What should I use PE for?

[alanpearson]

So as newbie to PE (and also to flying in general, working towards my RW private pilot certificate) I'm trying to figure out when to connect to PE and when I'd be better off just simming offline.

For example, If I wanted to practice pattern work, doing the calls on a CTAF or expecting to get clearance from tower at a Class D might be useful and add a real world dimension. or is that just bothersome to the controller to deal with someone staying in the pattern.

how about if I just wanted to practice stalls in the sim... should I log onto PE and get a clearance to get up in the air to practice stalls?

Another thought is to practice engine failures... being on PE would give me the opportunity to make that "mayday" call that I hope I never have to make in real live in a sim environment.

I watched the workshop "Flight simulation for primary and instrument training" but it left me with the question of should I use PE only when doing real point-to-point flights, or is PE useful when practicing maneuvers in X-Plane

[Kyle.Sanders]

1) the controller will not be bothered by you practicing your communication skills in any scenario. If you want to remain in the pattern, go for it.

2) use PilotEdge for anything you want, in a sense.

If you want to practice the stalls itself off line first and once you start getting the hang of it, then maybe connect to PilotEdge to get the ATC service out of the airport to the practice area. That will give you the added practice of listening for ATC calls while doing your maneuvers.

Even if you don't want radar services (flight following), at least you will have the added practice of watching out for other traffic (which you still have to do even when getting radar services). That is something you are going to have to do real world, why not practice it in the "safe" environment first?

I wish you luck and don't forget to try out the Pilot Training (rating) program PilotEdge has to offer!

[yajna]

In my experience the controllers only get annoyed if you are completely unfamiliar with some procedure you're attempting, e.g. asking ATC for an ILS frequency, or "what's a TEC route?" If you just make a plain old mistake of pilotage or lack of situational awareness, they're pretty forgiving.

For the engine failures I understand there's a magic comment you can put in your flight plan to have the controller fail the engine on you at a moment of his/her choosing. I don't know where those are documented though.

[Keith Smith]

There are only 2 people in the company who are able to issue failures, so it's not the case that putting a comment in the remarks is going to obtain that result.

In terms of what to use the system for, it's really up to you. If you want to start the sim in the air, practice engine failures, then exit the sim, you're welcome to connect to PE in mid air and disconnect in mid air in Class E/G airspace, simply because there are no communication requirements in that airspace to begin with.

It's also up to you as to whether you start on the ground (at a towered or non-towered field), takeoff and head to a practice area, do your work, then return to the same field. I prefer to do it that way but that's because I find it helpful to practice takeoffs and landings as frequently as possible. If you subscribe to that train of thought, then doing the ops on PE makes perfect sense. If you want to start mid-air, then it's up to you as to whether you want to be on PE during that short operation in the practice area.

If you are at all concerned about whether it's causing any issue for us if you pop-up in mid-air, don't talk to us, then disconnect, the answer is no, that's absolutely fine.

Our goal is to simulate the National Airspace System. So, even if you're not actually interacting with ATC, just being in the air and conducting whatever operations strike your fancy is still a good thing for PE. It's actually highly realistic for there to be a lot of aircraft squawking 1200 and not talking with ATC (hence, the drone program on PE).

[alanpearson]

Ah, thanks for the replies. The idea that having pilots practicing maneuvers online would help the simulated environment to be more realistic (in terms of having more human-controlled VFR aircraft in the air) wasn't something that occurred to me before! Totally makes sense.

I'm enjoying PE and also find the training workshops and ratings program to be really useful both in helping me get more out of my sim but more importantly (for me) in real life too. I'm already more comfortable making radio calls now than a few weeks ago.

[BFG]

I'm a student pilot with 13 hours and I practice maneuvers in the PE system quite often, usually out of Meadows / Bakersfield. I do stalls, steep turns, engine out emergency procedures (no maday yet but it's on the list) etc. I sim in P3D and the ORBX SoCal scenery in that area even has great fields for turns around a point etc. Doing it all to / from a towered airport is very realistic, and I agree with Keith, getting the takeoff and landing with ATC is good practice as well.

[Ryan B]

I would fly the entire portion of your flight on PE.

You might depart a controlled airfield in real life, fly to some other area, do all your maneuver and return to speak with tower for landing clearance, and that's it.

[RonCraighead]

Great questions!

I’ve taught a few things in my career, and I’ve learned a lot about learning. I also make a lot of mistakes, which helps!

In some cases, you might want to isolate your learning. For example, to learn VOR navigation, it might initially help to fly without PE. And on autopilot… It can free your mind to think about the new concepts, tinker with the equipment, and study charts for example. Then log on and validate your learning.

On the other hand, repetition and immersion is of immeasurable value in cementing concepts in to your grey matter. Once you know how to look at a chart, tune the VOR and intercept a radial, or any other similar skill, doing it again and again brings you to a level of, what one instructor of mine called, ‘unconscious competence’. That means that you can do it correctly, consistently, without thought.

If it’s a physical task, like manipulating rudder pedals on landing, or a trigger squeeze on a pistol… It’s a muscle memory thing. A trigger squeeze requires at least 500 correct repetitions to become muscle memory.

You brain is a muscle too… The more tasks that become second nature, or ‘unconsciously competent’ in your skill set, the more brain cycles you can dedicate to things like checklists, assessing risk, and even emergency procedures.

That being the case, adding navigation and communication to your task saturation queue, and making it second nature, even at the VFR level, is immeasurably valuable. Especially come checkride time. It leaves all of your brainpower free for test anxiety!

One more thing, and it gets me every time in the sim when I cut corners, because it's 'just a sim'… I have a tendency to blow off certain elements in the sim, and that can be a bad thing (negative learning). I was flying offline this weekend for example.

Catalina to SAN, for the full LOC/DME approach. Did it to get familiar for the I-7 ride. Cruised the whole way, tinkering with navaids and looking at charts. At about 3000 feet, my VFlyteAir Cherokee 140 (A GREAT sim airplane for IFR training if you are doing your checkride in a PA28) became a glider.

Yup, I failed to switch tanks.

I eventually did switch tanks, and it fired back up.

It’s best to go ‘full mission profile’ any time that you are not practicing something specific. It teaches you to do things like manage your checklists, for example. And, like my glider approach, allows you to make mistakes and correct bad habits, without the resulting inflight emergencies!

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from BAD judgement. In a PE flight, you use the same judgement, aeronautical decision making and risk management skills that you do in RW flight.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Good luck in your training. Keep it up!

Cheers,
Ron