Unfortunately, I haven't had time to write while the process was going on - won't waste my time explaining why, but I'd like to take you through the process of preparing for my checkride after the mock checkride with my instructor.
The next step, as mentioned in my previous post, involved taking a mock checkride with the head instructor at the flight school I fly out of. The ground portion, consisting of several questions on airspace, weather, aircraft systems, and other subjects such as aerodynamics, took about 2 hours and I passed with flying colors.
Next came the flight portion, also known as the practical test, where my skills in actually piloting the bird were tested. I was put through a series of maneuvers - steep turns, S-turns about a line, turns around a point, power on (takeoff) and power off (landing) stalls - as well as different landings (short and soft field).
The maneuvers went relatively well and I passed that portion. However, a speed bump was hit during the process. In the manual written by the FAA for the actual checkride, stalls are able to be performed with either level wings or (essentially) 10 degrees of bank, the latter of which is obviously a bit tougher. On the mock checkride, I was asked to do a power on stall with 10 degrees of bank, which I had not previously practiced - my instructor and I had only done wings level stalls. Having never done this before, this meant that I would be practicing them with my instructor before the checkride.
Other than the stalls and a few other minor errors (not referencing the airport diagram after landing, missing a step in an emergency procedure, to name a couple), the ride went well and I was told by the instructor that I passed! On to the next...
In the stall practice with my regular instructor a week before the checkride, things didn't go as well as they previously had. For whatever reason, I was having trouble getting the hang of the power on stalls that day and nearly entered a spin (can be fatal) once or twice, but was able to recover on my own. After about 7 stalls, I finally had some of my confidence back, but it wasn't at the level that it had been at previously. As a result, I knew I'd have to go up another time before the checkride to make sure I was 100% confident in what I was doing, because you only get one chance at acing the maneuvers.
During the week between that flight and the checkride, I spent ample amounts of time preparing for the ground portion of the checkride - preparing my flight plan, knowing the all of the aircraft systems, etc - making sure that I wouldn't miss a beat when the time came.
The day before the checkride, I went up with my instructor once more and totally aced my stalls - felt totally comfortable and confident doing them. We also practiced ground reference maneuvers (S-turns, turns about a point) and emergency procedures as well - very confident there, too. I was finally 100% ready for my checkride!
In the next post, more to come on how the ride went!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Last Leg
Whether flying, driving, sailing - if there are stops or points as you go through your journey, the time spent traveling between stops can be considered a 'leg.' Believe it or not, the same can apply to my flight training 'journey.'
If one were to analyze my journey through this process of acquiring my pilot's license, it could easily be broken up into different legs:
**update**
'Passed' the ground with my instructor...on to the mock checkride with the head instructor!
Stay tuned
If one were to analyze my journey through this process of acquiring my pilot's license, it could easily be broken up into different legs:
- Training at the end of last summer (2014)
- Training over winter break
- Training over spring break (almost too short to even be considered a leg...)
- Training during this summer (2015)
If we were to analyze even further, the training this summer could be broken down even further:
- Completing my required training hours
- Checkride prep/checkride
After exactly a month of being home from school, and mainly flying one or two days per week because of work, that first sub-leg of the fourth leg of my journey is complete. From here on out, it's all about prepping for my checkride with a Designated Pilot Examiner, or DPE.
This prep will involve hours upon hours of study at home for the oral exam, as well as a small amount with my instructor to make sure I know everything. In terms of flights, I have two flights left at the very least; one with my instructor to put me through all the standard maneuvers/procedures, and if I pass that then I head on to the phase check flight (basically a mock checkride) with the head instructor.
Then if I pass the mock checkride, I'll be able to go up with the DPE for my official checkride.
It'll be a stressful process for sure, but one that I can't wait to finish - I know it'll be very rewarding in the end...
**update**
'Passed' the ground with my instructor...on to the mock checkride with the head instructor!
Stay tuned
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
It's Been A While...
