Bill,
I am currently building a Lancair 360 that I purchase two year ago at the same time after reading all the manuals twice I designed a Lancair 360 to fly in X-plane.  I have been involve with simulators since 1989 and have found them to be very beneficial if used properly.  My version of the 360 for x-plane is currently undergoing some graphic enhancements to improve the visual accuracy, however, I believe the aerodynamics are very close.  I work with a couple of individuals that have the programing expertise to build PC based simulators that are extremely accurate.  At Classic Jet Sims (www.classicjetsims.com), I was originally involved as the Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS)aircraft design engineer.  I quickly realized that X-plane was superior in my opinion for aircraft design because it works on the principle of what I call an "electronic wind tunnel",  MSFS uses complex "look up" tables.  Our original design goal was to create a cost effect simulator for jet warbird training, at first the T-33 since I flew that aircraft and had easy access to test data.  At first there was a steep learning curve as we learn to use plug-in code to make the aircraft fly as the real aircraft flies.  Something that I have found to be lacking in home based sims for a long time.  We then created a real time virtual formation simulator for training to reduce our costs because in jet warbirds we were burning 200-350 gal/hour.  We have found that with a correctly designed simulator with accurate flight dynamics, proper modeling of systems, we have been able to improve our level of training at a fraction of the cost.  A huge asset to us was the fact that no T-33 had the same instrument and sub panel layouts.  We were able to design cockpit specific models to improve situational awareness, as well as manipulate weight and balance data between aircraft.  We even model CG changes with fuel burn and loads. We also incorporated an integrated instructor station that allows our instructors to function from around the country via the Internet or physically linked computers.  We are accurate to less than 1% of actual flight test data in the T-33 sim.
We have been very busy finishing up a F-18 project as well as the finishing touches on the L-39.  I talked to Greg Hofer yesterday about finishing the graphic enhancement on the Lancair so that we can have a few beta testers to check on the flight dynamics since I do not have very much test data.  You can look around on our web page to see the work that has taken place so far for jet warbirds.

A word of caution, simulator based training needs to be well planned to avoid negative transfer of learning.  I can comment more on that at a later time if people are interested.  When simulators are used to model system emergency, especially ones that would be unsafe to practice in the real aircraft, they can be very beneficial.  An example in the T-33 would be an avionics door not being latched on preflight that comes open in flight.  A similar one in the lancair may be a canopy not being latched.  I am sure from reading the LML that many of you have experiences that can be recreated in the sim for all to practice and learn from.  A simulator is very effective when used to improve situational awareness, for example, accurate terrain models that allow a pilot to practice instrument approaches and upon break out the pilot can recognize terrain feature for orientation, or in the case of formation the dynamics of multiple aircraft.  I will up load some of the Lancair 360 info to the web page in a day or two for review.  It will fun to finish this project up for more then myself.  When fuel was cheap nobody wanted to be in the sim!  Now in the military, everybody is spending a lot of time in the sim!

Regards

John Kezele

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