Hi everyone,
I wanted to start a discussion about improving checkrides in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) to better match the player’s ability and reflect real-world flight training. Currently, many players are thrown into a set of generic tasks that may not align with their proficiency, which can be frustrating and less immersive. Moreover, the current checkrides mainly focus on pattern flying, and don’t offer much variety or progression in terms of difficulty. I believe we can improve this experience by tailoring checkrides to different skill levels and providing a variety of maneuvers, approaches, and landings that align with real-world operations.
Customizable Difficulty Levels for Maneuvers
To better align with player skills, I propose a customizable difficulty system for the checkrides. The idea would be to give players the option to select the difficulty of their checkride, ranging from Easy, Medium, and Hard levels, depending on their rating. This would make the experience more personalized and progressively challenging as the player improves.
How Different Pilot Ratings Can Be Tailored to Difficulty Levels
Here’s how Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels could alter the maneuvers, approaches, and landings required during checkrides for different pilot ratings in MSFS:
Private Pilot (PPL)
- Easy Difficulty: At this level, the checkride would focus solely on basic pattern work—flying in the traffic pattern and performing basic landings.
- Maneuvers: Basic straight-and-level flight, turns, climbs, and descents.
- Approaches: Simple VFR patterns with no significant weather challenges or obstacles.
- Landings: Standard landings .
- Medium Difficulty: This level would introduce more complexity and variability in in maneuvers.
- Maneuvers: Steep turns, power-on stalls, and emergency landing procedures (such as simulated engine failure).
- Approaches: Visual landings may be short field .
- Hard Difficulty: At this level, players are expected to handle challenging emergency scenarios .
- Maneuvers: Engine-out landings, advanced stall recoveries, and emergency procedures in varying phases of flight.
- Approaches: More complex visual approaches, short-field landings, and go-arounds in difficult situations.
Instrument Rating (IR)
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Easy Difficulty: The focus here would be on basic instrument flying skills, with easy conditions and low workload.
- Maneuvers: Basic straight-and-level flight, climbs, and descents using instruments.
- Approaches: A simple ILS approach or VOR approach under good weather conditions.
- Landings: Standard landings following an instrument approach, under visual conditions.
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Medium Difficulty: This difficulty would introduce more complexity, such as simulated weather conditions and additional instrument procedures.
- Maneuvers: Holding patterns, partial panel flying (simulating instrument failure), and emergency procedures.
- Approaches: A more challenging ILS approach or a non-precision approach like an NDB approach.
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Hard Difficulty: The hardest difficulty would require a high level of skill and handling multiple tasks simultaneously under challenging conditions.
- Maneuvers: Complex holding patterns, partial panel recovery, and responding to emergency situations like a simulated loss of instruments.
- Approaches: ILS approaches, missed approaches, and transitioning to another approach during an emergency.
- Landings: go-arounds, and a high-pressure landing with multiple failures.
Commercial Pilot (CPL)
- Easy Difficulty: This would focus on more refined basic skills but would still limit complexity to a manageable level.
- Maneuvers: Steep turns, lazy eights, power-off 180s, and emergency landing procedures in standard conditions.
- Approaches: ILS approach in clear skies with little wind, focusing on precision and speed control.
- Landings: Crosswind landings in light conditions and basic missed approach procedures.
- Medium Difficulty: At this level, commercial pilots should deal with more challenging situation.
- Maneuvers: Engine-out procedures at altitude, accelerated stalls, and power-on stalls.
- Approaches: ILS approaches with moderate crosswinds and missed approaches.
- Landings: Go-arounds due to traffic, short-field landings, and dealing with complex wind conditions.
- Hard Difficulty: This would be a high-level checkride, pushing a commercial pilot to handle emergencies and tough conditions in a busy environment.
- Maneuvers: Engine-out approaches with full power settings, precautionary landings, and instrument-only maneuvers.
- Approaches: More than one ILS approaches with high winds, go-arounds, and diversions to nearby airports due to simulated conditions.
- Landings: Crosswind landings with gusty winds, landing with reduced visibility, or night-time landings under IFR conditions.
Airline Transport Pilot (ATPL)
- Easy Difficulty: Even though the ATPL is advanced, an easier checkride would focus on fundamental skills for an experienced pilot.
- Maneuvers: Basic lazy eights, power-off 180s, and standard emergency landing procedures in a multi-engine aircraft.
- Approaches: ILS approach in good weather with light crosswinds and simple autopilot use.
- Landings: Crosswind landings in moderate conditions and standard go-arounds.
- Medium Difficulty: The ATPL checkride would become more challenging with multi-engine aircraft and more complex failures.
- Maneuvers: Engine-out procedures at altitude, holding patterns, and partial engine failures.
- Approaches: Autoland systems in a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320, and handling missed approaches and transitioning to other approaches.
- Landings: Landing under IFR conditions, handling go-arounds due to weather or other reasons, and performing precautionary landings.
- Hard Difficulty: The hardest difficulty level would push the limits of an ATPL-rated pilot, with emergencies and high-pressure scenarios.
- Maneuvers: Engine-out procedures in multi-engine aircraft, handling multiple instrument failures, and managing high-stress emergency scenarios.
- Approaches: Handling ILS approaches in rapidly changing weather, multiple missed approaches, and high-traffic airspace.
- Landings: rejected landings in low visibility, and highly complex landing scenarios with system failures.
By offering Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels for checkrides, we can provide a tailored progression experience in MSFS that mirrors real-world flight training. Easy difficulty would focus primarily on pattern work, allowing beginners to build confidence. As players move to Medium and Hard difficulties, they will face more complex maneuvers, approaches, and landings, just like in actual flight training. This would make the checkride experience in MSFS more realistic, challenging, and rewarding, while helping players develop their skills in a structured and progressive way.
I’d love to hear your thoughts—how do you think checkrides in MSFS could be improved to better cater to a pilot’s progression?
Happy flying! 