As a student pilot “Shad” Shadwell values practicing flying X-Plane. Flight Simulators are not new to Shad as he recalls his sim experiences started around 1980. When he switched to a Macintosh he was in search for a flight sim that would work with this platform. It was about 4 years ago that X-Plane came into his life. He has been an exclusive, dedicated X-Plane user since. He currently uses X-Plane 10 64-bit averaging a flight a day.
He immediately noticed the different uses and variety of options offered on the X-Plane menu bar. He stated, “In the other sims you hit the ‘esc’ key. In X-plane you just move the mouse to the top. The other thing that I noticed right away is that X-plane is updated almost weekly. Not so with the other flight sims! Finally, but most important, I noticed that if I had a question and emailed support, I received an answer within the hour. I was hooked!”
Shad likes the ability to test an airfoil shape of his own design. He says that sometimes his designs fly very well and sometimes not at all. And as a student pilot he appreciates the ability to accurately simulate aircraft procedures, such as engine start, taxi, and run-up. He strengthens his map usage and pilotage skills, and also practices using the radio to help him overcome “Mike Fright.” He practices complete procedures from preflight to shut down on the Cessna 172 and Piper PA-28 aircraft.
One of his favorite memories was practicing landing the 747 with his 12 year old daughter. Shad beams, “She nailed it! I did a couple of bunny hops. Spending quality time together doing what we both love, that’s what it is about.”
Shad stated that the only way he could improve his X-Plane experiences would be to increase his three monitors with at least two more. His current monitors simulate the view towards the front and the additional two would be for left and right window views. He currently has several PC’s networked together and would like the ability to use multiple views from only one PC or Mac.
Clearly, Shad and his daughter are both on their way to earning their pilots licenses thanks to flying X-Plane!
