Obviously, there is no replacement for an airplane to stay current and proficient. But when you sim, don’t treat the sim like an airplane. There’s a difference.
How vigilant do you need to be in special use airspace? After touring McGuire Air Force Base tower, radar approach control, and base operations, I’d say, “very.”
We emphasize the benefits of simulators, encouraging instrument pilots to use them in their training. But what if you don’t know how to effectively make use of ‘em?
You’ve built your sim and you have been flying it a lot, improving your instrument proficiency and your overall confidence in the airplane. You’ve even deployed some of the devices we’ve talked about previously to give you a more realistic instrument panel. Yet, something is missing. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate Effective ATC communication is a critical […]
You can think of your sim like a desktop operating system: By itself, it’s not extremely useful; only when you install third-party applications on top of it are you truly enabled to do real work. Same is true for X-Plane. The fact is most simulators rely on a vast array of third-party add-ons to provide […]
Last time in this series on building a home simulator we said that Part Three would discuss adding third-party extensions to your basic sim. We’re going to keep that topic as “next time” and instead jump into a debate about how far you should, or need, to take your project. An argument is made that […]
Assume you’re about to buy a new airplane. All the pre-buy inspections came back clean, the money cleared out of escrow, and you’re already planning your triumphant maiden trip home. Now you just have to figure out where you’re gonna park this thing. Setting up your home sim is no different—you must consider its location. […]
Assume you want to buy an airplane. You wouldn’t just go with your buddy’s suggestion to get a Cloudpuncher simply because he said it’s a good one, would you? No, the prudent buyer will first carefully outline the typical mission, the purpose for the craft. Then, you’d select what you think best meets that mission. […]
