We think we know what we're doing...

[Cydon Prax]

I work with the Level-7 Airbus A320 Simulator down at Embry Riddle. I also do tours for parents and students when the school is doing off
day stuff. I've seen pilots with 300 hours fly it, I've seen 50 year old parents with no experience fly it, and I've seen 8th graders fly it. And it's
surprising what you learn.

I'm not going to tell you it's impossible to get down this A320 Simulator if you're not a proffessional type rated pilot for it. What I will tell you
is people who have taken the course for it (Which isn't that good, mind you) and know the systems and how the plane works get it down
and up proffessionally every time.

The parents who try it crash every time. The mechanic who enjoys aviation but never flew also crashes every time. The proffessional GA
Pilot with 300 odd hours with a multi and sea addon get confused, overspeed the plane, and otherwise do what would cause them to die.
As for the happy 8th graders? Out of the 7 groups I've seen go in and play around - most of them landed the plane on or near the runway.

What I find most gets people with complex airplanes is their unfamiliarity. I fly the LVLD763ER, flew PMDG 744/736 before coming down
to Riddle or reaching even 100 flight hours and was caught off guard. The simulator is just unfamiliar territory. What I see are pilots on
final approach. They know where the gear and flap levers are, they know where the autopilots and FMGS are, they understand the
principles, speed limits, and PAPI lights.

They reach to lower flaps, pull on it - and nothing happens. They try and lower the gear, yet the lever won't move. They try to tell the AP to
hold 150 knots and end up pushing the switch or pulling, doing the opposite of what they wanted. Or maybe they'll look out the window
and be surprised in the 3 and a half seconds they looked out their airspeed already climbed into the red and they're now tearing off flaps.
The thing is, in flight sim the airplane is represented differently. You see the runway, your HSI, your PFD, and your AP panels all in 20
inches of goodness. In the plane, its all seperate. Most guys find it difficult to transition to scanning large area's - especially if they only
had to shift their eyes an inch back on their PC.

Most PC pilots also don't know how to work the flight controls. On the PC, they left or right click - thats it. In the plane, you pull the gear
lever to you, then down or up. You push the autopilot switch in for the computer to choose a setting, or pull for you to select the setting.
You scan larger, quicker; all of this unfamiliarity hits every single LVLD763ER freshmen that jumps in. Ofcourse, some guys are quick to
get familiar, and actually *listen* when one of us says how to work the equipment - even if they are familiar from 550 hours in the Wilco
A320, and manage to fly the plane on one engine, one flap, in a thunderstorm following just an ILS Glideslope.

Still, a lot of people are killed rather quickly or destroy the plane in flight. The thing is, i'm just watching them from a Level-7 Sim. I could
only imagine how hard the real life pilots have it.

________

Edit: Just thought I'd say that despite my activity in such a cool friggen sim, I don't pretend to have the knowledge or skillbase to complete a single Commercial Airline flight without real training. The moment you start working with OOOI times and Dispatchers, Instrunment Charts and busted equipment forcing you to ask if your ameable, you'd better have months of groundschool time.



Post Edited ( 10-30-08 07:09 )