Fact is, I used a sim for about a month and learned to fly on my own using various trainers including the HZ Champ. However, I did NOT progress very much until I actually started getting instruction from a talking, breathing, live mentor/instructor. If I had it to do over again, I would save the $200.00 I spent on the sim, join a club and find a mentor/instructor. BTW - I found my mentor not at my club, butamong the 10 guys I fly with in our "informal" club. Human help is always better. I just wish I had taken that advice from the beginning. The only way to get better at flying IMHO is to..........well, fly. Sorry guys, but sim "flying" ain't flying. Yes, sims can teach you some things, but, there is NOsubstitute for actually flying that RC plane.