Navy son would like above for Christmas. That is the easy part. What would you real or pretend pilots add as hardware for using same? Yoke or stick? Rudder pedals? Feel free to email direct with your suggestions. Thanks. bs
ps He is headed to Navy Pilot School after commissioning. JP must have scared him away from the boats.
If he ends up flying a "fast mover" off a flight deck, flight simulator is just going to screw with his hand, eye coordination. Nice game, but noting like the real simulators he'll be in, nor close to a real fighter.
Brian Scott wrote:
Have a look at X-Plane. You can configure just about any plane you want but the big thing is the terrain as well as the realtime weather it will pull off the internet for wherever you're flying. Works on Mac, PC or Linux.
Brooksie
I have a friend who is huge into this, the first thing he'd recommend is a good video card and extra monitors. I think he's running 7 flat panels on four machines currently. There's a ton of software add-ons for Flight Simulator and most of it is good. I think Robert is still flying the keyboard and been "flying" for close to two years now. You can actually shadow real-time flights. Robert says there are times when he's "7th in line" when flying out of Charlotte... and according to the scanner there are actually 6 flights ahead of him waiting to take off. You can actually look out the cockpit window and there are 6 planes ahead of you. There are also "declassified" Navy data downloads so if you want to fly off the Ronald Reagan on June 1, 2005 at 10:00 a.m., the software will locate and position the carrier where it was on June 1, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.. It's almost scary listening to what's available out there and how realistic the flying is now.
So is he heading to Primary in Milton, FL or Corpus Christi?
Lee
A friend of mine spent high school flying spray planes, went through AOCS and ended up flying for the Blue Angels in the early 1990's. He said all that time he spent crop spraying didn't help him out one bit, it actually hurt him in Primary flight training because he had to "unlearn" how to fly so that he could fly "the Navy way".
Another guy I know was a "commercial pilot major" in college and the Air Force instructors told him to throw all that previous training out the window because it wasn't how they flew.
Lee
You bring up another good point, the kid has no room for the hardware unless he's setting it up here or at the girlfriends.
Lee Aanderud wrote:
You can order the demo on CD Jeff. If you're on dialup though I sure wouldn't want to wait for local weather conditions over the internet to update the weather display.
Brooksie
--Shiva--
You can go to CHProducts and look at the yokes, foot pedals, and throttles, and they link you to a site which will sell you an attachment that allows you to add up to 9 36inch LCD or plasma screens for a true panoramic view.
Best thing is to find out what he will be training in. For example if he is flying a primary trainer, then get a stick and rudder set. If he has his tickets, and will be flying anything multi engine, then a full fledge yoke with seperate thottle and rudder sets.
There is also a program called X-Plane, it is an FAA acredited program that allows you to use your hours as part of your ground school and IFR training.
Be sure to counsel him to develop a backup career plan. With the current trends in combat aviation, the JSF will probably be the last fighter that has a pilot in it.
It's pretty easy to develop a FAR more capable aircraft if you don't have to engineer for a fragile human inside it. No G forces to contend with. No need for pressurization, O2, human input mechanism, displays, escape gear, etc etc etc.
How about the capability to pull 12Gs and a lot more payload because you are not hauling a prima-donna asshole + his support system?
It's coming - the only thing slowing it down is the pilot's union.
Mark (MSgt USAF, Ret ) Dunning
One of the reasons I never got my IFR rating was because of that.......... 3 in front and 7 behind you, and your flying a slow PA-28-180......... no way.
The day after the contollers went on strike I was up and on approach to HPN, and the new guy in the tower tells me to approach at 180 Knots, you have a Navy Orion behind you. I laughed at him, and asked if he knew what I was flying? He said no, I said okay, declaring a missed approach, let the Orion in.........he came back, you cannot declare a missed approach, I radioed back...watch me. As I climbed out, the Orion was just underneath me, and stopping. I would have been chopped meat. The 180 could only do 130 knots maximum.
Thaose were the days. I google earthed my old airport..........it has grown.
bg
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