# Are PC Flight Sims of any real use to pilots **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853 "2007-10-07T16:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/21 "2007-10-08T06:00:28Z")
Are there any decent freebie flight sims out there? ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/22 "2007-10-08T06:24:58Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] Are there any decent freebie flight sims out there? [/QUOTE] Not that I know of, but FS2004 is quite cheap these days. Perhaps about $15-$20 used on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/23 "2007-10-08T08:22:14Z")
[QUOTE=PaulParkhead] Not that I know of, but FS2004 is quite cheap these days. Perhaps about $15-$20 used on Amazon. [/QUOTE] Ever so slight note: am I the only one who always downloads the WTC complex and puts it back in? It just…feels better somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/24 "2007-10-08T09:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] Are there any decent freebie flight sims out there? [/QUOTE] Google Earth has a built in flight sim that is fun but doesn’t have any instrumentation other than an airspeed and altitude readout. There are also online multiplayer combat flightsims that are free to download. I’ll try and find one. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/25 "2007-10-08T09:34:59Z")
[http://www.flightgear.org/](http://www.flightgear.org/) Open source flight sim for all major systems. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/26 "2007-10-08T09:55:48Z")
[http://www.hitechcreations.com/frameset1.html?../main.html](http://www.hitechcreations.com/frameset1.html?../main.html) Aces High, an online multiplayer WWII combat flight sim. Free to download and play offline. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/27 "2007-10-08T10:34:23Z")
I’m not a pilot, so I can’t speak with expertise, but I’d imagine there’s a lot you learn in the process of using a flight simulator extensively, particularly if you use the MS Flight Sim flight school features. You learn the principles of flight, how controls work, how to read instruments, how to navigate. Someone cool from the SDMB sent me old aviation maps a while back, and I used them to navigate in-game perfectly (the locations/frequencies/etc of real life beacons are accurately recreated in the game). The skill would completely transfer over into real life, I’d imagine. I would guess that someone with serious-minded experience with MS Flight sim wouldn’t have too much difficulty flying and landing a small plane if they needed to. From what I gather it isn’t all that difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/28 "2007-10-08T11:05:44Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] [http://www.hitechcreations.com/frameset1.html?../main.html](http://www.hitechcreations.com/frameset1.html?../main.html) Aces High, an online multiplayer WWII combat flight sim. Free to download and play offline. [/QUOTE] I used to play this. There were a good few real military pilots there. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/29 "2007-10-08T11:46:53Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] I used to play this. There were a good few real military pilots there. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I always got wasted. Most of them take it very seriously, and are very good. ---
**Author:** ![Hentzau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Hentzau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentzau)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/30 "2007-10-08T12:05:15Z")
Well, I’m a professional helicopter pilot - I’m on duty at the hospital right now - and I use MS Flight Sim. Not for zooming around game-style, but for instrument procedures. I always set it up for an overcast layer that starts at the decision height for whatever airport I’m trying to get to, so when the altitude bug on the HSI says that I should break out, there should be an airport appearing in front of me. MSFS also allows me to check my flight path after the practice, so that I can compare what I did to what the instrument approach plate says I should have done. It also allows me to drag my position relative to a fix, so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time flying back to something I want to practice. ---
**Author:** ![Hentzau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Hentzau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentzau)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/31 "2007-10-08T12:23:01Z")
Please don’t think that because you can fly the sim you can fly an aircraft. Your La-Z-boy is not subject to turbulence, nor will it go into a spin. You cannot Cntrl-C the laws of physics. The best you could expect from extensive sim experience is that you would be a quicker-than-average student, and for that I recommend it. In my experience as an instructor of helicopter pilots, I found that the most apt were heavy-equipment operators. They were used to making tiny movements of the hands that result in big changes. Second best were cops and ex-military. They did what I told them right now. The absolute worst were the engineers. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/32 "2007-10-08T12:28:12Z")
[QUOTE=Hentzau] You cannot Cntrl-C the laws of physics. [/QUOTE] This is witty. 😃 (For some reason, I hear it said in a Scottish accent, with the word ‘Captain’ added…) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853/33 "2007-10-08T17:12:18Z")
For those who hate the tunnel-vision in PC flight sims, check this out: [Flightsim.com review of Matrox Triple Head 2 Go adapter](http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds/main/review/th2go.htm) It uses your standard video card, so you can continue upgrading cards without losing your three monitors. It takes into account the bezel thickness of the monitors when stretching the image across all three. And apparently, it doesn’t hurt frame rates. $299 for the adapter, say $200/ea for three LCD monitors, and you’re in flight sim heaven. I’ll bet a game like Call of Duty or a driving game would be awesome with this setup as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pc-flight-sims-of-any-real-use-to-pilots/421853.md?page=1)