Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training

I bought this book after attempting to wade my way through the FS 2004 Pilot Training Tutorials and then upgrading to FS-X. What an excellent book! It is a shame that it seems that the only reason previous reviewers marked down to 4 stars from 5 is the lack of colour illustration. If you read the text you find that you can download all of the book's illustrations along with an enormous amount of other information and flight senarios from the publisher's website - problem solved. Now to the book - the FS tutorials start you in a Cessna - I found this plane twitchy and difficult for a beginner to handle (or maybe it's just me) - the book starts you in the Piper Cub - a much more primitive (and easy to fly) option. It is a very uncomplicated plane and teaches you a lot about "seat of the pants" flying rather than too much dependence on using instruments. The authors (real pilot trainers) say that they find people coming to real flying from FS keep their eyes too much on the instruments and not enough out the window. I think the Cub goes a long way to solving this (and it's great fun to fly). The Cub is great for sightseeing flights, but you can't really do the Himalayas as they're mostly beyond its service ceiling. There is a great deal more in this book about the realities of flying in the real world and dealing adverse conditions that the documentation and training in FS don't deal with. They also explain a great deal better about how to control the planes. This book is written for FS-X but I think it could be used in FS-2004 as all the planes used in the book are in both versions of the software. You would have to be aware that some of the key commands differ between the two versions and I haven't tested whether or not the flight senarios are compatible. 700 plus pages and loads of megabytes of downloads of pure gold. I have no hesitation in give 5 stars (and more if I could).

The title basically says it all. Just over 700 pages of detailed information and packed with plenty of screen shots (b&w). The book covers everything from setting up FSX, learning how an aircraft stays in the air, your first flight, basic flight maneuvers, more advanced flight maneuvers, airport operations, navigation, flight planning, all the way up to the more advanced stuff like IFR flights and multi-engine aircraft etc, and there's lot's, lot's more I haven't even listed here too. I used to fly for real but nowadays I just enjoy FSX with the realism settings on high and it's great to see the authors explaining any differences between FSX and the real world where appropriate. It's all here but be prepared to put the time and effort in which I suppose is like anything in life - you get out of it what you put in. If your quite happy just flying around in FSX and not too bothered about the detailed stuff then this may be a little OTT, but if your serious about learning or are having flight training in the real world too then you really can't go far wrong with this book. The free downloadable lessons are a nice touch too which saves you time trying to recreate exactly what is being taught in the current lesson - just hit the load button on the main screen, select the appropriate lesson and off you go. If you have a little difficulty downloading or installing the lessons there is another review on here where someone has commented on that review and they explain it perfectly. I hope this helps a little. Happy flying!

This is a mighty book that can take you from complete novice through to professional airline pilot without leaving your computer chair. The premise behind the book is that microsoft FSX is so realistic now that it can be used as a real training aid to a training pilot. this book takes you step by step, chapter by chapter through a 'real' training course using FSX. The book is a vital companion to focus and direct your learning, it provides exercises (including some downloadable missions) to illustrate and re-enforce what you have read. Don't be fooled though, despite the serious content the book takes a generally light-hearted approach which stops it ever becoming too academic or dry. The book take a well balanced approach to teaching you flying, avoiding overloading the reader with detail early on, as if you were learning for real. The book regularly highlights differences between the real world and the flightsim world, so that those using FSX as a true training tool will know where reality departs from simulation. The main audience for this book then is someone wishing to train as a pilot in the real world with FSX as a supporting training tool, but the book also caters for those who just want to fly the computer in a more 'real' way. Amazingly the authors manages to balance these two aims very well, furthermore it makes the whole thing fun. I must say that I certainly learnt an amazing amount about flying within the first few chapters despite having flown real planes and gliders with the RAF cadets when I was younger. I can heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes to use FSX more as a simulator and less as a game. It also works as a users guide for FSX, which sadly is not officially available from Microsoft. Why not 5 stars? Because it is all in B&W which causes some problems with some of the illustrations, possibly because the authors originally intended a colour print, but the publisher demurred later on. Generally this is OK, but occasionally the text refers to things which are difficult to make out in the fuzzy B&W reproductions. Personally I would have prefered to pay slightly more for full colour with higher quality paper because this would also brighten the overall look of the book. However this is only a slight issue and does not detract from the central value of the book which is the great writing. File your flight plan now and prepare for take off!

il volume è una delle migliori vie d'accesso al volo, simulato o meno. espone gli argomenti senza mai essere troppo prolisso, andando sempre al punto, come i veri manuali operativi. portato a casa con l'obiettivo di andare un pò più a fondo nel volo simulato, può essere anche un'ottima preparazione pre-corso se in futuro volete portarvi a casa anche un brevetto vero. Consigliato

El libro llegó en excelentes condiciones.

Hier kann ich mich nur den Vorbewertern anschließen, es handelt sich heirbei um ein wirklich gutes Buch. Da ich vor kurzem mit dem FSX angefangen habe, wollte ich auch ein Buch haben, welches einem die Technik hinter dem Fliegen auch sehr gut vermitteln kann. Ich habe mir einige Bücher angesehen, darunter auch dieses. Dieses Buch habe ich mir erst zum Schluss angesehen, da ich eigentlich unbedingt eines in deutscher Sprache haben wollte. Denn ich habe mir direkt das Add-on für die 747 gekauft und war doch ein wenig mit den Schaltern im Cockpit überfordert. Das Buch ist in einem sehr verständlichen und leichten Englisch geschrieben. Klar, Fachbegriffe muss man gelegentlich nachsehen, aber das ist ja auch normal, wenn man fach fachfremd ist. Es erklärt einem erst einmal die grundlegenden Prinzipien des Fliegens. In den ersten Kapiteln wird man nach und nach an die Technik und Instrumente herangeführt. Ein ganz klarer Vorteil ist, dass man sich die Übungskapitel auch für den FSX herunterladen und durchspielen kann. Das macht die ganze Sache dann auch noch einfacher. Egal ob es ums Wetter, die Kartennavigation oder Spritberechnung geht, es werden zu jedem Thema verschiedene Links von Webseiten aufgeführt, die einem dabei helfen können das Ganze besser zu verstehen und auch einzusetzen. Es ist wirklich gut, dass man alles recht gut lernt und gleichzeitig auch versteht und sofort einsetzen kann. Es gibt zahlreiche Programme die einem die Arbeit natürlich abnehmen und alles vorberechnen. Aber als Anfänger sollte man die Geräte auch alle verstehen und auch manuell bedienen können und genau das wird hier vermittelt. Man ist allerdings nicht gezwungen sich von Kapitel zu Kapitel durchzuschlagen, aber als Anfänger ist es empfehlenswert. Ich denke mir auch, dass es für Fortgeschrittene sehr interessant ist. Nochmals kurz in Stichpunkten zusammengefasst: + sehr leicht verständliches Englisch + Technik des Fliegens wird ausführlich erklärt + logischer Kapitelaufbau + Lernkaiptel sind download- und im FSX durchspielbar (finde ich persönlich wirklich super) + ausführliche Erklärung der einzelnen Instrumente und Bedienelemente im Cockpit + Links zu bestimmten Themen werden aufgelistet und auch kurz erläutert. Negative Punkte kann ich bis jetzt noch keine finden, da meine Fragen bisher alle geklärt werden konnten.

Simply the best there is. Extremely detailed and nice lessons

Muy interesante, manual que recomiendo,el unico pero que le pongo, es que no este traducido a una de las lenguas mas habladas como es el Español, pero en fin, con mi poquito de Ingles le puntuo como muy interesante ya que aun asi se entiende bien. Saludos