RE: SIMs vs. instructor - age thing?
A sim simply lets you keep making the ame mistake and never tells you WHY you crashed. Some of them show the wreckage, some let you review the last few secoinds of the flgiht (or even the whole flight)... but none tell the reason you lost it.
The sim can be helpful in some way... but it just can't replace an intructor's input about what is going on.