I know it's been a almost 2 months since I last posted, but I'm glad to be back here writing. Spring semester of my sophomore year at college has thankfully come and gone, and I'm happy to be back home for the summer writing, working, and - most importantly - flying.
In the couple weeks since I've been home, I've been able to fly three times - mainly due to scheduling issues related to work, but everything has worked itself out.
Since I had last flown a couple months back in March, I had to go up with an instructor again to make sure that my flying was still sound. In those couple months, the airport that I usually fly out of (Clow Int'l - 1C5) has been temporarily closed for the summer. Clow is getting a huge facelift with a brand new, wider, better-lit runway which will definitely make landing amongst houses and a shopping center a bit easier.
With the runway closed at Clow, all operations have since been moved to the Lewis Univ. Airport (KLOT) 5 miles to the south. Lewis, unlike Clow, has two crossing runways - a NNE/SSW runway and an E/W runway - which make landing in crosswinds much easier than the one N/S runway at Clow.
My first flight with the instructor was very uneventful. Frankly, I thought that the high winds (12-18 knots, or 14-21 MPH) would make things a little more turbulent than normal, but there were hardly any bumps at all. We took off from Lewis and headed towards DuPage Airport (KDPA) for a touch-and-go. DuPage had a tower, which helped me brush up on my communication skills, and it was on the way to our next destination, DeKalb Municipal Airport (KDKB). While at DeKalb, we did another touch-and-go, and headed back to Lewis.
On the way back to Lewis, my instructor had me navigate direct to the Joliet VOR (JOT) to make sure that I could still track a VOR radial (more info on that from my earlier post HERE), which went well. He also had me practice an engine failure, where he pulled back on the throttle suddenly and I had to run through my "engine out procedures," shown below:
After that, we headed back to Lewis and concluded the flight. From this experience, I definitely learned a valuable skill that will come in handy when taking passengers up in the future, and I took in beautiful views as well.
The next flight involved getting certified by my primary instructor (who happened to be on vacation while I was flying the two previous times) for solo flight. Although I had done it before and accumulated approximately 9 hours worth of solo time, his endorsement for me to fly solo expires after 90 days, and that's just what happened to my last endorsement.
Before going up, he had me plan a cross-country flight from Lewis, which transitioned through the Chicago/Aurora (KARR) airspace, flew over DeKalb (KDKB), and into Chicago/Rockford Int'l (KRFD). Even though flights both ways were relatively smooth, we could see the forecasted puffy, white thunderclouds forming all around us. We knew that we would make it back to Lewis in time to beat out the storm, but at the same time it was spectacular to watch the storm grow around us. At the conclusion of the flight, I was finally certified to fly solo again.
In the couple weeks since I've been home, I've been able to fly three times - mainly due to scheduling issues related to work, but everything has worked itself out.
Since I had last flown a couple months back in March, I had to go up with an instructor again to make sure that my flying was still sound. In those couple months, the airport that I usually fly out of (Clow Int'l - 1C5) has been temporarily closed for the summer. Clow is getting a huge facelift with a brand new, wider, better-lit runway which will definitely make landing amongst houses and a shopping center a bit easier.
With the runway closed at Clow, all operations have since been moved to the Lewis Univ. Airport (KLOT) 5 miles to the south. Lewis, unlike Clow, has two crossing runways - a NNE/SSW runway and an E/W runway - which make landing in crosswinds much easier than the one N/S runway at Clow.
My first flight with the instructor was very uneventful. Frankly, I thought that the high winds (12-18 knots, or 14-21 MPH) would make things a little more turbulent than normal, but there were hardly any bumps at all. We took off from Lewis and headed towards DuPage Airport (KDPA) for a touch-and-go. DuPage had a tower, which helped me brush up on my communication skills, and it was on the way to our next destination, DeKalb Municipal Airport (KDKB). While at DeKalb, we did another touch-and-go, and headed back to Lewis.
