WHAT

FLIGHT SIM
HAS DONE
FOR ME
It’s a relationship that spans many years .

B Y P E T E R JA M ES

IN 1981 WHEN the first Microsoft Flight Simulator

was born, I was a young teenager—the spirit of adven-
ture and realism of flight hit me like a storm. Suddenly,
my intense model railroad hobby, complete with a huge
basement layout, took a back seat. This technical mar-
vel, hosted on this heavy, metal box of a newfangled PC,
captured my heart and imagination forever. I wonder if
my parents were grateful for this weekend “babysitter”
as my dad hauled his computer home from his office for
me to play with on Friday nights. It certainly kept me
home and out of trouble, with no mischief or calls from
the local police late at night.
I was obsessed. Once college approached, I knew I
was going to become an airline pilot, and I wouldn’t
stop until I was an old man flying a Boeing 747. I was
originally going to go to college to become a TV meteo-
rologist, but failing grades in math kept that dream far
away. I found it much easier to get into a state college
with an aviation program, so off I went to one in New
England to become a pilot.
While earning all my primary ratings, private
through commercial and CFII, Microsoft Flight Simula-
tor was right there with me. It provided all I needed for
that extra boost when studying ILSs, holding patterns,
VOR tracking, stalls, slow flight, cross countries, and
more. Once the newer versions of Flight Simulator were
released (these major new versions were anticipated first real job as a Cape Air captain flying a nine-seat
and sold in PC software stores in malls back then), it Cessna 402. I had to go for weeks of indoc and train-
would cause so much excitement and anxiety for me ing, and my monthlong-stay hotel room was filled with
that I’d be prepared to drive hours to get the coveted some great multiengine hardware. Throttle quadrants,
box in hand before the stores ran out, or other friends rudder pedals, and all were a fixture in my small room
I knew grabbed theirs. Then the worries over computer along with the PC. Today, I highly recommend the
strength and how the new version would run upped the Sporty’s Pilot Shop Flight Sim Starter Set—quality
anxiety. But it was a fun time back then, one that blew Honeycomb equipment—or FLYING’s custom rig.
past any young child’s Christmas morning memory on Some fellow classmates came to observe or try en-
any new release day. gine failures in a Cessna 421 add-on, the closest thing
After acing my IFR rating (the CFIs never under- we had to the lower-powered 402. But it all worked and
stood how I knew all this stuff prior to beginning fly- made sense. My multiengine failures and a simulated
ing), my next big “ace event” was years later during my ATP check ride—complete with many single-engine

