The School of Aviation

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View of an airfield in the near distance through a light aircraft cockpit windshield

Welcome to the Air Fafifi School of Aviation

This section is still very much a work-in-progress. We are working towards offering two online Courses in Virtual Flight, and welcome you to particpate in the knowledge & skill-sharing.

This is a wiki (like Wikipedia), so anyone can sign-in and contribute to the pages here. The courses start out as long pages of study notes as we accumulate information (text, images, video & links) on how to fly aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS). The material is being developed for the 2020 version but should be relevant for 2024 too. As the study notes evolve and become both more complex and more comprehensive, they are broken down and ordered into learning modules. The learning modules are arranged into Courses.

The general idea is to have the modules serve as Self-learning tools that Sim Pilots can use to guide their development as virtual aviators. They can also be used by Study Buddies to fly together and help each other out using shared cockpit in the Sim (currently via the freeware mod Your Controls and eventually by the MSFS 2024 native shared cockpit feature when it is implemented. The course structures are being designed to get the beginner set up the Sim properly and have fun flying as soon as possible. If you already have Sim experience you can hop in at any stage to improve & share you knowledge and skills.

We start out learning Sim Operating Procedures to get us immersed and out into the skies. Throughout the programme the modules will eventually build up to Standard Operating Procedures that emulate as much as possible real-world operations. Task saturation and information overload can be a bit problem in the complex virtual aviation space. By flying in familiar territory and introducing levels of complexity in a step-by-step manner we can reduce the strain. Using the online real-time communications through the Discord server can also get you help quick if you get stuck.

The moral of the story: "Structure gives you freedom" or KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid ;-)

  • Simple hand flying in simple planes

(to be continued)

The Course Structure (click on the links to hop in :-)

  • General Aviation for Serious Funsters is a good place to start. You'll begin with hand flying under visual flight rules (VFR) in a single propeller trainer and then move up to a twin engine DA62 and fly under instrument flight rules (IFR). This course started being developed as a PDF, you can view the incomplete first draft
    here
    by clicking the image to the right. [Could someone please take on the task of transferring the PDF content into the wiki - DFR]
  • Commercial Aviation for Serious Funsters is all about flying big planes like passenger jetliners and cargo props. We start learning to fly the FBW A32nx. This course is partially developed and definitely worth a look.
  • Navigation in Commercial Aviation is about navigation techniques and procedures such as vertical & lateral navigation, vectors and holds.