Go App Simulator

cocoamedia · Nov 7, 2015

Been really rubbish weather in the UK, desperate to fly my new P3P for the first time so I have been practising with the Go App simulator (iOS).

Can any experienced pilots tell me how realistic the simulator is, can I expect a similar real flight experience in terms of how the aircraft responds to the controls etc?

lotusteve · Nov 7, 2015

I think it's very good. Also try out the poi and other features so you know what to expect when you get to fly for real.

Wacker2611 · Nov 7, 2015

It's alright, and good for learning your orientation skills etc. But it's not a patch on flying the real thing.

cocoamedia · Nov 8, 2015

Wacker2611 said:
It's alright, and good for learning your orientation skills etc. But it's not a patch on flying the real thing.

Thanks for the reply... we have 26mph winds and torrential rain here at the moment so it's the best I'm going to get.

I was just trying to figure out if the stick movements I was making would have the same effect on actual flight.

Wacker2611 · Nov 8, 2015

Yes, definitely. Also, if you have time, get a cheap indoor quad (ie Bayang Toys x9, JJRC 1000a etc) . There is no better way to learn to fly these things than those.

Bret Lucas · Nov 8, 2015

The sim is more of a procedural trainer. For example, if you want to try any of the intelligent flight modes, or return to home etc. With practice It'll give you clarity of thought when using procedures. It's certainly not a zero time sim. [emoji51]

cocoamedia · Nov 8, 2015

Wacker2611 said:
Yes, definitely. Also, if you have time, get a cheap indoor quad (ie Bayang Toys x9, JJRC 1000a etc) . There is no better way to learn to fly these things than those.

Thanks, I have a Hubsan X4 that I have been practising with

shockwave199 · Nov 8, 2015

"Bret Lucas, post: 565788, member: 26996"]The sim is more of a procedural trainer. For example, if you want to try any of the intelligent flight modes, or return to home etc. With practice It'll give you clarity of thought when using procedures. It's certainly not a zero time sim. [emoji51]

I agree. It's great for learning the app and the system. It will help a clueless flier learn the sticks. But it does not compare to actual flying. There are actually better sim apps out there that give you better flying perspective from all view points. Quadcopter FX is excellent imo, especially when paired to a game controller. I got a lot out of that sim by just getting used to looking at the bird up in the sky- that perspective. That alone translated well to actual flight and watching the bird up there. The go sim is great for what it does, but I'd use other sims too.

HJR · Nov 8, 2015

cocoamedia said:
Thanks, I have a Hubsan X4 that I have been practising with

if you can fly the hubsan indoor perfectly, then flying with the phantom is tooooo easy..... it is very good for your orentational practice

cocoamedia · Nov 8, 2015

HJR said:
if you can fly the hubsan indoor perfectly, then flying with the phantom is tooooo easy..... it is very good for your orentational practice

Even been flying the Hubsan outdoors, gets really interesting / challenging in the wind with the prop guard on.

My father in law had a go which created a particularly challenging moment when the X4 disappeared off towards the horizon and he handed me the control saying "um.. I've lost it", managed to get control and bring it back which I was quite chuffed with.

Wacker2611 · Nov 8, 2015

Yes, I've ended up with a few of these 'mini quads' as they're so much fun in their own right. The range on that Hubsan is 80 - 50 metres which is plenty.

TnHwyman · Dec 13, 2015

I believe the flight simulator is a real plus in many ways. It responds much like it would in real time. Example the CSC command and watch your unit free fall out of the sky. Put it in ATTI mode and try your skills before having to try them in real time. Tonight I thought I would do a five mile flight over to my local airport and see how it would respond once it reached the red circle around their air strip. Well I'm sad to report the simulator allowed me to fly all the way in and land without any problems. All in all I think she is a wonderful helpful tool.

DownUnder · Dec 13, 2015

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
I regularly fly in high winds. Here's healthy drone data from a beach flight

I won't do the rain. 50% of the reason I moved from UK to OZ

48 Kph average and 60 kph gusts. No problem staying still. (29mph & 37 gusts)

shockwave199 · Dec 13, 2015

I keep my air2 in airplane mode and although I have cached maps when on wifi, the sim map can give me trouble. I almost always use the sim shortly after a flight that for whatever reason, there's more battery power to run down. The air2 is always in airplane mode at these times. The sim map will go blank. I exit the sim and go to the camera/app page to try and get the map showing again. More often than not if I pinch out zoom, it'll put me in the middle of the ocean somewhere in a far off land in Europe- not sure where. It never corrects again until a real flight with gps and then my home point and maps are right on. I think it's the sim that starts the weird locating behavior with the map. It's flying the map, no matter how small, that makes sim flight interesting. My map doesn't do well in the sim most times.