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NDB approaches to minimums in the real airplane—
all seemed easy to me as I was able to fly all this before.
The heck with imaginary “armchair flying”—I had the
real thing in my hotel room as far as I was concerned.
Years later, once again another big event was my ini-
tial type rating in my first jet—the Beechjet 400A—in
Wichita, Kansas. Most folks get a full initial type school
of more than three weeks for most bizjets. However,
my Part 135 boss was a cheapskate (imagine that) and
wanted me typed within a four-day recurrent session
the other pilots get every year. That was a lot to accom-
plish. The instructors said they didn’t think I could do
it, as nobody gets a type off a recurrent session. And
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since it was my first jet rating, I had to take the four-
day FMS ground training event as well.
Learning an aircraft FMS is the hardest thing for
new jet pilots, and I had no time to learn it. Well, I said
let me try the sim and see how I do in the FMS. I had
a secret weapon nobody knew about. I had been using
an FMS for years in Microsoft Flight Simulator, thanks
Courtesy of Peter James
to PMDG (www.PMDG.com), the makers of the finest
Boeing airliners for the sim platform. Once I was in
the real Beechjet sim, I discovered, sure enough, the
FMS is exactly like the one in the Boeing jets. Even the
glass cockpit was similar. The instructors were dumb-
founded as to how I could suddenly bang away at all the
Many years I spent flying as a CFI in Piper PA-28s in the KOWD area near Boston, as shown from ‘MSFS2020’ looking
northeast to the city and Great Blue Hill.
keys, programming and modifying all the while learn-
ing to fly the jet. I let the cat out of the bag and told
them, thanks to me being a geek on Microsoft Flight
Simulator, I had learned all this years ago. They’re re-
action was “no way” … but I was told to go ahead and
skip the FMS course. I got my type rating in four days!
There was a fairly good Beechjet add-on for
MSFS2004 made by Eaglesoft, and I used it during this
training event and subsequent recurrents as I became
a captain for the 135 outfit I flew with for several years
before getting a new type rating on a big, beefy Dassault
Falcon 2000 eventually. Sadly, no Falcon products ex-
isted for any sim platform, so I was a bit overwhelmed
during that initial type rating. But, as most flying jobs
change, so did this one. I was suddenly changing jobs
and getting typed in a Hawker 800 series—a bit of a step
back from the big Falcon.
Now, once again I had the sim advantage as one did
exist from designer Carenado (www.carenado.com).
The Hawker 850 was out for MSFSX at the time, and
it was excellent in preparing me for the overall layout,
look, and feel for learning the cockpit. However, it was
not too big on exact systems modeling, so I used it as
more of a visual familiarization tool than anything else,
as well as for some basic flying qualities I believed were
probably modeled pretty well.
Soon that 135 job ended, as those old 800s were
poorly maintained and most flights were an exercise in
using the emergency section of the POH. So I quit, only
to find a job flying a much newer, late model Hawker
850, exactly as I had in MSFSX. This was a hoot. The
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newness and power was so much greater than the older
sister. But that new boss suddenly traded in the 850XP
for a big, powerful Challenger 300. This was the pinna-
cle of my career back then, and I had yet another sim
weapon—the incredible Challenger 300 for X-Plane 11.
This favorite of many was sadly discontinued years
ago, but I used it to the fullest extent while it was avail-
able. Systems, operations, layout, and flying quality were
all simulated. I became extremely familiar with the
CL300 during this time, and once I was type rated and
flying the real thing, I became a reviewer of the X-Plane
version. I was even able to help the author a bit on tweak-
ing some parameters to better equal the real jet.
But the more I flew the real thing, the more I realized
how well done the X-Plane version really was. I used
to think it was too powerful, easily performing initial
climb rates hitting 10,000 fpm, then I found out, yes,
indeed the real thing does it too. What a ride!
Now that sims have helped me learn the real aircraft
I fly, what about other stuff? How about life and death?
Through no fault of my own, or perhaps a clumsy er-
ror, or maybe being even wreckless a bit while flying
on the PC, I have found myself in sudden potentially
dangerous scenarios that require immediate thinking
and problem solving. I often leave the airplane on au-
topilot to do other things but have returned on a few
occasions to discover one or more engines have failed
for some reason. In jets it could be because of high-al-
titude weather, lack of anti-icing items being used, or
other issues. Now I must think and react as a real pilot.
Even without a checklist at hand, it’s a brain exercise
 that is nothing but beneficial. So in a way, that is an ac-
tual emergency not planned at all and definitely a sur-
prise. In smaller airplanes I have experienced total loss
of power, so a visual landing off airport is an incredible
“big picture” situational awareness type of tool that’s
very realistic. I have written about such emergencies in
past issues of FLYING’s digital platform.
Actual live weather feeding can provide an unex-
pected moment. So now, it’s time to dig out approach
plates or perhaps attempt a visual with terrain. How
about a planned emergency? Sure can. Options in ei-
ther MSFS2020 or X-Plane 12 (XP12) give you the abil-
ity to randomly have a failure of anything you choose
at a specific time, keystroke, or random period. XP12
goes farther and gives you the chance of random bird
impact and resulting crisis, with hundreds more just
waiting for you to activate. During jet recurrent events,
we practice multiple engine failures at V1, so that is eas-
ily something I’ll do in the sims at home.
Get a friend involved to secretly program something
bad to happen. Back when I was a single guy and had
a fellow roommate pilot pal (Rob, this is you) whom I
taught how to fly, we’d call these randomized, inten-
tional moments of doom “horror flights.” We’d set up
the other guy while he wasn’t looking to have to fly the
Cessna 182 and have total electrical failures combined
with vacuum failure at night. Looking up to see noth-
ing but a turn coordinator to live by is terror in IFR.
Use engine sound for rpm and wind noise for pitch. If
the outcome was bad, we’d throw each other down the
stairs to simulate a crash and resulting injury. This
PMDG’s B737 FMS was around way back in 2004 and still exists today. It represents the most realistic of any aircraft
FMS equipment, acting 100 percent like the ones I fly with in bizjets.
Courtesy of Peter James (2)
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added to the fun and realism. I don’t think any of us
really lost too much blood.
I have been to many airfields in the real world where
I’ve experienced that “been-there-done-that” feeling.
Places like KASE, KTEX, KHSP, KJAC, KVNY, KSFO,
KTRK, CYVR, PHLI, and dozens more where, if it
weren’t for the sim, I’d be a level behind. Most involve
high terrain or odd procedures. My first European trips
in the Challenger were done in MSFS or X-Plane. Any
new places I know of that I am heading to will be at
least seen virtually before going in real life.
Every sim session is educational and keeps the brain
in “big picture” mode. SA, or situational awareness, is
key. I have flown with so many other pilots that lack
this skill or are somewhat always behind the jet. A
home simulator keeps these skills sharp. You’re always
thinking ahead about “What if…?”
You don’t even need the latest MSFS or X-Plane to
do this—or a fancy PC. Any version would do. I’d go as
far as to say some of the big picture things can even be
accomplished with an air combat sim. If you’re always
thinking and doing, planning and preparing with a
home flight sim, you’re leaps and bounds ahead of the
traditional “armchair” pilot.
Going from class to a hotel room, sitting in a chair
with a cockpit diagram in hand, isn’t going to cut it.
You’re missing the other half. ]
PETER JAMES is an experienced Part 135 business jet pilot
with a passion for simulators and how they blend in with the
real world.