From post#2 “The guys who have had prior simulator experience are usually way ahead of those who have not.”

From post #5 “I wouldn't be surprised if you solo after only 3 flights or so, like I did.”

From post #6 “I soloed from ONLY using a simulator.”

From post#7 “My son used a sim and soloed after about 10 flights.”

From post#12 “Most new flyers at our club take most of the flying season from June to August to be ready to take their solo test.”

From post#14 “It took me 20 to 25 flights to solo, and my instructor said I had done well, learned quickly. But I didn't have a sim then.”

Personally, I soloed after many hours on a sim and 2 control box hand-off flights.

I think you can put all these comments together and decide, but IMHO, computer sims make the learning process much more affordable (both in time and dollars).

R/C flying was always something I wanted to do, but never could figure how I was going to learn without cracking up my investment. A RTF model, that came with a sim, albeit a basic one, (NexStar) hooked me in.