There’s significant debate on how much, or even if, a student pilot should use a simulator for flight training.1 They are a fun and inexpensive way to practice, but they can build bad habits.
This post highlights a few private pilot lessons where a flight sim can be beneficial, and a few areas where it can be problematic.2
Valuable Lessons for a Flight Sim
There are a few private pilot lessons I’ve found easier to teach first in a sim before moving to the actual aircraft.
Not every student finds a simulator helpful. But when a particular topic is daunting, starting in a sim can be cheaper and faster.
Navigation Aids and CDI Interpretation
The first VOR or GPS lesson is a whirlwind of new information.3 It is less frustrating to work through these topics when you’re not paying for each minute a real engine is turning.
My students find it immensely helpful to pause the simulator and talk about what is happening. We can also teleport the aircraft to various locations to show how the instruments respond.
Similarly, you may find it easier to learn ForeFlight with a flight simulator.
Airport Arrivals and Radio
For students training at a towered airport, the first trip to a non-towered airport requires better task management than before.4
Sometimes a round of practice in the simulator to rehearse the arrival procedures and radio calls makes the first actual flight much smoother.
Instrument Interpretation and Four Fundamentals
The earliest private pilot lessons cover how to read the instruments and how to fly the four fundamentals.
When a student is struggling with either of these, a flight sim removes the distractions of a real flight deck. This allows a new student to digest each control and the subsequent instrument impact.5
Autopilot
Flight simulators are great at autopilot and are a great way to learn the basic functionality. Just be aware they don’t always work like the real system.6
Emergency Procedures, Sort Of
Since the standard simulated systems are not particularly accurate, using them to practice emergencies is akin to fancy chair flying.
It’s a great way to learn and rehearse the checklists, just don’t expect the real aircraft to respond the same way the sim does.
One notable exception: an engine failure, using a VR headset, all the way to landing in a field. Doing this was an eye-opening experience for me. We are taught to fly the airplane first, and this is how we rehearse. But it wasn’t until I came in too fast on final, couldn’t bleed off the energy, and saw my plane crash into a virtual tree that I internalized what flying the airplane first meant.
Things to Watch Out as a Sim Pilot
If you have significant flight sim experience already, that’s awesome! Some of my best students were active flight sim users.
However, it’s worth actively avoiding these habits.
Looking Inside
VFR pilots should spend 90% of the time looking outside. We’re flying attitudes7 based on the natural horizon, and we’re looking for traffic. The instruments inside just confirm we’ve correctly set our attitude and power.
I’ve needed to cover all the instruments more than once to break this habit!
Missing Checklist Items
CTRL+E doesn’t work in this airplane, and a missed checklist item may be a critical oversight.
Determine before your simulated flight if this is for practice or for fun. If it’s for practice, take it seriously and use your checklists.
Flying With Trim
Some sim pilots incorrectly change the aircraft’s pitch with trim: trim forward to get the nose down, and backward for nose up. This use of trim misunderstands what the control surface does and is less accurate. It makes transitions between the four fundamentals slower and harder.
Instead, trim is meant to relieve control pressure. To use it, set the correct attitude (based on the natural horizon) and power. After the aircraft has settled at an airspeed, adjust the trim so you don’t need pressure on the yoke to maintain this attitude.
Avoiding Simulator Pitfalls
Truthfully, there’s a wide range of issues associated with using a simulator for flight training.
Learning to fly requires developing a physical feel for the aircraft and managing workload in a busy environment. Reasonable flight instructors may feel the calm, smooth environment of a simulator just isn’t realistic enough. And they may worry the cost of undoing bad habits outweighs the benefit of practicing at home.8
My advice is:
Don’t practice any lessons in the sim before you’ve done them for real with your instructor.
Fixing bad habits accidentally picked up from learning on your own can be time-consuming and costly.9
If you’re already a sim pilot and are interested in flying a physical airplane, look into getting a demo at your local airport! And if you’re around the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in lessons, feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to chat more.
Blue skies,
Jack
- I find them more beneficial than not, and most of my students will use a flight simulator in at least one lesson. ↩︎
- Based on my experience with students and with my own training. I’d love to hear of any formal studies on this! ↩︎
- This relates to a good plausibly useful idea. When learning VORs, or tackling most things with a time or space aspect, it can be helpful to draw the situation out. I worked through the better part of a notebook while studying for my instrument exam, and planning out a student’s last few weeks before a checkride always starts by drawing a calendar on the whiteboard. ↩︎
- And vice-versa, for a student’s first trip to a towered airport. ↩︎
- This might be the most controversial use I have for a simulator in flight training. But when it’s helpful, it can make a big difference for a new student. ↩︎
- In particular, the KAP140 in MSFS is surprisingly different in operation from the real thing. ↩︎
- This is one of my favorite mantras while flying in IMC. We’re flying attitudes (control) and we’re confirming the numbers (performance). We’re not chasing the instruments! ↩︎
- There are more pessimistic reasons why an instructor may discourage sim use. The instructor can’t log PIC time, meaning a CFI looking for hours isn’t getting as much value from the lesson. Also, if the CFI owns the airplane, that rental revenue is lost. Remember that your CFI should be looking out for your best interests as a student, and that you can always ask around to see what other pilots and CFIs think. ↩︎
- A close analog is learning to play guitar or piano on your own. You might be able to make it work, but you’re likely to build habits that won’t allow you to play more challenging songs. A good teacher can unwind those early habits, but it means the first part of training is spent undoing. ↩︎
