Part I: Before You Take Off

In This Part

Chapter 1: What You Need to Use This Book

Chapter 2: Essential Resources on the Website

Chapter 3: Using PC-Based Simulations Effectively

Chapter 4: Scenario-Based Training for Virtual Aviators

Chapter 5: Choosing a PC-Based Simulation: X-Plane or FSX?

Chapter 6: A Quick Guide to X-Plane

Chapter 7: A Quick Guide to Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Chapter 1

What You Need to Use This Book

If you’re like most pilots, you enjoy gadgets — they’re one of aviation’s main attractions — and when you get serious about using a PC-based simulation to complement flight training or the hobby of virtual flying, it’s tempting to set up an elaborate home cockpit.

But aside from the desire to learn and a commitment to work through the lessons in this book in a logical sequence, here’s all you need to use this book effectively:

• X-Plane version 9 or Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX)
• A suitable computer with a single display, a basic joystick, and a mouse (a keyboard usually isn’t required after you start the simulation); even a laptop can suffice (see Figure 1-1)
• Web access to download the scenarios and background reading for the lessons
• A PDF reader, such as the free Adobe Reader, to read the FAA training handbooks, view charts, and use other resources that complement this book

Figure 1-1: The minimum required setup for X-Plane or FSX: a laptop, mouse, and joystick

Supported Flight Simulations

Pilots and flight simulation enthusiasts engage in passionate debates about the relative merits of X-Plane (see Figure 1-2) versus FSX (see Figure 1-3) — you’ll find a chapter devoted to the subject later in this book — but either product can be equally effective when used properly as a training tool.

The scenarios in this book are based on preset initial conditions — location, time of day, weather, and so forth — stored in files that you can open in either X-Plane or FSX. You can find separate sets of these scenarios for each simulation at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/flightsimulatortraining.

These scenarios assume a standard installation of either X-Plane or FSX, and they are based in the Pacific Northwest, a region presented well in both simulations. Enhanced scenery and features such as advanced navigation displays are not required.

Figure 1-2: X-Plane 9 package

Figure 1-3: FSX package

Both X-Plane and FSX include sets of supplied aircraft, and except for some advanced lessons, the scenarios in this book use the Cessna 172 Skyhawk (see Figure 1-4), which has long been the most popular training and personal aircraft in the world.

Figure 1-4: Cessna 172 Skyhawk

Photo courtesy of Cessna Aircraft Company

X-Plane

If you use X-Plane, the lessons in this book require X-Plane Situations (.sit files) created in X-Plane 9, the latest version available when this book was in production.

The Situations have not been tested in earlier versions of X-Plane or in X-Plane 10, which is scheduled for release in late 2011.

You can learn about and order X-Plane at the product’s website, at www.x-plane.com. Links are also available at this book’s website.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX)

If you use Microsoft Flight Simulator, the lessons in this book are based on Flights (.flt, .wx, and .fssave files) created in FSX.

Microsoft changed the format of the .flt and .wx files after Flight Simulator 2004, so the Flights provided on this book’s website will not work with versions earlier than FSX.

You can learn about and order FSX at the product’s website at www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulatorx/. Links are also available at this book’s website.

Microsoft Flight

Microsoft announced the successor to FSX, “Microsoft Flight” (“simulator” is not part of the new title) on August 31, 2010. According to the company’s announcement, Microsoft Flight is “inspired by the best-selling Flight Simulator,” but few details about the scope and features of Microsoft Flight were available as this book was being finalized in the summer of 2011.

It may be possible to use the FSX Flights (the .flt, .wx, and .fssave files available at this book’s website) with Microsoft Flight, but you may find that the scenery, database of navigation aids, cockpit instrumentation, and other details in the new game do not support all of the goals of the scenarios.

For the latest official information about Microsoft Flight, visit the product’s website. A link is available at this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/flightsimulatortraining.

Computer and Accessories

One of the most common questions about using PC-based simulations is “What kind of computer do I need?”

The short answers are as follows:

• For X-Plane, a suitable computer running Windows, or a Mac (OS X version 10.4 or later); X-Plane also runs under Linux
• For FSX, a suitable computer running Windows (XP SP1 through Windows 7)

You can find the latest minimum system specifications at the websites for each product.

Of course, the minimum processor and system memory requirements listed by the manufacturers are just that — minimums. More speed and memory are always preferable. For example, in 2006, Microsoft recommended the following specifications for a good experience with FSX, shown in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1: FSX Recommended System

FSInsider.com: Optimizing Visuals and Performance

Those specifications also exceed the minimum requirements for X-Plane and should deliver good performance with that simulation.

