Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Weak graphics, strong content - needs an update
by Jeremy, VFR pilot, starting to study IFR from san francisco CA USA 
Pros: unique educational content and clarity, comes with a very good textbook on IFR
Cons: somewhat inflexible, dated graphics, rudder not used during lessons
Review:

This trainer is pretty brilliant, in that it runs through various procedures very clearly, almost like real training. The lesson plan is clear and logical. The included textbook is much better than the FAA version. It would be nice if the lesson could just go all the way through, instead of stopping every 30 seconds. Also nice would be the ability to skip forward or back through sections within a lesson.

It could use an update, however. The graphics are not very realistic or responsive. The programming is very old-school. For instance, the program seems to have no filtering or AI in it's analysis of the student's performance on a given task. It just records the largest momentary deviation, no matter how short. I would think it would be nice if it averaged out performance a bit, so that you got a better score if you almost always were perfect, with one slip on the controls, than you would get if you were all over the place the whole time, but within tolerance. In this case, the momentary slip would currently fail you. This is fine, but doesn't encourage a subtler grasp of the skill. All in all though, it delivers exactly what it promises, and is just what I was looking for.

Monday, December 07, 2009
Excellent trainer
by Timothy from China Spring TX USA 
Pros: Simple to use and easy to master
Review: Much better than OnTop-much easier to use. Great for learning instrument flying and for keeping your skills up once you're done with your training such as partial panel and scanning skills. Every Instrument pilot should use a simulator regularly and this is a great one.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Very good simulator
by Bruno from Sobral de Monte Agrao Portugal 
Review: For me this product is amazing because it explain the procedures and what to do in a excelent way.I recommend this IP trainer to anyone that are at the beginning of instrument flight.The only thing I have to say and it is in the same time a question, is that in the VOR "intercepting radials" by radar vector the simulator tell me that I have to responde to ATC but I don't know how to do it and if possible I would like to have more information about it.  In my opinion I think that this simulator is very complete and even the book explain things that my instructors tell me all the time but the diference is that I can look at this every time I want and it is good because it is easier to remind all things.

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Exactly what I was looking for
by A Customer from Montrose CO USA 
Pros: Very easy to set up and run. The training progressed in a very logical manner.
Cons: Some gps approaches would be helpful although I realize individual units vary.
Review: After not flying instruments for 9 years, this product was just what I needed. I was ready to go right to the flight part of my instrument add-on without needless hours in the aircraft. There were some glitches. A few times, I thought I was just flying to satisfy the computer and not real world situations. This was almost negligible because I already had the foundation for flying instruments.

Monday, May 04, 2009
SUCKS a Big One!
by rick from Centralia MO USA 
Pros: Has a nice box
Cons: too hard to learn from
Review: Way too hard to ever learn from. Try the "IFR On Top" Much better program.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
An excellent product
by Tasso1 from Beaufort SC USA 
Pros: Great price and a really good product
Cons: A little time is required to learn how to use it
Review: For the money this is an excellent trainer and greatly exceeded my expectations. It is easy to set up but is a little time consuming in learning how to use it. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about IFR flying without turning on my airplane and spending a ton on gas and instructors. Includes an excellent text book as well, learning this material makes the written look easy.

Monday, November 17, 2008
AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR IFR STUDENTS
by Salman from Atlanta, Georgia 
Pros: Excellent Trainer
Cons: None
Review: This product is by far the best trainer I have ever seen. I am an IFR student and the amount of detail this simulator has is just unbelievable. This is an Absolute must have for any IFR student. The price is well worth the amount of experience one can gain if used this product correctly.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Fly IFR? Want to? Buy this!
by Ralph from Torrance CA USA 
Pros: Learn your approach and scan to become 2nd nature
Cons: It is a training aid. Having trouble with USB
Review: I am in IFR training Great tool If you can fly this, you can fly the real thing (almost) Fly your approach here 1st, then go for the real thing You want to learn your scan and procedures here so it becomes 2nd nature The real approach will have ATC and the real aircraft to worry about. Big Hint: Trim and fly with your finger tips. Do not grasp the wheel unless landing and t/o. Good Luck

