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#1
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Thanks everyone. Sounds like it is a go. For the joystick I'll
probably just spin by Fry's to check them out. The people here said the same thing as my friend's regarding the instrument scan (I've got a whole 5 hours of it during my PPL, I'm a pro already.....grin). Tracking VOR's is easy. ADF same. Will also help with ILS, HSI (none of the planes I flew had them) and other techniques. I'll let you know how it works on my 1.8 GHz laptop. thanks Gerald Gerald Sylvester wrote: I just got my PPL and heard from some ATP rated friends that using MS FS 2004 could help a bit for getting down some of the navigation techniques for IFR. I figure for $50 that is about 25 minutes in a IFR GPS equipped plane. What is the minimum equipment *really* required to use MS FS 2004? Right now I have a new Dell Latitude laptop. I have a mouse and that is about it. Joysticks? Foot pedals (cost?)? I don't want it to replace flight since I can just get in a real plane but I have heard from many people that it is quite good. I want it more for the instrument training. I have no idea about this since the last MS FS I had was back when I had an IBM PC jr. (no joke). replies will be directed to: rec.aviation.simulators. Gerald Sylvester |
#2
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If you just got your PPL, you might want to spend some time flying VFR
before jumping into the IFR training. From my experience, Flight Simulator can definitely help you with your navigation techniques, but it almost definitely will NOT significantly help you learn to precisely control the plane, regardless of whether you use a yoke or the keyboard. It's just not real enough. At least that's how it's been for me. Where it helped me most was with VOR tracking, holding patterns,and the like. When you read the books and see videos and all that, it kinda makes sense. But when you open up the Map view, and turn on the feature that draws the red line over your track, it makes a WHOLE lot of sense very quickly. The key is (IMHO), you first need to be able to keep the plane on heading and altitude without requiring too much attention before you can start also thinking about hold entries or approaches and following bouncing needles and reporting positions and such... Beyond that, for what it's worth, I wouldn't even worry about using 2004. I use 98 and it works great. But 2002 has some ATC communication built in I think, so that might be worth something. I don't really know about 2004, but MS generally has a policy of intentionally building new versions that are bigger and hungrier than previous versions just to force you to upgrade the computer and OS. So if you're not sure you have the minimum equipment, you might consider finding an older version on EBay or something. Just my 2 cents. Gerald Sylvester wrote in link.net: I just got my PPL and heard from some ATP rated friends that using MS FS 2004 could help a bit for getting down some of the navigation techniques for IFR. I figure for $50 that is about 25 minutes in a IFR GPS equipped plane. What is the minimum equipment *really* required to use MS FS 2004? Right now I have a new Dell Latitude laptop. I have a mouse and that is about it. Joysticks? Foot pedals (cost?)? I don't want it to replace flight since I can just get in a real plane but I have heard from many people that it is quite good. I want it more for the instrument training. I have no idea about this since the last MS FS I had was back when I had an IBM PC jr. (no joke). replies will be directed to: rec.aviation.simulators. Gerald Sylvester |
#3
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The only place that he would be welcome is : alt. family.tree.doesn't.fork
Dashi "An Metet" wrote in message ster... NOTE: This message was sent thru a mail2news gateway. No effort was made to verify the identity of the sender. -------------------------------------------------------- Speedbyrd squawked: Maybe YOU should. You're the one that seems to have the problems. Hiding behind a remailer. The Speedbyrd : Dude, you sure get around. First everyone killfiles you in alt.video.dvd, last week you get laughed out of alt.rec.guns, and now you're here. Keep trying, Dude. Maybe you'll find someplace that won't see you as a steaming turd that needs to be stepped over. |
#4
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Before I started flying for real, I was absolutely besotted with FS 2002.
But now that I've experienced the real thing, I almost never even fire it up anymore. My club has a nice sim setup, with a yoke and rudder pedals, and I have played with FS 2004 on that machine. Having rudder pedals is almost certainly a necessity for anyone who wants to fly it for training purposes. Witout pedals, it's really just an elaborate video game. Good luck! |
#5
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As a MS flight sim pilot for the past many years and revisions I can highly
recommend FS2004. Yes FS2002 is probably cheaper but i find that 2004 runs much better on equavelant hardware and includes much more realistic GPS units. Figure for the cost of less than 1 hour dual, you can fly holds and approaches until you're sick and with the new version you can even do it in "real" weather. (the sim updates the weather off the Internet.) Yes it's no replacement for real flying but it sure is cheaper and warmer than the real thing right now I use a MS force feedback joystick (twist the handle for rudder) and it's okay. I'd consider that to be a minimum (A joystick with twist rudder) Otherwise the sky's the limit. I've heard of some setups that take a whole room to run. Of course that's not necessary just to shoot approaches. my .02 worth, YMMV. Mike "Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message link.net... snip What is the minimum equipment *really* required to use MS FS 2004? Right now I have a new Dell Latitude laptop. I have a mouse and that is about it. Joysticks? Foot pedals (cost?)? I don't want it to replace flight since I can just get in a real plane but I have heard from many people that it is quite good. I want it more for the instrument training. snip |
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