Realistic Instrument Training using MSFS 2004

wrote:
I'm a longtime lurker here, but now I have a question I hope the group
can help me with. I am working toward my instrument rating (21 hours
so far), and want to use MSFS to practice (cheaply). I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude. The real plane is much much easier.


Absolutely the real aircraft is easier. You can feel the pressure against your
hand in the real airplane. MSFS has never duplicated that accurately.



I also noticed that
even when the scenery flies by smoothly (when I'm in VMC!) the
instruments seem to update at a slower rate. Not quite a slide show,


When I'm flying the sim IFR (which is 99% of the time... I fly a real airplane
when I want to see something), I have the sim set to fly solid IFR with 300 foot
ceilings at night. I waste very little resources on outside views.



FYI...I'm using the CH products USB Flight Sim yolk, and the CH USB
rudder pedals. The computer seems plenty fast enough with a 256MB
graphics card.


Yolks are the yellow parts of eggs; I think you mean the yoke. But I digress.
On the top of the left horn of that yoke is a vertical toggle; assign the trim
to that toggle so it's just like the electric trim in a Cherokee. Trim is
everything in getting your altitude hold under control.

You know, the first thing to go when you don't fly enough solid IFR is your
instrument scan. That's where the flight sim comes in very handy. I had been
out of flying for 15 years and then passed a IFR comp check with minimal
difficulty because I got my scan going with MSFS. I was all over the sky to
start with (in the sim) but by the time I climbed into a real airplane with a
CFII, my scan was sharp again. And the leading cause of difficulties in flying
IFR is a slow scan. You fixate on something while everything else is going to
hell in a handbasket.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

rod wrote:
Kill the scenery. This takes a lot of computer power. If you use IFR
conditions where everything is white outside (no detail at all) I'll wager
your altitude control will be more realistic.


I almost forgot: be sure to lube the center shaft of that yoke with a little
bit of silicon grease and wiggle the controls around quite a bit before each
flight. The CH yoke has a tendency to catch otherwise, leading to jerky control
inputs.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

wrote in message oups.com...
Hi All,

I'm a longtime lurker here, but now I have a question I hope the group
can help me with. I am working toward my instrument rating (21 hours
so far), and want to use MSFS to practice (cheaply). I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude. The real plane is much much easier. I also noticed that
even when the scenery flies by smoothly (when I'm in VMC!) the
instruments seem to update at a slower rate. Not quite a slide show,
but harder than it should be to control. I've tried fiddling with
the realism and sensitivity settings to no avail. I have noticed a
number of folks posting on this group use this simulator to maintain
proficiency, and I was just wondering how you have it set up.

FYI...I'm using the CH products USB Flight Sim yolk, and the CH USB
rudder pedals. The computer seems plenty fast enough with a 256MB
graphics card. Like I mentioned before, everything is very smooth
except for the instruments refreshing.

Thanks everyone!

Steve

Perhaps you're focusing on the wrong factors there, Steve.
Any training value of hobby-type simulators lies in practicing procedures,
and not in merely learning to control that simulated airplane.
Procedures-training is much more than just a video game.
Concentrate more on the procedures, less on the simulator.
As others said here, you'll have to accept imperfect simulation.

That said, though, it's smart to keep the simulated speeds and times
generally similar to those of the airplane you fly in real life.
You want those procedures to become comfortable habit patterns,
so they don't demand your undue attention as other things turn to worms.
After 21 IFR hours, I'm sure you know by now what that means. :-)

On Feb 13, 10:03 pm, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote:
wrote:
I'm a longtime lurker here, but now I have a question I hope the group
can help me with. I am working toward my instrument rating (21 hours
so far), and want to use MSFS to practice (cheaply). I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude. The real plane is much much easier.

Absolutely the real aircraft is easier. You can feel the pressure against your
hand in the real airplane. MSFS has never duplicated that accurately.

I also noticed that
even when the scenery flies by smoothly (when I'm in VMC!) the
instruments seem to update at a slower rate. Not quite a slide show,

When I'm flying the sim IFR (which is 99% of the time... I fly a real airplane
when I want to see something), I have the sim set to fly solid IFR with 300 foot
ceilings at night. I waste very little resources on outside views.

FYI...I'm using the CH products USB Flight Sim yolk, and the CH USB
rudder pedals. The computer seems plenty fast enough with a 256MB
graphics card.

Yolks are the yellow parts of eggs; I think you mean the yoke. But I digress.
On the top of the left horn of that yoke is a vertical toggle; assign the trim
to that toggle so it's just like the electric trim in a Cherokee. Trim is
everything in getting your altitude hold under control.

You know, the first thing to go when you don't fly enough solid IFR is your
instrument scan. That's where the flight sim comes in very handy. I had been
out of flying for 15 years and then passed a IFR comp check with minimal
difficulty because I got my scan going with MSFS. I was all over the sky to
start with (in the sim) but by the time I climbed into a real airplane with a
CFII, my scan was sharp again. And the leading cause of difficulties in flying
IFR is a slow scan. You fixate on something while everything else is going to
hell in a handbasket.

