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Flight Simulator (FS) Welcome, Martha and John, and thanks for taking time to talk to us today. I'm going to ask you several questions about your flying experiences, simulator experiences, the Sweepstakes airplane, Oshkosh, and your fondest flying memories. I'll start with a general question about flight simulators, since that's what we're here for.
What advantages do you see in using flight simulators? How do they aid training?
JOHN: I think the most important thing about simulators is they do a magnificent job of teaching the very most important things you need to teach a pilot: judgment and risk management. Of all the things pilots learn, those are the things that will make a big difference in the ultimate safety and outcome of their flights. The simulator is a tremendous tool for teaching those things, because many times a student in training will make decisions where the consequences are not apparent right away. In an airplane, generally, you're forced to tell the student those consequences because you don't want to lead them into an unfortunate situation. In a simulator, you can actually let the student make a decision or make a judgment error and have them follow that decision all the way through to the consequences, which then become very, very dramatically illustrated to the student. For example, you can let the student fly through the localizer and you can actually let them have the feeling of being lost, without having to worry about the fact that you're encroaching on airspace that could make it hazardous. So, it's a powerful tool for letting the student understand their own consequences of their own decisions.
MARTHA: The great thing about Microsoft Flight Simulator is that it brings flight simulation down to your desktop. Simulators for jet aircraft are worth $10 million, but Flight Simulator is much less than that! It brings to the general aviation pilot the ability to understand the big picture, to work on procedures, to work on risk management, to understand the consequences, and do all of that on their home PC.
FS: What's your favorite feature of Flight Simulator 2000 and why?
MARTHA: The favorite feature for me is the ability to get real-time weather for wherever you're going to fly. You can be sitting anywhere in the country and plan a flight in New York City or Miami or San Francisco or Dallas, Texas, or anywhere else. Not only does Flight Simulator put you there with very, very real visuals, you can fly in the exact weather they're having there right now. And it brings such immediacy, such an impact to it. There's such a reality to it that makes it a lot of fun.
JOHN: I think my favorite thing about Flight Simulator 2000 is something that's woven all throughout the program and that is, it demonstrates the fun of flying with just spectacularly realistic visuals and lets you go to really fun places. All in all it just demonstrates what a fun magic carpet an airplane can be and Flight Simulator really demonstrates that fun.
FS: When you're flying in the real world, how do you keep flying fun? And, what suggestions do you have for the rest of us pilots out here for keeping our flying fun?
MARTHA: I think the primary way to keep flying fun is to keep learning things. We get involved in aviation because it's challenging. It's fulfilling. It's intellectually stimulating. It gives us a great sense of accomplishment and the way to keep that sense of wonder and excitement and accomplishment we had when we very first started flying. To keep it alive and with us all the time is to keep learning new things, doing new things in aviation.
JOHN: You know, there are so many things that flying brings to you and there's so many ways you can enjoy flying. You can enjoy flying aerobatics or instruments or doing short field takeoffs and landings. I think what really keeps flying fun is to explore the various things you can do and get a passion about some aspect or several aspects of flying and follow it through. You know, that's what life is all about, enjoying those kinds of passions. And flying has so much to offer in terms of challenging things that can be very, very fulfilling.
Next: John and Martha's licenses and ratings
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