I’ve been simming since FS20 launched, and my tastes skew toward simple, small GA aircraft and vintage aircraft. Think bush planes and radial engines. I’ve been pretty bored lately though, which stems from overall fatigue with FS24, but that’s been discussed ad nauseam. I’m looking to explore new things.
I want to start flying IFR more, in turboprops and jets of all sizes. Thing is, I’m the kind of player lots of people probably hate. I plan on the world map and follow the magenta line, unless I’m in a wandering kind of mood. I know this has made me lazy when it comes to avionics.
What are good quality resources for learning the various avionics systems in the sim? Written guides, YouTube tutorials, I’ll take what I can get. I just want to learn new things. Any advice?
I’d pick one system and get to know it rather than jump around. What you learn will then lend an air of familiarity to the next system you take on.
You haven’t specified precisely what you want to fly, so it’s hard point you in a specific direction.
The Boeing FMC is pretty universal across their fleet. That is, what you learn in the 737 can easily translate (or at least feel very familiar) to the 777, for example.
This sort of thing is helpful:
The Garmin systems can look pretty different from one another, but their basic concepts are fairly similar, too. Knowledge of the GNS will serve to make learning a GTN easier. Concepts in the G1000 will make learning the G3000 easier. That series linked by @TomB9936 is good.
I don’t know what type of learner you are, but I am the sort to explore every menu and submenu just to see what is there. I check out the options and settings pages, too. All of these things I log in the back of my mind for future reference.
Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to some of us that you trust here. You can always send me a message and I’ll happily share what I know and help where I can.
This creator has excellent videos on a lot of aviation topics and has an entire playlist for avionics. He covers reading charts too. He doesn’t cover airliners or how to program an FMC but does cover in depth the G1000, GTN750, etc. and goes through how to fly approaches, IFR routes, etc
Kip on the Ground had a great series on the G1000 many years ago. The sim has been updated since then, but probably 95% of it is still valid.
The Corporate Pilot Dad did a few videos on the CJ4 and Longitude that were informative for the systems.
And Filbert Flies took me through some of the early days of learning some of the 2020 planes. He has a great video flying the CJ4 with the Working Title lead.
Again, these were all 2020 based, but are still applicable for 2024.
If you want to fly aircraft that are complicated enough to require their own type rating (in real life), my advice would be to choose only one to study at a time and really dive deep into its systems.
If you know very little about basic IFR flying (navigation, approaches, etc.) then you might want to learn about these first in an aircraft that does not require a huge amount of systems knowledge (think C-172) and then pick an advanced aircraft to learn all the ins and outs of.
Avionics sometimes is very intimidating and seems like you are having to learn “everything at once” but if you break down into smaller parts your knowledge will grow exponentially. You have received some very good advice so far and I wish you well on your journey…
I’m definitely the sort to poke around. Can’t really break anything in a simulator!
I may need to just sit down and pick one then, and branch out from there. It makes sense to do it that way instead of jumping between the different systems.
Anything with the Garmin G1000 is a good place to start (default Cessna, DA40, etc) but it can be a slight pain to operate due to its rotary controls. Moving up to the G3000 in something like the Vision Jet makes life a bit easier, but then you’re dealing with a faster plane and have less time to react/prep for many IFR procedures.
Even forgetting IFR and just getting comfortable with flight planning and the autopilot is a great place to start with them. Then slowly progress to approaches and ILS. Throw in a bit of vnav, etc. Lots you can do that lead up to proper IFR procedures that’ll help when you do start learning it properly.
Mate, I’ve been simming since “for windows 95” huge passion for flight simulator but only got into proper learning the fmc and what not like five years ago…
Massive learning curve from the fsx days of setting up a flight plan, clicking on the autopilot button and away you go…
Seriously man start with the defultA320 which is the easiest to learn.. do some of the flight planning in msfs and yeah…
I dont do any like tutorials but I have a few videos on fras444 on youtube on rough guides..
Once you learn in you’ve basically all but learnt them all and all have a similar flow and logic
What helped me most was separating two things that usually get mixed together: avionics operation and IFR procedure flow.
I would start with one aircraft only, ideally something with a G1000, and get comfortable with just a few basics first: building a simple route, loading an approach, using the autopilot properly, and understanding what the CDI / FMA are actually telling you.
Once that starts to feel normal, then add the IFR side piece by piece: departures, arrivals, approach activation, altitude constraints, and only after that move to faster or more complex aircraft. For me that was much less frustrating than trying to learn a full jet and full IFR logic at the same time.
It depends on what you’re trying to learn - are you asking about basic “steam” instruments and the physical concepts that drive them, or electronic panels and their various levels of integration?
Once you get past the “how these work” conceptual aspect, you’ll need to learn how to put them to use. You can break this down into at least three major blocks:
Basic attitude instrument flying, which is flying solely by reference to instruments. In this, you need to learn how to scan/cross-check and interpret instruments to be able to control the aircraft.
Navigation, which is how to get from one place to another using instruments, radio nav, GPS, etc
And Procedures, which is all the rules and regs that you’re bound to, including following various charts, communications, etc.
If you’re looking more toward the fundamental side of things, especially within the general aviation realm, I’m more than willing to demonstrate concepts in a livestream, which might be helpful if there are questions along the way.
I feel the Vision Jet is the perfect step in point. Because of the lack of rotary dials, and it being touchscreen entry, it holds your hand through inputting everything and you can figure out why you’re putting things in, rather than blindly following instructions
I’ve been thinking about how to tackle this, and the Vision Jet is on my shortlist, I love that thing. I was thinking of tackling the less convenient systems first so that the ultra-modern systems are that much easier to adapt to. I really like the P180, CJ4, and C90, which all use Proline, so I was thinking of starting with that and moving up to the G1000/3000 later. Does it make sense to do it that way?
Kip on the ground has some great ILS etc instructional videos for the vision jet - G3000. 4 or 5 of them and he explains everything very clearly - really good he is!
I think it can work, but only if you treat Proline as your one system for a while instead of trying to learn three aircraft at once just because they all use it.\n\nThe risky part is not really Proline itself, it is that the P180, CJ4 and C90 all fly quite differently, so it becomes easy to confuse aircraft handling with avionics learning. If it were me, I’d pick whichever of those you enjoy most, learn route entry, approach loading, autopilot modes and basic workflow in that one, and only then branch out.\n\nSo yes, Proline-first can make sense, but I’d still keep the same rule: one airplane first, then one avionics family, then expand.