Thursday, 8 June 2006 - 6:43 PM BST

Hi David,

Long time reader, first time poster ;-D

This very subject was brought up in a documentary on tv about 12 months ago. A young chap who was obsessed with flight sim games proposed to practice flying a light aircraft on his pc and then flying for real with no help. He practiced for weeks on end and then took the test with an instructor next to him. The aircraft was identical to the one he flew on his pc and in addition the chap had never before been in the air, even as a passenger.

His take off was perfect.
His flight was perfect.
His landing was not. At the latter stage of approach the instructor had to step in to avoid a disaster. He was too fast and too steep I think.

Still, he did quite well and in your scenario I am sure could have kept the plane up and everyone alive. Landing however seem a tad more complicated!

If you get a moment please check out my site - www.thefantasypokergame.com - I know you are not a huge fan of this side of the poker world, but I'd apprciate you taking a look and hearing your thoughts. Keep up the good work.

Kind regards,

Nick

Thursday, 8 June 2006 - 7:00 PM BST

Great to hear from a first time poster.

It's interesting that this has already been examined for a TV documentary. I wish I had seen it. It would be more interesting to me if they had used a 747 rather than a light plane, but I can understand that it might be hard to persuade an airline to release one for a TV documentary! I don't know whether the 747 would be easier to land or harder. I think that modern jumbos do have computer guided landing as an option.

I recall standing in PC World a few days after the 9-11 attacks and seeing the 'games' on the shelf. I felt uneasy, as I wondered whether the hijackers could have learned what they needed to know from them. I guess if enough people practice on these games, it would make hijacking slightly harder in future. Given that landing is the part that suicide hijackers would not need to do, and passengers wanting to live WOULD need to do, the documentary's findings are somewhat concerning. Maybe the control tower at the airport could advise, if communications were still operational.

As for your site, it looks quite entertaining. I'm hopeless at these poker betting markets, as I don't really follow the scene. It's the sort of thing that Neil Channing likes. Mind you, he'd probably see it as an opportunity to make a book on how many runners YOU got!

DY

Thursday, 8 June 2006 - 7:12 PM BST

On that subject, the controls on the simulator games are 100% identical to those in a real aircraft. When the guy got in the plane he was completely comfortable with the set up.

I would imagine therefore is is possible for someone to practice flying a jumbo on his/her pc and to then do it in the real world. Landing/take off aside. Terrorists too.

Thanks for taking a look at the site btw. I've been in touch with Neil actually! I have less runners than I want, but enough not to be dead in the water. Big overlay for the value hunters ;-D

Cheers,

Nick