FSFlyingSchool or FS Academy

Dear Sim fans,

As I can see there are two add ons that offers some training of basic and advanced aviation. FSFlyingSchool and FS Academy. I am little confused which one should I use. What do you suggest?
My goal is to conquer us much there is. Step by step. From basic flying of cessna and to A320. I can see FS Academy has extensive literature to download and separate exercises that you can buy. But I am not so familiar what FSFlyingSchool has to offer. What do you thing?

Best regards

1 Like

I was looking into this decision myself a couple of months back. Generally I’d say they offer very different things, so it depends a bit on what you’re looking for exactly.

Disclaimer: I currently own pretty much all FS Academy products (VFR, IFR, Jetliner) and have only trialed FSFlyingSchool, so I have a lot more knowledge about the former than the latter.

FS Academy are essentially training lessons where you get a voiced introduction and step by step guidance on what to do next and in which order. You basically have to perform the instructions and the lesson advances once you do. There’s also additional information for each lesson provided as PDF. I think those are freely available on the FS Academy webpage if you want to take a look. There’s no real grading on how well you did and you won’t get any kind of corrections if you mess up (apart from the lesson not advancing).

FSFlyingSchool on the other hand already assumes that you essentially know how to fly and what you need to do. There might be some ground school material in the documentation, I haven’t checked to be honest. But inside MSFS there are no step by step lessons. It’s essentially like an instructor sitting next to you and checking your actions. You get corrected if you forget to do something (for example, if you forget to check your flight controls before takeoff) and you’ll get voiced (and I assume graded) feedback on areas that you should improve upon.

If you already know all the basics of flying and want to perfect your actions I’d go for FSFlyingAcademy. If you want to start at the very beginning and want to have a step by step introduction how to properly fly VFR/IFR/Jetliners I’d go for FS Academy.

In that sense they complement each other very well, and I’m at a stage now where I’m considering getting FSFlyingSchool myself after having gone through most of the FS Academy lessons. If you’re unsure I’d say try the FSFlyingSchool demo first to get a better understanding how it works.

Hope this helps a bit.

6 Likes

Hi there, thanks very much for your comments and for sharing your experiences with FS Academy missions.

As an A320 captain, I have made VFR, IFR and Jetliner to mirror as much as possible a real training route from single engine props, instrument rating to Jets. With each pack accompanied by a deep ground school element, Its aimed to be a complete experience.

Updates coming soon to IFR and VFR to add full subtitles, on screen objectives and more.

You can get the manuals here for free, which includes tbe groundschool:

Happy landings

3 Likes

I think you mean FSFlyingSchool.

I’ve been using FSFlyingSchool for nearly a year now and it’s a fantastic tool. It helps me find areas that need improving and that I’ve overlooked as without it there’s no one to show you where you’re (becoming) sloppy.

I tried some of the lessons in FSAcademy but found them too rigid and staged. Climb to x feet, hold for y seconds, now climb to z feet, etc. It’s a very polished product, but is not dynamic in any way. This is where FSFlyingSchool really shines, as you can fly anywhere and have feedback, advice AND rating.

I think there is a place for both products. Hats off to both developers as they are top quality and cover functionality that’s missing from MSFS. If in doubt try the demos / free trials.

3 Likes

@LemonPizza49407 Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you’re enjoying FSFlyingSchool. This is exactly why we created FSFlyingSchool.

I’m sure @CrotchetyCoder was referring to FSFlyingSchool.

We always encourage people to try the free demo of FSFlyingSchool before purchasing as we stand by the quality of our product. We’ve been developing flight simulation add-ons for over 15 years, so understand the need for people to try before they buy.

1 Like

This is my first post after lingering on the forum for sometime and its certainly not the post I anticipated.
I purchased the FS Academy VR course because post on this forum said it was good.
Well sure the manual is grea lots of good information there, but the flying experience is terrible, very frustrating and I regret purchasing the course.

The MSFS 2020 basic trainings them selves being somewhat abbreviated are IMO still better. If you make a mistake, the instructions stops, returns you to the point of error or right to the beginning, this does not happen in the FS Academy course, you could go on for hours literally with no instructions to let you know you are doing it wrong. Frustrating. Take VR 04 New Zealand, there is nothing to orientate you to the Matamata airport and I have got turned around so many times, trying to maintain right speed, heading, altitude that I lose all sense, bearing and direction of the airport. Surely it can’t be that hard to actually put in location markers, or to advise to restart due to error.

This is not an encouraging course, I sorely regret this purchase and am frustrated that as new student sim pilot I cannot get the most or benefit from this course.

On the second VFR lesson, you can fly all the way to the East Coast of the UK before you even realize the mission is porked.

They should have a point that will cue the pilot to restart the mission instead of telling them to head 90 at however speed and altitude forever

@SmartQ6304 & @MSFSFLYER These are just some of the drawbacks to the mission technology, and why we wrote FSFlyingSchool as a separate program in order to have full control over how we monitor the pilot and the sim.

Also it enables us to offer a free demo, so you can try before you buy :slight_smile:

Hi there,

Just this week we have released v1.3 of FS Academy - VFR, which solves these issues and introduces on screen objectives and in game markers to help you avoid getting ‘porked’ in future.