On the way back to Lewis, my instructor had me navigate direct to the Joliet VOR (JOT) to make sure that I could still track a VOR radial (more info on that from my earlier post HERE), which went well. He also had me practice an engine failure, where he pulled back on the throttle suddenly and I had to run through my "engine out procedures," shown below:
- Pitch for best glide speed (68 knots)
- Fuel Shutoff Valve - ON (with the valve ON, fuel flows to the engine - interesting logic...)
- Fuel Tank Selector Valve - BOTH (fuel comes from both left and right tanks)
- Auxiliary Fuel Pump - ON
- Mixture - FULL RICH (makes sure that as much fuel is entering the engine as possible)
- Ignition Switch - BOTH (or START if propeller has stopped)
From there, there are different checklists based upon whether or not the engine starts back up or not, which I'll save you the reading of for now.
...In our case here, the engine obviously "restarted," since all my instructor did was cut back the power and not shut off the engine, and we carried on our way towards Lewis.
Landing at Lewis went well, like the others, and the flight as a whole was uneventful.
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| Just about level at 2,500 ft, cruising a little less than 120 knots over rural Illinois |
Once I have my license (knock on wood), I plan on taking some of my passengers in the Chicago area to see the lakefront and fly over the city. In order to know the ropes of flying the lakefront, I flew up the next day with an instructor to practice whats called a "lakefront transition."
From Lewis, we flew East-Northeast, being sure to stay south of Midway Airport and their traffic. In order to complete this transition, constant contact with Midway Tower is necessary, as you are flying through their airspace for most of the flight. Once we flew past Midway, we reached the lakefront at about 55th St, flew over the University of Chicago, and turned North along the lake. Just to give you an idea of how high up we were, we were flying at 1,700 ft above sea level, or about 1,000 ft above the ground - this meant that the Sears (Willis) Tower soared more than 700 ft above our plane.
After flying by downtown and seeing Soldier Field, Millenium Park, and Navy Pier from above, we continued North along the shore until we came to Northwestern University and the Bahai Temple in Evanston. If one was to drive from Lewis Univ. To Northwestern, it would take about an hour and a half. Flying, it took us a mere 23 minutes to travel between the two points.
After we reached Northwestern, we turned around and headed southbound along the lake back towards the city. This time, we weren't able to fly within 5 miles of the White Sox game (TFR, or temporary flight restriction) and had to head South about out a mile or two over the lake before heading West toward Midway again.
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| View through the propeller of Downtown Chicago from the North Side with Montrose Harbor to our immediate left |
On our way back West, we made a low approach over Midway (basically buzzing the field). We were about 150-200 ft above the field going 130 knots (150 MPH) with the field and the houses below us. Personally, I can't decide what was cooler though...landing at Midway at night, or buzzing the field Top Gun style (kinda).
After that, we headed back to Lewis and concluded the flight. From this experience, I definitely learned a valuable skill that will come in handy when taking passengers up in the future, and I took in beautiful views as well.
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The next flight involved getting certified by my primary instructor (who happened to be on vacation while I was flying the two previous times) for solo flight. Although I had done it before and accumulated approximately 9 hours worth of solo time, his endorsement for me to fly solo expires after 90 days, and that's just what happened to my last endorsement.
Before going up, he had me plan a cross-country flight from Lewis, which transitioned through the Chicago/Aurora (KARR) airspace, flew over DeKalb (KDKB), and into Chicago/Rockford Int'l (KRFD). Even though flights both ways were relatively smooth, we could see the forecasted puffy, white thunderclouds forming all around us. We knew that we would make it back to Lewis in time to beat out the storm, but at the same time it was spectacular to watch the storm grow around us. At the conclusion of the flight, I was finally certified to fly solo again.
As far as my training goes, I am almost at the end of the road. I hope to have my license by the end of the month, but we'll see how the weather and my work schedule hold up as the weather gets warmer and the days longer. Looking forward to when I can share more of my flying with you next time! Stay tuned...
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Spring Break Update
**Disclaimer: Wrote this a couple weeks back on my way back to school after spring break. Haven't been able to really publish until now because of school work...with that said, enjoy!**
Spring break 2015 has at last come and gone...and it's official! I completed my first solo cross-country flight. Before I was able to go on that flight though, I had to get checked out with my instructor first.
