What is wrong.....

[FredK]

.....with our youths of today?

This past week we had acquaintances of ours visit us with their two teenage kids....a 16 year-old girl and a 14 year-old boy. They were eager to try out my simulator.

Their initial impression was the typical response when visitors first see my sim..."WOW!", but that WOW factor wore off very quickly.

The girl seemed more interested but quickly got distracted with her cell phone, so that was the end of that.

The boy was most impressed with the fire extinguisher...."Is that actually a real fire extinguisher?", but couldn't care less about my real aircraft parts in the cockpit....TQ, seats, etc.

The event quickly deteriorated with the boy making passenger cabin announcements about how the plane was being hijacked and was doomed to crash.  Actually, some of that was very humorous.  In fact, he pleaded to crash the plane, but my discipline of principle about my sim prevented that from happening.

The moral of the story is that Microsoft knows darn well about their target market with MSFS2020. Go for the casual thrill market rather than the serious simmer!

Fred K

[kurt-olsson]

I know, i have the same feeling sometimes. But they are kids. We are a small % in the world that gets a boner from a real OEM Throttle Quadrant myself included. Hahaha

[bernard S]

intresting   adults want to crash the sim    children dont get the effort or expense required   to them its kinda neat

[RayS]

I've hosted grown adults that just want to crash into something. Maybe that's the easiest way for some to enjoy it? (Especially those that don't know the amount of work involved.)

Regardless, there are certain adults in my life that will never fly it again.

[jackpilot]

The attention span of the human race is shrinking to a few seconds, as well as its capacity to learn anything beyond how to operate a cell phone faster.
 

[Jon Boe]

Yes.  I had a high school kid that did some Java programming for my 747 sim.  When he finally flew the sim with his finished product installed and operating the wow factor wore off quickly and it wasn't long before he crashed it into one of the 14'ers we have here in Colorado.

I have had good luck with neighbors who come to fly my "sim challenges" but those are focused on a specific flight or approach so the attention span is not that long.

Guests that "fly" entire flight are almost always serious sim pilots or retired airline types who fly it for the intended purpose.

[sagrada737]

Interesting thread Fred...

There is some truth to the fact that younger folks have a limited attention span.  I think this is in part due to the "tech age" we live in, where kids have come to expect everything instantly.  Call it "Critical Tech Theory"...   Also taught in our schools...

Regarding sharing the flight Sim...   I have found that in order to get by the Wow Factor, there is a need to personalize the Sim flight by making it attractive to the guest -- regardless of age.   By this, I mean it's important to get by the intimidating presence of the Sim itself, and help the guest realize that it is actually capable of flying somewhere.  So, if they know where they are going, and what they are going to see, the Sim experience starts to take on a whole different association.  I don't expect the guest to understand all the complex systems, but it is easy to show them how to raise/lower the landing gear, operate the Flaps, dial in a Heading under A/P control, which in particular quickly gives them a sense of direct control over the aircraft as to visually where the aircraft is flying.  This tiny bit of "immersion" helps to retain their attention -- young and old.  I try to avoid long flights with guests -- 30 minutes max, or even a very short flight around the Pattern.   Also, it is easy to put your guest to sleep with all the complex startup procedures.  I usually have the Sim ready to go, so I don't spend a lot of time with cockpit management that they typically have no interest in.   I will typically taxi/takeoff, then let the Guest sit in the CA Seat. and help them with simple ops.


Do you remember your first IFR training days, and how easy it was to get behind the aircraft?   Many times during a training flight, I wished I was back on the ground.  It's no different for a guest that is new to an aircraft, Sim or the real thing.   Best thing to do is to keep it simple, and everyone will have a fun experience.   

Anyway...  All of us have our own way of doing things.  We have a great opportunity to share the uniqueness of our full-scale Sims.  Many times it simply turns into a fun event, and other cases, it opens the eyes of someone to a new and exciting experience -- especially so for young people that are typically bored with their high-tech world.

Mike