A couple of things I thought of when reading this post. My instructor has become a good friend, and has helped me even beyond my training days. So I get more value out of the whole deal anyway. Another thing, I have been trying to get my simulator to help me do some work on repairs and building. To date, all I can get it to do is sit there. In my opinion, both an instructor and a sim serve their designated purposes. I wouldn't want to have one without the other. I have spent many bad weather days, just flying on the sim for practice so when I go to the field, my thumbs know instinctively what they should be doing.