Early Saturday, we went up and practiced all of the required maneuvers, and they all went pretty well for my first time flying in two months. The only thing that I had a little trouble with was recovering from a stall, lowering the nose of the plane too much after the stall to try and gain airspeed to recover. In the process, I lost a bit more altitude than I should have and that's where I went awry. Don't worry though - after the initial stall recovery attempts, I completed the recoveries and was able to 'pass.'
After that early flight, I had some lunch and spent some time hanging around the airport, waiting for the winds to die down. As a student pilot, I have 'concrete' limits on things like wind, visibility, and cloud ceiling. The limits placed on me are 10 knots of headwind, 7 knots of crosswind, visibility of 8 miles, and cloud ceiling of 2,500 ft. On Saturday, the winds reported both at Valparaiso (VPZ) and Lewis University (LOT) were fluctuating just in and out of my limit range. At about 3:30, the winds fell within my limits both at Lewis and Valpo and I headed out!
My flight took me from Clow Airport (1C5) to Valparaiso/Porter County Municipal Airport (VPZ) in Northwest Indiana. The FAA regulations say that a cross-country flight is a flight that's over 50 nautical miles (straight line distance) one way from departure to destination. Thankfully, the straight line distance here is 52.6 miles - just far enough outside the limits where it'll work for me, and I won't waste my time going too far.
My route was not a straight line from 1C5 to VPZ for one main reason - I had to steer clear of the Chicago Midway airspace (the solid magenta rings). In order to avoid this, I headed along a more southerly route and overflew Lansing Municipal Airport (IGQ) and then headed direct to Valpo, By the time I actually got to Valpo, winds were very light (4 knots) and I had possibly my smoothest landing to date - flights both ways also had no turbulence, which made for an awesomely smooth ride. Very enjoyable.
Below are some pictures that I took while cruising over to VPZ...
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Southwest 737 crossing my path about 2,000 ft above and 1-2 miles away
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| Another view of the quarry, with I-94 cutting through the middle |
The rest of the week (Monday through Friday), I tried to schedule my longer cross country flight (which I needed to complete my 5 total cross country hours). However, Mother Nature didn't quite cooperate with me, as winds were almost always greater than 12 knots, sometimes gusting, which is well above my limits and therefore prohibited me from flying.
Saturday was a much different story. For the first time all week, winds were at 7 knots or below and the skies were crystal clear, which would have been perfect for some flying! Sadly, some others had the same idea that I did when I tried to schedule a Saturday time block, as almost all of the Saturday slots were already rented by other pilots. Even if I were able to get my flying in on Saturday, I'd be waiting until I got back from school for the summer to go on a checkride and officially get my license. While it's unfortunate, I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me this time and I'll just have to keep playing this waiting game.
In my next post, I'll talk about how the weather changed on me unexpectedly before landing back at 1C5 during that cross country flight to and from Valpo.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Back In The Saddle!
Very quick post today...
It's about that time! Spring break is finally here - definitely something that I've been looking forward to for these past few weeks. Not only does spring break mean getting to spend time with family or friends, but it also means (at least for me) that I get the chance to fly again, which I'm really pumped about!
A few days ago, the weather was looking promising for the weekend back home in Chicago so I decided to schedule some time to get back into the groove (and hopefully get my license while I'm at it!). As of now, I'm scheduled to go up with my instructor tomorrow from 10-12 and solo from 2-4. The reasoning behind flying with the instructor is that I can only go so long between flights before I need to be checked again. This means that tomorrow, I'll have to go through most, if not all, of the training points with him before I'm certified to do solo training flights again. If all goes according to plan from 10-12, I plan on getting some solo cross-country hours out of the way (5 needed for my license) in the afternoon block from 2-4. Very exciting!
