As a pilot would you recommend Flight Simulator X for someone about to take flying lessons?

Microsoft Flight Simulator has a legitimate place as a teaching tool. It is true that it is not identical to real flight, but that is true of all simulators. It is much more correct than incorrect, and so it is much more useful to use a simulator as an additional learning aid than it would be to not use a simulator.

The "bad habits" you might develop while using a desktop simulator are easy to break. They are no greater in magnitude than you might encounter when moving from one type of real aircraft to another. Some of the habits that work well in a small Cessna are quite bad habits in a 747, so the problem is not limited to simulation—but its effects are greatly exaggerated by some people.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has good and bad points. Some of the drawbacks include the lack of movement and limited visibility, both of which are substantial differences when one is simulating VFR flight. For instrument flight, however, it's a lot more realistic, and indeed, since the sim doesn't move, you are forced to use your instruments alone for flying when visibility is low, which has some unique advantages of its own (it is different from the disorientation you might experience in a real aircraft, but it still forces you to adopt the same strategy of trusting your instruments).

Those who suggest that Flight Simulator can replace experience in a real airplane or most other aspects of normal flight training are being unjustifiably optimistic—but those who dismiss Flight Simulator as useless or as a bad influence are being equally unrealistic. It's just one tool among many possible tools for learning more about flying. And, not incidentally, it's a fun way to partially satisfy the flying urge at very low cost (whereas flying an airplane for real can be prohibitively expensive, even after you've overcome the hurdle of getting the license).

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I am only a kid and I use FSX, and as some of you answerers say most kids think of it as the greatest things that has come by, I wouldn't say I fall into that category.

As the following countless answers say, FSX is just a GAME. It's really only a fun video game I just got addicted to when I'm bored.

In fact, another one of the "weird" reasons I use FSX is because, though the chances are very rare, if I was on a flight and the pilot had some sort of "problem," even though FSX is not very real, at least I know what I'm doing.

Overall, FSX is a game leaning more towards the fun side. If you're really looking for a flying experience, I recommend you go rent out a Cessna 152 or Ultralight and take it for a spin! Or at the least, a real flight simultator.

Cheers!

Experience Real Flight Simulation Guaranteed : http://latestflightsimulator.com/

Being someone who has flown c172's in FSX, real FAA certified multi-million dollar c172 simulators, and then later to fly c172s, I would say the flight model is off. The landings are very different, as the planes don't seem to float in the same situations in FSX. The stall characteristics are also not right, along with the spin properties. I do however believe that it is the best trainer for aircraft terminology. Just listening to the radios on FSX can help you become a better talking pilot. I would never actually fly FSX and expect to jump in an airplane and know how to fly it.

No i would not recommend it

Trust me, i'm going a flight school to get my private pilots license

and the thing is we get fly real planes, Cessna 152's to be exact.

But we also have ground instruction, where you sit in a room and a certificated instructor teaches you. In that room we have computers with flight simulator X on them. The program might help you learns you instruments better but not to fly better. Trust me, it's really different from the real thing. i suggest saving your money for when you go flying because you'll need it, aviation is very expensive field.

You will get two different types of answers to your question.

The first will be from all those young boys that play Flight Simulator on their computer then get on this website and pretend to be real pilots. They will tell you Flight Simulator is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you can instantly learn how to fly an airplane by simply playing a COMPUTER GAME.

Then you will get answers from ACTUAL pilots like "Aviophage" who will tell you to have fun playing your GAME, but that it will NOT teach you how to fly. In fact some of the things you do on Flight Simulator would be very dangerous if you did them in a real aircraft. Have fun playing your GAME, but understand that that is all that it is. Just a GAME.

Lets use a little common sense. Can you learn how to drive a car by playing "Grand Theft Auto" on your computer? NO! The same common sense applys to playing FSX. It won't teach you how to fly a plane.

And please post future questions about FSX in the "GAMES" section where they belong.

MSFSX is a very good teaching tool and can help save you a lot of money if you use it correctly. It is not a 'game'. It is a flight simulator that does a fairly good job of simulating most aspects of flight. Use the tutorial for private pilot and READ EVERYTHING. If you apply yourself in FSX, you'll be miles ahead when you start to fly real airplanes.

The folks on here that get the thumbs down for telling you that FSX is good for nothing, have never flown it. Ever. I don't know why they feel they are qualified to answer questions about it. Listen to the pilots that fly real airplanes AND have flown FSX. It's not perfect, but again, it does a pretty good job. It's far better than they think it is.

Get a yoke and rudder pedals with brakes if you are serious. Otherwise, you'll be wasting a lot of your time.

You'll like it.

Absolutely not. Real airplanes handle very differently from the way they are portrayed by PC based flight simulator programs. You will get a false impression of what it is like to fly an airplane, and it will teach you bad habits.

If you have a chance to do some actual flying in real airplanes soon, do it! DO NOT use the simulator first. Simulator programs are helpful for learning things like instrument procedures AFTER you have some flight hours and have a personal feel for real airplanes and real flying. But you should get some real flight hours first.

Don't pay any attention to people who want to chitchat about FSX and the like and talk about the programs. They are computer gamers, not pilots. A pilot flies an airplane first. This is especially true of the computer gamers who give me thumbs down because they don't want what I am saying to be true.

Go fly for real. Have fun, and good luck!

Aviophage, Peedlepup, Solo, Steve, and Chris are telling you how it is. You will NOT learn how to fly a plane by playing FSX.

The remainder of you little boys need to get off the computer, stop pretending you know what you're talking about, and finish your homework, so that IF you ever graduate school you'll at least be smart enough to fill out the application to clean the toilets at some airport which is a close to an airplane as you'll ever get.