T-6 Texan II sim

[Guest zmanisfireproof]

Not to mention during academics you can always go checkout a UTD sim...

My point is that I would rather go to UPT, sit in the UTD sim and understand where all the buttons are and their respective functions rather than sit in the UTD sim for the first time and be completely lost. The Iris Simulation does provide that advantage. It's simply another tool to help prepare students for the T-6A. I don't think it's fair to dismiss the sim as pointless.

[brabus]

I'm just saying, this is along the same lines as reading the Dash 1 before UPT to "get a head start." It really seems like it would help you, but it won't help at all. The T-6 is not complicated...you could go in cold turkey and after about 2 hrs in the UTD you'll be able to go through the entire start sequence no problem...not as fast as you'll be down the road, but you'll be able to do it. Any advantage you'll have from flightsim will be gone in a matter of days during Phase I. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's the way it is. Buy the plane/sim to fvck around and have fun if that's your thing, but don't waste your money if you're buying it thinking it's going to give you a great prep for UPT...it won't.

[Guest Markdude]

I'm not going to pretend that I know jack sh!t about flying the real T-6, but I downloaded/bought this as my first payware FS2004 add-on and it is definitely very high-quality. Really fun to fly and you can tell that a lot of work was put into it.

A question for anyone who has really flown a T-6: do the airbrake and flaps really have such an astounding effect on performance in the real aircraft? In the sim (even with the weather on fair), the airbrake bleeds speed at an incredible rate and having the flaps fully extended basically makes this thing float. Anyway, I'm not flying it to train for UPT or anything like the argument was saying, I'm just doing it for my own fun, so it's not going to bother me if that's inaccurate to the real aircraft, but I was just curious.

[brabus]

The prop acts like a barn door when you pull it to idle and the speed brake does have a pretty quick affect...so I don't know how fast it's slowing down in the sim, but sounds like it's behaving relatively realistically. As far as the flaps...do you mean it floats a lot on landing at full flaps? The real final approach speeds are 100 kts full flaps, 105 kts T/O flaps and 110 kts no flap (excluding any gust factor), so coming in for landing at that associated speed in the sim should give you a clear picture as to how realistic the flight characteristics are.

[Guest thefranchise]

i dloaded the sim last night. it looks very nice but flight characteristics are def NOT real at all

[Guest zmanisfireproof]

I'm just saying, this is along the same lines as reading the Dash 1 before UPT to "get a head start." It really seems like it would help you, but it won't help at all. The T-6 is not complicated...you could go in cold turkey and after about 2 hrs in the UTD you'll be able to go through the entire start sequence no problem...not as fast as you'll be down the road, but you'll be able to do it. Any advantage you'll have from flightsim will be gone in a matter of days during Phase I. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's the way it is. Buy the plane/sim to fvck around and have fun if that's your thing, but don't waste your money if you're buying it thinking it's going to give you a great prep for UPT...it won't.

I understand your point. I'm not saying that using this sim will help me ace Phase I. What I'm saying is that having an advantage, however slight it may be, is better than having no advantage at all.

[Guest PilotKD]

My point is that I would rather go to UPT, sit in the UTD sim and understand where all the buttons are and their respective functions rather than sit in the UTD sim for the first time and be completely lost. The Iris Simulation does provide that advantage. It's simply another tool to help prepare students for the T-6A. I don't think it's fair to dismiss the sim as pointless.

Don't worry about it. The LSI instructors expect you to know absolutely nothing and teach you like a chimpanzee anyway no matter how much knowledge you walk in with.

I can just see it now.

LSI instructor: "Ok, we're going to go through the engine start procedure now."

Student: "Well, I already know how to do that because I have the Iris T-6A II simulator. Can we move on to something more advanced?".

Phase I is the easiest part of the T-6 program IMO. It is the most laid back phase of pilot training you'll go through. If you study your courseware for an hour a night, you'll do fine. The T-6 is like a toy. It's as easy as starting your car.

Your concern should be with Phase II, where you'll be getting kicked in the junk every day.

[brabus]

What I'm saying is that having an advantage, however slight it may be, is better than having no advantage at all.

And what I'm saying is there will be zero advantage. Trust me...the best way you can help yourself is know the boldface/ops limits cold. Anything else is worthless before UPT. There's only 2 ways to have an advantage over others in UPT: 1) You just have the hands, flying ability, whatever you want to call it better than others in your class and/or 2) You study a lot harder than some of the other guys and know your shit better. That's really the only 2 ways you can have any kind of an "advantage" over others. Don't be the guy who tries to make a third way to have an advantage, if you know what I mean.

Secondly, I think franchise's post puts the kabash on this specific topic.

Your concern should be with Phase II, where you'll be getting kicked in the junk every day.

Bingo.

[Guest PilotKD]

I'm not going to pretend that I know jack sh!t about flying the real T-6, but I downloaded/bought this as my first payware FS2004 add-on and it is definitely very high-quality. Really fun to fly and you can tell that a lot of work was put into it.

A question for anyone who has really flown a T-6: do the airbrake and flaps really have such an astounding effect on performance in the real aircraft? In the sim (even with the weather on fair), the airbrake bleeds speed at an incredible rate and having the flaps fully extended basically makes this thing float. Anyway, I'm not flying it to train for UPT or anything like the argument was saying, I'm just doing it for my own fun, so it's not going to bother me if that's inaccurate to the real aircraft, but I was just curious.