Until then, I'll be sitting in the Albany, NY airport (where I'm currently typing this) waiting for my flight home and then spending time with my family later tonight before flying in the morning tomorrow. The weather frankly isn't looking promising for Monday, Tuesday, OR Wednesday of this upcoming week...so hopefully the forecasters are wrong and I'm able to get all of the flying I need to get this license! Keeping my spirits up about it - at the very least, I'll have a nice relaxing break spending time with my family.
Look for another post in a few days (hopefully) on the progress of my flying! Here's to hoping everything goes according to plan this week.
It's about that time! Spring break is finally here - definitely something that I've been looking forward to for these past few weeks. Not only does spring break mean getting to spend time with family or friends, but it also means (at least for me) that I get the chance to fly again, which I'm really pumped about!
A few days ago, the weather was looking promising for the weekend back home in Chicago so I decided to schedule some time to get back into the groove (and hopefully get my license while I'm at it!). As of now, I'm scheduled to go up with my instructor tomorrow from 10-12 and solo from 2-4. The reasoning behind flying with the instructor is that I can only go so long between flights before I need to be checked again. This means that tomorrow, I'll have to go through most, if not all, of the training points with him before I'm certified to do solo training flights again. If all goes according to plan from 10-12, I plan on getting some solo cross-country hours out of the way (5 needed for my license) in the afternoon block from 2-4. Very exciting!
Until then, I'll be sitting in the Albany, NY airport (where I'm currently typing this) waiting for my flight home and then spending time with my family later tonight before flying in the morning tomorrow. The weather frankly isn't looking promising for Monday, Tuesday, OR Wednesday of this upcoming week...so hopefully the forecasters are wrong and I'm able to get all of the flying I need to get this license! Keeping my spirits up about it - at the very least, I'll have a nice relaxing break spending time with my family.
Look for another post in a few days (hopefully) on the progress of my flying! Here's to hoping everything goes according to plan this week.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Coming Home, Coming Home
Growing up and traveling with family and/or friends, we've all had that one commercial airport we somewhat identify with, as it's where many of our journeys have started - a gateway to good times if you will. For me, that gateway is Chicago's Midway Airport (MDW). Yes, many of you in the Chicago area know that MDW is a Southwest Airlines haven, whisking people all over the country in their shiny blue 737's. However, many of you may have not seen any small planes like mine ever flying into MDW, yet it happens on a daily basis.
...In fact, I flew in there myself! During part of my training back in January, I had to complete a night 'cross-country' flight (greater than 100 miles round trip) with my instructor. We also had to make the flight about 2.2 hours in length in order to fulfill my time requirement as well. The flight was planned from Clow Airport, Bolingbrook, IL (1C5) to Starke County Airport, Knox, IN (OXI). Along our route, there were winds that pushed us there at about 150 MPH - about 40 MPH faster than usual. As a result, we got there earlier than normal.
While at OXI, we performed a 3-4 takeoffs and landings, again to meet the requirements for training. Something pretty interesting that I got to experience at OXI was the "Black Hole Effect." Around the airport, there is nothing but farmland, and at night, the only lights for a mile or so around are the relatively bright runway and approach lights. As you can see below, a Black Hole approach could result in landing below the glidepath and possibly crashing, which thankfully didn't happen in my case. Definitely glad that I got to experience this phenomena with an instructor before experiencing it myself.
On the way back to 1C5, those same winds that gave us a 40 MPH boost on the way there were slowing us down by 40 MPH on the way back. While on the way back, my instructor and I calculated our estimated time of arrival back to 1C5, which would put me short of the hours that I needed to complete my night training. It was then that we decided to have a little fun and see if we could stop at MDW on our way back. Even though it would be a small detour, it would not only be a lot of fun, but give us the sufficient amount of hours as well.
En route to MDW, we needed to tune the radio to the ATIS, or Automated Terminal Information System - basically a robotic voice that played the current weather and different runways in use, After that, when approximately 15 miles away from the airport, I called up the control tower. When calling, I had to state the registration number of my aircraft (N72662), the aircraft type (Cessna 172), our location and altitude (15 miles SE, 3000 ft), the current weather information that we had (information India), and our intentions (the option to either land or perform a touch-and-go). From there, he told me to stay at or below 2000 ft and assigned me what's called a squawk. A squawk is a 4 number code that we have to enter into our transponder on the plane so that we are visible to the controller on his radar.
