Small details that make a simulator feel real.
Personal notes on home flight simulation: building a cockpit on a budget, flying helicopters that punish laziness, chasing weather, and the endless tuning of switches, gauges and sounds.
Hangar
What is currently parked on the desk.
Light twin-turbine
Two small turboshafts, a rotor that droops when you are greedy with collective, and a governor that only forgives so much. The best teacher in the hangar.
Trainer taildragger
Crosswind landings, grass strips, no autopilot. If the sim day starts badly, this is the fix.
Regional jet
Flows, checklists, SIDs and STARs. Flown mostly at night, mostly into weather, mostly for the descent planning.
Notes
Things learned the hard way.
Weather first
Live weather looks great, but a hand-built METAR with a 12-knot crosswind and 900 m visibility teaches more in ten minutes than an hour of blue sky.
Sound is half the immersion
A rotor blade slap or a gear rumble tells you more about airspeed than the gauge. Spend on headphones before spending on a second monitor.
Trim, trim, trim
Most complaints about an unstable aircraft are complaints about an untrimmed aircraft. Set the force-trim, release, and let the machine fly itself for a second.
Navigate the old way
An ADF needle and a paper chart make a 40-minute hop feel like an expedition. Autopilot stays off until the airport is in sight.
Logbook
Recent entries.
- Autorotation practice from 1,500 ft. Three out of five would have been survivable. Working on the flare timing.
- Finished wiring the overhead panel. Twenty-two toggles, one rotary, zero labels. Labels are for cowards.
- Night VFR along a river valley in marginal weather. Turned back twice. Correct decision both times.
- Replaced the collective spring with a friction lock. Hover work improved instantly.