The T-6's speed brake throws you forward in your seat a little bit (and makes you climb) when you deploy it in the real airplane. Especially on decent. It's pretty much a barn door. It worked great for coming out of the MOA to meet an altitude restriction at Moody.

[Guest]

FWIW, we rarely use LDG flaps.

[brabus]

Except on every full stop...at least that's how it was at Vance.

[Guest zmanisfireproof]

Is there any T-6A ops manuals out there for the public, so that maybe I could study the op limits and other valuable info?

[brabus]

Go to t6driver(dot)com...it'll have everything you'll need.

[Guest]

Except on every full stop...at least that's how it was at Vance.

really? just about the only time we use them is for a landing or 2 during final contact, or ELPs.

[HerkDerka]

I understand your point. I'm not saying that using this sim will help me ace Phase I. What I'm saying is that having an advantage, however slight it may be, is better than having no advantage at all.

There's no advantage to a video game.

Any "advantage" you have from knowing the instrument layout will be useless since once you start phase one, you'll be spending practicing ground ops in the cockpit mockups when you're not in class. Pilots have been graduating from UPT without the help of Iris Simulations for 60 years.

Is there any T-6A ops manuals out there for the public, so that maybe I could study the op limits and other valuable info?

Now that's the real advantage you can get prior to UPT. Tech orders are controlled, but looking over the boldface and ops limits at t6driver is good enough. Just remember, that any gouge you get on the internet may be obsolete.

HD

[Guest zmanisfireproof]

There's no advantage to a video game.

What you call a video game, the military seriously calls a 'training aid':

http://www.baseops.net/flightsimulators/

If you don't get anything out of Flight Simulator, fine. But don't assume that NO ONE can improve his/her skills through the simulator.

[brabus]

But don't assume that NO ONE can improve his/her skills through the simulator

I don't assume, I know. By all means, buy sims/planes for fun, but my recommendation is not to by either for the sole purpose of an "advantage" at UPT; You'll be 100% wasting your money. But if sims et al are something you like to do for a hobby or whatever, then go for it. Expecting to get an advantage, even if a slight one, out of something like this is dumb. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Take it from someone who has been thru the whole UPT T-6 gig...it won't help at all. I doubt you'll find one person on this board who has been thru T-6s and actually thinks a MSFS sim will give you an advantage. I'm not coming down on you personally, but just the idea that a computer game can give you any advantage. I'd hate to see anyone spend money/effort on something that helps zero.

[jazzdude]

Just to throw fuel on the fire...

Didn't the navy start using MS Flight Sim for its SNAs a while back? I just got to Whiting, so I haven't asked about it, but if I remember correctly you could get the T-34 for MSFS. I agree it might not be the greatest or most accurate, but it could help with instrument stuff- crosscheck, flying instrument procedures, etc. Same thing with the RIOT trainer.

[HerkDerka]

What you call a video game, the military seriously calls a 'training aid':

http://www.baseops.net/flightsimulators/

I got my wings in Corpus. I sat in those sims several times wondering exactly what the Navy's fascination was with the "Microsim". FYI, those Microsims were not a portion of the Navy's actual syllabus. They provide them for studs to use on their own time.

IMHO, they were useless. The instruments were hard to see and 99.69% of the studs sitting at the consoles were just goofing off and doing barrel rolls between buildings in downtown Corpus.

If you don't get anything out of Flight Simulator, fine. But don't assume that NO ONE can improve his/her skills through the simulator.

I'm not trying to talk you out of buying anything, I'm just giving you some insight. The most important thing to prepare yourself for UPT is to practice the boldface and ops limits. After that, If you think a computer game is going to make one bit of difference in UPT, then have at it.

Take it for what it's worth.

HD

Edited October 8, 2007 by HerkDerka

[El Duderino]

I personally don’t think that the MSFS they have at Whiting are very helpful. I used it once for about 15 minutes and realized I was getting nothing out of it. I think your time would be better spent studying or chair flying in the cockpit mockups in the microsim room.

The RIOT trainer on the other hand is money. It definitely won’t give you any kind of feel for the T-34 but it can really help you grasp how instruments present information and how they are used for navigating and flying approaches. Practicing procedures for radial intercepts, point-to-points, approaches, etc, on the RIOT trainer taught me how to look at the instruments and turn their information into a God's eye view of the situation.

I don't think there is a great advantage to using the flight sim, but good luck either way.

[StoleIt]

What is "P-Factor"?

Please tell me you aren't serious...

if you are...

[BADFNZ]

I thought P-factor was your probability of taking home a piece of ass.

[airdawg83]

For those that have gone through the actual training already, would a pc sim have any value as far as practicing procedures and running checklists go? I would think that it would have an advantage over sitting in front of a poster when chair flying.

[Champ Kind]

For those that have gone through the actual training already, would a pc sim have any value as far as practicing procedures and running checklists go? I would think that it would have an advantage over sitting in front of a poster when chair flying.

Nope.

The RIOT trainer on the other hand is money

"2".

[sky_king]

... would a pc sim have any value as far as practicing procedures and running checklists go? ...

Maybe flying instrument approaches in a PC sim would help a little if the instruments worked exactly like they do in the real airplane. However, you still don't get the cockpit organization aspect or actually hand spining the dials. Buy the PC sim to mess around and do 50 aileron rolls, but don't use it to practice the break, perch, TP stalls, etc... Like someone else said in this thread, you'll get a million sims in your training where the LSI guys will act like they're trying to teach a monkey how to fly. Also, you can use the UTD's just about when ever you want to. They'll do more for your ground ops than any PC sim will.