I flew on the sim for 30 hours before I even put my plane together and then soloed on my second flight. Not everyone will do that, but of the 10 or so new folks at our club, the ones with sim-time are doing noticeably better than those who come out on weekends. Plus the sim lets you fly on rainy days, and Ill never own all those planes, but I get to fly yhem. The sim is a good thing, dont let anyone tell ya otherwise.