Is an at home flight simulator worth it?
 

Hey guys,

I am getting ready to start my PPL training in the new 2 months. I currently am a Project Manager in the Construction industry. I plan on going career for flying. (Though I will have a better idea if this is really for me after my PPL and Instrument training).

My question is this: I will be working full time while doing all of my flight training. I am going to aim to fly at least 3 times per week, but do not know if that will always be feasible.

Do you guys think it is worth getting a good at home flight simulator to practice on? (Yoke, pedals, throttle, etc.) If I did, I would run Xplane 11 and have a triple monitor setup with a good computer.

I have heard conflicting opinions on this. Some say yes, some say no.

No.

Filler

No. Not for PPL.

IMO such devices can be useful for instrument training, but only to practice procedures and scan. And only AFTER you are well-trained by the CFI-I so you know what you should be practicing.

Otherwise anything you learn on a PC sim is going include a lot of wrong, and be hard to unlearn later.

Understood. Thanks for your input!

It's good for learning how the instruments work and for instrument navigation. Not very useful for private pilot training. It could be helpful for practicing procedures but as mentioned you'll want to wait until after you've gotten instruction from a CFI and you know exactly what to be practicing. You don't want to pick up bad habits.

^^this^^
I couldn't agree more. I run Xplane11 at home w/ Yoke, TQ & RP... fairly useless for PPL/VFR stuff but worth its weight in gold for Instrument training, practicing procedures & scan and shooting complicated or unfamiliar approaches etc., and can crank up the weather & turbulence for max difficulty (also, Foreflight syncs seamlessly w/Xplane). My recommendation would be to skip the money invested in three screens and just get one, and put that money into a higher-end graphics processor and extra RAM- Xplane gobbles up RAM, especially on more intricate simulations and w/max graphics settings or on 4K displays...

Thanks for the input. I found a company called X Force PC. They build custom PC's specifically geared towards running Xplane. If I were to get an at home flight sim, I would get the PC from them.

They have some different packages and what not you can choose from basic to advanced. ($$ to $$$$)

The intent would be that I would try to use the simulator to assist with my flight training not necessarily for PPL, but for the whole span on my flight training from PPL to CFI.

Again, instrument flying only. Do not try to practice visual manuevers, landings, etc on a PC.

Multi-million dollar full-motion airline sims are sort of OK for visual maneuvers and landings. Barely.

For a private pilot certificate, the home sim will be of limited use (if any). There is benefit to using them during your instrument training, but only if done carefully and with input from your instructor. It should only be used to practice and solidify what you already have learned during training. The problem is that you can get ahead of yourself if you are too eager. This will lead to negative learning which then has to be retrained properly by your instructor. Relearning something you initially taught yourself incorrectly can easily cost you 10x more in effort and cost as it's extremely difficult to rewire the brain once it has "learned" something.

Noted. I understand what you are saying. The same goes for my hobby... motocross. There are some guys out there that have learned bad habits and have weak foundations of riding. It is hard to relearn the "proper" way to do things once it has become ingrained. I'm sure the same can be said about anything really.... basketball, football, different professions, etc.