dash and that's what I use to judge my bank. That seems pretty good for VFR training -- using the sight picture. But I do cross-check against the attitude indicator and have felt kinda sketchy about it in the past, but let it go because it looked right. Now I know better; it was sketchy because I didn't understand it.
In the flight sim, however, that narrow straight-ahead view was harder to use as a reference, so I was more focused on the indicator. Ok, good, new knowledge about the instrument.
As I began the steep turn, the VSI caught my attention as the needle swung way down, showing a high descent rate. That's not good. Descending during the turn was my problem on Tuesday, so that wasn't surprising, and I believe the extreme descent rate was attributable to the incongruence between the sim experience and real life. But here was the point of the exercise: what can I do to correct it?
Option #1: More power. This helped, but not enough. I was still sinking.
Option #2: More back pressure. This took care of it. The simulated horizon on the screen was frustratingly difficult to use, so I went back to the instruments. I tried to keep the little white "nose" dot of the attitude indicator above the artificial horizon for a little while to first stop the descent and then to ascend some.
Once I got back to 2500', I rolled out and on over to a right-hand steep turn. This time I used the attitude indicator to set up both bank and... what? Is it still called pitch when you're half-rolled-over? I guess, maybe, since it's still about the nose relative to the horizon. Now that I understood the indicator, it was much easier to hold the angle and the altitude more closely.
I also used the sim to do some stalls. Again, the reality is not there -- there's no stall break feeling, no change in G-forces, no filled vision (including peripheral) of more and more ground.... But I did get to practice slow flight in a landing configuration, coordinating throttle application with pitch control to regain airspeed and then establishing a positive climb rate, etc.
I also landed at PHF for the first time. :) It's a nice big runway, and I have not qualms about actually going there except for talking to ATC since that's not something I've done yet. I know from riding along with Husband that it's a pretty easy place to go into, so it ought to work out ok.
In summary, what good is the sim? It's realistic enough to be a useful tool for trying things out that I'm not yet confident enough to try out when life and plane are at risk. Up until last night, I was really not excited about leaving the airport vicinity by myself to go practice maneuvers all by my lonesome. I can't say that I'm really excited about it now, either, but at least less apprehensive because I have a maneuver (steep turns) that I specifically want to practice to verify the sim experience and integrate that into my "real" experience, and I feel that I can do it.
Now if this front would finish moving through so the conditions will come back down to conditions I'm allowed to fly solo in!
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