Hi Michael.

To be honest mate, not very good, however, as a procedural trainer they are fantastic, as you can see in the pic above I stated I was doing an NDB approach into Staverton, fantastic for this sort of thing, the Instrument rating is all about procedures as well as the ability to fly the plane, and any simulator that can replicate the procedural side of instrument flying is going to be a great help, what it does lack though is a decent flight model, so for your average PPL or CPL training Flight Sim will be no good at all, because you can’t get them to behave correctly in the stall, the handling characteristics let it down, like above doing a hold, the rate 1 turn on autopilot is about 9 degrees angle of bank too much, and there is no ADF dip on the needle in the turn.
I used it to great effect on the IR by learning how to fly SID & STARS properly, how to get the checklists flowing from my mouth, how to learn how to close the cowl flaps nearing top of climb etc etc, the after take off checks, the top of climb checks, initial approach checks, pre landing checks and after landing checks all need to flow from you, and you can’t beat a bit of armchair flying unless you have flightsim to do it all on.

Hope this helps

Dean

Great shots all

Here is one of me in the Seneca in the Hold and ready for the NDB procedure at Staverton

Dean

Well done Le, I must say the shot certainly deserves it, top quality

Paul love the FlyBe Q400, the Jet2 737 & the Eastern J41, fab shots

Neil

The bottom line is, if you are good enough you will pass, regardless of equipment, I don’t buy the fact that since their fleet was updated to glass cockpits the pass rates has improved, remember they want your business, so unless they can prove that was the case take it with a pinch of salt.
Also you should go with whatever school makes you feel the most comfortable, just because the IR may be cheap (Using DA TwinStars) it shouldn’t be the attraction, a friend of mine went to Stapleford just because they operate TwinStars, but to me that is going there for the wrong reason.
There is no luck involved in passing the IR, and also remember most Senecas are equipped with the GNS430 or equivalent, which you can incidentally use on test, another thing about the analogue is that “most” airlines will sim check you on a classic of some sort.
The IR course is identical no matter which path you take, you still have to fly it manually (apart from in the airway), and you still have to be able to interpret what the instruments are telling you regardless of type, for instance, when departing an airfield for an intersection on an airway, you still have to be able to navigate there manually crosschecking the DME with the VOR to hit, for instance – ALVIN.

End of the day the choice is yours, see what you think tomorrow when you have a look around the establishment I did my training in, hopefully I’ll be there to meet you, give me that call 😉

D.

It is? Excellent! That ties in nicely with a trip to MAN myself and LBARULES have planned on Wednesday or Thurdsay!

Paul

Paul, notice I use the word “supposed”, if you believe what the MET Office says this far in advance you’re a braver person than me 😉 I have been on the receiving end of their forecasts over the last couple of weeks hehe.
Looking at the surface pressure charts I would edge my bets and say they will get it right, there’s a nice high pressure system on the way from the Azores and Northern France, have a good trip anyway 🙂

Indeed mate, I think the figure is only 28% of pilots get the 1st time pass, no pressure then 😉 I’ll let you know how I get on and thanks for the good luck, somehow I think I’ll need it, weather looking spiffing so here’s hoping