As we continued on our way, getting lower and lower over the city, we were able to see all of the Southwest jets and other private jets taking off and seemingly heading straight for us before climbing up thousands of feet above us. As we got within about 5 miles of MDW, the controller told us to follow the approach path to fly straight over the airport at 1,500 ft. My instructor and I were excited to say the least, because we would be given a view of the airport that you don't regularly get. It was also when we got within 5 miles that the air began to get pretty turbulent. We were low enough where the winds that were deflecting off of the houses and buildings right below us were buffeting our plane around a decent, but very manageable, amount.
Believe it or not, it was incredibly hard to spot the airport from a couple miles out - I was actually very surprised...not sure how commercial pilots do it on a daily (or nightly??) basis. Personally, I blame the orange street lights used by the City of Chicago, but that's a rant for another day...
After flying over the field at 1,500 I made a relatively tight right turn to set myself up for final. We were assigned a touch-and-go on the runway parallel to what the big jets were using, so I had to be careful not to swing my turn out too close to their path. A private jet actually took off on the runway parallel to mine maybe 30 seconds before I landed, so the controller warned me of the wake turbulence as a result. Wake turbulence is what happens when vortices come off of plane's wings when they create lift - they actually have the power to flip smaller planes like mine and essentially drive them into the ground. After the touch-and-go, we headed directly back to 1C5 flying down I-55, literally and figuratively flying by the cars on the highway below.
Night flying, especially night flying into a busy commercial airport like MDW, is definitely something special, and something that can provide incredible views that not many other people get to experience. I can't wait until the day that I'm fully licensed so I can take my family and friends around at night, and hopefully into MDW and along the Chicago shoreline! I'd love to take any of you...
Hope you all enjoyed this post! Next week (3/21 - 3/28), I plan on (weather permitting) finishing my license while I'm on my spring break. More to come in the following days on the progress of that!
Happy flying!
...In fact, I flew in there myself! During part of my training back in January, I had to complete a night 'cross-country' flight (greater than 100 miles round trip) with my instructor. We also had to make the flight about 2.2 hours in length in order to fulfill my time requirement as well. The flight was planned from Clow Airport, Bolingbrook, IL (1C5) to Starke County Airport, Knox, IN (OXI). Along our route, there were winds that pushed us there at about 150 MPH - about 40 MPH faster than usual. As a result, we got there earlier than normal.
While at OXI, we performed a 3-4 takeoffs and landings, again to meet the requirements for training. Something pretty interesting that I got to experience at OXI was the "Black Hole Effect." Around the airport, there is nothing but farmland, and at night, the only lights for a mile or so around are the relatively bright runway and approach lights. As you can see below, a Black Hole approach could result in landing below the glidepath and possibly crashing, which thankfully didn't happen in my case. Definitely glad that I got to experience this phenomena with an instructor before experiencing it myself.
On the way back to 1C5, those same winds that gave us a 40 MPH boost on the way there were slowing us down by 40 MPH on the way back. While on the way back, my instructor and I calculated our estimated time of arrival back to 1C5, which would put me short of the hours that I needed to complete my night training. It was then that we decided to have a little fun and see if we could stop at MDW on our way back. Even though it would be a small detour, it would not only be a lot of fun, but give us the sufficient amount of hours as well.
En route to MDW, we needed to tune the radio to the ATIS, or Automated Terminal Information System - basically a robotic voice that played the current weather and different runways in use, After that, when approximately 15 miles away from the airport, I called up the control tower. When calling, I had to state the registration number of my aircraft (N72662), the aircraft type (Cessna 172), our location and altitude (15 miles SE, 3000 ft), the current weather information that we had (information India), and our intentions (the option to either land or perform a touch-and-go). From there, he told me to stay at or below 2000 ft and assigned me what's called a squawk. A squawk is a 4 number code that we have to enter into our transponder on the plane so that we are visible to the controller on his radar.
