How much do you use the sim?

[S1roudy]

How much do you use the sim and what level would you say your real life flying is at? Do you use it less once you can fly sport/light 3d? Or more? Or just to learn hovering or to learn new moves? How do you use it? If at all?!

[DaveMac]

When I started I was against spending time on it as any spare time I had I wanted to be doing real flying. However it has helped me greatly with orientations. Knowing what way to push the sticks regardless of what position the heli is in. To use it properly you really need to be disciplined with it, all orientations right side up then inverted and moving on to circuits in all directions, ensuring you do equal amounts of clockwise and anticlockwise. Lots of people the sim boring, which it can be but do it properly and you will get the rewards at the field.

[Rich23]

Hi

I use phoenix for 30 min at a time every night. I find i lose interest after this. My sim flying is ahead of my real flying as there is no cost involved when I crash!!!

[xygax]

Every time a simstick needs testing... ! and i dispise sims them are too much like video games and you only wanna muck about on um...

Steve

[S1roudy]

I started flying in August last year learnt to hover and do a few stall turns and the odd bad loop then in November i got a sim and spent over a 100 hours on it from November to end of January i can fly well on the sim and do most of the 3d moves my real life flying is getting there i can do flips,loops,rolls,tic tocs, hover in all orientations, inverted hover low,inverted flying,and a little backwards flying including backwards loops but now i can do most things on the sim when i go on there i just do the same stuff! Is the sim just like a training under carrage? Some thing to set you on your way or can it teach you later on??

[AcidDrink]

30 min - 40 min every day for last 16 months since I've started flying. Sometimes more.
I can do inverted circuits, backwards, flips, loops, half piro flips etc. No problems with any orientation. I have never crashed my bigger CP helis, only mcpx every 5th flight or so
I am very careful flyer and only try moves in real when I am sick of them on the sim, so I am quite ahead of my rl flying, but I'll get there sooner than later, I think.
Simulator helps immensely, I can't imagine learning to fly without it and I really like to use the simulator because I can clearly see positive effects it has on my rl flying. The trick is to practise, not to fool around aimlessly.

By the way Kyle Stacy is one of the most technically advanced pilots in the world and for sure, his addiction to simulator has something to do with it

[lee mister]

i got the sim a couple of weeks before my first heli that was about 18 to 20 months ago, and i would spend hours on it and within 6 months i was at the same level of flying as the guys who had been flying for a couple of years.
now i do an hour of two a day first half hour or so i do all orientations and circuits then i work on my 3d stuff and try to link it all together nice and smooth.
my sim flying is way ahead of my real flying but its getting there bit by bit

[Gecko501]

I am a complete noob and have a mcpx so trying to fly that on the sim. I find it much easier to hover on the sim than in rl but if I can find the time and discipline then I think it will be a great learning tool