Question: Who would you rather have, a PPL or Sim Pilot?

[Holclo]

Was watching Sky recently and "Mythbusters" did a piece on just this subject. They set up the scene of aircrew being indisposed and using I think an A320 full motion simulator they were able to land it under the guidance of ATC radio telling them the numbers etc. First without the numbers they failed but with using the Auto Pilot and ATC guiding them in the landing was successful.
Bill

[Ronson2k9]

Yep I remember that episode too. We have it on Discovery Channel in Canada. Both tried one had gotten closer to completion then the other. Still while under ATC they both were able to. Maybe the guys from mythbusters have been here to Mycockpit.org??

[cscotthendry]

Just another thought: What if the sim pilot had spent all his/her time flying with the "ignore damage" setting enabled? I've seen some sim pilots do some pretty horrendous manoevres to line up on final.

[BHawthorne]

Unless the sim pilot had some real world experience, his knowledge might be a detriment to landing in one piece. How the sim acts in situations has gotta be a lot different than how it acts in real life. Simpits are designed for suspension of disbelief and immersion factor. No matter how good they look, you can't get the feel of a simpit like IRL.

Frankly, I don't believe anyone with the capability of picking passenger help would take a simpit pilot as a serious canadate for the issue.

I'd take option #3, a parachute...

[pilotwannabe]

I remember an episode of "The Gadget Show" where a GA sim enthusiast who had many sim hours experience was given the challenge of flying and landing a real GA plane. Of course he had a real pilot beside him, but he managed pretty well with the pilot giving little instruction, and better than the man in the street with no sim experience.

Myself, I was up in a Piper (I think) for a trial flight about 18 years ago where I got to handle the aircraft in flight. Exhilarating doesn't cover it. We got airborne and of course I was looking about at all the familiar scenery from a totally different perspective. I remember being asked if I wanted a shot or if I just wanted to look out the window (not sure if she was being sarcastic!). My point is about the "seat of the pants" feeling. A PPL would have that knowledge, whereas the simmer would not. The other side of the coin is that Mr dedicated PMDG would have substantial knowledge of operation where the PPL would not.

My preference would be a PPL who spends all his spare time in the PMDG, but if one is unavailable, then the sim pilot, I believe, would have a better chance - the "seat of the pants" feeling would come sooner or (hopefully not) later.

Just my two bobs worth.

[sacad]

ppl .... if you love to fly > go fly dont wast money and time
SIMULATOR IS A HOPPY

PPL IS the first step to make money out of your hoppy

[WJH308]

I have over 2000 hours, most of it instructing instruments. I now fly single pilot cargo, ifr, in a single engine airplane.
The number one skill a pilot needs is situational awareness. The sim pilot makes for a very good instrument pilot, but if all you do is fly the PMDG and Level D glass cockpits, you will be next to useless when it comes to situational awareness.
Also, a sim pilot never looks outside the damn cockpit.
Now to be fair, flying a jet is a completely different way of flying, simply because you don't fly a jet, you ride a jet.
If I am in an airplane with steam gauges, no autopilot, and I need some one next to me, without question, I'll take the PPL who has done their training with steam gauges. If I am in a jet, I'll still take the PPL because at least they are familiar with real world radio communications and procedures. This is not to say the sim pilot is not familiar with any of this stuff, but the PPL still gets priority if not for the least of reasons, the FAA would agree the PPL is more qualified than some one who has never proved themselves capable of being a pilot to the administrator.
My entire childhood I spent flying flight sim, I knew instruments before I started my instrument training, and there is no question that flight sim was the single biggest reason I did well in flight school. None the less there was a tremendous amount of "stuff" I had to learn.

[sacad]

WJH308 i totally agree with u .. i had the exact experience through my chilhood and then after i got my cpl/ir license = flying a real aircraft count
even if it's a small archer or a C150 ..