Because the scenarios in this book don’t require add-ons or depend on high-definition scenery, you can probably get by with a recent mid-range system. Most computers made in the last three years or so are sufficiently powerful, provided, most crucially, that they include a separate graphics processor (video card) that supports DirectX 9 or later (if you run Windows). Many new high-performance laptops intended for playing games and enjoying multimedia are also suitable for running PC-based flight simulations.

If you’re shopping for a new computer, look for a model that is designed for games, entertainment, or graphics-intensive applications such as video editing. Bargain-priced computers often don’t include dedicated video cards, and they may skimp on system memory (RAM).

Because development of new computers and components such as video cards continues apace, it’s impossible for a book to offer definitive, up-to-the-moment advice about the latest hardware. To get help equipping and tweaking your computer for optimum performance, visit the enthusiast websites, forums, and other online resources for each simulation noted at this book’s website.

Joysticks and Flight Yokes

The focus of the scenarios in this book isn’t developing “stick and rudder” skills that prepare you adequately to take the controls of a real airplane. As explained in Chapter 3, developing and honing the muscle memories required to fly an airplane precisely and smoothly requires practice in a real airplane under the guidance of a qualified instructor. Simply put, PC-based simulations can’t provide all of the visual and motion (kinesthetic) cues and control responses necessary to develop a pilot’s feel for flying, especially as you begin flight training.

Nevertheless, all that’s required for the purposes of this book is a joystick (see Figure 1-5) or a yoke (see Figure 1-6) that provides an intuitive, fundamentally correct way to control the virtual airplane — its pitch and roll (and optionally, yaw). It’s also helpful to have a lever for the throttle, and switches and knobs to operate elevator trim, flaps, and other secondary aircraft controls and systems.

Figure 1-5: Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick

Fortunately, most joysticks and flight yokes available today offer those features, and current models connect to your computer via a standard USB port. The choice of which joystick or yoke to use is entirely up to you. Many models are available from such manufacturers as CH Products, Saitek, Logitech, and Thrustmaster. You can find links to the manufacturers at this book’s website.

Some virtual pilots insist on using a flight yoke, not a joystick, because most civilian training and personal aircraft made since the 1950s feature primary controls that resemble the steering wheels in cars. But many new airplanes, such as the Cirrus SR models and the Cessna Corvalis and Skycatcher series, are equipped with side-stick or hybrid controls that are neither pure yokes nor joysticks (see Figure 1-7).

Figure 1-6: CH Products Eclipse Yoke

Figure 1-7: Side-stick control in a Cirrus SR22.

Pilots, even those with many years of experience with conventional flight yokes, quickly adapt to the new controls, and soon the mechanism used to bank the wings and raise or lower the nose becomes irrelevant. That experience also applies to joysticks and yokes used with PC-based simulations.

I suggest you try various joysticks and yokes and then choose the model that you find the most comfortable and the easiest to use — and the best fit for your budget. It’s also important to consider how you use your computer. A joystick, small and easy to put aside, may be the best option if you have limited space and often switch from flying to email and other tasks. If you dedicate a computer to virtual flying, attaching a yoke to your computer desk may be the better setup.

Rudder Pedals and Radio Stacks

Virtual pilots often want to equip their home cockpits with rudder pedals and separate consoles to simulate radios and other systems. Those components are important if you want to earn FAA approval for a flight training device (FTD), but they aren’t necessary for using the scenarios effectively.

However, if you can’t suspend your disbelief and enjoy virtual flying without those accessories, you can find links to manufacturers at this book’s website.

Mouse with Scroll Wheel

A mouse is essential, regardless of whether you use a joystick or a yoke bristling with buttons and levers. You can use a mouse like your hand to operate naturally and realistically many on-screen cockpit controls — including heading and course selectors; radio-tuning knobs; and the throttle, flap, and trim controls. Any standard mouse equipped with two buttons and a wheel will suffice.

Multiple Displays

The view from your virtual cockpit may sometimes seem crowded or limited. Computer displays have become less cumbersome (and cheaper) and many recent video cards support multiple monitors. If you find it helpful to expand your virtual field of view by adding a second (or even three or four displays) to your system, you can configure X-Plane or FSX to display inside and outside views and other features, such as radios and accessories, on different monitors.

However, multiple displays aren’t necessary to use the scenarios effectively; and like rudder pedals and separate consoles for radios and other controls, multiple monitors add to the complexity, cost, and everyday utility of your virtual cockpit.

Additional Software and Web Access

X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator have inspired developers all over the world to enhance the basic simulations. You can download thousands of aircraft; enhanced scenery; interactive air traffic control; and specialized avionics that emulate specific models of GPS navigators, autopilots, and the like. Other products support virtual flying with others online or enhance the use of PC-based simulations as training tools. Some add-ons are free; others are sold as supplemental products.

