Private Pilot: Next best thing to actual flying

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

As I have ranted before, because of this damn pandemic, I haven’t been able to finish my IFR training, and since beginning of this year, I haven’t been able to fly. Due to this, I know for a fact that I will be rusty when I finally get a chance to go out and fly. I don’t even know how much I have to refresh myself from an IFR training standpoint. One thing I could (**should**) have done is spend more time on the simulator to keep myself up to date on my IFR training.

I have a pretty neat simulator set up that, while no way close to the real experience, would have let me practice approaches and flying by instruments. Here is what my setup looks like:

Flight Simulator Setup with XPlane 11

Unfortunately though, there were a couple of issues which delayed my plans for actively using this setup for practice. First, I did not have a good place to mount the yoke which would allow me to be able to use this desk for both work and flying. Second, I had not been able to figure out Xplane 11 response curves for Cessna 172 that are realistic. I have had trouble working the pitch and roll of the plane going from steep climb to steep decent and 60 degree bank from one side to another. I know it has to be a problem with my setup/configuration more than the software because my flight school has Xplane as well and the software there works.

I recently solved both the issues. First, I got a under desk shelf to place the yoke (see the picture above). I was able to place the yoke in such a way that I am still able to use the keyboard without any issue but I can also easily take it out completely if needed. For the response curves, a lot of trial and error led to better handling but I think there is still a bit of improvement needed to get them right. I think the simulator is almost ready for me to start practicing. The only thing that is pending is figuring out updates to the GTN650 trainer. Right now it doesn’t show all available approaches and for some reason it doesn’t show glideslope when using the GPS approaches. Hoping all that it needs is an updated software.

Looking forward to getting back to flying in the next couple of days. Well, to the next best thing to actual flying ofcourse 🙂