Folks,

Here is my take on Condor. I have been flying it for 7.5 years, before I soloed and a lot after. I have seen all the Good, the Bad and the Ugly when it comes to learning to fly with the simulator.

Condor is an excellent tool for teaching concepts. I see it as a good tool for an instructor to show what they will be doing in a flight, such as boxing the wake, or a rope break, and then having the student practice and learn the concept, and do it in reality. For primary training, it can be a very useful tool if supervised by a competent instructor.

I flew Condor for many years before I learned to fly unsupervised. Because of this, I acquired a couple bad habits that I had to break in my real life flying. On landing, I would move the spoilers too much, I used to move the stick too much, and for a while I would be glued to the panel. I would say that after solo, it took me a little longer to learn how to thermal because of some of the bad habits I learned in the simulator.

HOWEVER! Once, I learned how to thermal and fly the ridge, all the of the advanced cross country training and competition I have done over the years kicked right in. Remember, Condor is intended to be a competition simulator, not a training sim. Once I was ready to go for Silver Distance, I had no issue going XC, sine I have done it so much in the simulator. Judging glideslope, wind direction, thermal placement; all was learned in the simulator. As a result, I was able to do more and more ambitious cross countries in a short period of time, since I had so much already figured out due to Condor.. I went from Silver Distance in August 2011 to Diamond Distance in April 2012, and winning contest days at my first contest in July 2012. That would have been IMPOSSIBLE without the excellent benefits of Condor.

More importantly, in those hard times as a kid unable to get out to the airport, it kept me interested in the sport and kept me going. I think Condor's immense benefits negate some of its minor issues, and those issues can be easily dealt with if they are approached correctly.

So there you have it...

Regards,
Daniel Sazhin