As noted earlier, no add-ons are required to fly the scenarios in the private pilot and instrument rating courses in this book. You’re free, of course, to enhance your virtual flying with as many options as you like. You can find links to information about add-ons at the website for this book.

Glass Cockpits and Flying RNAV (GPS) Procedures

New and recently updated aircraft are typically equipped with electronic flight displays — so-called glass cockpits (see Figure 1-8). Older aircraft are often updated with a GPS receiver and moving map, because GPS has become increasingly important in real-world instrument flying for all phases of flight.

You can find glass cockpit and GPS add-ons for both X-Plane and FSX that can help you learn about this new technology, but those supplements aren’t necessary for the scenarios in this book, which focuses on fundamental knowledge and skills that apply regardless of whether you fly an aircraft with conventional instruments or the latest touch-screen, flat-panel displays.

Figure 1-8: Garmin G1000 system in a late-model Cessna 172 Skyhawk

Photo courtesy of Cessna Aircraft Company

In addition, the cockpits in the basic versions of X-Plane and FSX rely on conventional instruments — “steam gauges,” as they’re known to pilots (see Figures 1-9 and 1-10). Accurately rendering the latest flat-panel cockpit displays and emulating all of their functions usually requires multiple computers and several large displays, a setup that defeats one of the primary purposes of this book.

Figure 1-9: Default Cessna 172 Skyhawk instrument panel in X-Plane 9

Figure 1-10: Default Cessna 172 Skyhawk instrument panel in FSX

For similar reasons, details about using specific IFR-approved, GPS-based navigation systems, especially when flying the latest RNAV (GPS) approaches, are beyond the scope of this book.

The GPS in the consumer version of X-Plane 9 supports only basic GPS functions. The emulation of the Garmin GNS500 series navigation system in FSX is more detailed, but it does not include a current database of procedures, and you can’t use it to practice the latest instrument approaches, which are based on the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).

To fly the latest GPS (RNAV) procedures, you need one or more add-ons for X-Plane or FSX. Options include the RealityXP GNS430W/GNS530W accessories (for either X-Plane or FSX) and the G1000 and Avidyne add-ons from Flight1Aviation Technologies that work with FSX.

For more information about add-ons for X-Plane and FSX, see the links on the book’s website.

Virtual Flying with Others

Finally, you may want to share your virtual cockpit with fellow aviators or mentors. Both X-Plane and FSX enable you to connect with others over the Internet or a local network, but this capability isn’t required to fly the scenarios described in this book.

You can find links to information about sharing your cockpit at each simulation’s website. To learn more about interactive ATC services such as VATSIM and PilotEdge, see the links at the website for this book at www.wiley.com/go/flightsimulatortraing.

Chapter 2

Essential Resources on the Website

The website for this book, www.wiley.com/go/flightsimulatortraining, is an essential complement to the text. It’s home to:

• Additional resources that help you set up, learn about, enjoy, and customize X-Plane and FSX
• Situation and Flight files that help you use X-Plane and FSX effectively and efficiently with the scenarios in this book
• Resources, including official FAA pilot-training handbooks, that provide the background knowledge required to prepare for and complete each lesson
• Charts that help you plan and complete each virtual flight

Additional Resources for X-Plane and FSX

As noted earlier, this book isn’t a detailed user guide for X-Plane or FSX, and neither the author nor the publisher can provide technical support for the simulations; add-on aircraft and features; or flight yokes, joysticks, and other accessories.

That said, this book’s website is a good place to start if you have questions about either simulation. It includes links to the websites for X-Plane and FSX, and developers of add-on products for X-Plane and FSX.

The official websites for the products include documentation, tips, links to technical support, and other information that can help you set up and use X-Plane and FSX (see Figures 2-1 and 2-2). They’re the best and most current sources of reliable information about each simulation.

Figure 2-1: X-Plane support page

Figure 2-2: FSX Learning Center page

If you have specific questions about, or problems with, joysticks and other devices or with add-on aircraft, scenery, or features, visit the websites of the manufacturers and developers of those accessories. These websites provide software updates, current documentation, support forums, and other useful information.

You can also often get help and advice from the worldwide communities of X-Plane and FSX users. Links to popular forums are available at this book’s website.

Scenarios

The scenarios for the lessons described later in this book depend on Situations (.sit files for X-Plane) and Flights (.flt, .wx, and .fssave files for FSX). The files for each simulation are collected in .zip files on the website.

The Situations and Flights establish the starting conditions for each lesson (aircraft type, location, weather, and so forth). For more information about copying the appropriate files to your computer, see Chapter 10.