--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com



I guess the yolk's on me! Indeed I am not trying to fly using the
yellow part of an egg.


I do have the trim set up the way you describe. I will also try
putting grease on the YOKE like you suggested in another post. I have
noticed that with the yoke at rest and everything in trim, the springs
never seem to return it to the exact same position after making an
control input. This just makes things harder. I can see where grease
may help.

I will keep up the good fight (at least it seems that way sometimes)
and see if I can quicken my scan, and never ever fixate.


Thanks for responding.

On Feb 13, 10:41 pm, "John R. Copeland"
wrote:
wrote in ooglegroups.com...
Hi All,

I'm a longtime lurker here, but now I have a question I hope the group
can help me with. I am working toward my instrument rating (21 hours
so far), and want to use MSFS to practice (cheaply). I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude. The real plane is much much easier. I also noticed that
even when the scenery flies by smoothly (when I'm in VMC!) the
instruments seem to update at a slower rate. Not quite a slide show,
but harder than it should be to control. I've tried fiddling with
the realism and sensitivity settings to no avail. I have noticed a
number of folks posting on this group use this simulator to maintain
proficiency, and I was just wondering how you have it set up.

FYI...I'm using the CH products USB Flight Sim yolk, and the CH USB
rudder pedals. The computer seems plenty fast enough with a 256MB
graphics card. Like I mentioned before, everything is very smooth
except for the instruments refreshing.

Thanks everyone!

Steve

Perhaps you're focusing on the wrong factors there, Steve.
Any training value of hobby-type simulators lies in practicing procedures,
and not in merely learning to control that simulated airplane.
Procedures-training is much more than just a video game.
Concentrate more on the procedures, less on the simulator.
As others said here, you'll have to accept imperfect simulation.

That said, though, it's smart to keep the simulated speeds and times
generally similar to those of the airplane you fly in real life.
You want those procedures to become comfortable habit patterns,
so they don't demand your undue attention as other things turn to worms.
After 21 IFR hours, I'm sure you know by now what that means. :-)

I was trying to use the simulator as both a procedures trainer, and to
help me with my scan and ability to precisely control an airplane by
reference to instruments alone. And yes I know all about things
turning into worms!

My biggest issue right now is that when (in a real airplane) I'm only
focusing on the instruments, things go very well. When I have to look
up a procedure or find an intersection and take my attention away from
the instruments: that's when the worms can come out of the ground!

Thanks for your time.

writes:

I'm a longtime lurker here, but now I have a question I hope the group
can help me with. I am working toward my instrument rating (21 hours
so far), and want to use MSFS to practice (cheaply). I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude. The real plane is much much easier.

Difficult in what way?

If you have an autopilot, use it. Flying by instruments concerns the
method(s) through which you obtain situational awareness, not the methods you
use to control the aircraft.

Trimming the aircraft is time-consuming in MSFS because it's hard to tell when
you have the trim just right. You can save time by using the autopilot to
hold altitude and set trim, at which point you can turn off the AP and fly by
hand, if you wish.

I also noticed that even when the scenery flies by smoothly (when I'm
in VMC!) the instruments seem to update at a slower rate.

To some extent, that depends on the aircraft model. There's a setting in MSFS
that controls gauge quality that might help. Add-ons sometimes have a
separate setting for gauge update speeds (which are independent of scenery
update speeds).

In any case, if you are using the simulator for instrument practice rather
than flying practice, frame rates are a bit less important, unless you are
taking off or landing.

Set the weather to a constant heavy fog, and frame rates should improve all
around.

The default aircraft on MSFS don't have the resolution of some add-ons, so you
may see them snap from one degree to the next on a dial, instead of moving
smoothly. Instruments such as those from Reality XP behave as smoothly as in
real life, but they cost extra (some aircraft include them).

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

writes:

While I'm practicing, I am in the clouds completely. No scenery at
all.

Make sure you turn all weather off except for low visibility at your altitude.
It's easier to generate and the sim will run faster that way.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mark Hansen writes:

Next, look into your graphics card. There may be upgraded drivers for
it that will improve the performance. If not, you may want to look into
a better graphics card.

Flight simulators (including MSFS) are normally CPU-bound, so a faster
graphics card may not make any difference.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

RN,

I almost forgot: be sure to lube the center shaft of that yoke with a little
bit of silicon grease and wiggle the controls around quite a bit before each
flight. The CH yoke has a tendency to catch otherwise, leading to jerky control
inputs.


That's a really good hint. Helps a lot.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

I do fine with
holding a heading, but I find it very difficult to maintain an
altitude.


That's not really what you can practice with MSFS. It's just not close
enough to the real thing.

What you CAN practice, is procedures. The whole timing, cockpit
organisation and everything. Figuring out hold entries, setting up
stuff, how much time is there from IAF to FAF to touchdown, those
things. You need to really sit down with the kneeboard and approach
charts. I wouldn't/didn't bother with radio work, since it is so
unrealistic.

If you do this with approached you actually use during training, that
helps quite a bit.

If you want the sim to be smoother, try dialing back on the graphics
settings. You don't need dynamic scenery, you don't need cloud detail
or scenery detail. That helps a lot.


--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)