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So, I fly on FlightGear as I like the fact its free. But is it accurate enough to train to fly the real Cessna 172? Are there any better free flight sims? Please give your honest opinion and please try FlightGear before answering my question, I can't deal with people telling me their opinions when they have not tried FlightGear yet.

lpydawa
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    Every flight sim has its uses and drawbacks. There really isn't anything like climbing into a real cockpit and taking to the skies. You get peripheral vision, motion, you can feel the airplane, the wind, the bumps, etc. You can use a flight sim to learn about what things do and a bit about how things react, but to learn how to use them in reality, you will need to climb into a cockpit and go flying. – Ron Beyer Aug 14 '18 at 02:37
  • Learning to actually fly with a computer simulator would work about as well as learning to ride a bike with a bike simulator. – jamesqf Aug 14 '18 at 04:08
  • When you can do a proper walk-around on a real aircraft, you've earned the right to fly it. Unfortunately the only way to learn it is to do it for real. E.g. climbing to the top to open the fuel cap, getting fuel samples, checking for movements of the control surfaces, inspecting the tire etc. Or even as simple as removing the ropes that secure the plane to the ramp, then pulling it out a few meters. – kevin Aug 14 '18 at 07:27
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    See Can Microsoft Flight Simulator help me learn to fly (or make me a better pilot)? It's not about the same software, but lots of the points made in answers apply just as well to any PC flight simulator. – user Aug 15 '18 at 14:12
  • @kevin Recent versions of Flightgear actually include a virtual walk-around of sorts. If you follow the included checklist for the Flightgear C172, you're even supposed to do things like make sure the seatbelts are secure, let alone the more obvious things like check control surfaces for freedom of movement and correctness, or check the oil pressure on engine start. (Or you can just use the autostart and not bother with the checklist...) – user Aug 15 '18 at 14:15

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It completely comes down to what you want to train in the sim. I have used FlightGear in my beginnings of when I started my interest into aviation. I guess you are using the default C172. What you can do in this sim is learning to navigate, use the instruments (at least the ones that are modelled to work correctly) and maybe learn checklists. But that's it actually.

If you really want to train for a real Cessna 172 aircraft, I can highly recommend getting Prepar3D and the C172 by A2ASimulations. It's one of the best flight simulation addons in the flight sim industry at this time. A full simulation of everything from oil viscosity to water contamination of fuel. Even a real C172 walk-around is implemented (with fuel inspection, tire inspection, everything) and a full damage model. You have to treat it like in real life to not damage parts. And you can also install a GTN750, GTN650 or GNS systems in her, if you own one of that beauties in real life. Also study level of course.

What you can't train in flight sims, however, is the hand flying.

I own all those addons and can't stop recommending it.

Federico
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Noah Krasser
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