Tips to keep your flying skills sharp with a sim during the pandemic

By Gabriel Accascina

As people around the world try to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus through social distancing, the resulting disruption of our routines is giving us more time for things we don’t often do. This could be a great opportunity to either learn some more about flying, learn a bit more about your sim, or even create your own home simulator.

As a pilot, both a real or simulated one, spending more time at home may mean more sim time. As any pilot knows, the more practice, the better.

So, let’s deep dive into what you could do while waiting for things to get better. You may reemerge from this a more experienced pilot, sim enthusiast, or just one step closer to nailing that instrument checkride ahead of you.

If, like many of us, you have a basic setup at home — computer, yoke or stick, monitors or VR, perhaps pedals and a headset to listen and talk — you are all set. If not, you may want to invest a bit to get your sim up to par with that extra control or instrument.

If you need basic information, you may want to check out the information on the Association of Flight Simulator Builders and Instructors website.

Generally, it is a good idea to have one monitor for the outside view and one for the panel. If you are doing flight training in real life, or are a more experienced pilot trying to stay on top of things (remember that to log currency in the US you will need an FAA-approved sim), the golden rule is the more that you can do without using a mouse or a keyboard, the better.

Below, we will discuss a few things you can buy or build yourself that will greatly improve your “tactile” sense of flying an aircraft. But for now, let’s go in order:

Configuration

First, configure your simulator realistically: Set a location near where you live, and sync the time and season to now. This will help you be more in touch with the outdoor environment and compensate for not actually getting out that much. See if you can download one of the many local areas/airport add-ons. There is a difference in the amount of detail they offer, so if your computer can afford it, select the highest resolution that will still give you upward of a minimum of 30fps (frames per second) in any flight regime.

Many of you like to fly big commercial planes, but I recommend going small and local.

Preflight Inspection

Do it the way it’s supposed to be done: Once you are ready, select a good starting point, such as in front of a hangar in the GA area. Make that hangar yours because you will park the plane back there at the end of the flight.

While many start at the runway threshold and just add power to takeoff, it is good to get into a pre-flight routine as it is actually done. Using the spot view or a specialized add-on, walk around your parked airplane. Here is where you should get hold of a checklist for your make and model aircraft and look at the section “pre-flight inspection.”

Several items that you would check on a real aircraft can just as well be checked in a sim. Look at the control surfaces, move them, check the flaps extension, lights, and all that is required. Fuel tanks? Add fuel in the settings page.

Check also the weight of yourself, your passengers, and fuel and make sure it is within the limits stated in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH). Pilots who fly actual aircraft often use the applicable POH in the sim as well.

If you do not have a plane, look for the complete POH or for checklists related to the specific aircraft you plan to fly. There are hundreds scattered around the Internet for airplanes like the Cessna 172.

If you do fly and/or own a specific aircraft in real life, then you may want to make an effort to reproduce that aircraft in your home sim. I fly a Beechcraft C-23 Sundowner and I’ve found that practicing in its excellent X-Plane 11 add-on rendition is very helpful in terms of learning the cockpit layout, speeds, power settings, and going through the checklists. I flew the simulator before I flew the real plane.

Another component of pre-flight is planning. Where are you going? Are you familiar with the airport you have selected as your destination? If you can’t get there, what’s the most suitable alternative? And, of course, do you have enough fuel to get there, plus reserves? While you don’t want to carry too much fuel, you surely do not want to fall short.

Here it would be good to have an electronic flight bag (EFB) or sectional maps to check and verify your route, distance, expected speed, and all other flight parameters.

Once you are done, it’s time to fly!

Don’t forget your checklists

Here is where the in-cockpit checklist usually starts. Follow the normal operation checklist to start the engine, taxi, do the run-up (point toward the wind for that), set your instruments (heading indicator, altimeter and all of your radios, GPS, etc.), and all other required items. The checklist is the most important tool you have in the cockpit, by far.

Once you are ready to go, from a controlled airport you should take the time to contact ATC for your departure clearance. In some sims you can do it textually, but again, the closer you get to the real thing the better.

If departing from an uncontrolled airfield, announce your intentions on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF). In Section 2 of the FAA AIM, you will find “Radio Communications Phraseology and Techniques,” which will give you an in-depth idea of what to say when you talk to ATC or to traffic. Alternatively, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has an excellent guide that will give you a quick way to get familiar with the jargon.

Once moving from parking, taxi with your nosewheel on the center line, a good exercise, especially if you have pedals to control the nosewheel. Use the checklist thoroughly. Taxi, run-up, takeoff, climb, cruise, descend, and before landing and shutdown are all phases of flight that require different actions to be taken, speeds to be observed, engine management, and more.

In between check-list sanctioned items, add your own “flow-checks.” This is when you memorize a few but important items to be verified in a line that usually starts at the bottom of the cockpit and “flows” through it.

If you are practicing touch and goes, try different takeoff and landing styles, soft, short, no flaps, etc. It is amazing how simulators are capable of giving you a real feel of how the aircraft would behave in different circumstances.

In the air, try stalls, unusual attitudes, steep turns, etc. It’s fun and great for developing a good sense for instrument and external information coordination. Ideally, follow a curriculum.

If you are a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, you have access to the first six virtual lessons of the excellent Take Flight Interactive digital flight school.

Even the shutdown procedure is important. Turn the avionics off before you pull the mixture.

And finally, log your sim time as you would log regular hours. A logbook is a great record of your achievements and challenges.

Emergency procedures

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Most simulators today have a great capability to simulate failures. Or even better, with sims like X-Plane 11, you can get an Instructor Station app and have somebody in your family “pull” the engine from you at an unexpected time. Or fail the oil pump, the electrical system, or unleash some other evil act on you: Bad weather, loss of avionics, blocked pitot tube, you name it.

ATC work

Why is this so important? Two reasons. First, you will have to use the radio for any serious flying. Even at uncontrolled airports, though it’s technically OK to go silent, it’s unsafe. The other pilots in the pattern like to hear from you and position reports are key to other flyers’ safety.

The second is that many services today are managed by humans who are more than eager to hear from you and help you through your sim experience.

Let’s mention two. PilotEdge is the premiere paid ATC service. Yes, it costs a modest monthly sum (starting at $19.95, try it for free for the first two weeks), but it’s worth every cent. Once you set it up in your computer, you will speak to the controllers exactly as you would in real life. PilotEdge employs professional controllers who have real world experience of instrument flight, flight training, their geographical area, and more. If you are serious about learning to fly or want to stay sharp on instruments, this is one of the best investments you can make.

On the free, volunteer-run side, and mainly geared to airliners and medium and long haul, is VatSim, a great association that trains volunteers to become virtual controllers. Some are actual pilots, and all are courteous and competent. They run various programs for their members, including fly-ins, missions, and other fun things to do. Give them a try as well.

Finally, not directly related to ATC, is the growing world of virtual airlines. Not for the beginner, but as you get more into flying your sim you may want to give one of them a try.

There are difficult times ahead, it seems, but we need to keep our spirits up, our hands clean, and our brains engaged. Getting into something so complex and fun as flight simulation may give you a few hours of distraction from the more serious challenges we are facing today. Give these suggestions a try and happy flying.