Student Pilot Lessons

The first step in learning to fly in Flight Simulator is to learn the fundamentals of controlling the aircraft. As you look at the order of the lessons, it may seem odd that the takeoff lesson is not first. That’s simply because the prerequisite skills for taking off involve an understanding of how to control the aircraft once it’s in the air. The training in these lessons serves as the foundation for having fun in Flight Simulator. There’s a lot more training available after these lessons. However, if all you want to do is fly, they teach the most basic skills you’ll need. You’ll fly a Cessna 172, which is a proven trainer aircraft. Have fun!

Student Pilot

Lesson 1: Straight and level flight

Learn how the controls of the airplane change what the airplane is doing. Your task in this lesson is to learn how to keep the airplane in level flight and flying in the same direction.

Lesson 2: Turns

Navigating to your destination requires you to turn. Here’s where you learn this important and fun skill.

Lesson 3: Climbs and descents

Learn to climb to your cruise altitude, and more importantly, learn how to get back down so you can land—or have a closer look at the nice scenery below you.

Lesson 4: Slow flight

Learning to control the airplane at slow speeds is critical to a good landing. The best way to develop that skill is to learn about operating the airplane just above stall speed—the airspeed at which the wings no longer produce enough lift to fly. It’s not as scary as it sounds.

Lesson 5: Takeoffs

Learn how to accelerate down the runway and become airborne. There’s not much more to it than that, except that once you’re airborne, you have to use all the skills you’ve previously learned to keep the airplane in the air.

Lesson 6: Landings

It all comes together when you learn to land the airplane. This two-part lesson first brings you down to the runway by having you fly through hoops in the sky. In the second lesson, the hoops are gone, and you’ll learn about the other devices you can use to help you judge what to do to land the airplane.

Lesson 7: Your First Solo

Your instructor will step out of the airplane and ask you to fly around the pattern by yourself. He’ll be talking to you on the radio to help you fly around the pattern—something you’ll learn to do on your own in a later lesson. But for this flight, take off, climb, level off, turn, descend, and land as instructed throughout the flight, and you will earn your Flight Simulator Solo Certificate.