As we continued on our way, getting lower and lower over the city, we were able to see all of the Southwest jets and other private jets taking off and seemingly heading straight for us before climbing up thousands of feet above us. As we got within about 5 miles of MDW, the controller told us to follow the approach path to fly straight over the airport at 1,500 ft. My instructor and I were excited to say the least, because we would be given a view of the airport that you don't regularly get. It was also when we got within 5 miles that the air began to get pretty turbulent. We were low enough where the winds that were deflecting off of the houses and buildings right below us were buffeting our plane around a decent, but very manageable, amount.
Believe it or not, it was incredibly hard to spot the airport from a couple miles out - I was actually very surprised...not sure how commercial pilots do it on a daily (or nightly??) basis. Personally, I blame the orange street lights used by the City of Chicago, but that's a rant for another day...
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| Picture of the gate concourse area at MDW taken by my instructor. The two bright white lights above the two green lines are the wings of a taxiing Southwest 737 |
Night flying, especially night flying into a busy commercial airport like MDW, is definitely something special, and something that can provide incredible views that not many other people get to experience. I can't wait until the day that I'm fully licensed so I can take my family and friends around at night, and hopefully into MDW and along the Chicago shoreline! I'd love to take any of you...
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| Route of the Above Flight |
Hope you all enjoyed this post! Next week (3/21 - 3/28), I plan on (weather permitting) finishing my license while I'm on my spring break. More to come in the following days on the progress of that!
Happy flying!
Sunday, March 1, 2015
FSX
Video games - when I say the word, I'm sure many of you who are college-aged immediately think Xbox and PlayStation. Personally, I've never really gotten into either system, other than the occasional game of NCAA Football or Madden. During high school, when my desire for flying was arguably at it's lowest point, the only times I played video games were occasionally on the weekends. In the times before and after high school, however, I have played primarily with a flight simulator on my computer.
The particular flight sims I have had experience with are a few in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series: 2002, 2004, and FSX(released in 2006). I used FS2002 sparingly in grade school, playing more with FS2004 in that period of time. In the post-high school period, I've played with FSX almost exclusively on the PC that's part of my college's laptop program.
While FSX came out in 2006, there have been several third-party add-ons that are available online for purchase. There are some out there who have easily dropped thousands of dollars on add-on planes, scenery enhancements, etc. for the game. Myself? I've spent maybe a measly $100 (including the cost of the game and my joystick!).
The best part of FSX for me is that I'm able to familiarize myself with a lot of the systems of an aircraft that I may or may not fly someday. Almost all of the planes in the game are system-for-system, button-for-button, sound-for-sound, etc. which, in my opinion, makes the game extremely fun and realistic. More or less, FSX and its realism allow me to live out my aviation dreams in a virtual world. There's something about flying, even the virtual kind, that is just encapsulating and makes me want to come back for more each and every time.
Another neat feature about FSX is that I am able to simulate going in and out of real world airports in planes that may not be suitable for those airports. I'm also able to simulate extreme weather conditions and fly into them, whereas in real life that would never be possible. Below, I've uploaded a screen-capture video of one of my landings to showcase this. In the video, I am flying into Chicago Midway Airport in a Boeing 757-200 series aircraft. While 757's have been in and out of MDW before, the weather that I am landing in would result in a total ground stop at MDW - no planes in or out, no questions asked. In my opinion, that's what makes it so fun! Of course, this wouldn't be possible in the real world because it's too dangerous, but it also makes it extremely challenging, which is something that I definitely look for when I play FSX these days.
In addition to these weather simulations, there is also an Air Traffic Control (ATC) feature that is added in to FSX, which allows you to basically talk to robots using a series of preset commands programmed into the game. This system, while helpful at first, is not as similar to the real world as I would like.
