With these 7 ways you can easily improve your flight training with X-Plane 11. Even without virtual reality, the flight simulator can help you immensely in your training.  If you follow these steps, you are going to improve your flight training, will be a better pilot and will probably save some money in the process. Now, I am not going to tell you how to fly, as that is up to your flight instructor. I am merely going to guide you in the right direction to get you practicing the right way.

For those that are listening to the podcast, I have included my resource links below. Please note that they are affiliate links, which means I get a small commision if you purchase something after using my link. This doesn’t affect your purchase and won’t  cost you anything. It just helps me to keep building great content.

Logitech G Saitek PRO Flight Yoke System

Logitech G PRO Flight Rudder Pedals



Oculus Rift

Now let’s get started!

1. Start from the beginning

So, you have this nice flight simulator and you just can’t wait to get up in the air… before you go ahead and start X-Plane 11 with the engine running on the active runway, think about all of the steps you are missing. If you start on the runway, you are missing out on so many opportunities to improve your skills as a new pilot, or even an experienced pilot.

When I go to do a practice flight, I get my plane setup exactly where I would start in real life. My plane is sitting with the engine off waiting for me exactly where I left it on my last real world flight lesson.

The amazing thing about X-Plane 11 is that it has virtually every airport out there, including the little ones. So don’t pick a big airport because you like the scenery around it. Pick a the airport you fly from. It’s amazing when you fly around the airport you know, you can actually use landmarks, as most of the scenery is pretty accurate in the X-plane.

2. Don’t take short cuts

So now that you are back at your hangar, don’t let X-Plane 11 auto start your plane. Grab your checklist, go through it and hit every step, just like your real flight. You can even go as far as doing your walk around your plane. Obviously you won’t be able to check your oil or dip your tanks, but you can go around your plane systematically and verbalise everything you would be doing. This will really help cement in good habits.  Do it the same way you were trained in your flight school.

Now that you have started your plane and are going through your checklist, there is an important step that most people on flight sims will neglect… Your radio.

3. Get on that radio!

This can be done in several ways, such as using the built in traffic control for X-Plane 11 but one of my favourite ways to do this is to make the calls to myself. If you verbalise the calls out loud, you will get comfortable with making calls. This can be a real stumbling block for a lot of people because you have to remember the structure for the call, the alpha, beta, charlie, and the awkward niner. There is a lot to remember, and on top of this, if you are a student pilot, you are learning to fly. Once you start to practice the calls at home, you will feel more comfortable with the calls and you will be able to focus more on the flying.

If you stumble on this step or just want more help with any type of flight training, then I wanted to let you know about a service I recently stumble across.

This is a service that allows you to fly with a real life instructor. The instructor and owner is Mike Catalfamo, who is a real world flight instructor (CFI and CFII). He was also an airline pilot. If you really want to take your flight training to another level, then this is something I would try. Please note that the link is not an affiliate link, however VR Flight World is affiliated with Zero Sideslip. If you mention that you came from VR Flight World, then I get a small commision. I really appreciate the support as this helps me to keep VR Flight World running strong.

zerosideslip.com

4. Get the right equipment

We want our flights to be as realistic as possible. When I talk about being realistic, I am not talking about the stunning graphics in X-Plane 11. No, I am talking about creating a flight that imitates a flying in real life. You want that flight to feel the same, you want to control the plane in the same way and you want the freedom to look around in the same way you would in a real plane.

Allowing yourself to control your plane in the same way as you do in real life just helps to build great muscle memory. When you are taxing with rudders, you are not building bad habits. If you don’t have the rudder pedals, X-Plane will control the rudder for you. On the ground you would end up steering like a car, which would be a habit that your instructor would have to spend time trying to break.

Before I began any flight training, I ended up making a pair of rudders out of old Playstation 2 racing pedals. This was not perfect, as they move slightly differently then in real life, however it got me in the habit of using my feet for taxing and flying. When I jumped in a real plane for the first time, my instructor was surprised to see how well I was able to taxi. I eventually got myself a proper set of rudder pedals which I share later in this post. The fact is that the proper equipment really helped my initial lesson and I am sure I saved some money because of this.

What should I get?

You need to get yourself a yoke, rudder pedals, trim and some type of throttle quadrant. Now if you are flying in VR, you could probably get away with the rudder and yoke, however that would be my minimum requirements for a realistic flight. The reason you can get away with less in VR, is that you can use your touch controllers to control the throttle and trim.  It really does feel like you are reaching out and grabbing something…even though nothing is actually there.  It’s is amazing how realistic it feels when using it. Still would not hurt to have a proper throttle quadrant and trim, as then you can rest your hand on it and feel the controls.

For me, I use a yoke, rudder pedals, the Oculus Rift (for VR) and a PS2 steering wheel for my trim wheel. The steering wheel works great when mounted sideways on a desk… Just an idea for anyone that wanted to DIY some of it. Below I have included links to my equipment.

Amazon links for the VR headset, yoke, rudder pedals and throttle that I use in my video. They are affiliate links, so I really do appreciate it when you use them but feel free to look it up on Amazon if you would rather. It doesn’t affect you in anyway, it just helps me, as amazon pays me a small advertising fee whenever someone buys after using my link.

Logitech G Saitek PRO Flight Yoke System

Logitech G PRO Flight Rudder Pedals



Oculus Rift

5. Fly with a monitor or VR?

For me this isn’t even a question, as I could never go back to flying on a monitor. Flying in VR puts you in that plane, it just makes your flight completely immersive.

Picture this, you are flying along side your runway on the downwind. You want to ensure you are travelling parallel to the runway, so you adjust your view to a bit of an angle, so that your monitor captures the runway… but now what has happened to your plane. For me, I found that when I adjusted my view, I would start to climb, start to descend, get close to a stall or have other things happen, that would never have happened if I had control of my view. With VR, you have complete control of your view. You look to the left with a glance and when you need to look forward, you look forward. Simple. No need for hotkeys or quick hat key action. It is just like real world flying. You just can’t beat that.

Another quick reason that I believe VR is necessary, is that you end up getting actual depth perception. You can actually judge your landing flare. Like I said earlier, I would never go back to flying with a monitor.

If you are interested in VR, I use the Oculus Rift, which does an amazing job. A word of warning though, make sure you have a decent computer, as VR can be tough on a computer. Here is a post I did on what system requirements you will need  Virtual Reality Flight System Requirements.

6. Fly like you would in real life

So, you have taken off to practice circuits at your home airport. On final you notice that you are just too high to make the landing. Instead of going around you go into a full on dive, loose the altitude and land the plane like a pro….No! don’t do this. This is not the way you would fly in real life, so why practice it on your sim. Ok, I understand every once in awhile it is fun to fly like a maniac, but don’t fly like this when you are trying to practice. If you are not going to make the landing, then practice a go around. Make the radio calls  and get back in the traffic pattern to make a proper landing. Again, its all about practising the way you play. If you want to fly like a maniac, then set out for a flight with that intention, or jump in a fighter jet.

Keep your ey