You can read more on this new update here: www.fsacademy.co.uk/vfr

1 Like

Hi there,

Please download the latest version for VFR, which is v1.3. This was a major update and adds a ton of new features such as on screen objectives and in game markers, which will aid you in navigating the course.

This update is now available in all stores and you will find this much more to your liking, as the default IFR Navigation and Bush Flying official tutorials were also developed by FS Academy.

VFR was released to a great response, so I hope the new features point you in the right direction and reveal where you were going off course

Ok thank you for replying to my post. I am downloading the update and will give it a try later after work. I am glad I don’t have to abandon the course just yet.

Will provide feedback after I have tried the update.

If I could do it in the Mooney or Kodiak, I’d be game for it. I just can’t get the trim right on the C-152 with my setup. The plane is all over the palce. I want to have fun not fustration.

But thanks for the reply.

OK! So I’ve spent a couple of days doing the VFR training. Yes it is better, and thats bracketed better. Lessons 1-3 NP. VFR 4 still horrible. Once around the Matamata airport if you don’t get the instructions just right then you just going and going, getting told hold 1200ft until base turn, stick to this heading then all the signage for the airport disappears, now you’re left floundering more.

This is supposed to be fun, I am not having fun, this lesson is overly complicated for what its trying to teach. Perhaps chose a different airport, with proper runway markings that are visible from some distance out, a less squirrelly aeroplane, then you would not create so much anxiety for something that is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. If this is supposed to be teaching new folks to flying, I’m certain this is not how you do it.

I don’t have these issues with the built in MSFS basic training lessons, so am baffled why this gives me so much grief.

Honestly, at this point I can not in good faith or conscience recommend this course. I am going to abandon VFR 4 and see if I can continue with the other lessons, at least try and salvage something out of the other lessons.

Rant over!!

Hi there,

I’m glad you are seeing an improvement with your progress after getting the current version of VFR.

In terms of lesson 4, you need to perform an Overhead Join at Matamata, which has an associated diagram in the manual to show exactly what to do. This is then retold by your instructor inflight and shown on screen by the objectives panel and visual markers.

I could suggest that you read that section of the manual and make sure to have the objectives panel displayed, that way you get every possible form of direction available in the sim currently, plus the included diagrams.

The concepts in IFR, VFR and Jetliner are more complex and authentic than the default tutorials, as they are a more advanced level of flying, much more closely resembling the real flying lessons I went through for my PPL, IR, CPL and ATPL.

As with any complex subject, you’ll get there with practice and study, and will reap the rewards.

Get the manual here: www.fsacademy.co.uk/vfr

Sadly this is another limitation of the mission system, in that the mission is tied to a specific aircraft and also weather pre-set.

We felt constrained by this so created a dynamic, multi-sim program instead.

After spending some more time trimming, I realize its not your programs fault. I can’t keep level altitude manually in any of my planes. I had no issues with Xplane. IMO, the trimming in MSFS leaves a lot to be desired. I use the analog trim wheel on my CH Products Fighter Stick for trim and can’t get the sensitivity right.

What I would suggest and a question:

Make it so the missions advances if the ALT is 1300 to 1500 ft instead of 1400 ft. Give some room for error +/- 100 ft or so.

Also, what settings do I need to see the visual guidance? I have all my assistance turned off. What do I need to turn back on ?

Thanks

1 Like

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay in seeing your message, I do not regularly check this part of the forums.
All triggers use some degree of margin, usually the +/-100ft you mention, sometimes more or less depending on the situation.
If you have the latest version of VFR then visual markers will be displayed automatically.

Please see here for all the info on the FS ACADEMY range, including support here: www.fsacademy.co.uk

I wonder why they don’t make the mission system more powerful?

1 Like

I’ve tried both products and have found FS Academy best suited to my needs at the time (novice/new pilot). FSFlyingSchool (I tried the demo) left me frustrated with too much information and many ‘tips’ repeated even if I was already employing them at the time. I also found the interface very dated and confusing. I might return to the demo now given I have more skill based on the FS Academy product(s) (and lots of practice).
I found in FS Academy just one or two occasions where following the in-flight instructions did not seem to match the planned flight (e.g. turns seemed too early or late) - despite multiple attempts to follow the verbal instructions perfectly. Overall however I found the ‘missions’ extremely helpful. IFR was my favourite and I would love to see an IFR based version of their VOYAGER product. FS Academy documentation is great - it often goes beyond the actual flying lesson to teach you more about the topic in question. They are clear and easy to follow (although the flight plans in the VOYAGER manual did not always exactly match the NAV Log in the related MSFS flight).
My only significant frustration with FS Academy is that it has yet to employ the scoring system that MSFS training does. Using that would help me understand how close I was to flying really well vs managing not to fail.
I wish there were some helicopter and glider training add-ons out there - have not found any beyond what comes with MSFS.

3 Likes

Thats fantastic to hear. Thanks for posting your great feedback. Having gone through training myself to A320 captain I made all the packs to be as authentic as possible and I hoped that this would transfer well to the dimulation world. The reception has been tremendous and its great to hear, thank you.

David
FS ACADEMY

1 Like