At this year’s Redbird Migration Flight Training Conference, Redbird released its fifth annual State of Flight Training Survey. The report includes findings and analysis of the flight training industry based on input from some 1,400 flight training organization owners and managers, flight instructors, designated pilot examiners, active and prospective students, and certificated pilots.
Minor nitpick, Mark: that’s a commercial “certificate”, not a commercial “rating”. Not a big deal, everyone knows what you mean. Just pedantry from an old CFI.
Simulator training should constitue a far greater part of all training currucilums than it currently does. The FAA should not treat it as a concession but demand it as an integral portion of the training. Only in a simulator ( which should be liberally expanded to include structured development of MS and X-Plane platforms) can a studrnt be placed in situations where they truly run out of options or they see the actual consequences of mistakes in planning or airmanship
For the student who intends to make flying a career, I can see where a simulator has its place. For the recreational or weekend private pilot who may not get any more ratings/certificates and does the $200 hamburger flight on the weekend, I don’t see any benefit to simulation verses flying the airplane. When I got into flying it was for enjoyment, not as a living. I would not have gotten into flying at all if I had to spend time in a simulator. Although using a simulator can do scenarios in complex planes that would be dangerous in the airplane, I have found that simulators cost as much to operate as your typical complex single or multi-engine piston or turbine. If the industry doesn’t figure out how to attract that recreational flyer, at an affordable cost, eventually GA will die as we now know it.
I agree. I found simulator training back in the day about useless, it didn’t fly remotely like an actual airplane. Assuming we are talking IFR, the sensations of G-force, wind noise, and the fact a mistake could end the game forever made it HUGELY different than a computer game no matter how good the modeling is.
The simulators that actually would be useful probably cost more to buy and run than an actual airplane.
As so long as the simulator is realistic enough it can be a cheap way of learning the buttonology/switchology of a technically advanced aircraft. The G1000 requires a lot of knob twisting, button pressing, and menu diving to make full use out of it. Learning the basics of how to do that can be way cheaper on the ground when you aren’t having to also juggle flying the airplane and talking to ATC.
I urge you to look closely at programs like X-Plane 12. If effort is made to build scenarios that are detailed and immersive ( x-plane can integrate with Foreflight and NextRad weather and give random systems failures) you can place a student or an old pro into a situation where they really need to stretch their Aviation Decision Making muscles in ways unusual attitudes can’t. My home sim cost about $1200 all in.