sims and Keyboard flying

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

Hi all you potential pilots,

I have been looking at some of the threads about poeple that reckon simulators are crap.

My response to this is.
If you purchase a cheap simulator i.e A simulator without a reputation for realism also a supplied interface cable (for your specific radio) or dummy transmiter. Then you can not really expect the response or feel to be much like the real thing.

I have tried fms flight sim from the keyboard and I can tell you that if this is the sort of thing that you intend to do i.e use your keyboard to learn to fly rc helicopters. Then you are only cheating yourself out of the benefit of learning useing a simulator.

You need a rc radio and a suplied interface cable to learn properly. Or a dummy rc radio unit supplied with the simulator to get the full benefit from your chosen simulator. You also need a graphics card that can handle the frame rate. This will give you all the realism that you should need.

It's no wonder that some people are disgruntled with simulators if they have never been bothered to get a decent one in the first place.
A simulator can and will save you a fortune in replacement parts. I still use mine today to practice loops, roles, stall turns, inverted flying and even now learning the knife edge, piroet flips.
I crash every day practicing on my simulator and right from the day I bought it, Every time I crash I smile because I think of the money I would have lost if I where trying this for real.

I say this on my personal web page but I will say it again here.
If you are willing I will gladly allow you to use my simulator, if you can travel here. I would even go as far as picking you up from the railway station and spend a day teaching you on it. I can tell you it will save you the money in no time.
That's how much I believe in what I have said here.

Go for the transmiter type and learn for real.
Regards to all.
Darren.

[darren_uk]

Hi Daz,

Your thread reminded me of something: I went to the International Flight Exhibition a few years ago:

They had a helicopter simulator running on a PC - but what they were selling was the peripherals: cyclic, collective on the floor to the left of your chair, rudder pedals.

A pretty good setup!! I never got a chance to try it out, but boy, that would have been fantastic.

I only have a joystick on my PC, and although I can do an engine off landing in a real life JetRanger, I'm damned if I can do it on the simulator - the 2D screen and the small window onto the virtual world means I lose a lot of reference I'm using when I'm bringing a helicopter down after an engine failure in real life.