Flight Simulator for Real Pilots

In article , Snowbird wrote:
I find it helpful. It is useful to set up different wind conditions,
instrument failures etc but it's most useful to me just for drilling
procedures. I use the same mneumonics checklists timer etc as I
do when I fly.

I still can't land MSFS worth a darn. Whatever sensory cues I use
to land, they aren't there in "as real as it gets".

On the subject of MSFS takeoffs and landings, I did an interesting
experiment a while ago with FS98 and the Cessna 182. My goal was to see
how recoverable total engine failures at 50-100' AGL were, depending on
the type of departure. I believe the results are reasonably reliable
(judging by reading NTSB reports).

In summary, the takeoff and climbout at Vx is almost unrecoverable in a
sudden engine stoppage below about 100 feet - even with a very quick
recovery, you don't have the energy to flare and you smash into the
runway. A quick recovery results in survivable crash forces - a delayed
recovery of the "magic two seconds" that supposedly is the delay that
most people have in reacting to a sudden engine stoppage results in what
I would expect to be a fatal or serious injury crash.

Going off on a tangent, I'm not so sure that the "two seconds reaction
time" is all that accurate for a properly trained pilot - I've had power
failures on takeoff, and my recovery action was instant. I had a launch
failure whilst taking a winch launch recently in a glider. When winch
launching, you are pitched up at about 50 degrees nose up, and any delay
in recovery will result in a stall (the recovery is immediately push the
stick ALL THE WAY forward until you are in an attitude a bit steeper
than normal glide, and wait until the airspeed reaches normal flying
speed, then recover to normal glide attitude). When the cable
backreleased at around 800 feet, I didn't waste *any* time shoving the
stick all the way forward. I've also had cases of a C-85 engine
momentarily stopping altogether at 40' AGL on normal climbout due to a
stuck valve - my recovery action was immediate and I landed on the
remaining runway.
In winch launching gliders, cable failures aren't all that uncommon, and
all the people I've witnessed suffering launch failures have taken
immediate recovery action (good job too, because one I saw recently at a
glider club over in the UK was at an altitude that any delay in recovery
would have resulted in a probable fatal crash).

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"