Scenario-Based Training with X-Plane and MicrosoftFlight Simulator: Using PC-Based Flight Simulations Based on FAA-Industry Training Standards

Kudos to Bruce Williams for an excellent compilation! This is by far the best, most thorough written authority on today's home PC flight simulators, skillfully incorporating two of the best most popular sims (X-Plane and Microsoft FS) on two different platforms (Mac & PC). Mr. Williams masterfully covers everything you need to know --in user-friendly, informative chapters-- about training in the FAA scenario-based method using your PC.I've been flying PC sims since the original Bruce Artwick MS Flight Simulator in the early 80's, all the way through Fly! and X-Plane 10 today. This is the best book on the subject by far, and you can tell lots of work has gone into it. It's thinly reminiscent of some of the "let's pretend..." scenario books that were released in the early days of MS FS, except those were more in the realm of game guides.This book, though, is serious stuff. You can tell Mr. Williams and team has put lots of tedious work into this one. If you're looking for a How-To on operating the sims themselves, this isn't really it; this guide lets you learn technique from the FAA publications that real-world pilots do...but then has a true-to-life flying lesson awaiting you with each chapter. You'll be taught. You'll be briefed. You'll be held to FAA standard. The author's team has also filled the book chock with websites, notes and tips on how to find the best, most current online resources for your training. They've even created a partner site where you can download everything you need to make this program work best-- from charts to free FAA guide downloads and more.The only minor "cons" to this book: Mr. Williams' partner site for this book includes downloadable scenario files for your sim. For X-Plane, these only work up to "X-Plane 9"-- but X-Plane 10 is now the newest release. So if you're like me who has the most current XP version, you're stuck to reading the book only and either not using his scenarios or setting them up in X-Plane 10 yourself. Hopefully the team will create scenario files for XP10 soon. Another improvement that could be made is that too many times in the book there is repeated reference to the partner site or a particular download or app. They probably could have saved lots of paper by consolidating these references into an iconic sidebar a la some of the "Dummies" books.All in all, though, a great buy if you're serious about learning to fly, increasing proficiency, or enjoying your PC sim the way real pilots enjoy their planes.

A good (but slightly dated) book for anyone interested in using their home PC for flight training. I learned to fly gliders using Condor software before getting my glider rating, and have flown extensively in X-Plane while training for my Private Pilot certificate.One key consideration that I could not find mentioned in the book is that anyone using a simulator for training should always sit down to the computer with a "real plane" mindset. Doing things like taking shortcuts with procedures, or flying the simulated aircraft as if it were part of a computer game defeats the purpose of training to ingrain muscle memory and create good decision making skills. Act like it is real, and you'll feel like it's real. You can however use the sim to experience situations you would rarely if ever practice in real aircraft, such as attempting the "impossible turn" back to the runway at 400 feet AGL.The age of the book also means it omits key facts about the software it references. FSX is no longer supported and has become stagnant, while X-plane continues to improve in both fidelity and user interface. This means that for X-Plane 11 users they will have to manually enter the situation's initial conditions and not rely on the downloadable situation files. It would be nice to see a revision of this book that updates this.

Bruce Williams has done an impressive job creating a guide to getting real training value out of desktop flight simulator products. Unlike flying in a real aircraft, flying in front of a computer often leaves you without a sense of accomplishment. By following the steps in this book, you can gather real insight into the skills required to become a good pilot.

I am a private pilot and have been an avid flight simulation user for years. I found this book to be a very valuable asset in my flying toolbox. Good pilots are always learning, but it is easy to fall into a rut or just need a little extra structure to your practice and training. Bruce's book allows me to exercise the skills I learned when getting my PPL in direct alignment with FAA recommended training principles. With references to multiple FAA publications as recommended readings, exercises that build on each other, and real world scenarios it has proven to be a fantastic tool to strengthen and reiterate the skills and knowledge needed to be a competent, safe, and confident pilot (or simPilot). All of this at home, reducing both my cost for instructor time (because I'm more competent at reviews/etc) and aircraft time! Highly recommended.

This is a great book. The situations totally complement the lessons portrayed in the book. However, for X-Plane 10 users, this book is really useless. How about updating the situations at the Wiley site for those users using the new X-Plane 10 platform? I tried to see if the old situation files would work and each one would error out. The other review about this is dead on. I thought I would chime in as well and try to encourage the author to build some new situation files for this book. Luckily I bought this on Kindle and was able to return it after trying out the faulty files. You could have had a sale today. Good Luck.

Arrived in perfect condition, and not only reads well and covers excellent information, but also contains the sites to a large number of related locations where a person can find (usually free) details on information some people would not be interested in. If you only want to get more out of your sims, it does a great job. If you want to be a pilot, stay up to date, or look into it, the mentioned sites contain things like free FAA manuals and related materials. I was unable to continue my flight lessons 20+ years ago, and love following the profession from the different angles. Unless you have mastered bot sims, you can learn from this.

The scenarios in the book seem to be too old to work with X Plane 11. The book says to import them from the publisher's website but they appear to be very out of date.

I like the idea of scenario-based training and it works well as a way to get to grips with the simulations, but the format of the book is rather repetitive. I appreciate that the core of the book is a set of scenarios but the way the scenarios themselves contain so much detailed information, that is essentially repeated for each scenario, that there is no flow to the text. A stronger commentary would have made the book a read as well as acollection of scenarios

Meh...... not sure about this. Far too much basic stuff and not enough instruction on the lessons. Cannot really envisage a use for it to be honest. Better off with IFR and VFR Flying books and the free stuff made by the FAA.

The book's title doesn't make it clear that the scenario's (downloadable from the author's website) will only work with X-plane V9.The beginning of the book provides useful information, but without the scenarios (and no information on how to recreate them) much of the book's goals are wasted.

This is not a beginners book and falls short on explanations. It won't teach you how to fly but once you can fly it can set up some complex situations from the downloadable files.

has a lot of content in it but extremely repetitive, to the point it feels like filler, however exercises are excellent