Resources for Further Learning

You can find many comprehensive guides to the knowledge and flying skills required to earn a private pilot certificate or instrument rating. Those books and interactive training programs suit a variety of learning styles and vary in price from around $40 to several hundred dollars.

Instead of rewriting or recapitulating that large body of work, however, this book relies on a range of texts and other resources that are both authoritative and a terrific value — they’re free downloads available from the FAA and other sources on the web.

FAA Training Handbooks

The FAA training handbooks and references listed below provide the essential background for each lesson. They are the same guides that flight instructors and students use during training, and they’re the definitive texts that pilot examiners and FAA inspectors rely on when conducting flight tests (see Figure 2-3).

Figure 2-3: Essential FAA handbooks

The following handbooks and manuals, available in PDF format on this book’s website, were current as of summer 2011:

• Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25A)
• Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3A)
• Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15A)
• Instrument Procedures Handbook (FAA-H-8261-1A)
• Advanced Avionics Handbook (FAA-H-8083-6)
• NACO Aeronautical Chart User’s Guide
• Aviation Weather (AC 00-6A)
• Aviation Weather Services (AC 00-45G CHG1)
• Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2)
• Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM)
• Pilot/Controller Glossary (P/CG)
• FAA Practical Test Standards — Private Pilot SEL (FAA-S-14A with Change 1)
• FAA Practical Test Standards — Instrument Rating Airplane SEL (FAA-S-8081-4E with Changes 1 and 2)

You can search for the latest editions of these books and other publications, such as the bi-monthly magazine FAA Safety Briefing, on the FAA website, www.faa.gov.

Note that most of the handbooks contain glossaries of aviation terms. The glossary at the end of this book defines key phrases; for comprehensive lists and definitions, you should check the glossaries in the individual handbooks.

FITS

This book’s website hosts the complete versions of the generic FAA-Industry Training Standards syllabi (see Figure 2-4) on which the lessons are based:

• FITS Generic Private Airplane Single Engine Land Syllabus
• FITS Generic Instrument-Airplane Single Engine Rating Syllabus

You can find the latest versions of these syllabi and supporting FITS documents at the FAA-Industry Training Standards website, which you can link to from this book’s website at www.wiley.com/go/flightsimulatortraining.

Figure 2-4: FITS logo

For more information about FITS, see Chapter 9.

Additional Free Resources

Several organizations devoted to promoting and supporting aviation offer free training and safety aids that you can download or use on the web. Most of the lessons that follow in this book include references to these resources.

Some of the best offerings are available from the AOPA Air Safety Institute (see Figure 2-5). Materials at the ASI include:

Figure 2-5: AOPA Air Safety Institute logo

• Safety Advisors and related publications on a wide range of topics (see Figure 2-6)
• Interactive courses
• Current and back issues of Flight Training magazine, published by AOPA
• Videos from AOPA Live

Figure 2-6: AOPA ASI Safety Advisors

You’ll also find links at this book’s website to user guides and other documentation available from avionics manufacturers and developers of add-on features for X-Plane and FSX.

Charts

The sample charts printed in this book and available via links on the website are based on the editions published by FAA AeroNav Products. They were current as of the summer of 2011. The charts, in PDF format, include:

• Seattle Sectional South
• Seattle Sectional North (see Figure 2-7)
• Seattle Terminal Area Chart
• Low-altitude en route chart 1
• Low-altitude en route chart 2
• Low-altitude en route chart 11
• Low-altitude en route chart 12
• Low-altitude en route chart 13
• Low-altitude en route chart 14

Figure 2-7: Excerpt from the Seattle sectional chart

The sectional charts and terminal area chart are basic navigation tools for pilots operating under visual flight rules (VFR). The low-altitude en route charts are used when flying under instrument flight rules (IFR).

The website also includes PDF versions of airport diagrams, excerpts from the official Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD), and instrument procedure charts.

You can download or view the latest editions of these charts and airport information from several sources on the web. The NACO Aeronautical Chart User’s Guide, included among the FAA handbooks available on this book’s website, explains the symbols and terms used on aviation charts.

Online Charts and Flight Planning

Sometimes it’s convenient to use online charts that you can view in a web browser. Several websites offer charts that also support basic interactive flight-planning. For example, you can draw courses and estimate distances and flight times (see Figure 2-8). Good sources for online charts and detailed information about airports and navigation aids include:

• http://SkyVector.com
• http://RunwayFinder.com
• http://Airnav.com
• http://AvCharts.com

Figure 2-8: Course plotted on a chart at SkyVector

Many of the lessons that follow recommend that you gather information and practice flight planning at one of the preceding sites.