Somebody is already on it -
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Thanks to all commenters. Basically, since I donât fly in real life, and I cant seem to land MSFS aircraft worth a â â â â , Iâm just wondering if I should even try to get a pilots license at some point in my life or if itâs a lost cause from the get-go.
Itâs definitely not a lost cause. I know real pilots who canât land the sim to save their virtual lives. So much of what makes the sim difficult is the user experience and hardware setup, which wonât be a thing once you get in the plane with an instructor.
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There are some great videos on you to assist with you landings.
And IF you do want to get your PPL, a good CFI will show you how to landing properly.
OH and one more thingâŠ
Get in your favorite aircraft and just do pattern/circuit work. Take off and landings. I mean lots. If you have an hour you can get 10+ circuits in.
Practice practice practice.
Itâs how you get to Carnage Hall as well 
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Hello @CKSURFGIRL,
Itâs definitely not a lost cause! Keep in mind that if youâre pursuing a real pilotâs license, youâll have a flight instructor helping you every step of the way. You can complete the in-sim tutorials and watch dozens of flight sim instructional videos on YouTube, but none of that will ever be a substitute for real 1-on-1 guidance from a professional.
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Get a introduction lesson at a airfield/port nearby and you will experience yourself how easy flying can be.
Dont let the sim fool or discourage you.
On the other hand dont overestimate yourself as well after some simstick hours.
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If you have a suitable machine and can afford a VR headset, Iâd recommend flying in VR. It adds a whole other layer of realism to the experience.
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It was a really frustrating experience switching from a non FBW airplane (767) to a FBW one (A320).
Hand flying the A320 felt much more like playing Ace Combat than actual flying due to the bad FBW implemention and the lack of airplane feedback.
No fun and not satisfying at all.
If the approach has been rock steady, landing an airliner IRL and in the sim is really easy.
Due to the lower resolution, lack of detail and sharpness in VR, landing is noticeable easier for me in 2D.
honnestly they are the worst training Iâve seen in a long time.
Just the fact that its done at Sedona, on a high elevetad plateau, is very dumb
IMO better reinstall FSX to do some nice sim tutorials/training
[Moderator edit: please do not ping the Community Managers] tell the devs for msfs2024 to at least change the training airport to something easier
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Absolutely.
I used a VR headset (Quest 2) for a couple of months or so and flying the AC and landing was so much easier. The clarity wasnât great though on my system which is why I now sim in 2d.
Do you have it connected to PC wirelessly or, for any chang to Xbox ? 
Iâm looking forward to connect the Meta Quest 2 to the box 
Hello @CKSURFGIRL ,
Check out FlywithKay - YouTube for full flight real life videos. Also check out and follow along with the PMDG DC-6 Tutorial 1: Flight Deck Layout - YouTube videos if you own the PMDG DC-6. I found the DC-6 helpful when learning how to land better in big aircraft before that I was missing the point of the runway.
I just began flight training again after a 20+ year hiatus, and I was surprised to find that many things are indeed so much easier in real reality. Other things, however, will kick your â â â . I fly exclusively in VR, and mostly GA and bush planes. In real life I fly at an FBO out of Paine Field (KPAE). For the most part, I feel that the stick time in MSFS has really given me a leg up. I can practice flying the same types of planes (Piper Warrior, Cessna 172, etc.) in the same geographic area. MSFS can absolutely help you to gain visual familiarity, and practicing in the sim does seem to help keep your skills fresh. When I went up for my first couple of lessons, I already knew exactly where I was.
But real life has surprises. The last time I flew there was a bit of a crosswind (13 kts at 210), we were taking off on rwy 16L. As soon as the wheels left the ground, we got picked up by the crosswind very quickly, my instructor had to take the controls and apply hard right rudder. I was completely taken by surprise by this, as I was NOT ahead of the plane that day! Trimming the plane straight and level is, unsurprisingly, 100x easier since you have all of the actual real feedback at your fingertips. Being able to use your actual fingers to flip switches and turn knobs is of course much nicer and easier than using a mouse or VR controllers. Also, the engine and wind sounds, g-forces in the seat of your pants, are all very apparent. I was astounded at how unprepared I was when we started doing steep turns. I appreciate that the JustFlight Warrior is almost as difficult to do a decent steep turn as the IRL plane. Most of the other FS planes seem to hold altitude âtoo wellâ during a 45 degree bank, in my experience as soon as you get to 45 degrees youâll overbank and start losing altitude immediately.
Simulation:
- Lets you teleport to any location in the world, and have complete authority to change the weather and time of day, whenever you want.