Monday, May 05, 2008
Great learning tool!
by Randy from New Braunfels TX USA 
Pros: Well designed training aid. Highly recommend.
Cons: Will not work with Direct X 10 and windows XP OS.
Review: Excellent way to learn good techniques for instrument scan without safety pilot or burning $ on high cost of fuel. One instructor told me learning and retention is 80% better in a simulated environments. I believe it. I'm about 1/2 way through course and so far feel it was WELL worth the money. Two warnings that you will not know until after you buy. First, do not waste money on the rudder pedals. They don't even work in "training" mode. They only work in "free flight" mode. May be great for MS Flight Sim, but if you are using this primarily as a training aid, rudder pedals will be wasted money. Get the yoke, forget the pedals. Second, if you have Direct X 10 running on XP, the graphics don't work. Direct X 10 users must use Vista OS. You must use an earlier version of Direct X on XP OS. This forced me to use a laptop for my training simulation instead of my 52" HD plasma (that was a bummer).

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Great instrument training aid! Old school graphics.
by Jon from Olathe KS USA 
Pros: Fantastic home study instrument training aid. Works well with Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System.
Cons: 800x600 screen resolution and obviously technologically dated
Review: As a training aid I am finding the product fantastic but find that it is falling well behind the technological curve. I have a Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System and am confident that this training will save me thousands of dollars when I start flying in the rental. Being a technology guy I was a little disappointed with the 800x600 screen resolution, however it scaled to my widescreen 1920x1200 display without any issues. The software is obviously dated but the training is relevant. I have gone though Microsoft Flight Simulator X’s training sequences that are clearly technologically better but not designed for real flight training and far too abbreviated. By comparison you can quickly see how far behind the technology curve IP Trainer has fallen. That being said without any real desktop alternative at this time I would make the same decision and buy it again. March 26, 2008

Monday, March 17, 2008
Big Money saver
by Sven from Kirkland, WA USA 
Pros: Concise and thought-through product, delivers on its promise, and will save you money in your IFR training.
Cons: MS-DOS-like user interface, too few standard training planes to choose from (wish my Piper PA28 was included)
Review: Saving money with a flight simulator at home is an obvious option (and desire) when training for IFR - practice as often as you wish, and get birdseye + profile observation feedback on how well you performed. My first such attempt was with MS FlightSim - the graphics are stunning, the nav aids are perfectly matching the real world, but when it comes to the precision and realism of flight control input it is very frustrating - it tends to lag and then overreact, no matter what joystick or yoke you use, and I tried several. No such problem with IP Trainer! Control input is direct and concise. This difference in control input reaction time reminds me much of the long and frustrating shutter lag of a high Megapixel point-and-shoot camera versus a DSLR with almost no shutter lag - yes, it's just a second or so that we're talking about, but that second is important! The training built into IP Trainer works very well, and while the emotionless voice of the e-CFII can be frustrating at times, you will quickly learn to not take it personally :) The training program is complete, and don't even think about comparing the poor "training" built into MS FlightSim (it's categorized as game for a reason) to the one in this product.

Monday, February 18, 2008
by William from Topeka KS USA 
Review: Does a great intro to IFR.

Saturday, June 16, 2007
The best simulator I´ve seen to learn IFR
by Henry from Republic of Panama 
Pros: It teaches you good skills. Great book comes with it. Very demanding.
Cons: Not easy to re-do just one part of a lesson.
Review: I recommend this product to anyone learning to fly instruments. If you are looking for a game this is not for you, it has no terrain graphics. You can choose to have an "instructor" demonstrate how to do a procedure, then you get to practice with different levels of prompting until you take the test. You absolutely need a yoke.