Instrument flight training missions return, better than ever, with FS Academy - IFR for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
IFR is an all-new, study-level package to take your skills to the next level.
Produced by a real airline captain, IFR gives you the knowledge and skills to fly like the professionals to get you home on those dark and rainy nights.
Mirroring a real Instrument Rating course, IFR is an authentic training experience applicable to everything from a Cessna to a 747, covering both analog 'steam' gauges and modern glass cockpits. You’ll begin in the conventionally equipped Cessna 152 before moving forwards to the glass cockpit Cessna 172 and multi-engine Diamond DA62.
Use real techniques and Jeppesen charts to fly complex true to life procedures with your instructor guiding you every step of the way through a series of 12 authentic missions covering all you need to know, culminating in taking your virtual Instrument Rating Checkride with your examiner.
The skills you will learn are transferable to practically any aircraft, from a Cessna 152 to a 747 and everything in between.
Accompanied by a comprehensive ground school, begin with the basics of IFR flight before moving through the course and taking your virtual Instrument Rating check ride.
IFR 01. BASIC IFR
Practice your basic handling skills and perfect straight and level flight under IFR before progressing to more complex procedures.
IFR 02. PARTIAL PANEL
Know what to do when things go wrong. With a vacuum failure you lose your primary Heading and Attitude instruments. Learn how to perform compass turns and work around your problem so that you're ready for anything.
IFR 03. VOR/NDB TRACKING - ANALOG
Get to grips with the fundamentals of IFR flight by discovering how to operate and understand the ADF, OBS, VORs and NDBs with a conventional set of instruments.
IFR 04. VOR/NDB TRACKING - GLASS COCKPIT
See how Glass Cockpit technology has brought great advances to IFR flight, even in light aircraft. Learn the differences to become prepared for modern avionics.
IFR 05. HOLDING PATTERNS
Learn and demonstrate the 3 types of Hold Entry and how to account for wind drift once in the holding pattern.
IFR 06. VOR APPROACH
Learn how to perform a manually flown VOR approach by referring to your approach chart and be guided by the instruments alone.
IFR 07. NDB APPROACH
Advance from VOR approaches to the less precise NDB approach, where you must come in to land as the daylight returns with only basic ADF equipment and your approach chart.
IFR 08. ILS APPROACH
Most IFR flights terminate with an ILS approach. Learn how to perform this crucial procedure.
IFR 09. DEPARTURES
Now you know how to arrive on instruments, it's time to learn how to depart by following a Standard Instrument Departure (SID.)
IFR 10. ENROUTE NAVIGATION
IFR flight is all about getting you where you want to go. Step up to the twin engine DA62 and perform a multi-leg enroute navigation exercise.
IFR 11. CIRCLING
Learn how to perform a Circling Approach to a runway not served by an IFR arrival.
IFR 12. IR CHECKRIDE
Once you are confident with your skills, take you IR Checkride and fly a full flight profile with your examiner.
A crucial skill for any professional pilot, it's time to up your game with FS Academy - IFR.
Review it now!
And putting training in the dark makes it a bit tough, can we change it to day time? or is this built into the training missions?
I was doing IFR 03 and I followed the instructions to the point where I was basically turning around I reset my yellow arrow and then I followed the flying course past the coast and out into the ocean ad-infinitum and nobody ever talked to me again. I was at the proscribed 2000 feet and had been following all of the instructions. I did this twice in ended up at the same place.
Then I tried IFR 04. I reached the point to follow course and heading 130. I did this and then flew out into the ocean completely away from where I had started. Another dead end.
Considering one cannot pause this simulation, yes not for reasons that you are responsible for, the instructions come extremely quickly sometimes for one who is not versed in this equipment yet.
Not to mention the fact that in both missions normally my pilot instructor would have said something to me to indicate that I am not following the right track or that I have not done the right thing and in this case or in both cases nothing like that has occurred.
In the first two missions, everything worked, including the instructor chastising me when I went astray.
For me, this just does not really work (yet?).
It does have a lot of useful information but the pace is really fast sometimes, with no subtitles and no way to read back or repeat the instructions,
e.g. "push button one, it's on the left side, then go right turn that knob, go bottom push this and this, after that you should see this frequency, go turn to bearing X, turn the knob on the right to that value and you should be good to go" - and I'm like "Hold tf down, I'm still trying to find the first button!", and by the time I find it, I already forgot the rest of the instructions and have to restart the whole lesson.
Another issue, there are no corrective indications if you misunderstood the instructions and went to Narnia, e.g. I had an instruction to go to 030 and by mistake started flying towards 300, and kept flying for 10-15mins until I started to suspect something is really wrong, with no indication that I was doing something incorrect.
Again, had to restart the whole lesson to fix it. The only corrections I've seen were those regarding the altitude.
The content is good, but the delivery can be greatly improved, it can be a bit frustrating at times.
vor/ndb kind of confusing first and second try.
I will recommend these lessons with the caveat "you probably will have to do them several times to understand them even with the videos and the written.
might be better if manual was written better and maybe at the end suggest some flights/airports etc to practice what one learns.
I am a very rusty ifr pilot from th e60's and wanted to brush up and I think this would work for that if I did the lessons a great many times. A lot of my difficult could be me, too bad I like msfs 2020 so much.
Sorry, wanted to give a better review.
Excellent training thru lesson 4, more later.
Only problem I had was with the 152 and vac. pump failure, the glare made the magnetic compass un readable.
Also, at first had to change some settings to hear the narration.
I'm about halfway through the training series and have been quite impressed so far. This type of training requires detailed, exacting instructions especially in a sim where there is not the opportunity to ask a follow-up question to the instructor. The instructor is quite clear and I was never left feeling confused about what I should be doing. Especially nice is when the instructor anticipates confusion (something like "I will notify you when to turn after one minute"). There are also nice little features such as an ATC voice that clears you to land and take off, and the "IFR Manual" is a nice supplement to the training.
A few areas of constructive criticism from what I've encountered so far, but these are relatively small things. A few of the lessons throw a lot of dialogue at you in the beginning while you are getting your bearings in mid-air (in wind with gusts). If you could pause the simulation, that may be ok, but due to the current limitations of FS 2020, use of the pause feature is not recommended. Perhaps space out some of the dialogue to allow the player to catch up. Also a few of the lessons have you demonstrate the maneuver without really having the player engage in the decision-making. For example, the holding-pattern lesson has you go through the motions of the three types of holding patterns but never has you apply that knowledge (eg. "here is a random direction you are intercepting the VOR, choose the correct traffic pattern and fly it. Ok here is your feedback."
Hope this was helpful to developer/prospective buyers. Very good product overall!
Was a little hesitant in purchasing as I cant do the default MSFS lessons now I have remapped my view keys, so I cant move past step one where they tell me to press a certain key to look to the left. I was worried this would be the same, but it was just how I hoped it would be and was much more concentrated on how to fly the procedures and not how to fly them in this sim.
One thing that would be nice is if you could pop up the charts in the sim. I don't have Navigraph but was able to find the Manchester chart online to have on my iPad next to me so I didn't have to keep switching between windows, but with the Southampton charts I couldn't find online so I had to take a photo on my phone of the one provided. However that's me just nit picking as all headings and altitudes etc were all clearly read out before you did them.
I look forward to seeing what other training addons they make and wouldn't hesitate to purchase.
Easy 5 stars.
You really do feel you are having a real lesson whilst in the cockpit.
Well done the team that has produced this great addon.
Great job with this learning companion
MSFS
