glider simulators

noel.wade wrote:
On a slightly different note: I have done a lot of experimenting and
found that longtime pilots have a *much* harder time with simulators
than new pilots. After doing some unscientific research and gathering
feedback, I have come to believe that pilots who have flown for a long
time and never used a simulator get easily frustrated by the lack of
physical / kinesthetic feedback, and the lack of familiarity of flying
over strange terrain in a strange glider. They're so used to
"feeling" the aircraft and flying in their local airspace with known
references that they have a hard time just flying the plane based on
the sight-picture and the instruments and the visible angles to the
ground. Becuase they're so used to being good pilots flying in a
skilled manner, having a hard time in the simulator tends to frustrate
and/or embarrass these experienced pilots - and as a result they have
a dislike or disdain for the simulator.

I've had a similar experience to this, except sort of backwards.

I used to do a lot of flying in X-Plane, in all kinds of different
aircraft. (X-Plane isn't really the best at simulating anything, but it
simulates almost everything, which is its big advantage.) I was pretty
good at it, although I'm sure I did a lot of non-standard things. And in
fact flying the gliders in X-Plane is one of the things that got me into
real soaring. I had a lot of fun doing crazy things in the simulator, then
thought, hey, this is something I could actually enjoy in real life.

I don't use X-Plane that much anymore. Somehow doing regular flying in
reality makes the sim seem less fun than it once was....

But I still fire it up on occasion. And the thing that always amuses me
when I do is that I'm really *bad* at it. Even flying gliders, even flying
types that I fly in reality, in locations that I fly in reality, I
totally stink up the place.

Part of this is because my controls setup is very poor. I didn't put in
very much money at all, so the result reflects that. But I used the same
controls before and was much better! I certainly have trouble with the
lack of physical feedback, poor control feel, and narrow field of view,
even though I was more or less fine with them before.

In the end they're just two different skills. You can make them closer by
putting in more money to have a better setup, but it still ends up being
different skills. An experienced pilot who jumps into a sim thinking that
he should be able to instantly master it will likely be disappointed
because of this.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software