SIMply Torture

[DutchessFlier]

Well, the wind was not cooperating today, so my instructor suggests, hey, you want to do an instrument lesson in the sim? Sure, I say, no problem!

Mind you, this is the first time I crawled into this chamber of ill will...the freeking thing is way more sensitive than the plane, and I get no sensory-movement feedback from the sim like flying the plane.

At first, I was like all over the place, I found it alot harder to control the sim than the plane. I finally settled down some and managed a few pretty sloppy minutes in the thing...oh and the torture part...

How many consecutive and various system failures can an awesome but evil CFI throw at one person...thats a good thing about the sim (I guess) Talk about multi-tasking...but it drove home the point. At least I didn't prang the sim in.

Liz...you reading this? See how lucky you are NOT to have to get into one of these things

 

[BillTIZ]

If it's your first time in the SIM, throwing in system failures is a foul, plain and simple....

Airway tracking, holding pattern entry, TTTTT, Simple VOR approaches.
At best, throw in a varying 10-15knt cross wind on the VPR approach.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Mind you, this is the first time I crawled into this chamber of ill will...the freeking thing is way more sensitive than the plane, and I get no sensory-movement feedback from the sim like flying the plane.

At first, I was like all over the place, I found it alot harder to control the sim than the plane. I finally settled down some and managed a few pretty sloppy minutes in the thing...oh and the torture part...

How many consecutive and various system failures can an awesome but evil CFI throw at one person...thats a good thing about the sim (I guess) Talk about multi-tasking...but it drove home the point. At least I didn't prang the sim in.

Now you know why they say "If you can fly it in the sim, you can fly it in the plane."

The failures are the other really nice thing in the sim - When you're in the plane, it's quite obvious when your instructor places a cover over the AI that it's "failed." However, when it fails for real, it'll do so slowly with only the other instruments as an indication. Getting one of those for-real failures in the sim is the only way you'll know that you're recognizing the failure properly, and that's possibly the hardest part about instrument flying.

I was really happy on my last sim session to catch both AI failures right away... I think my CFII did something right.

 

[DutchessFlier]

Kent: So true...you're right, the failure kinda creeps up on you..like wait a minute here something doesn't (look, feel, sound, etc.) right. It was a great opportunity to double my scanning technique, looking for an indication of a failure, recognizing it, and looking for a solution, and FLY the freeking thing!

Went into the plane today (Sunday) and did a bunch of VOR tracking work, mag compass turns, timed turns, almost all without the AI or HI, and many recoveries from unusual attitudes, that were very very unusual...in fact my CFI stalled me a few times, and had the bottom drop out, and had me do the recoveries...first time EVER in the plane that I got spacially disoriented enough to really feel it in my head. All I kept hearing in my brain was 'trust the instruments'...sometimes, as you all know, thats easier said than done!

 

[AdamZ]

If it's your first time in the SIM, throwing in system failures is a foul, plain and simple....

Airway tracking, holding pattern entry, TTTTT, Simple VOR approaches.
At best, throw in a varying 10-15knt cross wind on the VPR approach.

I have to agree with Bill on this one.

 

[DutchessFlier]

Adam: Please know that I don't want to have you or Bill think that what I did in the sim was not appropriate...my CFI and I are very much in tune with each other, we fly alot together recreationally, and he knows that I want to be pushed to my limits. The limits in the plane, of course, are never the same as they would be in the sim. He also knows what I can handle and what I cannot. I'd much rather have multiple or consecutive system failures occur, and be tested to my limits with them, in the sim.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Proper teaching technique in a simulator is only one system failure or event at one time. If the student does something to create another event or failure while trying to deal with the first one, then "open the gate and let them walk in" and let them work their way out of it.

Giving multiple failures to overload the student doesn't promote learning, just makes the student hate being in a simulator.

 

[DutchessFlier]

Proper teaching technique in a simulator is only one system failure or event at one time. If the student does something to create another event or failure while trying to deal with the first one, then "open the gate and let them walk in" and let them work their way out of it.

Giving multiple failures to overload the student doesn't promote learning, just makes the student hate being in a simulator.

Which is pretty much what went on in the sim...the gate got opened a little wider as time went on. I never hated the sim, I was challenged to my personal limit and beyond to a degree..that was very instructional.

 

[TMetzinger]

I would never throw failures at a student in their first sim ride. I treat the first ride as an introduction to the sim and its idiosyncracies. Climbs, descents, turns, the fundamental stuff. Then some procedures when the student is comfortable handling the sim.

THEN failures.

 

[AdamZ]

Dutchess no worries Not saying you did something improper I just think and this is my personal opinion that the first time in the Sim or FTD should be TTTT as was pointed out above. Nothing to get concerned about.

 

[azure]

Liz...you reading this? See how lucky you are NOT to have to get into one of these things

Wow Bruce, it sounds like he really wants to put you through your paces! It's good that you want it (or at least you say you do, are you sure? ), because I'm not sure I'd learn anything that way. It's good that you have such a great relationship with your CFII.

My guy can't do that to me since he doesn't have access to a sim. I wouldn't mind having some sim training though, especially in learning how to recognise a failure. The only time I had a vacuum failure it was obvious, I saw the AI tumble during straight and level flight out of the corner of my eye, then the DG started wandering. But that was in VFR. In the soup, with a more subtle failure mode, I'm not sure if I'd catch on in time.

 

[SkyHog]

My first time in a sim was my first multiengine, in an unfamiliar airplane with light signals and multiple failures too.

Gave me a headache, but I learned a ton.