Flight Simulator now being used by flight instructors

look folks, I am a CFI, and I am a flight sim guy.

Learning to fly involves learning a huge volume of information. A
flight simulator, when properly used, can help a student to learn some
of this information.

I encourage my students to try things in the simulator, to practice
lessons, to practice procedures, to fly cross countries. The ones that
do this end up saving time and money in the real plane.

The simulator in your PC is not exactly the same as the real plane. But
neither is chair flying, or reading a book about flying, or watching a
King Schools video. MS flight simulator is a training tool, nothing
more, nothing less.

I saved tons of time and money because I flew flight simulators when
growing up (back in the Apple ][e days). I know it works, I also know I
learned bad habits, but when I started to learn to fly the real thing, I
quickly learned what transferred directly from simming and what didn't,
thanks to my CFI.

For those of you that want more out the window view and less panel, try
seeing what the "W" key does. Also the +/- keys for zooming.

For those of you that want to fly their cross countries more quickly in
the simulator, accelerate time, or use the "Y" key to activate Slew mode
so you can move the plane around instead of flying it around. This is a
nice way to view the scenery.

Please also consider hitting "Shift-Backspace" and "Shift-Enter" to
raise and lower your seat when in the cockpit.

For you CFI's who worry that your students will build bad habits.....
you are right. Pilots build bad habits when they fly simulators, but
they also build bad habits when they fly real airplanes. Pilots learn
bad habits when they read newsgroup articles, and they learn bad habits
when they read magazines about flying.

The only way to avoid bad habits is to teach them early on to never stop
learning, and to never stop being vigiliant of their own habits and
behaviors.

I also tell students to get a yoke, and if they can afford it, rudder
pedals.