Greetings!
So far, my flight style has been “early 1900’s” where if you had a plane, you hopped in and tried to fly it. Flight instruction was optional and licensing was still only a gleam in its daddy’s eye.
If you wrecked, you got a Darwin Award.
If you didn’t wreck, there’s always next time!
However, I would like to try learning to actually fly the plane the way it’s supposed to be done. Takeoffs, patterns, landings, navigation, the whole shebang. I want to be able to get into an airplane and not embarrass myself any more than absolutely necessary.
I have heard that the flight training that comes stock in MSFS isn’t worth the effort to click the mouse on it.
There are several different (payware, that’s not a problem) external add-ons that supposedly teach flying skills in MSFS.
Viz.: The search I followed that shows a whole bunch of training modules for MSFS.
Which, if any, are worth the time to download them?
Which, if any, do you recommend?
Which, if any, do you suggest I avoid like the plague they are?
Thanks!
VATSIM Authorized Training Organizations (ATO) are probably the closest thing to a “realistic flight school” you can get in flight simulators. Theyll have written exams, teach you basic procedures and sometimes you even get a real life person with real life flight experience teaching you. I’d say far superior than any payware flight training addon. Plus you get your VATSIM pilot ratings as an added bonus (for bragging rights).
They’ll teach you everything you need to know from single engine props up to big multi-engine tubeliners and even radio procedures with the added benefit of human interaction to practice.
And the best part: They’re at no cost to you except your time and energy!
Finally, there’s always Youtube tutorials
It is not an add-on, but here is a series I started on learning to fly. The video starts with basics of flight, engine starting, and gets into maneuvers that a student pilot would encounter. The series is a work in progress, but each video is taught to the same standard used back when I was a flight instructor teaching these concepts in the real world. First Flight Lesson Sneak Peek: Straight and Level, Climbs, Descents Turns, Adverse Yaw - YouTube
There are also several navigation videos on my channel that show how to fly VORs, NDBs, and almost every type of instrument approach. Many of those videos have a Navigraph map on the screen to show aircraft position during the video.
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Hi, not a training app, but there are a number of YouTube channels run by real CFIs and flight schools that could help out. I used these when I was studying:
- Cyndy Hollman: Classroom training but very useful and straightforward without any fluff. May be less useful unless you’re studying for an actual PPL because this is all in the classroom and not in a plane.
- Fly8MA: CFI turned airline pilot turned CFI. Nowadays does flying videos, but if you scroll backwards through their video feed, you’ll see that they posted a ton of instructional videos.
- MzeroA: Very popular online ground school. Not my favorite, but a lot of people like them.
- Rod Machado: What more can I say? He’s the man. Also good if you like dad jokes.
- Thrust Flight Academy: A physical brick-and-mortar ground school that puts up a lot of good educational content online.
And not flight training, but if you want to learn about weather, which is a hugely important part of being a pilot:
I would say this: Put away the A320 and the TBM for a while and start with naturally-aspirated prop aircraft and work through the basics. Use the above channels to help.
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I was hoping for something like the “Ron Macado” (sp?) lessons like there was in earlier sims.
I guess I’ll just have to fire up my copy of FSX.
FS Academy is a good start.
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FS Academy was really great, definitely helped my flying a ton and taught me a lot about IFR flying
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