- Lets you fly almost any plane you can imagine.
- Lets you walk away from crashes; just slew back into position and go!
- Practice engine-outs all the way to an actual emergency landing.
Reality:
- Very time-intensive and expensive.
- Lots of flight cancellations due to weather.
- Very much preparation and adherence to checklists, since itâs your actual safety and that of others.
- Engine-outs all the way to 500 agl, then you have to guess whether your emergency landing would have been a success.
- Total obsession with emergency procedures.
Seems like simulation is kind of a better deal sometimes!
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I had it connected by link cable to my PC 
CKSURFGIRL; Spend some time getting to grips with Autopilot, Localizer and glideslope. You will learn how to land perfectly. There are tutorials.
I think some aspects of landing are easier IRL, others are harder. Itâs hard to compare, really. Your instructor and you will figure it out and you will learn. I guarantee if you have the will and motivation (and funds) to pursue a PPL, you will get it and be a safe pilot.
If you end up doing it, donât be discouraged if it takes a while and many landings to finally get it. Itâs a very frustrating phase of flight training where you just go up and do landings and it seems hard to impossible in the beginning. Centerline, crosswinds, when to round out and flare, etc. Itâll get easier and some point it clicks and your landings get better. Better here means safe enough for you to solo
lol I still do have hope that it will be possible to connect it to the XboX as well as DOF Reality kit because unfortunately, my PC isnât good enough for that :<
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This thread highlights the differences between when you learn everything on your own, sim or real-life (and real-life youâre never legally doing that in an airplane, anyway, which leaves the sim).
There are a lot of things that go into flying an airplane and only part of it is understanding concepts, which you might gain from a video. But there are also deeper levels of learning (application and correlation) that are really easy to omit or get entirely wrong when you DIY. But the sim carries no penalty for that and more importantly, no real feedback as to what youâre doing (right or wrong), or deeper, specific explanations to the questions you might have, or strategies for overcoming the learning plateaus you might reach. So itâs possible to do all the things wrong in the sim and still have a decent outcome.
Contrast this to if/when youâre a real student pilot, you will have a qualified (and hopefully effective) CFI with you, teaching, but also observing and giving feedback. And all the things you did incorrectly, but still had an okay outcome, will hopefully be taught out of you before your luck runs out. So in that sense, real-life is easier, hopefully in large part due to the instruction a person is given. The instruction in the sim⊠just donât.
Going to the question directly, where the sim differs in an operational sense is the lack of spatial proprioception and kinesthetic sense - how does the aircraft movement and the control pressure feel. Situational awareness - how does the overall sight picture (including traffic) look. And the aforementioned lack of risk/consequences, which means that aeronautical decision making (ADM), which is a HUGE part of flight training, doesnât really matter.
As for some specific areas in the sim that make it harder to just fly the (sim) plane, compared to the real thing:
Ground handling (specifically weathervaning) is really bad. No seat-of the-pants sense, especially with vertical motion (like sink rate) and acceleration/deceleration. Lack of control pressures (which can be mitigated somewhat by a good setup) usually leading to overcontrolling. Some frustrating systems inconsistencies. Lots of trees or other obstructions in the approach clearance plane. Nonsensical ATC. No depth perception (unless you have good VR). No crew resource management (CRM).
Some things that make the sim easier, besides general no-risk for crashing:
Icing has little to no effect. Thunderstorms have little effect other than IMC. Both of those things right away will make many GA flight no-go from the planning stage. Lots of methods for integrated flight planning (and no risk for screwing it up) and navigational situational awareness. A lack of pattern traffic at smaller airports, well lack of low-level traffic in general. Nav lights that can be seen for several miles during the middle of the day, same thing for approach lights. Simplified systems operation. No failures or progressive wear (on most planes). No real effects of spatial disorientation. No adverse physiological effects (hypoxia, G forces, airsickness). The cockpit doesnât have to be hot/cold, smelly, or cramped. Itâs not as exhausting as controlling a real plane, especially when IMC. You donât have to preflight, file, or wait for other aircraft. Nighttime, turbulence, and/or IMC doesnât have to exist. No real external pressure to get there despite risks. No Brasher warnings. You can pause or put it on AP and go to the restroom, or get food/drink, or go to bed. Accessibility to aircraft and places that you may never get to fly in real life. The ability to experiment and try radical concepts. The relative cost and the associated feeling of âyou know, Iâd like to try that but I canât afford another .1 on the Hobbs today.â
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How does the overall experience of flying a real plane compare to that of using a flight simulator? In one word Is it so bad?