Peripheral vision? If you had persistently relied upon peripheral vision
for situation awareness at a military flying school you would have been a
candidate for elimination. You would have been taught to "keep your head
out of the cockpit and on a swivel." In other words, during contact flight,
your instructor would want to see your head up and in constant motion,
traversing a very wide angle . You would be taught to cross check
instruments quickly and return to the routine of turning your head so that
you could see directly your situation. Good peripheral vision would be a
requirement for your acceptance in the program, but you would not make the
grade relying on it as you suggest.

Thank you for your candid opinions on my flying ability. Yeah, I
remember you sitting in the back watching my every move during the
lessons.

For your information I value my life and so the instructor did not
have to tell me to look around regularly and before manoevring.
Do you really imagine I sat there and only looked at the panel and
through the front windshield, with my head fixed and eyes forward like
a freakin crash test dummy or something?

I think a lot of people can tell the difference between sitting at a
computer desk and sitting in a cockpit. I know I can and I'm starting
to wonder if you cannot and therefore are taking it out on the fine
people in this group?

Anyway, this whole discussion wasn't about just turning one's head. It
was about using FS as a training aid. For instance you can read a
mutlitude of books on navigation but putting theory into practice and
using the instruments and charts for real is a different ball game and
requires hours of practice. All I'm saying is that as a training aid
FS is a valuble addition to ground school and you can practice
whenever you like.

Chris Norris