Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

Re:Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pil... by cecilpl2 on Wednesday May 11, 2022 @01:34PM (#31343213)

When I did my private license 20 years ago, my instructor asked me whether I had previous experience playing flight simulators. She said that people who had usually required more time in the cockpit to unlearn all the bad habits they had acquired from games.

Maybe things have changed since the days of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000.

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Re:Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pil... by outworlder on Wednesday May 11, 2022 @01:51PM (#31343439)

They haven't - unless you are playing in VR, then at least one can be averted.

One of the bad habits is looking at instruments all the time, while you should be looking out the windows. VR on the other hand encourages you to look out (because it's fun, and it feels like you are really looking out). Head tracking is a very distant cousin, but may help a little.

The rest, I don't think you can avoid. No force feedback, no chair pressure (even if you have pedals you may not know you are uncoordinated), you can't feel the aircraft, and so on.

But bad habits are just that. In a life and death situation like this pilot incapacitation story, I'd rather have some bad habits but understand what's happening and what should be done, versus not even knowing which button to push to talk to ATC, and how to keep the plane flying.

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