Looking for a real-world ATC add-on one day, I came across something called VATSIM. VATSIM, or Virtual Air Traffic SIMulation, is a free online network which provides the realistic ATC I was looking for. On the network, people who want to fly their planes log on as pilots, and people who want to be air traffic controllers log on as controllers. Communications work by way of a chat box, or by voice. On my joystick, there's actually a push-to-talk button that I use whenever I want to speak on the network.
In using VATSIM, I have greatly improved my voice communications in the real world as well. VATSIM combined with FSX have provided a practice ground of sorts for my real world flying. In FSX I also fly a Cessna 172 that is almost button-for-button like the one that I fly in real life. While the feeling of flying it in the game is far different than the feeling of flying in real life, for obvious reasons, to say that it is incredibly helpful and a great training resource would be a huge understatement.
I hope this provided some insight in to the flight sim that I use and have come to really enjoy flying with over the years. In my next post, I'll talk about what it was like to actually land at Midway Airport in real life!
The particular flight sims I have had experience with are a few in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series: 2002, 2004, and FSX(released in 2006). I used FS2002 sparingly in grade school, playing more with FS2004 in that period of time. In the post-high school period, I've played with FSX almost exclusively on the PC that's part of my college's laptop program.
While FSX came out in 2006, there have been several third-party add-ons that are available online for purchase. There are some out there who have easily dropped thousands of dollars on add-on planes, scenery enhancements, etc. for the game. Myself? I've spent maybe a measly $100 (including the cost of the game and my joystick!).
CLICK HERE to see a YouTube video of just how realistic FSX can get...
The best part of FSX for me is that I'm able to familiarize myself with a lot of the systems of an aircraft that I may or may not fly someday. Almost all of the planes in the game are system-for-system, button-for-button, sound-for-sound, etc. which, in my opinion, makes the game extremely fun and realistic. More or less, FSX and its realism allow me to live out my aviation dreams in a virtual world. There's something about flying, even the virtual kind, that is just encapsulating and makes me want to come back for more each and every time.
Another neat feature about FSX is that I am able to simulate going in and out of real world airports in planes that may not be suitable for those airports. I'm also able to simulate extreme weather conditions and fly into them, whereas in real life that would never be possible. Below, I've uploaded a screen-capture video of one of my landings to showcase this. In the video, I am flying into Chicago Midway Airport in a Boeing 757-200 series aircraft. While 757's have been in and out of MDW before, the weather that I am landing in would result in a total ground stop at MDW - no planes in or out, no questions asked. In my opinion, that's what makes it so fun! Of course, this wouldn't be possible in the real world because it's too dangerous, but it also makes it extremely challenging, which is something that I definitely look for when I play FSX these days.
To give you an idea of the weather that I'm flying in here, the visibility is 1/16 of a mile, or 330 ft - basically the length of a football field - and I'm traveling at ~145 MPH (speed can be seen on the top display and dial to the left). At that speed, 330 ft is traveled in about 1.5 seconds - pretty dangerous.
In addition to these weather simulations, there is also an Air Traffic Control (ATC) feature that is added in to FSX, which allows you to basically talk to robots using a series of preset commands programmed into the game. This system, while helpful at first, is not as similar to the real world as I would like.
Looking for a real-world ATC add-on one day, I came across something called VATSIM. VATSIM, or Virtual Air Traffic SIMulation, is a free online network which provides the realistic ATC I was looking for. On the network, people who want to fly their planes log on as pilots, and people who want to be air traffic controllers log on as controllers. Communications work by way of a chat box, or by voice. On my joystick, there's actually a push-to-talk button that I use whenever I want to speak on the network.
In using VATSIM, I have greatly improved my voice communications in the real world as well. VATSIM combined with FSX have provided a practice ground of sorts for my real world flying. In FSX I also fly a Cessna 172 that is almost button-for-button like the one that I fly in real life. While the feeling of flying it in the game is far different than the feeling of flying in real life, for obvious reasons, to say that it is incredibly helpful and a great training resource would be a huge understatement.
I hope this provided some insight in to the flight sim that I use and have come to really enjoy flying with over the years. In my next post, I'll talk about what it was like to actually land at Midway Airport in real life!
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