OK .. My perspective.

3d "flying" didn't exist when I was doing RC years ago and helicopters were just beginning to show up. No flight sims existed, that I'm aware of. And trying to fly those model "whirly birds" was much like the beginnings of RC - build one for however long and fly a few seconds, crash, go get a new set of rotor blades and what ever else you broke and rebuild for however long it took - then repeat the whole process until you either gave up (most likely) or learned to keep one in the air (very unlikely) You needed to own a rotor blade factory, or be rich, or both.

Most RCers where modelers first and flyers second. You flew what you built. It was a gentlemans hobby and 99% acted accordingly. Flying leasons were given free by other club members - Why? Because they cared. If you broke your last prop early in the day, most likely a fellow modeler would give you one. I've given away a few that way - and I never lost a dime doing it.

As for helicopters, I don't fly helicopters, and wouldn't if they were giving them away. Same goes for that 3D stuff - hanging it on the prop just isn't my thing. I would rather be actually flying the plane. The beauty of flight and all that.

Now we get to your main argument for paying the big bucks for an RC flight sim - the programmer needs to eat. And THAT is a VERY GOOD argument. We all need to eat, and as you pointed out someone had to pay for my food. And that is true - I PAYED FOR IT! With money I earned doing a job that needed doing. And I believe that most of us in the world operate that same way - we work for money to live on. The one catch here is - is the cost justified by THE PRODUCT - not the need of the programmer to eat. I didn't lock him or her up and make them develop a flight sim. It's something they choose to do. If you overprice your work, you might very well go hungry. Especially when there is a quality product available at a lower cost, or as in this case, free.

So, if I understand your post correctly, the whole argument for the high cost of the sim is based on;

3D "flying" (probably a fad)
Helicopter flying (can't respond to that since I don't do that)
and the need of the programmer to eat

And not that the sim would actually be better at teaching an individual to fly RC planes than FMS.
Is that correct?

If a person will find a need and fill that need at a fair price, they won't have to worry about eating.

One major point in favor of any of the flight sims that I think has been missed, or at least not brought out here, is the entertainment value. One may not be much better than the other as just a flight sim. But one with better graphics may be much more entertaining than another. Along the same lines as many video games. Of course, then you are looking at pricing comparable to other computor games, but then that is a much bigger market too. My son still calls FMS a "computor game". And those other sims interest me for that - the entertainment value. The screen shots and the info available about one called Reflex XTR looks interesting to me. But, admittedly, I had never heard of it, or the others for that matter, until a few days ago, in many cases, or a few weeks ago, in other cases.

One other very minor point - I passed 50 some years back. (I know- you had no way of knowing) And I wouldn't want to be young in this world we live in now.

Peace and Happy Flying