DOES FLYING SIMULATORS HELP YOU BECOME A PILOT?

BeefJack105

I Wanted to raise the question if the flight or air traffic simulators help improve aviation knowledge and could it benefit you in becoming a pilot?

for example, there's this game I've discovered called (snip, -mod edit), its basically air traffic control simulator. i've linked the trailer below, let me know your thoughts:

(snip, mod edit)

Brian "Panda" Choi

To a certain a degree, but not completely.  The terrorists of the 9/11 attack oddly enough trained partially on Mixrosoft Flight Simulator.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/i-was-a-victim-too-says-author-whose-flight-school-trained-911-terrorists/1187734  (here, two of the perpetrators bought the software for supposed training.


Please get proper, hands-on training if you're planning to fly any air vehicles.

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

They aren't a total substitute for actual experience, but they've been used as part of training for several decades now, especially for high-risk scenarios that would be impossible or unsafe to set up in reality.

Similar thing in a military infantry context with ArmA / VBS.

sacboi

During my term of enlistment, simulators were a prerequisite component, especially whilst undergoing IETs (Initial Employment Training) and too the best of my knowledge are still deployed today, across the board covering the four branches of service. They're primarily a cost effective means whereby servicemen/women are trained in accordance with their specific set of requirements or SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) prior too hands-on operation of various solid state military grade equipment, thereby mitigating program downtime that may arise either due to training mishaps, unserviceable componentry/parts or other as mentioned above.

Michael Knubben

Don't worry @Brian "Panda" Choi, I don't think they're planning to fly. I think they're just helping a friendly game developer out of the kindness of their heart.
That, and:

Unknown_Target

I'm building a realistic flight simulator right now.

But yes, they do help you learn how to fly. I was lucky enough to get my private pilot's license, and there is definitely a correlation. Microsoft Flight Simulator will help you practice the systems, and combat sims like IL-2 1946 will help you learn how to control the airplane. Flying a World War 2 fighter in a sim is about the same level of difficulty as flying a real trainer, IMO.

Sage

"Real" simulators do help teach the operator on how to say pilot a plane, fire a rifle or drive a tank for example. It's not until you actually do it that you learn to pilot the plane.

Larry

Sage said:

"Real" simulators do help teach the operator on how to say pilot a plane, fire a rifle or drive a tank for example. It's not until you actually do it that you learn to pilot the plane.

For shooting, i have been playing shoot em up games for a long time and when i went in the army, first real shooting i did were all in the center, best one in the military camp. The "controls" are different but the concept and the way of thinking is the same. So i believe if they have realistic scenarios in simulators, one CAN learn how to fly

Torch

I'm playing Goat Simulator for this exact reason

Easton

I would like to become a pilot and have over 800 hours in a sim with complex aircraft with every failure implemented you could think of.

You can learn how to fly nearly 100% by yourself, there are many people that could be tossed into a real 737 and start it from cold and land it 1000 miles away and also talk to ATC because they taught themselves how to fly.

The problem is regulation as with anything else. Regulation is what prohibits people from flying and to get certified it costs 10's of thousands of dollars  (I said screw it because of this). So yes you could learn it, and turn the education into hands on in the real world and the learning curve would only be stress and physically handling the aircraft or ATC controls.