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Flight simulators

Hey y'all I recently took my ASTB and did pretty poorly on my Aqr/pfar/fofar I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on flight simulators that might help me to improve my score the next time around.
 

Ken_gone_flying

"I live vicariously through myself."
pilot
Contributor
Hey y'all I recently took my ASTB and did pretty poorly on my Aqr/pfar/fofar I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on flight simulators that might help me to improve my score the next time around.
You’re going to improve your scores by studying, not by playing flight simulator. There is a great thread on here dedicated to ASTB study gouge. Find it.
 

Russell1015

Active Member
You’re going to improve your scores by studying, not by playing flight simulator. There is a great thread on here dedicated to ASTB study gouge. Find it.
That may not necessarily be true. Flight sims can certainly improve the hand coordination required to operate the testing sticks.
 
That may not necessarily be true. Flight sims can certainly improve the hand coordination required to operate the testing sticks.
that was my thought. I am of course still studying however, I figured it cant hurt. Before walking in to the room yesterday I hadn't touched a stick and Throttle in my life. I was particularly thrown by the inverted control on the stick. I also understand that I may simply not have to coordination required to get the score I need however, I plan on doing everything I can to improve the score. any idea a software that might help?
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
Hey y'all I recently took my ASTB and did pretty poorly on my Aqr/pfar/fofar I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on flight simulators that might help me to improve my score the next time around.

How much money are you willing to spend? What operating system are you running? Do you have a VR headset? I have no idea if it'll help with the ASTB, but I can make recommendations based upon my own hobby flying flight sims.
 

Zumbahnhof

I wanna go fast
pilot
Contributor
Multitaskgames.com has some free browser games that improve hand eye coordination and multitasking (as the name would suggest). I had some success using it to help prepare for the stick/throttle part of the ASTB
 

Csl221

Well-Known Member
Purchased a joystick and played a lot of War thunder to help with the joystick portion of the test. I also googled a listening tests to help train my ears to distinguish numbers and letters during the test. Jumped my score up from a 5 to an 8
 

AAL

New Member
I practiced by playing the red bull air race demo in FSX with one song playing from one audio source in one ear, and another song playing in a different source in the other ear. Definitely gets you used to doing things with your hands and listening to audio from one ear only. Worked pretty well.
 

RoarkJr.

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have a legit VR flight sim setup they could advise me on? I'm starting NIFE soon and will be in primary hopefully by November. There's a T-6b package for Microsoft Flight Sim but Microsoft won't have VR support until the fall, and only on HP's new VR headset.

I've also been looking into sticks and found that the thrustmaster t600001 or whatever has good reviews. I have a line on a full warthog setup with rudders and the stands for around $500 too. Does the quality of the stick/rudder matter as much when you're doing VR? Would it be worth it to wait for Microsoft and HP to have their VR simulation in the off chance that I can use the T-6 package with it? Thanks. I'd be running all of this on PC.
 

0621 Hertz

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have a legit VR flight sim setup they could advise me on? I'm starting NIFE soon and will be in primary hopefully by November. There's a T-6b package for Microsoft Flight Sim but Microsoft won't have VR support until the fall, and only on HP's new VR headset.

I've also been looking into sticks and found that the thrustmaster t600001 or whatever has good reviews. I have a line on a full warthog setup with rudders and the stands for around $500 too. Does the quality of the stick/rudder matter as much when you're doing VR? Would it be worth it to wait for Microsoft and HP to have their VR simulation in the off chance that I can use the T-6 package with it? Thanks. I'd be running all of this on PC.

Not sure if you made up your mind since then but for anyone looking for flight sim ideas before Primary I'd advise against VR at home.

TrackIR is better.
-You can bust out checklists, approach plates, and take notes with pen/paper while using it
-Less strain on the eyes; my peers who have VR have to take breaks every 30 minutes or so
-Much cheaper, I think they go for around $100
-Your computer screen has much higher resolution than a VR screen, I had trouble reading a lot of the smaller indications in VR (fuel flow, IOAT, Volts, etc)
-Honestly does everything that VR does. VR is impressive at first because of it's apparent immersion but at the end of the day its more of a theme park attraction than a training tool.
 

RoarkJr.

Well-Known Member
Not sure if you made up your mind since then but for anyone looking for flight sim ideas before Primary I'd advise against VR at home.

TrackIR is better.
-You can bust out checklists, approach plates, and take notes with pen/paper while using it
-Less strain on the eyes; my peers who have VR have to take breaks every 30 minutes or so
-Much cheaper, I think they go for around $100
-Your computer screen has much higher resolution than a VR screen, I had trouble reading a lot of the smaller indications in VR (fuel flow, IOAT, Volts, etc)
-Honestly does everything that VR does. VR is impressive at first because of it's apparent immersion but at the end of the day its more of a theme park attraction than a training tool.

Yeah I bought my VR setup a few months ago. I’ve never used TrackIR but from my research VR is better for what I’m doing, while TrackIR might have some advantages in doing DCS world type stuff.

True about the pen and paper and for the most part about checklists, although with XChecklist you can have checklists in VR and can probably get to the point where you can make your own if you code a bit. The eye strain part I haven’t had an issue with doing a full c4100 block NIFE flight but I could see it being difficult for a Primary flight. I generally don’t have trouble reading things in VR as you can zoom enough to see everything. I also upgraded my rig with a new CPU and GPU with 8g vram.

I’m not sure how trackerIR works but how exactly do you do things like look to the sides while reentering traffic pattern and finding runway off turning the 90? Anyway, the immersion factor is just such a big game to me that the apparent benefits of trackerIR don’t seem worth the sacrifice. Would consider mixing it in with VR training to practice shorthand note taking.

I definitely recommend using VR sim. Obviously it’s anecdotal but I was told by my on wing that I was the best first flight student he’s ever had and me and the boys have been running full flights with comms and internalizing the EP’s memory item checklists while hitting maneuvers/landing pattern etc.

Cost wise? Definitely have a point there, lol. I think it’s still worth it.
 

0621 Hertz

Well-Known Member
With track IR your head movements in real life are multiplied in game. For example, to look left 90 degrees in game you would move your head 10 degrees in real life. To check your 6'o clock you would move head about 20 degrees.

What's a C4100 NIFE flight? I'm completely unaware about how NIFE works. And you get Onwings in NIFE?
 
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